Hoot-n-Holler

Kenna's October visit

2010-10-12T21:40:00.005-05:00

What a great week we had.

The bad part was Mimzie had to work. So that meant Kenna and I had a lot of Poppy time!

Most of the time we didn't have a camera with us, But thanks to the Brown's we have a few pictures. Kenna and I checked cattle and worked in the yard. She needed a shovel and a bucket.

We were invited to go on a field trip with James Brown's grandkids.

Kenna and I met the crew at James & Dianne's house.

White donuts and orange juice started the trip.

All the kids got to set in the tractor.

Kenna, Meredith & James are ready to go.

Kenna found the Horn button and she gave it a good work out.

Shut the door, we have work to do!

We saw a cotton field and picked a little cotton.

It is time to leave. We had Fun!!

We left the "field trip" and checked Poppy's cattle, looked at Pumpkins, stopped and looked at baby pigs and made it home for lunch and a nap(1 to 4).

I know Kenna is ready to return to Muleshoe for another week.

Mimzie and Poppy are ready!!!

Kenna's Muleshoe Stay

2010-06-09T11:28:00.000-05:00

May 21, 2010 Dane Oliver made his appearance in our family.

Everything is great and Dane is growing like a weed!!!!

Heather has lots of pictures on her blog heatherhollye.blogspot.com

Hollye and I were fortunate enough to keep Kenna for several days.

Kenna is helping with the flower beds.

Kenna put lots of dirt in her bucket.

Kenna did lots of work moving dirt!!

After a day of work Hollye asked Kenna if she was ready for a bath.

I think she is.

After her bath

Kenna opened the drawers and got pans out. I really don't know what the plan was here.

Standing on one foot, pretty good.

I didn't have a camera with me most of the time.

These a just a few of the MANY adventures with Kenna.

We can't wait for her next visit.

Easter 2010 # 2

2010-04-30T22:32:00.001-05:00

Easter Day everyone had their new clothes on.

Kenna was proud of her dress.

What do you think she wants or is up too?

Ok... OK What every you want you can have!!!

Anson's first Easter

Good looking young man.

He takes after one of his granddad's.

Abbye in her easter dress.

Kenna & Abbye out for a stroll.

Their are lots of good pictures on Heather or Amy's blogs.

Courtney also has some great pictures but she doesn't blog.

Easter 2010

2010-04-28T21:50:00.003-05:00

Easter 2010

Anson and I watch as the silly girls color Easter eggs.

Abbye colored one of her eggs yellow!

Kenna colored lots of eggs. While they dried she checked out the prize eggs!!

At the park Kenna & Abbye enjoyed the slides.

Abbye's Birthday

2010-04-26T21:25:00.004-05:00

April 1st ABBYE turned "2"
She is growing up very fast. We got to enjoy an Elmo birthday party!!

Abbye had fun and liked the Elmo cake.

Mimzi and Poppy love you!!!

Tyrel's wedding weekend--

2010-03-23T22:30:00.000-05:00

Cade & Kyla at Tyrel & Courtney's wedding

All Dressed Up!!!

Daniel, Heather & Kenna

Kenna & Cade

Kenna & Cade eating crackers

Kenna & Abbye

after the wedding.

cheeeeeeese

The reception was held at Old Red-downtown Dallas

Charlie, Abbye, Amy & Daniel

Heather, Kenna & Hollye

Abbye & Kenna in the turret at Old Red

Forward rolls in wedding dresses!

Like mother like daughter

Amy & Abbye

What are they up to??

Tyrel learning from Cade & Kyla

Sunday lunch before we headed home.

Amy wanted a hat.

Abbye checking out her 1956 Skyliner.

Kenna is ready!!

Cade got in the party mood.

Kenna and her french fries

Kyla really partying

We had a great weekend. Lots of fun and laughing.

Anson Arriving

2010-03-11T21:02:00.001-06:00

Anson decided to make his appearance February 13, 2010

Modern technology

Amy is in labor and surfing the internet with her ipod.

????

Cade, Amy & Charlie waiting.

Kyla & Gary waiting.

(I might be sleeping)

Kyla, Hollye & Brooke in the waiting room.

Mimzi and Anson!!

Bright Eyes!!

Anson

Amy, Anson, and Abbye

Abbye sure wants to hold her brother.

Charlie, Amy, Abbye & Anson

Sleeping baby

notice the hands

Heading home

Abbye is ready!!

2010-03-09T20:56:00.003-06:00

The flags flying at our home.

Some of Hollye's Christmas decor

Abbye and I got to go to the Bailey County Stock Show

Abbye really liked the calves.

The winter of 2010 we had snow, and snow and snow and then more snow.

Looking out our back door.

Christmas 2010

2010-03-07T22:10:00.001-06:00

Christmas 2010

Christmas was great fun. The "girls" had a great time making Christmas cookies!

Sprinkles were everywhere.

Hollye, Abbye, & Kenna inspecting the icing.

More & more sprinkles.

Kenna & Abbye were really concentrating.

Daniel was VERY lucky. He got both the girls at once.

Christmas presents ---

Cade was impressed with Elmo.

Abbye & Kenna each had a big package.

They each got a Red Wagon.

Kenna got a motorized car. She doesn't have a drivers licence.

Abbye got a kitchen set.

We had a very good Christmas!!

Moving Day

2009-12-08T22:30:00.001-06:00

Moving Day

Moving day has finally arrived. We packed boxes for many days!!!

And we packed for days and days.

Cade really enjoyed packing boxes, wish we had pictures of everyone that helped.

And guess what, We packed more boxes.

We have only lived on the farm for 31 years and 11 months.

So we packed more boxes.

Lots of friends helped with our move.

Lanny, Lenda, Terry , Charlotte, Mike, Earl, Rick, Kellye, Steve, Andra (she made the Sonic run), Daniel, Heather, Charlie, Amy, Cade, Kyla and many others that helped over the last weeks. Gran, Mama, Papa and Gayla helped. Mother and Gayla put shelf liner in the cabinets. Thanks - no pictures but the cabinets are lined. I hoped I didn't miss anyone.

The greatest thing is the fact that we didn't ask anyone to help. Everyone just volunteered, wanting to help. Isn't life great with good friends!!

Hollye, Terry, Earl and I

Mike and Rick making another trip to the truck.

Another empty room on the farm.

Measurement Door -Growth chart - Should it make the move?

We arrived! Rick and Terry start unloading.

Terry in the truck handling all the boxes.

Mike Rick, Steve, Earl and Daddy

Furniture in the middle room.

The beginning of the great Piano Move.

Lanny, Charlie, Mike, myself, Earl and Terry

Charlie and Lanny are going down the stairs first. Did I say the piano is going in the basement??

Earl and I are on the top.

Mike is making sure we don't scratch the banister.

Headed down. To bad for Charlie and Lanny. They are on the bottom.

If we slip, they can catch the piano

Getting closer.

The finishing touch.

It still works and no scratches or dents.

Amy and Hollye start the big job of unpacking......

and unpacking.

Now everything must be cleaned, thanks Abbye!!

We were able to relax Saturday night thanks to the MANY friends we have.

Thanks to everyone that has helped us.

Photo's by Amy

Two In One

2009-11-28T22:40:00.000-06:00

Two things happened Friday morning. I went shopping for "bargains" on black Friday for Hollye and I for the first time.

The second thing--- I went shopping for "bargains" on black Friday Hollye and I for the last time

Charlie and I hit the town about 5:00 AM while Hollye, Amy and Abbye stayed in Snyder until noon.

We found things for the house which include:

New washer and dryer.

New king bed

Freezer

Desk

ladders

and a few Christmas gifts.

Below is a picture of the "Clampetts" when we got home.

Amy took pictures of our farm house living room. Charlie made the fireplace for Hollye three years ago. We are going to paint it in the next few days.

We cleaned all the decorations off and were about to move the fireplace out of the living room.

Cade & Kyla got all the cattle checked today and made it to the house about dark.

We had supper (Cade, Kyla, Charlie, Amy Abbye, Hollye & I) then packed more boxes.

We plan on moving Saturday ( 12-5-2009)

I hope the house is ready!!!

More updates 11-22-2009

2009-11-23T01:00:00.000-06:00

Entry light fixture

Dining room light fixture. The back wall will be "faux"

Office several days ago.

Kitchen before the back splash

Heather and Kenna standing on the drive way looking southeast. We have the town of Muleshoe to the north and east and the country to the south and west.

As things are change I will take more pictures.

11-22-2009

2009-11-22T22:15:00.000-06:00

I have several pictures of the activities happening at the house over the past few days. They are not in any order.

The back splash in the kitchen.

The counter top in the utility room.

Wooden floors for the office and the entry.

Work in progress. Tiling the bath.

The garage!!

Back splash in the utility.

Office wooden floor.

Entry inlaid wooden floor. They finished the wood flooring after 9 pm Friday night.

The finishing touches to the carpet installation. They finished the carpet about 8 pm Sunday night.

Changes to the Tub front. In progress.

Visitors

2009-11-15T20:29:00.003-06:00

We had a great weekend!!! Heather and Kenna flew home for the weekend. Kenna has really grown. Charlie, Amy, & Abbye came home to see the house with Heather & Kenna and Cade & Kyla. They inspected the house Friday & Saturday. Saturday noon we meet at Leal's for Hollye's Muleshoe celebration. Sunday we left EARLY to go to church with Charlie, Amy and Abbye. Then to the Texas Road House for the Lubbock celebration. (Hollye's birthday is today). Then on to Amy & Charlie's for birthday cake and packages. Heather & Amy had the camera's so no pictures today. Happy Birthday Hollye! Love ya Great weekend

The house is progressing. The tile men should finish in a couple of days. The electricians have a little over a day left. The plumbers are scheduled to be here tomorrow(11-17). We will see how this week goes.

2009-11-05T20:24:00.003-06:00

Appliances were delivered Wednesday. Things are getting closer.

The tilers started Monday. Below they are tiling the utility room.

The kitchen is tiled and ready for grout.

The painters finished painting.

Painter are VERY slow. The prep work took a lot of time.

After two painters and four weeks they finally got far enough along for the tile men to start.

The paint contrast is show below.

Catch up

2009-10-22T22:41:00.006-05:00

I'm trying to catch up.

The first of October Abbye's cow "Glory" calved. This bull calf is one day old. Mother and son are doing well.

New House

The sprinkler system is installed and next we planted grass.

Hydro mulch was used to carry the seed.

The grass took about ten days to come up.

Now the inside of the house.

The painters have been here for three weeks.

This has been a very slow process.

Drawers were primed, sanded, and waiting to be painted.

The kitchen cabinets have been stained.

It is hard to see with plastic covering everthing.

Trim has been painted.

Taping, filling holes, sanding, priming and painting. Slow! Slow! Slow!

Cabinets

2009-09-20T20:08:00.002-05:00

The cabinets arrived last week. The delivery guys unloaded the cabinets in the middle of the floor. The next crew came and started mounting them. The finish carpenters added the trim and another group will add doors and draw fronts.

Kitchen Corner

Oven goes in the corner

Refrig on the end and range close to the left.

"Hollye's" utility room

Top cabinets

Bottom cabinets

Family room

Silage & House

2009-09-19T22:00:00.002-05:00

Cutting corn silage on Cade's farm.

Good Corn

A VERY powerful machine chopping corn into small pieces.

The retaining wall is close to completion.

The columns were wrapped in plastic to prevent mortar from getting on them.

The outside is close to completion.

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-07T21:02:00.011-05:00

We had a great weekend!!!

Sunday night we had a picnic at the house.

Daniel, Heather, and Kenna came to visit.

Cade and Kyla enjoyed the visiting.

Abbye went to sleep and was just getting started again.

Picnic on the front porch.

Abbye leaving her mark.

Now it is Kenna's turn.

Charlie and Amy were taking care of the hand prints and the clean up.

Sorry we didn't get a picture of them.

The finishing touch!!

Who is having the most FUN???

Waiting

2009-09-01T21:59:00.002-05:00

Today the men set the braces on the front porch and the back porch. (Sorry no pictures). All the measurements for the cabinets have be done and construction is underway. The cabinets are built in Lubbock and will take several days. I don't know what else will be done until the cabinets are complete. After the cabinets are installed, the trim will be finished and the fireplace bricked. There probably will not be much to report for a few days. If anything happens news worthy I'll let you know.

Trim # 2

2009-08-27T22:38:00.003-05:00

The trim is taking shape!!

Below is the crown molding and the proposed cased opening.

Another view of the cased opening.

Trim in our bedroom.

There were several men working today and much was accomplished.

Trim Time!!!

2009-08-26T21:25:00.003-05:00

The trim guys arrived today.

Four men showed up about 9:30 this morning. The did not look like trim carpenters to me(but what do trim carpenters look like) As with all the other contractors, these men hit the ground running. Below are the shelves in Hollye's pantry.

This is called two step molding. It is impressive to us.

This is the dinning room.

Another picture of two step molding. This picture is in my office or study, depending on who we talk too.

One step molding in the front bedroom. I think Amy has claimed that room.

Tape & Bedding and concrete

2009-08-25T22:01:00.003-05:00

The sheetrock is on the studs. Tape and mud have been completed.

The Texture was also applied.

Now to the flat work.

The back porch is formed and ready to be poured.

Cement arrived for the porches and the work began.

2009-08-19T17:11:00.005-05:00

The last spot of the attic needing insulation.

The house is sealed and insulated.

The beginning of taping & bedding.

Men at work

Who needs a ladder??

More Insulation, Electricity, & Gas

2009-08-14T22:28:00.002-05:00

Atmos Energy arrived this morning to install the gas line to our house. They located the water line they had to cross and have the line installed by quiting time. Monday they will install the meter.

At the same time, Xcell Energy was installing the underground electric lines to our house.

The installation of the insulation continued today. To reach the higher places they used the stilts. Very interesting! Then they got into the attic and sprayed the rafters.

After the Insulation dries the excess is trimmed exposing the holes that will be filled and trimmed again. The pile of excess is from the entire room not just that corner.

Insulation

2009-08-12T22:39:00.003-05:00

We have been waiting on a window (for three weeks) that was not the right size. Hopefully it will be here in the morning.

We started insulating today hoping the window gets here tomorrow.

The insulation expands 100 times. The vapors are not good to breath. The insulation expands right before your eyes. The temperature exceeds 150 degrees. ( chemical reaction for all the 7th grade science teachers)

Brick & Shingles # 2

2009-08-03T22:24:00.007-05:00

The latest pictures. These were taken tonight (8-3-2009)

For all the Family that have had comments.

Brick & Shingles

2009-08-02T23:16:00.007-05:00

The chimney is bricked and now the brickers are starting the house.

The shingles arrived and were unloaded onto the roof.

This is late and more pictures will be taken tomorrow.

Fun in Prosper & Swimming Lessons

2009-07-23T00:16:00.008-05:00

It is past time for another Mimzy post!! The following pictures are from one of our trips to Prosper and our visit to Abbye's swimming lessons. We have so much fun watching the girls play together. They are all of the entertainment that we need.

Kenna, you may look innocent but I think you got my bow!

Gran, Heather, Amy and I went to shop for just a short time. When the men finally missed the girls, they found them "getting ready to take a bath"!

The "great escape"--see following picture--

"This is not fair--we will not go anywhere we are not suppose to!"

One of the highlights of the weekend was going to Buca di Beppo and celebrate with Daniel his promotion as Denton's FD newest captain. Do you think that Kenna thought we were there too long?

What about Abbye?

An evening swim to cool everyone off.

This is really hard for an Aggie to admit, but Tech has built an outstanding swim center.

This is where Abbye and 5 others from her Bible class took Mommy and Me swimming lessons.

Here Abbye has just jumped in to Amy, while Becky and Kelbi watch.

A few strokes for her instructor.

Swimming in the lazy river.

Our summer vacation has been great, but it is just going too fast!! I have some really cute pictures of Kenna's visit that I will get posted soon.

Fireplace & Brick

2009-07-22T21:42:00.005-05:00

The fireplace arrived and now we can make it through the winter.

FYI, There is a metal tube from the fireplace base up the chimney, it helps prevent the chimney from burning.

One load of the brick arrived Monday.

The beginning of the electrical part.

Fireplace and electrical installation tools.

More Tools. Note the upgrade in the boom box!

Brick, Brick & more Brick

Bricking the chimney

Chimney complete. Now starting the walls.

The Most Important Inspectors!!

2009-07-13T22:18:00.008-05:00

Abbye & Kenna checking out the play area.

Heather, Kyla, Cade, & Amy

Kenna was trying to rock -rock !!

This was a major step.

Kenna looking out at the back yard. She really like to be outside.

In the office.

Kenna was looking for her stick.

Decking

2009-07-08T22:28:00.007-05:00

Decking has begun.

Southeast side of the house.

This is hard walking.

Plumbing, Electrical, installing the fire box & bricking the Chimney are next.

Framing final touchups

2009-07-07T22:27:00.004-05:00

Framing crew #1 does final touch up to the frame and makes way for framing crew #2. Framing crew # 2 does the decking.

More braces for our bathroom.

The beginning of the trim.

Notice the black heifers in the back ground girls.

Final roof framing

2009-07-03T18:21:00.002-05:00

Lalo is checking braces on the roof framing.

Same picture just zoomed in.

The crew quit about noon and headed to Lubbock. Happy July 4!!!!!

Rafters up

2009-07-02T23:13:00.003-05:00

Today the final rafters were put up. Three men in the air and three on the ground. Comanche was always at the highest peak walking, lifting and nailing all day long.

Putting rafters over our bedroom and bath.

Comanche on top again.

I am standing in the attic holding on to a rafter to take this picture.

All the rafters are up. I have learned this roof is an eight pitch.

The rafters will need braced, which will be added in the morning. Plans are to stop around noon for a great July 4th weekend!!

Roof constructions

2009-07-01T21:35:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon and this morning the ceiling joist were put up. I didn't get any pictures of that part of the construction.

Now we can start on the rafters.

Look what arrived!!!!!

This morning we went to Lubbock to take care of a list of stops that had added up. One of them was to watch Abbye as she took a swimming lesson. That was lots of fun. Abbye might be part fish!!! Hollye will post pictures soon! We made most of our stops and arrived in Muleshoe just in time for church. We left church and hurried to see what was accomplished today.

WOW !!

This is the front.

I then started walking around the house.

Do you think they walk this ramp carrying wood to the top? I plan on being there tomorrow to see.

This is the garage side of the house.

More to come......

Walls & Joist

2009-06-30T22:31:00.003-05:00

Today there was alot of work that was very visible and very tiring.

Lalo was off and on the top of the wall all afternoon.

Measuring where the joist will be.

Lalo's number one man was on the walls most of the morning and all of the afternoon. I never saw him come down until 6:30. He would measure and holler at a man on the ground, who would measure, cut, and lift the boards into the air. I am sure they were tired tonight. The tool belts the wear all day are heavy.

Tonight it got dark before I was able to take pictures of the joist. I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow.

Framing Day # 2

2009-06-29T21:46:00.003-05:00

The Boom Box worked all day long! 99% of the walls are up. The walls will be finished tomorrow and the ceiling joust and rafters will began tomorrow. I will take more pictures as the apperance changes. Today was lots of cutting and nailing.

Framing the house

2009-06-29T07:51:00.000-05:00

First things first. We have a electric air compressor, Air nailers, saws, hammers, nails, Microwave and most important----- Boom Box!!!!

Now the Framing can start.

The first wall.

We watched the first nails on the outside walls.

Just before the north wall was raised.

One days work.

Framing is fast and shows lots of progress.

Slab !!!!!!!!!!!

2009-06-25T22:24:00.001-05:00

All the rebar and anchors are in place.

Men and concrete trucks arrive to begin.

The slab required 51/2 trucks.

98 degrees-- hot work

We had a surprise as we watched the concrete work.

Lumber arrived!!!

Something new for me, Watering Concrete!

Maybe the concrete will not dry too fast.

Time to go home.

Barn Time

2009-06-24T22:48:00.000-05:00

The barn is on schedule! This is a trial run on raising the rafters. All went well. Tomorrow all the rafters will be in the air.

The Photographer did a great Job!!! Thanks Cade

The pictures are out of order but...

More Prep!!!

2009-06-23T22:49:00.000-05:00

Today the interior footings were dug and filled with concrete.

More work is expected tomorrow.

More latter. Why is this underlined??

Plumbers in the rough

2009-06-17T22:06:00.000-05:00

The plumbers arrived to install the sewer lines and the water lines. I was told this part of the plumbing is called the rough plumbing. There were four men working and this was completed quickly.

When they finished, the plumbing inspecter was called. Tomorrow the concrete man (if he comes) will cover the pipes and level the pad. This will take two days. The slab will be poured soon we hope. Probably sometime next week.

Now to the next project!!!

We are building a barn at the feed pens.

After days of preparing the pad, the concrete was poured. This project will not take as long as the house. With a lot less stress!!

Lots of measuring and preparation.

The first of four and a half loads of concrete.

The finishing touches are added.

The concrete floor will dry soon. The barn will go up the first if next week.

Trees, Trees, Trees

2009-06-14T21:51:00.000-05:00

Friday was a busy day. I went to Bronco, Texas!! Bought eight trees and planted eight trees. The holes were dug with a post hole digger. Next time I am bringing the tractor to town with a better digger attached.

At this time we have to haul water but maybe soon we will have water hooked up.

Friday the plumber sent a backhoe to dig the trenches for the water lines and the sewer lines.

Maybe tomorrow (Monday) the pipes will be installed.

Fun Filled Weekend

2009-06-10T23:14:00.000-05:00

Our great weekend started on Thursday as we picked up Amy and Abbye and headed to the State Track Meet in Austin. Sterling was to run Friday morning in the 2A boys 32o0 meters. Wes would also compete in the pole vault. Abbye was a great traveler as we meandered through the beautiful country. We were sooooo happy for David, Kristi, and the boys to meet us Thursday evening. It was great to see them. Benjamin and Jonathan were wonderful playing with Abbye.

Friday morning we were very excited for Sterling. He was a candle lighter in Amy and Charlie's wedding 5 years ago to the day. He is awesome and we are so proud of him--and only a sophomore. He placed 6th in the state of Texas!! We later went back and watched Wes pole vault. He ended his high school career placing 3rd. Way to go guys!

By the time we left the track meet Charlie had arrived in Austin. He, Amy, and Abbye had a wedding to attend there Friday night and they were going to spend the rest of the weekend celebrating their anniversary. Gary and I headed to Prosper.

We met Heather and Kenna at the Cheesecake Factory at Stonebriar Mall in Frisco. We took Kenna to ride the carousel. She liked it awhile, but then ended up in Pop's arms.

Saturday, we had a really relaxing day. Instead of going back to the mall, Ikea, Sam Moon's or the Allen Outlet, we visited a neighbor's garage sale where Pops dug deep into his pocket and managed a dollar for the shopping cart that Kenna had latched on to. The little girls that were

selling it were so excited for Kenna to have it.

We went to the pool where Kenna kept us totally entertained.

Cade and Kyla were in Canyon where Cade was in former roommate Stacy's wedding. See guys, you both were gone and all was well when you got back!! Great fun!!!

Basement Framing

2009-06-08T21:51:00.000-05:00

The basement was framed today very quickly. The stairs will be added after the slab is poured. The next step is to form the slab area and get all the plumbing installed. Any electrical plugs in the floor will also to installed.

The stairs will be here.

And the finished product!

There are some things more important than the house.......

2009-06-03T21:12:00.000-05:00

Abbye got to stay and play with us for two days while Amy was in a workshop.

I don't know if she learned to climb here, but she definitely knows how to climb NOW!

We also learned about little Quack.

Now to the basement. The men arrived to dig the dirt out of the center. We ended up with 13-14 loads.

Abbye thinks everything is going great.

The hole is 10' to 10' 6" deep.

The plan is to pour the floor tomorrow and then frame the basement Friday.

Basement Walls

2009-05-28T21:39:00.000-05:00

Today the walls of the basement were trenched and poured. The trencher digs a 9" wide trench, 11' 6" deep. Rebar was added to the walls and corners. I was amazed at the amount of concrete used. Thirty yards in the walls alone. The walls will dry 5-6 days then the dirt removed so the floor can be poured. Hollye, Cade and Lanny came to watch the excitement.

More later, Gary

Finally

2009-05-13T21:31:00.000-05:00

After weeks and weeks of planning and waiting we are finally starting our house. We moved dirt to level the lot. Because of the soil we drilled piers 15' deep to rest the footing on. This house should not move or crack! The footing was dug today and hopfully the concrete poured tomorrow.

New to us!

2009-05-07T22:01:00.001-05:00

Heather has me started in the blog world. I will try to keep this current and up to date.

Gary