Chronicles of the Long Shot Farm

Visit to PA Garden Expo

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Had a great time visiting the Garden Expo at the Farm Show Building this evening with Gracie. We met after work (for me it was just a stop on my way home) – and they offered a reduced $5 after 5 rate, which is pretty reasonable 🙂

Some of the landscape exhibits were remarkably elaborate, considering they were all set up inside just for this event.  All of them featured outdoor kitchens, and outdoor fire pits or fireplaces.  Some had extensive stonework – and most had water features. Ponds, streams and lots of artsy light and water focal points.  Definitely got some great ideas.

The expo did not have quite as many garden related merchandise, like seeds, shovels, food processing type of things, which was a bit disappointing.  But they had PA wineries, one meadery, and several other PA specialty food companies – all with tasty samples.  There also was a fair amount of yard art, and some very pretty pottery and tons of jewelry.



Gracie’s Favorite
Tina’s Aspiration

Grace and I each bought a “starter bonsai” – with instruction and lots of good advice from “Nature’s Way Nursery” .  I also bought these Peruvian Wonderflowers – these bulbs, which basically look like black carrots,  are supposed to bloom profusely, all through the summer, and the bulbs are winter hardy.  It almost sounds too good to be true – we’ll see…



Bathroom Remodeling – Week 5

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This seems like the never-ending project (mostly because we only have a few hours each week to really dig into this).  But there is definitely slow progress.  This week, Jeff and Lars got more waterlines run, both showers, the bathtub and the sink now have access lines.  They also ran all the electric lines, and some of the outlets and switches are actually installed.  They also cut pieces for the sub-floor and got those nailed down.

Jens came on Saturday and helped put up the ceiling drywall in the bathroom, and the drywall for the wall between the bathroom and the laundry area.  The bathroom door also got installed (which means we have CONTAINMENT of DIRT).  The guestroom wall and closet got another coat of joint compound and all the seams of the newly installed drywall have been “mudded” as well.  This week, we hope to get the rest of bathroom walls drywalled and maybe start building the frame that will hold the whirpool tub.

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Fiona’s First Birthday

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Birthday Girl

Today we met in Bedford to celebrate Fiona’s first birthday.  It was really a wonderful family get together.  We all met at “Aunt Ruth’s” house. which was sort of a central location.  Zach, Rachel, Toben and the birthday girl drove in from Ohio. Anja and Lief came from Boston via Pittsburgh (where Anja had spent most of the week at the University),  with Samantha (who was in Pgh to babysit), and Tina and Lars came from Carlisle.  Grammy, Rose and Jessica, Cayden and Cohen (all residing in Bedford county) came as well to help celebrate Fiona’s special day.

Garden Update?

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We are so caught up in the remodel project, that is seems we are not thinking about our garden, brambles and vines – but that is not quite true.  Tina actually started 3 kinds of peppers a while back, and created a page on this blog to attempt and track the vegetable garden for a year.  We also purchased several packets of seeds already and Jeff has been checking out the various heirloom websites trying to decide which seeds might be fun to “play” with this year.

We have also been trimming the blackberry bushes, whenever it is not too cold or windy and we are making some progress with it.  We are still holding off on trimming grapes until it is just a bit warmer.  We don’t have that many to do this year, so we are taking out time with them.

Bathroom Remodeling – Week 4

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This project is taking longer as we keep “improving” the design.  This week Jeff decided that it is totally foolish to have a double sink without having two places to take a shower.  So in addition to planning water lines for a shower in the bathtub, Jeff and Lars are now running lines for a corner shower unit.  We picked that up at Lowes today – while buying missing plumbing fittings.

Another improvement is the “grandchild switch”.  Jeff actually installed a three-way light switch by the door, one at regular people height, and one at toddler height.  (We know they don’t like to pee in the dark).

The guest room closet now has the access to the crawl space below the house, as we could no longer keep the existing access in the bathroom – due to the new corner shower.  We finished hanging drywall in the closet, an added a coat of joint compound.  The guest room wall was sanded and got its second coat. 

There is still some more wiring to be done, but at least the missing bathroom wall is now installed, complete with the door opening.  Hopefully this coming week, we’ll get drywall up on this wall and get the door hung – so the dirt is more contained!

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