Gettin' close to wrapping up the stuccoing

Today was an absolutely "GREAT-to-be-alive-day" here in middle Tennessee... mid-70s, clear blue sky and spring-time GREEN everywhere ("Tennessee put the double "e" in GREEN!).
Ben Williams got in a full day of stuccoing today and got more than half of the south wall finished. He told me he could have probably finished if his helper wasn't so dad-burn lazy (ME). I suspect he'll finish this back wall the next nice day which will probably be Friday. He also is trimming out the front door with the 2" X 4" AAC block strips. It will most likely rain tomorrow so I'll bring him in to begin finishing the sheet rocking. Here's a picture of him stuccoing this afternoon:
Here's what he got finished today:
Here's what he has done on the front door trim:Yesterday Ben finished up the front windows. I bought the WHITE masonry paint for the trim this afternoon at Home depot. I think it's going to look GREAT when it's finally painted and the flower beds/climbing roses are in.
Boone-hoond is a really great "little red dog" ("little" as opposed to Baxter, our "VLD" - "Very Large Dog"). He's well-behaved and HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY! He and Mosby love to curl up in these Coleman-type fold-up chairs... here is Boone-dog yawning in his chair:My VERY talented friend John Ladd came by this afternoon and measured our south windows for screens (the north windows came with screens). With the exception of 10 or so days this summer, I don't think we'll need the window air conditioner at night with the windows open.

"Tie me kangaroo (washer) down, sport"

On Thursday afternoon I drove to McMinnville, Tennessee, a picturesque little middle-Tennessee town, which is located about 40 miles from Sewanee to purchase a new washing machine for our Irish cottage. Our "magic box" had given up the ghost and I needed to get us a more reliable machine than the one we were using (I called it the magic box because it didn't have an agitator and I was NEVER able to quite figure out how it washed the clothes... if I opened the lid while it was washing and tried to peek in to see what was going on, the machine INSTANTLY stopped?).
Back to my story... I ended up buying an almost new Kenmore repo for $300 less than retail... it WAS a beautiful machine with ALL the bells & whistles ("WAS" being the operative word). Before I got to McMinnville I stopped by my friend Tink Driver's salvage yard on "Possum Paw Road" and bought two 4' X 8' sheets of 3/4" plywood which wouldn't allow me to close the tailgate of the truck (before retirement Tink had been a VP for Reader's Digest... interesting guy... I'll write about his "dirt overcoat" and 15 Corvettes some other time).
We loaded the machine onto the plywood and pushed it tight against the cab/back window. They suggested that I tie it down but "Mr Know-it-all" declined, thinking it would ride safely right there. Twenty-five minutes later while speeding down I-24 at 75 miles per hour in HEAVY interstate traffic, I looked in my rear view mirror and watched the washer shoot out the back of the truck into an oncoming $50,000 Infinity automobile followed closely by a cavalcade of 18 wheelers also going 75 MPH (why couldn't it have been a $200 1962 Ford Fairlane?). I watched in horror as the machine slid down the pavement at 75 MPH with sparks shooting out in every direction. The good Lord had his hand on me because the Infinity was able to stop on a dime and actually pushed the washer off the road onto the shoulder like a bull dozier. The big trucks changed lanes without slowing down and what could have been a catastrophe was averted! PTL!
I checked with the lady in the Infinity to see if she was alright... she was and drove off looking a little annoyed. I spent the next 20 minutes picking up broken pieces on both sides of the east bound Interstate.
Baxter, my Cedar-Crest-Velvet-Earred-Nucklehead, was with me and he would have helped me lift the washer into the back of the truck if he had had thumbs. I was able to get it back on by myself (adrenalin I guess?)... and tie it down this time.
Looking for a silver lining to my Thursday afternoon cloud, I realized that I had developed and perfected a new way to sand down the front of any kitchen appliance in preparation for repainting. Just get a friend to push the subject appliance out the back of the truck at 75 MPH.
Actually the story has a relatively happy ending. I took the washer back to McMinnville Friday and the appliance guy fixed the machine for free and tested it while I waited (I offered to pay him but he was having too much fun making jokes about my misfortune). I thought I'd contact Whirlpool (Kenmore) to see if they'd like to buy my story as a testimony to the durability of their appliances. Here's the washer after I repainted it:

Our Tanks Arrived this Morning

Our two 1,600 gallon potable water tanks arrived this morning (3,200 gallons total). We intend to begin collecting rain water off our roof for future use as a backup system in the event of TEOTWAWKI ("the end of the world as we know it"). My good friend Jerry Hawkins helped me off load the two tanks from the 18 wheeler's 48' van. Following Jerry's lead and his good old boy common sense allowed both tanks to be off loaded in 10 minutes. They are approximately 6' tall and 7.5' in diameter. The dark green color discourages alge growth although you have to add a little bleach periodically to kill the critters that will grow. We will filter our drinking water through our British Berkfeld ("Big Berky") ceramic filter... the one I bought during y2k (false alarm but otherwise instructive).I need to prepare the pad next to the west wall of the house so the tanks will have a level and smooth place to sit (I'll hide them behind a 6' stockade fence). Next I have to tie the gutters into PVC pipe and connect it to the respective fittings at the top of each tank which will allow the rain water to flow into the tank. Fortunately, I was able to buy the bulk of the stuff I need to tie the gutters into the PVC pipe this afternoon at Home Depot. Next I'll need to hook up a pipe to the bottom of each tank and run it underground into the house where it will be tied into our home's existing plumbing system. I'll pressurize the water with a pump run by a small solar panel/battery setup. It would have been nice to have a creek or a pond on our property but this will suffice if the facets run dry.
Alexis continues to work hard in her square foot gardens. I built her 3 more 4' X 4' boxes last week which still have to be filled with dirt, compost and COARSE vermiculite (the capitalization of COARSE is an inside joke between us about last year's small crop of $57.13/each tomatoes... expensive but tasty). Speaking of tomatoes here is this year's attempt to grow a tomato plant upside down in a contraption that looks like this. It's hard to see in this picture but the tomato plant is growing out a hole in the bottom.

Starting the flower beds

Aaron finished painting the west wall of the house and started edging the flower beds on the front of the house with AAC block that was left over from building last summer:He also buried a pipe that I'll use to run from my two 1,600 gallon rain water collection tanks (which arrive Friday) into my plumbing wall and into our house's plumbing system. We're trying to get off the grid for TEOTWAWKI. The two tanks will sit at the west end of the house and have a privacy fence built around them for camouflage.

It's been about a year since we got started building

It's been about a year since we got started building our Irish cottage in earnest. It's not finished yet (mostly sheetrock finishing to be completed) but it's livable and we love being in it. Here is a picture of the house with the stucco and texture before we painted it last Friday:We're not quite finished painting the stucco (for waterproofing as well as appearance) but here's how it looks now (note that we are beginning to clean up the construction mess)... oh, Ben Williams won't finish stuccoing the window trim until next week so the trim around the windows hasn't been painted yet:A front stoop and flower beds go in next along with three trellises for the Confederate Star Jasmine to climb up the front wall. We decided to use the Confederate Star Jasmine instead of climbing roses because it grows faster.
Alexis is busy putting in her "square foot garden." So far she's planted Kentucky Wonder green beans, Blue Lake green beans, Texas 1015 onions (Alexis is quick to remind me that the Texas 1015 is the granddaddy of the more famous Georgia Vidalia onion... guess the Vidalia's have a better PR person?), heirloom tomatoes & numerous herbs. Note the tomato plant hanging upside down from the tree... we tried growing two tomatoes like that last year to no avail... maybe we'll master the secret this year. Now don't get me wrong... I completely enjoyed the tomatoes that we successfully grew last year in spite of the fact they cost $57.13 each.
I moved her beds last week so they would receive more direct sun. Tomorrow I'm going to build her four more beds.Here's a video on the square foot garden growing system:

Hopefully our square foot garden will do as well as hers.
Did you see this picture of my BEAUTIFUL grandson!? I think he likes to swing? What a cutie, huh!?
Oh, maybe you did see this picture?... don't forget... his pictures are for sale. But call NOW and we'll double your order. Operators are standing by.

Look at my BEAUTIFUL grandson...

Looks like my little man enjoys his swing:
Here's Daddy's helper.
My pint-sized gardener... his Daddy's family is in the nursery business:
Smilin' at suppertime... he's got almost as many teeth as his Granddaddy:
A set of drums might be a nice gift for the little guy to entertain the neighborhood:

Here are some comments by his Mommy:

(These) are some of the more recent pictures of Ethan. He loves to go outside and play with sticks and leaves. He doesn't like to get his hands dirty, but he knows how to wipe them off on his shirt! He loves to play with Da Da, and anything that makes a loud noise like Phillip's truck (planes, trains, trucks) is called "Da Da". He is a lot of fun and we are enjoying every minute.

Jordan

I just got this picture from a friend...

My priest/photographer friend Charley Watkins surprised us with this aerial photograph of our house and land... click on the photo for a larger view. Obviously, we're the "Sister Margaret" blue roof in the middle surrounded by our 3 acres (approx 250' X 500'), the University's 11,000 acre domain and hundreds of other acres that will never be built on (never say never but it is unlikely). We have LOTS of wooded privacy! Thank you, Charley!We lived in the duplexes across the road while we were building... very convenient.

And here's a picture of my grandson, Ethan... ain't he BEAUTIFUL!?: