2010....From the Way I Saw It....Part 1

It's been a humdinger of a year from the inside out.  We've had good times and bad times and everything in between.

This time last year we were into some heavy duty construction.  We had torn off the old carport and were putting in the foundations for the new construction.

We kept at it for the entire first part of the year.  My mom made great improvements in her health along the way and was able to stay by herself for longer and longer periods of time.

So over the course of the year, I went from this:

To this:

From this kitchen:

To this kitchen:

There were some bad times during the year too.  My heart was broken in April when I lost my beloved Lovely dog to a speeding school bus.  Her absence is still sorely felt and I miss her more than I can say.

As the year has gone along my transition from jack-booted thug to tomato queen has been taking place at a steady pace.  I planted a garden

Got chickens

got a tractor

and in general have had a grand time returning to my agricultural roots.

I have the best neighbors

and the view off my front porch can be spectacular

The inside of the house is turning out to be pretty wonderful too.  I have tons of living room with great views all around, lots of windows

A beautiful wood stove to curl up in front of

The kitchen is grand, but the pantry is something dreams are made of.  I'm cooking for half the neighborhood, so having lots of food on hand is oh so nice.  Having all my pots and pans in one place and easily available is quiet grand too.

Baby dog and I moved into the house the weekend after July 4 and immediataly threw a party.  I've spent the time after that, getting my things in the house and making it a home.  So much junk and so little storage space.  Looks like some downsizing is in order.

In the meantime greens grew

and fall arrived

The guys came back to work after working their summer elsewhere and installed my woodstove and took care of a gazillion little details that needed doing.

I had planned to decorate the house from stem to stern for Christmas this year but on Dec. 8 my mom had surgery.  She had stints placed in the arteries leading down to her legs.  She was having some severe circulation problems and it was getting critical.  She went through the surgery fine and did great for a day or too afterward.  Then on the following Friday she started having heart fibrillation problems and we've been fighting that ever since. Since she's so weak from the afib and needs help to get around, I simply moved into her guest room for the duration.  So the house will have to wait a bit.  Mom comes first.  I'm happy to report though, that the new medicine her cardiologist put her on is starting to show some results and she is getting stronger daily.  Her blood pressure now seems to be under control and her pulse rate is steady so things are looking up.  Who knows, by New Years I may be back in the house working on it some more.

So that's the year, folks, here at the Farmette.  Some highs, some lows, but overall good.  Retirement is turning out to be a really good thing.  I wish I could have done it sooner.  I'm getting to enjoy life at my own pace and do so many of the little things that I always had to put off before.

Now, on a soft morning I can take my cup of coffee onto my porch, sit in my rocking chair and watch the world go by, as Baby checks out the bug and bird population in the yard.  I watch the sun rise and the sun set and get to enjoy everything in between on both sides.

Stay tuned for more of my year in review posted as the week progresses. 

Life is good.

...And the Fire is So Delightful!

It's in.  It's here.  It's beautiful.

And best of all, it's keeping my house warm and my heating unit isn't struggling to keep up.  It's suppose to get bitterly cold this weekend so it will be nice to curl up in front of a fire with a good book and hibernate.  Can't wait to try that theory out.

Up In Smoke

Winter is arriving fast, even in the south, and I'm trying to get the house tucked up tight for the cold and ugly weather to come.  I'm sooooo close.

Right now we are installing a woodstove.  It's all very exciting.  I love having wood heat.  It's actually going to be my backup and for the ambiance of it all.  We have the power go out a lot up here on the mountain and I just don't want to have to leave my home if it does, so I'm putting in the ability to stay home no matter what the electric company throws at me.

I love what we're doing with it.  When we replaced the roof, we took down the old chimney and I saved the bricks.  So now that I'm putting in the stove, I'm using the old brick as the hearth.  It's so cool, and it just sort of ties the old and the new parts of the house together.

This is what the hearth looks like while the morter is still wet.

We should have the back shield up and the stove installed by Wednesday.  That's a good thing cause it's suppose to get down in the teens that day.  Brrrrrrr.

The guys also got my chimney up.  Actually, it's a pipe with a chase around it to look like a chimney.  I think it looks great.

In the meantime, I've been cooking like mad for the guys all week and having a blast doing it.  I love cooking and now that I've got my kitchen up and running, I've been indulging myself.  I've cooked roasts and lots of veggies, big pots of chili and pans of cornbread every day. Yum.

Our greens are growing wildly now that we've had rain.  Sister and I got out and picked and picked and picked and picked.  I'll be canning them up for the next few days.  That will be some good eating when the snow is flying and even into the summer when the greens won't grow.  Yum.

I'll post more pictures as things develop this week.