So ... you like squash?

There's a frost warning here tonight, so we did a quick run through the garden to see what we could save. We started with the wheelbarrow; when that was overflowing and we hadn't even gotten out of one squash patch, Dave went to get the truck. It's been a good squash year! (On the to-do list: researching how to store squash through the winter. And finding friends who like squash.) On the downside, our tomatoes got a blight, so there were far fewer tomatoes to process than there usually would be. Actually, this year, I'm going to count that as being on the "upside," since we don't have time or patience for canning with the house taking all of our focus.


... Sofia and I painted the one wall of stripes we were planning in her and Erik's room. It's quite busy, but I think for one wall it's OK. I'm not sure if we quite achieved the effect of the Finnish national costume dress we were aiming for, but it looks awfully Scandinavian to me!


... Sofia helped Dave get the baseboards for her room into place. They are all finished now, as are the windowsills, but I didn't get out to get a picture of them yet. I also varnished the wall in the living room, and the stairs. Now the railings await! I've started sanding them. It's not much fun, I have to say. But I'm reminding myself that I only have to do this once, and then it's done! Then I can move on to staining, then varnishing. And then I can stop thinking about the stairs for a while.

Maybe by then the tiling will be done! The tiling crew is supposed to be here mid-week, which hopefully means Wednesday or after, since there's still a fair amount of lumber piled up where they need to put the tile.

Dave's been working on the front steps, which is what the lumber piled in the dining room is for. He worked until it was nearly dark, then he put this crazy headlamp contraption he bought the other day and continued working into the night.

It apparently worked, this headlight of his, since at 11 p.m., this is what we had:

It's quite nice, I think! After much discussion, I think the stair heights are just right -- 6 inches high, with steps 11.25 inches deep. We wanted to make the height low so that people who don't walk so well anymore can make it up the stairs with as little trouble as possible. The railing still needs doing -- we'll see if the rain in the forecast holds off long enough for Dave to finish that. (And for me to prime and paint the whole works.)

When I went out to take these last photos, the coyotes were going nuts out there, and of course the dogs were, too. Dave said he was working under the steps when they started up, and his first reflex was to grab the hammer. They were close -- my guess is just beyond the slough. Not sure what set them off -- just howling to hear the echoes in the cold still night, perhaps?

We have a shiny floor!

It's done! It can be most accurately called "rustic" -- "distressed" is another good word for it. But hey, that's all the rage now, so I guess we're up with the trends! There are some things I really like about the new floor, like the way the nail holes and other old blemishes turned dark. But I don't really like the way the knotholes turned out. The first kind of wood filler I tried didn't take a stain very well, and it was also hard to sand. The second kind of wood filler I tried worked a lot better -- it took a stain very well. But by then I had already gotten the hard-to-sand wood filler all over. Oh, well. It all adds to the trendy rustic look, right?


This took four coats, and getting it done with the right timing was a little bit tricky. You had to wait at least four hours in between coats, but no more than 12 hours. If you waited more than 12 hours you had to sand the whole works again before you could put down another coat. So I did one coat Friday night, one coat first thing Saturday morning, and another coat Saturday after lunch. Then we went to Menard's to get another gallon of polyurethane so I could put on one more coat Saturday night. That was a lot of bending over! My legs and back are sore. But the floor looks good!

So now it's on to the next project ...

... the stairs. This is also going to take a lot of work. I think I have decided to stain the whole works -- except for the treads and risers, which we'll just protect with polyurethane -- and that means there's a lot of sanding and wood filling to do.


... The trim around this door was Walt's last project before he left. It looks great -- now we just have to decide how to finish it. There will be both varnished and painted trim surfaces in the house, so it really doesn't matter which we do -- we just have to decide.


... My dish-drying shelves arrived from Finland! Pretty speedy delivery, I'd say -- took just nine days. They are a few inches too long -- Mom knew this when she bought them, but it was either too long or too short, and she figured Dave could cut them, which he can. But putting them up is a lower priority at this point. We can do that after we move in. And the plan is to do some cooking over at the old house for a while anyway, while we wait to buy a refrigerator and stove.

Check out all the crazy stamps! It cost Mom €48 to send the package, and I think they added a stamp for every euro. Some are shaped like teardrops. (Click on the photo to see a bigger image.)

... Dave built the little shelf that will go in a wall in the bathroom. It's fine, though Dave says not to put a level on the top shelf. (It's tricky to get much of anything perfectly level in this not-square house.) It's primed so far. I think I'll paint it blue like the rest of the wall.

... Here is a view in the freezer! That's mostly corn you see -- with some zucchini and shredded cheese mixed in. Were talking about doing an apple processing date tomorrow, so it might fill up fast.

... We celebrated Savo Church's 125th anniversary today. There was a good crowd at church, and it was good to see a lot of old faces. I learned some things I didn't know before -- like that the cross in the front of the church was made by one of the members in the 1960s. I also found I missed a number of the people who were no longer there -- my uncle Arnold especially. One of the former pastors mentioned him -- he said he'd been remarking that he'd heard that there's more thinking about God in hospitals per square foot than anywhere else, and he'd asked Arnold if he thought that was true. "Well," Arnold said, "I think more about God in the cab of my tractor than I do anywhere else." I teared up at that. (Arnold probably did too when he said it -- he was like that, especially as he got older, tearing up every now and then.)

Mari and I sang for the program -- we cheated a little and sang two songs we know awfully well and didn't really have to practice. In fact, we'd sung one of them for the 120th celebration five years ago, which we didn't remember until I opened up my hymnal from home and saw the program from the 120th in it, and the page for the hymn marked! Well, it was a time for celebrating old favorites, so I guess it was appropriate.


... One final note: Mari did some modeling for me for Betty's Loft (one of the three Etsy shops I run -- Betty is one of my Mom's friends), and they turned out really well! Betty was very pleased. Check out all the pics here!

We have running water!

We still don't have one of those new-fangled telephones in the house, but by golly, we've now got running water -- two sinks, a shower, and a toilet! Hey, especially with a toilet, what more do you really need?!

Well, toilet paper, for one thing, I found out as I went to try out our new seat. (I made do -- you don't need to know the details.) So I stopped on the way home from picking up the kids and bought a pack of toilet paper. Sofia brought it out to the new house with me after lunch -- we were there perhaps 20 minutes, and she had to use the new potty twice! We're all pretty excited about plumbing, apparently.

Here's the kitchen sink, with the dark faucet I was so excited about. The plumber didn't put it exactly where I'd envisioned it (he left off the bottom plate), but after looking at it for a while, I like it as it is. It's simpler this way.


We got all the hardware for the cabinets put on and the shelves put in a couple evenings ago. All that's missing is the microwave shelf, the shorter empty spot to the right, and the door above the sink, which was damaged when we got it, so we'll have to get a replacement.


Here's the bathroom sink ... grabbed very quickly at the end of a cranky trip to Menard's. Good thing I like it!

... I was up filling knotholes with wood filler this evening. I don't really like the way it looks -- the filler is lighter than the rest of the wood, and it's distracting when you look at it. But I haven't tried putting the wood glue-sawdust mix over the top of the holes -- that might help. Even just staining the filled spots darker would help, as then they wouldn't be so noticeable. That's my next job.


... Erik has figured out how to pick apples from the tree, and (sort of) eat them. (Dave sliced that apple for him after the picture.)


... We had a family corn processing day on Saturday -- two wheelbarrows full are now in baggies in the freezer! That's 50 quarts. It's a lot of work, but it's actually a lot of fun to work with the family on that kind of a project. (It's a good thing I feel that way, since we've got an apple processing day coming up!)


... The swallows have been congregating here for some weeks now, but a few days ago they had a swallow convention in the front yard. They really filled the electric lines! Looks like barn swallows and tree swallows together. I don't mind their presence! They seem to be swooping after bugs a lot while they're here.


... Well, we've had several signs of fall lately: The leaves on the trees are starting to turn, and the mice are moving in. We've set out one trap, but it's tricky trying to tuck traps in places where Erik won't find them.

At least I haven't noticed any mice over at the new house! Though the wall by the east porch is infested with spiders. Dave doesn't feel at all sorry for me when I complain about the creepy crawlies. "That's it, we're complaining to the Realtor," Dave said. (Ha, ha.)

Ah, well. That's all part of country living. And I still think rural life's positives outweigh the negatives (even if I'm typing this with my feet held up off the floor in case the mouse comes running by).

Thanks, Walt!

We are so thankful that Walt stayed an extra week (and that Karen gave him permission to do so!), since we are so much farther ahead than we would be otherwise. Check out our progress:

The bathroom vanity is installed, and the sink is purchased, though it's not yet set into place. The plumber should come next Monday to finish that work.

Here's our faux tile (actually vinyl) floor in the bathroom. I like it, faux or no!

Another view of the bathroom floor. The toilet is purchased, though not yet in place.


Check out that kitchen! I'm itching to get out my kitchen things and start stowing them in the cupboards! Of course, there are a few things to finish: Dave still needs to finish putting on knobs and handles, and I need to put all the shelves into place. We also need to get one door replaced -- it was damaged when we took it out of the box. Hopefully IKEA will replace it free of charge.

Walt did a lot of work on this -- much of which wouldn't have been necessary in a new house, but the walls in our house are not square. It's not noticeable normally -- just when you're trying to install cabinets and countertops!

My bothersome drying cupboard shelves are on their way, too! I couldn't find anything like them here (though IKEA in Europe does sell them, but their European cupboards are in different sizes, so they wouldn't fit in our kitchen), so I had my Mom, who is currently in Finland, purchase them for me. She called today and said she shipped them yesterday; shipping cost 48 euros, while the shelves themselves cost 21. They are on their way! That's a relief -- for a while I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to make that plan work.


I didn't get a photo of the finished door frame yet -- that was Walt's last project before he left on Tuesday. As Dave put it, he's the best houseguest ever!


Walt left some pictures, too -- including this one of the kids in the boxes their foam floor came in. They loved to climb into the boxes -- "just like cats," Walt said!


We also had fun with the boxes the IKEA flooring came in -- we built a little fort, then a short tunnel.

Sofia wanted her picture taken when I was documenting the progress. Look at how much older she's looking already! My goodness, they do grow up fast!

... So, the plumber comes on Monday. The tile guys should come in the next two weeks. Before then, at some point, we need to finish the floor upstairs -- or at least it would be better if we did, so we don't have to be in the house when we stink it up with chemicals. But we think after the tile's done, we should be able to move in! Trim work will continue, and we won't have all our appliances -- we're waiting on the "cars for clunkers" program for appliances that's set to start later this fall -- but hey, home is sweet even without all the trimmings!

Living room floor!

Walt was really getting into his work this morning, putting the floor under the stairs, a spot that will be a little cubby hole for the kids. The rest of the living room and Sofia and Erik's room are done!


The living room, in the afternoon light ...

... and Sofi and Erik's room.


Sofia wanted her picture taken. Then she took the camera. What follows is her view of the new house:



I did love finding that series of photos on the camera!

(She also took a picture of my backside, but I made an editorial decision that that didn't need to be viewed by the world.)

Late-night floor work

The new floor goes down a lot easier with two people working on it, so Dave and Walt worked into the night on it. They finished the living room except for the last row (which is trickier). Walt then finished that this morning. I'll post pics of the finished room soon.

I love the floor -- the only concern I have now is that the place where the lovely old wood of the one wall and the posts meets the lovely fake wood of the new floor looks a little funny. Perhaps a painted baseboard to hide that transition would do the trick.

... Erik has now discovered how to climb on the dining room table. I've hauled him off of it at least three times today.