Is Anyone Still Out There?

Hello Friends!  It has been too long.  We here at the hut have been busy busy busy and haven't had a spare moment to blog.  We've got lots of updates for you, and we will be having a lot more progress and projects to report on in the coming months! 

For now I'll quickly get you all brought up to speed on the goings on at the Prokott Hut in the past year or so.

Here is the biggest and most important project we've been working on:

We had a baby!  Stella Marie was born on May 13 and has been an absolute joy in our lives.  The picture above was taken just before we hopped in the car to head to the hospital.  Here she is!

We love her incredibly. We couldn't imagine life without her!  Greg is very excited to have a little buddy to help out with the big house remodel.  Do you think they make infant tool belts?

Over the last year or so, we worked tirelessly on the yard, garden and the pole shed.  We find ourselves finally to a point now where we can sit back and enjoy our surroundings.  Our yard is great now that our trees are trimmed and the lawn is kept up on a regular basis.  Greg finished off the inside of the pole shed so it is a lot more user-friendly now. This is a good thing considering the number of projects coming up!

Now for a quick run-down on the many updates we've had in the past year.....

We're still working through what to do for siding on the Hut.  We like the rustic look of this exterior chair rail, and are still deciding on a color for the window wraps.  What do you think?

Greg working on trim for the windows - they'll eventually be wrapped once we decide on a color scheme.



Mathew came over one day last summer to help Greg put the roof on the Hut.  We decided to do a steel roof in order to match it to the pole shed as well as keep it maintenance free.

Of course our list of projects wouldn't be complete without another brush pile!  Here is Greg hauling more brush for the largest brush pile to date.  Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the final product, but believe me. It was huge.

We also were adopted by a kitten! You heard right - WE were adopted. 

Meet Lord Helmet. He decided to show up on our patio one day last September.  He was about 3-4 weeks old and was starving. Needless to say he opted to stick around once he realized how awesome Hut Life is.  Here he is celebrating Halloween:

Greg got a new toy!  This is one toy I am thrilled about.  We found this zero-turn mower complete with a leaf mulching/bagging system on Craigslist.  Let's just say it was a steal.  It took Greg 2-3 hours to "rake" about 3 acres of oak leaves.  That would have taken me a good couple of weeks!

Winter projects consisted of building additional cabinets in order to utilize as much space in the Hut as possible.  We needed to make space for the newest member of our family!

Cabinet above the fridge - Greg built pull-out drawers so everything would be accessible!



Bookshelf for all the baby books we'll be accumulating!  A much nicer look than the temporary post we had there before.



Platform frame for the bed allowed for extra drawer space for all the baby clothes/necessities we'll be getting! Greg was able to stain it to match the dresser he built several years ago, and we were even able to locate the same hardware to match!



To complete the look, Greg built two pull out drawers -- one for the garbage can and a second, smaller one for recycling.

Thanks to my dad for coming up and painting everything to match!

There you have it!  We are now just beginning to tear into the main house.  Stella has brought forth a new found motivation in both of us to get going on the big house.  Someone wants her own nursery!

Garden is Planted!

With the fence up and the dirt fertilized and tilled, it was time to plant.

An impressive list of veggies grace my first garden: tomatos, green peppers, spinach, snow peas, green beans, carrots, lettuce, zuccini, watermelon, cantelope, onions, pumpkins, sweet corn and sunflowers.

Thanks to my mom and our neighbor, Dave, who graciously helped us plant.  Dave added the sweet corn and onions to the mix!

Do you think I can actually maintain this thing?

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Greg's Idea of Efficiency

Earlier this spring I mentioned to Greg that I wanted to attempt a small garden this season.  What better way to utilize the space we've accumulated than to attempt to grow our own organic food!  We're suckers for some good vegatables and Salad Night is our favorite night of the week (no kidding!), so why not?

We had a couple areas that could be utilized for a garden, plus plenty of acreage where we could build a new one.  I finally determined that it would probably be best to use a space that's already partitioned off as a garden, rather than starting over new.  Who knows if I'll actually enjoy gardening at all?  What if I'm no good?

So, we decide to utilize the old garden and remake it into our own.  One tiny problem - this area hasn't been touched in YEARS.  The place is sprouting volunteer trees all over the place and is filled with old plastic, rocks, weeds, leaves, you name it.  The fence is a mess to boot!

Thankfully I have a husband that can't sit still.  Sometime in May, he starts into fixing up the garden.  Gone are the old trees, fence and the majority of the plastic.  Wow!

Now, what to do about all those weeds and leaves?  Let's discuss our options....wait.  Men only have one option when it comes to this kind of thing.

BURN IT!  BURN IT ALL!

What is it about a man and his obsession with fire?  Really, was this the best way to go about it?  I suppose it was, because the next day we were putting the fence back up and tilling up the newly turned-over dirt!

Chuck Norris isn't the only one that can prevent forest fires....

With all the brush we accumulated, I compiled quite the brush pile.  I was impressed with my ability to actually organize a brush pile into branch sizes.  Organized chaos.  Some thought it was an impossible feat:

Don't let your eyes fool you.  Our brushpile is still bigger than yours, trust me.

So, we have a giant brush pile.  What next?  Well let's consider the options...wait.  Men only have one option at this point, don't they? 

BURN IT! BURN IT ALL!

Grr does a great job demonstrating fire safety.  Albeit inefficient to spray the burning brush directly, we've once again saved the neighborhood from disaster.  Take that, Chuck Norris.

Silly Husband, Climbing Trees is for Kids!

After moving into The Hut, Greg and I were sick of projects. We were sick of fish houses and saw dust, fridgeless life and sleepless nights. We were due a major break.

That first weekend home we busied ourselves with nothing. It was great. It was the first time in almost three and a half months that we didn't have a hot priority. But, you know us. Doing nothing quickly got old.

Enter nice weather. Time for more projects!!

One crisp, spring morning, Greg and I woke up early. As much as I love sleeping in, I am learning to love early weekend mornings even more. There is just something about an early morning with fresh brewed coffee, sitting in the living room with the windows cracked. Birds chirping, the early morning sun streaking in through the window panes, much of the world still asleep. Listen closely and the world is still silent. It is so peaceful and energizing.

This specific morning Greg got up bright and early to start on yard work while I made one of our many wonderful breakfasts. I learned this skill from him; he is the Breakfast Master after all. French toast, kiwi, strawberries, grapefruit, cinnamon rolls, and Eggs With Stuff In Them. Eggs With Stuff In Them is what I titled the eggs Greg makes. He never just fries an egg. It always has Stuff in it. Hence the name. Original, I know.

But I digress. While cooking, I could hear Greg hard at work with his chain saw. It seemed he was really getting into this yardwork thing. I figured he was organizing our brush pile into a wood pile. What a great husband.

Once breakfast was ready, I poked my head outside to get his attention. 'Huh. Where the heck is he?' I thought to myself. I could hear him, but he was nowhere in sight. He was busy sawing away at SOMETHING. But where? As I looked up at the blue sky, that's when I saw him. 70-feet up in one of our largest oak trees! Oh, brother.....

Once he climbed down from his tree house, I told him that this was a perfect job to HIRE OUT. Someone who owns a harness and a professional-grade chainsaw extender would be happy to pick up this job. We have 100 oak trees, after all. I knew that was going nowhere. He holds a strict policy that states, "No project shall be outsourced unless it requires twelve hands and a robot." So, I simply told him to be careful because I needed him around. What good is a half-trimmed tree without a husband to complete the job? He will carefully correct me by reminding me that I don't NEED him around, I WANT him around.

Also true.

So, I bucked up and started on my part of the project: brush-hauling.

After many a poke-in-the-eye and gash-in-the-arm, our trees look quite nice now!  Of course, we didn't attempt to tackle all 100 trees.  We'll save the others for another year.

The Hut: Revealed!

Looking back on Fall 2009, I cannot believe the progress we made in such a short amount of time.  We closed on the house on September 22nd and were moved into The Hut on December 26.  In 3-months time we turned a cramped, smelly, damp, outdated shanty into the most spacious, comfortable, quaint, warm one-bedroom Hut around.

Home.  We finally feel like we're home. 

We couldn't have done it without all of the love and support of our family and friends.  THANK YOU to everyone who came out to visit, brought food (or beer), lent a helping hand or just listened to us vent about life in a fish house.  There are too many of you to count.

Thank you to those very few of you out there that actually read my blog.  It's nice to know that someone out there finds our chaos both inspiring and entertaining.  Albeit neglected, this blog is such a perfect way for me to get my writing fix while documenting one of the most momentous times of our lives.

And finally, thank you to my most talented, loving, HILarous, creative, husband. Without your vision we wouldn't have this place. You saw the potential in something most would simply overlook. Without your talent we'd still have a shanty and I would have had to buy a crate of Febreze. Without your sense of humor and patience, I would have given up before we even started.  You are an amazing man with an amazing talent and I am so lucky to be your wife.  Thank you Greg.

Here is to the first milestone of many as we continue to make our way through this renovation!

Living Room and Kitchen:

The painting, entitled "Love," was a wedding gift given to us and painted by Elisa!

The post under the countertop is temporary.  We will be building a cabinet/bookshelf combo in the future.

Bedroom:

Bathroom:

More Kitchen:

So there you have it!  While it may be small, we made it our own and love every last inch of it. Even that crazy inch that sits behind the toilet.

I do intend to maintain this blog better from now on, but in case life gets busy again, here is what we are up to at the present time. 

Currently we're working on fixing the yard up and finishing the exterior of The Hut while the weather is warm.  We decided we'd had enough being cooped up with sheetrock and saw dust for a while and want to enjoy the great outdoors in our backyard.  Plans for the main house are put on hold until probably fall or winter, however we'll be continuously working on floorplan ideas and designs.

Somehow, the yard has become almost as big a job as The Hut. 

You probably could have guessed that would happen, right?

Big Time Update

What? Aw, c'mon it's only been 6 months. Give a girl a break! In all reality, it's been a VERY busy 6 months!

 Here is an update from where we left off!

Enjoy.

Trimwork and doors enameled. Thanks, Dad!

The cabinets were a HUGE project. We had three sets of cabinets through out the original house and guest house. Rather than build new or buy new, Greg took the three cabinet sets, cut them apart and spliced them together so they would fit in our kitchen. So, our kitchen is literally three different cabinet sets!

Progress after the first day. This was tiring stuff.

The next day, Mom, Elisa, Brianna and I meandered over to Menards to pick out everything needed to finish our hut. We brought the paint samples to match everything. That was one hefty bill. Kudos to Mom for driving Greg's truck and trailer!

While we were busy shopping, the guys were busy installing the flooring, enamelling the cabinets and prepping the living room for carpet.

Nice flood pants, Dad! :)

Greg designed the window trim himself.  We custom cut everything.  Here's what all the windows look like:

End of a long weekend. Progress: obtained.  Sleep: not so much.  A tired bunch we were. 

Greg taking a much needed nap while the enamel dries.

The final touches were taken care of the following week, which also happened to be the week of Christmas.  Enamelling was completed (thanks Dad), carpet was installed by Greg and his brother, paint touch ups, kitchen hardware, and the final cleaning (thanks Mom, Brian and Brianna!).  It all came together in the end, and we were able to move in on December 26 in the midst of a snow storm!

Stay tuned for the final product!