operation roll off container

The roll off container was placed in it's spot today (the biggest one we could get).  It will remain there for 21 days (7 of which I was given free just for asking). It was really cool to watch the guy unload it from the truck, very slowly and with percise placement exactly where my husband wanted it.  It was amazing!  It is time for the demolation to begin.  Wow, what a job!  Everything must be gutted from the inside.  There is lots of drywall, insulation and ceiling tile to take down.  There will be cabinets to remove and walls to take out, bathtubs to break up and sinks to unhook.  How exciting that we are to this part.  How frustrating that we don't have 10 children to help with the tear out!  LOL  We have moved the camper into the outbuilding and set it up so that we can "camp" out if we need to for a day or so (saving us lots of gas money).  We need to get the water turned on and the electric and gas hooked up so we can have access to a hot shower and we will be set.  By the way, Jonathan mowed the grass again last night and it only took him an hour to mow the whole property complete with mowing around all the trees!  YEAH!!!  Today, David will pick up what he needs to start building the footings for the basement and crawl spaces.  Next will come block and then,  the additions will begin to take form. 

operation finished digging

Well the digging is complete for both additions to the new house.  The sidewalks have all be taken out and the bushes with the "yucky" red berries that children smash all over are gone.  Sorry birds!
The backhoe goes back to its owner tomorrow.  I can truly say that my husband enjoyed every minute of running it!  LOL  Tonight while he was doing the last of the digging, the children and I went over to the other side of town and picked 20 gallon of apples from a friends tree.  They were big beautiful cooking apples.  The first pot of applesauce will go in tomorrow. 

 

 

operation dig the basement

Today was an exciting day when David brought in the backhoe and began to dig the basement in the front of the house.  Then he realized that he would take down the front porch with the bucket also.  Oh my, you will have to see the video on the bar to the side to watch the porch come down.  The girls spend the day picking up grass clippings and Jonathan and I spent the day getting all the wood out of the house that was on the floor and putting it in the burn pile.  We are going to have one big bon fire when the water gets hooked up and we can burn that pile.  We had a couple of helpers for a while today.  They were a blessing. 

 

 

 

 

 

                                     

 

Then we saved the best for last....the port-a-potty came yesterday!  We are all ready for company now.

 

 

operation clean up

We continued the yard clean up last night with David on a friends skid steer.  He was having too much fun!  Jonathan rode the new mower for the first time and re-cut the grass that had already been cut so that it might get a bit shorter.  I think the girls might just be raking on Saturday.  Awe, the girls.  They pumped the pump until they finally got water to come out!  Talk about exciting, just see the videos on the side bar if you want to watch the zeal.  Me, I was privileged to just stand and chat with some home folk that stopped in.  I think I am going to like it here!

operation ownership

Well, it is ours!  Our dream home renovations started last night after closing by taking the mower over and mowing the grass.  We learned how to use the zero turn mower out in the open field and I became confident enough that I even mowed around the trees. Trees, yes, lots of trees.  I love trees! Now, don't ask me if I remember how to start the thing today but yesterday was good!  LOL The children picked up sticks and trash while we mowed the big part of the yard before getting around the house itself and the outbuildings. The property looks so much better.  Then after about 3 hours of that we headed for Thorton's where everyone was treated to a slushi!  Here are a couple of photos after mowing most of the property.  We still have some tall weeds to do next time we are there but most of it is done.  We also took a burn barrel over so we could start burning things that could be burnt.  The kids had fun throwing their yard finds in and watching the different colors of flame be produced.