Chickens, Cats and Bars... oh my! Plus a Party!

More unpacking has been completed. In fact, I think we're basically done with everything IN the house. Now the chore is to start going through all the boxes in the barn storage area. The chore part of that will be sorting through it all as there's plenty of stuff back there that is probably good for Craigslist or a yard sale. Speaking of the latter, I think we're going to try to do a Yard Sale the last weekend of August.... although that is only 2 weeks from now, so we'll see how that goes.

Thom's work on the bar has been wonderful! Of course nothing got accomplished last weekend as we were working at Hunters Run Horse Trials in Michigan. But the floor in the main bar area is done, the bar is designed and a bit of the railing and new walls are up. Took pictures last night of the progress and one day I'll get them posted.

Speaking of pictures, I did take this one last night...

It's a horrible picture taken by my phone -- which really should leave the photography business and concentrate on being a phone. This is the farm sign... partially completed of course.  I'm just excited to get a photo on this blog at all... even if it's crappy quality, out of focus, too dark AND the subject matter is a half painted scarecrow wearing Jayne's Hat.

This past week we drove out to Germantown to visit Trudy.  She has pastured chickens, both laying hens and meat birds as well as pasture fed jersey cows (what amazing milk!).  She was kind enough to let us come up and just talk to us about how she manages the animals, both the chickens and the cows.  And it was the middle of the afternoon and blazing hot (reference my sunburnt shoulders for verification -- OUCH!).  We definitely have a great idea on how to work with the chickens now.  We just need to get some.  Think we'll be waiting just a bit longer, perhaps even through to spring before getting a milk cow.  But we're definitely anxious for the fresh eggs!

As for the "party"... the house/farm warming shindig date is set -- Saturday September 4th.  Time is only determined by the participants.  Pretty much our philosophy is show up when you want... leave when you want.  It's a holiday weekend so we're not opposed to a several day party. :)  And we have plenty of crash space between couches and floors in the house... the "sleeps 9" camper we can put up... and the 7000 sq ft barn.  I think we'll have some munchies and foodstuffs plus some drinks.  Haven't confirmed it yet though so more details to come.  At the very least, the grill will be on-site... the bar, now dubbed Serenity Valley Pub, will be ready to be inaugurated... extreme bocce is on the menu as is a bonfire after dark.  Need directions?  Just ask.

And lastly, due to the pasture mowing guy mentioning the field mice and actually seeing one in the barn the other night, we have adopted 3 new barn cats from Jen's (iTolt Training Center) -- Pictures coming soon but we now have in addition to Curlina and Phoebe (who has started going outside), Buff Puff, Daryl and OB (aka Other Brother Daryl).  Buff Puff is a long haired mostly white girl and EXTREMELY laid back... even when Curlina is growling at her for 10 minutes straight.  Daryl and OB came from the same litter.  Daryl is a gray/black tiger.  OB is black.  Neither have been spotted for more than a micro-second since their arrival, but I'm sure they're around.