Habitat for (SBR) Humanity

Over the past year it has come to our attention that the Ranch house is too small to comfortably sleep all fifteen of us. It's okay for a quick weekend, but anything longer than 48 hours is not always pleasant. "The Guys" decided that an add-on is necessary and this weekend they began the first of a several step project.

The project is to enclose the front porch, creating a new living space. Once complete, the original "enclosed porch" (aka playroom) will become a bedroom and the "newer enclosed screened in porch" (aka the carpeted living area) will become a playroom. They'll have to cut a door where the window (between rooms) exists and eventually put up doors that have long since been removed.

Day One:
When the girls and I arrived, the guys had already taken out all of the porch posts and railing. They had two fires going (three if you count the smoker) and it was chilly and damp outside.

David cutting the support post from the existing roof. The rest of the day was spent getting the foundation level and straight around the porch.
Then they started building some of the framing.
Meanwhile, the girls and I went for a short hike around the back pond.

We saw many animal tracks heading to the back tank. Raccoon, Armadillo, something that looked like it could be a small cat or a large rabbit (it was very sandy).

In honor of Thanksgiving, here Cameron points out the easily recognizable turkey tracks. By far the most interesting thing we saw on the hike were the ants. Great, big, huge, red ants carrying leaves or pieces of leaves. The kind of ants you would watch in documentaries in elementary school.

The day ended with watching the OU-Tech game on the big screen. (Well, the OU game.. was Tech there?)

Day Two:

Day two dawned with rain and though it stopped soon enough it threatened much of the day. Still, the guys spent the day burning the tree and framing the room.

Brian decided the tree stump just had to come out - this poor tree had been struck by lightning and died. The guys cut it down on Labor Day weekend 2004. This time they tried to cut the stump down with a chain saw, but only made a three-inch dent after ten minutes of sawing. Brian (the Pyro) came up with the idea to burn the stump out. This was a common sight all weekend, though I'm told it's still there tonight, still smoldering. While visible progress has been made, it will take additional attention before it comes down.

Day two ended with the framing up and several ideas for the next day. They might have finished more, but we realized too late that it was Sunday and one hardware store was closed, and the other closed before we could get to town. Another huge factor was the fact that it was Sunday and there were football games playing. Naturally, the guys had a television plugged into the corner under the remaining roof and it was common to see them pause to watch the Cowboys make a play.

Leah and the kids drove in mid-afternoon from Austin. Cameron and Brenna had a ball playing with their cousins.




Day Three
We left mid-day on Monday and the guys were busy putting in the rafters.

After we left they finished setting in the windows, with a few adjustments required, ran the electrical (Romex) and put on about half of the roofing.

Day Four
Today they finished the roofing, installed the moisture barrier, and put on the exterior siding.

Bryan took these with his cell phone camera.

Bryan says they still need to add insulation, put down hardiplank flooring, frame the closet, put up the interior wall and ceiling paneling, tile and carpet, and paint.

I know we all can't wait for this to be done! What amazing progress in just four days.

Girls Weekend

In mid-July, we had a Girls Crafting Weekend at the ranch. In attendance were Mom, Leah, Linda, Sarah, myself and Dad. Yep, Dad came with us to the girl weekend. Don't worry, he didn't join us in our crafting. He spent his time riding around the property, on the couch, and as bartender.

We had a great couple of days trying out new things. I started with some scrapbooking, the moved on to tooth pillows, sewing ribbon on jeans for Laurie, adding ribbon to notepads, painting picture frames, and a few other things. It was great.

Mom and I changed a few things to the house while we were there, so here are a few pictures of the differences.

Notice the big corner computer desk is missing from the eating area.

*The Animal Update for Shelly*

On our way from the road to the house, we saw a group of Turkeys. Here are a few.

July 4th Weekend

Mom & Dad and The 5 Jones were all at SBR for the July 4th Holiday weekend. While we didn't have any fireworks, we had plenty of fun. We discovered that Laurie LOVES the ATVs. Or, as she calls them - the ABTB. It was more, more, more and faster.


The kids had a great time in both the baby swing and the horse tire swing. We hung them low enough so the kids could swing themselves. I got a couple really cute videos of the fun.





We threw some bad meat over the fence, then a couple hours later discovered many large birds out there eating. I tried to take some pictures, but they didn't like me hanging outside with them. This was the best one I got after they all flew up to the trees.

Mom, Dad and I took our turns shooting Dad's 22 at a "target". We were out of targets, so we improvised. Guess who the best shot of the day was??? No, not Brian, we had him come out to count the shots of the winner.

If you guessed me, you would be right! I hit the "target" area (masking tape in the center) 8 out of 10 times.

While we were there, we spotted a mother deer and her fawn several times. They didn't seem very scared of us and I even got a little video of them running between the two houses. There were many of the Mexican Eagles (I can't remember what they are called), and Brian had an encouter with a large yellow snake. He was riding on the ATV with Daniel and ran over it.

We did discover that weekend that Dad has gout. When we got there, he had a great pain in his foot, thinking that he broke a toe. The pain got worse, so he decided if he drank enough it would numb the pain. The next morning, he couldn't put any pressure on the foot and was in so much pain, he called the emergency room himself. When he and Mom got back, we found out that alcohol is one of the worst things to do with a bout of gout. Oops.

Tractor

I had some fun today taking pictures of the tractor at work. Dad, Jack and Brian bought 3 bales of hay at a local rancher's to prepare for Summer.

I didn't want the ATVs to be left out...

Memorial Day Weekend

Many of us went to SBR for a few days to enjoy the holiday weekend. It was very hot, mid-90's, but that didn't stop the guys from spending their days smoking jalapenos and meat. Ron and Daniel went fishing, Leah and I painted a table, and Dad, Jack and Brian went and bought hay bales. With Avery and McKenzie there also, the cousins all had a great time running between the houses playing together.

Nana had storytime

This was Megan's first trip to the Ranch!

Hanging Out - Eating Jalapenos



Where are we going? Clap Clap Clap

Picnic Hill!! (Think Dora)

Yes, Birdie gets to drive at the Ranch

Cousins - Daniel, Brenna, Ashley, McKenzie, Cameron, Avery

And since Shelly wasn't there and she always mentions the wildlife...

We saw several cardinals, a roadrunner, and a snake living in our pile of metal sheets next to the shed. Dad & Uncle Jack assured me it was just a harmless rat snake. After seeing it watching me, I wasn't so sure.

The star of the weekend had to be the ants. They were all over the ground everywhere. We all got bit standing out in the yard but the worst part was getting in my van to go home and finding hundreds all over the floorboards inside. It was awful.

Picnic Hill

Saturday afternoon some people scouted out "Picnic Hill", a piece of property adjacent to SBR overlooking the back tank.

You can actually see the back tank if you look very (very) closely at the center of this photo, between the trees.

The property is very overgrown with brushy weeds, and a few minutes after taking this photo of Bryan and the girls on "Picnic Hill" (the name hasn't grown on me yet...) Brenna tripped and fell into a patch of what we now believe to be stinging nettle. Her denim capris didn't cover her lower calf and the leg swelled up red with white welts that looked like ant bites. She screamed saying it burned. Thankfully we were able to treat with Deep Woods Off at the truck and Benadryl back at the house.

Spring at SBR

Spring Break is coming....

Get ready, get set, and let's all go to SBR for Spring Break.

Some of the family are headed out this weekend, and Lisa and I will bring the kids out on Wed or Thursday. I'm planning a side trip to Austin for Cameron to see the Texas State Capitol building. I'm thinking of doing Goliad or Washington-on-the Brazos that week also.

Whoever gets there first gets to clean. And those of us there last will get to clean again. Spring cleaning.

Febuary Pictures of SBR

I took these photos in the 10 minutes we were at SBR to get Dad's car on Feb 25th, the day after he had his heartattack. The light coming across the field was so pretty. I'm afraid the pictures don't quite capture it since it was 5 p.m. and I was facing West into the sun.

I just noticed that if you click on the pictures, the color appears a little better.