A Goodbye to Buster and A Frosting Thief

We were out looking at the progress on the house when we saw Baltzer out walking Buster.  Buster has been having trouble with his legs so Baltzer takes him out in the wagon.  I think it's so cute that he makes him comfy with a box under him so he can see over the edges.

The boys went out to say their last goodbye and I went over too.

I have mixed feelings about Buster.  He bit Nathan when he was just a little 2 year old and he has a scar behind his ear.  But later on, little 6 year old Nathan took him for a walk every day when Baltzer was having knee trouble and had to have both knees replaced. He loved Buster, so he's a bit sad that Buster is going to be put down tomorrow.

I know how hard it is to love these little friends and have to say goodbye, so I feel for the Baltzers for sure.

You lived a great life Buster! 

Now for a random pic from my camera roll.  

I looked in on the cake from Allie's birthday and thought we were back in Star Valley with varmints eating food in the kitchen.

 Someone had just eaten the frosting off the top and left the mangled cake.  I assume that someone is Allie because she's the frosting lover in our family.  I guess it's her right because it is from her birthday.  :)

More Pics of Progress

We've been splitting our time in Wyoming a lot. We feel the pressure to get this place fixed up enough that we can leave it and not worry about it.

Mike wanted to paint the garage red, so that was the project for this week.

I was in the house cleaning cupboards so I sent my camera out with Jason to take some pics.  It's funny what he thought was worth documenting.

We had Brian and his family helping so that was super nice.

Brian framed in a spot for a garage door so that will be coming next week.

This isn't the best picture, but I'm adding it anyway...Charlie always lives his best life in Star Valley.  He loves to sniff out varmints and run through the fields.

I guess Jason wanted to document all the vehicles that we had.

  

On the inside (with me behind the lens), we were going through cabinets.  Jason's job was sorting the junk drawer...

                                       

We took everything out of every cabinet and cleaned it all.  No more mouse poop or earwigs...at least for now.  (Barf)

The stink was still totally ingrained in the basement.  We hauled out the rotten wheat last week but the smell bowled us over when we opened up the door after having it closed in for a week.

Brian made a vent to the outside and we painted it with Kilz from top to bottom.

Nate and Brooke skated around with fresh paint on the floor and had a grand ol' time.

We can have fun amidst the grossness?

 We left tired and feeling like we needed to bathe in bleach but we feel like we're making progress.  It's nice to see the red garage and I like to see the clean cabinets.  

Cleaning that place is always an adventure.  I wonder if I'll ever forget the earwig that got stuck coming out of the salt hole in the salt and pepper shakers. (I noticed it about a year ago but didn't do anything about it till now).  Or how close I came to puking after cleaning out the freezer.  

I know the kids will never forget the stench of that rotten wheat. It isn't something that can be described but it changed us all.

Joe was a bachelor for a handful of years and he wasn't too bad at cleaning up after himself.  In fact, the years that it was just him were probably the cleanest it had been. No clutter to speak of. But you can't expect a 75 year old house not to come with some grossness.  He hadn't used the dishwasher in years and there was a leak.  He had mice coming and going like they owned the place, and that rotten wheat in the basement affected so many rooms because they had vents that lead down to the rotten stench below.

It feels good getting a baseline of "not gross" as one of my book club friends calls it.

We walked away and will go back again soon to continue to make things "not gross".  I look forward to a time when we can go there to relax.  

Progress!

We're making progress again!  The framers are getting closer.

This will be the kitchen.

We decided to add a window to this part above the stairs.

This is the other dormer.  This will be a bedroom.

The main room is pretty cool too and we made the windows bigger there too.

I always tease Mike because he tells people we're building me a bakery...but take one look at this garage and tell me that's not the main point of this remodel.  :)

It's fun to see things moving along!

18!

This girl is 18!!! 

She got to sleep in because cheer was an all day thing today.  She went to brunch with her friends (Mike crashed their party and loved every minute of it).

Then she was out the door for cheer and by the time she got home for her birthday dinner, the boys were at football.  So it was a quiet dinner (of stroganoff and green beans).

Then, we sang to her and had some cake.

 Jake got to call as she was opening gifts.  She didn't get much. She wanted concert tickets, so it was that and a few fun make up and girlie things. (And fishing lures too).

It was a great day for her.  It's hard to believe we've got another adult in the house!

Happy birthday Allie baby!  I love you forever.

Football in the Front Yard

Allie found the boys' football pads in the living room (because we don't have a garage yet).  She put them on and that led to this...

They tried to show her how it goes...

 They were all tired by the time they gave it up and came in.  It was pretty fun to watch.

Bold and Blue

It was Bold and Blue night up at the school tonight.  The boys were at football, so it was just me and Mike who headed up there to watch Allie dance for the first time this season.

I love all of Allie's friends.  I love when they say hi to me and let me photograph them.

This group of girls is off to a great start for their senior year!  Kensley and Ivy are student council and the others are cheering, so they'll all be super busy, but they always make time for each other and I love that they have each other.

It'll be a fun year! 

More House Stuff

Allie and Mike (and sometimes the boys) have been working to tear the siding off the house.

Allie is a good and strong worker and does what it takes to get the siding off.

The trusses have all been placed and they keep making progress!

Today, they framed in the connection from the old part of the house to the new.  The framer found the nest of the birds we've been seeing come and go for the last few months.  I feel bad disrupting their nest, but they can't get closed in there either.  We're hoping the momma comes back to the nest, but if not, we just ended the lives of 5 baby birds.  Yikes!

At night, after the framers leave, we ride up in the scissor lift and see how things will be.

We love the new views!

We took Griz up and he laughed about the view straight into his yard.

 It's coming right along!