Hello! I'm on a homesteading journey. I'll be tracking our progress here.
As always, have ta snap pics of wild flowers. They're the same but I just love them.
Oh - a sorta sad story. The lady we bought the property from decided to put up an electric fence to keep her animals in her pastures.
The bottom line was pretty low and it was a turtle crossing. Three got caught and were zapped. I picked up the shell of one and I may paint it and put in my yard some place. 😢
Lots of critters around the pond. I like that the pond is asymmetrical. Good character.
It will be fun to plant flowers and ornamental grass on the 'banks' and the top.
My sis was kind enough to dig up a bunch of lilies, Karl Forester grass and Iris. We (me and my hubs and Kathy and her hub) met in Osceloa, IA and had supper, spent the night and ate breakfast. What? Isn't that what it's all about? Talking and eating? 🥰
We had a great time. Thanks Kathy!
Always checking out the pond. It hasn't rained in a while so level dropped. It did rain a little while I was there. Even tho the water ain't so purty, the rain was cool looking. Still trying to figure out how to clean up the water.
Dreamscape: lovely blue, crystal clear pond water. 🫰👍👌
Video of the water, electric layout. Vid is a bit jumpy. Hey! I'm trying to walk on uneven dirt, video and not fall. What's a girl to do!
We've experienced lots of divinely appointed connections.
The first was Bingo Moss who is doing the concrete work (garage and house). He was recommended by a guy who 'landscaped' our pad. He lives in Bristow and we love using local people.
Quick story: we were working on putting down markers for water and electricity for the plumber and his truck came down the driveway.
We asked him "what are you doing here?" because he had completed everything he could to this point. He said, "I saw a truck go down the driveway and I wanted to check and see who it was." Wow! We were impressed! And in Bingo style, he said, "Hey, when I take on a job I'm the owner, the CEO... and part of my responsibility is to make sure nothing happens." Bless him!
Bingo then recommended the plumber, Paytin. His trade by day is plumber for a local company and moonlights jobs like ours.
A nice, young kid (20's so he's reeeally young compared to me!) and he knows his stuff.
We met him this past Saturday (7/27) to answer questions. His mentor, Dave, came and helped him. We got the best of the best!
Now let's see.... whose on deck to be divinely appointed? 🤪😬🤫
Here are more pictures of the semi and unloading insulation.
We are putting insulation down before the cement floor. Last Tuesday (7/16) they delivered to the property. We were concerned that the driver would have trouble driving it (a semi) down the 1000 ft driveway, turn around and get out.
No worries! The driver, Troy, was a hoot. We met him at the top of the drive and he got out of the cab, walked over and the first thing he said was, "Where the hell is this place?" (his words!) We died laughing. He said he would not have found it without gps.
Anyway, he was confident of his skills - I can turn on a dime and gestured to the field in front of us and indicated that's all he needed.
Thank you God for a fab driver! He later said that many drivers return product b/c they don't know how to do it. I always make this declaration: Thank you God for divinely ordained appointments and connections. This was one of those for sure.
And he did exactly what he said he could do. I'll show the video below and the next post will have pictures. Enjoy and be amazed at his skills!
It's been a minute since I last posted but lots is going on! Gus and I went to the metal building company we are getting our building from to look at color swatches. They had small metal swatches available to take, so I took them!
I was trying to match the garage gray with the house gray as we used a local company to put up the garage. They aren't the same but I think it will be close enough.
I taped my swatches to the garage on different sides of the building. It was overcast so I'll probably tape again when it's sunny.
I wanted light gray for the house, red to go around the front entrance to give some pop of color and then dark gray for the roof.
Check it out! Don't ya love my blue tape? That's not part of my color scheme! Hah! 🤩
Movin' on to the house.
Quick story: we bought our own doors for the garage as we wanted them to open out to save space in the inside. It wasn't an option. So we asked if they would hang them when they did the rest of the building. Sure for $100. Easy enough.
We took them out and the hung them... however, they both open in! I guess that's lack of communication!
So we will have to remove and re-hang. hah!
The garage is beautiful! I love the gray and black. I had Gus be the model. He loves that. Hah!
The guys hauling in our garage pieces parts. A breezy but beautiful day! It took some maneuvering to be able to unload.
Flowers and such!
Every time I go out to our property, I have to take wild flower pictures. There pretty much the same as before but hey - that's what you do when you love flowers.
Big update: About June 7, the cement was poured for our garage. Yay!!
So much fun seeing everyone in action all working together to get the job done.
Looks pretty darn good to me!
Next the building...
Once again, we are moving forward. It's one thing for people to prevent it but another when it's the weather.
So we wait patiently.
And now... Bingo was able to get in, haul in dirt, frame the garage floor, smooth it out and then comes concrete!
Pictures complements of Gus Sawyer.
Sniff, sniff - what's that sweet scent that wafts through the air? I found some honeysuckle on the fence line! There's also bridle wreath that I think has a pleasant fragrance.
I had to add all my other flowers - A photo person always says they are di🤪fferent, right? Come on, now!
Before we left, Gus spread grass seed. Prayin' it takes hold.
He is such a cool dude!! Shades n' all.
Pond got bigger yet after Jacob still needed more dirt for the pad. Rain has done nice job of filling it for us.
It was so peaceful on Saturday.
Gus had a big day on Saturday. He went with a group of guys to Bartlesville to help tornado survivors clean up. That lasted longer than expected so we didn't leave for the property until 4 p.m.
We needed to mark out the house and garage for Bingo so he can get started.
Garage will be 24' x 30'
House /barndo is 40' x 70'
And we've moved on! Gus met with Bingo, our cement guy and he is going to try to get the cement laid for the garage. We decided to start there for a first run since it will not be attached. AND we are paying in 3 installments! Learnt (I'm being British and it rhymes with burnt - lol!) my lesson.
We really like Bingo - He's a Christian, a good 'ol guy from small town Bristow. He's a hoot! We do like to use local contractors - He knows his stuff and he has sent us to several of his projects to see his work. That's impressive! His son is going to be helping him this summer so we are getting to know him as well.
Standin' on that jazzy pad. Just saying!
Discussing the garage concrete.
It's been awhile since my last post. Thankfully things are starting to pop!
I mentioned we were having trouble getting the landscaping contractor to finish up. Unfortunately, he never did. However, once we decided to cut our losses and move on, the situation improved 100%!
Enter our "clean up on aisle 3" man. Wow! What a difference. We are thankful to Bingo Moss, our concrete man for intervening. Usually Jacob doesn't want to come in and fix / finish a job. Bingo works with him and asked him to help us out.
I gotta say, I've never fallen 'in love' with a dirt pad before (actually, I didn't even know what that was!) This pad is beautiful and he covered it with small gravel to help pack it down.
Every morning a declaration I say is, I will experience your favor and divinely ordained opportunities and connections. This was a heavenly connection!
Love it!
The best laid plans of mice and men. Oh how true!
We have been trying to get the site leveled so we can actually put up the garage. The gentleman who was to do it got some of it done (with many issues, mind you, from equipment break downs to hurt back) but didn't, and still hasn't finished. 😢
It's been over 2 months and should have been completed in 4 wks max. Gus tried for quite some time to contact him to no avail. He did surface and he has (had) 3 things to finish: the rock on the road, putting in 2 culvert pipes and leveling the site.
We are holding him accountable for the first 2 and we contacted another person to finish leveling to the tune of $11,000. Sigh...
I can thank him for a lesson learned: DO NOT pay all until completely done. I, in good faith, paid in full as he said he would be done by the end of the week. So... now I know!
New guy is going to take more from the pond - I think it will take up most of the property! haha!! Gus went out last week and met with him and took some pics. The trees are fully leafed out now!!
There are couple of green 'fingers' that he is going to ditch so run off goes into the pond or the creek.
He also may be able to lower the pad by a foot so it won't be so high. Mentioned moving the attached garage further back which I hope doesn't happen. Have a loong walk to bring groceries in! 🤪
I have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart!
Looking forward to taking my trees I've planted here to the property.
The 2 little ferns were a gift at a Valentine's banquet in Feb. 2022.
These guys were 'dormant' for a long time.
A few weeks ago, I stopped at their pots and told them, "you gotta start growing." I kid you not, the next day they were starting to show new growth.
My Japanese maple did well last year but this year, it exploded into a much fuller little tree. It's adorable!
The trick will be to transplant it as it is in the ground. Dig deep and wide! (I think there's a kid's chorus about that)
And I've been growing 4 trees in water that came from pauzie's funeral. I'll be putting in pots soon as they have roots and the weather is warming up sufficiently.
All count - 7!
Sometimes the journey slows down more than what I think should be the pace! Am learning for house building (and for life), I can't always pick the pace.
Sigh...
So what to do? Take lemons and turn them into lemonade.
Had fun with this!
I love exploring finding wild flowers and mystery plants with buds. I may not be back before it blooms - it may keeping me guessing until next year. 🤔
Still trying to level out where the house will be. A lot more slope than anticipated so still hauling dirt.
I'm sitting on the pipe that's going to be cut in half and dug in for water drain off.
Seemed appropriate to add a few guardians hovering over me. Maybe they won't notice the bad hair day!
Oklahoma
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As always, have ta snap pics of wild flowers. They're the same but I just love them. Oh - a sorta sad story. The lady we bought the property from decided to put up an electric fence to keep her animals in her pastures. The bottom line was pretty low and it was a turtle crossing. Three got caught and were zapped. I picked up the shell of one and I may paint it and put in my yard some place. 😢
Always checking out the pond. It hasn't rained in a while so level dropped. It did rain a little while I was there. Even tho the water ain't so purty, the rain was cool looking. Still trying to figure out how to clean up the water. Dreamscape: lovely blue, crystal clear pond water. 🫰👍👌
Video of the water, electric layout. Vid is a bit jumpy. Hey! I'm trying to walk on uneven dirt, video and not fall. What's a girl to do!
We are putting insulation down before the cement floor. Last Tuesday (7/16) they delivered to the property. We were concerned that the driver would have trouble driving it (a semi) down the 1000 ft driveway, turn around and get out. No worries! The driver, Troy, was a hoot. We met him at the top of the drive and he got out of the cab, walked over and the first thing he said was, "Where the hell is this place?" (his words!) We died laughing. He said he would not have found it without gps. Anyway, he was confident of his skills - I can turn on a dime and gestured to the field in front of us and indicated that's all he needed. Thank you God for a fab driver! He later said that many drivers return product b/c they don't know how to do it. I always make this declaration: Thank you God for divinely ordained appointments and connections. This was one of those for sure. And he did exactly what he said he could do. I'll show the video below and the next post will have pictures. Enjoy and be amazed at his skills!
The guys hauling in our garage pieces parts. A breezy but beautiful day! It took some maneuvering to be able to unload.
Sniff, sniff - what's that sweet scent that wafts through the air? I found some honeysuckle on the fence line! There's also bridle wreath that I think has a pleasant fragrance. I had to add all my other flowers - A photo person always says they are di🤪fferent, right? Come on, now!
Sometimes the journey slows down more than what I think should be the pace! Am learning for house building (and for life), I can't always pick the pace. Sigh... So what to do? Take lemons and turn them into lemonade. Had fun with this!
I'm sitting on the pipe that's going to be cut in half and dug in for water drain off.
A while ago, I created a video that was intended to be encouraging and what may appear to be a negative is really God giving us a challenge to learn and grow from. I found it helpful as I'm starting this new homesteading journey.
Part of my homesteading journey is including really cool conversations. It is extremely important to me to journal how God's hand is in everything I do (and we, as God's children). What better place than here to document it. One such convo happened last night. Our good friend (and recent friend that we bought the property from - I'll call her Ms. I.), stopped by last night to return our bank check. What??? She didn't want it? Not exactly. So here's how the story started... and there's 2 sides.... Our side: Hubs and I had been looking for land to buy off and on for about 6 months. How did we happen upon this property? God Sighting #1: Gus mentioned to a friend that we were looking for land and the friend recommended a real estate lady who might know of said property. So we called and she took us to the land we ultimately purchased. We oohed and awed as we drove there, a very good sign! And then we saw the property and we were all in. You see, I had made a declaration many years ago about what I wanted: *** 10 + acres - we purchased 26. Check! *** A creek running through. Check! *** Trees - lots of them. Check! *** Beautiful land with no brambles. Check! aka nasty vines with prickers all over it and a place for my Flower Field of Dreams. Believe me, we walked thru some of that. So we went through the paperwork process at our bank for the 26 acres. Because it would be more troublesome with that size, Ms. I. said she would 'fund' the 6 acres from her. We had the closing. Did I mention that it was the longest wait for a closing in history. Well... a slight exaggeration. 🫢😬🤥 But it did take 4 monts. The agreement with Ms. I. was that once our bank loan was secured, a year from then we would start making monthly payments - so Oct. 2024. God Sighting #2: At that time I made a declaration that this loan would be paid off by the end of 2024. I kept reading in Proverbs about owing no man aka woman. Grrr! No idea where the funds would come from. (I also decl
We're finding out it's taking a lot more dirt to level our property for the house than we originally thought. Still working on it!
Checked out the creek after the rain. It turns wet or dry depending on the weather. Sure love the sound!
Tree down!
Teamwork
The area where the house is going has to be leveled so instead of cutting all the weeds down, he rolled the top soil off, taking care of 2 things at once.
Decision made as you probably figured out from the last post. Yippee! Work began this past Thursday. Roadwork started. Part of the roadwork involved removing a pretty big tree. I video'd the process and it didn't take long. Pretty impressive. It now feels like we've started moving along. We spent a lot of time on house plans and resourcing but here's where the rubber meets the road. Literally.
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