“Nothing Changed”

It has been so long since I added a new blog post. Why? Because nothing much has changed. That is until I started getting pictures ready to upload. I have about 30 to choose from, so apparently life hasn’t been quite as still as previously thought.

Our biggest recent change has been doors. You don’t realize how important doors are until you have company and have no doors. We have had one beat-up bathroom door that we bought for a few bucks so we had a bathroom door. But now, we have DOORS! We are still missing 4 fairly minor ones – one to replace the beat-up one and a couple closet doors. We need a barn door on my office, but I don’t think the barn door will happen for awhile. Actually I know it won’t as I edit this since yesterday. Noel had to cut down one of our larger trees because it died. It has some beautiful spalting (my new vocabulary word!) that will make a beautiful barn door. That wood is going in the kiln this week.

And they are beautiful doors! These were made from wood from trees that Noel has cut down, taken through the sawmill, dried in his kiln and then built. The oak is from our land. The black walnut he has cut down but not off of our land. There are flaws in the wood, but they are our flaws, and they are perfect as is.

Along with the doors came the baseboard. This also is still a work in progress, covering the base of just one wall right now. These match the doors, made of oak with a black walnut inlay.

We also got our lower cabinet base and granite countertops in the fall which I never posted about. That was amazing! I forgot how fun it can be to cook when you have countertops! I am hoping the doors and drawers are getting close to the top of Noel’s agenda, but there seems to be so many other things. The wall above the sink cabinet will be open shelves, so hopefully that will come soon. I have a large pantry that will be amazing once I have places to put my dishes other than the pantry. The bases of the cupboards are black walnut that Noel has taken through his whole process of cutting down, sawing, and drying. The walnut on the shelves at the end of the sink cabinet are beautiful! There will eventually be a 9′ island with a unique top that I will just wait to show you. The wood is all dried and ready to go – just lacking the time to get it done. And now as I edit since yesterday, the shelves will be next on the agenda and then the island – before the drawers and cupboard doors. I don’t know what I think about that except it is logical as there will be cupboard doors and drawers needed for the island so it is practical to make them at the same time.

These pictures were taken right after they were installed but Noel has put pieces of wood in where the drawers will go so that I have a little bit of storage space while I wait. That is greatly appreciated and was a huge help.

And the bathrooms – one pic is before faucets were installed

So what is he doing instead of finishing my house, you might ask? Playing video games of course! NOT! God allowed us to have a mini-excavator and tractor which he has been using to help others. Sometimes it’s a paying job, but most times it is to help someone. He has helped build driveways, dug trenches, cut down trees, cleared land, moved rocks, moved logs, moved trailers, moved gravel, helped with plumbing issues. . . We had some bad weather this winter, and we were all stuck at home because of the ice on our gravel roads. No one plows our roads, so Noel used his tractor and some of his sawdust to help make a hill passable.

Lately he has been cutting down trees and making firewood. He has logs that are going to rot if he doesn’t get them through his sawmill, so that has been on his agenda for the last few days. He has a load almost ready to come out of the kiln and a load ready to go in. The large tree in this picture will become our barn door for my office in a few months – among other things. Ethan, our neighbor, came over to help as it was a larger tree than normal. Noel has been making a lot of firewood but is now waiting for some seals for his log-splitter – which might be good news for my kitchen shelves. =)

The plan was to get a few more trees down to open our view up a bit more, but that needed to be done when the leaves were gone in the winter. Time’s up. It is a beautiful spring day today with an amazing Ozark view. The dogwoods were amazing this year, but we didn’t get a picture. We discovered, now that the other trees are gone, we have about 12-13 in our backyard view. You can see a few trees to the left need to come down.

I was able to spend most of last week outside in my yard, taking a staycation from work. I saved all my seeds from last year’s flowers and then others gave me seeds. A friend gave me some plants. Another friend and I will be going to 2 plant sales this Saturday. So far I have not bought plants, but if all of those thousands of seeds that I’ve thrown everywhere don’t grow, it’s going to look pretty sparce out there. I have been working on the land next to our house that was just full of junk and rocks. I am still finding pieces of carpet partly underground, under raspberry plants or around tree roots. These pictures don’t look like much, but that is a lot of clearing. The rocks that are up close to the house are actually fill to get the yard to a certain height – you just can’t tell that because I’m taking the picture from above. Hopefully by next year, that filled area will become a place for raised garden beds. Jon and Lexi helped me pick up rocks for awhile when they were here. Lexi found all kinds of trash treasures that intrigued her and Jon only wanted to pick up the big rocks. I told them I would pay them for helping me. After not long at all, Jon said, “Grandma, I know I need the money, but is there an easier way to earn it?” =) (Jon is 6.) The mini – that’s my handiwork! Sorry Noel! We live on rocks, and one big, pointy one, just popped that track right off. I’ve moved some of our larger rocks to make a kidney-shaped garden up in the front corner where I hope things will grow wild. I have hundreds of seeds in there, including some old vegetable seeds that didn’t get planted within the suggested dates, so we’ll see if anything grows. I’ve added a couple apple trees as well.

The deer have come back somewhat. Nothing like they were, but I think so many dogs in the neighborhood scared them away. But we have 4 or 5 each evening. They don’t mind if we are on the back deck.

We stayed busy with some crafty things throughout the winter. Noel made a box and I added words & decor for my mom’s Christmas present. Sometimes when life is hard, you just need to be reminded that God is always good! Our family wall is also a work in progress. Some pictures have been added since this picture, but we have a ways to go – and we need a new family picture!

And then there is this one that Noel made for his shop and a couple friends. =)

And now you are pretty much up to date with progress on Sawmill Ridge. The next update will show some completed kitchen cupboards and island, I’m thinking. Hopefully an update is coming soon! =) Come and visit us. You now have bedroom and bathroom doors, so there should be nothing stopping you! We want to use our house for the Lord in whatever way He chooses. We had monthly ladies’ craft nights this winter. We have a group of 8 neighbors that now come to play dominoes monthly. We need to start looking at starting a Bible study. Noel has had several use the shop, which reminds me, I need to show you another woodworker’s work from our family. When Zak comes, he always has a project he’s working on. He made bread boards for Bekah’s side of the family. Each one was different and beautiful! Come! We have a shop for you to play in, a back deck and hot tub where you can relax, a tractor you can drive, and a good meal and conversation – and doors!