house talk: water and doors

This morning the guys are working on connecting the house to rural water service.

I don't know much about what that all entails I just know that I like indoor plumbing. Thanks guys.

I picked a bit of this - we have some in our ditch. I have a feeling it is considered a weed (maybe purple locoweed) but I'm not positive. Anyone have any idea what this is?

EDITED - I have been informed that is alfalfa and it is certainly not a weed.

I took a peek inside - and we have doors! Doors that open and close!

They still need to be stained but I really like the look already. This is the kitchen pantry. So if you ever visit and want food - look in here.

Interior trim will be up soon.

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Last night we helped the my family put in a new fence at the river cabin (the same one Corey and Grandpa stained last weekend).

Exhibit A: Old fence. Falling over. Gray. Boo. Hiss.

Exhibit B: New Fence. Beautiful color. Stands up straight. Cheering. Applause.

House talk: septic stuff

Oh my! It's what I've always wanted!

Our very own septic tank. This was definitely the most impressive thing completed today ...

... but not the most fun ...

Fun thing #1: Kya's room is getting painted! It's "Hubbard Squash" from Sherwin Williams.

Fun thing #2: I found the Harmon Cemetery! It's only about a mile north of our house - far enough so that the creepy factor is low, but close enough to be pretty neat. I would have explored more but the grass was pretty high (TICK alert), and as you can see, there is a gate making the entrance tricky. I figured trekking Kya through all that was just not worth it ... yet. I'm so curious to get inside. 1897! That's old.

House talk: a garage full of stuff

This evening, Corey and I went out to the house to meet with the excavator dude. They will be installing our septic thing and hooking up the water tomorrow. The septic tank and drain field concept are all new to this city gal. So the ... um ... "stuff" goes into the dirt in the back yard?! Where does the toilet paper go?

Anyway, moving on to more exciting (and clean) things ...

Our interior doors arrived! They are in the garage ready to be stained.

Our cabinets are here too!!!

Lots and lots of cabinets. Kya thinks they make a good chair. Corey and I broke into one of the boxes for a peek ... and they look great :)

Weekend Recap

This weekend was the annual McQuade Softball Tournament. Corey's team played two games Saturday. Between the games, he game home to rest ...

... Corey and Kya took a snooze on the living room floor. Since his team lost the second game, they were out of the tournament.

So since we were free from softball on Sunday, Corey, Kya, and I headed out to the river cabin. Grandpa Darwin enlisted Corey's help with staining the new cedar fence.

Uncle Bob worked on draining the parking area ... with Kya supervising from her wagon.

Grandma Rene had Kya in smiles

She just loves being outside! Which works out great because so do we :)

another storm. paint. and baby kya. oh my!

We've had some pretty fierce thunderstorms this week. Every. Single. Day.

That makes for one very nervous Erica. Oy.

So on Friday, after Corey got off work, we drove out to the house to check for wind/hail damage. The lighting was amazing. Very dark clouds to the east and a bright sunshine from the west. Thankfully, we didn't find any damage.

And we got a nice surprise! Paint! All the walls of the house have their first coat of paint.

When we got home Kya needed an outfit change and I tried to steal a quick father/daughter moment. It's blurry, but oh so sweet.

House talk: texture and big clouds

So we went out to the house this evening ...

And some HUGE storm clouds were hanging out on the prairie

They weren't as scary as they looked since they were traveling away form us ... but it was a nice reminder of summertime in North Dakota.

In the garage – trim. Lots and lots of trim. (this is maybe half of it)

There was a (very) short period of time when I thought it would be a cost effective decision to stain the trim ourselves. Well, seeing the massive amount of trim here, I am very glad we opted not to make it a DIY project.

The ceilings and walls are textured and ready for paint!

Thanks to Kya for helping with the paint decisions! We're excited to debut our color choices soon.

North to Alaska

My parents are moving north to Alaska! Kodiak to be specific.

Corey, Kya, and I are already planning a trip to visit.

photos taken by my mom

thumbsucker

We have a thumbsucker!

Kya kept Corey and I up last night with her slurpy thumb sucking. She'd been slowly "discovering" her thumb for a few weeks now and she finally made a connection last night at 1 am.

Speaking of sleeping ... I must brag: Kya slept two full nights in a row (if you consider 5 am morning, which I now do). I was amazed at how great I felt after getting two full nights of sleep. Thank you Kya!

Happy Dad's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially those in our lives:

Corey, Don, Gary, Darwin, Andy – we love you all.

house talk: taping and muddin' and a summer evening walk

House report from me and hello from Kya!

The crew finished sheetrocking last week.

The house is looking more and more like a home each day.


Yesterday they started taping and mudding the walls.

This evening Corey took Kya and I for a walk along the railroad tracks.

It was a beautiful evening.

Kya thoroughly enjoys the outdoors.

The farm fields just east of our land are full of hay bales. It's really pretty.

Our little pond still has quite a lot of water in it

Lots of whatever this is ... wheat maybe?

Kya was tuckered out after the walk. I didn't want to leave ... I think I could have stayed the night, if only we had running water hooked up. Corey and I were playing "guess the bird noise" with all the squaking and gobbling and who knows what else. We saw some pelicans fly over too – but they didn't say much.

After the walk, we drove over to Harmon Lake. The dam for the lake is just west of our land, across Hwy 1806. We'll definitely be spending some time at the lake. There were lots of people there this evening ... some camping, some fishing, and some hiking.

How big is baby Kya? So big!

Our little lady had her two-month check up today.

She weighs 12 pounds – 75th percentile.

She is 22.5 inches tall – 50th percentile.

And her head is 15.1 inches – 75th percentile.

She also got two shots ...

But as you can see, she wasn't too fazed by them (for long). I think the matching pink bandaids helped.

House talk: more sheetrockin'

It's so fun to see the rooms of the house emerge.

Today the house is about 75 percent sheet rocked. Oh! And I have a special grand finale surprise at the end of these photos.

enjoy :)

The great room. Stairs to basement are behind Corey, against the big wall (note to self: need some big artwork for that wall). Dining room is to the left. Kitchen is behind the dining room. Mudroom/laundry/bathroom on the right.

Other half of great room. Fireplace in middle. Master bedroom on right, other two rooms on left. Front door to left.

Master bathroom. The tub will go under the window. yay.

Mudroom hallway to garage from kitchen. Pantry and coat closet on right. Laundry and bathroom on left, around the arch.

Sheetrock in the garage.

And now, for the grand finale!!!

GARAGE DOORS!!!

House talk: walls inside and out

Let's see, where were we ... oh yes, siding.

Last time I posted about the house, they were about to start siding. Well here we are today ... outside they are completely done with siding and inside there is a good start on sheetrock.

May 18: siding started going up

the port-a-potty has a terrific view

June 2: fireplace framed and installed

June 2: spray-foam insulation started

June 4: sheetrock delivered

June 7: siding completed and sheetrocking started

where the front porch will be (the supports are installed)

My oh my, what a messy great room! The mud room is through the right arch, the dining room and kitchen are in the left corner. Stairs to the basement are in the middle, against the wall.

Siding complete in the back too!

When we were out today, a train came for a visit!

In all the times we've been out to the land/house, we'd never seen a train on the tracks (the tracks are the east border of our property. They blew the whistle at the road crossing and chugged on through.

Corey counted 112 cars! That's a loooooooong coal train. And it even has a caboose.

I never thought I'd say this about a train, but it was really cool, and quite pretty.