The Transit Part 1.

Most of you know Papa is an International Havester guy. He's never really wanted any other kind of vehicle. In fact, his long time dream was to only run IHC's as our rigs. We managed it for several years since he got that little Scout awhile back and drove it or Polly ( the yellow travelall) to work while the kids and I drive the green travelall Peggy Sue on our travels. But things happen and life sometimes takes you for a ride where, when and IN something you didn't quite expect. We have to back up a bit. 

Last fall I was pretty sick. I had a couple of kidney stones, a blood infection and two surgeries in about 6 weeks. While all this, and more, was going on Papa's Granny, his last living grandparent, slowly went down hill and then passed away. We wanted to go and say goodbye and see the family. This meant a 16 hour drive and a border crossing. Neither which are super fun, never mind with 8 kids packed like sardines in the travelall. The last time we'd done a trip like this we'd had 6 kids packed into the same travelall and it was pretty full, but at least everyone got their own seat. This time the two big boys and Papa and I would be sharing the front bench seat and none of us like the idea of being crammed together for 16 hours, one way!, never mind right after surgery. 

The New Transit and Peggie Sue. 43 years between them. This was the day the Transit arrived.

After Papa saw me in for my last surgery he headed downtown to find something to eat, on his way downtown he saw a Transit. It was parked in a car rental business and it gave him an idea. When I came to, the idea was fully planted. We would rent a 15 passenger Transit. Papa had heard of them before, they've been common in Europe for years, and even done a bit of research on them. He liked the idea of them right from the start. It was the start. 

We rented the Transit, loved it, and the morning we left on our trip Papa was telling me all the good things about it. I was already sold. I'd been in it less then 20 minutes at this point. I had my own seat, several cup holders, and a beautiful view out the front! Besides that, the kids were happy in the back, all the bigs had a little and we still had enough room for all our stuff no problem. On the return trip we even managed to fit a little desk in the back with everything else. As Papa was telling me all these other good things I had yet to notice and some I never would have, he'd driven it to our place the night before, I stopped him. Flat out told him to stop. I did. We weren't even 20 minutes into our trip and I told him flat out. IF you DO NOT want me to FALL in love with this van even more, stop talking right now. IF this van is something you'd even consider buying KEEP TALKING. If you're trying to convince yourself. KEEP TALKING. I'm already sold. IF you can not even consider buying a van like this; STOP TALKING RIGHT NOW. The kids were all ears in the back seats. It's not very often they hear that tone at Papa ;). He was quiet for about 5 minutes. Then he kept on telling me about the van. And I smiled, but I didn't believe it. Not even a little. I don't think I really believed it until he handed me the keys and told me to get in.  

But we have quite a bit of story between left. Which I think I'll save for another day. 

T and S Adventures.

He is such a happy boy most of the time. Here he is getting ready for bed. 

Playing outside has become T's new favorite thing to do and if the big kids go out without him he makes a fuss! There was a little bit of water in the top of the tire and he was having a blast splashing it all around. When S heard him and came running to join in, then the two played in the freezing water for several minutes. Lol. When S came inside, I'd been watching them from my lawn chair the whole time, he confessed to me that 'T and me we played in water!' Lol. And 'it was cood' (cold)

T is now 13 months and he loves food. Here he'd been eating a string cheese, a granola bar and some crackers. He and I had a night alone as Papa had taken the older kids to the movie in the city. It was S's first theatre experience. He loved it but had a hard time sitting in the chair as it kept trying to fold up on him. So Papa had to have one leg on S's chair and one leg on G's chair on the other side! Lol. Neither of them are heavy enough to hold the chair down! Here is S with Papa at the movie. 

A Two Wheel Barrow Homestead

Yesterday in the city we picked up another wheel barrow. Our old wheel barrow is pretty much just a mixing and holding area for the cows sweet treat mix. Our cows are 100% grain free so we mix them up a special grain free treat for milking time. They love it. Here the old wheel barrow in its spot inside the woodshed. This wheel barrow has hauled uncounted numbers of loads of stucco, and it shows. It's got a bit of a wobble. It still works great, honest, it's just not quite reliable enough to haul heavy loads of stucco anymore..probably wasn't really last year either but Papa is good at making it work. It's been retired from stucco hauling and 'put out to pasture' as a cow candy machine. 

Here is the new stucco hauler, wood hauler and all around work horse.  J put it together this morning. Beautiful ain't she? 

So I guess in the world of the homesteaders...We are now a TWO wheel barrow operation 😉

Hey Y'all I'm resuming the blog!

Due to a LOT of circumstances I've really slacked off in blogging the last quite a while. Papa has asked me to resume writing and I'm going to do my best. :) 

SOOooooo... I can't just pick up where I left off and skip the large events that have happened since I stopped blogging and neither can I just blog in order of happenings until I catch up. So what I'm going to do is label all the old catchup posts BLAST FROM THE PAST. and leave the updated newer posts like I normally would. So hopefully, I will try too,  do a BLAST FROM THE PAST, or new post every day for awhile and see how it goes. (This is today's posts if anyone is keeping track 😉) 

Oh and if you want to hear about something in particular let me know and I'll do my best. I know a lot of you follow me on Facebook so you might have something you'd like to hear more about. I do post a lot more on Facebook then I blog 😃. You can either post on the Facebook page or leave me a comment on this post. 

Oh and you can also follow me on Instagram under jbgriggs77 or the hashtag #griggsfamilyhomestead :)

Here's to a fresh start. See you tomorrow. 

And it's a.... (Gender reveal post ;) )

Boy! Our 6th boy and OH MAN did we have a time naming him! After much deliberation we decided to add another J name to the family. Little Mr. Jacob is measuring just about what he should on ultrasound (even though he looks like he's got some serious mucles already,) leaning his hand on his chin (I think we may have been boring him) and playing with his toes between bouncing off momma's bladder,  kicking the ultrasound wand, and laying stretched flat out on the ultrasound. 

At 22 weeks we are already buying yarn for his baby blanket, sorting out where he'll sit in the new van (post coming soon) and wondering if he's going to be a big boy or not. I think we are all a little excited to meet him! August will come much faster then expected, I know, what with the end of school, chicks, piglets, working on the house and all those sunny days I'm hoping for. 

Excited to Announce....

Fall Has Arrived.

Every morning the sun hits this willow at the front of our place before it hits any other part of our homestead. The willow lights up like a candle with its bright yellow leaves. Fall is here. Frost is on the ground. Cows at the feeder. Fires are lit to ward of the chill in the mornings. 

And The Griggs Family Homeschool has officially re opened its books ;) 

The Back Of The House. First Coat.

Before stucco. 

The whole area to be stuccoed. There are two walls that needed stucco in this picture. The other one is on the side of the house in the milking parlour area right in front of Isabel in the picture. The top wall isn't ready to be stuccoed yet. It will be the last straw bale wall. Papa is working on it and the upstairs side walls so they are ready before our winter hits. 

Here it is after the first coat of stucco. The side wall has not been completed in this photo. I love the little deck he's made back there. 

Isabel had leaned on the parlour gate that morning and snapped it in two! It was a old weak board and Papa replaced it and the latch that same day. Good thing too as the steers and Maggie came up from the back the next week and they would have put moe stress on it then the old one could have handled. 

Here is the other wall after its first coat was finished. That orange tarp covers our milking machine :) The side walls he's working on now will seal the top floor. You can see into the top floor in this picture. 

This is a picture where you can see the start of the side walls. There is more done now, but this is the best picture I've got now. You can see the stucco is hard and white in this picture as well. 

Living Room...Ah We Have Missed You!

What an amazing amount of space! Yay! The walls are not cured yet so nothing can touch them yet but all the furniture is back ABOUT where it was. Wether it will stay there or not is still a bit up in the air. But the stucco mess is done and gone and while the floor is very much less then perfectly clean of stucco it's swept up and mostly clean ;) 

Papa cranked the music up and we headed outside to see how sound proof the house is now, it was not at all before the stucco!, and we were quite surprised at the difference! Yay! Papa said a lot of sound went thru the top window frame so when that window goes in and the outside stucco it should be even more sound proof. He also grabbed his guitar and tried out the acoustics. It sounds better to me but what do I know about it ;) 

Papa still has some wiring to do after a few more curing days have past. There will be lights in the boxes above the windows and plugs around the bottom, but he's got the speakers all set up and the clock, printer and computer. 

The floor still has quite a bit of stucco mess but we will slowly get it all off. T enjoyed playing on the rug for a bit before lunch which is something he's been missing as there just wasn't a good place for him before. 

We cleaned all the toys out of the little kids room and they live in the living room again! Yay for being able to see the kids as they play again. The books will wait for a bit. I've got to find a way to store them yet. We will slowly get it all together and organized. The plan for the week is to slowly get everything out of the kids rooms that belong in the living room and then clean the kids rooms so we can start our new school year with a clean organized space.

 Papa goes back to work tomorrow, full time, so building will be relegated to evenings and weekends. He wants to get the top window in and the first coat of stucco on the outside before the weather gets too cold and then work on little projects all thru the fall and winter. 

Living Room Stucco First Coat July 2015

Just a quick look see for you. This is about 12-15 wheel barrow loads of stucco! Papa started on Monday and yesterday afternoon he ran out of lime. So today he's off to the city to pick up more lime. He can't reach those top two pieces on either side of the top window. He'll have to get scaffolding to finish those areas. He's hoping to start the second coat inside by Saturday! 

He got this chunk done on the front as well. Right now the plan is to get one coat on all of the outside walls and two coats on the inside walls before winter :)