Welcome Rain!

Last night there was a small shower that allowed me to skip watering this morning. This afternoon, more rain came through and brought additional relief! The grass definitely liked it!

The hummingbirds have appreciated someone feeding them. When my neighbor came over she said, "I wondered why I didn't have many hummingbirds at my feeder. They are all over here!"

Just as I was getting ready to add the pictures to this blog post, the power went out. It was off for about 30 minutes. Guess this is one of the joys of living in the country!

It's a Lawn!

The last couple weeks have been very busy! It is hard being split between the two houses, and I inevitably find that the one thing I really need is at the other location!

Mattresses for the 2 guest bedrooms were delivered last Wednesday, and I spent Thursday getting a lot of cleaning and odds and ends done.  Ten pallets of sod were delivered late Thursday afternoon, and the last pallet (for a total of 11 pallets) was delivered early Friday morning along with about 900 lbs of rock. Our first work crew...I mean, house guests arrived early Friday afternoon and were put straight to work!

Just for the record, laying sod is not fun - especially in 90+ degree heat! Terry's sister and brother and their respective spouses, along with Nick and Matt, were all troopers and hard workers! We knocked out a good portion on Friday and the rest on Saturday morning. It looks great! The biggest challenge will be to keep it alive since we are 16 inches below average for rainfall and are currently at the highest drought level designation that they have.

Where you see green inside the fence (and some of it on the outside too!) is all  part of the "sodbusters" handiwork...

...and here...

 ...and along the side of the house...

...and looking toward the road.

A boat ride to enjoy the sunset was relaxing and very enjoyable after a day of hard work!

There is another project waiting...looks like fun, doesn't it?

The movers are here! The movers are here!

It may not be quite as exciting as the new phonebook was to Steve Martin in The Jerk, but seeing the movers pull in the drive was a wonderful sight...especially since they got lost because they followed their GPS!

They did a great job moving things that I knew I couldn't manage - like our bed, dressers, TVs, some antiques, washer and dryer, etc.

The bed looks good against my newly painted wall.

I will paint the rest of the walls as I get the. The dressers fit in the his and hers closets, so the room will stay fairly open and uncluttered (hopefully)!

This is a rosewood chest that is a family piece.

Living room will get painted too...just one more thing on a long "to-do" list! Why did I think that the completion of construction would be the end of the work? It is really just the beginning!

It's Official!

We are now in possession of our new house! Closing went smoothly, and it was very satisfying to turn that key in the lock.

A wonderful housewarming gift from our home salesperson was awaiting us when we arrived! She was great to work with and made that part of the process fun and painless. Thanks, Shauna! You're the best!

The first official act was having lunch on the porch. There was a nice breeze and the birds were singing. There was a very busy woodpecker nearby, and the hummingbirds were checking out the feeder I put up a week or two ago. After lunch, Terry had to check the nap factor of the porch...It seemed to be working for him!

I had loaded up the car with a few boxes of dishes and other smaller items the night before, so we got those unloaded.

With no furniture and bare walls, I just had to put something out to add some color. These won't stay in this spot,  but for now it adds a little bit of personalization.

Tomorrow's agenda includes cleaning cabinets, adding shelf liner, and painting the master bedroom. Bringing construction to a close is certainly not the end...