I completed the purchase of Grandma and Grandpa’s place on the 1st of February, 2010.
Grandpa passed away on July 19th, 2000.
Grandma passed away on February 10th, 2010.
They had both lived long and productive lifes and we will miss them both dearly.
Grandma passed away on February 10th, 2010.
They had both lived long and productive lifes and we will miss them both dearly.
After the funeral all of the family came over for one last visit at the house. There were still things in the house after the valuable and personal items were removed. I really wanted everyone to take whatever they wanted. Something special to remember Grandpa and Grandma by, but everyone seemed a bit apprehensive. They knew I had completed the purchase of the property a few weeks prior and I think they probably felt strange taking things they they thought were now mine. That really wasn't how I felt but that's the way it turned out.
After everyone left I got busy and cleaned the two front bedrooms and the living room and re-arranged things just a little differently. I really wanted the place to appear different from when Grandma and Grandpa were living there. I also needed to get the bedrooms and living room ready for our visit in March. We’d be staying there for the first time that week and I wanted to start the transition from our Grandparents homestead, to mine.
March 2010
Becky and I made our first trek to “The Farm” in March 2010 during Spring break.
Here's a list of things we accomplished on this trip:
• Had the heat pump serviced and a programmable thermostat installed by Gordon’s Electric.
• Had the drain pipe from the bathroom to the septic tank cleaned out, root problems.
• Had motion detection flood lights installed on the front and back of the garage by Gordon’s Electric.
• Installed a new locking mailbox that could hold a lot of mail.
• Becky cleaned and cleared out the upper cabinets in the kitchen.
• I used the shop vacuum and cleaned the garage. There were spider webs everywhere.• Becky used the vacuum and cleaned the garage attic, not an easy task for sure but it turned out really well.
• Mom worked with Liz and Becky, and cleaned out the sewing room. We are storing stuff in there for now.
• Dave and I hauled one ton of junk to the dump.
• We collected and burned a lot of downed tree limbs. That was fun.
June 2010
We returned in June to attend Jeff’s wedding, but didn’t have much time to work at the farm.
This was was accomplished on this trip:
I had Umatilla Electric install a security light (street light) on the electric pole in the back and scheduled Baxter’s to cut down the vegetation around the house, fence lines and pastures in the back during the summer months.
October 2010
Becky was busy for our October 2010 trip this year. She wanted to take her pre-SAT’s and was also taking a class at Cochise College so I headed out to Oregon on my own. It was a peaceful trip and each evening I drove over to Pendleton to spend time with Mom. I was so grateful for the visits and she always had something good to eat, ready and waiting for me. I do appreciate everything Mom does for us every day.
Here are the things I accomplished on this trip:
• I noticed the hot water tank leaking on the June visit so I had that replaced.
• While the plumbers were there they replaced the kitchen faucet, all of the kitchen sink drain pipes, clothes washer faucets, and moved the pressure tank for the well into the pump room. That will make it easier to winterize the water system.
• The plumbers also reworked the pump room plumbing and installed a pressure valve so I could blow out the water lines if I want to.
• Since I had the security light installed on the electric pole in June, the motion detection light installed on the back of the garage in March wasn’t really necessary anymore. I had Gordon’s Electric move it to the West side of the house and create an outlet in the garage attic where the light was installed. I may use that outlet to install some networking equipment up in the garage attic in the future.
• I raked the East side of the lawn on this trip and cut down the stumps to a few inches above the ground.
• I removed the fencing between the house and the septic drain field.
• I removed most of the fencing between the septic drain field and the lower pasture.
• I removed all of the fencing that was around the garden area but saved the gate.
• I cleaned out the closet that houses the old oil furnace. Sometime in the future I will remove the closet and old oil furnace and expand the bathroom with more storage, or maybe a larger sink area, or even a shower stall.
• I cleaned up the Arizona room. On our next visit I will service the wood stove and get it up and running once again.
Before I left I made sure the thermostat was programmed to keep the house at 50 degrees for this winter. I might want to lower that to 45 in future years. It just depends on what the electric bills are this winter. The highest bill has been around 60 bucks, and the temperatures were below freezing for most of the time, so that's really good. I set out some mouse traps and set off some bug bombs. After the first week we caught two mice in the garage. Mom is still sweeping up dead bugs from the bug bombing so I guess the bombs worked as expected. Uncle Mike once commented on showering with the spiders so maybe the bombs will get rid of some :)
I also shut off the main water supply line to the house in the pump room. I figured that if there were any busted pipes, no water would flow with the supply line shut off. Next winter I may decide to blow out all of the pipes in the fall and keep the heat lower in the house. I also installed a plug thermostat in the pump room and connected a small ceramic heater to it. If the temperature is lower than 35 degrees, the electricity will flow to the plug. It will shut off at 45 degrees. This should keep the pump room heated for the winter and provide heat at a lower temperature than the thermostat on the ceramic heater provides and still keep it above freezing.
The winter temperatures have been good up until the week of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving week started with a big storm that dumped a few inches of snow and dropped the overnight temperatures to 0 degrees. So far Mom reports that the house is at 50 and the pump room at 45 so it looks like the heat plan/setup is working.
Here are some pictures of our first year at the farm.
