Redneck Gypsies

Some of you may or may not know this, but country boy and I live in our fifth wheel camper.  Drummer boy has been next door with the grandparents.  It’s been real, it’s been fun...  “Insert Laughing”. However, I cannot complain.  Life Is Good!  I got my boys, my animals, our health.  What more does a country girl need?  We have been working on the inside of the barn.  Cement bid done and they are to pour it next week.  Country boy and dad got all the plumbing put in, along with the lights in the barn.  Next on the agenda, a septic tank.  Everything we will need to make a living quarters.  Hence the name of this blog, we are not only like gypsies, we are redneck gypsies!   Life is simple.  Just trying to be patient through this whole process.  (Something I have to work on).  But I have faith and trust in God’s timing.  So in the meantime, we continue to work on our new home place.   We knew that developing a home, barn, electric, water, etc. on undeveloped land would be a challenge.  I could complain and moan about the process.  But in reality, we have so much to be thankful for.  And I’m working on learning to be patient.  Because I know this process isn’t going to be easy. 

We keep trucking along.  While dad and country boy finish with the electric in the barn, I’ve been planning how I want to decorate the “bathhouse” and “bunkhouse” as I’ve affectionately named the room.   Winter is coming.  So we hope to get the old camper in the barn.  Plus, that way, we can easily continue working and plugging along with production and construction.  Once things are complete, we can all three officially live on the 80.  A makeshift home, no less.  But we are looking forward to being there every moment and working on it. 

 

 

My advice to someone thinking of building a new house, don’t do it.  But seriously, don’t have expectations, and be ready to allow your plans and deadlines to adjust.  As we are our own contractors, we know this is a learning process with many ups and downs.  So if you take on the challenge of building a home, take a deep breath, and pray.  A lot.  When we are done, there WILL be a celebration. 

We are very fortunate to have many family and friends help us.  And as you can see, our loyal four legged friends are always nearby, cheering us on. 

 

 

A fun fact about our new place that makes it very special to us is, (I believe I mentioned this already), but this is where my country boy proposed to me.   Many moons ago, we took the horses out to the 80 to ride.  As we were down by the pond, my country boy had the ring in his hat and proposed.  Needless to say, we are thrilled and blessed to be spending the rest of our lives here on this beautiful land.  So we are in it for the long haul, keeping the faith, and couldn’t be happier. 

Cool, clear, water....

Water pipe arrives!  Unfortunately, my dad no longer has his trencher, so country boy rents one for the weekend.  We packed the hours of the few days digging trenches all over the place. 

 

 

Friday was spent starting from the water meter and setting out the pipe.

 

 

 

Photo Op!  A view of the cattle pond.

 

Saturday fun.

Found a rough spot with rock, so dad had to dig through that section with his backhoe.

No problem. 

Had a little rain Saturday evening, but once it stopped, we got back at it.  Worked as long as we could, with the help of truck lights.  We were on a mission to get full use out of this rented trencher, and get this done!

 

 

Sunday

There is only so much one can do while another is sitting on top of a trencher.  So as country boy trenched ditches, inch by inch, I took the horses out for the day.  Drummer boy and I worked with the horses and assisted as needed.  (Translation: we ran to the hardware store, measured ditch depth as needed, ran errands, etc.)  You know, the important things.  

 

 Once break was over, drummer boy and I took the horses home so we could help start connecting the pipe and putting it in the ditch. 

 

 

 

The rest of the week is spent finishing connecting pipe, laying it in, and continue to backfill ditches.

 

To be continued...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't bring me flowers, give me dirt!

I'm cramming in two months worth of work into three blogs here.  Doesn't seem like much, but we've got a lot done!
In August, my country boy took the time to work up ground for our new arena.  Some gals want flowers or dinner, not me.  Dig me up some dirt to ride in and I’m happy!  The spot feels right, like it was meant to be an arena.  I can’t wait to get it completely done and put up our lights! We have so much to do on the arena yet, I’m just thankful for some worked up ground for now. 

 

 

The ground worked up really good.

Even though it was still a little rough I took the horses out to ride in it.

After his “honey do” list, country boy got back to work on the horse pens.

Moving more dirt and welding up more braces. 
 

 

A view of the horse pond where they bulldozed some rough ridges.

 

Dally was the foreman

Dad and country boy, setting more posts and welding more braces.

 

Never miss the opportunity to take a good photo through the ears of a good horse. 

 

September arrives and we are waiting on the powers that be to appraise the land.  Things are rolling, slowly but surely.  We just keep trucking along, working away on what we have control of.  All the while, taking some time with friends, cooking out and having fun.  After all, that is what keeps us sane though all of this!

 

Like I could resist a horse selfie

 

My happy place

 

 

 

Arena is still a work in progress but at least we have worked up ground to work horses in.
Roll out some barrels....now this place is starting to feel like home.

 

 

 

A nice evening view 

 

 

 

Dog, (and horse), days of summer.

Never a dull moment, always something to do. I haven’t got to blog much, (obviously).  For one, things are slowly progressing with nothing exciting on the construction yet.  And two, we’ve been busy this summer, to say the least.  Our son, the drummer boy, junior rodeoed all summer and won himself his first buckle.  We are so proud of him!  So with hauling him and the horses everywhere and working on the 80 whenever we get an extra hour or two in between, we’ve had a fun filled summer.  Here is a quick glimpse of some of my favorite rodeo kids.  Obviously our drummer boy, along with Lightning, her sister, and our nephew.  They all did awesome!

The "rodeo squad"

So proud of these kids!

 

 

 

Our nephew, pictured here with drummer boy.

He ended the season as Reserve All-Around Cowboy.  We are so proud of him!

Drummer boy got to team rope with his dad a lot this summer.

 

 Good old Gray

 

We rodeoed rain or shine!

 

 

 

 

Things are progressing….Really!

For those of you who think nothing is going on because you see no walls going up for a house, let me assure you, things are progressing.  I didn’t realize myself, the amount of work and time it takes to develop on undeveloped land.  However, along with the barn, we have a water meter and electric pole now.  Things that are under our control such as getting our land ready with pens, fences, dirt work, etc. are slowly but surely getting done.  If only my country boy had all day, every day.  But, we stay busy!  We changed our plans.  Again.  So, we are waiting for our final draft.  We want to make sure it is just right.  After all, this will be our home for the rest of our lives.

Now that fence posts have been set, country boy has been welding on half chain links to run the wire, and finishing up the braces.  Those of you who may not be familiar with building fence, braces have to be made in order to stretch the wires.  Otherwise, the fence won't be sturdy.

My job is to watch for little fires that may occur as he welds.
And obviously take lots of pictures.

This was a neat photo op of cattle grazing at the top of the hill.

 

The view from the edge of what will be the horses pen/pasture.  As I may have mentioned before, we are fencing off a section with the small pond just for the horses.  Our home will be within another area, with the animals taking the rest.

 

 Who can resist taking pictures of God's work.

So glad I got to catch this beautiful sunset.

 

 

Here's the man with the plan.  My dad.  One of the best!

We have spent many hours working with him out on this land, among others.  Working cattle, fixing fence, clearing trees, etc. Its been a blessing to get to do that with him.  Great memories.

Cutting the pipe for a brace and talking it over.

 Setting in the pipe, getting it ready to weld.

 

Very blessed that my husband is a man of many talents. 

 

He was looking down the soon to be fence line after finishing the brace.

Deep in thought about how he wants this fence line.  I sure love this man.

 

So another fun thing we do at the 80 is take all the dogs.  As you may have noticed, we have 3. Two Corgi's, Dally and Annie, and a Husky, Kodi.  Dally is our house dog, she's sort of a princess diva.  Her hobbies are to stay by my side, make me happy, and look as sweet as she really is.  Annie is her litter mate, she's basically country boys dog.  And Kodi is drummer boys dog.  We love to take them from their temporary pen at our temporary home and let them run.  Needless to say, they love it too!  Annie and Kodi's hobbies are being with us humans, running and swimming.



Best Friends

 

Little Corgi legs, she don't care.

I'm amazed she can float, let alone swim!

With all that hair, cooling off in the horse pond is the best!

 

Back to work.

So we had an old dump back behind the barn.

Notice I said HAD, check that off the to do list!

All loaded up, ready to take away.

Dad and country boy cleaned the old dump out with the backhoe and dozer.

It may look like work, but I believe they like running these big toys.

 

 

 

Break time!

Cooling off in the big pond.

 My motto for this place, "A little red dirt never hurt".

 Don't go too far, Annie!

Such a beautiful place.  As you can see, there is no lack of a nice place to cool off.



 

 

Some wild flower, I have no idea, I just thought it was pretty.

 

Our Woodpecker family 

 Dally, hanging out in the backhoe bucket.

 

Doing a little landscaping after cleaning up the old dump.

 

Dad, on the tractor with box blade, doing some dirt work around the horse pond.

My sweet, caring, wonderful mom.  She's always been there for me.  Never asks for nothing, always giving of herself.  I'm truly blessed to have her in my life!

 

My country boy done about all he could do for the day.

 

 

This weekend our drummer boy will be rodeoing, but we hope to get time in to cut more posts for the horse pen and gate.  Till next time.  Be Blessed!