It’s crazy—-it’s in the 60s and rainy and it is August in Missouri!  If we weren’t trying to build a barnage I would be super excited for this great weather.  Oh well.  After looking at the pad site it was apparent that the excavator thought we were building the barnage on a slab—which isn’t true.  We have come up with a plan but that will add a bit more time.  I was hoping that our amish framing crew would be starting next week but sadly it looks like that will be pushed out a week (due to rain and reworking the pad site).

So there was only one thing to do—-bake some yummy zucchini banana muffins.  The house smells great while they are baking and the hounds are all snuggled in—some are more relaxed than others! Life is merrier with a terrier!

Work on the “BARNAGE” continued today.  Lots of dirt moved!  The site is looking really good.  I will post a picture of it tomorrow.  The building is staked out and the soil engineer was here to test the soil compaction and all appears to be good to go.  Foundation and footings next week.

While the construction was going on I heard what I thought was a cat.  I kept listening and heard it again and again and finally figured out that we had a kitten in the tree by our house.  I am not a cat person.  I assumed that the cat was wild and so immediately began googling for what to do with/ for a feral cat.  My husband, who is a cat person, took some leftover salmon out and the kitty ate it.    We fed the kitten more salmon last night (feeding him this time on our roof).  Right after we fed him a quick pop up thunder storm came through.  We looked and looked for the kitten on the roof last night and this morning and couldn’t find him/ her anywhere.  From our 3 dogs perspective this wasn’t a bad thing!

I worried about the poor kitten last night and even though we didn’t find him I bought a “cat bed” (which my husband says cats don’t use) and some cat food today at the store (I had a feeling).  I searched again for the kitty and finally was going in the house through the garage and heard a faint meow and then another.  Kitty (who I have named MacGyver) was located.  MacGyver devoured his bowl of Fancy Feast and was super happy to see me.  I left the kitty bed in the garage and have made it so the dogs can’t get in the garage and the kitty can get out under the door.

We are looking for a home for MacGyver—who is clearly a gifted kitten!  If we don’t find him a good home I don’t know that I will be sad—he may just fit right in to our farm adventure!

The BARNAGE construction has started.  We have big machines and big trucks moving a lot of dirt.  The site looked pretty level to me—-I guess it is good to have professionals!  One of our professionals brings his red heeler “Hooter” with him.  Hooter seems to be a great dog but our hounds aren’t really sure why he is in our field.  The dogs are curious about all the loud noises and the activity but not curious enough to stay outside!

The beginning of any construction project is so exciting—so many possibilities and it is so fun to watch it transform into what you have planned in your head.  For now, it’s just a pile of dirt but not for long.  Here are some pictures from today.  Now—I have to go because I get to drive the dozer—I don’t think I can hurt anything!

Dozer is here!

I was hoping to show pictures of dirt work for our new “barnage” but like most construction projects we have experienced our first delay.  Rain kept our excavator from working on Monday.  The plan is work will start tomorrow and BIG EQUIPMENT arrives today!  I will definitely share pictures of the equipment.   When my kids were little (think Barney era) I had a video (yes VCR tape) of construction equipment working and my boys LOVED it.  They watched the same 15 minute video over and over again.  They knew all the names of the equipment and what each one did.  I guess I liked it too because I am REALLY excited to have this equipment show up today!

Since I don’t have pictures of any construction to share I thought I would share pictures of produce from our garden.  I can’t share a picture of the garden because it looks HORRIBLE!  As it turns out you really do have to weed fairly regularly!  Despite my inattention we still have grown some vegetables.   While I am certain that I will not be breaking out the new pressure cooker I bought to can dozens of quarts of green beans, I will at least get to have fresh green beans for dinner a few times this summer!  (Next year will be better!)

Hopefully barn updates tomorrow—-until then—enjoy your Wednesday!

My fist blog post.   I am a 50 something empty nester that has moved to the country.  Like a lot of 50ish people, my husband and I are now the oldest in our families.  We inherited this farm from my husband’s parents.  We are embarking on “down sizing and simplifying our lives” by moving to the farm.  We have 4 grown kids and 3 spoiled dogs.  I plan to do this blog for a year to chronicle our downsizing, remodeling, simplifying process.  It will be an adventure!

Our first big adventure starts tomorrow. Okay, the adventure really started a few years ago when we remodeled this house but tomorrow we start our barn.  It’s really a “BARNAGE”–my special term for a garage with some living space above (in case any of our kids and their families come to visit) that looks like a barn.  We don’t have any livestock YET.  What is a Missouri farm without some Missouri MULES??? (Stay tuned).

Thanks for reading this.  We’ll see if it gets entertaining.