Not sure why --

but I suddenly got an urge to deal with the kitchen yesterday.  It was a terrible mess. I FINALLY dealt with all the stuff we've been talking about doing over the last year.  I started by clearing off the counter tops that have been covered with tools and things for months and months.  Then I decided to move our giant microwave over by those old ovens to see if having it on the other side of the kitchen is a good thing BEFORE we remove those old ovens.  (I was planning to put it over there on the new counter area, but Mark didn't think having it on that side of the kitchen would be convenient.  So by the time we remove those ovens we will know, one way of the other, whether that's a good spot for the microwave now that it's sitting right over there right now! 

Oops -- apparently I need to replace several lights over the sink --
funny - I hadn't noticed that directly.



Remember this pic from last week?  FINALLY got rid of all that "junk."

 And THEN I asked David (who was working on putting those vinyl stall liners in there) if he would drill a hole in that dining room counter top so I could move the counter-height refrig that we use to store drinks up onto the top of that counter top.  I also asked David if he'd like to have the ice maker that we have had ever since we bought this house but have never cleaned up and plugged back in.  If we haven't needed it for all these years, we won't need it in the future either!  So he got it out of here when he left yesterday!  Yeaaaa! 

Drilling that hole through that marble counter top was no simple task (we had to do that because there is no electrical outlet above the counter).  But by the end of the day he had it done and the little drink frig was up on top right at eye level so it it won't be necessary to lean over to see what kind of drinks are in there anymore.  AND now there's about 5 feet of space UNDER the counter.  The first thing I did was put the dog food containers under there, and there will still be plenty of room to store cases of Coke and whatever else. 

Hmmm.  Guess we need to decide which bar stools to use and make them all the same, huh?
Two of the stainless ones are out in the barn now, and the third wood one has never gotten put together.
Well - we're getting there.  That's just one more thing that needs to stay on "the list," I guess.

I ordered a plain olive green curtain that I'm going to put up on a tension curtain rod across there under that counter.  With it the same color as the cabinets it shouldn't be too noticeable - I hope.   At least you won't be able to see those dogfood containers anymore.  Progress. 

Then today, David finished installing the stall liners and got the rings for the rope "fence" all put in for me.  Then this evening after Buddy and Lisa finished clearing out the pasture, Buddy helped me get the rope installed to keep Lizzie away from those oak acorns by the barn and away from the azaleas and holly berries as well.  We turned her out before they left -- that  way if the rope didn't work I'd have some help to get her back into her paddock.   But it worked just fine.  She did immediately go over toward that oak tree where she always headed first, and looked at it, but she didn't try and get through the rope.  Excellent!

The rope runs from the corner of the barn, over to that giant tree directly in front of the house.

That's that tree I had topped off before the storm this year -- that way if those giant screws in there are harmful, well -- who cares.   I wouldn't mind losing that tree in the slightest!

It's been nice that Duke and Arthur weren't as distressed to see her out there today as they were when she first got let out.  Arthur "hollered" every time he would see her out there for the better part of that first week!

Arthur was NOT happy that Lizzie was taken away from him.

Today he and Duke stood there and watched her, but at least he didn't bother to bellow this time!

I slipped outside a few minutes ago to see if Lizzie had stayed in her stall after dinner as she usually always did, even when her paddock used to be open to the back pasture.  Ha!  Not this time!  She was back out in front happily grazing out near the road.

I'll have to be sure and get her gate closed when I feed her breakfast in the morning though.  I don't want her out there during the day when I'm not home in case UPS or Fed Ex or someone shows up and opens that front gate!  But she can go back out when I get home.

David also got the table I bought a few weeks ago put together for me,

and I managed to put down a rug we just had cleaned under the dining room table - NOT easy.  That table weighs a TON!  I decided to put the red and green rug that used to be on the back porch in there for now since the colors are very "Christmasy."  Besides - they do kind of match the curtains in there anyway.

I was so happy to have the house looking so good and the barn almost done and the front set up so Lizzie could use it - everything seemed really nice.  But then I noticed the wicker chair on the back patio.  Joey has apparently had a relapse.  He hasn't eaten any walls or anything since they put him on that thyroid medicine.  But now? . . .

Hmm.  I guess it's one thing to have the wicker rotted -- that can happen.  But the disturbing thing is how much of the wicker that's no longer on the back of that chair is not on the ground either!  Apparently Joey has actually EATEN a good bit of it.  I've been keeping an eye on him, but he seems perfectly fine.  Oh, my.  Well - that chair is just one more thing to stick out in the front by the road for the parish to pick up.  I'm sure they'll be happy -- they JUST finished picking up all the stuff we had laying out there for them over the last few weeks.  Sorry, guys!