Building up and Tearing Down

Finally I have had a week and a bit where Hazel's naps, good weather and motivation have all lined up!!!

So over the last few weeks our privacy fence has slowly been going up! This has been a really fun project for me and one that I have been able to do mostly by myself. 

Once I got everything done on the front that I could reach from the ground, I had run out of stained boards. I got a bit smarter and set up some shade and a spot to stain that wasn't on the other side on the yard from my wood supply so staining went a lot quicker and once I got a rhythm going it as also quite enjoyable.

Chantelle came over earlier this week and helped me finish the fence!!! (Next 2 pics) In typically Mama fashion we put up the last four board with both babies crying...

It is so nice to have it done so that we can enjoy it for a few months before winter hits!!!

90% Finished... now it just needs a gate and the posts need to be trimmed down, I'm hoping to put lighted posted caps on them!

While I was on one side of the yard building the fence, Jared has been on the other side of the yard tearing things down and making things worse before they get better, as is typical with overall projects. 

Step number one, tear down the "play house"! It took very little effort for the tractor to pull down the "play house" which made me even more happy to be getting the safety hazard/ eye sore out of the way.

Video's of the playhouse coming down below:

 Step number 2, chop it all up into smaller/ movable/ burnable pieces, eagerly waiting for the burn bans to lift, as you can see there will be a few bon fires in the near future..

Part of me is trying to keep or salvage stuff from the pallets and the play house and feels bad just cutting it all up and burning it or getting rid of it, but the other part of me is starting to realize if you are trying to clean up a mess you just have to be ruthless and get rid of it or else it never gone!

Believe it or not, this chuck of the yard is actually part of the gravel drive way... which Jared is in the process of finding back with the help of the tractor and a borrowed box blade. 

Hazel loves tractor rides!

It took a while, but eventually Jared did find the gravel back!

Firsts

 Lots of Firsts happened after we returned from our summer holidays. 

Hazel had her first "play date" with Fern, they had a great time playing with the water table and pool. It was such a great way to spend a hot afternoon, watching the kiddy play and have a nice chat!

Hazel got her first hair cut, just a little off the top and sides, all the before and after pics didn't turn out that well... but here is the hair...😛

The first ear of corn in the garden! I'm really curious to see if it will ripen as our corn plants are not that tall... but maybe height doesn't have anything to do with it. 

Beans finally took off and have flowered as well. 

Just started to realize that Hazel really want to help with anything that I'm doing. So for the first time Hazel helped unload the firewood that Jared picked up that afternoon. At first I gave her a small and short piece to carry around...

Later Jared put her in the back of the truck and she managed to pick up quite a few large pieces as well. 

Video prof of our little helpful farm girl! (Video Below)

We also finally had time to finish up the chicken run. A few pallets from work made up the wall in the middle and then I put some chicken wire over them. 

Later that evening Jared cut a door for the Chickens.

"Hello Chickies" 😍 

This is another one of those pictures that just melt my mommy heart!

Chicken's first time out exploring the next morning. Hopefully we will see out first eggs soon!

Puddles!

 Actually got to try out the gum boots this evening!

Unlike last time she found a puddle and mom didn't think to bring gum boots along...

There was three puddles at the end of the drive way to play with; small, medium and large.

It was bound to happen... Hazel did end of falling in the big puddle...🙈

(Video Below)

Another video of Hazel exploring all the puddles, I love her expressions as she decides if she should brave the big puddle again! (Video Below)

Fence Posts and Chicken

 Started on the privacy fence on Monday! So excited!!! Having the posts in the ground will hopefully motivated me to get the rest of the boards stained, currently I'm a little under half way. We put the tractor to good use and we got a post hole auger for it which worked really well and allowed us to get the project done on our time line rather then renting in and needing to return in by a certain time. 

Before:

After: 

In-between 😀

The post hole auger, I must admit that I was a bit unsure about getting this for the tractor, as you can just rent one for a day...but having Jared eager to work on a project and have fun while he is doing it, without hurting his back is a HUGE win!

Our first post! Once again you learn A LOT on the first try! We got a lot faster and a lot smarter as we went. 

For the second post Jared used the tractor and a clamp to hold the post in place while the foam set. Yes, foam! It was so slick!!! It comes it one bag that is clipped in half, you take the clip off, mix it together and then pour it into the hole, wait about 10 mins for the foam to rise and hardened and then move on to the next post! Very curious to see how it works in the long run, but on the install it was great! 

Here is a video of the auger at work for those who are interested. 

Not much to see, but I figured I should included a picture of the hole...

That evening we had home grown chicken for dinner. I was a bit nervous to eat it, but it tasted just like chicken. 

Jared actually did all the "meat getting" himself that morning, I had absolutely nothing to do with it! All together we put 7 chickens in the freezer.  Which means we have a lot more hens then we thought we did which is really exciting as I am looking forward to those eggs!

Later that evening Nova decided that she didn't like the smell of the foam and proceeded to burry it 😅 

(Video below)