We both are so enjoying being finished with this house/project/restoration. One of us seems to remark almost daily, “it feels so good to be finished!” The Cowboy created a cabinet that goes over the master bath toilet that will hide the pump for the mini split heating/air conditioning unit plus provide a bit of storage. I need to paint that cabinet and some doors but compared to what we were doing it seems like a vacation!
The Cowboy now has a working garage door opener from a box of parts! That was a heavy, insulated garage door we hauled to Arizona from Montana. The door was salvaged along with several others from a building being demolished on the ranch where Lonn lives. The other salvaged doors are still in our barn in Montana. We built the garage the first spring we owned this place in 2017 and we’ve been lifting that heavy door by hand–now it has an opener! YEA!
I’ve finished the body of my sweater and now on to the much dreaded sleeves. So far I think I have “picked up and knitted” then “ripped out” the stitches around the armhole to start the sleeve a total of FIVE times! I am “wearing out” the yarn!
Thursday we drove to Sierra Vista–a Home Depot run for cabinet paint, a light fixture for the guest house and miscellaneous items. Our Walmart grocery order was without issues and we so enjoyed sitting in the sun in our shirt sleeves having lunch at Culvers on an early January day.
We sat outside Thursday evening on our porch and watched the sun go down–still in our shirt sleeves–what a beautiful day!
In 2012 when we stayed in Cedar Key, Florida for two months we met Jerry and Wanda from Mississippi. Jerry wrote a blog, Eggs Rolling–he and Wanda do their traveling in a Casita. They have visited us in Montana and we’ve stayed in touch through blog reading and Facebook. Jerry doesn’t write the blog any longer and we had no idea they were in Arizona until last night I saw on Facebook they had been at the Cochise Stronghold. Well, the Stronghold is just up the road from us. I commented on their post and sent them an email. Friday afternoon they stopped by to visit and see our finished project. It was so good to visit with them again and hear those southern voices!
Friday I dropped by our great little library to reserve a book I wanted to read. The county and our librarian are once again restricting the number of people who can be in the library at one time and everyone must wear a mask. Arizona’s covid numbers have skyrocketed and we are again thinking twice about going to restaurants and any other place where people are not masking.
We’ve had a couple gray, cool, breezy days and a bit of rain is in the forecast. We will see if the weather man is correct!
But cloudy days do make for beautiful sunsets–
Life is good!
Restoration Cowboy Style 
I can so relate to the wonderful “so good to be finished” feeling. There are always things to do, but nothing is ever pressing. Sunrise and sunset seem to be favorite times of the day for many of us. You certainly have a gorgeous place to sit and enjoy both! Your sweater is amazing…I love the color! I can’t imagine pulling out stitches and starting over to only pull the stitches out again. That takes a lot of patience and perseverance. And sleeves, I can’t even go there! My mom knitted and my grandma crocheted.
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Yes Gay, even in Montana in a house we’ve lived in 20 years there is always something to do but none of it pressing. I love knitting and I do get frustrated but I guess that’s part of the learning process. I haven’t been frustrated enough to stop knitting. 🙂
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Beautiful sunset! Jerry occasionally comments on my blog. Us Casita people follow each other!
Happy New Year, stay safe. Covid is thick here in Mid-Missouri. My son, his wife, and oldest son had it last week.
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I had forgotten you guys were “egg” people! Arizona had 15,000 cases yesterday!
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It was so nice to visit with you, again. Amazing what the two have done. Your home is just wonderful. We have accents? I had no idea…..jc
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Thanks Jerry–and yes, those accents are still there. Mike tells me I start to speak southern again when talking to other southerners.
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The work you guys have done on your place is amazing and you deserve some time off. Which for you two is never totally off. 😁 Jim and I do not go inside for anything any more. We’ll doctor appts but that’s it. Good thing we like each other and our own cooking. Wow is the only way to describe AZ skies.
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Yes, during covid it’s been a good thing that we like each other and we enjoy my cooking!
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ripping or not, that sweater is impressive!! Last time I knitted a sweater was on our trip to Turkey. I knitted a lot during the 8 hour bus rides. Turkey is a big country. Love the garage door thing. Your Cowboy is nothing if not resourceful, and you as well. I know how it feels to be done with big projects. That is how Mo and I felt when we finally finished selling my house, her house, and the apartments after a couple of years of crazy insanity. Love those sunsets and keep blogging!!
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I am so pleased with my sweater–since posting the blog I’ve gotten a good start on the sleeve. I bet it did feel good to settle in one place and not have all those other places to maintain!
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That sweater is just great. I think the color is the
sharpest red, I love it!
House is finished, how fulfilling!! Does this mean
you will be moving on? Hope you enjoy all your
efforts, blood sweat and tears for a bit of time,
at least 🎉🎉🥰
We here in central California are enjoying some
cold ( for us ) weather and also finally rain.
Your sunsets are beautiful!
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No, we are going to stay put for a while–we like this neighborhood and our friends–and we love the finished house!
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There’s always something even when the big projects are complete. Of course he built a garage opener from a box of parts! Walmart pickup is doing much better for us as well – seem to have solved their stock issue finally. Glad to see so many are masking again in Sierra Vista and even here in Tombstone – we know way too many people who have or have had COVID. We’re being very picky about where we go.
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That’s interesting Jodee–while we were sitting outside at Culvers, every single person going into Culvers wore no mask–and it was crowded. We too are very picky about where we go!
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I can only imagine how nice it is to be finished with your house project. That was a huge undertaking. Now to just do whatever projects for fun. Your sweater is great. Love that color. Hope you get the sleeves going finally. I had to laugh at Jodee’s comment about the garage opener. That’s exactly what I was thinking. Doesn’t everybody just get a box of parts and build their own! What a guy!
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One of the sleeves has significant progress–hurrah!! I know–he is amazing isn’t he!
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Oh how fabulous to be finished with your Arizona house remodel….and everything is so beautiful that you’ve done! I would love to see a whole house before-and-after series from you. :-)) We’re still deep in projects here in Florida. And I keep finding more things I want to do. Love the color of your sweater!
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I hope to do a before and after series for a blog in February. We will have owned this property 5 years in mid February.
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Nice to have the pressure off so you can enjoy those beautiful skies! I’m sorry we’re going to have to postpone meeting you in a few weeks…. Darn this Covid! We’re only eating outdoors too and sometimes even then we take the food out and eat in the Jeep! sigh. Congratulations on finishing up the big job, I, also, would love to see a before/after blog!
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We were so disappointed that our little gathering was cancelled too but it was the thing to do. We went through the drive through yesterday and ate in the truck–ugh! People all over Sierra Vista with no masks. We scuttled into Home Depot for a few things and made a quick stop at Safeway. I feel like an abused dog sometimes–darting here and there, keeping my head down, not interacting–double ugh!!
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Nice post
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