Its been a while, a long while.

Winter was long, as it typically is in Wisconsin. There are those days when everyone’s heart leaps for joy at the warmer temperatures, but those who’ve been here long enough know that Mother Nature will hit us with a dose of reality check in a day or two.

Life has been . . . interesting. 2020 started like any normal year, but it has become anything but a normal year. Our college freshman is home taking virtual classes in his room and our high schooler gets weekly packets to complete. Huge parts of society are in a holding pattern due to COVID-19. If you watch or listen to anything live you can’t escape hearing about COVID-19. So I am not going to recap anything about it here, other than life is toppsy turvy from it.

Our youngest and I started cleaning up some of the yard. The long tall dead grass is actually pretty easy to pull out with a rake. This makes finding all the branches and down trees easier to find. Brandon went to work with a bow saw and an axe cutting several down trees next to the chicken coop into manageable firewood. Getting that cleaned-up I am getting anxious to take the plywood off and open it back up.

The furnace ran – a lot – over winter. We had the heat set to 55. We wanted it warm enough that if the furnace did die we would have time to get it working again before pipes started to freeze. Our hypothesis is that it ran so much to heat the big cast iron beast before it could heat the house.
GOAL #1: new heating system by October 2020!

The Homestead did survive the winter, surprisingly. The roof is in rougher shape than last fall, and the roof over the small addition in the back is caved in. Alex asked about him and some friends getting paid to tear it down for us. GOAL #2: Homestead a memory. We do want to save the weather vane, and if the stainless steel milk pails survive the demo those would be cool to keep too.

Brad and I went out with T posts and marked the 3 corners of the lot, and spray painted the tops fluorescent red. Something must be done with the perimeter. It was plowed and sits in furrows. That is far from pressing, but is on a to do list. Actually a find someone for hire to do list, since we don’t begin to have the equipment.

Speaking of equipment – we need to find a lawn tractor for out there. Loading ours in the trailer each time we need to mow out there will grow old fast. I’m not too keen on it, and we haven’t done it once yet.

Brad and I have spent time over winter planning what exactly we want to do out there. We’ve struggled with this (I’ve struggled for sure). It won’t be long and we will be empty nesters, so the need for a large house, and large rooms won’t really be there. But as we sit in our small living room with both boys and even 1 of the girl-friends, it is painfully obvious that the room is too small to be comfortable. The current living room isn’t much bigger than our present living room. So, in anticipation of the boys coming home for visits with girl-friends/spouses (some day) we’ve decided to add on. It sound’s crazy, I know, but lots of people do major changes to homes after they bought them.

This addition. We’ve decided to put a living room where the covered patio is and make it a little bigger. I think the family room should have the same footprint, Brad’s not so sure. Off the living room will be a smallish entry and an attached garage. The whole addition will be tucked away mostly behind the house preserving the aesthetic view from the front.

I’ve struggled with this design. Because the current living room will become a formal dining room. This puts the kitchen in the middle between the living room and dining room. Not exatly good flow, not to mention having people parade through the kitchen after a meal to go relax in the living room. But unless we want to sacrifice the view of the house, it is the best way.

So, now the journey really begins.