First Party at the Ranch!

This week I had a birthday and many thanks to those who remembered me and commented (thanks Lorri!) or sent me texts, emails, LinkedIn Messages, and Facebook posts. I appreciated everyone remembering!

Cuz Bill sent me a text last week and suggested that the cousins get together to see progress on our house and have a socially distancing party. I thought it was a great idea, texted the cousins, looked at the weather forecast, and conveniently picked my birthday to host this family event for 8. Thankfully, our porch is 16′ wide and quite long, so it was not difficult to fit camp chairs for everyone on the porch.

We got catering from one of our favorite restaurants, the Front Room Wine Bar, which, like any restaurants still open, is only offering take out. John and I love this place and we have visited here many times before, including when our friend Matthew visited and it’s where we rung in New Year’s Eve!

Earlier in the day Travis, aka, Bestie, arrived with his beast of a machine to clear out our view. As I wrote in a former post, we lost most of our view of the valley as the trees leafed out. We wanted to keep any substantial trees, but those that would look like lollipops if trimmed had to go.

Travis makes quick work and the view was significantly enhanced from before…

To after an afternoon of work….

We also gave our family a tour of the home in small groups and some elected to wear masks inside the house. In addition to changes we shared with you in previous posts, one of the major purchases we made (and my first birthday gift of the day) was this set of antique Egyptian doors. We have decided to do a VERY light sanding, just to get any paint (which is likely lead based) that will potentially flake off and then cover them with a protective coat to keep their character. I love that they have frosted glass that will let light through, but also provide a bit of mystery at the end of the hall as you enter the great room.

The other progress is the new ceiling installed in the living room. It is the same “Texas Honey Brown” pine that is on the ceilings of the porches.

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The pine beadboard for the great room is also all stained and sealed, and ready for installation in that room. We opted for the beadboard in the great room because we wanted something a bit more rustic and different to set this large room off from the others.

So that was my quarantine birthday at the ranch! Not too shabby, given the world circumstances. Thanks to sister-in-law Janet for the lovely birthday card and special thanks to my high school friend Miste for the card, awesome gift, AND subscribing to this blog! I hope you all continue to stay safe and thanks, as always, for stopping by.

Hugs, Libby