❈ Chris and I have been doing some odd and end jobs at the house. We were looking at the front of the house thinking about the color scheme. It has a weird color combo in the gable area. Chris made a sketch on paint so that we could change out the colors and try them out.

Only half of the house is painted. The last owner was doing the work herself and ended up not finishing due to illness. The rest of the house is the ugly tan color that is in the gable. You might notice that some of the trim was left white. That’s how it is on the house too. We came up with one idea that might work.

This is definitely an improvement. We didn’t want to have too many colors going at once so we just thought we’d do a darker shade of the teal in the gable and then paint the vertical stripes the same as the trim. If anyone has any ideas please comment below. I’m terrible at choosing colors. My wardrobe is pretty much maroon and gray colors.

I was thinking of changing the pattern in the gable as well. Instead of stripes we could do the rounded shingles:

Tell me what y’all think. I need ideas.

So back to what we have been doing to the house. Chris fixed a loose board we had in our dining room. We had put a big water jug on top of the board when we moved in so that we wouldn’t step on it and we finally found a nice cool day where Chris could go under the house and fix it. He had me sit in the dining room and press the board so that he could see it as it wasn’t obvious which one was which board when he was under there. Here’s what he sent me:

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Look how new all the boards look! Not sure if the boards have ever been replaced in all these 90 years. In the inside of the house the floors are painted in the living room, dining room and hallway which I don’t mind but I would prefer to see the grain and to have a more natural color. I wonder if we flip the boards how that would go? It sounds like it’s too simple and could cause issues. ??? I know the corners of some of the rooms would be cut differently but it makes me wonder if people do stuff like this. Note that we have zero insulation under the house. We are looking into that as well so that we can be more energy efficient.

We went hiking today in the Sam Houston National Forest. We tried out a different trail this time and loved it more than the first! It was such a beautiful day today and since it’s winter there were no mosquitoes out. The forest was beautiful and there were a number of interesting things to look at. I needed a nature day.

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Now we haven’t lived in this area for very long and only hiked a couple times so I don’t know what all animals live here. We heard these noises coming from somewhere nearby and it kinda freaked me out a little but they sound like ferrets or weasels?? I know that river otters live in the area because there was a sign that said so. Maybe this was what it was. Listen for yourself and tell me if you know what it is:

While we were there we saw some interesting plants and trees. This one with the light shining through the leaves felt magical:

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Also you should know that I love moss and I found the mother load on the banks of this creek:

Oh!! AND one of the younger chickens started laying eggs. I believe it’s the barred rock Lucille II because Ann is an Ameraucauna and should be laying blue eggs. Everyday for the past week I’ve found 2 brown eggs in the coop. So exciting.

I’m sure there was more stuff going on since last time I checked in but this is getting long so I’ll put it in the next one. It’s been a good week. ❈