Blogging Standing Up

The joys of moving include...Blogging Standing Up.  Literally the chair has been packed, but not the computer...yet.  Is it possible for a large family to move in ten days?  Answer: yes.  However, that "yes" comes at an expense.  Little sleep, the children being out of the house, no meals being made, or ate, and no social activities what-so-ever!  So, for each piano lesson add one day more of packing.  If you have to even think of breakfast, add four hours more of packing.
We are twenty-four hours away from our goal of being done packing in ten days. Now, breakfast is going to be REAL interesting...because I have no idea of whether or not I have pots...I think the Haus Frau packed them...
Next blog in a week from "The Shoe"!
Keeping Calm and Farming On....

Dear Farmer "Repurposes" The Wife's Furniture

Dear Farmer has built the Wife almost all her furniture.  Everything starts with scrap lumber from farm projects. The only things Dear Farmer hasn't built have been handed down to us by generations before(family heirlooms).  The coffee tables started as wood racks-which explains why they've been built with 2 x 12 boards.  The tops were the siding from the first barn he built.  Leftovers, cut to just the right size. Our bed started as the children's playtable...but built with the thought that four children(at that time) never fit around a small play table well, it needs to be big enough for all four...like the exact size of a king-size mattress.  As time marched on the playtable repurosed into the Wife's bed. Which Dear Farmer built her a frame for, that looks just like the fence that he built around the perimeter of the farm.(Check out blogpost 5/8/15 "Building, building, building")
So this leads us to the next repurposing of furniture...since we're moving what can we take apart and reuse elsewhere?  So far the list of furniture Dear Farmer can't touch is simply the list of heirloom furniture.  Everything else will be far game...
What will the bed frame become?
What will the coffee bar become?
Will the wood racks that became coffee tables become shelving or countertops next?
Will the boxes to store blankets, that became end tables, which now store toys stay the same, or change?

This is all very exciting!  Like getting a whole bunch of new gifts, a whole new furniture set of furniture!  And the Wife will be able to look at the countertop, or butcher block, or stud on the wall and tell a story of how "this plank was....and I always loved how Dear Farmer thought of each detail and each need we had, and filled it."
{Sigh} I love this Dear Farmer! What a guy!

"The Shoe" Report

This weekend the beginning of the building for "the Shoe"... our tiny house for the summer.
Unfortunately, this project is having to be done in a Weekend Warrior fashion.  So whatever we get weather-wise, is how we have to work.  And of course, this weekend was rain...and rain...and rain.
So much of the building was done inside the barn, and then pulled out for assembly.
Dear Farmer always impresses the Wife when he just cuts and builds a building.  No plans laid out.  They are all in his head.
So we left the project for this week...with a deck and walls.  Anxious and waiting for the finishing of the shell in the next weekend.

The Repair from the Deer

Dear Farmer hit a deer.  The first deer he's EVER hit in his entire life...either as a passenger, or as a driver.
Unfortunately, he hit the deer with the van that we tow everything with.  Our first van.  Our "Love Bus"(as the children have known her).

Good news:
A 2000 Chevy Express that hits a deer will only sustain minor dents on the outside.
The parts to repair cost less than you think they might.
The parts to repair are almost all available at your local auto-supply store.

Bad news:
There are three parts that are most likely to be damaged in a "head on" hit with a deer...they are all necessary.
You have to order all your lenses for the turn signals directly from GM if you want new ones(cough, cough, sputter)
Dear Farmer is plenty busy and doesn't have time to fix a van right now!!!
We need that van to haul all the material we've been gathering on sale for our tiny houses!!!

So, Dear Farmer and the Nordic Ninja are outside, on a cold (35 F) night working by flood lights to repair the van. They have assembled all the pieces (they think), and though neither of them are mechanics...they are going for it! Dear Farmer turned into a pumpkin a half hour ago, and the Nordic Ninja worked a ten hour day with only one fifteen minute break, they are bone tired...and determined.

Moral of the Story: never hit a deer

Multi-tasking...

There are a lot of things Dear Farmer can do.
Multi-tasking, however, should not be one of them.
Dear Farmer has a habit of working in his head on a project, "listening" to the Wife talk, all while actually working on another project.
Surely I exaggerate, you say? No.  I am totally serious.
The fact that he does this, and does it on a very (all too) frequent basis, can fool most people into thinking that he can do it well.
The Wife concedes...usually he does do it well.
EXCEPT!  Except if it is late at night.  Late at night and driving.  Not a good combination.

Example: Dear Farmer and the Wife were out on a date.  Another "hot date" to the local farm-implement store and lumber yard.  While in these locations the Wife had opportunity to think on the present "tiny house" project we have going.  Think and think...and then release on Dear Farmer.  The conversation on the ride home was lively and funny and insightful.  And un-knowingly to the Wife...Dear Farmer was building the ideas into the plans of the "tiny house" in his head.  He was measuring lengths and angles while the Wife continued on the conversation about wash-tubs and clothes lines...
Then it happened.
As we were driving down the highway, approaching our turn-off to home...Dear Farmer didn't slow.  At all.
Not even a little. And the turn was coming up really fast!
The Wife did a little yelp ("turn.").  He didn't respond.
The Wife did a little more forceful yelp ("Turn!").  He blinked and looked around bewildered.
The Wife got all out bossy ("TURN, NOW!").
 Dear Farmer finally responded, "WHY? WHERE ARE WE?!"
"At the ROAD we LIVE DOWN!", the Wife elaborated in a rather forceful voice.
Dear Farmer yanked the steering wheel, stomped on the brake and turned (not a delicate movement by any means).
"What were you DOING?!", the Wife laid into Dear Farmer.
Sheepishly, Dear Farmer responded..."I was working on the tiny house, and driving home from Illinois on a Sunday night."
So we could either say that Dear Farmer was multi-tasking...or displaying signs of early-onslaught dimensia.  We'll go with the multi-tasking.
Dear Farmer, being his wonderful multi-tasking self, was figuring out the gutter system for the tiny houses, thinking about his upcoming commute to see us at the family garden on the Illinois farm and then returning to the Northern Farm on a Sunday evening, all while talking with the Wife on our drive home from our "hot date".
But late night, the worlds in his head, and in reality clashed...and he almost missed the turn to home.

Lots of laughter, lots of elbowing, and some good chuckles from the Farmer's Daughters, the Nordic Ninja, and the Wife.
We love our Dear Farmer...even while he's multi-tasking.

The Careful Planning of a Tiny House...or...The Size of My Shoe

Dear Farmer promised to build the Wife a tiny house in lieu of tent camping this year out at the garden.  The Wife has always loved tiny houses, we first started in one(see article: The Movement We Never Abandoned 2/23/2016 ) and the thought of being able to go back into one is a dream come to reality.
But exactly how to build a tiny house for a family of...ahem...thirteen?
Start by checking out the regulations for building a tiny house on wheels.  For a family of thirteen to live in the tiny house for an entire summer and fall...that size is SO not happening. He would need to build three tiny houses...but as we do not have three trailers, three vehicles to pull trailers, or three drivers. We quickly eliminate the wheels and trailer.
Now we are looking at building tiny house on skids.  This way house can be moved from location to location on site which makes the house an option for more uses.  If no one is residing in it, the house can become a storage shed, a studio, or even a chicken coop.
The tiny house will have two doors, two windows(actual double hung windows) and sleeping spots enough for thirteen.

But what happens to all the stuff you need?
Let's talk needs:
Food
Water
Clothing
Shelter

Those are all our basic human needs. Past that it's all luxuries.

The Wife has every intention of giving each child the luxury of electricity, internet, plumbing, fans, heat, and a small space for individual trinkets/toys.
Clothing will be kept in a mobile trailer that we will need to power-wash to get the stink of animals out of(the goats had lived there for a time) and Dear Farmer has plans to make it into a "family closet".
So far as washing those clothes go...a Laundromat isn't so bad, and if the Wife gets desperate to have her arms get a good workout, there's the clothing plunger and wringer secured on a tub.  Old Fashioned has a time and a place.
Now Dear Farmer is in the process of drawing up the plan for the tiny house for the Wife.  He estimates the size to be 10 x 20.
I guess for the summer the Wife will be the "...little old lady who lived in a shoe, she had so many children she didn't know what to do...".  Perhaps, like the Gilbreth Family (Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank and Ernistine Gilbreth) we will have to name the tiny house "THE SHOE".

This story is full of Bull

Dear Farmer had to take a bull to a friend for the summer.
The bull was not thrilled to take the ride, but the dog convinced him it would be better.
Dog yipping at his heels, he got in the trailer.
A long drive in nice weather.
The door was opened, the bull walked out, and everyone was happy ever after.

Around here, we spread bull around...but in the realistic sense.
So, here's the story:
The bull, Tuxedo, was purchased a few years ago from a dear friend, Ray-of-Sunshine.  Ever since Ray-of-Sunshine has said, "wow, I'd really love to have him back."
This year, Dear Farmer could make that happen.  So, Tux is spending the summer at Ray-of-Sunshine's farm.  Dear Farmer was so excited to be able to bless him.  The loading process was a little long.  Tux didn't really understand why he had to be going in the trailer...I'm sure he's realized that not all that go in the trailer come out.  So, Dear Farmer had to call the farm dog out to do her job, which she did great.  No one had to play dangerous games with a 1700lb bull...he ended up walking in(unhappy) into the trailer.  Six hours later, Tux was unloaded and Ray-of-Sunshine blessed us with beautiful handmade plaques out of barn-boards! They say, "Hope" "Love" and "Believe".  Then he made my favorite one: "Trust in God" ---that one's going on my tiny house!
So glad Tuxedo can reside there for a little while and everyone is safe!

The Movement We Never Abandoned

When Dear Farmer and the Wife married, their first home was a less than five-hundred square foot remodeled chicken coop.  It was a house with no doors.  A great and wonderful thing for Dear Farmer and the Wife while they were newly weds.  Issues had to be dealt with face to face.  Neither would run away, neither would back down, neither would give up their bed.  Problems were fixed by the next morning.
After child number three was born they listened to the advice of the ages...get a bigger house.  So they did. They actually doubled the square footage and purchased a house nearly 1000 sq.ft.
After children 8 & 9 were born they had to move for the farm...the house was triple the size of the house they came from.  The Wife nearly had a mental breakdown!  So much house!!!  Dear Farmer and the Wife have been overwhelmed by the amount of house, the amount of stuff, the amount of space.  They have an entire room just for a table and chairs!  Well, actually...it's two tables and chairs the room holds...and a buffet, and corner hutch, and coffee bar....and there's still room!
Dear Farmer and the Wife reminisce about those good old days...in the chicken coop.  Sure it was a squeeze, but it was the happiest squeezing ever.  The Wife made Dear Farmer promise to build her a chicken coop to move onto Honorable Son No.1's "someday" farm.  Dear Farmer promised he would.
There is a movement of people who are tired of stuff, tired of waste, tired of debt.  They are moving into "Tiny Houses".  We didn't know twenty years ago that our lifestyle would be "trendy".  Though we live in a house that is far too big (by 1950's standards) for our family (there are only nine children left at home presently), our hearts are in the tiny house.
Recently Dear Farmer decided we weren't going to be replacing the tent that we've had for twelve years. The tent served us well for many family campouts..."It's just not worth replacing.", he said.
We've talked of buying an RV?...a pop-up?...maybe just a trailer with bunks built in?  Then Dear Farmer had a "lightbulb" moment!  The Wife's tiny house!!!!  He's building the Wife a tiny house...a bunk-house, if you will.  It will be mobile, able to be trailer-ed from location to location, but with electricity and real mattresses!  And real walls! And real windows!  And real doors!  Dear Farmer's winterizing it, and seriously talking of A/C(which the Wife has yet to be convinced of).
How exciting!  To be able to share a love of small spaces and rustic living with our children!  The Wife doesn't have to wait until she's a Grandma...she gets to do it now!
Looking forward to sharing the tiny adventures with you!