Henny Penny Farmette

Our farmette house has a small bedroom that we’ve always intended to reconfigure into an office where I can have more space to write my books. Since we borrowed some space for our master bedroom walk-in closet, the other bedroom (already small) lost two more feet. The new reconfiguration meant erecting two new walls and a closet.

The plaster is drying on this wall next to the newly created closet

New walls, after framing and hanging the drywall to create them, must have the seams taped, holes filled, and drywall screws covered. That was done around Thanksgiving. Since then, it’s taken us several weeks to apply the joint compound plaster, letting each coat dry for 24 hours before we apply the next. We only work when we can find an hour or two free after our other work obligations.

While I’ve been mixing and applying small batches of the stuff that reminds me of pancake batter, my husband does it like a pro–mixing large batches in a five-gallon can. He’s also much faster and neater with the application process. I was doing the ceiling of the bathroom and got huge gobs of it in my hair. But already, I feel the energy of the room has shifted. It’s light and bright and clean. The space is neatly defined.

I want a bookcase on either side of a built-in desk on this wall

Before we can choose base boards and crown molding or the electrical materials for lighting, we still have to go through the sanding, cleanup, and priming for paint. We’ve decided to build bookcases, a built-in desk with good lighting over it, and a Murphy bed (so the room can double as a guestroom, when necessary) to maximize the space.

I love home renovation projects, and this office/guest room for the New Year is no exception. It’s taken a lot of patience. That noted, the payoff will be worth every minute we’ve spent on it.

For more tips on farmette projects, crafts, and delicious recipes, check out my newest mystery. It’s available on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and other online and traditional bookstores everywhere.

I awoke in the pre-dawn hours to the sound of soft pattering of rain beyond my bedroom window. The birds twittered away in the pepper tree . I rolled over to listen and said a prayer of thanks that the “storm door” has finally opened. Three storms are expected to hit our drought-stricken California during this first full week of 2016.

There’s always plenty of action at the feeder when the finches discover it has been filled with Nyjer seed–high in calories and oil content.

After I had swallowed a half cup of morning coffee, I headed out to the feed store to buy chicken crumble, scratch grains, and some seed and suet to hang for the birds.

A male Nuttall’s Woodpecker loves dining on the suet cake; he hangs around all year near our pepper tree.

I won’t continue the pruning of the pomegranates and apricots that I started on Sunday. I’ll wait until we have a dry day for that. But I will continue to apply the plaster to the drywall that we’ve hung in the as-yet-unfinished small bedroom destined to become my office. That will be a perfect rainy day activity. And when I finish, I’ll go back to work on my newest mystery.

For more vignettes of farmette life, check out A Beeline to Murder, the first novel in the Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries. It’s available online and from brick-and-mortar bookstores everywhere. See, http://tinyurl.com/p8d6owd

While others worry about getting sand bags in the event of rising storm water, my hubby and I went to the DIY store to buy some drywall early today. We are working hard on the small bedroom in our little house. Getting the drywall inside before the rain arrives was a priority. I’ll be so disappointed if the storm doesn’t bring rain to the Bay Area.

Last year, rain pooled in places around our property (among them, the driveway) because we hadn’t finished putting loads of gravel down

We have a decent gravel driveway that we finally put in. Flooding hasn’t been a problem. Our chickens don’t mind the rain either. Instead of huddling together in their dry little designer chicken house, they prefer looking for the worms and bugs that show up during and after a storm.

Who minds wet feathers when there are worms to be found after a rainstorm?

Also, I’ve been tapping away on my computer keyboard, pounding out my latest mystery-in-progress. I had a pretty good idea come to me after I woke up this morning. That means my mind is working creatively even when I’m not typing words. I’m plotting and visualizing scenes and scenarios, making linkage and associations. This novel will be number three in my Henny Penny Farmette series, and I’m pretty excited about it.

While the work continues on the house and on my book, I’m also getting ready make up holiday baskets for family and friends, searching for lovely boxes, baskets, and cookie tins.

But I think that if this big storm that’s been forecast to arrive in the wee hours of the morning does arrive on schedule, I’ll spend an extra hour in bed tomorrow. I love sleeping in when a storm is howling outside my window. Sleep and rest nourish my little gray cells, too, meaning I might be more prolific at writing, carpentry, and crafting.  So bring on the storm.