So, what's going on with you guys? Anything new?
Yeah. Well. It's really great to have a place to get away these days. Ya know what I mean? I really wish we were further along though. A couple of weeks back we went up and threw some details in the cottage. We had big plans for the following few weekends like furniture and then beginning the outdoor kitchen/party areas but we were slightly derailed what with a global fucking meltdown overnight and all. Our lives haven't really changed all that much, but the ol' cliche of uncertainty has surely made us cool our jets on spending. Our business is still good - for the moment. We actually turned down some work last week. But since these days we're hyper focused on risk management both in our health and wealth, we're deciding to take it easy on the cottage spending for the moment.
Last weekend we went up with plans to finish the cabinet doors, build some other cabinets and finish the minor amount of kitchen tile as well as finish painting the trim. But all we ended up doing was relaxing and taking it easy. Kind of hard to motivate these days. We did begin digging for our septic tank. Which we did just to see if it would be possible to do it by hand rather than rent equipment. It will be relatively easy to do by hand so we dug about a third of the way, happy to continue at a later date.
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| A little muddy to start. |
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| But we quickly got down to dry dirt. This is about 2 feet deep and took about an hour. |
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| All together we have to dig about 5 feet deep, 4 feet wide and 7 feet long. Not too bad. |
Since it was just a relaxing type weekend we walked the trails and took some photo's along the way to print and hang in the cottage.
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| This massive tree is about six feet across at the base. It's about 1/4 mile back on the main trail and we plan to put a cool swing in it made of branches. |
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| Near the back pond we found this guy all by himself. |
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| This new growth forest is at the start of the main trail heading to the deep woods. |
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| This old hay rake is left over from when the property used to be farm land. Trees now grow up through it. |
The previous trip we did some decorating. Just before the non essential business were forced closed we picked up this guy at an antique store in Powderly, Texas just south of the Red River and about 15 miles from the cottage.
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| Meet Smuckers. He looks cool wearing a bow tie and sunglasses. |
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Refrigerator, counter tops, sink, shelving and lighting all in.
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| A full size, deep sink is a super step up from the tiny camper one. |
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We also were able to put the slides on the drawers, install the stove and put in the microwave as well as install all of the door trim and baseboards.
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| Need to get the doors built and finish up the tile. |
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| We hung the second TV and some wall decor. |
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| Including a cool old cross cut saw. Lot's more decor to come. |
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| We put in the bathroom light fixtures as well as all the towel bars. |
Although camping chairs work, we really are ready for furniture.
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| Nothing like sitting by the fake fire! |
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| Spring has sprung! |
We even mowed the grass. Everything is so green now.
We are very lucky to be this far along and to have such a great escape. We're so close to being finished now it's ridiculous. But it is 100% livable as it is, even down to hot running water. I'm just really anxious to get the outdoor space finished. It's going to be bad ass!
It's pretty freaking good as is and even more importantly, there ain't no Covid at Fireside. So if things get crazy, you'll know where to find us.
