Before and After

Taking a walk around the yard is a nice break from sitting in front of the computer. I can see my peas up and happy. And then I can go collect some eggs from the girls.



Here's a shot of the garden in March with the world's largest laundry line behind it. I am so thankful for the abundance of laundry line because, as you can see, I have an abundance of laundry! Wednesday is sheet washing day at Rancho Wilhelm. And, well, any day can be table cloth/napkin/random item laundry day. Yay laundry line! Yay garden!



Michael and Rex worked so hard to divide the chicken palace into two flats. Like most youngin's, when they first get out they wind up in the "too many roommates" situation. But this place has an awesome yard! Totally worth the hassel.



Remember these little guys from a couple weeks ago?



Well, in just two days they will be five weeks old. Now they are these guys:



And in a couple of weeks they will be these guys:



Ouch! Not funny! Seriously, it's kind of funny. But let's not go there yet. Right now they are awfully cute and I really enjoy my time with them. None of them really have names. They are "the boys" or "the chicks". There is one particularly aggressive guy that Michael has marked with a green sharpie. He looks pretty docile in the picture below, but he can drag another one down screaming and frequently does. Bit of a bully, really. Michael is considering an early harvest for "green spot".



Of course, we still also have the little brown chicken. Not sure if it is a hen or rooster yet. Here is a terrible picture:



And for point of reference, I have this photo of one of the little guys in the yard with the big chickens just on the other side of the fence:



Now, the whole time I've been snapping off pix, I've been avoiding things ... like making beds with all the clean sheets, chopping wood, working at my day job and putting together my bee hive and painting it. I took a walk through the orchard this morning to consider putting out the hive when I noticed leaf curl on our arctic star nectarine. Doh! I never did get around to spraying that copper. Darn it. That is where procrastination gets me.

But in other news, I've finally decided to update some of the before and after photos I took of the progress of the inside of the house. Aren't you lucky!

You may have heard me go on about the world's ugliest wood stove with faux river rock behind it and burn marks in the floor in front of it. Yuck! Well, here's a photo. I'm not even sure the picture does my months of complaining justice. I'm sure the picture I painted with my words was ten times worse. But, all the same, I'm glad this area no longer looks like this:



Really, get a good look at this thing. Can you see yourself feeling happy and warming yourself by this big hulking box as a centerpiece all winter long? Blech. It was with great pleasure I paid two guys to rip it out (and the faux rock behind it and shove it out the back door!)



We pulled the stove out and completely re-tiled the hearth and wall. We painted and had new hickory floors put in. Oh, and we got rid of the blue ceiling fan. What's up with that??? We were going to put it in Valerie's room. But somehow during deconstruction it wound up in the back yard and the goats (remember the goats??) broke it. Along with tons of other stuff. Goats!!!



Finally some friends came over and helped us install the new wood stove that we all just love! You can see the empty boxes next to the stove. I'm supposed to be out chopping wood right now. But clearly I'm too busy updating the blog. So, we'll just be chilly tomorrow morning.



Now, the kitchen was functional. But I believe it actually had less storage space than my last kitchen. And that's saying something! It was sort of a joyless utilitarian place.



So, we ripped out the joyless utility, painted a lovely retro avocado-ish color and did not go for matching appliances. Yes, we went for the stainless variety in spite of the fact we have three kids. Yes, I do a lot of wiping up.



Et, voila! An island and everything! I love my kitchen. It's so nice and open to the living room and dining room. I can see out the front and back windows from the stove or island or sink. And I'm never cut off from my company or family.



Now, the dining room also needed a little something. Here you can see it has nothing really going on except some mislaid laminate flooring and a fireplace that is not really usable.



A good coat of paint (to tie it in with the kitchen) and some new hickory floors (tying it to the rest of the house) really spruced it up.



But the best part was putting in a new mantle and built in book shelves. We had something like this around the fire place at our last house and loved it. Of course we then moved waaaay too much stuff into the room. But, hey, it is totally comfy. The fireplace is holding lots of winter squash, kombucha and library books/magazines. So much more usable!



Well, that's all for the tour today. I guess I'd better get working on something around here. Apparently house elves don't actually exist. Or, if they do, they are extremely lazy. Worse than me.