Jim't got all of the tubing hooked up for the radiant floor system. Next step is to add the plumbing to the water heaters and install the expansion tank. Probably won't get the system running until the second week of January.

We split wood on Christmas this year. It was a beautiful snowy day.

In spite of the drought, we have some pretty good fall colors.

Thanks to Joe and Diana, we have a really good start on wood for the 2012-2013 season.

We started staining some of the doors. 2 down and 14 more to go.....

Jim got some really nice cabinets for his shop at the Beckman garage sale.

We got quite a few pints of peaches, a few quarts of tomatoes, and are working on more pints of green beans. Our tomato crop was pretty sparse.

The watermelon is really good this year!

It's time to start canning tomatoes. Tomato production is on the light side this year due to the June rains.

Peaches! They are small and have some spots but boy do they taste good. I picked about a half a peck today.

Ziva loves playing with her new toy from Christina. And she likes to mess up all of the rugs in the house.

The watermelon plants love all the extra rain we have been getting. Hopefully they will be ready in late August.

The raspberry bushes are doing well. Hopefully will have a good crop this fall.

Ziva is checking out the green beans. This is the second planting. The first planting drowned in the June rains.

We got the sweetcorn weeded this past week. 18 rows in all, probably will be ready in mid to late September.

We visited the farm in Michigan last weekend. A stray mama cat arrived unannounced with four babies - they are really cute! Anybody need a kitten?

Thanks to Amy and mom, we finished painting the kitchen a combination of orange and caramel.

It was a team effort between Shelly, her sister Amy, Jim, and mom to get the steps sanded, stained, and finished. 9 of the steps were made with oak from the farm in Michigan.

Jim got two loads of laundry washed and dried today. The first load was dry by lunch time. The weather was perfect, sunny and with low humidity.

The pears are coming along. I can't wait to taste one later this summer.

The green beans and onions are doing well. There are flowers starting to form on the beans so beans aren't too far away.

One of our neighbors was jogging by and noticed us splitting wood and offered us a load of poplar logs. Some are dry enough to burn this winter so our wood supply just got a lot better for this year and next.

What luck! We were driving by Jim's brother's house and discovered his neighbor had some pine logs he didn't want. We split wood for about 8 hours this weekend.

The potatoes are in one long line along the east end of the garden. We have 40 hills of potatoes that will be ready some time in July. If you stop by for a visit, you can take some home with you!

I planted this tomato next to the garage around the first of April. We may get tomatoes by the end of June.....

These flowers may come back year after year. They look really beautiful next to the garage.

The oriental poppy was really gorgeous this year.

Jim made a hat rack and coat rack from black walnut lumber from Brown's farm in Michigan. Looks good and works well!

It's going to be a good year for peaches on Mahoney's farm.

And now back to farming. My dad gave me a 70s vintage electric riding lawnmower with a rototiller attachment. I am in heaven! I have planted potatoes, onions, spinach and lettuce so far.

Steve and Jim installed the pantry cabinets a few weeks ago and I have started unpacking the rest of my kitchen stuff. Countertops will be installed on May 20th.

Cabinets, countertop and sink are now installed in the mudroom. I painted the room red to match the barn in the background.

We got cabinets and a countertop installed in the entryway from the garage.

Jim finished the shower in the first floor guest room. So come on down (or up)!

The first floor guest room is finished except for trim.

Jim did a great job installing the drawer pulls and knobs. Looks great!

We've got pretty much everything put away in the new kitchen.

We got the vanity installed in the second first floor bedroom. Now for the shower.....

We had to get the snowblower out for this one. The snow was a foot deep in some places.

Ziva doesn't quite know what to make of the snow.