Resurfacing

Wow, I can't believe it's been over five months since I last blogged. So very much has happened...all good! Rather than bombard you with a 7000-word post (never a good idea), I'll recap in pictures instead.

Asher Paul, born 6/21 after 4 weeks of modified home bed rest, weighing 8 lbs 3 oz, and measuring 19" long with a 15" head. He is perfectly healthy and a total joy!

Handsome boy! He was born with reddish hair, but he seems to be turning blonde for now.

And then there were 9 (and a half). From left: Xoe, Roxy, Esther's face, Bestla (Esther's mom), Xaralyn, Arianna, Elodie's backend, Ferdinand (2-year old steer out of Bestla), and Buster (Xara's bull calf) peeking out from behind the tree. (Not shown: Alban "Albie", the bull we bought with another farm in June. He lives most of the time in Winlock.)

Bestla, Esther, Ferdinand and Xoe hanging out on the hayfield.

We remodeled two rooms in our 1978 ranch-style house, the nursery and the guest room. Paul and my uncle scraped and retextured the ceilings (bye, popcorn!), and they and our brother-in-law replaced windows, doors, closet doors and trim, we got new carpet and family and friends painted...all while I laid around on modified bed rest. :) This is the nursery. Next year we'll tackle our master bedroom and bath, rebuild the well house, and hopefully paint the barn. We may do some landscaping, too.

Paul and our brother-in-law repainted the house, something that's needed done for a very long time. We chose Sherwin-Williams "Ethereal Mood" (color-matched to Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint in satin finish; that's a stripe of it on the garage wall) with an off-white trim. It looks so much better!

We replaced the gutters and downspouts, too, but obviously not soon enough! This was one of three major downpours that happened in the 2 weeks between removing the old ones for painting and having the new ones installed. Yikes! We've also had a lot of thunder and lightening, which is odd for Western Washington. Fall has definitely arrived, and a bit strangely, too.