I'm not a bit surprised by all the "loot" you left with, pkramer! Both Annie and Elery are known for their larder/pantry/freezer stocking and their generousity to visitors and others.

Had not heard about the new house, though! That is wonderful news! We must have pics and descriptions, Annie! I'm so happy for you both.

Teresa

What a great visit. Having met all four of you I can imagine what a grand time you had.!

New house ???? How did I miss that? I need information! LOL

Wow!! Generosity is an understatement! I can well imagine your van resembling a produce truck, LOL

How cute the way you described the antics of the pups. I love seeing animals play. So glad the weather co-operated you had a marvelous time going to the orchards and fruit stands.

Hmmm new house? See the can of worms you opened, Peppi??
Do tell Annie!! Your house sold to move to the farm, or Elery's house sold? I'm so confused LOL

Outstanding report Peppi! I'm glad Augie and Emma got to go with you.

I met Molly, what a sweetie and I am so pleased that Elery adopted her.

I can imagine that raiding Annie's stash was better than getting a free pass at Mariano’s.

What a wonderful visit! I'm not surprised at all. Annie & Elery are such great people and excellent cooks too!

I too am not surprised, having been a guest at Annie's B & B!

Sounds like a great time with great friends!

But what? No pictures? (GASP)

And yes, I want to hear about the new house also!

Linda

Peppi, Molly is still pining for her playmate, I swear. She was a good girl and shared her toys, her chew bones, everything except one favorite that holds treats. I did have to remove the treats and give them to the respective dogs. Wait, maybe that was their plan all along, LOL.

I loved having Peppi and her Dad and the Princess Emma, Elery and I both enjoyed the company and the antics of Emma and showing them the farm and the "new" place. Peppi kindly brought me some dumplings and spaetzle, and kindly translated the instructions for cooking, which were entirely in German!

We ate and talked and watched the dogs and ate and talked some more. It was a nice break from selling a house, buying a house, fixing a house, and the timing was perfect as I have tomatoes in the garden that aren't even picked yet and I am NOT canning one more of the darned things! I was happy to be able to share and know that they would be used.

OK, so the "new" house. We had planned to build at the farm, but this spring a home came up for sale. It adjoins the farm on the north, and has 24 acres, two ponds and was a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm. The elderly owner was a widower, a retired engineer for John Deere. As a result the house needs serious updating, but mechanically everything works. It has geothermal heating and cooling, an on demand hot water heater, a beautiful room with lots of windows and a cathedral ceiling that overlooks the pond, a fieldstone gas fireplace. It also has a lot of dark paneling, some old laminate walls in one bathroom with gold starbursts, and pink ceramic countertop tiles in the kitchen. So.....if you had your choice would you have orange formica countertops or pink ceramic tile countertops? (grin)

Anyway, the bottom line is that we closed last Monday and will gut the kitchen, tear down the paneling, then start on floors, bathrooms and siding. Oh yeah, did I mention that there is siding on the house facing the road, but not on the back of the house where no one could see? Yeah....

It was immediate occupancy and less than it would cost to build and Elery loves the location, with his own personal pond stocked with bass and bluegill right out the front door. It adjoins my pasture, so my view will be water instead of forest and pasture, but that's OK. I'm sure you'll all hear me b*tching and moaning about all the remodeling, which I just hate.

And no, I'm not picking out paint colors. I'm using the same colors I used in this house, I am NOT doing that to myself again!

Elery's house in Jackson sold last year and I have a buyer for this one, if I can manage to ever complete all the minute "issues" the FHA inspector wants us to "correct". He comes again tomorrow morning to inspect our latest round of "corrections", so cross your fingers!

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Wed, Sep 24, 14 at 0:51

That all sounds like something straight out of a beautiful Hollywood film! Glorious!!! And such firm friendships made. Lovely way to start my day, reading this.

wow and wow! The visit sounds perfect. Congrats on the new house, Annie! it sounds marvelous! do save those pink tiles for some recycle project so that you'll always be reminded of what was... :O)

If I'm ever out that way I want to be able to visit you and Elery! have some great food, do fun things, and see the new house with the view of the water, of course. :)

Oh Annie, I'm so excited for you! I know how much you've wanted to live at the farm. The renovating will eventually be finished and, maybe, you can watch Copenhagan grazing while you cook! That and the pond sounds like a winner, to me.

Congratulations to you both.

Oh, also glad all of you had a fun visit!

/tricia

Annie congratulations on the new home. Perfect that it joins your farm. Sounds like this was meant to be.

~Ann

what great news and a fabulous visit, your life is never boring Annie, lol....

Goodness! Hostess with the Mostest.

Annie you the bestest,

That I can attest.

Together with friends, what a way to decompress

all the stress.

So what’s your address?

Allow me to visit and be a pest.

dcarch

Good DC!

I didn't know the closing would be so soon, great! Hey, I enjoy remodeling and the property sounds like a destination.

Thanks, everyone. Elery just loves the location, the pond, and the fact that he can't see any cows from his front window, LOL. I told him that a house can be fixed, but a location cannot, so remodeling it is.

Dcarch, visit anytime. (grin) Let me know when you're going to be in Michigan and I'll give you directions...

Cathy, that goes for you too, but if you're going to help remodel I have just a couple of rules. No color, neutrals and wood only, and no useless decorative crap for me to dust! The front room finally has my tall ceilings and lots of windows, so I intend to keep some empty space in there, while Elery is already planning on filling the built in shelves with "stuff". I suggested putting doors on them so I don't have to see anything on the shelves, but I don't think he's going for it. (sigh)

I'm going to look at kitchen cabinets Friday, we've been looking and frankly, no matter who builds them, they all look pretty much the same to me, so I'm going with well-built, I guess. I don't want "rustic" as I don't think my kitchen needs to resemble my barn, but that's as far as I've gotten. Well, I actually am leaning toward antique white, but Elery wants woodtones. I do get double ovens, replacing the current wall oven, and the ovens are electric with a gas cooktop, so it's the best of both worlds, I think.

Ann T, it IS perfect that it adjoins the farm and it adds 24 acres, so I could feasibly fence off about 10 more acres of pasture if I can get some of those darned Christmas trees out of there. Peppi suggested contacting local contractors and telling them I have mature trees, so that, along with the cut-your-own tree project, might get rid of some. I think I'll teach The Princess and Her Brother how to make evergreen wreaths and garlands, they could maybe make a few bucks selling some of those. Of course, Elery already has some of the property "staked out" for deer hunting, so I can't interfere with that.

Tricia, unfortunately, unless I fence the front yard, I won't be able to see Copenhagen, but at least I can walk up the path a few hundred yards, open the gate and I'll be right in HIS front yard, i.e. in the pasture.

This is the view from the living room window and, coincidentally, from the kitchen window:

Annie

GORGEOUS!

Oh, what a lovely view! It all sounds wonderful (except for the remodeling and hard work ahead of you, that is). Nice that you will still be living in the same neighborhood, too, and within walking distance of your family farm.

Good luck, and I hope the transition goes smoothly!

Sue

Congatulations on the gorgeous new digs. This is exciting. Enjoy in the best of health.

Thank you, it'll be interesting for a while, that's for sure. Dave and Elery and I spent quality time in the kitchen yesterday with a sledge hammer, and now it's an empty room, right down to the studs. Next up? Tearing down paneling so we can put up drywall in three or four rooms....

Good thing I'm about done canning for the year!

Annie

OK, this is off topic but I think it does relate to forum get togethers. I think you still need to build on the farm . . . a cottage . . . for me! ;) Can I be your hired hand??

I didn't think you were that close to being in! Great that you can start the demo so soon.
So something like this is out of the question??? LOL