The Wheel & Anvil

The time has arrived. The house is finished (minus a few touch-ups and, well, I’ll get to the rest) and moving time has arrived. Before we decorated the house with chaos, I took some pictures to give you the before’s and after’s. I will say that this extent of a remodel is not for the […]

Give me an inch of progress and I’ll just be grateful! It’s been a few potatoes since the last post (can you tell I have leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes on my mind?), but there’s been quite a bit of progress! Not much to write about; instead, I’ll let the pictures tell most of the story. […]

I know, I know. It’s been awhile. A whole month! In my mind, when I list out the things that have happened lately, well, it doesn’t seem like a very long list. But it isn’t the number of things that matters, it’s that they were big jobs that were some of the most important. To […]

Worst news first. Yes, those were the contractor’s words to me today. That’s just code for “there’s no good news, just bad and worse”. But I won’t start you on the worst news first. You just know it’s coming… First, the sill plate and all the rotted framing in the front of the house is […]

For those who are following our journey, I know it’s been awhile since I posted. There have been several times I’ve thought, “I really need to make an update!” But in an appreciation for your time, I didn’t want to post a bunch of gibberish just to say, “Look! There’s an update!” The changes are […]

Update 12/15/2020: It was brought to our attention that the previous link to the basics on playing hammerschlagen was no longer available, so I found a new one. It isn’t quite as entertaining as the last, but it does the job. It’s been a few interesting weeks around here! Progress is a bit slower on […]

It’s been a gloriously lazy week at the homestead. For me, at least! We finally finished packing and moving our household goods from Olympia and have them with us. Not that we can access it very easily in the packed container, but we could if we had the need and desire to rummage through it […]

Have I mentioned the need for flexibility while rehabbing? If I haven’t, I’ll mention it now; if I have, let me re-iterate, you must be flexible! The demo work is continuing. We had nearly a week of not being able to move past the front door for photos because of all the debris. Nearly every […]

Moving is the pits. And boy have we had too many moves! Fourteen years of marriage and fourteen moves, if we count the temporary move to Vegas (one month in a short-term rental) and when we moved into the RV for 8 months while transferring from Illinois back to Washington. And here we are doing […]

Some people are drawn to new construction homes. They like having everything new and don’t have to think about who’s dirty feet have walked over the carpet before their own (I’m speaking directly to my brother right now). But some people gravitate to old homes and love to think about the lives previously lived within […]

Have you ever gone on vacation and thought, “I wish I could live here full-time?” We have. In 2009, military life brought us to the Pacific Northwest. After living in a desert location for so long, we reveled in the beauty and lushness of northwestern Washington. The trees fill you with awe and wonder, and […]