Hi..........Welcome to our home. My name is Carol. My husband Ken and I have been married 46 yrs. this past March. We have lived in this same town all our lives so far.
We are of retirement age but Ken is still working full time as a supervisor here in town. He's hoping to cut back on his hours beginning in Aug. and then eventually retiring altogether. He spent 40 yrs. in our local volunteer fire company with the last 14 yrs. being the fire chief. He retired in 2000 because there just wasn't enough time to be both a fire chief and work his long hours at his regular job. I worked for 12 1/2 yrs as a manager of an apartment complex for the elderly, disabled and handicapped. About 9 yrs. ago I decided to return to being a stay-at-home housewife again.
We have never had any children, although, we have always considered our now and previous fur-babies our children. After being without a dog for 8 1/2 months, last year we decided to adopt "Red" our 9 yr. old golden retriever from GoldHeart Golden Retriever Rescue Organization. We enjoy taking him to the park every day......exercise for him and us. We also have 14 yr. old Abigail Rose, a persian/himalayan cat. And, over the last 5 yrs. we have trapped, neutered/spayed & returned 6 feral cats and found homes for their kittens. We will continue to feed these 'returned' cats for as long as they are around.
Over the years we have lived in 3 houses and a mobile home. The last house we lived in was bought at a public sale in the fall of 1999. We moved into it in the spring of 2000 after remodeling the entire house. In the fall of 2002 we decided to downsize as we were not used to all the steps and all the yard work.
We had lived in a mobile home prior to buying the house so we decided to purchase this 1993 14'x72 mobile home and have it moved to our mobile home park on the outskirts of our town. I wish we could have put it on land but all is restricted around here unless you agree to build within a certain time after putting a mobile home on the ground.
The first project was having the large covered porch/deck built. Next, was the usual things such as painting, some stenciling, adding the brick wallpaper, installing the dishwasher, laying laminate wood flooring in the tv room and living room and linoleum in the kitchen. I'd say we are pretty munch done with everything but then again, are any of us really ever done with decorating.
My husband & I also enjoy doing crafting and wood projects. I find the projects to do, he cuts out and puts together. I finish the painting, etc. I love making/painting signs and paper mache boxes. He has made several wooden things such as , the bowl rack, the Raggedy Ann hanging in the bathroom, spoon holder and several "seasonal" displays for the corner of our porch........the tall wooden birdhouse and the Primitive Uncle Sam are but a few that are shown in this slideshow. He also made the beeskep house in the yard and we both worked on the beeskep itsself by wrapping sisal rope around a flower pot.
I hope you enjoy seeing our home. Come back again sometime.
Thank you to The Primitive Pantry for asking me to be a part of Homestead of the Month. And, many "thanks" to Libby for the amazing job she does at putting it all together.
Carol