The Griggs Family Homestead: 04/01/2014

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Friday, April 25, 2014

Pigs Spring Pictures.

Soaking up the sun.

Exploring a new patch of ground.

Big Momma, Gilly and the boar, Big Red.

A bunch of little pigs all snuggled up in the barn...

The next picture! I guess they heard me ;)

A Walk Thru the Bush.

See the stripped bark above Papa's head? That's where a moose has been eating last winter! Tall moose!

Lots of this everywhere in the lease!

Moose sign and cow bones.

The calf corner. This is the best patch of grass in the lease and the farthest from the house. A good place for calves :)

The area Papa burnt piles on a couple of years ago. Pretty nice grass in there too :)

During breakfast the other day we heard a huge ruckus under the trailer. This is what we found. Tucker was stuck! He'd somehow gotten under there and had a electrical wire wrapped twice around his back leg. Papa had to push him back around that pole and untangle him! Tucker weights a fair bit and it was a tough push. Here are some more dog pictures from recently. Tucker is taller now then Chip.

I had to talk to them as Papa was in the pig pen lighting a fire and they both wanted in with him but they had to be happy with me instead. Here is what I normally get..

Can you tell which direction Papa was in?? Lol. Loyal mutt.

Update on the Stairs to No Where.

Before the railing.

Door frame.

Inside view.

The mini porch.

The stairs and porches. Feels a lot more like a house with a front door. Even if the door is temporary.

Out For A Bit of Exercise

R walked/ ran beside me as I walked and L and E did 2 laps while J did 3. We've gone out a couple of times at nap time. So nice to have Papa home so we can walk on the road.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Thankful Thursday!

Ok thankful Thursday Ramble...

I'm thankful it didn't snow as the weather app said it would.

I'm thankful the kids are so helpful...we cleaned the straw bale house today after school, well we sorted, vacuumed, and swept and washed a few of the inside windows, but it feels a lot more 'finished now that some of it is not an active working area.

I'm thankful for Papa and that he's a man of all trades. Today he was a farmer (built fence, mixed feed, fed/moved critters), mechanic (fixed Peggie Sue's something or other so she'll start....sillanode?), a woodsman (cleared a patch of bush so he could build fence), a pyro (burnt the mess of clearing) and a electrician (worked on the lights of the house). Never mind head of the house, major decision maker (apparently we'll save big time on electricity if we go with a on demand water heater!) and wonderful father/husband.

I'm thankful that there is two rooms in the straw bale house that are close to being DONE!! They need a little bit of electrical work and the floor painted. The ceilings we are still 'discussing' ;) so we'll live with the plastic woodstrips look for awhile. One also needs some wall work.

I'm thankful that the job I had lined up to do today was not a time critical and it won't hurt it to wait until the sun is out.

I'm thankful that tomorrow is R's last day of PACE work. Other then fun projects like planting seeds and crafts she is done for the year and has 1/12 of her Math for next year done too :) I'm sure she's thankful too..though J, L, and E are also wishing they were done too so they could be thankful too.

I'm thankful my oven has stopped it's malfunction and is working again without stressing me out, maybe I'll chance making some cookies tomorrow :)

And my one whacky one....

I'm thankful for little J3 and his energy level. He put wood on the back porch today, enough for the day, and is excited that that's his new job until fires stop. He's going to be a great and fantastic man some day... Unstoppable just like his father! But for now I'm doing anything to keep him busy which is pretty much the only way to keep him out of trouble! Tonight before bed I realized that he's wearing, at almost 4, the clothes L wore at age 6/7!! Going to be a BIG man with purpose! :)

It's an old picture but it shows how he does everything; to the max! He's such a little sweetheart with such a big heart!

Monday, April 21, 2014

Stairs to No Where?

Papa built the stairs on Saturday but until this morning they just lead up to the wall and so we called them his stairs to nowhere. This will be our front door for the next few months. The bale wall will be covered in plastic and he's got a door to put in that hole. Papa is also going to make a railing for at least the top set of stairs and doorway area.

Here it is from a different angle ;)

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Kid Pictures :)

Brothers

J (10), S (10 months), L (9) and J3 (3).

Sisters

E (7), R (6), G (2).

Stair steps :)

Friday, April 18, 2014

Pantry April 2014

Papa and Mr. E have been working on walls up and the pantry... Here are some pictures for you :)

Papa is also almost done the wiring and our first inspection is Tuesday. For those of you who know us, we found out we have to have it inspected before our hydro company will switch the power over. So now we can't finish any walls until he gives it the ok.

This is looking thru where the pantry doors will go. The bottom 3 on the right are pull out boxes on wheels for flour/sugar and oats. The face plates aren't on yet.

The little shelf to the left will open from both the pantry and the kitchen, thru the stud wall. The end wall in this picture will be my canning wall.

The right end cannot be finished at this time as we will need to be able to walk through the wall for a bit. The counter top is 2 feet wide and made of oak. There will also be shelves on the top which will be 18 inches wide and various sizes. I wanted a counter for work/mixing space and to store stuff like meat grinders ect. The counter is quite high as well which I really like.

The pull out boxes, they will have lids and face plates yet :)

The drawers pull out all the way without tipping thanks to some very cool runners!

The drawers are specially made for canning lids and rings. With drawers on the bottom for canners.

Porch Be Gone

Papa and I had a couple hours last evening so we decided to move the front porch, it needs to be out if the way to pull the trailer out and to build stairs into the house's kitchen; which could happen as early as today. We plan on storing straw bales on the porch now as we can attach the tarp, to cover them, right to the wood. The porch was slowly falling over so when it does fall over we won't be too surprised and will deal with it then.