Meet the Babies

I’m completely smitten by the newest additions to our family. We have our inaugural livestock if you will, four Nigerian dwarfs (two wethers and two doelings), and a Nubian wether as well. Someday, hopefully, they will be our natural weed eaters, but for now we are just enjoying having all these little babies to love.

It’s been about 20 years since I could hear the sounds of goats bleating from the house, and it’s comforting to have this little herd on our property who merrily follow all the humans around. Goats are adorably social animals, and I could pass entire days just watching them play together.

Getting ready for their arrival took up much of the week as we needed to build a shelter, and reinforce all the current fencing in the back with goat mesh. We quickly found out that the area we focused on, the perimeter fencing with 40 acres of preserved open space was not the “greener” side of the grass in the eyes of the goats. Our goats keep trying to get out of the fence nearest the house, so they can lounge on the patio and pee on my patio furniture. So we’ll be working on that this week.

It’s hard to get frustrated by creatures so darling even when you find their diminutive pellets on your outdoor pillows. Each has a distinct personality. We picked the wethers first at a small farm in Penngrove. Amelia chose Brownie, the brown and white shy and hungry one; Ella chose Oreo, who is spunky and will leap on your lap and try and nosh on your hair. I chose the Nubian, who though the only full size one is the baby of the group. He bleats all the time and is the first to greet you. We’re still working on what name suits him best.

Then Tom went and collected the girls, Peanut and Petunia, from an off-grid farm in Pope Valley. They are stunning, a little prim, though they are warming up to us. Maybe it’s that they are older than the boys that they seem more reserved, or maybe it’s just the boys are plain goofy. Either way, it is such fun to see this patchwork of personalities at play.

Since nothing is ever easy the fridge died and had to be replaced Saturday morning. I found one we could bring home that day (we were having a Memorial Day BBQ on Sunday of course) and when we went to remove the old fridge we saw it had leaked onto the rug. Yes, half of our kitchen in covered in 30 year old burnt orange shag carpet.  We’re trendsetters that way.

When we went to remove the wet carpet, we found a thick layer of dust and dirt underneath the carpet pad, which I fear is commonplace for all the rooms with this hideous carpet and probably why allergy season feels worse inside that out. So it seems “new flooring” has just climbed to the number 1 position on the to be fixed next list. Because right now, the flooring in the goat shed seems more appealing.

Here’s to summer vacation finally here, and finally the time to work on these projects!

Spring in Full Swing

I am learning, however slowly, that no matter what how much time we dedicate to working on this house, it is going to be a very long haul. So long, that at this point I need to make peace with my inherited orange carpets, half wallpapered rooms, missing lighting fixtures, gunky kitchen floor, funky wood stove in the middle of the living room, yes, make peace with all of this as it is going to be here for a while.

That's not to say we're not making progress. We had to put in kitchen cabinets right away, and found the ideal island in craigslist, so in that room I can see a glimmer of what it will become. The downstairs bathroom is done save a little finishing work, but it is so bright and pretty that often I will stand in there for a few minutes just to remind myself we're making progress. The past few weeks Tom has been tacking the upstairs bathroom, and that should be finished shortly as well.

But I hope by making peace with the overall funkiness we will eek out more time to just enjoy our new home. School commitments are winding down, so I'm finally finding those pockets of time to spend in the kitchen. This weekend we had takeout on Sunday so I could finish assembling Adirondack chairs for the family.

Okay, maybe that was time well spent after all.

Before and (Not Quite) After

Today marks 10 weeks for us at our new house. I didn't realize what an adjustment to country living (and fixer in the country living) would be initially; the first weekend I'm at Lowe's picking up paint swatches only to quickly realize that month would be spent entirely on far less cosmetic (or fun) items such as repairing the septic system, adding a septic pump, and installing various filtration systems so the shower wouldn't smell like sulfur. All were necessary, but none very interesting to take photos of for the brag book--there's a reason magazines named "Septic Beautiful" do not exist.

Last month we were able to start on the kitchen. Tom built a wall to extend the kitchen and created a mini mud-room simultaneously. We moved the fridge to that new wall, so I could have a baking corner again like the one I loved at Humboldt Street. I scored a terrific stove on craigslist (I LOVE CRAIGSLIST) for a fraction of the price a new one would have run. I learned how to time a cabinet trip to Ikea where you could miss morning traffic but still be back for school pick-up. Tom mastered the fine art of Ikea cabinet assembly and installation.

So weeks later, here's we are at. It's not an "after" photo yet, we have flooring, paint, countertop to deal with on one side, and a dated brick wall and woodstove on the other. Still, it's progress, and it's nice to finally be inching a little away from the "before" photo days (this one we took when we did the first walk through and it wasn't even ours yet). It's starting to feel a little more like home.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

One of the moms at our school organized the most amazing Literacy WEEK (not just a day for SRCSA!), complete with a week-long book fair, visit from children's author Lee Wardlaw, library clean-up and evening library event. My daughter's third grade teacher was having a read-in today in celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday in which all the kids went to school in comfy clothes and with sleeping bags, and enjoyed a day of reading their favorite tomes (who would like that!). Every year I try to send a Seuss inspired snack or do a cooking class with the kids, this year I was short on time made Truffula Tree Cake Pops inspired by these at Bakerella. Hers are amazing (mine were started a little too late the night before!) but the kids enjoyed them. I think we will make a batch to take with us when we go and see the Lorax during spring break.

We Bought the Farm!

We are somewhat situated in our new home, but not by much! The first week we moved in we were without heat/phone/internet /stove/and a septic problem to boot. And water that smells, as my six-year-old says, “like taking a bath in egg salad.” But the septic is now almost repaired, the water filter and stove are going to be installed on Friday, and in addition to all these figurative storms, we’ve already weathered our first real storm here too (the fields were soaked!). It’s starting to feel a little less foreign to us—after living in the same house for ten years it still feels like we’re on vacation (camping at the start!). My attention is focused on the kitchen, once that stove is in and the funky cupboards out it will feel more like home. Until then, I’m envious of whatever you’re cooking for dinner tonight (you can only do so much with the microwave!)