Rental House Work

Work on our property was put on hold this weekend while we worked on one of the rental houses.  We are down to only one vacancy right now but that house could use a lot of improvements.

 

In December we did some work on our old house before a tenant moved in this month.  I painted all of the kitchen cupboards as well as the kitchen walls and master bath walls.  We also replaced the towel rods, etc. in both full bathrooms to make the house a little less dated.  I did not get a photo of the updated baths but here are two of the kitchen improvements.  I wish that I had painted it while we lived there, it looks so much better!

 

The current empty rental will never look as nice as our old house, but we're doing what we can with new paint and fixtures.  Here's a before photo of one of the bedrooms (we aren't done yet, so no after shot).

 

We decided to paint the entire upstairs of this house (3 large bedrooms, hallway, and full bath).  With that many walls it made sense to use a power roller and try to get it all done at once.  I edged the rooms while Matthew rolled and we did finish all of the bedrooms and the hallway in one day.  I had already painted the bathroom so now we are left with painting the trim and most of the downstairs - we'll save that for another day! (If you are wondering why Matthew is wearing a hat, there is no heat in the house because the gas is turned off so it was a little chilly!)

Birthdays & Animals

We celebrated our birthdays this year by hosting another game night.  It was a great success with 13 attendees and we played many different games.  We also enjoyed our extra seating on our new chairs!

 

I didn't take any photos on our actual birthdays, but here are the roses that Matthew brought home for me on mine.

 

 

And here's my birthday (and Christmas, for the next 5 years or so...) gift - a new saddle!  I have been searching for a saddle for Mow now for over a year and finally found one that works for both of us.  It was the 10th saddle I tried and by far the most expensive, but at least it works!

 

 

Mow and I at our dressage lesson in the new saddle. 

 

And finally, no post from the Lazy G Ranch is ever complete without a few animal photos, so here's today's quota.

 

The horses have been extra frisky with the cool weather and often play in the mornings.  Here they are rearing up.

 

And here's on of Rabi kicking up his heels at Mow.

 

Lastly, a video of our foster cat, Mistletoe, playing fetch.  Happily, Mistletoe found her forever home and was adopted on my birthday!

Property Clearing

During the last week of my parents' visit we did a lot of work on our back two acres trying to prepare it for planting this spring.  We borrowed a tractor from a neighbor and my dad drove it while the rest of us did what we could by hand.

 

We started by consolidating the remainder of the stump piles and re-lighting them.

 

There was still a lot of sticks and brush to be picked up and piled on the stumps.

 

While the piles were burning, my dad used the box blade we bought to grade the dirt and smooth out the bumps.

 

My mom and I spent the rest of the week fueling the fires to burn down the stumps and raking up debris.

 

The piles took a while, but we eventually burned all of the remaining stumps and a lot of the brush.

 

I have spent the last couple of weeks continuing to rake up debris and level the ground by hand.  It takes forever, but certainly looks great when it is done!  I can't wait to have fresh green grass for the horses later this year.

 

Florida Camping

Mom, Dad, and I spent the New Year's week in Florida, near Tampa, visiting with friends and family.  We took my parents' new living quarters horse trailer and camped on a friend's property.  We brought two horses but left the rest of the animals home with Matthew.  It was a great trial run for the new rig!

 

Here is the new trailer all set up.  Inside it has a small kitchenette that contains a sink, microwave, stove, and fridge as well as a couch, bed (in the goose), and full bathroom.  I ended up sleeping on a cot in the horse area though since it was a little tight with three people in the camper area.  

 

 

The place we stayed had stalls for the horses and a fence around the perimeter so we could let the horses out to wander for a few hours a day.

 

My mom lost her wonderful old horse, Doni, in October and some of the Florida horse friends and I went in on a watercolor portrait of him as a gift for my mom.  Here we are with the painting after she opened it at our friend Louise's house (that's a flash on the painting, I'll have to get a better photo of it).

 

Our five days in Florida were split between horseback riding with friends and visiting with my mom's family.  My dad was also able to golf just about every day.

 

A cypress swamp we rode to.

 

On one of the days we visited with family we went to a local citrus grove for a guided You Pick tour.  They were picking Honeybells that day (a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit) and we picked about seven pounds of fruit to bring home.

 

Here we are with our harvest. My Grandma Sharon, Aunt Cindy, Mom and I all enjoyed the experience!

 

We also got to visit a lot with my Grandpa who is now 84.  Our only regret - not picking better travel days! The traffic was pretty thick both on the way down and back.  Next year we will try to avoid those days.