November 2, 2019

We moved into the studio apartment two days ago. The weather has been horrible all week and we had to move in the freezing rain. Most of our “stuff” has been sorted in the 3-car garage below the apartment.

The door we ordered from Menards came in just in time. We were able to install it the day before we moved in! It’s beautiful and lets in tons of light!
Our bed is in the middle of a construction zone! There are tables of tools by the front door and lumber, molding, tiles, and mortar in piles around the apartment. But we have coffee! We don’t have running water, so we had to buy it in gallon jugs. We have a tiny dorm refrigerator and a few space heaters.

There is still a hole in the ceiling over the bed. We FROZE the first night, even with lots of blankets. By the second night, we got out the electric blanket. We couldn’t figure out what to do about the hole in the ceiling (we were both very exhausted and coming down with colds), so we stapled puppy pee pads to prevent the warm air from escaping. We were still cold, but it wasn’t too bad.

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We are working on the plumbing in the studio apartment. There is a working bathroom in the house, although the mold smell is still overpowering. We scrubbed the bathroom because we knew we would have to use it for a few weeks as we finished the apartment bathroom. We also hooked up the washer in the mudroom, but there’s no power to the outlet for the dryer.

In other places around the farm, we built a gate for the tool shed so we can secure our tools. We discovered the water heater to the house sprung a leak. We were really hoping it would last at least another year. After another trip to Menard’s and long conversations with their plumbing guy, we bought a new hot water heater and water softener. A friend came out to install them for us – it sure is nice to have friends who know more about things than we do!! A priest friend came out and asked God to bless and protect our land, buildings and family.

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By the end of this weekend, we plan to install a propane heater in the apartment. We also want to fully install the kitchen cabinets and sink so we can finally get running water.

Next week we plan to have the bathroom floor and walls tiled. We are anxious to have a working bathroom. At least we can run across the yard to the house to use the bathroom and take hot showers – but it has been so cold in the mornings!

Speaking of cold, we found a persimmon tree full of fruit on the farm. We cut open several seeds and found all spoons. According to folklore, spoons mean digging out a lot of snow.

We can do this. We are still undaunted.