The basement walls are framed and we’re starting to put plywood on the outside. Our friend, Trisha, helped!
Here’s a picture from farther back showing the barn, RV and background:
The septic system was completed and approved.
Wahoo!! We passed the county inspection for the footers and got them poured!
The building inspector and the excavation guy both commented on how much attention to detail we were applying. I guess they see a lot of less-than-good-quality instances that they have to deal with. Hey, we’re retired; we have the time to do it right 🙂 . After all, there is a fundamental principle that a firm foundation is the key to a well-built house. I enjoy contemplating spiritual parallels to the “everyday” events in our lives. If you’re interested, you can read my thoughts about the spiritual parallels regarding having a firm foundation here.
Now we can start building the basement walls. After what seems to be a long period of “destruction”, now we can begin the “construction” part on the house. It’s really true that construction is frequently preceded by deconstruction. In order to start with a firm foundation on which to build you must frequently do a bit of “tearing down” in order to have a good start.
Well, we’re finally beginning the construction, or building up, phase. This is a very exciting milestone. As usual, we are grateful to our Father for this blessing and opportunity.
Many people don’t realize how much work goes into a new property before you can even think about working on building the house. The septic system is being built, trenching is done to run water and electric lines to the house, barn and RV. And digging for the house foundation is finally done.
Monstrous machines were brought in to dig up the dirt and crunch thru the rock. There were some rocky areas that even the machines couldn’t bust thru. They had to blast these areas with dynamite to break them up.
Then, the monster machines again clawed at the stubborn material to eventually get us to a level, solid starting point on which to build our foundation.
Our peaceful and serene mountain getaway looks like a war zone. It’s been noisy and piles of dirt and trenches are everywhere. But, we’re finally ready to pour the concrete footers. After that we start on the basement walls. I’ve been going a bit “stir crazy” waiting to get to this point. Now, I can finally get started on my part and the pressure is on me instead of waiting on others to get their part done.
A new neighbor that we recently met asked “So, when do they think they’re going to be done building the house?”. (They assumed I had hired a contractor to do that.) I replied “Whenever I get it done.”
Even in the midst of all this turmoil, we continue to appreciate the wondrous beauty of this place. The deer come by to inspect our progress:
The horses are doing great and we get to enjoy the ever changing grandeur of the Rocky Mountains:
So far, it looks like we’re on track to get the house under roof and weather proof before the autumn/winter snows begin. That will allow me to work inside as the weather gets colder. Being a “type A”, task-oriented person I have to keep reminding myself to take a break and enjoy our new life a bit more (and Laurie helps me with that, too).
What a great time in our life! We are so grateful for all that our Father has blessed us with.
Life has been busy here, making plans and working on the property and house. Little by little, the duck’s house is complete, and heeeere it is….
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| The DUCKAGON |
It was made of materials left over from the barn. Our house is going to be round, or round-ish–it’ll actually be a tetra-decagon, with 14 sides. That’s how we came up with the idea of the duckagon, to match our round theme. The duckagon has only 8 sides, but it’ll be awfully cute next to the big house when it’s done! We actually put two doors in it, with the thought we may want to separate some ducks in the future (for breeding), but we are currently only using one door. Two of the roof panels are hinged and open up, for cleaning, and in the future for getting eggs out. Hopefully this will work out well.
Here are some pics of the ducks today, at 5-1/2 weeks. Click on them to view them larger. The Golden Cascades are all different, as you will see in these five examples (two drakes, three hens).
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| All the ducks – July 10 |
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| One Golden Cascade drake. |
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| The other Golden Cascade drake. |
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| One of the darkest Cascade females. |
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| This is the female I call “Pinky”. |
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| This female shows wings coming out in blue. |
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| The 4 White Appleyards all look alike. |
It’s been fun watching them grow, especially now that their feathers are growing out. They’re getting BIG, too! A few days ago we switched from the smaller pool to the larger one, and even it looks small with 13 ducks in it!
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| 13 Happy Ducks |
We’re continuing to make progress at the new Golden Gaits Ranch property. There’s a lot of grass in the fields that is just begging to be enjoyed by the horses. However, the property is not fenced. I (Tim) started working a bit on fencing in order to not let all that grass go to waste. Here’s a picture of the horses enjoying their newly expanded pasture:
The fence is not truly “horse-proof” at this point. It’s just a single strand of electric wire. But, the horses respect the wire and have plenty to eat. However, we put them back in the more secure paddock when we leave the property.
The ducks are growing amazingly fast. We’re starting to see real feathers sprout, replacing the baby down.
Laurie has lots more pictures and should be posting more details soon.
We’ve been hankerin’ to put up our Golden Gaits Ranch sign for a while and yesterday we took out time to do that. It’s kind of a temporary thing; we’ll likely re-do it later. But, seeing it up kind of makes it “official”. The Happy House will be located on top of the hill behind the sign.
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A neighbor came by the other day and said to Tim: “Are you Tim?”. I answered in the affirmative. She then asked: “Do you train horses?”. Again, affirmative. She wants me to work with her and her horse. I guess word is getting around. That should be fun.
It’s still hard to believe we’re really here. There is so much to do and yet so much to pause and enjoy. We love sitting on the swing in front of the RV in the evenings watching thunderstorms off in the distance or enjoying a beautiful sunset. We are truly grateful to our Father for this gift. We’re always looking for ways to share it with others. Come on out for a visit if you get a chance!
Videos have been deleted from youtube. Leaving this post here as a placeholder in case I find a better host.
Here are a couple of videos of the ducklings’ first days:
This one was taken June 5, the day after we got them:
This was yesterday, June 11. Look how much bigger they are!
The ducks are really growing. Tim is working fast on their new duckhouse for this location. It won’t be anything like the last one, but we think it will be great. Just wait to see!
Most mornings lately have been sunny, warm and beautiful. Yesterday I went for an early walk, and loved seeing the morning sun shine through these fresh aspens near our property. The quiet is so restful, with only the sounds of birds singing. Very often there are times when nothing motorized can be heard! (Click on photos to view larger size.)
I went on to our “south hill” and enjoyed this view of our recently completed barn and home site. Plans for the house are in full swing, as Tim gets estimates from electricians, plumbers, etc. Excavation for the house and septic system should begin soon!
Here’s a closer shot of the barn, now with its siding completed. Tim also put up this nice, buck & rail fence with some posts we had brought with us from the Shoofly house. It adds a nice touch, and gives more of a “ranch” feel.
While Tim is busy with the construction work that requires brains and brawn, I am busy with other chores more suited to my abilities. I scoop the horses’ poop, lend an extra hand when Tim needs it, cook, clean the house & do laundry. A lot of my daily chores haven’t changed all that much. I’ve discovered that our little combo washer/dryer washes the clothes ok, but takes a long time to dry them, and then they come out quite wrinkly, I think due to the small size. I’ve begun to hang things out on the line, and find that they dry quite quickly in this dry climate–at least in the mornings before it rains! The sheets come out particularly nice after hanging on the line. Not too long after I shot this photo it did start to rain and I had to bring these clothes in.
We picked up our ducklings at the post office last week (June 4) and they’re growing fast! They are currently living in a brooder box in our storage room, under a heat lamp. Meanwhile, Tim is building a duck house for them, and they should be able to move to that sometime next week. Here’s a shot of them the day after we brought them home.
We truly enjoy being here. A few days ago Tim & I took the horses out for a ride around the neighborhood. We went six miles by the time we returned home, after doing one big loop. We saw some beautiful scenery along the way. Somewhere along the route I asked Tim, “do you ever miss Wellington or the Shoofly house?” His quick response was, “No, not at all.” My sentiments exactly!
Here’s a shot of the ducklings the day after we got them (above). The ducks are now one week old. All is going well, and the chores have now become habit. In addition to providing food & water, each day I clean out their brooder box. This procedure is a lot like what we did with our first ducks, and we are using the same car-top carrier box as before. There are videos of the 2011 brooder box & cleaning routine HERE.
The little guy front and center in this photo is my favorite, at this point. He (at least I think he’s a he) has managed to escape this box at least two times already! I think I may call him “Houdini”. We’ve now begun to do a duck count every time we go in to see them.
Based on their beak and foot color, I’m guessing that of the Golden Cascades, we may have 3-4 males and 5-6 females. Two of the White Appleyards are larger than the other two, so I’m thinking the larger ones may be males. Time will tell! They’re awfully cute, and it’s amazing to see how fast they grow. I’ve taken a photo of each one, and will see if their coloring allows me to keep track of them as they grow and feather out.
Meanwhile, we’ve begun to design our new duck house, and have decided where we’ll put it on the property. We will need a secure pen for them, too, and plans are underway to have this all done in about a week. Our 2011 ducks outgrew their brooder box and moved into their house at about two weeks old, so we assume these ducks will be ready to go by that time as well.
Last Friday (29May2015) was my (Tim’s) last official day of working (and getting paid for it). They call it retirement. I’m starting to wonder where that word came from. “re-tired” – does that mean tired all over again? That’s how I’m starting to feel. Working on the barn, putting up fence, working with the horses, plowing my way thru a 700 page code book (acting as my own general contractor, I have to understand all the code requirements), getting permits, meeting with subcontractors to get estimates, building a duck brooder, making plans to build a duck house, helping a neighbor dig up and repair a water leak that was flooding his house, helping another neighbor unload a semi full of metal roofing, fixing a flat for a young lady passing by our property, the list goes on. It seems like I’m busier than I have ever been. And, I’m definitely tired!
But, it’s a good tired. We get to enjoy God’s handwork all around us while we’re working, we’re developing good relationships with neighbors, and I have even lost a little weight.
By the way, retire has a French origin and it means to “withdraw (to a place of safety or seclusion)”. When you look at it that way, it makes more sense. We have withdrawn to a place of seclusion (and beauty). But, we didn’t do this to become hermits. We did it because our Father led us here. We still have much to learn about His Kingdom and for some reason He brought us here to continue our “training”. We fully expect to find ways to serve people here, even though it seems like we’re out in the “boonies”.
The barn is coming along nicely. I’m not completely done with the metal siding yet, but it’s taking shape.
And we frequently get visits from our “wild” neighbors.
So far, retirement is hard work, and yet, relaxing and refreshing. For any of my former coworkers reading this, if you are wondering if I miss my job, take a guess 🙂 .