February?
See this gorgeous blue and gold sunrise? Believe me, it was a one-off! This is what my morning chores have looked like almost every day. Disgusting.
It's the end of another week and suddenly it's February? I was thinking it had been maybe two weeks since I wrote last and it's been almost three! Writing has been really hard for me lately, I've been putting so much creative energy into projects here - both projects I'm supposed to be working on and projects that I am distracted by, that I don't have a ton left. Then when I sit down to write I feel like I have to document everything that has happened and there's so much to cover it's overwhelming.
We have had a rough couple of weeks. I had some bad news health-wise and now Chris is sick with tonsillitis! And let me tell you, he does NOT look good. I haven't even accused him of trying to get out of going to an estate sale that we had planned to visit. He's so miserable I think he would even prefer to be at an estate sale!
Actually, he likes shopping for antiques, if he tries to tell you differently, it's a lie.
Something really big happened today! A couple of weeks ago I started writing about how amazing it was that our bale squeeze finally arrived, but the celebration was delayed when we found that the system that runs the squeezing action on the bobcat was totally broken. I am so so so grateful that we bought this machine from a super trustworthy, amazing guy and both he and a mechanic who works for him have spent hours and hours thinking about and working on this problem with some help from our neighbor and fairy godfather. But TODAY I squeezed the first bale! Let me tell you, the technique I use for moving these heavy bales with the spear on the tractor involves a lot of hoping that things work out, a fair amount of swearing and grimacing, and more than a little luck. Using the squeezer, you just pick up the bale and put it where you want it! Miracle!! It was dark tonight during the 'first squeeze' so I didn't get any footage, but I'll try to get some soon!
Another pretty major thing that we accomplished was to finally replace the light fixture in the area that I call the hall. This is a big area and it was lit with a single light bulb (ONE LIGHT BULB) in a stained glass shade. You know... Pizza Hut style? Insufficient lighting is a pet peeve of mine, probably because I grew up in a house where we counted ourselves lucky to have a single light bulb in the middle of every room, so I fixed up a complicated system of plug in sockets and amazon barn lights to create this highly sophisticated lighting cluster. I really love the avant garde pairing of the pink floral shade with the orange ceiling. We have been almost blind to this situation for a whole year in the way that temporary solutions can become permanent, but I finally felt inspired to figure out how I was going to assemble the canopy and pineapple lights that I ordered months and months ago. The canopy is a solution for when you have one or multiple electrical boxes that aren't where you need them. We had a custom canopy made for our dining room at the old farm and it turned out so beautifully that now I'm a total convert! These pineapples make me so happy, I barely even miss the pink Pizza Hut shade! Look at us, banging out projects that are actually on the list!
Here's a look back at the dining room at the old farm where we first used a wiring canopy to put two chandeliers over the table. I have a lot of good memories in this room, I kind of forgot how beautiful it was. I'm sure the new owners painted everything white - they are definitely the types. They probably also put that grey plastic wood flooring over the 100 year old heart pine. It's OK, people with bad taste are people too.
OMG, I can't believe I almost forgot! Our poor little lady border collie Fizz got spayed and had her little flappy rear dew claws removed. This was the most dramatic dog surgery EVER! Fizz is cute, but she is not a great example of the breed. She has zero interest in farm work, and she's EXTREMELY sensitive. She hides whenever she even sees a laundry basket because I might shake out a t-shirt and make the dreaded snap sound. Actually she spends a significant amount of time hiding under a chair like a trap door spider just in case something scary happens. We suspected that the surgery would be hard on her, but it was so much more dramatic than we ever imagined. .She would take two steps and then remember that one of her feet hurt, so she would stick it in the air and then hop a couple of steps until she remembered that the other foot hurt too so she would go boneless. Then while laying on her back she would stretch out and then remember about the actual surgery and she would pop back upright and the whole routine would start again. It was the worst recorded case of dog torture - at least according to her.
Happily Fizz has returned to "normal".