Back in December, when Joe was in Texas for Christmas, his brother sent us this delightful picture while working on insulating the walls upstairs:
An enormous wasps' nest discovered behind the paneling, from who knows how many years ago...
Or...from who knows how recently... 0.0
Yikes.
As much as we desire generous hospitality to be a characteristic of our home and our married life, we sure didn't have any qualms about evicting these particular guests from the space. ;)
On a brighter note, we had some truly lovely guests join us from Texas a couple weeks ago, my sister, Mally, and mom, Kristina. Surrounded by more snow than they knew what to do with, they were grateful to be met with such a warm welcome from the Rynda family, most of whom they were meeting for the first time.
We took a family farm tour, showed them the progress on the granary, participated in the evening milking, ate delicious chicken and wild rice soup for dinner, and wrapped up the day by attending the late evening "Farmers' Mass" in a nearby town.
They went back to Texas that Sunday, chilly but happy, taking with them some authentic Minnesota wild rice, the smell of barn on their boots, and a jar of cookie butter that a no-nonsense airport security lady promptly confiscated (and probably consumed shortly after, during her mid-morning break).
Since our last post, good things have been happening at the granary! We have a gorgeous door installed, the chimney pipe has been raised and secured (so no more smoke-outs), and from a pasture-view, the structure looks cozy and inviting.
We also finished drywalling the interior on both levels, thanks to lots of help from family and friends.
The past weekend was spent getting the walls and ceilings ready for paint. Joe's siblings pitched in on Saturday, taping, mudding, and sanding, getting the first layer done in no time.
Only two more rounds of mudding and sanding left to go! Then on to painting, plumbing, appliance-hunting, and all sorts of interior details.
We've been learning a lot and thought we would pass along a few bits of recently-acquired wisdom:
1. You sure can tell a lot about someone's personality by the way they mud a wall. ;)
2. Drywall tape is so un-sticky it really has no business being called tape.
3. If a screw really reaaaally doesn't want to go that last half centimeter into century-old wood, a hammer will (usually) get it the last step of the way.
2. If you do become so desperate as to hammer a screw into drywall, make sure the task is assigned to someone who has really good aim.
3. If you skipped over the previous suggestion, a generous dollop of plaster can cover up just about any level of clumsy drywall hammer damage. And if no one saw you do it, did it really even happen...? ;)
Some before and after shots of the upstairs- - -
Thanks so much for following along with us! May the remainder of your February be warm and blessed!