I guess that makes me “that guy”

We had our first snow right after Thanksgiving. And I was out driving in it. I had a doctors appointment and ran some errands in Evansville. Crazy me.

It’s been a while since I lived in a second story apartment. Probably since 2004. So the snowy stairs were a bit of a surprise.

I think we need to start keeping a snow shovel in the apartment…

The view from above was actually quite pretty. But then I realized that I was going to have to clean all that snow off my (tall) truck.

It’s an Expedition, and I need to use the running boards to get in and out. So I can’t quite reach the top. At all.

Until about three months ago, I drove a Nissan Altima. I was low to the ground. I used to hate it when I would get behind someone who did not clean the snow off the top of their vehicle. I always ended up with a windshield full of snow.

Now, I hate to admit it, but I am those people. This is what my sunroof looked like (from inside the truck) right before I drove off.

Sorry, little cars behind me!

There’s just no way I’m going to be able to reach the top of this 00thing. And I think I’m okay with that.

Oh itchy tree, oh itchy tree

…your leaves are very itchy.

Last year, after we decorated our Christmas tree I noticed that my arms were a little itchy.

This year, it was worse.

I put the lights back farther between the branches, so I’m sticking my arms in and out of the tree the whole time I’m putting lights on. And I put on either 4 or 6 strands, I don’t remember which.

Remodel Mondays – I always hated this kitchen

This is the part I have been looking forward to the most. To be honest, this whole project started as a kitchen remodel, and exploded from there.

This was our kitchen to start with. A true galley kitchen. The dishwasher is the black appliance in the front of the picture, stove next to that, tiny counter space before the sink under the window, a little more counter space around the corner, and refrigerator wedged between the cabinets and the wall. We had so little counter and cabinet space that we added a free standing cabinet and microwave cart on the wall opposite the sink.

Remodel Mondays – A new basement

The home remodel project is moving so quickly now, I can barely keep up! The first part of the extravaganza was to do some demolition on the outside of the house, so the basement under the new addition could get dug.

This is the east side of our house. This will soon just be the middle of the house. Our dogs love to sleep under the spruce tree on the left of the photo. That was one of the first things to go… They are going to have to find another place to sleep next summer!

Bye bye, babies

Our babies are all grown up! Well, at least as grown up as we get to see them. Our calf babies were born in January through March of this year, and we got to see them grow up until early in November. Our cattle farm is a cow-calf farm, which means that we keep our adult cows, they get to have babies every year, and when the babies are around 8-10 months old we sell them. We wean the calves from their mothers when they are 4-6 months old (then they are called weanlings). When they are a year old, they are called yearlings.

This is Hank back in April. He was only about 3 months old then, but he was always our biggest calf.

Ready, set, remodel!

About a month ago, we started on our home renovation. This is a serious renovation. The entire house is getting taken down to the studs, walls rearranged, electricity and plumbing re-run, and an addition. We’re not kidding around. When we do things here in Southern Indiana, we do them big.

I’ve been taking tons of pictures, and am going to be sharing these during Remodel Mondays!
We have been talking about this project and working on the plans for the house since May. All of a sudden, in the first week of November, everyone (except us) was ready to get started!

We had a week to get the house completely emptied.