I have to say progress is slow. We are continually working every weekend, but it seems just when we think we are getting somewhere, we hit another road block.  To be honest it gets a little frustrating. Some of the finds are pretty interesting and some are just road blocks that slow you down. 
One of the interesting things that the hubby found was old gas piping in the floor of the upstairs bedroom. So this old farm house used to have gas lights. I think the hubby is happy that it was discovered this late in the game otherwise this wife would have researched gas lights of today.  
The gas piping was found while removing the floor boards to work on wiring, which from past posts you all know how this stressed me out. I will admit that I am not as stressed about this process as I once was. I am finding that my new found stressor is... NOT MANY PEOPLE LIKE TO PAINT.  I would love to find a friend or two that enjoys painting to make it a little more fun.  I love to paint. So it may just be me and the music that moves me. 
I find such joy in watching this house come together.(not apart) 😉 
We had a great visit from some of our neighbors. One brought over a huge bag of sunflower seeds! Super excited, it seems they grew 6 inches over night with a good rain, then in 2 nights it seems..... the gosh darn deer love to eat them.  Sigh...     So google....       How to keep deer from eating my sunflowers. I truly think my IPAD laughed at me.  But I found the non chemical way to deter the deer. Fingers crossed. We will see if it makes a difference.
Also there was a Huckleberry Hank sighting. Or a relative. Seems he/they really like our farm, I would say almost as much as we do. Hopefully he stays to his side of the farm otherwise another relocation will happen and this time he might go further just incase the 5 miles wasn’t far enough. Time to get the live traps back out. 
Now I have to be real honest with you all. It has not been ALL work and no play. We have been finding time to enjoy the beautiful weather by camping out and campfires. We are reminded every night that we stay out back at the farm, just how blessed we are. It is amazing sitting under the stars and enjoying nature. The sounds, the critters, it is all very humbling. Most of all, I get to share it with the love of my life, my rock, my partner on this crazy train we ride everyday. He gets me and for that I am forever blessed. Someday soon, we will be able to share this same place with you. 
We truly hope the memories you make here will last you a lifetime. 
Until next time my friends.
God Bless

So I thought I would make a quick reference to what is all going on in our lives today. 
Quick statement- please be safe, stay home, wash your hands, cover your mouth and remember we are all in this together. 

Now the updates you all have been waiting for. My last post was over a month ago and I am sorry for that. We have been busy and honestly this “quick Statement” has given me a little anxiety.  For this reason I am so thankful for our little slice of heaven. What better way to “stay away” than to retreat there. My only regret is that it isn’t further along, as I would be there 24/7. 

OK, now we have so much to tell you all. Where to start?  How about with tracks.. 
Tracks, boy do we have tracks. Tracks that lead to the “she shed” , not only to the “she shed”, but under and in the “she shed” . So we ask around and Waaa Laaaa, trail cam it is. Get a little lesson on use, position and a few other things. So Hubby places it and we wait and wait and wait. Time to retrieve said camera. And whatcha know? We have critters. Yes I know it is a farm and it is in the country, but come on this is an exciting moment to see who our little destructive friends/foes could be.  The verdict! A family of Raccoons, a possum, some chipmunks, squirrels and a WOODCHUCK!!! Sigh. With that being said I need to tell you a quick story. Our daughter and family were home visiting and we were very excited to show them the farm. While on tour, my son in law says, “well I know what is digging by your foundation, as he is looking out the upstairs bathroom window. I ask “What?” He says a woodchuck, there he is Huckleberry Hank (as we call him now) is peaking out of his hole under the “she shed”. My grand daughter says “let me see” so we open the window at which time he ducked back in some and then my fabulous grand daughter yells, “ HEY MR. WOODCHUCK,(he now comes out of his hole and starts looking around)  QUIT WOOD-CHUCKING MY GIGI’S WOOD”  (and back in the hole he goes) I have to ask, have you ever watched Caddy Shack? Well we now call the hubby Carl. The only difference between my Carl and movie Carl is, my Carl mixes cement with his water to fill holes. No we did not bury him alive, he was seen the very next day making his way towards the barn and woods. I am perfectly fine with sharing space with Hank, as long as he stays away from the house and does not continue to do any damage to the structures. 

We took a few rides and some long walks looking for deer sheds. No luck, but we did find we have Otters at one of the ponds. Cute, now I need to do a little research on them to make sure we can all get along the right way.  

While enjoying the wonderful weather that we have been having, we decided to get our burn permit and try burning off some of the over grown areas and farm fields. It is a slow process as there are restrictions of time of day and how much can be burned at a time, but we are getting little by little. It is going to look so nice and green when it comes in. 

Our son came and removed a bunch of trees today. Weather was pretty nice. We managed to get all the equipment out and used. Lol. 4 wheeler, tractor, hay wagon, positrack, mini excavator, jumper cables and chain saw. All within 4 hours. But it looks great. 

Now the progress on the house. 
I have been working on the walls fixing and filling cracks. Dining room is ready for paint with the living room not far behind.  The plumber has been out getting things done on the main floor bathroom. Hubby is finally done cleaning attic and has moved onto sealing up the basement. Huckleberry Hank had dug totally under the foundation and up into the sand crawl space. Well, you will see by the pictures we did some cementing. So the crawl space no longer has a sand bottom. Now he will  get started on updating all the wiring in the house. Once that is done I get the green light to paint. CAN’T WAIT!! The curtains for the living room are close to being finished. With having off all of this week, well let’s face it, not sure how long it will be for, I will get some good sewing time in.  Found a great idea for the curtain rods. Can’t wait to show you all when I get then hung. I will say this, it is very hard to focus on the house when we have beautiful weather and the land is calling you out. 

On a final note, We here at Huckleberry Hideout, with all joking aside, want you to know that we pray for you all. Please stay safe and take care of you and your families. We get one go around, so do your best to be here for a very long time. We don’t always know what tomorrow brings, but one thing is for sure, your friends here at Huckleberry Hideout will continue to be here for you and your families. We will continue to do our best at keeping you all informed with our progress on our slice of heaven. We truly look forward to entertaining you on our farm someday.  
Take Care 
Your friends here at Huckleberry Hideout

Just checking in with everyone. I am at the airport returning home from a wonderful short week of babysitting one our of Grand daughters. I can not wait for her to get those feet moving under her. She is going to keep her momma and papa very busy. 

A few updates. The main level bathroom work has begun. It is going to be small but at least there will be a full bath on the main floor. Found just the right “stuff” to make it look great. 
Ernie has been working in the “attic” cleaning and getting the wiring in the house updated. Love the old ness of the farm house, but adding some luxuries of todays living. USB ports, more outlets, ceiling fans etc.  

The fire place arrives the 19th. We will be adding an LP insert into the old wood fireplace. 

Have not done much cleaning as the mess continues, but I have been at home in the sewing room making curtains. I am making actual quilt tops for the 2 main large windows. Pattern is Hole In Barn  Door. Room darkening fabric arrived yesterday. So I better get in gear. 

Sadly some of the floor was not salvageable upstairs. It was a toss up between adding outlets, or leaving the flooring. Outlets won. 

We are looking forward to spending the first night in the house. Once we do that, then it will be an invite of GF’s for a weekend of relaxation. That will give the house a real test run.. Always an adventure when the Girls get together. 

And of course more exciting opportunities keep presenting. Can not wait to reveal some of those secrets.. In time my friends in time. 

Till next time, remember today is here yesterday is gone and tomorrow will be here soon. So live today, move on from yesterday and look forward to your tomorrow. 

So the weather does not always cooperate like we would like it to at times. Today was without exception.  A very good friend of mine was to be coming early today to help at the farm. Weather only slowed her done, we just got a later start than planned. I will say those lost hours to the weather really did cut into our social time so less talk made for more work.
I received my first lesson in waxing old floors today. I can say, it was totally what I expected for the work part, but not what I was expecting for the out come. The floors looked amazing. It makes me more excited to get the rest of the floors done.
Ernie was working on some prepping for the Plummer who will be adding a small bathroom on the mail floor for us. I think he will be at it tomorrow for awhile again.  One step at a time.  Oh and he also “worked” on making a sledding trail. You can decide for yourself from the photo’s below. 
Me? My plan is to actually stay home and start making curtains. I am planning on piecing them just like a quilt. So I have a lot of work in front of me. Just one step at a time.
Now the great news!!!! With the snow the last 2 days, we officially have our first guest. We call him Mr Olaf.  (Do you want to build a snowman?) 

What a great weekend of working and playing. 
I made good progress cleaning while Ernie worked on electrical, the furnace and the water pump. So we have heat, soon to have some water and yes the lights work.  
Made our first meal in the house and lit our first fire in the fire place.  Really excited about making progress. Can start to see it coming together. Now I can not wait to start with the decorating and arranging all the neat stuff we have to fill the house. 
As for the playing, we took a long walk in the woods with our snow shoes. What a wonderful Christmas gift my hubby gave me. It was so amazingly fun. We are enjoying our property and everyone/everything we share it with. We saw some beautiful wildlife on our walk.  It is pretty neat seeing where they lay their heads at night knowing that we are sharing our little slice of heaven with all of them. 
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset along with the snow. Have i mentioned that we are falling in love with this place more and more everyday. 

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very blessed New Year. We had a great time with family and friends. It was so nice to talk with people who can see the same potential that we see. They are so supportive.  We also made some progress on the property. We had our 2 nephews out to the farm and they had so much fun exploring along with Ernie. They made some great discoveries. Some of those discoveries include an old Radio, an old Vista 78 player, pictures, certificates, Violin, piano, a date on the “hideout” and a pie safe.  I did not take pictures of everything, but lets just say, we now have more projects to handle. 

We removed some flooring and discovered some beautiful hardwood floors. We are encouraged to embrace the uniqueness of this home. There are so many unique twists and turns that this little gem is showing us. Here is a little taste of what we found. So many wonderful discoveries.