Making Progress

gacott Leave a comment

When we started

Harlingen House

After the front was cleared (mostly)

full house

What!!?? That was a porch?

I hated that porch, it was like walking into a tunnel . . . or to your death. Really, the thing was a bit scary.

The entire roof should be done in about a week and that’s actually one of the bigger jobs to be done on this house. The main house (the right half) actually had a fire in the attic at some point and most of the rafters got burned up pretty good. That last owner decided to kinda just throw more wood at the issue than actually fix it. We are fixing it.

Probably the other big projects are going to be electrical and plumbing but this really gets us a good ways down the road. Now we can start working the inside as well.

Oh, I forget, new windows coming as well!!

Breaking News – Our newest addition!

Vivian Acott Leave a comment

Here in the RGV the great outdoors grow really fast! Even though we had about an acre of brush and diseased trees cleared and cleaned up (mostly), the remnants of plants began to grow everywhere! While it was great having someone else do the work, we decided to take-on the next go-around ourselves, just saying!

Kubota Harlingen TX After a great deal of research and  many discussions we decided to purchase our own Kubota Diesel Tractor, oh ya! Picked it up today and put it to work immediately. Garret is mastering the front loader and backhoe, like he’s driven a tractor before. We’re waiting for a couple of additional attachments to be delivered, and are working on some plans to help our little orange tractor pay for itself.

Meanwhile, progress with the house reno is moving slow. It appears that the contractor we hired has gone off the grid… no movement on the reno proposal for many weeks. So, we are now in the market for an electrician, plumber, framer, roofer and others who are going to help make our house whole.

 

New Family in Paridise

Vivian Acott Leave a comment

We get to see really cool critters around our property. There is a Linx that circles around here every month, usually with his harem of domestic looking cats. One such black cat with kittens decided to hang around and make our paradise their home. The kittens have various Linx distinctions and they sound wild when they talk. We haven’t seen the mom in a while, hope she returns soon.

RAIN… finally!!

Vivian Acott Leave a comment

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted on our blog. Oh, awesome and fun things have happened since my last post Rain at Reba Bass Lakeand I want to write about them so my memories stay true. But today we’re finally getting some rain along with rolling thunder! We haven’t had enough rain since we moved here to keep our “rain water” lake with water, so it’s just been laying there waiting to serve it’s purpose… just saying.Jeep mud to the doors

The RGV has been getting plenty of rain, but our bit of paradise seems to have blue sky’s – mostly. I hope this storm cell brings our area the much need moisture we need and fills our Reba Bass Lake full of water!

Buried The Jeep in Texas Mud

gacott Leave a comment

Jeep mud to the doors

So, I FINALLY talked Vivian into it. I’ve got this Bad-Ass Jeep set up for the South Texas Mud . .  . and we happen to have a full lake of it in our backyard currently. The lake behind our place is “dry” for the first time in recent memory (I’m talking like that last 50 years or so), so I wanted to take and do some mudding with it. Makes sense right?

As I said, finally after asking I don’t know how many times, Viv said “okay” and jumped in with me.

We drove down to the lake, and started driving around, cool. For about 45 seconds that is. And then stuck. Yeah, seems like the mud runs VERY deep around here. I literally buried the jeep to the doors . . . no getting out.

Chevy Pulling Jeep

But, that’s why you keep a Chevy around right? 🙂 We has to hook up two straps to reach but the Truck pulled the Jeep out easy. But do you want to see what 50 plus years of lake mud looks like?

Fully mudded Jeep

That stuff was like black glue! But hey, I was looking to have an experience and an experience we had!

Another Three Loads Gone

gacott Leave a comment

So, Vivian walks around in a fairly steady disgust. No, we’re doing fine, thanks. The disgust is leveled in the direction of the two brothers who lived here before us. Apparently they just had real issues throwing anything away.

After multiple dump runs, a couple of giveaways, more dump runs, we are finally making our way into the trees. Here is a picture of our THIRD dump run from items in the trees. (UPDATE: We took more than three tons of crap to the landfill.)

Third Load Out

After taking down the, hmm, third I think, yes, third chicken coop, we found this HUGE dead tree. Look at Viv, doesn’t she look like she’s having a fun time?

Huge Dead Tree

Yep, that’s right, we are still finding new trees. We have actually yet to be over the entire property, it’s just too over grown. However, we did find two more citrus trees today! Woo-hoo!!