My latest finds and a chicken tractor

Here's a quick peek a couple of things we're working on around the house...

I've been keeping an eye out for a vintage fan to mount on the wall in our bedroom rather than have a ceiling fan.  I love having a fan on while I sleep in the summer, especially with a window open too. 

 There are a lot of these old fans floating around.  A lot of them still work just fine and most of them have a little rust, a few dings and chipped paint.  I love rust, dings and chipped paint but when I found this one, I knew it was the one.  It was still in its original box with the tag on it and all its papers and looked brand new.  It had been stowed away for the past 50 years in someones attic in Michigan and now it's back in Missouri, where it started out...where it belongs.

It's like a sweet homecoming.

The door on the barn track is another project we've got going on in the bedroom.  I found the old door at a flea market and Jeff hung it from the track for me.  I've got to decide how I want to finish the wood and put some opaque plexiglass in the window.  I'll have another door on the same track on the other side of the fan for the closet...one of these days, hopefully. 

Jeff's a busy man.

Recently he's been helping me get a garden ready and building a chicken tractor.

I, of coarse, "supervised" (skimmed through books) from right here...

for all of about five semi-relaxing minutes.  Then it was back to refereeing kids and animals, playing name that bug and 20 500 questions times four chatty children and fetching tools, drinks, sandwiches and bandaids, nursing baby, changing diapers, etc, etc.

Back to the tractor.  While preparing this post, I realized I didn't have any good pictures of the completed chicken tractor, so I grabbed my camera and headed out to snap one or two shots.

As soon as the girls (hens) heard the clickety click of my camera, they started heading over to the tractor to pose for me.  We let them roam free all day and they typically only come to the tractor to get a drink or lay an egg, unless there's a camera involved, then they're all over it.  Even Petunia, our barn cat, got into the act.

Silly cat, she thinks she's a chicken.

She was snacking on chicken feed when some of the hens spotted her and decided they couldn't let her hog the camera.

"Move over cat!  This isn't about you!"

Before Petunia knew it, she was being ganged up on by the girls and she was run out of town!

The kids named the hen on the far left Eye Pecker, and for good reason.  I'm guessing even Petunia knows about her reputation.  Chickens just can't resist pretty little sparkles, especially that chicken.  "Oh, what's that pretty sparkling thing in your face?" she clucks.  "Here, let me..."  peck, peck.  "OUCH!!  That's my EYE!"  Yep, they're not very bright.

Anyway, for anyone that's curious, Jeff made the tractor out of an old chain link dog pen.  He made an A frame from two of the panels and closed up the ends with chicken wire.  Then made a small coop at one end with a ramp that we pull closed at night.  The roof of the coop is made of left over metal roofing and is only screwed down at the top so we can lift it open to gather the eggs like so...

Every now and then, we find a kid in there, but it's usually just hens and eggs.

He can pull it around the yard with the riding mower when he needs to, hence the name chicken tractor.

Welp, that's all.

Rabbit breeding.

NO, I'm not pregnant again.  Very funny.  Keep reading.

I feel like things are finally settling into a comfortable groove.  I've caught up on my sleep, I think I have the upper hand on the boxes and now when Jeff works on the house, the kids and I are right here with him instead of an hour away.  The kids have adjusted well too.  They're getting back to some of their regular routines like their animal chores.  They're in charge of feeding and watering all of the animals, gathering eggs and breeding rabbits.  That's what they've been doing every morning this week.  Breeding the rabbits.  Every morning the girls put a new female in with the male and keep an eye on the pair to make sure they're "successful.".  There very familiar with the process since we've been doing this for a while but this year we have a whole new set of breeding rabbits so they've had to keep an extra close eye on them.  They're first timers.  This morning, shortly after the girls got started on their chores,  they both came running in to tell me how good today's female is at "it."
Gracie:  "She's really good at it!  You should come watch her!"
Me, suddenly feeling slightly uncomfortable:  "Oh yeah?"
Madison:  "Yeah!  She lays down and even snuggles her head under him."
Me, unsure what to say to that:  "Really?  Huh."
Gracie:  "Yeah!  They're doing it a lot."
Me, trying not to look them in the eye:  "That's good."
Gracie:  "The boy's really good at it too!  He's even doing it backwards!"
Me, just before the sudden tunnel vision and hearing loss render me dead on the floor:  "What the???"
Then they turned around and rushed back out of the house to get back to supervising.  Should I be concerned?  Don't tell me.  I don't really want to know.  Then I might have to supervise the rabbits myself while they breed...like rabbits.  gasp! 

I don't know why I feel so compelled to share this with the world.  Maybe the solitude out here is already getting to me.

 Aaacckkkkk!  Flemish Giant.

Whew! That's more like it.

Cottage progress report:

I have closet shelves and clothes rods!

Amen and amen!

My little walk-in closet is approximately 6.5'x5'.  And was designed to accommodate this.  My tanning bed wall.  Again with the priorities.

(Jeff made it for me a couple of years ago for $480.  I told you he can do anything!)

He wanted to build the shelves himself but we don't currently have anyplace for him to set up shop and do that and we needed these now so I can unpack some more boxes.

(I'm a real neat freak.  Can't you tell?)

We've all had a touch of the plague and have been wrapping up things at the old house like gathering up the last little bits of junk and deep cleaning it, so we haven't done much here at the new place but that's fixing to change.  We're all on the mend and Jeff finished every last thing that needed to be done last night at the old house, so we're free to focus on this house now.  This weekend we're going to start shopping around for furniture for the bathroom and kitchen.  I'd like to use a piece of furniture for the bathroom vanity and last night we were discussing ideas about the kitchen, as well, like possibly using furniture in there too rather than just traditional cabinets.  Or possibly, a restaurant style sink and a commercial, stainless steal island.  There are so many options to consider and we'll have to remain budget minded, but I don't just want a finished house, I love houses too much for that.  I want to take my time and find the things that I'll enjoy living with for a long, long time.

Oh goody!  The mailman just came and delivered the last parts I need to get my 1950's oven going.  That will be a nice evening project for us Jeff.  I've been using a hot plate and I don't think I'll be too sad to see it go when the oven is done.

And just because...

Sophia Renee aka Soapy Feet.

Walls

The pressure is on...Jeff has started working on the house in the evenings now to insure we meet our deadline. Since daylight hours are getting shorter he's hanging up some shop lights to work by. His old lights weren't working last night so he and JJ worked by flashlight. That's dedication!

We were hoping to have the roof on by last weekend but naturally that didn't happen. This is the time when Jeff starts feeling stressed. Even though we've been here before several times and we know things really seem to slow down the further along in a project you get, he still has high expectations. He must be a "glass is half full" kind of guy.

Last Saturday, we had really nice weather so the kids and went out to see the progress and I was impressed. The size of everything is more in perspective now which is always fun to me. It makes me want to get the kids chalk out and draw in the kitchen and bathroom and fireplace and... That was one of my favorite things to do as a kid, draw life size (kid sized life) floor plans on our back patio then play house in the drawing. We never actually had chalk though, we had to go hunt for what my sister and I called "chalk rocks" to draw with. Awww. I didn't care though. It wasn't about the chalk.

I hate it when Jeff gets to the roof part of a house. I usually stay home because it makes me too nervous to watch. The roof is a 12 pitch which is pretty steep and he'll be putting on a metal roof which can be kind of slick and that makes me doubly nervous! I would prefer that he always wear his repelling gear while up there but he just ignores that suggestion.

Guess what. Today is my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy!! We're planning on having a chili picnic on Saturday out at the land while he and Jeff work...probably on the roof. What a way to celebrate, huh? Have I mentioned how sweet my parents are? They're the best!

Totally unrelated to the house...We have eggs! One of our chickens has finally started laying eggs! You can't tell it from this picture but they're a really pretty blue green color. I can't wait for the rest of the hens to get with the program too!

Isaiah's such a cute little workin' man!

See you all next time!

Houston, we have a problem.

Last night we decided to watch the movie Signs. You know, the Mel Gibson/alien movie. We also had iced coffees (decaf w/ stevia) and chocolate chip cookies (real sugar, real butter) to go with the movie. That wasn't the best combo for a restful nights sleep. The movie was a little much for the kids so they had a camp out in the living room and watched Night at the Museum to clear their petrified, alien invaded imaginations while Evelyn and I twitched and kicked in bed till 1am (after effects of cookies before bed) and Jeff, of coarse, slept like a baby. Now, here comes the problem. Remember how I told you we have city chickens? Part of that deal is that you can have hens but not roosters. They tend to be too noisy for most neighbors at the crack of dawn. Well, at exactly 6:11 am this morning, after what felt like only a few minutes sleep for everyone (but Jeff,) this lovely lady began crowing! We always thought she was a little bossy toward the other girls but assumed it was because she was the biggest hen with the fullest tail and the longest feathers and the tallest comb etc. etc... Nope, it's because she's a he. Once he started crowing this morning he didn't stop until everyone of his wives and concubines dragged their sleepy selves out of bed and got to work peckin' and scratchin' at the ground. Then he took about a ten minute break before he started crowing again! What to do, what to do... My great grandma would have marched right out to the coop, grabbed him by the neck and started swinging him over her head for all she was worth and grandpa Barbee would have probably gone after him with an axe or something. I just don't think I have any of that in me. Like most of my generation, I guess I'm too soft. We're going to see if we can come up with a good way to get the chickens out to the land a.s.a.p. We can't be there every day to feed and water them so to do it will take some planning. In the meantime, we may have to duct tape his beak every night before bed or something. Anybody have a more realistic temporary solution??? We'd like to keep him if we can but he might have to be put on Craig's list before too long.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty

Okay, it's time for a few details about our plans here at Cottage Dreamers. First of all, Jeff and I, for years, have wanted to live on a few acres of land that are at least fairly wooded. While we were in the business of building other peoples homes and dreams, we were far to busy to tackle our own. But now we have this window of opportunity to go for it.




Thank you Grandma Lois. We miss you and love you!








We've always been on the look out for ways to lower our bills and debts and have managed, one way or another, to widdle them down to as small as possible for now. You know the saying, "It takes money to make money?" Well, while that's not necessarily an absolute truth, it does help. After paying for a few things like medical bills, car repairs etc, etc...we were left with $15,000 of inheritance money from Jeff's precious grandma. Then came the challenge of figuring out the best way to use the money without "blowing it!" After considering things like early retirement, we decided it would be a great way to kill two birds with one stone and use it to greatly cut our living expenses and grab a hold of our dreams to build a house in the country.

We began our search for land on the Internet but everything was too far out of reach for us. There were also hurdles to consider like how to finance the land. Banks aren't usually too interested in loaning money on vacant land to individuals. So we turned to our local Penny Power paper and found an add for 5 acres of owner financed, wooded land with well and septic. It turns out the couple running the add have several lots like this scattered all around Southwest Mo. We picked out our favorite and paid our $500 down payment and $71 closing fee on the $31,500, 5.10 acre lot and got to work mowing down the tall, chigger infested grass on the building site. The land is beautiful! It's mostly wooded and very private with an area already cleared for a house by the family that lived there first.

Our lessons to be shared with you are one, owner financed land; if you can't afford to pay for it out right, it's a great way to go. We're pretty familiar with contracts on property purchases and theirs was very simple and straightforward. A small down payment which goes to the purchase price, no prepayment penalties and it's a 25 year loan at 10% interest making our monthly payments $282. The interest rate is actually comparable to banks for vacant land, and we can always refinance what's left on the loan into a traditional loan once the house is finished. Lesson two, well and septic. They are already on the land and functioning and while that plays a part in the cost of the land it's a whole lot cheaper than having to pay for them separately. It would cost thousands of dollars extra to put them in place on our own. Lesson three, find a county with limited building codes, restrictions, and inspections. It's not that want to slap together a jerri-rigged shack, we just want to be able to do the work ourselves to save money in labor. We are fortunate to either have the know how or know someone who does. For example, our friend JJ, who has already been helping us, is a real life plumber.

These are all important things to consider and anyone in SW MO interested in doing the same should check the Penny Power. The add is always there as long as they have land available and they've been doing this for 25 years.

We'll be building the house in phases with the first phase being get it livable by January. Our definition of livable is basically, four walls and a roof with a walled off, fully functional bathroom, bare necessity kitchen appliances, and a loft. I promise to share at least a rough draft of the blueprints of the different phases with you soon.

Before I leave I want share some pics to let you into our lives a little more.



Yep, she's holding one of our urban chickens. They're Ameraucana's or Easter Egg chickens. This fall they should be old enough to start laying pretty blue green eggs. Yea! I can't wait!


Did you know that a lot of cities allow you to raise these silly birds in your own back yard??? You should look into it, they're actually fun to have around. And yes, we currently live in the city...if you can call it that. Population, 1,010; intersection lights, 1 red blinky one; gas stations, 2 and they're right next to each other (isn't that convenient?) We do, however, live in a regular cookie cuter neighborhood and even though we are the only one's with chickens, I don't consider us to be hillbillies. Hey, Martha Stewart has chickens!


And here are the rest of the chickens in their coop. Just kidding. Those are actually our kids. Don't worry, the chickens hadn't yet visited the new coop when this picture was taken. What you can't see on the other side of this lean to are our rabbits. Mmm, Mmmm, good. Nope, still not hillbillies.