Site moving

This little blog is moving.

I tried to send the new location to everyone that I think might be visiting, if I've missed you and you are interested, please email me at bikingala@comcast.net and I'll send you to the new address.

The housebuilding is finally underway this week :-)

He's a Bold One

He doesn't even try to hide and do it anymore. When I pick, he picks.

A Chapter Ends, a Chapter Begins

It's a big day in the Smith household.

Over a year ago we finally found and purchased our property in the country after 3 or 4 years of searching. We planned for several months to build a log home, but in December made a big decision to switch gears and build a farmhouse instead. In February we hired a firm to create our blueprints, and thought that since we had the plans drawn except for fine details, that we would have finished plans in a month or so. We finally got the completed plans at the end of May. On June 4 we applied for the construction loan, after being pre-qualified. Again, thinking a few weeks and we'd be closing. If you read the previous post, you saw that we encountered problems with the property department at the mortgage company. FINALLY, yesterday, after our lender threatened her own institution that if they didn't close this loan, she'd take it elsewhere and get it closed, they set a closing for 3:00 this afternoon. It actually happened. We're still feeling a little disbelief. Disbelief that it actually happened finally.

So tonight we met with Daniel the Builder. He has been working deligently behind the scenes to get everything ready to go, even though he didn't have a signed contract. He's been awesome, hanging in there with us through all of the cancelled closings, all he frustration, just having faith. So tonight we met and signed the contract and started making immediate plans. One of the things he's done is get estimates for the excavation and concreting for the basement, and he told us tonight he already has a crew ready to start excavating ... this coming MONDAY!! We are going to actually see digging on our property on MONDAY!! Needless to say, we're on a bit of a cloud right now. I'm not sure how my boss is going to take it when I tell him I have to be out for a bit on Monday to go take pictures when they start to dig :-).

So, now the fun begins. I get to start shopping. I'm not usually much of a shopper, but I think this may be a bit different. I could actually get excited about it I think.

First order of business, find the perfect pot filler!

A Few of My Favorite Things

We have enjoyed the peppers, tomatoes and zucchini from our little backyard garden so much this year. We are really looking forward to having a huge garden next year at our new house and growing all of our vegetables that we can.

Every day lately is harvest day.

I love cooking with fresh herbs, so I usually plant plenty. I've always wanted to dry them, but haven't had the time. That's one of the things I want to start doing next year. But for this year, I did try something I've not done before - I put quarts of basil and rosemary in the freezer, following freezing instructions I found on the Internet. Supposedly they freeze well, we'll see.

We will hopefully have some good news on the house-building front tomorrow. We are supposed to close on the construction loan tomorrow afternoon, after many, many trials. There has been concern by the property department at our mortgage company, who looked at the property pictures the appraisers provided them and deduced that we are building in the middle of nowhere. And a house in the middle of nowhere doesn't appraise for a lot, so they couldn't agree with the appraisers on the appraised value, evidently. It took our loan officer driving out to our property and taking pictures of surrounding properties, measuring distances to Huntsville and to schools and other houses, etc. You get it. A lot of work. And a lot of postponed closing dates. FINALLY today all the new evidence was accepted and everything closed out. Our very patient builder has everything in order, ready to break ground as soon as we give him the go-ahead. Hopefully that will be tomorrow.

We did get a nice surprise last weekend when we made our usual trek to look at the property (yes, we look at it a lot. Just look at it.) When we turned off the main road we saw a beautiful site over the rise...utility power poles! Two of them, down the property line, ready for power to be turned on when we take the building permit to the utility company. They will later run underground cables from the property line to the house.

It doesn't take much to get us excited these days :-)

Summer Temptations

It really doesn't matter how well you try to control the diet during the summer, there's always something yummy lurking around the farmer's market, or growing on a tree in the yard, like at my lucky friend Dawn's. Things that really should turn into pies, muffins, jams...

We couldn't resist the temptation to buy lots of blackberries so that we could freeze them and have them all year. These didn't make it to the freezer.

They turned into this ... a delicious cobbler.


Yum. I love summer.

Correction on the Last Post

OOOPS...error on the zucchini bread recipe on the last post.

The oil ingredients should be 1 c. (or 1/2 c. applesauce and 1/2 c. oil).

I'm sorry, hope no one made this yet, without realizing 1 c. of each would be A LOT!

Happy Baking

Zucchini and More Zucchini

I mentioned in previous posts that we have zucchini the size of footballs growing in our little garden. I threw a couple of huge ones away, thinking they wouldn't be good. Then yesterday we were at the Madison County Farmer's Market, and I saw...yep...HUGE zucchinis for sale. I asked the farmer if they were good when they were that large (like I thought he would say no?), and he assured me they are. So, I decided I'd try using the huge ones to make bread.
It wasn't hard to find a huge one out there.

This is the ingredient list I used:

INGREDIENTS
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 c. whole wheat, 2 c. white)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil (or 1 c. applesauce, 1 c. oil)
• 2 cups white sugar (or 1 c. white, 1 c. brown)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.


Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. I used my pure vanilla that I got in Mexico last week. You can't beat pure vanilla.


Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well.


Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined.


Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. I suggest leaving it in as close to the max as possible without it burning, at least 50 - 55 minutes if possible. It's very, very moist, and might be a bit too moist at 40 minutes. In my oven 50 min was good.


Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.




The one zucchini made these 2 loaves, and I had about 1/4 of it leftover. About 40 more loaves, and maybe I can use up the large ones I have left.

Look at my Hydrangeas!!

Do I not grow the most awesome hydrangeas? Boy, you wouldn't believe how hard I've worked on these!

OK, these are actually my neighbor Linda's hydrangeas. Linda has the green thumb. Click on the image to see just how beautiful the blooms are.

These are my hydrangeas...sadly...


But look at my Russian Sage!!! Do I not grow the most awesome Russian Sage?


Yes, of course it's my Russian Sage!

Russian Sage has the most incredible smell, and the prettiest light purple flowers. It's great to grow at the base of something taller. I used it at the bottom of a climbing rose to kind of hide the bare stalks at the bottom...ok, no picture of the rose, it died. OK, not so good at climbing roses maybe, but DON'T I GROW THE MOST AWESOME RUSSIAN SAGE?

Now That's What I Call a Zucchini!

Our first harvest.

Summer Time is Salad Time

Summer time is salad time to me. There's nothing better on a hot summer day than a cold refreshing salad. I love new and interesting recipes, and as it seems we are always so busy and on the run, they have to be easy to make. I have a couple of old stand-bys and one great new interesting one that I just love, and would like to share.

My new interesting one is absolutely delicious, providing you are fond of the 3 (yes, only 3) ingredients it contains. Weird as it may sound, trust me and give it try, I made it a few weeks ago for a group of 10, and only 1 person didn't devour it.

Pay close attention to these complicated instructions...

Watermelon-Feta Salad
Ingredients - Watermelon, Red Onion and Feta Cheese

Cut the watermelon into bite-sized chunks and place into a bowl.
Slice the red onion very, very thin...then cut into bite-sized pieces and place on top of the watermelon.

Sprinkle Feta cheese on the top, then spread a few more onions on top (I know what you are thinking about now...just trust me).

That's it! ENJOY. Trust me.

Another of my trusty favorites is Strawberry and Balsamic Vinegar Salad, and goes like this:

1 pint of fresh strawberries


1 TSBP Sugar (I use a little less, do it to taste)
1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar

Wash and slice strawberries and place in a bowl.

Sprinkle the sugar on strawberries, and add vinegar. Toss, and let stand for 20 minutes.


ENJOY.

Come on Already!

I am so ready to build this house. It looks like we might be only a few weeks away from breaking ground. Daniel the Builder is already doing a lot of the upfront legwork, getting all the pieces in place. I never knew there was so much involved...temporary utilities, water, surveyor for the house location, insurance, accounts with businesses that will supply materials, engineers...and on, and on and ...

Meanwhile, we are trying to do a little biking, working at the property (yes that grass does grow fast), and doing a little gardening in our wee little plot.

The tomatoes are still small and green.


I do believe Ozzie the Terror likes the tomatoes too...we find a lot of half-eaten ones.

The zucchini squash is beautiful, and luckily I don't think he's found that yet.

(He does eat chives occasionally, and let me tell you, you do not want him in the same room with you when he's done that. Just trust me.)

So far he's left the basil alone, and we've really enjoyed it, it's delicious this year.

I really hope to become a daily blogger soon, with much really exciting (to me and Mike :-)) house stuff going on. Stay tuned.

Slowly But Surely, We're Getting There

We are making progress! We've interviewed 3 builders, gotten 2 estimates so far and expect the third this week. We are pretty sure we know who we are going to go with. It's pretty exciting...discussing all the options for our little farmhouse - the cedar siding (maybe), the metal roof (for sure), and the 'OEC' as our soon to be builder calls it (my 'Outrageously Expensive Cooktop' :-)), just to name a few.

What we love about 'Daniel the Builder' as I'll call him, is that he focuses on Smart Building - low operating costs, improved environmental quality and energy savings (that's where the OEC comes in).

We're hoping to be able to break ground sometime in June - keep your fingers crossed for us.

Spring in Full Bloom - Well Worth the Wait

Click on the picture to see the ga-jillions of blooms.

Slow Going on the Home Front

OK, I am probably the worst blogger ever. Things are moving slowly with the house building, so I’ve tended to not update about anything. But, there have been things going on. Our house plans should be finished any day now (waiting to hear), and the next step is to sign with a builder. We’ve had a lot of fun window shopping for the new house…kitchen appliances, bathroom fixtures, there’s so much cool stuff out there, I can hardly wait.

While we’re waiting, we’re taking care of the ‘not so much fun’ stuff that has to be done. Such as perc tests. The good news is that we have great soil. That’s going to be a good thing since we’re planning to have a garden the size of Ardmore. Guga gave us his sniff of approval.


We did manage to get away for a much needed break last week. We did our annual trek to Gatlinburg for our anniversary, and had a great time doing nothing in our wonderful little cabin.


Well, we did nothing AFTER we did our usual purchasing of our annual necessities, such as a couple of pieces of pottery from Alewine Pottery, you have to have those.

And of course we needed a couple of more ‘Life is Good’ items. OK, maybe we didn’t NEED them, but we started a tradition a couple of years ago of picking up a few things from our favorite little hole in the wall shop, so now we have to. Then there’s the soy candle shop, and the Pepper Palace. OK and breakfast at the Pancake Pantry, have to do that every year. Believe it not though, we did all that in one day, and spent the other few days being couch potatoes and hot tub bums, and enjoying the great view of the Smokies. We’re already looking forward to next year.


I just KNOW I’m going to have new house stuff to share, just any day now.

Is it Spring Yet?

We've had quite enough bonding for one winter.

I've been tagged!

My friend Dawn Ramblings from Alabama tagged me to list 6 quirky things about myself. For those of you who may have thought I was a little quirky, you probably have no idea...

1) I have to be doing something on my laptop when ‘watching’ television. I get bored watching television, and Mike can’t do anything BUT watch television in the evenings after work. So in order to spend time together after dinner I’ll sit in my recliner in front of the television and listen, but I have to be writing emails, checking work stuff, playing online games…something. Sometimes eating at the same time. Can’t just sit there and watch.

2) I have to have a plan. A plan for the weekend, a plan for the day, a plan for my grocery shopping trip. I start asking Mike what the plan for the weekend is on about Tuesday or Wednesday. You would think this would indicate organization. It doesn’t. Just have to have the plan. And if the plan doesn’t work out, that’s fine…just had to have one.

3) When I eat M&M’s, I take them out of the package and put them on a napkin, sorted by color, then eat any right away that will cause a color grouping to have an odd number. After I have groups of even numbered colors, I eat them rotating through the groups…a red, a green, a yellow…until they are gone.

4) I love, love, love, I mean LOVE my dogs. But they can’t lick me. No licking. In the event that one of them slips one in, straight to the sink to wash.

5) When I eat pizza, I pick the toppings off one by one and eat them, then eat the crust.

6) I always want to drive when we go anywhere. I don’t like to be driven. If friends want to go to lunch, I want to drive. If we are traveling, I want to drive. I guess that’s a quirk, Mike thinks it’s a control issue.

OK Dawn, now that you know just how quirky I am, you are still going to let me sit with the girls...right? (they can just call me crazy Aunt Paulette, everyone should have a crazy aunt)

Now I tag Jenny.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme...? Not quite yet.

There’s nothing like days like we had Saturday to get me thinking about Spring and our future living in the country. I just want to go plant something! In my current herb garden Rosemary is looking pretty rough, and lonely. I think at least I need to give her a nice haircut, and hopefully it won’t be long until thyme, lavender, basil and the rest of the crowd can join her.

One of the things I’m looking forward to is frugally living off the land. My father always had a way-too-big garden and an orchard, and was an avid hunter and fisherman. So his, mine, and many other deep-freezes and cabinets were always abundantly supplied with canned and frozen fruits and vegetables, fish and game. I can’t wait to do the same…sans the game…I think I’d rather see those guys as they pass through, rather on my dinner plate.

It’s one thing to have my dad give me a big container of deer stew ready to heat up, but quite another to have to start from scratch. I guess he’d be disappointed, but the bow and arrows and the firearms that he left to me will likely be used to shoot cans off the fence like we used to do when I was a kid, or learning to hit the bulls-eye on targets for that inevitable day that I get called to participate in the Amazing Race and my archery skills will be required. Actually, he may not be disappointed, he maybe would expect it. He was always (well, usually) very understanding when I wouldn’t pull the trigger when I had Thumper in my site.

I’ve been told by a local resident of the area that our property is part of a deer migration path, so likely we’ll have to have a really TALL fence around the garden. I saw my first one last summer as we were resting on the truck bed one Saturday looking out toward the woods. He made a graceful exit from the woods on one side and didn’t dally too much before disappearing into another wooded area, but not before giving me a glimpse as he glided across the field.

Now, farm animals are a different story. I’ve been thinking that maybe a couple of cows would be nice…maybe one named Buttercup and one named Dinner? Mike doesn’t see the need for Buttercup, he thinks they are all inevitably dinner. He asks ‘what will you do with Buttercup in the long run’…hmmm. It’s a thought, and animal lover that I am I really don’t think I’ll get too attached to a cow. They are a bit scary if you ask me...those big heads, with those big eyes...

The Road Home, Eventually

This is the little bumpy road that leads to what we'll call, for now at least, 'The Funny Farm' (until we come up with a better name - 'Tara' didn't fit, so this was my second choice). The road is bumpy, rough, has holes, and won't be tons of fun on the road bike, but it leads us to what will eventually be our dream home. Our property is at the end, just before the woods on the left.

There are also a few nice surpises at it's end... like this one.

I think this will be my 'time out' place. Mike thinks it will be his too.

We've had quite a trying time the past few weeks. We decided last year that we would build a log home on this land. We've focused on the land a lot, and only recently got serious with the drawings we had in hand to edit and send to the log home manufacturer. We got the modifications made last week, and sent them in and requested a formal estimate. We received the estimate, which didn't surprise us too much, but, the list of things NOT included surprised us quite a bit. Seems like almost nothing but logs was included in the estimate. Long story short, our little cabin in the woods could end up costing us about $150 per square foot to build. Yikes, not exactly what we had in mind. We had in mind building a house that we could pay for in 15 years or less, then have the ability to travel and do all the fun things we like to do. So, this week Plan B has been taking shape. We're taking our same floor plan (pretty much) and building a farmhouse. After a day or two of sadness, we both feel very good about it now...we'll be able to upgrade some things we wouldn't have been able to if we'd stayed with the original plan, and hopefully have a paid-for farmhouse in 10-15 years and the ability to do all the fun things we enjoy doing so much. God was watching over us...we got the estimate at a very critical time, just in time to prevent us from moving forward with some things that would have affected us very negatively in light of this new information.

So, we are looking for a general contractor and architect, and plan to move forward as soon as possible with the new plan.

More to come.

Finished!

Floors that is. Christmas was quite interesting for us this year, as we were in the midst of the floor refinishing. On Christmas day we finally moved the bed from the living room where we had been sleeping for 1 and 1/2 weeks, back to our bedroom. It was unbelievable how good it felt to be back in our own bed in our own room.

Here's a look at what we uncovered when we pulled the carpet up...

The black and white spot wasn't there, that's my shadow, Ozzie...
The sanding took a few days, but we had plenty of help...

We think the results were definitely worth the effort (we think that now...that's it's over).

We are very close to putting the house on the market, I'm calling the realtor this week to talk about details. In the meantime we have to find a rental house near our property to live in while we build. It's getting exciting, and scary. Very scary.