Lots of Summer Projects...of the Non-Fabric Variety

I've had quite a few folks wonder if we ever get bored around here. The resounding answer is no...never. Life is full and there is always something going on and yes, it almost always involves work. The list is long and the ranch house is often at the bottom of that list. I'm fine with that. I'v never focused on all the things these old ranch houses really could use. I'm a glass half full kind of girl so I guess I get really excited about the little things we DO fix and for the most part...99% of the part...it's US doing the fixing. I'm so grateful for DH's handy genes. But this summer we called in reinforcements.

Our 10 year old air conditioner sprung a leak in the coils and when it's 110° and hotter, we truly appreciate working refrigerated air:

So Jared came out and replaced the coils. Nothing is ever easy in an old ranch house. This installation required a saw

 
and a flame:

and some demolition:

Which led to some new sheet rock and a new door for the heating cooling units:
                                       

That didn't solve the problem though and he ended up coming back and replacing the entire unit:

And while we're at it, let's replace the hole in the wall that was here when we moved in. A strategically placed cabinet hid it all these years:

We've also needed to replace some doors and windows in the bunkhouse

as well as 2 windows in our house:

I cannot tell you how excited I am to no longer have electrical tape on this 95" long window in my mudroom-entry way-laundry room::

And I don't think anyone has ever been happier to have a new kitchen window...especially one with rain on it!

The old one was double-paned and it leaked water and dirt horribly.

Proof: my windowsill would be covered in dirt when the wind blew

                                 

You could not get it clean and it wouldn't stay open so I improvised:

                                 

Not that I have a view, but a clean window makes me exponentially happy! The window installation also made it necessary to paint the side of the house:

                             

Wonder what I could do to make it necessary to build a porch. It should be illegal to have a house without a front porch. And the new cake bin was delivered:

This is where we store the cake...aka: cubes, or feed for the cattle. DH built and welded the supports and then he and the north camp man dug deep holes and set the supports with a pallet of quick-crete:

The country was out working our road:

Leaks needed fixing:

Hay was delivered:

And all these extra hands needed sustenance in the form of cookies so I've been busy:

And as I shared at the start of this post, MOST of our projects require work. Most. But not all. After DH cleaned out a storage tank,

 we went swimming:

And then I went home and took a nap. I'm not even the one doing all the work, but this summer is wearing me out.