Fence

 For some time now, we've needed a new front fence and gate.  It finally happened!

BEFORE

12 foot gate

AFTER

 16 foot gate, 7 wire fence

We will reuse the old gate for the opening in the middle fence line to separate the front pasture from the back pasture where the main house will be in the future.  

Eventually we will add a Solar-Powered Gate Opener

 

We also discovered something new about the property!  We didn't realize that this was a working gate to the right pasture!  There is a larger gate elsewhere, but this was a surprise to learn that there was a second gate!

Cabin update

 Things are definitely moving along in the cabin!  

Now that the carpet is installed, it's time to add the kitchen and bathroom flooring.

We chose 12x24 peel and stick vinyl tiles.

Kitchen

Bathroom

The bedroom is ready for furniture!

We will build a barn door for the bathroom entrance, but in the meantime, the shower curtain will work.

We have a matching curtain to block off the water heater and storage area in the bathroom.

Trees and carpet

 We worked outside as it was a rare sunny day!  We've had rain for weeks now!  It was nice to be outside for a change!

It was a good day to trim my favorite tree.

Looking better, but still a little more to trim another day.

This is a huge pile of branches that were trimmed off!

Inside, the cabin is coming along nicely!  Next up is flooring!

We decided to put carpet in the living room and bedroom areas.  The Lowes estimate was about $1,000 for the cheapest carpet.  After some research, we found these carpet tiles on Amazon.  The entire space was only $330.  We purchased some extra pieces so we can replaced stained squares as needed in the future.  It's not thick carpet, but for our purposes, it was perfect!  And it was very quick and easy to put down!

After we vacuum a few times, the lines shouldn't be visible.  

Now to find some vinyl flooring for the kitchen and bathroom!

June update

Today we enjoyed eating at the Village Kitchen in Jacksboro.  Great food!  We'll definitely visit there again!

Inside the cabin, we worked on adding trim to the windows.

Bedroom window before trim

Bedroom window with trim, which will be painted white.

Kitchen window before trim

Kitchen window with trim, which will be stained

We also started putting up the shower walls.  We chose waterproof paneling to start with.

So after all the prep and work to get the first piece of waterproof paneling up, we decided that we don't like how it looks.  There are some really cute options with galvanized corrugated sheet metal that will go nicely with the bathroom.  We are looking into that as an option instead of finishing the shower walls with this paneling.  

Outside, the Prickly Pear Cacti are blooming!

Random Things

 Last weekend I took these random pictures to share:

Did you know you can use helicopters as crop dusters?  Neither did we until we saw this over our neighbor's place!

These beautiful white wildflowers have popped up everywhere!  I believe they are called Queen Anne's Lace, but not certain.

I love this view!  The pond is hidden behind the trees to the left.

The tractor got a new, much needed seat and steering wheel!

Now that the walls are painted, I hung our first decoration!  We needed a place to hang the keys!  Never mind that we don't have flooring or furniture yet, this was too cute to wait!

View from the cabin

More Painting and Wildlife

 We painted some more at Little Frog Ranch today and are almost finished!  We touched up some areas of the white walls, and started on the pine ceiling and walls.  Next up will be the trim work.

The ceiling looks great with the polyurethane coat!  

The lighting in the bathroom is a little different than the main room so it looks darker here than on the main ceiling.  But it is really nice in person!

Outside, we were worried that my favorite cactus under my favorite tree was dying.  It definitely needs some attention.

We need to learn more about how to keep a cactus healthy...

We were excited to find new areas of growth, so it's not dying after all!  

We enjoy checking the cameras to see what type of wildlife is roaming around. 

(We need to reset the dates, these were very recent!)

It caught my dad mowing the front pasture!

Painting

 We painted the "white" walls so they would actually be white and hide the wood putty and random dirt (even a shoe print!)  It came out well!  We may have to add a second coat, but we need to let it dry to be sure.

Before

Paint and Primer!

After (paint still wet)

While we were there, we had an appointment to get a quote to replace the front fence.  Last year someone hit it, and it really needs replacing.  We would also like a nicer driveway entrance. Once the front fence and driveway entrance are completed, we have plenty of other projects on the land to be taken care of.  (more fencing issues, animal shelter, better well house, etc...)  There's plenty to be done at Little Frog Ranch!

Obligatory Favorite Tree Photo

Internet and Walls

We've been looking at internet options for Little Frog Ranch.  Getting high speed internet in the country is a challenge, until we discovered Starlink!  We recently put down a deposit to get Starlink internet service when it becomes available in the fall in our area.  Then to our great surprise, it made news this week when the satellites were spotted entering orbit.  Check out this article for more information at SpaceNews.  We are excited to be able to get broadband internet, ready to go!

In the meantime, we're still working on the cabin walls.  The shiplap look really seemed like an easy thing to do compared to drywall, but it turned out to be a little more work than expected.  We have to put wood putty on all of the holes before painting it so it will look nice when finished.  

Getting ready to paint!

I'm not really sure what this is still doing in the cabin, but now it's in the bathroom!  lol!

Indian Paintbrushes are blooming!