Papa & Grandma Visit Part 4: Chicken Edition

WARNING: if you are an animal lover you may not want to continue looking at this post, it was chicken butchering day at the Paulson's the day after my parents arrived.  My mom was so excited to go check out the action so she went out with the kids and took some pictures.

^all the little one's.  Butchering day is a family affair at the Paulson's and a lot of times friends are there to help out as well.  Everyone get's in on the action, even the youngest^

^first you get the chickens from the pen^

^Zeke was in charge of opening the trap door, he'd count 1, 2, 3 and then open in and close it as soon as the chicken was in^

^yep, they're still there^

^then they get transferred to this bin, awaiting their doom^

^the throat cutting station, or something like that.  The let the blood drain out of them until they're dead^

^then the chicken is boiled^

^and then it takes a ride in the de-feathering machine^

 ^naked chicken^

^on over to the gutting station^

^and removing limbs station^

^and into this bucket of water for it's final bath, until they are taken into the house, rinsed, measured, bagged and frozen and ready for sale^

^yeah, she really looks like she's ready to dive into the action and get her hands dirty... (you can especially tell by the way she's holding the dirty knife  ;)

Papa & Grandma Visit Part 3: Flood Edition

While the grandparents were visiting we drove around Minot to show them all the flood damage.  We also stopped at our old house, it was the first time I was able to walk onto the property and look in the windows at the damage.  It was absolutely heartbreaking, I couldn't help but cry.  My mom reminded me that no matter how hard things might get while we're building they are no where near how bad they would have been if we were still at our old house.  Here are some pictures that my mom took while we were driving around.

^before and after of our old house: you can notice the water line on the window (right) of how high it got^

^before and after: interior^

^the stairs after the carpet was ripped out^

^back deck looking into the house from the slider.  Before you would have seen a wall of kitchen cabinets and the door to the bathroom/ laundry room ^

^notice all the garbage in the fence^

^everything is filthy, and piles off stuff still line the streets everywhere^

^a church in our old neighborhood, good view of the water line^

^ a dike ^

^a house that was flooded up to the roof^

^a FEMA trailer that you can put on your property to live in while you fix up your flooded house^

^the Salvation Army drives around and offers free water and hot meals to anyone working in the flood zones^

Papa & Grandma Visit Part 2: Work Edition

Here's some photos of some of the work that was able to get done while my parents were here. 

^Ezekiel so excited to show Papa and Grandma his new house^

^finally at the property^

^Opa and Papa working on electrical^

^Papa working on the backhoe^

^we're getting a front yard!^

^riding with Papa^

^Papa, Bob and Al checking out the electrical and plumbing, trying to figure everything out^

^getting the backyard staked and ready to move the dirt around^

^finally, that big pile of dirt is going away^

^filling in the yard with dirt behind that garage^

^working with the loader after the backhoe broke^

^the pile is getting smaller^

^filling in and leveling the edge of the property^

^pile GONE!^

^Layne fixing the backhoe: THANKS LAYNE!!  This made a huge difference with having it one more evening, my dad was able to get a lot more done!^

^out at the point of our property, it's hard to tell in picture just how big the yard is^

^finally all backfilled around the house!!^

^riding with Papa and loving it!^

^me and my daddy^

^Grandma helped clean up the house a little, Zeke riding around on his bike, my little helper McKenzie cleaning just like Grandma and Janessa just hanging out^

^the view from our backyard^

^a 360 from down the street, our house is between Kenzie & Grandma way in the back^

^Nate continued to work on the window wells in the evenings^