Moody Girl Farm Update June 3 2018

I didn't mean to go so long before posting again, but here I am.  I've been up to MGF twice since the last post and I have photos and a progress report.

The first of the two visits was a one-nighter, by myself.  I wanted to see how the clean-up after the demolition of the sheds was going, plus I needed to pay Jesse, my favorite junkman and all-around handyman, for the tree work.  He had done a good job cleaning up the rest of the junk and putting it onto the burn pile and cutting back the branches so none were within 6-ft of the house.  And while I was there I wanted to find someone who could cut the grass around the house and out in front.  Jesse to the rescue!  He said his son had a riding mower and could take care of the grass.  Since it had gotten so tall, he said it would take two passes to get it done, so it was going to cost $100.  I thought that was fair.  My county currently has a 'burn ban' (it's been really dry and hot) so I needed to get the grass cut to keep the fire danger away.

I also asked about removing the rear portion of the house, the addition with the 7-foot ceilings.  The more I looked at the construction of it, the more I realized it was not salvageable.  Jesse said he and his crew could remove it for about $1,100.  I told him the price was ok, but not to start until I came back in two weeks.

My second visit was this past week and my friend M went with me.  We stopped at the title company in San Saba to ask about the survey, and the lady asked if I had gotten any damage to my house.  I asked why and she said there was a tornado reported in my little town.  So of course we hurried to the house and thank the Good Lord the only damage I had was one piece of the metal roofing had come off. This is the link to an article my sister saw and sent to me.   https://www.gosanangelo.com/story/weather/2018/05/30/severe-storm-roars-through-san-saba-county-inflicts-dramatic-damage/655443002/   I did have hail at my house, I believe it was only golf ball size from the pockmarks in the ground and the dents in the corrugated metal roof on the house.  It came from the north so anyone with windows on the north side of their houses/businesses had those windows busted out.  I have only one window on the north side of my house, the backdoor from the kitchen has a window, but the screen door protected it and it wasn't broken.  I think the Good Lord realized I really couldn't afford any new repairs on this house!

Since I was planning to remove the rear portion of the house, I needed to close up the 8-foot opening between the utility area in front of the bathroom and the kitchen in the addition.  Tuesday we drove up to Home Depot and purchased 2x4s, nails, screws, a 3'x5' window, and plywood.  I chose plywood for the interior wall so I could hang shelves; I'm thinking the plywood might offer better support for the shelves than sheetrock would have.  Because the house still needs to be leveled, we had to measure for each upright stud, and the measurements ranged from 81-to-83 inches: the ceiling in the utility area is 7 feet, give or take an inch.  I would have preferred an exterior door in that wall rather than a window, but I needed light, and exterior doors with windows, even cheap ones, were too expensive.  Later on when I can afford the door I want, I can use this window in another room.  In the meantime I have plenty of light and I can open it and get a breeze through the house - when the weather cools down, of course.

This is the new kitchen area.

I brought a 3ftx3ft piece of plywood for the refrigerator to sit on, I thought it might be safer than having it sit on the carpet.  There's a small window on the end wall that needs to be framed in better.  It's a little sliding window I used to have in the utility room at my house in town. 

It'll give me more light and air.

 

The back room is empty and ready to be taken down.  You can see the plywood we put over the new window to protect it at the far end of the room on the right.  Once Jesse removes the addition and that sheetrock he'll put exterior siding up.  The original exterior siding that was there before the addition was built is still there; it was 'board and batten' construction.   The 'battens' were removed when the addition was done, but the 'boards' are still there.  The siding Jesse installs will go over the boards and give more protection to that part of the house, plus add a tiny bit of insulation.

I had called Jesse Wednesday morning and asked him to come by so we could finalize the demolition project.  He arrived shortly after and brought his helper, W.T.  I realized later on that W.T. lives across the railroad tracks from me.  He has a very tall antenna on his property, I need to ask him if it's for a CB or Ham radio.  W.T. easily looks to be in his late 60s; Jesse is 63 I think he said.  Anyway, while M and I were inside building the wall, W.T. got up on the roof of the addition and began to take it apart.  Jesse brought his granddaughter to help remove some of the siding.

One last thing M did for me was to install new PVC pipes and a new shower head. 

I apologize for the blurry photo.

Although I do not yet have a working hot water heater, I found that in the afternoons the water was quite warm, almost hot.  Apparently the water lines are not buried very deep and with the sun's heat the ground gets warm and heats the water in the lines.   So, it seems I will be able to get a warm shower after all, at least during the summer. 

With the back room being torn down, I had to move all of the furniture into the front rooms.  The refrigerator went into the utility area next to the door to the bathroom, and the remaining furniture went into the living room.  I'll move some of the 'kitchen' things into the new kitchen area next time I go up, but in the meantime, this is the new normal until I can get the house leveled. 

I plan to go up there every two weeks to check on the house and do a little cleaning and organizing.  After the next trip I'll have photos of a much smaller house.

More Work on the Homestead

I wrote this article two weeks ago and got busy/distracted and never got around to posting it. So, here it is now.

When my friend M and I were up at Moody Girl Farm a couple weeks ago, we got a lot accomplished.

Monday afternoon M was able to get running water to the tub.  All of the water lines in the house are PVC piping, some just 1/2 inch, and the kitchen pipes (shown below) were busted. 

The day I closed on the property M hooked up the commode to the water line we previously found so it would work.  Getting water to the tub next meant being able to take some kind of a bath.  As it turned out, the rubber washers inside the tub fixtures were pretty dried out and the faucet dripped pretty badly at first, plus when I switched it to 'shower' mode, it leaked from the connection.  After using the faucet to fill up a bucket a bunch of times to help flush the commode, the faucet dripped much less.  I guess the washer absorbed enough moisture to work again.  The hot water heater isn't hooked up so I've decided to get rid of it and put a new one in later on.  I don't think it's been used for 5-6 years, so who knows what's been growing inside it!  It's safer to start off with a new one.

This means that showers would be cold water only, something I am not inclined to do.  Instead, I've been heating a pan full of water on the hot plate and adding it to the cold water in a 5-gallon bucket and using that to wash off.  Of course the tub drains out into the yard right now (see below).  I'm not sure if it ever was connected to the sewer line.  The commode is the only thing that drains to the sewer line at this time.  (Here's another view of the junk that has since been removed.)

Tuesday morning M got started on the electrical - he installed a new electric service loop and ran wires to the kitchen and bedroom, each having their own 15 amp breaker.  The electricity was already 'on' when I bought the house, most of the overhead light fixtures worked, but very few of the outlets did.  Electrical service here is different than in San Antonio.  In S.A. we have City Public Service who provides everything.  At Moody Girl Farm, because it's in a small town, the power lines belong to one company, and you pay for electricity to another.  I have no idea what name the electric service was in before I bought the property.  Once M had the service loop installed, I called one of the providers and set up an account.  For a $6 fee, they expedited my service request and the electrician was there by 4:30 to read the meter.  I found out the electrician lives about 4 blocks away and I was his last stop for the day!

I was so much in love with the kitchen when I first saw the property, but every time I came up to see it, my love for the kitchen diminished.  The roof/ceiling slopes down to about 7 feet along the back wall which is where the kitchen cabinets are.  This is a 'before' photo, I've since cleared off the counters, but I didn't get an 'after' photo.  The wall cabinets are barely 12 inches off the counter because the ceiling is so low.  I love the dual drain board double sink, but it has several worn places and I have no idea how much it would cost to refinish it.  I think a brand new sink would be better anyway, health-wise.  I may be able to use the lower cabinets; I'd want to put a new countertop on it though, with the new sink.

I pulled up some of the carpet in the living room and pried up one of the floor boards to see under the house.  It sags 3-4 inches in the middle section and I wanted to see what caused it to do that.  I was afraid the wooden posts (foundation) had rotted, but what I found was that the large stones the beams actually sit on have shifted.  I imagine over time the dirt/ground under them has eroded and now some of the stones are 3-4 inches below the beams.  That's good news actually.  It means the leveling process shouldn't be too difficult since they're not having to replace rotted wood.

UPDATE:  I have gotten two quotes over the last couple weeks for leveling the house including raising the whole thing an additional 12 inches.  The front half of the house is barely 15 inches off the ground and really hard to work under.  Fortunately, the little bit of plumbing I've had done has all been around the periphery and only to the bathroom.  There's no plumbing to the kitchen.  I am now seriously considering removing the back half of the house which would include the current kitchen.  This section is maybe 5-6 inches off the ground and will be the most difficult to raise and level.  After opening up some of the floor I saw that the 2x4 2x6 floor joists for this back section were toe-nailed to the main house.  They've held up so far, but I've been concerned about how that part of the house could be raised without the joists pulling loose.  Plus, it has seven-foot ceilings that I would eventually want raised to eight feet.  If I remove it, I can rebuild it later and do it right.  In the meantime, I can still visit/live in the front half.
(before the sheds were removed)

That's it for now. I'm planning another trip to Moody Girl Farm next week, maybe an overnighter if my kitty is doing better.  I'll have more photos and comments after that.

Town Garden May 11, 2018

I've gotten started on my veggie garden here in town.  I began my seeds around the 21st of March, and started more on April 3rd and April 11th.  I was able to get the seedlings in the beds over the last two weeks, working a few hours every 4-5 days.  I planted the last of them today.

This is the sketch of my proposed garden I included in my "2018 Town Garden" post on January 27.  The actual beds are slightly different.  And I've already harvested the radishes, all five of them. 

Bed #1 has two cucumber plants as planned.  However, one of last year's cotton plants began to leaf out before I could pull them all out, so I left it in place.  Plus, the onions I put in here last year have multiplied, and there are several vines growing that I thought was a volunteer sweet potato, but it's not.

 

Bed #2 has three rows of corn, a couple bell peppers, carrots and more onions, plus lots of nasturtiums and marigolds.  The bell peppers are in the lower right corner, where I already harvested the radishes.

Bed #3 has three lima bean plants beginning to trail up the trellises, plus basil, parsley, oregano, and dill, and nasturtiums and California poppies.  And catnip in the pot.  I didn't do any beans and I probably won't do rutabagas.  This is the bed where the luffahs grew out of control last  year, and the Bermuda grass got its foot in the door, and wouldn't leave!  I've mounded dirt/mulch around each plant so I can just water it, rather than use the sprinkler and water the whole bed which would include the Bermuda grass.

Bed #4 in the back yard has four tomato plants plus marigolds, and one humongous giant sunflower.  A bird must have dropped the seed there, I certainly didn't.  The two tomatoes at the bottom of the photo are cherry tomatoes, and . . . . . they're indeterminates.  I'll have to built a much studier cage for them to grow on, those round ones will never contain them! 

 



That's it for the Town Garden for now. 





More Before and After Photos

My visit to Moody Girl Farm this week was shorter than originally planned.  I have a sick cat at home and didn't want to leave her for the longer trip.  Mostly what I wanted to see was if my Junkman had removed the attached sheds on the north side of the building.  Here are some before and after photo.
There's a tree that fell and is leaning on the sheds.  My Junkman had to remove it before he could get to the sheds. Just below the windows on the shed you can see a TV laying on those rocks.  Those rocks are stacked around the opening to the cistern.  I measured it and it's 12 feet deep and about 8 feet in diameter at the bottom.  There's about a foot of trash on the bottom, so I'll have to get/hire someone to go down there and clean it out.  If it's still usable, I'll try to divert rain runoff from the roof down to it and use that to water my gardens. 





























This was the view out the Kitchen door.

The sheds were attached to the north side of the house and stuck out further back than the house.

Here is what I saw when I arrived Monday.

That piece of plywood on the ground near the house is covering the opening to the cistern.  That pile of stuff in the back yard is the 'burn pile'.  There's a burn ban right now so it's just going to sit there for a while.  There is no City Dump in my small town so people just pile it up and burn it.  That's country living for you!

This is my new view from the kitchen.  Much nicer!

Although my trip was just for the day, I met with another house leveler.  The first one I talked to last week gave me an estimate of $8,400, but only gives a one year warranty.  The man I talked to Monday quoted $12,800 but allows a 15-year warranty.  Not a hard choice to make. 

I will try to add a post tomorrow or Friday with photos from the trip last week.

    

Before and (sort of) After Photos

This is the little house that is on the property I bought on April 5th.  It is definitely a fixer-upper.

I stayed overnight Sunday April 8th, and again Friday April 13th, and cleaned up a lot!  I took four contractor-size garbage bags of 'stuff' out of the front bedroom, and four bags out of the kitchen.  I had my ShopVac with me the second trip so I could vacuum the bedroom, but I still won't walk barefoot in there.  The only reason I was able to stay overnight was because when my friend M and I went up for the closing, we were able to get the toilet working, sort of.  I couldn't have stayed overnight if I was going to have to use a bucket...  We had found the water line on an earlier visit to the property, before I actually owned it, and installed a water spicket. As it was, I had to pour water into the bowl from a bucket for it to flush.

The third trip included my friend M and was Mon-Wed April 16-18.  He upgraded the electrical so I could plug in the refrigerator and the microwave and the window air conditioner all at the same time!  M also helped me haul those trash bags to the City's community dumpsters and while we were out we stopped by the Water Department.  I asked Jackie, the lady in charge, if she knew of anyone who hauled off junk and she gave us the name of Jesse Stewart, their local "Sanford & Son". We went by Jesse's place and talked to his son and I left my information.  Back at the house, later that afternoon, Jesse and his son drove up.  We made a deal that he could have all of the metal (there's money in salvaging metal) IF he would take away everything else.  He said he'd be back the next day (Tuesday) around 3pm.  Well, he called me at 11am Tuesday and said he'd be by sooner.  He brought a long trailer and along with the two young men with him they hauled off all of the stuff inside the house.  It took two trailer loads.  He took two full size beds with mattresses, one matching dresser, the old gas cook stove, three sofas, two upholstered armchairs, one recliner.....and a partridge in a pear tree!  I also had filled four regular trash bags with those decorative metal tins, the ones you get at Christmas or whenever filled with candy or cookies.  There were piles of blankets, and a green metal pantry-type cabinet full of sheets and towels.  There were several TVs and VCRs and the tables they sat on. There was a stereo cabinet and speakers.  It's all gone.  When I tell anyone about it, I say that it looks like the people just got up and walked out the door.  There were clothes still in the dryer.

I had checked the refrigerator, microwave, and the AC on previous trips so I knew they worked, that's why I kept them. Still, it's sorta like camping.  I haven't had a chance to check if the dryer works, if it does I'll keep it.  If it doesn't work, I'll call Jesse to come get it. 

Here are some before and after photos. 

Living room, before:

 Living room, after:

 

  Bedroom, before:

 

Bedroom, after:

 

  Utility area, before:

 







 Utility area, after:

 

 Bathroom, before:

 

 Bathroom, after:

 

 Back room, before:

 

 

Back room, after:

 

There is a real 'night & day' difference in how it looks now that all of the stuff is gone.  There's still a lot of cleaning up to do, of course, but that's for another post.

I Bought the Farm...

I finally closed on the property that I have been trying to purchase since November - five months of waiting and waiting.  The papers in my hand are the closing documents, I drove to my Moody Girl Farm property directly from the title company.

I did say it was a fixer-upper, didn't I?

From what I've seen, I believe the house grew over the years. The original house, outlined in blue, was approximately 14'x33' and had just two rooms.  The room on the left (14'x13"+) was the only bedroom in the house, and the larger room on the right had the kitchen at one end and table/chairs and other seating.  I think it was built in the 20's or 30's.  When the city put in water and sewer service in the early 50's, an addition, outlined in green, was made to the back right corner of the house and the kitchen was moved there.  The new bathroom was built in the front right corner using part of the space where the kitchen was.  Very odd arrangement, but that's what's here now.  And then later, I don't know when, another addition, outlined in yellow, was made on the back to square off the building.  The front porch may have been added at that time.

I found the well pipe casing where they had a well, and the old outhouse is still there.  There is also a cistern.  I'll be going up to work/clean this week and will have more photos after that.  Until then, never surrender, never give up, and may all your dreams come true.

Soil Test Results - Home Test Kit

I completed the soil test on the samples from what will soon be Moody Girl Farm using a kit I purchased at Lowes.  The instructions were fairly simple: put a small sample of the soil in the test tube and add water.   Shake it well then let it settle.  Then add the contents of the capsule and shake again.  When it settles there should be a color which should match one of the colors on the sample chart.

I tested three areas: the main front garden, the chicken garden (named that only because it will be adjacent to the chicken run), and the backyard garden.  All three samples indicate that the soil is neutral-to-slightly-acidic.  And of the three minerals, there is just a wee bit more Nitrogen in the soil than Phosphorus and Potash, although the Potash samples never really settled.  Even though, they are all very low on minerals. Once I close on the property (next week?) I'll mark the areas for the gardens and as I have time I'll begin to build up the soils. And if I'm lucky, I can put in a small fall/winter garden.


 

 

 

I started seeds for my Town Garden week before last and may be able to transplant the tiny seedlings into their beds this next week.  Until then, never surrender, never give up, and may all your dreams come true.