The electrician suprised me and came this morning......other than some small snafus.....which were corrected!  The ELECTRIC IS ON!  Now I alert the electric company to come rescuer their meter.  Payday, I am buying an air conditioner!

With the help of new friends, I am ready for the electrician to wire to the pole from the service panel! YIPPEE!!  May have electrical service to the house by Wed!

I intentionally kept my cabin small...(12 x 32 ).... But I live alone, except for the possibility of a dog in the future.  Was scoping out the truck stop in Okemah...20 miles from home) and found this tiny house fueling at the gas pump.  Just under 100 sq ft.   Ah.....but the pond now calls my name.....LOL

Living out in the country has its benefits.....and being a science teacher surely helps at times.  I really enjoy all the various wild critters that are around.  Spiders eat insects so I encourage them where and when possible.  This gorgeous spider made its nest overnight on the front porch.  I had pulled the new mower up on the porch to keep it out of the rain that we got last night, and set the gas can next to it.  The spider got creative between them.

Yesterday was a trip to Lowes.  My Buick thinks it is capable of hauling like a big ol pick up and I am not about to tell it different.  Yesterday's trip included bringing home 10 ft lengths of conduit, plumbing supplies, and wire to go through the conduit and underground to the electric pole. That is Monday's chore, and will be completed by one of the electric companies finest!  Then, THEN I will have fully operational electric inside the cabin! WHEEEEEEE, 

For those of you who have been wondering...yes, electricity is being worked on at the same time.  Drilling holes in my beautiful studs bothered me for a small bit, then comfort won out.  While I have done cabins before, I always farmed out the electric and plumbing.  This time, I decided to do these myself.

I also bought a gas engine lawn mower, and decided to start mowing myself, where up to this point, I had been paying a neighbor's son to mow for me.  On another note, after mowing the grass last evening around the well, I found evidence a pump may already be in the well.   The neighbors up hill tell me that the fellow where I now live and his mom, next property to the northeast, both had wells dug, but the pipe comes out the side of the well-UNDERGROUND.....so before I explore plumbing any more, I will dig and see if I can find a pipe coming off the side of the well. The neighbors believe it is 2-4 foot down.  Apparently they set it this way to gravity feed to their trailers....no need for a pressure tank!  I will keep the submersible pump I bought for the time being as eventually the old pump, being mechanical, will wear out!  Now I am wondering if my depth was figured wrong.  I had lowered a washer on a 200 ft rope until I felt slack, pulled it up and measured where the rope went slack, and how far up it was wet.  I am wondering if the pump made the rope go slack.  The things we learn when exploring!  

Purchased a submersible well pump, PVC pipe, pressure tank, fittings, and wiring for pump...Can you guess what my next project is?   LOL.  Time. To do the plumbing!

I have learned very quickly to keep watching the garden.  After 2 days of good steady earth soaking rain, I walked down to the garden, and found melons growing, more tomatoes coming and pumpkins beginning!

Looking towards winter and heating needs.  Have been looking for a wood stove for the cabin for some time.  Found one in a small "Antique" Store today!  Here is what it looked like coming home in the back of the Buick. it definitely needs some stove blacking and TLC.  It has all the pieces, plus space on the top for two pans.  Once it is home and put together, I will post pictures.  Got the rest of the electrical needs, so can now finish the electric for the house, then on to plumbing!

As promised....all together.  Next is to add electric and insulation with appropriate shielding behind where this will sit, and the rock base as well.  My week is going to be busy!

Been busy with hole saw and drill getting boards ready for pulling wire...finally!  Course it has rained for the past two days....1 1/4 inch in the rain gauge so far.  More rain expected tonight!  Wring and insulation will be finished before midweek next week.  Then on to plumbing....LOL!

Considering the late late start to my garden, and the daily battle with thousands of grasshoppers, the garden is doing well, and beginning to produce!  So excited!

Okay, I pronounce the cabin fixed.  Yesterday it rained nearly all day.  Not a drop of water came in from outside!  Thanks Trent and Dustin of Derksen Buildings!

On the other hand, I have had a visitor who is mowing the upper pasture for free...until her owner comes and takes her pack to their pasture..  There is a cow that is in the upper pasture who wandered across the dirt road from Spring Creek Farms.  I told him this morning on the way in and mentioned I was enjoying the free mowing service.  However, she needs to go home as my back field does not currently have a fence and I would hate for her to get hit going back across the road to where they have now fixed their fence.

Thank you Lord!  Thunderstorms boomed through my area after midnight with a gentle rain falling after until nearly lunchtime!  I may never complain about the rain, after many years in the southwestern Texas desert where it just never remembers to rain!  I love having everything around me green!
  While waiting on the repair guy from Derksen Buildings to arrive, I began installing mini blinds.  Then the power went out!  It got hot, so I called in and soon the power was back on.    So I got to try out my new cordless drill. Gals, you gotta know how much fun power tools are...especially cordless!
The Derksen Building new repair guy Trent and his lovely girlfriend Cassie came out about 2 pm to do repairs.  For the gap in the floor, it has been thoroughly calked, and he put a 2x4 under the floor to further seal it.  For the gap in the upper eave, he put a 2x4 section then calked around it, and also calked around the window below.  Maybe my days of wet feet on rainy days are over.  While it took 2 weeks to get them out, to be fair, they have apparently had a repair fella that was not too reliable for going where he was supposed to be, or calling customers.

This summer is HOT HOT HOT!  As a newcomer I am struggling with the humidity.  I had hoped to finish insulating and electric in the cabin by now, but Derksen Buildings has been slow in sending the repair man.  I was notified today that tomorrow, Wed.  July 9th I should expect someone to arrive.  I initiated this repair back in June (24th), and was even told at one point I had been forgotten about.  I always follow up, and that is what eventually got me to this repair scheduled for tomorrow.  Some of the cracks and gaps have gotten so big that I have had scorpions climbing in through the floor gap in the evening. It is sad, but I was ready to give back my cute little cabinnette. It would have meant searching for a new type/company, but thankfully it appears Derkesen is willing to step up to the plate.  We shall see what tomorrow brings.  This is the floor that Mr Scorpion crawled up through.....thankfully I was there and was able to tend to him quickly.  

Once repairs are completed, I will gladly pull wires, and insulate walls so I can be ready to work on plumbing. 

Happy Independence Day to all my friends and family.  I have resolved to have a day in town and total relaxation.  Very surprised to find there is no Independence Day parade in either Paden or Prague.  Fireworks tonite however!

I mentioned in a previous post that I was looking for a rain barrel.  Well the neighbor offered the use of his that he no longer uses.   I know have a huge rain barrel in the yard, and thanks to the recent rains, it is pretty full!  It makes watering the garden, and having water for dishes, etc so much easier.  I am exploring submersible pumps, and pressure tanks.  My well tested fairly clean, so now I can put the plumbing to the house.  Electrical work begins Saturday.  So much to do...so little time, even less free capital!

The grasshoppers are beginning to leave some of the garden alone...only some.....they don't seem to like my pumpkins and watermelons....yet!  They still happily munch on the peppers, and the squash....yes I would love to munch too...  I have found a helper or two...one not necessarily where I would like to find him-my water bucket!

I would like to mention I bought a Wonder Washer. It is the size of a diaper pail, but does a great job getting my clothes clean.  I still have to wring the water out by hand for the clothes line, but it is a great money saver.  I can do 3 loads (4-5 shirts per load/2 pr jeans per load) with less than 5 gallons of water.  Got mine at Amazon.com.  Plenty of sunny days for drying clothes on the line.  By winter, I want to get the companion centrifugal dryer.  I had one several years ago and it spins clothes nearly dry.

Mushrooms galore have been sprouting on my place.  Several different types, colors, and shapes.  I admired, but did not eat as I don't know what is edible or not.  The underside of the biggest looked like a sponge, no gills...and another had a huge root....not sure it is a true mushroom.