We have a 'new' house!

[Linda P]

We moved to the farm in 1986, and we both noted that someday we'd need to side the house. It had the old slate-style siding, called 'Chinaglaze'. It was pretty dinged up after surviving for probably 60 years or more on our windy hilltop. About 15 years ago, a tornado tore a chunk out of our barn, and picked up the cattle shed, lifted it over the barn and calf shed, and laid it down in the driveway. Stuff went flying and hit the house, and cracked more of the tiles. We finally got the job done, just finished it up last Monday. It looks like a new house now, and is so much more cozy inside as well as being much nicer to look at.

[Linda P]

Trying to get the 'after' image to load but not having any luck with it. I'll try again later.

[kHT]

Can't wait to see the improvements.

[thy]

If it have been on the to do list since 1986 it have done really well
.. and I may relaxe a bit with my 5 years old list

[Linda P]

It finally worked!!! Sorry to keep you waiting so long.

[Linda P]

The pic is pretty big so the whole thing doesn't show. I discovered that when I clicked on the picture and held the button down I could see a ghost of the whole image.

[kHT]

What a pleasant change, enjoy it!!

[Chris_W]

Looks great Linda! Congrats on getting it done after all those years. Maybe there is hope for my seemingly never ending to-do list after all

[Linda P]

Yep, I have a few years on you, Chris. The list is getting whittled down, but there are always more things that need to be done. My garden, at 20+ years in since I started planting trees and shrubs, is starting to settle in. We removed a few overgrown shrubs this year, dug up and moved a few that were small enough to get them out of the ground, and I pruned 4 pickup loads and 3 of my garden cart loads out of the front yard alone last summer. Here's a good one for all of my gardening friends. I had a Medicare wellness check a couple weeks ago with a young nurse who obviously has never done any work outside. She asked about exercise, and I said that in the spring, early summer and fall, I get at least 2-3 hours 3-4 days a week in. She didn't believe me and put down 30 minutes 3 times a week. I asked her if she had ever gardened, and she said she walked behind the rototiller in her mom's garden and it really wasn't exercise. So, I asked what she thought they meant by exercise and she said using a treadmill or lifting weights or walking or running or swimming. So I told her then I don't do any exercise at all, I just sit around and watch tv and eat chocolates. What didn't bother to give me a chance to say before she moved on to the next question was that I condensed the average 20-40 hours a week I work in my garden (sometimes more) in to that 2=3 hour estimate of hard physical labor. My doctor and chiropractor both tell me that it's time for me to slow down and not work myself so hard, and she tells me that I'm basically a couch potato. Next year when they call for the wellness check I will be too busy to waste and hour and a half (she was a half hour late getting to there for my appointment) listening to the nonsense.

[GrannyNanny]

What a transformation -- it's classy, is what it is! Congrats on getting it done. Re: the young nurse who knows nothing about gardening -- next time you answer a question like that, translate that 2-3 hours into actual tasks -- carrying, pulling, pushing, digging, carting dirt, mulch etc., dragging heavy pots, and all the other activities that make up a gardener's agenda. There is more bone-strengthening, weight-bearing exercise there than anyone does with the gym's equipments. I guess the young only think of "exercise" as something done in the gym or on the track. The more the fools, they! Phyllis

[jgh]

Linda... I haven't been on the forum much and haven't commented - but I'm thrilled with all the things you have been doing... the "retirement" and travel and updating... great work! Also your fine work on the Spece home project... enjoy following you on Facebook!

[Linda P]

Phyllis, I did attempt to tell her that but she cut me off and went on to the next question. She didn't like it at all that I was trying to explain the amount of work it is. She also told me that she tells her husband when he comes home from a day of working on his dad's farm that he doesn't have any right to be tired because all he did was sit in a tractor all day. Oooookay. I'm married to a farmer; I kinda know how hard they work! She was a lost cause, and you are right, more the fool she!
Jim, glad you are following along! It's been quite a different life since John retired. I'll make another post here on the bench about the snowman project when I have a couple minutes. I'm headed out in about an half hour to spend the day dressing snowmen.

[ogrefcf]

Love the upgrade looks great.

[rosemarie]

The house looks great, Linda! A great job, you have to be very proud!!!

[thy]

Very pretty I just love the ornament thingy on the timber carrying the deck roof

[Linda P]

Thanks, everyone. Pia, I like them too. The ones I had my eye on were way out of the budget. I found these at a do-it-yourself store and wasn't sure they would be big enough, but they do add the nod to the past that I was looking for.