Clearing trees in the Garden

We took a walk down to the garden area this morning, after breakfast just to decided where we wanted to put our compost bin and ended up going back to the barn to get the chain saw, the weed eater and the heavy duty clippers. Then we started to work. Chuck cut several trees down that were in the way of other pretty trees that we want to keep. I used the weed eater under the lean to and around the trees. Then, we hauled all the cut trees and piled them back in the woods. I can't wait for Spring to till and plant the gardens. It's even a pretty area now, to just go sit and watch the birds come to the feeder.

You know it's cold in the TT when......

Last night was our coldest night so far. It froze. There was frost on all the fields this morning....so pretty all white. Not so pretty trying to stay warm in the TT though. I put hand warmers in each of the kitties beds last night. Marmie loved his....Annie not so much. Marmie laid down on his and purred and purred. When I tried to put my hand under him to see where they were, he bit me...lol. I guess he was afraid I was going to take his nice little heater out of his kitty bed. He slept on his all night. Now, Annie doesn't like anything "lumpy" in her bed so she didn't want to lay on them. I took and put them between the two layers of her kitty blanket and that was better. She did end up laying on hers then. When we got up this morning, it was colder than 44 degrees in the TT. That is when the thermostat stops registering. You know it's cold in the TT when you go to bed with a turtle neck, a sweat shirt, fleece pants and your furry lined jacket with a hood, on. Then, you cover up with a flannel sheet and two down comforters. You know when it's cold in the TT when, you set the butter out to be room temperature ....nice and soft...and it's still like it has just come out of the refrigerator......hard. You know when it's cold in the TT when your water you took out of the cooler, stays just as cold after it sits out for a day. Plus all the food in the pantry tastes like it came out of the refrigerator including the kitty food. ...which the kitties don't like that cold. We have one more night of freezing and then it's going to warm back up to the 40's at night and get to 60 during the day....yea!!!!!! Not ready for " true winter" just yet.....let us please have power and heat first.

Our little Living Christmas tree

We decided to buy a " living Christmas tree" this year. We found this little one that fits perfect on the table in the corner of the TT. After Christmas we are going to plant it in the yard of our new house and then decorate it for the birds every year and watch it grow. We have lots of pines on the land but not like this one. I'm going to put Christmas lights on it and all of our decorations for it, has something to do with our lives in Alabama. It's going to be a funny little tree and we are sure hoping that we will be able to plug the lights into the wall and have them work, soon.

The plans for the house...

We met Jason in town to finalize our plans to the house on Tues. While we were waiting for Collen, Jason took us to this cute little cafe that had the best cookies and only $1 for coffee. They also served lunch. We walked back down to Collen's office and after two hours of deciding what should be where and how, the plans are finally done! A lot of time was spent on getting the stairs to fit going down to the basement and the safe room but it all finally got figured out. It's really hard for me to believe that there is going to be this big, pretty house in the middle of our woods some day soon.

The Barn

We've been working in the barn almost every day. ...with me going through boxes and Chuck building his work bench and clearing a space to work. We kinda know what areas things are in but when we are looking for a certain thing, it's been kinda hard because there are so many boxes in there. There's the ones that we brought up a year ago and then there are the ones that we brought up this truck load. I have found things that I had totally forgotten about or thought that I had lost. Sure puts a smile on your face when you say...." hey! look what I found!! lol

Annie and the birds.

This was taken this morning of Annie enjoying the pretty birds that come to the feeders every day. The squirrels have found them also and that really excites her. This feeder is about 8 feet from the window. .....it's just like being outside for her.

We're ready for Thanksgiving.

We are ready for our first Thanksgiving, living on the land. I went out and gathered some pretty leaves for my decorations. We have a beautiful oak tree in front of the barn that gets prettier each day. There are several pretty trees lining the main drive way. At lot of them are cedars and pines so they are a deep green. It will be fun to use cuttings from them for Christmas. This will be the first time in years that I have decorated for Christmas and I can't wait!!! It's like living our " firsts" from 39 years ago, all over again. :-)

The BNOE fields

We have a path cleared through the woods to get to the BNOE house. As you come out of the woods, you are in their fields before you get to their house. They have them planted so they can be baled for hay and they haven't been cut yet. There are a couple of paths cut through them to get to their yard. It's really pretty to walk through. Certainly something different than what you would walk through in Florida.

Our play day in the forest

We decided to take a day off and go play in the forest. We always have such a good time when we go hiking. You never know what you are going to come across....usually beautiful waterfalls and high canyons. This time we found several waterfalls and didn't even come across the ones we were looking for. That's ok...there is always next time. We did come across this funny old wrecked 1930 something car. We decided it must have gone off the road and over the canyon and there it stayed. I'm sure the people who were in it, didn't make it. It was a pretty high drop. The forest is loaded with these HUGE magnolia trees and in the fall all the leaves drop. They are every where. They are like giant umbrellas in the summer when they have their big green leaves on them. I always wear my rubber boots when we hike because it's so much fun being able to walk in the streams and rivers. I'm sure we will be spending a lot of our time in the forest. Chuck has maps and maps of different places to explore. We always call Shell before we enter the forest and let her know what area we will be in .....and if she doesn't hear from us by dark, she is to call the ranger station. You CAN get lost in there and your cell phone does NOT work. We've been lost a couple of times but Chuck's compass has saved us. Well, until next time we decided to run off to play in the forest............

You know when it's cold.....

You know when it's cold in the TT at night when the kitties don't mind being covered up with their kitty blankets. It's only been in the 30's and 40's at night but by Thanksgiving it will be a lot colder. We won't have heat in the TT for another couple of weeks. Sure hope the kitties like sleeping with the camping " hand warmers" in their beds. Will let ya know how they do.

Fall on the land

I just love this time of year on the land. We have a lot of trees that turn colors and then drop their leaves but then we have a lot of ever green trees too. Chuck bush hogged the garden area the other day so it should stay cut until spring now. I am already planning my big gardens. We were told by a guy in town, the other day that it's going to be a " snowy" winter. I sure hope so. When it snows here, of course it is gone the next day so it's not like we have to have snow chains....snow shovels...and walk around in the " snow muck" for months on end. It's just " pretty" and fun to play in and then it's gone. I can't wait to see the land all covered in white. It usually doesn't happen until January or on. It is suppose to freeze for Thanksgiving though. I don't think we have been to the land for Thanksgiving without it freezing. ...it's just part of the fun.

Things hopping today

Things sure were " hopping" around the land this morning. First " Pop" ( Jason's dad) came. He and Chuck waited for Avery ( the electric guy) to come and stake out where the meter and the transformer is going to go. Yep, we get our very own transformer. Not long after they left, the water guys showed up and dug a huge hole by the drive way to put our water meter in. It won't be long now....should have power and water in a couple of weeks. Chuck has promised me that he'd replace all the plugs and switches in the TT so I don't have to worry about the TT catching on fire when they hook us up. I swear...some of those plugs and switches look like they are from 1963 when the TT was built. It sure is going to be strange being able to flip a light switch to see and turn the water on to do dishes. ....much less not have to go to the neighbors to take a shower.

My little studio

Since we decided not to move the couch into the TT and just leave the twin bed that Chuck sleeps on when we come to the land, in the living room, the little bedroom that we used for storage could be used for my studio. I was going to set up a corner in the barn for my studio but there is just no room. On one of our trips to Walmart, we bought a can of paint and I came home and painted the little room. Then, I started the many trips of hauling all my studio "stuff" from the barn. I'm still not done hauling but it's beginning to look like a room that I could spend many hours in. I knew I wouldn't be able to stand not to crop until the house was done and I had a studio again. The TT is really beginning to look like " home". I'll let ya all know when we get power and water like a "real home" has.

Power without power.

Every time we have been to Walmart, Chuck has looked at this HUGE battery that was on clearance but thought $60 was still too much for it. The last time we were there, he looked at it again and said if it came down another $10 he would buy it. We went on over to the grocery area to shop and they came over the loud speaker, saying that everything in the Clearance area was going to 1/2 price for the next hour. Chuck laughed and headed to buy the HUGE battery. You can plug in a normal lamp or anything else electric and it's suppose to be good for around 60 hours. Depends on how much the item pulls. We used it for the first time night before last and it was soooooo funny having a "real lamp" on in the TT. It made us both laugh and laugh. Chuck says it was worth the $30 just to see me sitting there knitting under a real light and we still have no power. We also bought an antenna for our battery TV. Inside the TT we can only get one channel but outside on the " freezing porch" we get 7 channels. Chuck is going to rig up a way to put the antenna outside and the TV inside. I bet he can do it....he can do anything. As of right now, we don't know what is going on with the outside world since we haven't seen TV or read a newspaper since we left. We are in our own little world of the TT in the woods. It's really not so bad.

Cooking without power....

Cooking without power has been a little different. Chuck has been cooking all our meals on the camp stove but we do have a little Weber Grill that the BNOE gave us several years back. Of course by dinner time, it is dark outside. It gets dark at 5:00 pm up here in the winter. Needless to say, it's a little hard to see what you are doing. Shell gave Chuck a hat light for Christmas last year and it has come in handy. Ya just clamp it onto the hat and point your head where you want to see. Chuck's hat is a little big for me but I managed to see to cook our yummy chicken. We even had enough chicken left over to make homemade chicken/noodle soup for the next night. It sure will be nice to have an "oven" again though. Hope it's in time for me to make my Christmas cookies. ...if not the BNOE said I could use hers. :-)

The kitties....

The kitties are handling the move better than I thought. They both have a nice warm fleece kitty bed with a fleece blanket. Chuck even bought them "hand warmers"...lol..for when it gets really cold. Will put them in the middle of their beds under their blankets. I moved the book case to under the window and made them a little warm sitting area so they can watch the birds come to the feeder that is just outside the window. Once they learn that this is "home" now, I think they will love it here.

Welcome Home!

When we pulled up to our gate after dark the first night, we found a huge "Welcome Home" banner stretched across the gate. Shell and I both said " Awwwww" and got tears in our eyes. It was from the BNOE. We walked down to their house to tell them that we had made it safe and sound and they were having a " camp out" in their back yard with a nice warm bon fire going. Each of us was handed a big glass of wine and a dinner plate with a big baked potato, covered with chili on it. Next was the best "smore" that I have ever had, made with Reese's peanut butter cups. OMG!! was soooo good. The perfect first night of living on the land. ...thanks to the BNOE.

The first errand we had to run was to the post office and to buy a BIG mail box. It is now offical...we live in Alabama. :-)

Unloading.....

The U Haul truck got stuck in the " muck" about 50 feet from the barn so everyone had to carry everything a long ways. Usually Chuck just backs the truck up to the barn and it's really easy to unload. Not this time!! We had wonderful help unloading. All we had to do was call Andrea, Andy and Cason and they were there. Along with Jason. He came just in time as Andy, Andrea and Cason had to leave. Plus, Jason has a four wheel drive truck and could pull the U Haul truck out of the " muck" once it was all unloaded. As Shell said to me " You have some good people up here, Mama!" and I so agree with her. We were soooo glad that Shell was able to come help too. It just made the " leaving everyone behind" a little easier on us with her coming . Well, the barn is FULL. We just have little aisles to walk but we have spent a couple of days going through stuff and organizing it better. Sure glad the barn is as big as it is!!!!