meanwhile, back at the ranch

... the guys were able to work on the roof again this week!  These photos were taken Thursday (hmm, that was just yesterday for my sleep-deprived foggy brain)

 

It was still half a roof plus some tarp... but they have been working hard inside and out to get it all ready...

  

And this is the wall that Jack Tim built on Saturday (with help from Marty I believe)... the window is in the future laundry room.

  

If you can see the difference in the trusses, this is for a 'tray ceiling' in the great room.

  

Even though it has been too windy for roofing, Dan & Jason have accomplished a LOT in the past few weeks inside.  This week they put in some stairs -- yAy!  Yes, they look a bit odd because these are 'construction' stair steps... you put the real tread plates on after you're through beating these up...  Gotta like that idea.  I think the landing's plywood stays, so it's supposed to get a covering to protect it for a while.

  

Tim was pleased to get sheeting on the garage roof.  And today, they put sheeting on the remainder of the open/tarped roof.   Hurrah!  (Thanks for helping, Chris!)   I'm not sure how far they got with underlayment (or whatever paper) before it started snowing this afternoon.  But at least there shouldn't be much need for shoveling snow out of the house now.  :-)   Whew.

(Sorry, this clear-sky picture is from Thursday... no outdoor photo shoots of the completed roof today, folks.)

  

As a postscript, here's part of last Saturday's Long Day stories... 

Tim needed to buy more hay for the heifers and was waiting for its delivery when the calf escaped here at home - thus he couldn't come to our rescue (but yes, we farmin' women managed all right, and lived to ache about it).  The semi finally arrived about 4:30pm.  But the semi driver was unfamiliar with our snowy driveway and road, so put his back wheels into a snow pile while trying to back out the driveway ... Tim called to say they would be a little late for supper while the driver put some chains on.  (It was already getting pretty dark outside.)  Then a loooong while later Tim and the boys came home to say that after getting the back wheels out of the snow, the driver had put a front wheel into a ditch... Oh boy.  More chains... and praying... and pushing... and he was finally on his way home.  We think we made a memorable first impression on that driver.  And how much fun can we have all in one day?!  These hay bales look harmless, don't they?

  

a prisoner's song

Last night's late night project... was to make a card to go with this sweet little ceramic dish.

 

Miss MusicBox and Miss Artist  have a 19yo friend (Kate S.) who is really struggling with chronic lyme disease.  They stay with Kate's family when they visit for Bible conferences at a church near Milwaukee, Wisc.  Next week is the Holiness Conference, and Aunt Colleen planned to take the girls to visit Kate... now they are actually planning to stay with them because the S. family insisted, in spite of the difficulties they are going through with Kate's health.  Sooo, anyway we found the cute little dish, and then my girls remembered this poem/hymn from a literature book and thought it might encourage Kate, who also likes to sing.

1. A little bird I am,
     Shut from the fields of air,
   And in my cage I sit and sing
     To Him who placed me there;
   Well pleased a prisoner to be,
   Because, my God, it pleaseth Thee.
2. Nought have I else to do,
     I sing the whole day long;
   And He whom most I love to please
     Doth listen to my song;
   He caught and bound my wandering wing;
   But still He bends to hear me sing.
3. Thou hast an ear to hear
     A heart to love and bless;
   And though my notes were e'er so rude,
     Thou wouldst not hear the less;
   Because Thou knowest as they fall,
   That love, sweet love, inspires them all.
4. My cage confines me round;
     Abroad I cannot fly;
   But though my wing is closely bound,
     My heart's at liberty;
   For prison walls cannot control
   The flight, the freedom of the soul.
5. O it is good to soar
     These bolts and bars above!
   To Him whose purpose I adore,
     Whose providence I love;
   And in Thy mighty will to find
   The joy, the freedom of the mind.

~Madame Guyon (1648-1717)

  

The card needed to be big enough to include the entire poem, and Miss MB wanted it nice (elaborate) enough  to hang in Kate's room if she likes it as well. (Since we didn't find a matching photo frame to just put the poem in...)

  

  

  

  

will it ever go away?

 

now.  Every one of us got behind the shovels today.  Tim has the boys on heavy-duty shoveling in the pasture to keep the path to the water tank near ground level instead of up to the top of the fence.  Today I needed to get eggs, so I backed the Suburban out of the garage, but got stuck before I got out of the driveway.  So we all shoveled some more.  They got me out!  =)  I went to town for gas, not eggs (that's another few miles, including gravel road... so Tim agreed to get them for me.  Ya know, better that than having to come shovel me out of the gravel road  ;-))  Tim came later with the big loader thing and cleared the driveway properly.  Oh my, the Cattleman was e.x.c.i.t.e.d.  Look at the snow pile now!

Yes, you can see that I have not been busy at the sewing machine today... While checking out some of the other Simple Woman Daybooks, I saw too many cute blog formats and thought I should see if they happened to be free.  Oh boy, there are more than a few choices out there!  I'm not sure how I like this one with the soybeans, but I'll have to leave it alone for a while anyway... other things to do, ya know.  {ahem}

The fancy "S" is from Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische
I found her linked at smitten.blog.designs

this wanna-be-simple woman's daybook

FOR TODAY

...February 15, 2010...

(Earlier this morning)

Outside my window... it's still white

I am thankful for
... schooling at home -- another 2-hour delay for the public school today
... my loving God who gives grace sufficient for all, even this long, hard winter
... safety traveling to church yesterday to hear Pastor's good preaching and teaching
... Saturday's bag sale at the local consignment shop which yielded a good supply of sweatshirts for my boys
... my daughters who love their daddy and his cattle enough to help me return the calf to the pasture who wandered out over the fence via the huge snowdrift on Saturday (lots more to that story!)

I am praying
... for Mrs. McCrum, a missionary wife in S.Africa who was seriously injured in a car accident
... for Tim who is out in the weather doing cattle chores and driving on icky roads
... for Kate Stoll (and her family) as she battles chronic lyme disease

From the kitchen
... leftover pancakes for breakfast for the kids (and oranges, bananas, eggs)
... beef fajitas for supper with meat cooked off of soup bones

I am wearing... warmth!  a turtleneck and sweatshirt, denim skirt, socks & shoes

I am hearing
... floors creaking as children are waking and moving about upstairs
... the wind roaring outside

I am going... nowhere today, thank you!

I am reading... Philippians chapter 2

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory;

but in lowliness of mind 

let each esteem other better than themselves.  

Phil. 2:3

(this afternoon)

I am thinking... I should make an order from Amazon books since the kids want to get me the Handel CD for my birthday and the Computer Geek wants another Python programming book

From the learning rooms... our beloved Mrs. Howe is instructing Miss Artist via DVD about algebraic equations


Around the house...the youngers are romping since they have long ago finished their schoolwork for the day; now they are snacking on apples; they all should have gone outside

I am creating... stiffer sore muscles by sitting at the computer, but should/could be at the sewing machine stitching a new skirt for Miss A before she and Miss MusicBox leave on Friday

I am hoping
... that Dan & Jason are building a nice set of stairs at the new house today
... that we will have good weather for putting up the remainder of the roof soon
... that Wood Harbor will improve their promotion before we order our kitchen cabinets this month

One of my favorite things... Caller ID

A few plans for the rest of the week:  Getting "a round tuit" in so many things!

• Getting ready for Tim's brother & family to come through Friday morning to pick up Miss A and Miss MB on their way to visit Grandma F and attend the Holiness Conference in Wisconsin.
• Completing the application process with Christian Care Medi-Share
• Sewing projects: skirts, culottes, more baby blankets...
• Devoting a  few more hours on tax preparation (grrrr, which will likely include consumption of dark chocolate)

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...
(not what our kitchen will look like, but I do have the verse to put up on a wall somewhere...)

This meme is from The Simple Woman.

more projects

 

A friend has recently made some really cool cards... Want to see?  You can actually 'purchase' them from her (for a donation to their outfit-and-passage-to-Germany fund).  Mine does not compare, but it filled the need for a wedding reception giftcard last night  ;-)

Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us...

And this is one of my very favorite blankets.  You have to feel the fabric - it's quilter's flannel if you know what that means (double the soft thickness, double the price, but oh so gorgeous and designed to coordinate)...  Don't know if the intended wee one is a girl, but I hope so!  Meanwhile I'd better study my 'boy' fabrics again, just in case, because he or she will be here next month!

 

leap frog

I can't resist showing someone!  (Sshhh, SarahE!)

This afternoon I ironed and trimmed fabric for 7 blankets, pinned the 3 that are needed soonest, and stitched this one.   Weather permitting, we will deliver it tomorrow -- and hopefully the little babe come out to enjoy it soon  :-)

slowly but surely

...we will have a lid on our house soon, I pray!

Here are some photos from the last couple weeks of progress...

While the weather outside was frightful, Dan & Jason framed walls in the basement.  Miss Artist is checking out her future bedroom.

These will be my huge closets in the study/sewing room  :-)  The room behind the closets will house a sump pump, etc,. along with freezers and pantry items.

The picture below looks a lot like the photo from this post, but if you look again, there are a few more trusses in this shot!  They did put up the first trusses on Monday, Jan. 18.  Must have been the end of the week when they were able to do some more.

This week they continued with the smaller trusses -- check out the garage!  I took this on Tuesday (yesterday)

And today VOILA!  They were able to have the crane come and help FINISH the job!  WooHoo!  The Lord gave them sunshine and a pretty calm breeze to work with today  :-)  The crane had just finished as we arrived, but better done than filmed in action!

Hope to put up some sheeting tomorrow... before the next weather system moves in!  The blue sky looks pretty now, but don't you think a solid roof would be better?  :-)