HOWDY MARCH!

IT IS RAINING HERE!
is it raining there? or snowing?

We have completed moving the second storage unit to The Barn. So we are all done with that... we completed that move two weekends ago.
We also had the great Door hunt of 2010. Home Depot was closing out a model of interior doors - which were acceptable for the ranch and a real deal - 50-75% off. (Doors never go on sale.)
So, Dan and Kendyl picked up some. Then the following Monday, I found all the rest. This quest took us all over the Houston Metro area with the last stop in Brenham - some of you may recognize this town because it is the home of the best ice cream in The World.
I picked up the final 6 - and then I had to unload them at The Barn all by myself. hmmm - took two men to get them in the truck and I'm just a little bitty girl.
Well, this little bitty girl wrangled those doors off the truck and carried them in the dark into the barn. (Am I amazing or what?) (sitting here laughing by myself as I write this - nothing like cracking yourself up.) I do want to mention there was alot of cussing, stomping, and huffing and puffing going on. Whatever it takes to get the job done is what I say.

This weekend we took another load up to The Ranch. Dan bought some steel desks - he is a Craiglist maniac (I was going to use another word here - but it is a word best not said in polite company.) He now has his prized Knowledge Box Desk and then two other steel desks that could be used to anchor any war ship that our Navy has. Poor Kendyl had to help her Dad wrangle these monsters into the barn.

Our productive weekend included: burning a brush pile and the construction trash pile, putting down 60,000 sq. feet of bermuda grass seed, using the harrow to drag some more pasture, clearing more fence line, running the water well into our new septic tanks for over two hours - preps the tanks and cleans out the water well; cleaning out the construction debris in the Barn; breaking down crates to salvage the 2by4s. There was a whole 'lot of sweepin' going on!
We took Maverick with us too.

The horses next door were enthralled with Mav. They stayed glued to their fence. They were not sure what he was - he is big like them, but he barked. hmmm... they were very confused all day.

Sunday - we went to Kendyl's soccer game and then we all worked in our yard and then over to Kendyl's house to work in her yard. It is that time of year.

RODEO is here and SKIING TOO! We have a busy next few weeks.
TASHA IS COMING HOME!
LATER....
Safe Travels - Tracy O.

Update at the Ranch

No new pictures to post yet.

We have moved the little tractor up to the building and cleaned out Dan's storage unit. So all his toys are now at The Ranch or in our garage.

If the weather holds, I should have electric in the building in the next two weeks. We are on the schedule for trenching on Friday for the underground electric service.



We will be moving stuff up in truckloads over the next few weeks and putting it in the Texas Basement. I'm excited to be able to get some of this extra stuff out of my house.



We will be working hard on the exterior walls so the apartment will be sealed up better so that we can have air conditioning by the time summer arrives.

We will also be working on the floors as soon as I get the contractors out.



First big camp out and bonfire is Easter Weekend if we get a bathroom working and electricity.

Energized Great Dane

I had a surprise this morning. Maverick sleeps in Tasha's room every night. He likes it in there. Well, Tasha had stashed some runner's Accell Gu in a box. Mav found it.
Yep, that is right. He neatly tore off a corner used his big fat paw to squeeze it out - all over himself and the carpet.
He was bouncin' around this morning. Ready to Run.
Oh, and it was chocolate Gu too!
I actually don't think he liked it too much, because there was some on his paw and he wouldn't lick it off.
Anyway, so I had to clean the carpet this morning and his paw.
Oh, and I didn't catch the stuff on his paw so, he tracked it down the stairs this morning too.
He is being punished and is in timeout in his kennel (which he likes)!
He is sorry!

Maverick

Maverick is with us while Tasha is in China, Australia, and New Zealand. She will be back in early March. Well, technically Maverick has been home since she got home in October, but I didn't have to watch him.

So, I am dog-sitting.

To make things even worse he has had two surgeries to remove cancerous tumors. The first was on his tail and the tail has little skin, so it is taking along time to grow closed. He delights with removing this bandage.

The second surgery was Tuesday. (Tasha in China.) He had a tumor under the skin near his shoulder. Alot of skin here so the staples are holding. He had a trip to the ER last night because there was fluid leaking under his skin and the swelling was huge below his shoulder. He was oozing a significant amount of blood/fluid from his incision. So, they applied a pressure bandage.

To help hold it in place, he is also sporting one of Tasha's pink T-shirts.

He had a good day today. Trying to adapt him to my schedule. Tasha has him too spoiled.

He is walking funny with this new bandage.

He does not like taking his pills. I found out he does not like cheese, but peanut butter is ok. However, his pain pill must taste really bad because he can now separate these out from the PB. So this morning, I crushed them up, mixed them with PB and sandwiched it between his biscuit treats. That worked, but I am not holding my breath that it will work tonight.

So, this is my second round of taking care of my daughter's dogs who have cancer. Hmmm.... I am a push over.

Ranch Happenings...

The plumber and electrician have started and the AC guy is starting tomorrow.

Framing has started inside and it looks like a house now. This is a view towards the front of the building - looking towards a bedroom and the ranch office from the living area.





The french doors are in and Dan installed the doorknobs last weekend. This is a view of the doors that are behind the red rollup doors. When we are there the security doors are rolled up. Each bedroom and the living room have french doors allowing a view of the woods and pasture.




This is inside the shop looking at the house enclosed. First door in the picture is to the ranch office. The second door is to the kitchen. House is enclosed with plywood and then covered with hardi-plank.






This is my Texas basement above the living quarters. The furnace will be up here and the duct work for the house. This will also be storage for us as well.






Stairs up to the Texas basement from the shop. There will be locked storage under the stairs for Dan's tools.

Update on building - January

The water well was hooked up and tanked inside the building. I have no idea what this is really called, I like saying tanked! A fun word - reminds me of my younger days - partin' at The Coach. There were a lot of tanked people in there, but that is different from my water tank.
We now have water inside the building, but no plumbing yet.
The electrician and plumber will start next week I hope. I am currently working with the electric company, and a contractor to put in the underground electric from the permanent pole to the building. I need to have this in time so it will be ready for the electrician to tie it all together so I can have lights. The plumber should be starting next week as well. I get lights and one bathroom - I can spend weekends out there and start working on the sheet rock.
The house part is all framed out and I have the coolest Texas basement ever! For those of you not familiar with this term. We can't have basements in Texas because of the high water table here. So, we build them on the second story. Mine is accessed via a staircase in the shop to the second level. The basement is over the living quarters.
We should be ready for the Annual Olds Crawfish Boil and it will be the first one at the new location at The Ranch.
The planning and building continues!
On a side note, my builder did a fabulous job with this project. I highly recommend him! You can email me for his contact info.
No new pictures this post. The outside hasn't changed much - except we are finally drying out from all the rain. My puddles are dissipating.
Another side note - 2010 is here and has the coolest roman numeral ever: MMX. Just how cool is that. This needs to be on a T-shirt!

Barn has Doors and they are RED!

The barn has now been dried in.

The doors are installed and the barn is locked.

I will get some better pictures when I am there on a sunny day.

We are starting the framing of the living quarters inside now. Septic is in, well is drilled, we have temporary pole electric. It won't be long now. We are going to be doing alot of the finish work inside the living quarters. Our builder is just getting one bathroom ready for us that way we can spend weekends there to get the inside livable and we can start improving the pastures for our future herd.