Starting with the heart of the home.

Since I love cooking so much, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to arrange a 10x10 foot kitchen to make it maximally enjoyable for cooking.Within a budget, of course. I must have watched a couple dozen videos n kitchen design, We met with a couple of people about cabinets, and ended up with a local business that gets custom cabinetry from an Amish company. Once those got installed, the granite we'd ordered arrived and was put in.

And then, after much delay, the kitchen appliances finally arrived. They had a hard time getting the big truck up the driveway, so the two guys hand-carried the dishwasher, stove, and refrigerator up the driveway.  I don't even understand how that is possible. My husband and I had some initial disagreement about appliance color - he preferred stainless steel and I preferred black. Did you know there is a thing now called black stainless steel? Lucky for us, because it was the perfect compromise.

We decided to forgo upper cabinets for aging-in-place reasons. I don't want to be up on a ladder reaching for things. But we didn't want the appliances taking up too much counter space, so we built a corner shelf to hold the toaster over the microwave.

We also put in a pair of live edge shelves to hold our dishes, glassware and coffee mugs. We decided on a counter depth fridge so it wouldn't intrude into the kitchen space. 

All the cabinets are either drawers or cabinets with pullout shelves, including one with a pull-out trash can at the peninsula. I used one of the shallow drawers next to the stove for spices. They are in alphabetical order except that I always put parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme together. Because Scarborough Fair.

There is actually nothing I don't like about this kitchen. It's really easy to work in and feels much bigger than it is. Plenty of light, plenty of counter space, and we don't even have all the cabinets filled. Nothing is nested in anything else, so everything is easy to grab and put back. Our very first night in the house I made seafood risotto and the extended period of time I spent at the stove stirring it was just a joy. 

They call the thing rodeo.

So now that we're locals, we decided we had to take in the rodeo when it came to town. This was a first for both of us. The line to get in backed up well along the highway.

It was sort of a county fair atmosphere - a petting zoo, one of those mechanical bulls, food trucks, and live country music. I'm not sure I've ever seen so many cowboy hats in one place in my life.

After we'd gotten our dinner, we found seats in the arena. It was packed and we had to climb up into the bleachers. The South is a deeply flawed place, to be sure, and there were political jokes and long, long prayers we just had to tolerate. But, when I started making my way up into the bleachers, instantly half a dozen hands reached out to help me along. The same thing happened when we had to climb back down. To a person, everyone was friendly and helpful.

While they got the bulls loaded into their chutes, the announcer and the rodeo clown kept up a show to entertain folks. This included an audience sing-along, with one song including the instructions to hold up our phones in flashlight mode like lighters. We sang along (and my husband laughed when I didn't miss a beat when the song was "Friends in Low Places") and cheered when the rodeo started.

The riders waited their turn. The announcer commented that the most dangerous part was probably when the rider was on the bull in the chute, because they were trapped in an enclosed space with an angry bull.

First up were the bucking bulls. Those were some big, scary animals. One even crashed through the gate and rampaged around the arena before they got him corralled back into a chute. The cowboy hopes to be able to stay on the bull for 8 seconds, holding on with only one hand. Some were tossed off almost immediately, and then rolled (or limped) to safety while the two pick up men on horseback and the rodeo clown diverted the bull. Only a few of the riders wore helmets.

Next, the broncs. The bareback riders were required to come out of the chute laying back with their legs at the horse's ears. There were also riders who used a pommel-less western saddle. 

Last before intermission was the mutton-busting event. This is when small children are placed on the back of a sheep and hold on as long as they can. In this clip, it's a four-year-old girl. I'm not going to lie, this was adorable. And while it might seem abusive, there was one young fellow who started crying as soon as he was put on the back of a sheep and his dad whisked him off and hugged him and the crowd cheered for him, too, so there was clearly no pressure for the kids to do anything they weren't comfortable with. We got a funnel cake before we left, and I popped back in to watch a little of the barrel racing. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, but we will definitely go back next year.

Well, it's bulls and blood, it's dust and mud,

It's the roar of a Sunday crowd.

It's the white in his knuckles, the gold in the buckle

He'll win the next go 'round.

It's boots and chaps, it's cowboy hats, 

It's spurs and latigo.

It's the ropes and the reins, and the joy and the pain,

And they call the thing rodeo.

It's the broncs and the blood, it's the steers and the mud,

And they call the thing rodeo.

       -Garth Brooks

Okay, here we go.

 

We moved into the new house a couple of weeks ago, before it was entirely finished. Actually, it's still not entirely finished, but it's quite livable. And I lam thrilled with everything about it. This house looks and feels bigger than it actually is. It's just a hair over 1200SF, which is small by today's standards. But plenty of room for us even with family visiting (as we found out a week after we moved in when my older son unexpectedly visited and we hosted him, my younger son, and my younger son's girlfriend). I have loads of work to do outside and we are also working on getting things sorted out inside, and I will be putting together posts about all of that. In the meantime, I want to catch up with everyone here.

In the midst of a brief hiatus.

I'm not dead, just completely overwhelmed. I am working long hours, having to travel back and forth to the property to feed the cats and check on things, and not enjoying the cold or the dark. Don't get me wrong, there have been good things. Both my boys were in for Christmas and we have Christmas Eve dinner with them and my stepdaughter here at the rental house. My older son has gotten engaged and my younger son has re-connected with a girl he has known since he was 13 and they've decided to be together long-term. I'm very happy about all of that. But the house build continues to go painfully slowly. Just this week our builder fired the masons because they were only willing to come out one day a week, do a little work on the fireplace and then turn their attention to foundation work they weren't even supposed to be doing, and leave again. The problem with that is the roof can't be finished until the chimney is finished. Which means there is now water damage to the drywall in two rooms. I could go on, but I won't. Suffice it to say, I am taking a little time to focus on work and build problems and will be back to you lovely folks as soon as I can.

Another build update.

Every time I go up to the house, the cats follow and do some exploring of their own. Today while I was there, a rufous-sided towhee flew in, got discombobulated, and crashed into a window. I was sure it was dead. I left to grieve, and when I went back, it had come to its senses and was on the sill, trying desperately to get out. Something that did not go unnoticed by Tumbleweed, who bolted in for the kill. I scooped her up and ran her down to the tiny house, then grabbed a towel out of the back of my car and sprinted back. I was able to capture the little bird in the towel and release it outside, where it flew off into the woods. Tumbles stalked around for a while after that giving me the stinkeye.

The exterior doors are in now. This is the back door. The windows on the doors still have a protective film so they can be stained.

And the back of the house. This is board and batten siding, which has a nice rustic feel to it. It will be stained the gray of old barns.

Living room windows (and various parts for the heating and air system.)

And the front door, from the dining room. It's a fixed door French door - so only one side opens and the other functions as a window. There is an identical one in the master bedroom all the way in the back.

And the front of the house. The battens haven't been installed yet on the two ends. Those first two widows are in the garage and there will be a covered porch over the front door, and a little screened-in porch off the master bedroom. Weather permitting, that's where I plan to drink coffee in the mornings.

Tumbleweed is as good a climber as she is a hunter, so she has discovered the roof. It's a little unsettling to look up and see her staring down at me. The inner structure for the fireplace got delivered this morning, so that should be going in soon. And all the inspections have passed, so next step is insulation and drywall. A little closer!

Obligatory fall photos in the neighborhood.

Driving out to our property, we pass a "Century Farm," which means the family has been running a farm there for at least one hundred years. You can't see it, but our place will be the next ridge over.

This is an abandoned house on that farm. I'm assuming it was the original farmhouse.

  

Another farm. This one is on our road, getting close to our land.

Our driveway is at that bend ahead, and the ridge behind is the western boundary of the property.

Looking up the road from our driveway...

and down the road from the driveway. The property ends just around that bend.

Looking up the driveway at the newly-wrapped house.

The view from what will be the front door.

And the view from what will be the living room windows. I am so looking forward to sitting in here and watching the seasons change.

These are a few of my unfavorite things.

Two blog friends, Bijoux and Ron, did recent posts on things that annoy them. I decided I had to join in the crabbery. I tell you, I am rapidly edging my way toward shaking a cane in the air and yelling at kids to get off my lawn.

1. Since Bijoux started with Billy Eilish, I am starting with silly eyelash. The other day we went into a granite store and when the saleswoman turned around, I'm afraid I visibly recoiled. She had such long fake eyelashes and colored-in fierce brows that she looked startled and maybe a little frightened. Which stands to reason, I suppose, when you have dozens of tarantula legs glued to your eyelids. All I knew was that I could not take her seriously enough to work with her. But I don't get it. I'm fine with eye makeup, but not to such a clownish extent that it no longer bears a resemblance to anything natural. And on a related note, "influencers." People who are famous, or believe they are famous, because they have a lot of followers for their self-absorption on Instagram or TikTok. The writhing, the vocal fry, the rising inflection - I hate it all. And when I see someone endlessly mugging for selfies in public I just cringe. Why are people not embarrassed by their own behavior when they do that? 

2. Group texts. I do NOT want to be included in group texts. My baby sister recently had her 40th birthday and her husband asked family and friends to send video greetings. Which I reluctantly agreed to because I do love her. Then she sent out a group text after 9 PM to me and 17 other people. This old person was already asleep when the first ping woke me. After several more alerts from various responders, I turned my phone to silent but the vibrations continued to wake me. I finally got up and put my phone in another room, where the volley of texts continued until almost 11 PM. The only legtimate use for group texting that I can think of is when you and more than one other person are coordinating a get-together. And related to this one, zoom get-togethers. I don't mind one-on-one video things. Hell, I do that all day long for work. But the ones where you and a bunch of other people are awkwardly trying to have a social conversation where it is impossible to tell when it is reasonable to talk? That's not remotely enjoyable to me. And business zoom meetings are bad for another reason - I don't want to have to watch people listening to a speaker or be on camera myself as an audience member. Not long ago I was attending a professional meeting and one woman was in workout gear and walking on a treadmill the whole time. I don't need to see that - exercise on your own damned time.

3. Pinktober. For a whole host of reasons, I find it offensive. Look, we don't need "awareness," we need a cure for metastatic breast cancer. Every single woman who is treated for early stage invasive breast cancer spends the rest of her life at risk for distant recurrence. And when it comes back as metastases, it WILL kill you. At that point, you move into treatment until you die. There is nothing cutesy about cancer, and all the celebratory, pink, "fight like a girl" bullshit makes me livid. First of all, girls don't get breast cancer, women do. And men. Adults. Secondly, going into remission isn't a sign that you are a particularly good fighter, any more than having it return means you aren't strong enough. It's fucking cancer. So no, when October rolls around each year, I won't be wearing a pink boa and entering races whose primary goal is to enrich the folks who run the organizations rather than going to research for ways to treat and cure MBC. "Save the TaTas?" Hell no, save the lives of women and men who are suffering and dying. THAT would be worth celebrating.