An American Homestead

I have no clue how they managed to get it done but Don and Chris, who are an amazing team, managed to get the pipe ran through the chimney yesterday! The heater is hooked up in the living room. They even got the metal covering up that goes over the fire place opening and today they covered the opening around the pipe at the top of the chimney as well. So it is all secure and ready to be used! I am so relieved that we have the wood stove completely installed and we do not have to worry about that now.

The barn cats are doing well. They are both so pretty and sweet. I am thankful we were able to take them and give them a good home as they were both headed to the shelter to be put to sleep. This morning I was getting ready for work and when I was getting clothes out of the bedroom, I heard a cat meowing at the window. I took the lamp over that way and saw it was Butters meowing to get in. It was very odd to me that she was in front of the house as she normally stays under the house or on the back porch. I went outside and took her some cat treats and loved on her for awhile before I left for work. Today I had to go to Crossville for something job related and while I was there Chris sent me a pic on my cell phone of a yellow cat and said, “Who is this?” I sent one back and said “Butters”. Well, turns out I am wrong and was wrong this morning. The cat I fed treats to and loved on before I left for work was a stray or set out or something. It is not one of our 11 cats. Perrin named her Wood Shed Cat and thinks she is magic. So if she stays we have number 12. When I was little I remember my Daddy getting rid of a bunch of kittens and I cried so bad. He also got rid of the puppies and my donkey as well. I heard him tell my Mother he would drown those kittens in the creek if he had to. I was so upset I said for years that when I grew up I would have 12 cats! 13 if I wanted to and no one could stop me. So, we have had between 10-24 cats at any given time and I just take them all in, name them all and love them as long as they desire to stay with me. Females are generally spayed, unless they come to us pregnant or we desire a batch of new faces. I love them, can’t explain it, I just do!

Amanda cooked supper for us last night and it was very good. Afterwards, Perrin was proud of a handful of change Don had given to him. A little later, he said “I think I swallowed something. I think it was a penny.” Well after questioning and calling the emergency room, because he was coughing a lot and said he felt it in his neck, we went to the ER. He explained to the Doc that he swallowed a penny and x-rays were taken, which Perrin was amazed about, because they studied about x-rays in school last week and x-ray starts with an “x’. Well there was no penny to be found, none. Perrin was confused and even used words like “seriously mama, I swallowed that penny” and “Actually, I swallowed the penny and you just can’t see it on the x-ray because it is in my neck.” I found the entire thing comical, because when Amanda was about 2 she gave Shannon a screw behind the couch and told her to take it because it was her medicine. Shannon swallowed it and Amanda came out from behind the couch and told me Shannon swallowed a “scwoo”. She had to spend the night in the hospital. Perrin spent the night with me however. It was so nice cuddling up with him in the bed when we got home with a glow stick in one hand and a specimen cup from the ER in the other hand. He went to sleep right away and I stayed awake thinking about when my daughters were little bitty things and now they are all grown and I have grandkids who are growing up too fast.

Chris has put wood in the shed today, as it is due to start raining again soon. We have a lot of wood we still have to get in the shed and will work on it this weekend. I am looking forward to the weekend. I hope it turns cold again very soon. I will put a pot of deer stew on top of the stove to cook all day and make some cornbread and sit in my chair, stuffing my face, watching the cats lounge around sleeping, working on Chris’ Yule gift.

Speaking of gifts. I had the chance to stop in the outlet stores in Crossville and found a pair of overalls for Chris for a very very good price. I am surprising him with them when I get home today. I can’t wait to see him with them on!

I have lots more pics to put up tomorrow and will get to it then. Our next home project is going to be moving our sleeping things to the living room, the couch to the library, the bed and frame to the bedroom and getting things organized and straight. We will be sleeping in the living room all winter, just in case it gets real cold, we can block off two rooms of the house and live in the living room and kitchen. Yeah, I will take pics. Ain’t nothing fancy for sure and well, I know most people would never desire to live like we do, but by golly we sure do seem to be pretty darn happy right now!

It has been an interesting few weeks on the old farm. We have went from being hot to being very cold! First things first though.

Don and Chris built the door for the root cellar. It is thick, 2×6’s made into a nifty door! Don got fancy hinges and a real door knob that locks, because him and Johnny are worried someone will steal my canned goods. So he insists we keep the door locked and we have so far.  The cedar pole has been put in the center of the cellar and it is just perfect. When the door is shut, there is not a tiny crack of light coming in from anywhere.  We put a thermometer in there several days ago and it has read a steady 55 or so degrees day and night. When it was 32 outside, it was 55 inside, when it was 70 outside it was 55 inside. So it looks like 50-55 degrees will be the norm. I am thrilled about that. Actually one night it was warming in the root cellar than it was in the house! (thinking back, maybe we should have spent the night in the root cellar). So all of the winter food is inside. Johnny gave us some turnips and greens and late beans and even some peppers from her garden. I love my root cellar!

Chris had a good birthday. We had a surprise part for him on Saturday in Tellico at Nut N Fancy Restaurant. I was not overly impressed with the quality of the food, but we had a good time anyway. He got some shirts and socks, some things from his Mother, the sweetest card from his Mam-maw, a LED headlite flashlight thing that he LOVES, a tool carrier with a strap so he can take his tools everywhere and stop losing them, some wedges for chopping wood, a hatchet, several other things I can’t remember and a nice set of 12 solar lights. Those have been placed up the steps in the front and around the side of the porches and steps so we can actually see how to get up and down them in the dark and I will not fall again. LOL! He was thrilled! Then we headed up the mountain and drove up North River to the Cherohala. We ran into a cloud up top that was snowing. It was the most awesome feeling to be standing inside a cloud that was snowing. I was so happy and excited to see the snow. Chris threw a snowball at me and we played around and took some pictures in it. The drive home was nice. Sunday we had breakfast in town and got all of our shopping done. It was animal food week so we had lots of bags of things to buy. Saturday night was cold. We were so cold in the house as we do not have the heater hooked up yet. More on that later. Monday we met Amanda at her job in Chattanooga and we all, including her boss, we to the Yellow Deli for lunch. Amanda had been there before and loved it. It was indeed a very nice lunch. The food was delicious and the service was wonderful. I would definitely go again. 

Now for the heat. We were COLD Saturday night. We are not able to get he pipe up the chimney by ourselves. We need one more person and just have not been able to get that third person yet. So we suffered on Saturday. We were anxious to get somewhere warm Sunday morning, hence breakfast in town. On Sunday we decided we have a fireplace and there was no sense in freezing to death. We checked the chimney inside and it is in very good condition. There are no loose bricks, missing bricks or a ton of creosote or birds nests or anything. We built a fire for the night and it was so nice. We only had to put logs on it three times and it kept the room pretty warm. We hooked the thermometer up Monday night and it was 32 outside and between 55-60 in the room we slept in. Last night we stayed very warm as well. Don came over yesterday and brought Chris a lawn mower without the deck so he can pull a wagon behind it and hall things around on the farm that need hauling.  Chris was super thrilled about that. Din claims he and Chris can get the pipes ran through the chimney today by themselves. I doubt it is possible but I guess we shall see.  Me and Chris tried so hard on Sunday to get those pipes up there and we just cold not do it. The bends in the chimney are making it too hard, plus the fact it is over 16 feet high.  Oh well, if they do I will be happy BUT….I am going to miss that fireplace. Sunday night, we roasted marshmallows in the house. I cooked eggs on the fire and made sandwiches. I made Chris coffee and yesterday morning I cooked pancakes for me, Chris and Perrin on the fire, made coffee and hot cocoa and I really enjoyed cooking over the fire. When I got done and we spread the coals out to cool for the day, I put a hug pot of water on the coals to heat up for washing dishes. Last night we were sitting by the fireplace talking and enjoy the fire, him in his arm chair and me in the other chair covered up in my Mam-maws quilt with a cat in my lap, sipping hot cider and it was as close to perfect as you can get. We both said we will miss the fireplace. Maybe next year we can get the chimney fixed that is in the library and use it as a fireplace only for the nights we want to sit and roast marshmallows or cook cider on the coals and watch the fire burn down. It is a nice feeling.

Chris made me a foot stool/table yesterday for my rocking chair. Now I can prop my feet up when I am on the front porch rocking, watching the birds and squirrels play. We got two cats for the barn yesterday, one of them is pregnant and I am so happy. We will have babies soon. Opie died on Chris’ birthday. The poor little thing was just too bad off when we got him and so sickly. He did not make it and that was horribly sad. The barn cats were the last of the wild abandoned cats from the dumpster here at work. A co-worker finally caught them and I went into town and got them. Later as I was feeding and petting the female in the barn I discovered she was pregnant. I suppose that would normally make some folks upset but I was thrilled. We will bring her in the house for the Winter and let her have them inside. We’ll put them back in the barn when they are big enough and can find a place to stay warm.

I have more pics I will put up in the next few days. I have a few videos as well. I hope everyone is staying warm and is ready for Winter. Hopefully we will be sometime in the next few days and I can be a bit lazy and make quilts in the cold months to come.

Don making the root cellar door

This man amazes me! I think he can do anything!

He got the door done in one day!

And they got it on the root cellar the next day! It fit perfectly, despite the very crooked doorway.

Chris and his "Head Light"! I think he slept with it on that night and it is his new favorite toy! No more feeling around the coop for eggs in the wee hours of the morning, he can see now!

Chris and Perrin had to take a ride on the "lawn tractor" as soon as Don brought it over. I call it a tore up lawn mower but was corrected quickly....it is a "lawn TRACTOR"

 

Fall Colors are beautiful right now!

Snow on the Cherohala Skyway on October 17th!

More snow!

Did I mention I love snow?

We went through a lot of clouds that were actually snowing. Have I mentioned I love snow?

I repeat in my head, There's no place like home, There's no place like home! And truly...there is no place like HOME!

Things are going well. Don came over yesterday. He and Chris got started on the root cellar right away. Don has his tractor and they got things covering the root cellar that needed to be there and started hauling dirt from the front of the barn to cover it. I left work and met them in Riceville to get the wood heater and hickory that was given to us. Just in case you did not know, wood heaters are heavy. We got it in the truck and then started loading the hickory. There is almost a cord or so of it and we got what we could yesterday. I had to work today so Don and Chris are on their way over there to get more of it. There’s some pieces that are too large for us to lift, so we may have to take the axe and split it before we can get it on the truck. When we got home Don showed me how to use a broom to move heavy items. I was amazed! For anyone who does not know (and I may be the only person to not know) you put the end of the heavy item on the bristle end of a broom and then you can just pull it where it needs to go with a little shoving from the back. We got the heater moved into the living room that way. NOW….here is the good….actually GREAT news. The heater is the perfect size for the living room. Even more so…. We will not have to cut a hole in the chimney and wall for the pipe. This heater fit so perfect that the pipe can be ran directly into the fireplace opening. We just need to get some sheet metal to cover the front. We will seal it in and run the pipe through it. And of course, fix the brick at the top of the chimney. Hopefully all of that will be done in a few weeks. With us getting that stove, and knowing we cannot afford a cook stove this year, there is a small box stove that would be good for the kitchen that is only about 150 bucks. We may try to save for that so I can cook on it this winter at least.

After getting the stove inside, I could not wait to go see the root cellar. I was amazed at how much work they got done yesterday. It looks great. I got the rest of my meat and the honey (about 12 pint jars of it) in the cellar and then noticed that even without a door on it, the inside is 10-15 degrees cooler than outside. We are making, or I should say Don and Chris are making, a good heavy solid wood door for the cellar. With all that, it will be done and I am so tickled I could spit!

Weekend plans: Wow…we have so much to do! We are going to get the rest of the wood from Mr. Johnson next door and haul it to the farm. We will finish getting the hickory as well. If the rains hold off we will be splitting wood and getting it in the woodshed. I hope to get some over growth cut down from around the front of the barn and pile it up to burn. I plan to get all of my empty Mason jars into the cellar and all of the canning supplies stored in there and out of the way in the kitchen. AND, I am going to try to build a stand or whatever then things is called at the fire pit so I can put a pot a stew on it above the fire and cook outside when I desire to! My uncle sent me a text yesterday and I will be getting his extra deer again this year. I absolutely love my uncle Edward! I always have and think he is one of the best people in the world. He is a good man and I am lucky he is my uncle. Between doing all that is mentioned above, I will be burning boxes the canned food was stored in, cleaning off the back porch, Plugging unused chimneys and doing some laundry by hand. So we will be busy, but you know, I like it that way! In case you have not been able to tell….I love the Broken House!

Covering the root cellar with dirt

covering the cellar

Don....we love you!

I think it is a wee bit muddy! (Wish Perrin had been there to play in it)

Almost Done!

Don....we still love you!

Looking great!

Back of the cellar

Storm Shelter (just had to throw that in there are least once!)

Plastic wil be cut shorter in front and a door should be on in the next week or two! The tree on the right will be cut down as it is a dead walnut. Ain't it perty?

Thought I'd throw in this pic of the road up to the barn. Speaking of....this will be our main project next year, repairing this old barn!

The wood heater for the living room

All of the canned food is inside now. It is nice to be able to do inventory of your food supply without trying to dig through boxes! We have a little over 70 jars of deer and beef (ground and stew meat), about 170 jars of veggies, close to 100 in jam, jelly and preserves, lots of honey and pickled items as well.

I was anxious yesterday at work to get home and stare at my root cellar all evening. LOL I was super thrilled when I got home and Don was there. Him and Chris had been working on the root cellar all afternoon. IT HAD A ROOF! They basically subfloored the roof with the 2×6’s 1 foot apart for extra support. We used the sub flooring from the other house as well. I started cleaning jars and storing them in order on the shelves. I realized when I was done, I had not put the rows in alphabetical order. That may make me fret for awhile but I think I can handle it. My excitement got the best of me. I got most everything on the shelves while they finished up the roof. The rain is so strange. As soon as they got the last piece of subflooring down it started raining. Just like this weekend. Don had brought some good quality plastic over and they covered the top with that and laid some 2×6’s across it for now. Chris will staple that down and we will then put some tin over it and Don will show up with his tractor and cover it all with dirt. They are going to make a door in the next week or so as well! So it is coming along. I was not home to get pictures of the entire process yesterday, but I was able to snap a few this morning before work.

I was talking to someone at work yesterday about root cellars and we went on to different topics. She then asked if I knew anyone who would take a wood heater off her hands. She is tired of it being stored in her spare room and never wants to use wood heat. She got paranoid last year about the chimney catching on fire after she saw something on TV and made her husband take it down. It is an Ashley heater in perfect condition. I was hoping for a box heater I could cook on, but hey….winter is fast approaching and we will need heat soon. So of course I said we would love to have it. We are supposed to go get it tomorrow. AND….. we get a lot of free firewood as a bonus. She wants it gone as well and we are thankful to get it! So we will have a heater in the living room soon…..still have to fix the chimney though. The inside of the chimney is in good shape. The part above the roof, well the bricks are all loose and need to be fixed. If we ever get more than a few days sunshine, we will start on that.

Foxie asked here and I got two emails asking what all was in the jars on the shelves. Well the bottom shelf is all of the jams, jellies and preserves. I have apple, muscadine, strawberry, raspberry, apple butter, persimmon, pawpaw, blackberry jam and jelly, peach jelly, jam and butter, raw honey, sorghum and more. I also have home made candles on this shelf that Chris made last year. On the second shelf is all of the fruit and juices. Apple juice, applecause, muscadine, stewed spiced apples, pears, muscadine juice (which is amazing heated with nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves), grape juice, peaches. On the third shelf is the veggies. Green beans, peas, corn, kraut, October beans, Italian tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, pickled beets, plain beets, bean soup, etc. On the top shelf is the meats, chicken, turkey and beef broth, stew meat from beef and deer, ground meat from beef and deer. The canning supplies are there as well and the shelves across the cellar are for empty jars and bins of potatoes, apples, onions and such. So there you have it!

This is the house looking from the other side of Brannon Brook. You would not believe how cool all of these trees keep the house in the summer. There were only 2 days this year that we actually got HOT.

I could not get all of the food in one picture so I had to take several.

This one shows the 90 jars of jams, jellies and preserves on the bottom shelf and well...I think I have to many so I will give some away as Yule gifts.

All of the meat has not been put on the shelves yet. The top shelf will be full of various meats when I am done.

The "roof" has 2x6's 1 foot apart for support. There are a lot of support beams and such inside as well and we will be putting a good sturdy cedar pole in the very center.