One Big Blessed Week

This was such a big week for us and the property, too!  After four months of renovating, Dog-Tired finally migrated to the property!!  (See separate blog for all the renovation pics!)  He made it up the long, steep driveway with a little help from Pokey, the tractor.  We had a full week to spend, to “live” at 13 Dog Farm.  We were blessed with pretty decent weather !  It’s Spring but, we realized in Northeast Tennessee, it still feels like winter.  It was cold and windy some of the days and on Saturday it snowed!  But, all in all pleasant weather. We immediately started taking advantage of our time while we were there. First day in,  Al built a solar array for our power  and established a water source  (he’s such a genius) for showers and the use of the toilet.  Yay!  I played Susie homemaker in the Camper decorating and putting on some finishing touches.  I hung a bird feeder.   It was kind of odd as the birds were not sure what to do with it.  They figured it out eventually though. And, Honey and Bun were, as per usual, there to greet us when we arrived.  Honey looks very healthy and happy.  Bun, well she is a bun. I loved watching them play together.  Now that Honey has gotten bigger they interact more. They were wrestling (nothing like Herc and Teenie though!) in the grass or running through the fields most days.  Another dog was running along with them one day. (and I stayed away)  They were barking and frolicking.  It just made me smile.  They are truly happy animals.

Saturday morning we woke up to the most beautiful fog over the valley.  It looked like a lake!   It was truly breathtaking.  We cleaned and emptied out two more stalls in the big barn.  There are a total of seven stalls, so we only have two left to clean!  We brought home with us three tires, an old plastic trough, two cardboard barrels, a camper shell and about eight bags of trash to take to the dump!  We burned about 10 barrels of tobacco stems.  It’s smelled just like cigars! 

One morning we ventured out to the closest Walmart for some unforeseen supplies.  It was so much smaller than the Walmart’s here!  We also visited a Home Depot as well.  It was good to get a feel of the distance between us and the nearest city.  It’s far.

I stained the front gate.    I eventually want to stain all the gates/fences on the property but, I will need a sprayer for that task.    I think it looks nice.  🙂

Sunday we begin resealing the roof and painting the exterior of the RV.  We ran out of paint (Plasti-dip) so, we will have to complete that task next visit.  Pics coming soon!!

Al cut the grass on the plateau.  It was the first time getting a feel of how long that task will take.  He’s gonna be doing a lot of cutting grass.  I’ll just say that much! 

We walked some of the perimeter and realized we have a pretty nice looking pond at the end of the plateau.  We plan on giving it some attention and make it really cool.  We also stumbled on a large patch of wild flowers.  Just beautiful!    We’ve decided that we want to create our own prairie field.  We’ve been reading up on it.  It will literally take a few years to get one up and growing well but, we have the land, so might as well do it!  Oh, and check out this tree.  How many do you see? This tree is crazy big!!

It stayed windy for most of the week so, we were only able to have one camp fire.  🙁  I missed that. But, with the camper there, we were able to chill indoors and watch some TV.

One day while Al and I were busy working on something outside these beautiful hawks joined us.  They were breathtaking and they joined us just about every day. At one point there were four!!

I was able to capture a gorgeous sunset on Thursday.   I know I say this a lot but, truly breathtaking.  These are the reasons why I am so in love with this place!  Blessed beyond blessed.

Friday we saw they were predicting rain with the possibility of some snow for Saturday so, we went ahead and prepared for the worst.  We loaded the trailer with all the items that would be heading to the dump and staged both vehicles at the front gate.  We then hiked back up to the plateau knowing if it poured we could still get out and home on Sunday. Our driveway still needs some love.  It tends to really get muddy when it rains.  The tractor can go through just about anything but, not so much for our vehicles.  Even the Jeep.  Safety first, right?

Saturday night, as predicted, it snowed.  A light dusting.  But, it was cold.  In the twenties.  Honey was nestled in her bed but, I couldn’t leave her there!  So, she ended up sleeping in the camper on the sofa all night.  I am sure she was in heaven.  

This will probably create a huge issue when we bring Herc and Teenie to the property.  So, as hard as this will be, we are going to only feed the dogs at the barn.  We are hoping they will not care to join us on the plateau if there is no food.  Not sure if that will work or not.  But, I also feel funny feeding the neighbors dogs and them spending the whole time we are there with us.  I don’t want to piss the neighbor off! And, we have yet to confirm that Honey belongs to the neighbor.  We need to make a concerted effort to find this out next visit.