The Farm's New Look For Winter

All work at the farm house and apartment had come to a halt a month or two ago. Tenants had moved into the house and I've been visiting my apartment on weekends. Yet still there was unfinished work. Rick went back up for a week in October and stayed in the apartment while he finished up what was left undone. The biggest and perhaps most difficult job was building and hanging new barn doors. Neither the north end nor the south end of the barn had a door and with the big winds we get up north, that could cause serious damage.

I was really excited to see how the barn doors had turned out but was unprepared for how wonderful they were. They were heavy, sturdy and beautiful, far exceeding anything I'd dare hope for. Here's the door on the south end of the barn:

And on the north end of the barn, a matching heavy duty door. Rick also built a Bilco type door of the same materials and in the same style as the barn doors, but I forgot to take a picture of it. Well, here's the north end barn door anyway:

The newly sided and remodeled farm house from the rear, showing the dogs' fenced in yard. Notice the ramp from the porch down into the dog run. Rick built that also:

The barn is still full of construction debris and miscellaneous junk left over from the previous owners but I guess its removal will have to wait until springtime. The big old cable still sits outside the barn. The dogs are giving everything the sniff test in this photo:

I made a friendly visit to my southern neighbor and we chatted a while, mostly about the cattle business and the personality of bulls. When I left, I snapped this photo of my property. It's actually farther away than it looks here (I cropped the picture):

And I settled into the apartment with the dogs. I also added small cafe curtains to the windows (they're really valances). I hope they will give me a bit more privacy without blocking either the view or the air flow in warm weather. Also, I hope they'll keep Fergus off the windowsills:

Rick also installed my new gas heater so we were warm and comfy. The vent is high so that it won't get blocked with snow in the middle of the winter.

Here, Seamus and Fergus have cuddled together and Winky and Wren are as close to cuddling as they ever get. Everyone's getting set for the night:

Old me (with a few old dogs) in my new flannel robe in my my new apartment with the new heater and new curtains:

Tubby little Wren is almost rolling off her pillow-bed:

I'd intended to coax Seamus and Fergus up onto the bed for a snapshot, but Seamus wouldn't jump up there with me watching (though he certainly does it when he thinks I can't see him). Fergus commonly sleeps on the bed with me but must have thought I was up to no good. I think his attitude was "OK, this is fun and all, but something's fishy here."