Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Baymule]

It’s looking great. Y’all have sure worked hard at this.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

It’s looking great. Y’all have sure worked hard at this.

Thanks! I think it's worth it, but it's definitely been a challenge. It will be nice to finally be able to relax and not have a house project to work on.

Hubby was so tired from yesterday he slept through his alarm this morning. I didn't get moving as quickly as I has planned so I wasn't able to start the dehydrator. I'll try to get it going this evening. I think I did 6+ loads of laundry yesterday, so all that needs to be folded too. I was able to fold some of it as I took it off the line, and some this morning but there's still several full loads to do.

We are trying to save energy and dry the clothes on the line instead of using the dryer. They are a little smokey smelling, but the whole house is smokey smelling due to the swamp cooler bringing in smokey air, so I don't see a difference between drying on the line and using the dryer - the clothes will smell smokey either way.

Driving to work this morning was like driving down into a smoke cloud.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

The mini splits are on!! They are working!!! Windows are actually closed!

Third one for the den still needs to be done, but it will get done once the 50' line set arrives. The kit we bought only came with 25' line sets.

 

[Baymule]

That is awesome. You can generally bundle up to stay warm as long as it’s not freezing cold. But you can’t take off enough clothes to stay cool and that can become a problem. LOL Living in hot and humid east Texas, I’ve done without AC before. Didn’t even have AC as a kid, window units as I got older, central air and heat in my first apartment when I was 17. Most older homes don’t have central AC and heat and I lived in a lot of those over the years. Last 25 years I’ve lived in luxury!! LOL
It’s real hard to sleep when you’re laying in a puddle of sweat.

 

[Ridgetop]

Same here in southern CA. Not even any window units! First HVAC was a roof unit that only cooled the top floor. House was built in 1920 so ceilings were 10'. Ceiling fans in all rooms worked well by opening all windows at dusk, and closing them by 9am, and dropping all blinds and draperies. Turned on AC upstairs in late afternoon to cool top floor for sleeping. Turned off at bed time and opened all windows for breeze.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I want to remove the ceiling swamp cooler and replace with a whole house fan. The swamp cooler leaks/condenses occasionally and caused issues with the subfloor prior to us purchasing and repairing the house. Whole house fan should allow us to cool the house down in spring and fall without having to run the ac all the time.

Hubby doesn't want to do any of that until we redo the roof, which will likely be next year. We are probably going to put tarps on the whole roof this winter before the rains start. I don't trust it not to leak. Hubby also doesn't want to do the roof right away as we are tossing the idea around of expanding the house on the front door side first, which should allow a much bigger kitchen, giant pantry, and a fourth bedroom. We'll have to see how much it would cost for permits, and we'd probably have to relocate the guest/kids bathroom to make a hallway going to the new bedroom. Hubby also wants 10' ceilings; the ceilings right now are 8'. I think 10' would be a bit excessive. But, I could get my nice cement fiberboard siding (bonus that it's fire resistant!) and we'd possibly do a metal roof (also fire resistant!). It's probably going to be very pricey for all we want to do.

Then we'd wait a few years and expand the house on the other side, potentially add a third bathroom and fifth bedroom, while rearranging the den/living room layout. We don't want much, do we?

 

[Mini Horses]

Lotta bedrooms....special reason?

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Lotta bedrooms....special reason?

I want probably 3 kids, hubby is pushing for 5ish. He keeps saying he wants a basketball team.

We haven't even finished cooking the first one yet (5 more weeks till due date!). We shall see how many we end up with. At least multiples don't run in either side.

 

[Bruce]

How many genders do you suppose you might have? Kids can share bedrooms. Plus, with 3 you DO have a basketball team, you and DH count

Not sure why DH wants to wait until the roof is done to put in a whole house fan, aren't they generally installed in an end wall?

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

How many genders do you suppose you might have? Kids can share bedrooms. Plus, with 3 you DO have a basketball team, you and DH count

Not sure why DH wants to wait until the roof is done to put in a whole house fan, aren't they generally installed in an end wall?

The whole house fans I'm familiar with are installed in a central location of the house in the ceiling. I don't think I've ever seen one that was a wall unit.