In House work!

With our tax return safe in our bank account, we turned to focusing on home improvement that we believed we could do ourselves. At first, I was really pushing for a pro-install until I got the quote back. Suddenly DIYing the flooring again was worthwhile. We like to buy quality products, but we hesitate to spend when we (i.e. Eric) know we can do just as good a job, even if it takes a little bit longer.

We had picked out an expensive tile, but prior to ordering it Eric checked out one final tile store and we found something for less than half the cost that we still liked (just not... loved, lol)

You can see the tile samples below. The grout color we picked is the lower option. 

On Monday last week, Kaylee and I bought the tile and had it packed in the truck (around 200 lb over capacity, oops) and drove it home. Eric unloaded it into the garage.  

You can also see the hydroton, which will be for the aquaponics!

Today marked demolition day!  We cleared up the breakfast nook, which mainly consisted of me sadly repacking all of my books after FINALLY getting them on the shelves in an organized manner and moving the bookcases to the rest of the living room. I am not unpacking the books because we're still planning on reflooring the living room so I'd have to move the damn bookcases all over again.

Much to our surprise, we found that the hardwood was -glued- down. We were expecting nail down. Not only was it glued though, it was glued onto luon.  Now, anyone who's ever done set construction for theatre knows what luon is. It's incredibly thin particle board that's great for making backdrops. We suspect that the luon was used to bring this new flooring to the same height as the different hardwood in the dining room.

Anyway, so hardwood strip glued to luon and the luon was stapled to the subfloor. Ah staples, my nemesis! Once we realized that it was 4'x8' sheets of luon, Eric busted out the circular saw and set the depth to only the floor+luon and proceeded to cut the thing into pieces! The subfloor remained undamaged!

One huge sheet of luon + hardwood glued atop

Kaylee of course, helped where she was able. 

We got a lot done for a day's work. The morning was spent cleaning and clearing. The early afternoon was running shopping errands 

Home Depot for thin set, a special drill bit, and wall hanging paraphenalia, Tractor Supply for shavings for the barn, Ace Hardware/Vinckier for bulkhead fittings (for aquaponics and rain barrels), crowbar, mallet and milk (It's a combo hardware/grocery, lol, yay farm community!) And the afternoon for destruction!

We got the reading nook and hallway to the garage cleared of floor but we still have to pull up the staples. That's going to take needlenose pliars which we strangely can't find. I suspect they were left in Washington because that's basically the last thing I was doing before we moved. Fitting since a year ago today is when the mover's left with our belongings and I was alone in WA with Kaylee getting the house prepped to sell. One of my big projects was removing carpeting and, you guessed it, the accompanying staples.

We will see if my push to just buy a new pair wins out over my mother in law telling us to drive two hours roundtrip to her house and get her pair of pliars. That's time we could be spending demolishing!

Gwyn knows how I feel about that.  ;)

Our Critters

You'll have to make do with cell phone quality pictures as I have not yet found the transfer cables for my good cameras in all of our unpacking havoc.

Without further ado:

Arwen and Saffron, a mom/daughter pair of donkeys.

Arwen on the left, whose birthday is April 27 2014 and Saffron on the Right, birthday unknown

Gwyn and the donkeys settling in together.

Grey Tabby is Ford Prefect and Black and White tuxedo fatcat is Velociraptor

Gwyn checks out the digs

And of course, the kidlet Kaylee, on her birthday, after wishing her pets a good morning, still in pajamas.

What's in a name?

I have it on good authority, from the one person whose been out to the new house at night so far, that there are Fireflies at Firefly Ranch.

I had hoped, but this is even better! There are many, many layers of reasoning to the name I had picked out, and that we have a literal interpretation now makes it even better!

Animals and humans will take up residence tomorrow, stay tuned!

Can you feel it? Our origin story begins!!

I received free straw for the donkeys so I got that stacked. On my to-do list is cleaning out the old hay from under these pallets. 

Inspecting for adding a fence charger to electrify it

Garden! The strawberries are abundant, but we will need to tame it some...

I've decided, this will henceforth be known as Firefly Mountain

From here I can survey my domain!

Wet area of the pasture due to a drainage stream. I have plans for this spot... muahahah

The drainage pipe that feeds into the pasture and through the backyard.

Moving Day draws ever closer!

We've searched for a new home, made an offer, signed all the paperwork, all that's left now is the keys in our hand! We're anxiously awaiting the go ahead to move in (which doesn't even depend on the sellers, it depends on the seller's seller!!)

Either way, I'm very excited. We should have keys before July and I have a potential new addition to announce for Firefly Ranch! During a hoof trim I mentioned to the farrier that I was searching for companion animals for my mare. The farrier mentioned that one of his clients was looking to rehome a Jennet and her year old jenny foal.

I called the client today and drove out to look at the donkeys.

They are super cute and very friendly if mud covered and shaggy but that's nothing a little one on one grooming time wouldn't solve.

So now I'm on the hunt for names. I can temporarily board them at the same place as Gwyn or I can wait until we can move things in before picking them up, the family doesn't mind. Gwyn is in for a surprise!

The family also had a fainting goat!

Baby is the one without a halter, Mom is in the back. 

They are very friendly and gentle.

And muddy! 

We are now the proud owners of the Rochester Rd property in Dryden! Closing was today and it went smoothly!  Our last house purchase was from a bank so there wasn't much in the way of socialization at closing, unlike today! The current owners were there. I really like them. They're staying in the area and I'm likely to use Sara as a trainer for Gwyn to smooth out some edges.

I finished off today with a trip to the car dealership to check out and price Sierra 1500s. There's a deal going on now for 0% apr.  But when I came home (sans truck) and we priced out a base 2500 Silverado... there wasn't much difference in price and I'd get the features I really want, rather than the super expensive top of the line 1500. And with a 2500 I have some wiggle room with which trailer we end up buying.

So truck and trailer are next! It seems like we'll be ordering a 2500 soon!

April 27 arrival of Gwyn to Michigan!

Here's the video from Gwyn arriving from Washington at Hummingbird Equestrian, our temporary home until we can move into the new property! I finally uploaded the video!


Thank you Nationwide Horse Transport for once again bringing my best 4 legged friend to me from across the country. You did an amazing job again!

Our New Home!

We close at the end of this month on this lovely little 5 acre property in Dryden, MI. Today I went out with my husband to show his family around the house. We did this unofficially, the current owners invited us to it so they could show me the ropes and little details about the property and how it functions.

The two front pastures that you see on either side of the driveway to the house are the summer pastures with the heat tolerant/loving grasses. Everything was seeded and pasture managed. I will need to make sure I manage that appropriately. The back pasture is the spring/fall pasture with the colder grasses like alfalfa. It will green up first and stay green long after summer is done.

The fencing is all electrobraid and the big posts are cemented and below frost line so with a little extra corner bracing we could put in some tension fencing like RAMM or the recycled tire fencing in the future.

I'm hoping to purchase the manure spreader since it will be too small for the current owner's new facility. I'm also purchasing the existing mats in the barn.

There are several apple trees on the property that look like they will be dropping apples EVERYWHERE!  This makes me excited.

I've started ordering some things online for the barn soon enough I'll be chronicling getting everything set up so Gwyn can come home. A month and a half at most! 

Offer Made!

Since our house in WA is under contract now, due to close near the end of May, we decided to move forward and put an offer on a property in Dryden, MI. It's a 5 acre property on Rochester Rd complete with 3 stall barn, tack room, hay storage and sand riding arena. The house is perfect for our family and I'm sure Kaylee will love the play set in the backyard. There's lots of pasture space, already set up for rotation and it's all fenced with electrobraid.

If things run smoothly we could close on the new house 2 days after we close on the old. Here's to smooth transactions and accepted offers!

Gwyn eats her last meal at Shadow's Equestrian Center

Moving Forward!

We are officially relocated to Michigan. At this point we're just waiting on our house in WA to sell before we can start property hunting here in the midwest. That awesome house in Dryden I mentioned a while back  has sold (SADNESS) but there are a few others that have just as much potential.

I'm afraid to visit them until I know I can put an offer down that is competitive and desirable to a seller. One at the top is also in Dryden/Metamora area.

We also have another that's closer to home that might allow us to offer retirement board but it depends on how terrible of shape the house is in. The barn itself looks awesome, 8-10 stalls, 20 acres, close to work for my husband.  Whatever we buy will determine what our farm becomes. It's just a glimmer for me right now but soon... SOON!


See you then ;)

In the meantime, have a throwback video of Gwyn scratching herself on a hay round

Training Potentials

One of the things that I've been contemplating for an interim boarding situation is putting Gwyn into training board with a dressage or eventing trainer. I've reached a point with her where her progress is beyond my ability to really solidify without either guidance or someone else sitting in the saddle.

I've been doing a ton of research online to find potentially suitable places to send her for training and I'm compiling a list here so it's all accessible from one spot so I don't have to search over and over again.

Farm Hunting

Given our imminent move to Michigan, we started with our house search. The first one was a bust, hilariously so. My foot nearly went through the floor in the kitchen!

Today was much better. We visited the heart of fox, hound and horse country in Michigan; Metamora!

This house and surrounding acreage is perfect! Now I just need it to stay on the market until we are ready to buy. Frustrating!

Welcome!

Welcome to Firefly Ranch!

Right now we are slowly prepping for a move across the country from Washington State to Michigan. We're carefully studying property that will be the resting place for Firefly Ranch as it lands near Detroit. Our star resident, Gwyn, has no idea any of this is happening. We are slowly packing up the house and analyzing things as best we can.