Settling In~

Once the decision was made to tear everything out & re-do the house, the next two weeks were busy ones.  Butch stayed ahead of the flooring installer, moving furnace floor vents - all of them were out in the middle of the rooms.  He tore out leaking toilets, doors, cupboards & even a couple small pony walls in the master bath.  For a while, it looked like a war zone!

Besides all the work, we made several trips to Council Bluffs - to find what we needed.  We spent time shopping, purchasing & when necessary, ordering. Home Depot was our go-to place!  Courtney's flair for decorating was put to use, between the three of us, we made decisions on appliances, cabinets, etc.

Kelly's Carpet & Furniture~

 Jim at Kelly's was great to work with.  He'd helped me to pick the flooring long-distance.  It was fun to finally meet him in person.

Courtney never stopped - cleaning, scrubbing & helping her dad with the heavy stuff.  We did take one afternoon off to tour some of the surrounding countryside.  We ended up at what's become our favorite place - Tobey Jacks in Mineola.  It was super sad when Thursday rolled around...  The drive to Omaha was so short & easy - Courtney had to catch her flight back to Washington. :-(  It brought home to us - our kids & grandkids were no longer going to be close enough to visit :-(

Craft Room~

  One of the goals for the first week, was to get the flooring down in the far end of the house.  That would give us the space to move in things from the U-Haul, rather than rent another storage.  I realized how nice it was going to be to have a larger house with two more bedrooms!

Both the U-Hauls ~

The two of us unloaded the 22ft. truck & returned it on the 23rd to the dealer.  The 26-ft. truck that Butch & David had driven out was still there.

27th - Nika supervises - Flooring down, cupboards going in~

The flooring installer was nice enough to help with my railroad desk!  Drew was super to work with.  Kelly's best installer & it was obvious why!  Once he'd finished - our next goal was to get two of our three storage spaces emptied before the end of the month.

What a job That was!  Again, just the two of us - Butch figured out amazing ways to help get the biggest & heaviest stuff loaded into the truck - then unloaded at the  house.  The weather throughout the move was great & stayed nice the entire time.

Evening view~

November first - we'd just finished loading the last of our things from the final storage space - when my phone rang.  Hearing my aunt's voice, I knew why she was calling...  My Mother had passed away...  Time stood still...

When I think of all the changes - in such a short amount of time...  

I'm thankful Mom knew we were safe, happy & settling in~

First Full Day~

The day warmed up quick!  I was anxious to see Farah's boarding stable.  It was only a few miles to the farm.  The drive was steep with a bit of a tilt to it.  Butch had his hands full with the truck, camper & trailer.  The parking was tighter than we'd anticipated.

Farah's new barn~

Farah was instantly excited when she unloaded!  With other horses in the barn & out in the pasture - she was checking everything out!  We put her in the round pen - deep with sand.  She took off bucking & running!  Next, a drop to the ground & roll!  We looked around - a very nice place - big stalls, well bedded, with auto-waters.  I'd reserved a stall - there were no outside runs available.  We decided to leave her out for a while, I wanted to see the house!

One of the three town water towers~

It was only a seven-mile drive to our new place!  I loved the corner of town where the house was located.  The neighborhood looked nice & quiet.  Walking in the front door though - I knew our work would be cut out for us...  We'd had the interior completely painted before our arrival.  Flooring installation was scheduled to begin tomorrow.

With street parking very limited, Butch wanted to get the Bronco unloaded & car-hauler returned asap.  We parked the truck & horse trailer where we thought they would be out of the way.  Once the Bronco was off - we hitched it up to the car-hauler & drove east out of town - to return it to the U-Haul dealer.

Trailer returned!

As we were returning to town, I got a call from a man who identified himself as a local police officer!  He asked if the Ford truck & trailer parked on the curve was ours?  Well... Yes!  He then asked where we were & how long it would take us to get back?  When we told him it would be minutes - he replied the school buses would be driving through on their way to the nearby elementary school!  He was worried they wouldn't be able to squeeze by :-)  

At home~

When we arrived - I had to ask how on earth he'd found my phone number?  As luck would have it - the painter we'd hired lives just up the street.  He'd seen the officer by our truck with those stand-out Washington State plates :-)  Disaster adverted :-)  Welcome to small town America!  :-)

Returning to check on Farah - we found her covered in flies!  She came running to us!  I sprayed her down & put her into her stall - she settled right in & checked out the water.  Back at the house, Butch parked the truck in the drive.  We'd already planned to live in the camper until the flooring was installed.  Let the remodel begin!