Hunkering Down in South Dakota!

Warm weather this past two weeks gave us a hint of what is to come. All throughout the hills signs of spring are everywhere. Robins, Blue birds, Meadowlarks and other variety of birds have arrived back from their winter ranges. The turkeys are gobbling trying to entice a hen to be their best friend and all but the most shaded areas are free of snow.

You would hardly know the world is melting down around us as we self-quarantine here in our own little slice of paradise. Of course we have to keep one on the surrounding woods for approaching zombies. We keep a hammer close by so we can smash them in the skull and drop them in their tracks. Like much of the country, they have closed the schools, there is panic shopping in the stores and it is all you see on the news. As of today (3/16) South Dakota only has 9 cases.  But 9 cases or not the crazies are out in full force as witnessed by Barb when she went to Walmart in Rapid City. Like many stores across the country, TP was nonexistent, the cold/flu section was wiped out as was all the ready to eat frozen dinners. But the craziest things she saw was a mother who just sat back and watched as her two small children were licking the shelves. Yes, they were licking the shelves and then there were the two women who got into an actual fist fight over....wait for it.....baby wipes! Apparently one woman took offense to another woman who had 7 packages of baby wipes in her cart and told her to put some back for other people. The other woman did not take kindly to being told what to do and punches were thrown in the baby wipe aisle at our local Walmart. Seriously people!

We have taken advantage of this warmer weather to work outside on the siding. Well, I should say “I” as Barb was down and out for 3-4 days with some kind of bug. I kept my hammer close by and kept her locked in the bedroom just in case she turned into a zombie. Don't worry, I would open the door to throw in food and a bottle of water once in a while then slam it shut and put the chain back on the handle just in case. I am happy to report that she is all better and I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing my own wife is not going to try and eat my brains. 

So far the siding is going well. I decided to start in the easier areas with smaller pieces. Since we have a covered porch running the full 88’ of the east side of the house the siding is split with 52”s of siding above the porch and 56”s below the porch. Below that we eventually have 39”s of stone. 

The hardest part was getting the first panel on exactly straight. Trying to get it up on the wall, hold it, use the level and screw it in by myself was virtually impossible. After several attempts I gave up, got my sickly wife out of bed and asked her for some help. (I had my hammer in my hand the whole time) With the extra pair of hands, the first panel was up in less than 5 minutes, she was locked back in the bedroom and I was on my way! 

By my rough estimates it will take me 14 good weather days (now 12) to get everything done. I was two days in when the bottom fell out of the weather. 

8+ inches of snow and plummeting temperatures greeted us Friday morning. The only good thing is that it moved all the zombies south into the “no snow” zone so we can work at a more relaxed pace. Have you ever seen a zombie movie where there was snow? There is a reason, they don’t like snow! So we moved our operation inside and got rocking and rolling on some inside projects. When I say “rocking” I mean that literally. We sheet rocked the kitchen!

What a difference a few sheets make. It totally transformed area. I had to leave the back corner of the kitchen open so we could still install the shower valve in the bathroom right behind that wall in the adjacent bathroom. 

When Kevin was out here for a few days last week we finished the peak of the ceiling. He told us to leave the last couple board before the peak until he gets here as they can be tricky. I am glad we did as it was indeed tricky getting the last piece in place. But thankfully with Kevin’s expertise he got it done! Cheryl could not make it this trip but he did bring his new dog Reba!

The latest addition to the Filip family, Reba

She is just a pup but was very well behaved while visiting. 

We also installed the mantel over the fireplace. It is an old weathered 8x8 timber supported by two weathered 4x6 beams. It was actually one beam that we cut. Barb had to color match some stain to do one end on the face. She experimented with a couple colors and ended up mixing a few of them to get the color right. You cannot even tell one end was cut!

He also helped us get up the 2x10 rough cut board that are going to act as a decorative border around the kitchen, living room and dining room. Barb stained these a dark brown that will match our trim around the windows. We also got some tongue and groove installed below the 2x10.

2x10 timbers separating the room.

While we worked the dogs would just nap, lounge around and watch us. 

Lastly Barb stained the sliding glass door in the dining room, the kitchen window and the window in the upstairs bedroom. This stain (Provincial) is a couple shade lighter than the trim (Jacobean). The combination looks great!

Getting started on the sliding glass door

Kitchen window all stained

Despite all this work we have been able to get out and do some other things. Mainly we have been taking the dogs for a walk so they get a little exercise. 

Daisy running away from the zombie

On two occasions we found treasures. All that was left of our first find was the spine and the skull of a beautiful 3x4. 

At first we thought maybe it was our friend that we have been watching grow up over the past couple of years but after looking at some of our pictures we had never seen this buck before. On another outing we found this whitetail buck skull that had obviously been dead for a couple of years. 

So here we sit, cold and snowy outside, warm and toasty inside, no zombies in sight and more than enough to do while we wait for warmer weather later this week so I can get back outside to work on the siding. I just need 12 more warm weather days!