Author: Kathy Bo

Permit me to burn this

So we passed inspection a few weeks ago (see previous post) but we had so much going on we didn't have time to celebrate.

Oh, we've talked about it. We've planned and planned.

Extensive planning.

All that planning ended up with this:

We planned to have a fire. In a pit.

And that's not all. We planned to burn the renovation permit that was stuck on our door for over a stinkin year.

A year, people.

This is more than a classic cardboard mini-poster thing with black marker and … wait for it… blue painter's tape. This, THIS thing meant we were not allowed to live here until we fulfilled the county requirements. And now we have.

And like the song says, tonight's the night. Oh yeah. It is.

And Ninja Man, creative as he is, added all kinds of memorabilia to the blaze. There were pieces of old siding, a 2X6 from the EBR (our 14 X 44 "porch" aka the "Emotional Baggage Room"), some window trim and assorted bits and pieces from all over the former house.

Through the magic of the interwebs, y'all can celebrate with us!

Here I am directing the process because I'm a control freak:
and here is Ninja Man being all brave with this fire. It's his fire, after all. He's SO ready to toss that thing in. Me too, but I was feeling a bit warmish. It's July. In Georgia. So there we go. It's a done deal. We are living here and and we've had the ceremonial roasting of the permit.

Life is good here at Six Little Acres. We are blessed. Now for getting our stuff here and start decorating and nesting.

Thanks for stopping by and Click here for our Facebook page and enjoy extra content!

God bless.
Kathy Bo

Success! Life begins at Six Little Acres 

Picture a cheerleader, preferably me in 5th grade, shaking gold and black pom-poms that match my pleated cheerleader skirt and vest, yelling, “Tigers! Tigers! Gooooo Tigers!”  

Well, fast forward 45 plus years, take away the pom-poms and -please- take that uniform too (it won’t fit anyway) and that’s me, on the porch at Six Little Acres yelling, “Inspector, inspector! Gooooo inspector!” I mean, REALLY. GO. LEAVE. VAMOOSE. DONT LET THE DOOR HIT YA WHERE THE GOOD… well, y’all get the idea. 

Because we passed inspection! Oh yes we did. 

I’m so happy. And I am officially LIVING HERE. Yep. It’s awesome and amazing and even though most of our stuff is still in storage, we are just as cozy as we can be with paper plates and plastic forks. 

So life begins At Six Little Acres. 

There’s still LOTS to do and share so follow us here and on Facebook. We are excited to see what tomorrow brings. 

God bless,

Kathy Bo 

Still working 

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here at Six Little Acres. 

We are desperately- and I mean DESPERATELY – trying to get everything finished so the county inspector can sign off and we can go on with our lives. 

We are hoping he can come on Friday and also hoping we have done everything we had to do. Not only so we can be done with it but because this has KILT US.

KILT US DET!

Ninja Man can’t use his right hand without pain and my left knee is all jacked up. BUT Favorite Son in Law (FSIL) Ian is still young and to my knowledge, all his major parts are still in working order. 

A couple of fun things:

It doesn’t matter if you have to paint stuff and dig tons of dirt, grass grows and it has to be mowed. 

So I mowed this morning. 

And I took pictures. We shall call this “A View From the Mower”. 

Oh yes. 

We shall. 

Views from the mower make me happy, but mostly if I have already mowed what lies beyond. 
Another thing: 

Chickens and blueberries. 

Favorite daughter harvested about a quart of blueberries this afternoon. She and the Littles also brought eggs from the coop. But it’s not all fun and games, y’all. There’s some serious work going on here. So serious that we had to call for help. Rest up, Ninja Man. Teach those Littles to work. 

Now don’t feel bad for them- they worked super hard for approximately 8 minutes then went on vacation for – well- they are still on vacation. I get it, Littles, it’s hard work. I was over it in 5 minutes. Y’all rocked it. 

Disclaimer: this next shot ain’t pretty. Left these and they just sat there. They didn’t work unless we worked. Nothing magical here, move on. My water fell over. It was DET y’all. Some other things: 

We got rid of this: ohhhhh happy day. Dude left with this eyesore and my check for $350. I was happy and sad all at once. 

The only thing left behind was a terrible stench for a couple of hours because it poured rain for four days after. When the sun came back out we started working again. 

Apparently we aren’t the only ones making a home at Six Little Acres. 

This black widow is now just a memory (and yes, it’s a type of black widow, we Googled it). Anyway, Ninja Man squashed it with his glove. He’s cool like that. I magnified it for your viewing pleasure. 

In other news, my brother came to finish the stairs. He is a REAL carpenter, not pretend ones like we had before. The pretend ones left us high and dry with a huge mess that had to be rebuilt. If we ever see them again I hope it’s with a judge between us, one that raises one eyebrow and stares at them really hard. Yeah. TAKE THAT. 

Anyway, here’s my hero, brother Dave. After he rebuilt and put the (county required) granny bar on the steps, he and Ninja Man got some play time in. (By the way, that bar is required because someone’s drunk granny needed something to hang on to- not saying we don’t need it. I am, after all, a grandma and IF WE EVER FINISH THIS it will be 5 o’clock somewhere.

Anyway, the play date: 

Look closely for the drone. In the first image, it’s above the 2nd pup. In the next, it’s above the silver van. They had fun and marveled at the video of Six Little Acres. One day I’ll try to share one here so you can marvel too. 

It was a busy two weeks. We are looking forward to a burn pit night where we celebrate the end of county required work and the beginning of doing fun stuff for Six Little Acres at our leisure. That’s what we do in rural Georgia, celebrate by burning stuff. It’s a tradition, especially if you’ve sent your dumpster away. 

Thanks for stopping by, and please keep Baby Wren in your prayers. We are waiting on a 2nd opinion. See her story on Facebook at Hope For Wren. 

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” God said it, we believe it. And we proclaim His glory in this precious child. 

Toodles,

Kathy Bo 

Step by Step

Y’all know there’s never a dull moment here at Six Little Acres. 

Today’s menu features a whopping helping of concrete chunks, thrown rather impressively by Ninja Man himself. 

Feel free to say things like, “oomph” and “ummmph”. Ninja could use the encouragement. I know, I know, I’ve asked this before- but is there anything Ninja Man can’t do? 

Okay, 40 years with him and I will say communication is not his cup of tea- but he makes up for it with stuff like this: This morning he began demo’ing (is that even a word?) these steps that were made by today’s version of Laurel and Hardy. Just in case you’re too young to know who they are, here’s an image (silent movie days) and as a bonus, the house they built. Thankful this is NOT Six Little Acres. 

Anyway, Ninja Man and my brother Dave made a concrete pad for our steps. This replaces the ridiculous Laurel and Hardy chunks of concrete that were rather easily broken apart by an axe wielding Ninja Man. 

Here’s brother Dave making his little sis very happy. Seriously, y’all, I cried when he arrived. Now y’all know I cry a lot anyway, but when he got here I was just as thankful as I could be.  I saw him get out of his truck and it was like this.

I’d already been sweating in the sun with a paint roller, heavy gloves, my t-shirt sleeves gathered up with painters tape, a ladder and my flowery rain boots (protection from snakes, right?) Oh, and shorts. Yes I was wearing shorts. 
Now don’t be commenting about how so-and-so got snake bit right through her flowery rain boots because I won’t be able to go back outside. 

Ever. 

The Good Lord knows that after dealing with baby cancer for the last 16 months, that I have NO FEAR – except for snakes. Seriously I would just go ahead and have my heart attack right then and there and it would take weeks to figure out what kilt me. 

Ain’t nobody got time fo dat. And I’m thankful that I have not seen the first one. Yes, THEY have probably seen me. I know. I KNOW. I K*N*O*W so STOPPIT. 😂

Back to the situation at hand. Those steps. 

Here’s what we have now, concrete waiting to dry. What y’all can’t hear is Ninja Man yelling across Six Little Acres, reminding me there are no stairs. 

Awwww.  He’s a keeper. 

Hey- Six Little Acres has a Facebook page! There’s extra content that doesn’t make it into the blog, so be sure and “like” the page. 

Thanks for stopping by and please keep Baby Wren in your prayers. 

God bless,

Kathy Bo 

The Gatherings at Six Little Acres 

My daughter is enthusiastic about all things organic, home grown and healthy. She is the one watching Six Little Acres for all the edibles that are starting to ripen. 

Let’s start with these. Little wild cherries from a tree in the yard. Here’s what she posted about them: “We harvested wild cherries, I cooked them down with cinnamon, allspice and a little cardamom then added honey and we have wild cherry syrup to add to soda water or pancakes or whatever we like!” She is a master in the kitchen – and trust me, I’m great at the drive thru so she got this talent from her grandmothers and aunts. 

Besides wild cherries, she has found fruity blooms on our pear tree, figs, blueberry, muscadine, scuppernong and a raspberry we thought was mower mulch as someone zoomed over them right after planting last summer. 

Fig buds. 

Figs a week later: 

Old fashioned canning pears. 
Wild cherry blueberries Baby Wren with blueberries raspberries with Sir Winston Poops A Lot. And this. 

Y’all there are chickens. Five, plus a rooster. Daughter and the FSIL come with their chikkin wranglers to care for them each day. And you know what? Those chickens are giving back like only chickens can. Aren’t they just beautiful? 

And I almost forgot: pecans! We have three pecan trees that will be bearing nuts this fall! 

Ohhhh the blessings we shall gather at Six Little Acres. We are pretty excited!

Thanks for stopping by and please subscribe for the latest. And don’t forget to check out Hope for Wren. She needs your prayers and support! 

God bless,

Kathy Bo

This week at Six Little Acres 

Last week THESE didn’t pass inspection. There are MANY issues with these two sets of steps – including wood that isn’t supposed to touch the ground, handrails too wide and steps that are too far apart- and although they we given the specifications, the guys who built them didn’t look at any county requirements before taking our money and running. We DID require them to meet with the inspector and do what he said, and we thought that’s what happened but when the inspector came last week, he called out so many issues it made my head spin. 

“Bring those guys back!” You might say. Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, but just before they left they forgot how to speak English. 

I’m sure that can happen- like maybe they hit each other with some of those 4X4’s, or the sun baked that part of the brain that stores foreign languages, or maybe, just maybe, they never ever (in the year plus that we were dealing with them) COULD speak English and in my baby chemo stupor, I just imagined it all. 
Whatever possessed them to take advantage of us I’ll never know – but one thing is for sure, God knows us well. He knows that we needed every bit of help we could get and He will continue to bless us as we figure out how to rebuild those steps ourselves. FAITH, people! Won’t it be cool to see how God gets us through this? I mean JESUS WAS A CARPENTER- so as one can imagine, I’m pretty excited to see how this gets worked out. 

Beyond that, the inspector said we have to paint all the exterior plus caulk and trim where needed. Now THAT I can do. 

But y’all. Another area of contention is the dirt moving. We have to dig down a bit more. 

By hand. 

Because THIS thing has a $400 price tag to rent for 8 hours!At $400, we just cannot get that big ole thing back out here. 

But all is not sucky, bad, heartbreaking and dismal here at Six Little Acres- oh no it’s not!

Here are some of the good things happening:

  • We are doing as much as we can as often as we can and our daughter and FSIL are helping. 
  • Ninja Man had to leave the country but has returned and brought me airplane pajamas (who doesn’t want a pair of THOSE?!?!)
  • Ninja Man fell off the ladder and popped right back up again. (Hence “Ninja”)
  • We had both son and daughter (and her family) here helping last night. 
  • I mowed (and mowed and mowed) so the yard is only half ugly now. (Still construction debris hanging around)
  • I almost finished the wallpaper in the kitchen – there’s a wee bit more to do once the under cabinet lights are installed. Here’s our FS (favorite son) helping with some hardware- handsome fella, huh? 

Now I know those stairs are bugging y’all. They bug me too- but I have absolute faith that even if I have to do them myself, God will provide what I need – even if it’s YouTube and a box of Band-Aids. We can. We REALLY can. 

Faith y’all, that’s what it’s all about. Those steps, that dirt and some finishes on the exterior and we can move in. 

We are sooooo close. And SO very blessed. Please subscribe and watch for another post about the GATHERINGS here at Six Little Acres. It’s coming soon. 

And please “like” baby Wren’s Facebook page: Hope for Wren. She’s the reason we have seen so much of God’s blessings this past year. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Kathy Bo 

A productive week!

Here at Six Little Acres, we often cram everything we can into a few hours between arriving from Savannah on Friday and leaving again on Sunday. It’s about a 4 hour drive and we always have our three pups with us. It’s how we roll. 

Well, thankfully we are ****this****close to getting our final approval. 

THIS close, y’all. 

Once we can move in, I’ll be here to help daughter and FSIL (favorite son in law) as we all navigate Baby Wren’s neuroblastoma. Click here for more information. (It’s the first post titled “And it Begins” 

I’m staying in town and coming each day to do stuff like put up wallpaper, mow grass and paint.  My FSIL  is working like crazy, caulking, closing up holes left by the electricians, painting (soooo much better than I – thankfully) and pretty much helping us with everything else we need to do for final. 

And then there’s Ninja Man. 

He did this last week. ​He was like a kid on that thing. I’m pretty sure he had too much fun. 

And then he did this:Yes, that’s a dresser-turned-vanity. Ninja is altering the drawers so they will fit around the plumbing. (Note: he began with styrofoam but it was too messy. His next template was cardboard. Much better!) 

He is now doing this:

While FSIL is doing this: Yesterday I painted the porch ceiling blue. I had FIVE dogs to help (two are grandpups) and my shirt says, “I’m pretty cool but I cry a lot. We have a punch list we are working through but the steps we paid too much to have built are wrong and the county inspector says they have to be redone. Ohhhh nooooo. It’s a big deal and just like the shirt says, I cried. 

Meanwhile, this also happened- it’s not my best angle but that’s life in the house painting world, right? My daughter and the FSIL painted the rest and we’re not done yet. I’ll post soon about the fruits (we call it the gatherings) here at Six Little Acres. It’s pretty awesome! We are looking forward to muscadines and more!

Thanks for stopping by and God bless. 

Please subscribe! And you can view Baby Wren’s Facebook page @hopeforwren 

Hiding some UGLY

This ugly behemoth is so ugly no one wants it. “No one” includes the gas companies I called. 

I offered to give it away. 

Don’t want the tank? Ok, then take the gas. There’s 800 lbs of it. Yeah. 

Gas companies: we cannot empty it. We cannot take it. 

And then there was a guy who said no and no to emptying and taking- BUT – he would MOVE IT for us. 

Oh happy day. 

Here’s where it was:I suppose as ugly propane tanks go, this one is not much worse than its counterparts, but our home is completely electric now and the only propane will be used for a generator and whatever outdoor fire pit / cooking we do. 

I may or may not have complained about this tank for over a year now. Ninja Man actually had two days off so I made a few calls and got that thing moved to here: (in the woods!) it’s in a remote area that will not obstruct my view of things like birds, grass and… well, birds and grass. 

We were advised by the tank moving man that it will be a hassle to fill when it gets low. 

What tank moving man doesn’t know is that I NEVER intend to fill it again. What I plan to do is get one of my redneck friends a six pack and get him to cut that sucker in half. 

Now THAT would make an awesome fire pit. Y’all think I’m kidding- nope. My fire pit is just a few hundred gallons away. 

What can I say? I’m a cheap date. 

Thanks for stopping by and God bless. 

Please visit Hope for Wren on Facebook. 

Kathy Bo 

A beautiful surprise!

My FSIL (if you are keeping up with my blog, you know that’s an acronym for my Favorite Son In Law) anyway my FSIL surprised us BIG TIME while we were on vacation. 

Not only did he mow the yard but y’all: 

 HE PAINTED THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE! 

IT’S PAINTED!! I am verklempt. Honestly I’ve been sitting in the car for 1/2 an hour just looking at this beautiful thing. 

Yes, it’s just a mobile home turned house, and it’s not a mansion, but it’s custom and it’s so very functional for us and the BEST part is is that we LOVE this place as well as our hometown! Yep, Newnan is where we began (for the most part) and after living in Savannah for nearly 20 years, it’s seriously time to come home. 

Here’s what the sad little house looked like when we were here last- and here it is all SPIFFY and beautiful! Can y’all believe it? Man. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. My FSIL is amazing. This beats a dozen roses. It is better than a vacation. It means the world to us. 

We will get the rest of it done as we go. And we are trying to get me moved in THIS MONTH. We’ll see how that goes. 

Meanwhile, there are still things to do – mostly all in our hands now. We can only come on weekends so it may be slow. 

Please keep us in your prayers. We have baby Wren chemo next week. Since Feb 2016, this is round 13 week 3 of 3. Pray that this will be the end of chemo. 

Thank you for visiting, and may God bless you in every way! 

Kathy Bo

PS: baby nap. She’s so adorable. ❤️🙏🏻❤️