Flood Preparations

With the little amount of rain we had a few weeks ago (about 1 inch), it brought mud and debris through our neighborhood. Luckily, it bypassed our house and we didn't have too much damage. The chicken coop was a disaster, but we got that cleaned up fairly quickly. As the approaching storm was being followed by the media, we decided to tackle the job of prepping for flood conditions this week. Sunday we took the opportunity to go to the city yard and grab sandbags. It took several truckloads of sandbags. We spent the past few days placing sandbags in the possible flow paths around our property. This time we were smart enough to place sandbags around the chicken run/coop as well. Of course, Sunday it decided to give us a few downpours and you will see in the following photographs how my mascara is definitely not waterproof. Here are a few snapshots of our past few days of preparations.

Here is a partial truckload of sandbags from the city yard.

Christopher stacking old and new sandbags.

Jenni shoveling old sandbags into new ones.

Jenni, the drowned rat with mascara that isn't waterproof.

Our sandbags being taken over by the falling leaves.

Although we are hoping for plentiful rains, we also are praying for the mud and debris to pass right by our bungalow. Hopefully, we will emerge from the storm with a lot to be thankful for this rainy season.

Hugs,
Jenni

Homecoming 2014

Now that October has come to a close we'd like to share a few of our small town Homecoming events that we attended. First of all, Christopher teaches at our local high school, which we both attended, and it was Homecoming this past month. We never miss the Homecoming Parade. This year we took photos of our bag pipers, the highlight of the parade. The following day we took part in the Homecoming festivities of the university we both attended, the University of La Verne. We dragged our sister-in-law along to join us in the Fun Run. There are a few pictures to show the fun that we had that day. We hope your month was just as fun and exciting, and remember that it doesn't have to be Homecoming to go home.

Bag pipers of Glendora High School-Homecoming Parade 2014

Before starting the ULV Fun Run 2014

Christopher and Michelle during the ULV Fun Run 2014

This was our view of Christopher for most of the run.

After the run Michelle and I are still smiling.

What a great way to celebrate Fall this season! Let's all prepare for the coming holiday season. We can't wait to see how you celebrate.

Hugs,
Jenni

A Craft as Old as Recorded Time

Sometimes the old ways are the best ways. At least, that is how I felt this year when I decided to have a home brewing party for my birthday here at the ol’ bungalow.  This time around the calendar I invited my beer making / beer appreciating family and friends here to the house for a great evening of comparisons between home brews and store bought micro brews.  The result was a hoppin’ (pun intended) good time! There is something pretty great about getting in touch with a craft as old as recorded time. You can do side some research on your own time for that one. Just know that more than a few of us drank of the bottle conditioned snot. The ancient Egyptians would have said “more please” to that one! How about you?

"Free Ranging" Time

As we approach the end of October, we have been allowing the girls a little more "free ranging" time. They love to wander the yard in search of tasty treats. We absolutely love our girls. With the cooling temperatures, we will once again find ourselves with an afternoon cocktail in the backyard while the girls, and Biscuit, run free. However, it is time to thoroughly clean the coop. I guess we will get to that this weekend. In the meantime, enjoy a few snapshots of Holly (Buff Orpington) and Sabrina (Copper Maran).

Holly is sneaking into the garden.

Sabrina is looking beautiful as always.

Do you own chickens? Do you want to own chickens? Leave us a comment here. We'd love to hear from you.

Hugs,
Jenni

Fall is Here!

As the sun begins to set earlier each night and temperatures toy with us, we realize that the fall season is here. Crisp mornings greet us as we rise before the sun, but warm afternoons envelope us as a reminder that summer does not want to leave us. Apple cider, cinnamon, and pumpkin arouse our sense of smell. The spicy scent of pumpkin butter wafts through the house as it cooks on the stove. Leaves crunch underfoot. Skies appear as a vibrant blue. As we walk the dog, we see less people on the street. We can smell the fires that are burning to keep homes warm. There is no doubt that fall has made a quiet, subtle entrance into our lives. It is time to cuddle up with the ones you love.

We'd love to hear how you plan to embrace the fall season.

Hugs,
Jenni

Vintage Stove

I have wanted a vintage stove since I was a child. My grandmother had an O'Keefe & Merritt, and I always thought it was the best. Christopher and I have his grandmother's old stove (O'Keefe & Merritt) that was put outside years ago, but it is not in our kitchen. It needs some serious restoration. It was my plan to get it restored this year. However, in a recent conversation with my friend, Tricia, she informed me she had a vintage stove (O'Keefe & Merritt) that she was thinking of selling. Of course I jumped at the opportunity! This stove (pictured above) is larger than the one that we already had and it has the grill cover. Getting this stove meant that we needed to take out more cabinets and counter space in our kitchen. We spent the weekend doing this two weeks ago. Last Saturday, we drove to Downey and picked up our vintage stove. We got it home and placed it in the kitchen. I was so excited! After four trips to the hardware store, we discovered that we need to replace the adapter on the stove along with the flex hose. It needs to be compliant with new codes. So here sits our "new to us" vintage stove. It has been too hot to cook the past few days, so I told Christopher that we could take a breath and get to fixing it later in the week or even next week. I'm really not in a rush in this heat. One day soon we will have a working stove and oven, and I will gladly cook a meal for Christopher on it. Until then, I sit here at my farm style kitchen table and admire it.

Hugs,
Jenni

The Strip

Whoever said that stripping paint off of a house was easy work… well actually, I’ve never heard anyone say that!  There is a simple reason.  It is a hard, labor intensive, time consuming task that is generally better suited for someone else.  In other words, normally I would hire someone to do it.  However, the last time we did that I was less than pleased with the staying power of the job.  So it is here that I have been for the last month offering my body and energy to the protective coating over this wonderful 1908 Craftsman home.  I’ve decided to do it the way my grandpa Graf did it.  That is, one wall at a time, every couple of weeks, every year, year after year.  So far everything is going ok.  It just takes a while.  My hands are pretty sore. So, I’ll check back in with you later with an update. For now, here are a few pictures to show you what I’ve been doing.  

All the best, 

Chris

Welcome to Our Bungalow!

Welcome to our little slice of heaven. We are Christopher and Jenni, and we live in a 1908 Craftsman Bungalow. After a long conversation with friends one day about everything we are doing in our neck of the woods, we decided to start a blog to share it with everyone. Every time you visit you will see a glimpse into our lives and what we are doing to simplify things.

This summer we put travel plans on hold and began the process of purging "stuff" from our house. We aren't done yet, but after six truckloads sent to be donated we feel so much better. Less really is more. Christopher took on the task of scraping paint outside and he has started painting primer on the house. There is not enough in our budget to pay someone else to paint, so Christopher will be spending late summer afternoons and weekends painting this place we call "home." BIG changes are taking place and we couldn't be happier about it.

We hope you will stop by often and share your experiences with us.

Christopher and Jenni