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- #1,491
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Did that for a 4th of July party one year. Looked very realistic. One year I hung baskets of silk red geraniums from the horseshoe hooks over the barn windows along the driveway. They looked wonderful (until the winter gales blew them off! 
L
Might do it again when staging the house to sell!
In the meantime, growing the vegetable garden in the raised flower bed at the end of the lawn will look good and be easier to work on without the problem of the dogs liking to lay in the soft soil, digging out beds for themselves which scatter fine earth all over the patio on that side of the house, and the artificial grass will loo very nice and manicured for when we sell. At the end of the season when the plants all die in the raised beds, we can plant a winter garden for the brassicas and peas. The raised tubs can be moved and cut to half sand and half earth for beets and carrots. And since we did not drill holes in all of them, the still usable ones will be stacked for removal to the Texas ranch. You can never have too many cattle/horse troughs in Texas. Or might give some to my DDIL in Nipomo. Either way, we didn't buy them for the garden project so no $$ loss by not using them. Besides I think the plant roots probably baked in them during the summer. Or boiled/steamed the roots when we watered them. Either way, our tub gardens were a failure last summer - part of the Great Garden Fiasco of 2020.
Actually now that I think of it, there is a large store specializing in fake plants and flowers about 5 miles away. Last time DH and I were there, they had great sheets of greenery designed to look like hedges to be draped over boxes or backdrops It just occurred to me that we could buy some of those greenery sheets (not cheap) and attach them to the chain link fence to look like a large hedge between the house yard and the livestock field! Instant beautification! All you would see from the patio ad yard would be 5' high faux manicured hedges with a view of the mountains over them! No upkeep except to wash them off occasionally with the hose!
Just have to fence off animal access to that fence to avoid the sheep eating the artificial greenery! Don't want them to chew holes in it!
DS1 covering up those holes in the walls and ceilings through the house (left from the removal of the old HVAC vents and runs) has really resulted in keeping the house much warmer! I didn't realize how much heat we were losing! Or probably AC as well! There were sheets of plastic taped over the holes but now with the insulation and drywall the HVAC keeps the house warm at 65 degrees! I used to turn the temp down to 67 degrees at night but now I am waking up during the night feeling too warm and having to turn it to 64 degrees! I wonder if the HVAC will be even more efficient when we remove the vent that are no longer hooked to a system. Can't wait to get those done now.
DS1 had to buy several thicknesses of drywall because since the house was originally built in 1954 it as been added on and remodeled by several families - the original family, their daughter and SIL, and ourselves. DH uses 5/8" drywall, whole the other people used 1/2". And parts of the original dining room had paneling covered with 1/2" or 1/4" drywall. At least one ceiling is old wire lathe and wallboard. DS1 had a hard time getting the patches to be even but he managed it. Ridgetop training! LOL
We will have to plan out our trip to Yelm. We are not taking the 5th wheel, and originally were not taking the stock trailer either. We were going to rent a U-Haul to bring back the items but now we will have to take the stock trailer since we have to bring some tools and cleaning supplies as well as yard tools with us to clean up the property for listing with a new broker. (Unless the current one manages to se it in the next month).
After looking at the property values of pieces around the property, they range from old houses on .43 acre to old houses on .53 acres. The new subdivision built in 2002 has 6100 sf lots and the houses are 3/2 and are all valued over $350,000! We might raise the price to $425,000 in order to be able to drop the price to $400,000 instead of having offers below $400,000 coming in. We will discuss it with our new broker.
The current broker sent us the cancellation notice, asking us to sign and return it, but when I read it (I read everything before signing) there was a paragraph binding us to paying them their full commission if the property was sold to anyone they mentioned it to! Sneaky trick! Since the contract only required them to notify us that the sale was cancelled, I didn't sign it. The agent then called and asked if we got it and I told him we received it. Strangely he did not ask me to docu-sign and return the notice. LOL Always I read through anything before signing! I ignore the tapping feet - even when they want to wheel me into the operating room, i read the releases! I am the bane of traveling notaries who can't understand why I want to read every document before signing and "take up their valuable time". Once, half way through a loan document I noticed that the interest was .3% over the quoted interest rate, stopped the signing process, and sent her away until the mortgage company produced documents with the correct rate and terms. When they tell you they will "fix it in the office" I never agree.
Today I will go out to the Connexes and get out the boxes of baby quilts, sheets, gowns, blankets, etc. that I kept. The girls are not sure they will have baby showers due to Covid so they want all these items. I will also go up into the workshop loft and bring down the baby equipment stored up there. There is a lovely large antique bassinet I need to sew a skirt and liner for to give to DD2. The small wooden portacrib for DDIL2 already has a good skirt, bumper pad, etc. that I made for DGS1. Also get down the baby swing (cradle type), jumperoo, and other equipment that I saved, thank goodness. Need to wash all that bedding. The baby jail panels can wait to be scrubbed since we won't need them yet. Then we need to clean out the spare room that was doubling as DDIL2's office and set it up as a nursery. DDIL2 plans t divide her time between San Diego, here and her parents' house. DD2 has her own apartment but will probably be here a lot of the time. IS THERE NO END TO THIS CONTINUAL MOTHERHOOD?!
At least I am not the one pregnant or nursing this time!
The full size cribs that are stored for the girls will stay in storage for a another 6 months until the babies outgrow the bassinets and portacribs. DD1 is giving her crib and changing table to DDIL2. I am giving my crib to DD2. DD1 has the old nursery dresser she will give to DD2 nd we will repaint it white to match the crib. DS1 will make a wooden surround to fit on top of that dresser for DD2. I just wish DS2 and DDIL2vhad a house or large apartment where all this could go since I have other stuff - shelves and toyboxes - I could give them for the babies. Well, I will dispense all this stuff and when they need to store it, they can all rent storage facilities. I am downsizing! Getting ready for my move to Texas!
Or the nursing home, whichever comes first!
Each girl has a rocking chair. DH and I have our TV ears to drown out the babies' screams while we are watching TV. DH puts his on when the family is loudly playing games at the family room table while I try to lip read what the actors are saying on the screen or go to my room to watch in private. This upsets the family who want to "bond". DH is not bothered since he has TV ears and can listen to the show while there s pandemonium all around. After he loaned me his one evening while the rest were all playing a board game, I made DS1 order me one too. Aaaaaaah.
The grandchildren are once again welcome to come over and play noisily under our feet.
After another heavy rainstorm most of yesterday the sun is out again. Supposedly going to have more rain this coming week. Rain, sun, rain, sun, lots of forage for my sheep. Last winter we didn't need to feed hay for 6 months! Wonderful!!! That reminds me that DH needs to get another couple of loads of hay in before the gas prices go up and stocks run low. They are already growing lovely fields of alfalfa in Arizona and Imperial Valley. The first cutting will probably be in early May.
LMight do it again when staging the house to sell!
In the meantime, growing the vegetable garden in the raised flower bed at the end of the lawn will look good and be easier to work on without the problem of the dogs liking to lay in the soft soil, digging out beds for themselves which scatter fine earth all over the patio on that side of the house, and the artificial grass will loo very nice and manicured for when we sell. At the end of the season when the plants all die in the raised beds, we can plant a winter garden for the brassicas and peas. The raised tubs can be moved and cut to half sand and half earth for beets and carrots. And since we did not drill holes in all of them, the still usable ones will be stacked for removal to the Texas ranch. You can never have too many cattle/horse troughs in Texas. Or might give some to my DDIL in Nipomo. Either way, we didn't buy them for the garden project so no $$ loss by not using them. Besides I think the plant roots probably baked in them during the summer. Or boiled/steamed the roots when we watered them. Either way, our tub gardens were a failure last summer - part of the Great Garden Fiasco of 2020.
Actually now that I think of it, there is a large store specializing in fake plants and flowers about 5 miles away. Last time DH and I were there, they had great sheets of greenery designed to look like hedges to be draped over boxes or backdrops It just occurred to me that we could buy some of those greenery sheets (not cheap) and attach them to the chain link fence to look like a large hedge between the house yard and the livestock field! Instant beautification! All you would see from the patio ad yard would be 5' high faux manicured hedges with a view of the mountains over them! No upkeep except to wash them off occasionally with the hose!
Just have to fence off animal access to that fence to avoid the sheep eating the artificial greenery! Don't want them to chew holes in it!
DS1 covering up those holes in the walls and ceilings through the house (left from the removal of the old HVAC vents and runs) has really resulted in keeping the house much warmer! I didn't realize how much heat we were losing! Or probably AC as well! There were sheets of plastic taped over the holes but now with the insulation and drywall the HVAC keeps the house warm at 65 degrees! I used to turn the temp down to 67 degrees at night but now I am waking up during the night feeling too warm and having to turn it to 64 degrees! I wonder if the HVAC will be even more efficient when we remove the vent that are no longer hooked to a system. Can't wait to get those done now.
DS1 had to buy several thicknesses of drywall because since the house was originally built in 1954 it as been added on and remodeled by several families - the original family, their daughter and SIL, and ourselves. DH uses 5/8" drywall, whole the other people used 1/2". And parts of the original dining room had paneling covered with 1/2" or 1/4" drywall. At least one ceiling is old wire lathe and wallboard. DS1 had a hard time getting the patches to be even but he managed it. Ridgetop training! LOL
We will have to plan out our trip to Yelm. We are not taking the 5th wheel, and originally were not taking the stock trailer either. We were going to rent a U-Haul to bring back the items but now we will have to take the stock trailer since we have to bring some tools and cleaning supplies as well as yard tools with us to clean up the property for listing with a new broker. (Unless the current one manages to se it in the next month).
After looking at the property values of pieces around the property, they range from old houses on .43 acre to old houses on .53 acres. The new subdivision built in 2002 has 6100 sf lots and the houses are 3/2 and are all valued over $350,000! We might raise the price to $425,000 in order to be able to drop the price to $400,000 instead of having offers below $400,000 coming in. We will discuss it with our new broker.
The current broker sent us the cancellation notice, asking us to sign and return it, but when I read it (I read everything before signing) there was a paragraph binding us to paying them their full commission if the property was sold to anyone they mentioned it to! Sneaky trick! Since the contract only required them to notify us that the sale was cancelled, I didn't sign it. The agent then called and asked if we got it and I told him we received it. Strangely he did not ask me to docu-sign and return the notice. LOL Always I read through anything before signing! I ignore the tapping feet - even when they want to wheel me into the operating room, i read the releases! I am the bane of traveling notaries who can't understand why I want to read every document before signing and "take up their valuable time". Once, half way through a loan document I noticed that the interest was .3% over the quoted interest rate, stopped the signing process, and sent her away until the mortgage company produced documents with the correct rate and terms. When they tell you they will "fix it in the office" I never agree.
Today I will go out to the Connexes and get out the boxes of baby quilts, sheets, gowns, blankets, etc. that I kept. The girls are not sure they will have baby showers due to Covid so they want all these items. I will also go up into the workshop loft and bring down the baby equipment stored up there. There is a lovely large antique bassinet I need to sew a skirt and liner for to give to DD2. The small wooden portacrib for DDIL2 already has a good skirt, bumper pad, etc. that I made for DGS1. Also get down the baby swing (cradle type), jumperoo, and other equipment that I saved, thank goodness. Need to wash all that bedding. The baby jail panels can wait to be scrubbed since we won't need them yet. Then we need to clean out the spare room that was doubling as DDIL2's office and set it up as a nursery. DDIL2 plans t divide her time between San Diego, here and her parents' house. DD2 has her own apartment but will probably be here a lot of the time. IS THERE NO END TO THIS CONTINUAL MOTHERHOOD?!
At least I am not the one pregnant or nursing this time!
The full size cribs that are stored for the girls will stay in storage for a another 6 months until the babies outgrow the bassinets and portacribs. DD1 is giving her crib and changing table to DDIL2. I am giving my crib to DD2. DD1 has the old nursery dresser she will give to DD2 nd we will repaint it white to match the crib. DS1 will make a wooden surround to fit on top of that dresser for DD2. I just wish DS2 and DDIL2vhad a house or large apartment where all this could go since I have other stuff - shelves and toyboxes - I could give them for the babies. Well, I will dispense all this stuff and when they need to store it, they can all rent storage facilities. I am downsizing! Getting ready for my move to Texas!Or the nursing home, whichever comes first!
Each girl has a rocking chair. DH and I have our TV ears to drown out the babies' screams while we are watching TV. DH puts his on when the family is loudly playing games at the family room table while I try to lip read what the actors are saying on the screen or go to my room to watch in private. This upsets the family who want to "bond". DH is not bothered since he has TV ears and can listen to the show while there s pandemonium all around. After he loaned me his one evening while the rest were all playing a board game, I made DS1 order me one too. Aaaaaaah.
The grandchildren are once again welcome to come over and play noisily under our feet.After another heavy rainstorm most of yesterday the sun is out again. Supposedly going to have more rain this coming week. Rain, sun, rain, sun, lots of forage for my sheep. Last winter we didn't need to feed hay for 6 months! Wonderful!!! That reminds me that DH needs to get another couple of loads of hay in before the gas prices go up and stocks run low. They are already growing lovely fields of alfalfa in Arizona and Imperial Valley. The first cutting will probably be in early May.
And it is completely covered so working in the barn is dry. 
Dream on . . . . One day . . . . In Texas . . . .
It is difficult to chase the sheep into this alleyway from each pen since there is only a sorting gate and the sheep have to turn at right angles to go either way into the chute. Surprisingly, they prefer not to turn at all causing more frustration. 
This means that the easiest way to get them into the chute is not to use this sorting gate until we want to sort them FROM the chute into the pens on either side of this sorting gate. Confused yet? 
