The Mother Load of Updates, Pictures and Fun Stories!!

My goodness, where do I even begin!!

First, we have our first visitors!!!  Our neighbor in OH, Charlotte, and her sister Jackie came to visit! Charlotte's daughter actually lives in Cody - (side story - when we came out 2.5 yrs ago to buy our land, we let Charlotte know and at that time had no clue her daughter lived out here!).  She flew into the Cody airport (the smallest airport I've ever seen!).  Her daughter Amy let me know when she was coming in and Scott and I was there to see her.  However, we made is a surprise.  We sat with our backs to them as her family hugged and greeted them first.  Then Amy said, 'Mom, I have something to show you this way....' and as Charlotte walked around the end of our bench I said, 'Hey stranger!'.  I thought she was going to lose it!!  She had to sit down and just couldn't believe we were there to see her too.  She was so shocked that when she went to call her husband she kept fumbling with the numbers on the phone.  I was on a natural high that night because of the wonderful surprise for her!

Charlotte and her sister came out to see our place on Monday and we had a lot of fun with them!  They had a first hand look at our progress, we surprised them by showing them that the north side of the roof was completed (yay!), then we went to the Silver Tip restaurant in Belfry, MT where we had the infamous Wimpy Burgers.  Finally, I just had to show them an up close view of our gorgeous mountains, so we went into the Clark Canyon.  There was a surprise there for Charlotte - her daughter Amy is an amazing photographer whose passion is for bears.  There in the canyon is a bear informational sign with lots of Amy's pictures.

House Update
We are making progress! We have the entire north side of the roof on.  First we added the top 'board' as a trim piece (we'll do the same at the bottom but after we have the batten added).  Then Scott added the roofing fascia. Once that was up we started on the roof panels!  The first day we had about 2/3rds of it up, but I think it was a few days past before we could finish it because of the wind. 
Since then, we really haven't had much to do because we were waiting on the last 100 pieces of our siding (it arrived this past Monday) - however, because of the cold, rain, and yes, even snow, we haven't been able to put on the sealant/stain yet.  But it looks like sometime tomorrow afternoon we should be able to.  It's supposed to warm up to the low-mid 60s tomorrow.

Wyoming Weather
Last night, September 10th, it was in the forecast for us to get snow! I personally LOVE snow - the peacefulness, the beautifully made snowflakes, how it transforms the land into this winter wonderland.... to me, snow is just magical!  Well, lets just say I couldn't wait for it to snow at our house and since we were already cooped up I told Scott I wanted to go to Red Lodge to see the snow.  Red Lodge is quite a bit higher in elevation than we are as it's a mountain town, and they called for 100% chance of snow by 8pm!  And we had a recommendation to go to Foster's and Logan's Bar and Grill - by the way it was so good.  After we ate we went and sat in the parking lot of the Visitor's Center (they have free wifi) and sure enough, shortly after we got there the snow started falling!  On the way home, once we were out of the Red Lodge area, it turned to rain, but when we arrived home it was basically really wet snowflakes. 

I was really hoping that when I woke up this morning we'd be in a winter wonderland, but not a single snowflake on the ground near our house.  However, we were blessed with a view of the beautiful snow covered Beartooth Mountains!

Today's Adventures....
I didn't feel like staying at home, not with the first snow and all.  First we wanted a better up-close look at our snow covered mountains so we ventured into the Clark Canyon to see first hand.

Afterwards we went toward Cody and ventured to South Fork (the North Fork is the road into Yellowstone, where South Fork takes you around the other side of the lake).  This area got a lot more snow!  The lake was just beautiful with the steam rising from it.  We even saw some fish jumping up out of the water, a duck swimming then taking flight, and even a 'v' of geese flying above.  As we continued on past the lake there was a field of deer and antelope.  And finally, after we had turned around, we drove over a bridge that had a creek under it.  Way up in a tree over looking the lake was a Bald Eagle!!  What a symbolic way to remember September 11th with today.

Fun Stories
In the pictures below you will see a pack rat... Notice where he is! Under the hood of Scott's truck!  Out here you have to check your vehicles frequently because the pack rats like to get in there, make their nests and even chew up all your hoses.  He also left us some 'presents' of pieces of cacti - that's the interesting thing they do.  To discourage other animals from getting to them, they put pieces of cacti all around where they are nesting.  We tried scaring the thing out of there and he just wouldn't budge.  So Scott moved the truck and all it would do is hop from one part of the truck to another.  I hate to admit this, as I'm very much an animal lover, but in an effort to get him out of the truck he wasn't very quick/smart and got ran over.  So much for trying to save him and just discourage him from being in the truck!

Two days ago (9.9) it was too cold and windy to work on the siding, and we had to go to Bridger, MT anyway (to pay for our siding), so we did a little more exploring.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but we took the long way to Powell and ended up by the Pryor Mountains. This was such a cool drive.  Sometime I'll have to get pictures to share with you all of this area to show you all it's beauty!

During that same 'exploration' day, we passed a lot of farm fields that were being harvested.  We saw the sugar beets being dug up by an interesting machine that digs them up the beets ride this circular conveyor belt and it dumped in a wagon.  We passed lots of trucks that were leaving the fields.  We discovered that they were taking the sugar beets to an empty field where they were dumped in these rather large piles.  I asked my older brother Darren about this - he said they will leave them in the fields and they will freeze.  As long as the beets make it to the factory before they thaw it will be ok, but if they thaw first then they become mush.

We also saw several MT corn fields being harvested when the fields were still very, very green.  I haven't seen this done before so I also asked Darren about it. He said that if they took the stalks, which I do believe they did, then it was probably silage for feeding the animals.

Farming out here is so different than in OH.  I don't think I've seen a single soybean field.  There are pinto beans, sugar beats, the occasional corn field (mostly I've seen them in MT), sunflowers, different types of oats, and lots of hay.  When they bale the hay out here, all the bales, even the square bales, are left in the fields in rows.  Then later a special tractor comes and gets the bales.  Here they make round bales, really big square bales, and then the smaller square bales (what I'm used to).

Let me just tell you, every day out here is an adventure!

Here are LOTS of pictures of everything I've described above.  Click on the first one and it will scroll through them all.  Enjoy!

Let the roofing begin!!

We don't have all the siding up... we didn't get enough. So while waiting to get the rest, decided to start on the roofing! Yesterday we put up the wood 1x12 (14' long) as a trim piece along the top of the north side of our house and then we added on the fascia piece.  Today we started putting up the roofing panels and we got 19 of them up!! I don't have any pictures to share quite yet, but I will soon.

And I have to tell you something funny....  My rear tail light quit working sometime last week and now the blinker goes crazy! But here's the best part... For whatever reason, my trunk refuses to open!! We tried the button on my key FOB and the button in my car. And go figure, there isn't a key hole to unlock it manually - seriously, since when did car manufacturers quit doing that!  But the only way to change the bulb on my tail light is to get into the trunk.  Via Scott's research, it would be $200 to take to a dealership to replace the mechanism in the trunk... yeah, not gonna happen! So eventually he's gonna try to fix it.  Luckily, I just cleaned out my car before this happened, so nothing of significant importance is in the trunk:)  There always has to be a silver lining!!

We've had several people ask about our house and our cats lately - Our house is still for sale. We did have 1 offer (way too low). However, we have chosen to go with another realtor, so fingers crossed that helps!

The cats are doing great!! They love the carpet and running up and down our 'stairs' (made from the crates).  However they do seem to miss the open screens from the trailer because they are always meowing to go outside!  Keep in mind they are indoor cats only, but when we were back in OH we would put them on a leash and harness and let them out... but that's not likely to happen here because of the difference in terrain.

About a month ago, we got to house sit for our neighbors! We didn't stay the night there... just took care of their cats, watered all the plants and their garden, and the best part - we took care of chickens!!  I loved going out and checking for eggs! They had just started laying and had a blue/green egg and a peachy/brown egg.  But I don't see us getting any in the near future.

Gotta go!! Heading to the Cody airport to surprise one of my most favorite people!! She is coming to visit:)

Siding continued....

Yesterday we got a lot completed! We laid out the last 36 boards that we have on hand, sealed/stained all sides and edges of them so that they were all ready for us to put up today.  We also went up to the cargo trailer and cleaned it out.  Somehow, a small mouse was in there!! I have no clue how it managed to get in there as the trailer was completely closed up, but he made it out in one piece.  It was a very odd and eerie feeling to be back in the trailer.  I have to admit I do miss aspects of it.... I don't miss the mosquitoes and the cramped space for the cats.  However, I do miss how cozy it felt and how the cats slept with us in bed nearly every night!  In the house, it is very quiet! I've had a really hard sleeping because it's too quiet and also because our bed is sitting directly on the floor of the living room area - waking up in the middle of the night to pee and stumbling up out of bed is interesting! But hey, at least now I can pee in a toilet!!

Speaking of toilets, our neighbor came and finished our septic tank! Not only did he get it completed and all covered up, but he also graded the dirt around the house so now when it rains we don't have puddle areas.  There was also almost an entire load of gravel left and he smoothed it out around the back door and where the drive way is.  We are so thankful!

Today we put up 27 of the 36 boards.  We also put in our order for the last of the boards - 100 more!  I'm hoping it comes in within a week.  Tomorrow we should be able to cut the last 9 boards so they fit around the kitchen window (then I'll have to seal/stain the cut edge before we can put them up) and we will also be starting on the metal roof! I'm so excited to start seeing everything put together.  The color of the metal roof is called 'Bonderized' and it is a steel gray color - not painted but more a natural steel look but has a coating of some kind so it won't rust.

Here are pictures of our siding process - this includes the pictures I was hoping to upload the last time!  Also I'm including pictures of our toilet and current sink - it's a stainless steel kitchen sink that we put tentatively in the bathroom.  My thinking was if we're bringing in buckets of water, since we don't quite yet have running water, that we'd want all the buckets in the same area. Also you'll notice the blanket Scott put up on the outside wall of the bathroom so we can finally have a bit of privacy:) 

We were just talking today about the little things we had to get used to doing around each other, like going to the bathroom for starters! 

And our neighbors, Fred and Lisa, got us a house warming gift!! They are so sweet and thoughtful! She made homemade bread, got us a bottle of sparkling cider, and included a jar of salt.  Be sure to read the sayings that go with why she choose these items - I think it's so sweet!

Enjoy!