The last week of May (2013), Steve and I were officially worn out (can you blame us?).

The logs weren’t dry enough to sand, stain, or chink, and we knew that it was time to start putting our focus back onto our current house (getting it ready to sell), and Steve had a LOT of waterfowl taxidermy work to catch up on for customers.

So, for about 2 weeks, we laid low, he got work done in his studio, I varnished baseboards and doors, painted, cleaned out every room, threw out bags upon bags (and more bags) of unwanted things. Unfun. But theeeen things started picking up again.

It came time to go get our tractor from Cottonwood Creek and bring it home…to work.

Keep in mind, I’m a born and bred big city girl. The “country life” is a whole new experience for me.  The biggest dose of real “country” life I get (aside from the 2 roads, and the occasional deer darting into the street) is when I drive past cow and horse pastures, thereby exposing me to country life one big toe at a time.  So transferring a tractor from one home to another was a new one for me (mild understatement). Heck! I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that we OWN a tractor!!

I had to drive behind Steve going only 5 miles per hour, on the side of the road, for 2 hours. A drive which ordinarily takes 15 minutes…TOPS. This was another one of those moments where I found myself asking “Is this my life??”

I passed the time like anyone would do…I thanked modern technology as I looked up Youtube on my iPhone, and listened to (and watched…but don’t tell anyone) 4 Beth Moore videos. Now THIS is living!

If you don’t know who I’m talking about, you’re missing out. I particularly enjoyed the account about “The Hairbrush”. Everyone should hear it. In fact, here’s a direct link. The Hairbrush

Another really good one (they’re all good) is: This one

Usually Texas is in a drought mode during the summer. But not this year.  In fact, it’s raining right this second as I write from my front porch on July 15th.

We’ve had many rain showers, thunder storms, and hail storms this summer…which would normally be fantastic to Steve and me. But not when our roof isn’t up yet.

We put up that black paper to protect it from water…but Steve stapled it everywhere to hold it down. Problem??  Water drips in through every staple, making our log home a reverse Noah’s Ark. You literally need an umbrella indoors. (I’m not kidding, unfortunately.) (Weeell….maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit?)

We had no choice but to go purchase a 2000 sq ft tarp to completely cover our whole roof, while listening to rumbling thunder only blocks away, again. The sky was dark, and we were in a HURRY. But we got the circus tent up.

Only minutes after we finished, lightening was flashing in various places, and the great faucet in the sky turned on. But now we could enjoy it. No more interior flooding. Ahhhh.

Then it was time for my mom’s birthday.   She loves gold. REALLY loves gold. So, we threw her a “Gold & Diamonds” party in honor of her “sparkly” personality.

The girls and I decked out the table with gold and fake diamonds, even dripping them from the chandelier, and cooked her a 3-course meal. We told my family to come wearing BLING. They came with layers of necklaces and bracelets, and glow rings! My mom was wearing every gold-colored necklace she owns.   We pulled out the sparklers, too. She had a fabulous night.

As in chaotic, multi-juggling Bradbury fashion, WHILE decorating for her party (which was to start at 6)….and WHILE cooking her 3-course meal, Steve arranged to have his taxidermy studio moved out to Cottonwood on the same day.

How could I be in the kitchen, dining room, and outside taking pictures of such a cool thing at the same time? Would everything get done on time before guests arrive???

Kids to the rescue! My wonderful girls took over the kitchen and prepped the food.

The movers got here at 9.

Everything was going great…until trees became an issue. Oops.

One tree after another, in the way!   Steve either had to keep pulling out the chainsaw, or use our handy tractor with chain to pull tree trunks or branches out of the way.

As if trees and branches weren’t bad enough, their tire hit a stump and POP!! Flat tire. They were gone for what seemed like 2 hours.

At this point it was past 3. When they got back, they spent half an hour struggling to get one of the bolts (or whatever they’re called) off the hub cap so that the tire could be changed.  We weren’t even out of the driveway yet! AND Steve hadn’t re-hooked up our propane to cook with, yet!

At a time like this, normally I’d be freaking…(to say the least). But, I asked God to give me LOADS of peace about it…and I found myself giggling instead. What else could you do?? It WAS pretty funny and chaotic. I had to enjoy it.

Just when the flat tire was finally fixed, we came to yet another tree.

FREE!!!! Onto the land. They parked it in our new driveway and abandoned ship ’til the next morning. It was then time for the party…and 6:00. Cutting it close?? It all worked out great.

The next morning they put it in its new home. But trees became an issue again.

Done! They were great. They handled the challenges well.

Next on the agenda? Vacation!

We filled the week with deep sea fishing in Corpus, fishing and dinner party at our land, going to a state park to fish (which turned out horrible), an animal safari at a friend’s dad’s house, and the ultimate Grand Finale (drum roll, please)….a marathon of Duck Dynasty episodes, followed by a trip to both Cabelas AND Bass Pro! Heaven, right?  My nephew came in from California and joined us for all of it.

 

The deep sea fishing trip was a BLAST!!!  The 5 hours of non-stop fishing and catching were awesome.   They caught Snapper, King Mackeral, shark, Amberjack, and more (that I can’t remember the names of right now).

Well. It’s been a quick 2 months. This week the girls are working at Vacation Bible School at our church. Steve and I are attacking the roof of the log home. I even get T-Rex again!!! (Do I need to tell you how excited I am? Or do you know me by now?)

Click here to read the next post: “Butterfly, fly away…”

If you have no clue who “T-Rex” is…then you must be a newcomer to this blog.  Therefore, you lucky dog, you have a few choices to make.  You can either click on this link to start from the very beginning of our chronological story: “Welcome to Cottonwood Creek“, or you can click on this link to take you to the beginning of our log home build: “What do Vegas and logs have in common?”  We’ve built both a 130-year old Bed & Breakfast, and a log home; the links will take you the beginning of those projects.  Or, click here to learn about this blog: ‘What is Cottonwood Creek?’  Hmmm…decisions, decisions….