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If you live here in Missouri, you know we had 75-degree temps this past weekend. Boy, did we take advantage of that: lots of work on the campsite, and you may remember that there were these three weird doghouses lined up near the yard—those are gone, too. My husband just had to play with his tractor!

First, though, he finished building the outhouse for the campsite. The original plan was to tack it together and move it in pieces, but we ended up moving the whole thing on the trailer. Damn, was that heavy or what? We had to lever it up on blocks, then he just pushed it over.

Once it was on the skids and tied down, we were good to go.

This, of course, after hole-digging. Why is it, on TV and in the movies, people just dig holes without running into roots and rocks? Sheesh. False advertising.

Next up was paint and clearing the campsite a bit more, and yes, we took time out to just sit and enjoy the sun. I’m not exactly a crispy critter, but at least I’m not as pale as I was . . .

I did manage to work a bit, and I’ve hung up more pictures and things. In fact, I hadn’t been down to the farm for a couple weeks, and when I walked in I thought, “Wow, looks like someone lives here!” Ha.

Then the tractor came out. Finally, even more crap is out of sight. Whew. This whole project has been an exercise in crap removal!

I’ve kept you all entertained, or something, the last ten months, with the house remodel. I’m happy to say that we’ve reached the end!

Almost.

We’re still mulling over the bathroom, particularly the shower, which means we haven’t yet tiled the floor. Or finished the baseboards or doorframe in there. And the dungeon, aka the lean-to, still needs some work, mostly cleaning and some repairs.

Or knocking it over and starting from scratch.

Oh, and the kitchen backsplash. Well, there’s a giant PITA.

Fortunately, there’s an upside: if you don’t look up, you won’t notice. Much like the rest of the house, if you deliberately look anywhere besides the booboos, it’s all looks great! And that, my friends, is due to my husband—the booboos are mine, I admit it, I kinda stink at this stuff.

But truthfully, we’re move-in ready. And it’s starting to look more like a home and a lot less like a construction zone:

In fact, during this past work session, we’ve been out in the woods building a campsite:

See, I love to camp! Now, living in the woods is awesome, but sometimes I want to sleep in a tent and cook over a fire. So, the campsite. In fact, our third annual campout is in March—yes, sometimes it sleets—and we need to be ready.

The outhouse is in pieces in the barn yet, under construction, and the kitchen shelter itself is somewhat imaginary, although if you look closely at the picture, you can see the string outline. Those are both waiting for at least 55 degrees, and will be followed by a small shower house some time in late spring or early summer.

In the meantime, I’m searching for a smaller, more wintery tent . . .