Wednesdays News

Plumber finally showed up. I know Butch's brother Bill is chuckling over the last few posts concerning plumbers. I would not recommend the guy we hired but as always it is slim pickings when it comes to plumbers. If more people would keep their customers in the know rather than have them hang around for three days waiting for them they would have happier customers. Just like when you go into a restaurant and it seems like the waitress keeps passing you by- if they stop by once in awhile and acknowledge your existence you have alot more patience.
Our plumber also did something a bit funky with the connection but it works so that is the most important part. We really got the idea the guy didn't enjoy being a plumber much. Not good when people do not enjoy their chosen profession.
So we have two RV sites ready for occupancy. Sewer/water/electrical are all hooked up and ready to go but now its raining and Butch doesn't want to get our rocks all muddy.
Also yesterday Butch decided to measure our neighbors lot. Remember he told us our garage was 2 feet on his property? After taking a measurement from the edge of the sidewalk we did not think so. Butch went to the assessors office and the assessor gave him a printout of a satellite survey of Jefferson taken in 2009 and we are both on our own property. So there, mister self-proclaimed bigshot!
So we have had a bunch of wait time in the past 3 days and we did get a fair amount done. I cleaned and reorganized the garage yesterday knocking down 10 to 15 years of cobwebs. Butch poked a hole in the ceiling drywall to see what all we might be dealing with up there. Getting the insulation out of the attic may be the toughest and most disgusting job of the whole renovation. We have yet to find a pain free method of doing that part.
So tomorrow we are going to Missouri to a first birthday party for our great granddaughter Elise. It will be different and we are ready for the break. We do not take many road trips without our MoHo. This will be a car trip. We have been spoiled. Packing a suitcase, finding places to pee and eat are things we are not used to doing after 9 years of fulltiming. I have a feeling we can adjust to it on occasion.

Another thing!!! Butch read the abstract on our new property and in so doing discovered that we are on the property owned by my grandparents in 1922. They lived there for 14 years. My father was adopted by Sam and Anna Brock when he was 3 months old. He was born in 1923 so this would be the home he would have grown up in. It is not the same house because the current house was built in 1946 but it is the same property. So we are now walking on the same ground my daddy did till he was about 12 or 13. Life holds many surprises.

Plumber Troubles

Butch waited for the plumber guy all day. When he called him this morning to tell him we were ready, he said as soon as he fixed a water leak in a front yard he would be there. hmmm... apparently it was a sneaky leak and went into hiding. Hopefully he was able to spend the whole day on it and get it done making us first on the list for tomorrow. Hey, I live on hope!
I spent the day cleaning the house. The one we currently live in. It had been too long between cleanings so it took some persistent cleaning. I ran out of steam but I did get most of it done.

Another glitch- our refrigerator is part of a recall. It is a Norcold. Fortunately there are two RV dealers in town so we were able to check on it at Harrison RV and found out that we were one that needed the new part. So they will order the part and put it in. It takes a week to get it. So they say... So do we wait here until they ask us to come in for the new part or do we go on into our new spot and then have to break down and take it to the dealer after being parked for only 3-4 days. I asked but didn't get an answer. No answer is usually an answer.
For our RV friends you may want to check on that Norcold recall. You will need model and serial number of your Norcold fridge and the VIN number of your RV. We found out about it on RVTravel.com.

Butch did get some things done while waiting today. One thing about it there will always be something to do while waiting for something else to happen. I have a feeling there will be lots of that sort of thing.

From Grandpa Gary

Elise Playing on a Saturday in May. 1 week away from her first Birthday!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XsQK1XFfIY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3PZ99uum4Y

Friday and Saturday-two hard days

Friday the plumber told us he may be able to get to our sewer hook up on Monday if the pipe was ready to connect so our job ever since has been to get the pipe within connecting distance. Butch and I worked on it Friday and made considerable progress. We continued on Saturday and Leo came to help and a great deal of help he was too. Keri fixed us lunch and supper and that too was a big help. We are grateful and thankful. The hard part was digging out under the house to make room for the pipe and get the right slope. Leo was able to get his sizable frame under the house and made a bunch of progress on the dirt digging part. Butch brought up many bucketfuls of black Iowa dirt and took it outside to add to our pile. That had been my job earlier in the day and it certainly isn't easy. Butch had to use smaller buckets when I was doing it. Once Leo and Butch had a rhythm going I switched my job to pulling staples. I completed my job and they nearly completed theirs. Butch has more digging to do today but we should finish and be ready for the plumber tomorrow.
When Leo first pulled up in the back alley our neighbor to the northwest was hollering for her dog (Layla the pitbull). I noted the tone of panic in her call but the dog did listen and came to her. It apparently had gotten loose. At the same time her 3 or 4 year old daughter came running out the back door of their house buck naked. There was so much going on that Leo completely missed the girl. He was focused on the dog! It was a busy two minutes!! Butch was under the house digging a trench and missed all of it.
Here are pictures I took yesterday:

The tulips in the front yard are huge!

This is the black hole where Leo and Butch spent too much time the past couple of days.

My dirt pile beside the tree. It looks so small in this picture. I plan to plant some hostas around the tree. Do your hostas need thinned?

Leo and neighbors Everett and Bert Beebe

The cactus blooms!

Thursdays News

It is a slow news day. Except the cactus is blooming. That means it finally got warm enough! Our "neighbor" came to visit yesterday. I do not consider him a neighbor really because it is a rental unit. He owns it is all. He said the place is his and he has no problem with keeping the alley open. It is his kids trailer that is blocking it. He did not sound like he was going to 'request' that his son move it however. Anyway we had a fairly amiable conversation. He thinks we are just plain loony for doing what we are doing. But he has a rental unit mentality whereby we are doing it for us with no intention of renting it. So our thoughts are coming from a different place is all.  I think we will not see enough of him to be a problem. A couple of old sayings come to mind; Don't borrow trouble and don't cry till you are hurt.

Today the plan is to continue working on the sewer in the ditch. Getting it the right level and slope is the business of the day. We have to get into and under the house ready for the plumber to come in and make the final connections. The plumber said he might be able to get to that late Monday if everything goes right and we have it ready. So that is the goal for this weekend. So I'll close down now and get a move on....Yeah...like I am going in that crawl space? I do feel sorry for the guy who has to though. Really I do.

Wednesdays pictures

Butch tried to keep from overdoing with the wrist yesterday and I was there to remind him. wink,wink. We did manage to get some things done. Like the electrical in the pedestal. When he did that he dropped an allen wrench down inside the box. He drove out to our MoHo and got his magnet and was able to retrieve it. We filled in some on the ditch trying to get the slope right for the sewer. We have a plumber coming today to supervise our efforts and hook up underneath the house.
Here are some pictures of yesterdays progress.:

Yesterdays News

The trenching went as good as those things can go. Heavy equipment makes me nervous. Butch had fun with it...just like the good oldays of working for him.

Our dirt work and rock were delivered for site one. We will have site two ready before too long.

Jason and Leo came to help. We are grateful. 

Yesterday Butch injured his hand while taking down a cabinet. I had told him I couldn't hold it...you know how that goes. His wrist swelled up and we put ice on it. He was sure it wasn't broken and it looked much better after the ice so life goes on. Yesterday was a big day and Butch apparently overworked his injured wrist as it started turning dark purple on the back of his hand and up his arm. So we went to ER to get  it checked out. It is fine. He is thin skinned, has a bunch of arthritis and overworked it. The ER doctor turned out to be a high school  old boyfriend of my sister Myrla! While we were at ER and Jason and Leo were holding down the fort our troublesome neighbor to the south paid us a visit. He and his son are considered slum lords in town as they own 49 rental properties in Jefferson. I know because I went to the Iowa assessors 

website and counted them. They were ticked off because they did not get our property snapped up before we did. There is an "unused" alley in our back yard through the block. Everyone uses it when they can but these fellows keep it blocked on the south end with a trailer so it can't be used. It does complicate things for us at times but the other end is open and we have access to the back of our property with a driveway on our empty lot next door to the house. It would just be so much nicer if these fellows would be good neighbors. But it seems they prefer to exert their power or exert what power they think they have. They bandied about with all kinds of threats and criticisms. But remember we were not there. They were telling this to Leo and Jason. Our plan is to continue to ignore them. 

So Butch is supposed to take it easy today. Anybody think that will happen?

Till next time.

Latest pics

These are the latest pictures on my camera. Not taking time to edit much these days.

This is an ankle bracelet recently finished. The other day (Sunday) I did two and one-half bracelets in one day. Now I must let my wrist rest before I finish the third one.

This is Renee. One of Leo and Keri's outdoor felines. She doesn't seem to mind having a rock for a pillow. Butch took this shot.

Doesn't the step look better? Will look better yet with new posts and a coat of paint. The tulips help add a touch of color.

The geraniums are waiting to be planted and my cactus will bloom this year in May in Iowa. Last year it bloomed in Mississippi in April.

Since the trencher didn't come yesterday. Oh yes, the trencher didn't come. I did some cleanup and we fashioned a work bench from one of the kitchen cupboards and a door. Then Jason came to help...

And since the trencher didn't come we decided to do demo. This is the kitchen with its cabinets removed. Then...

The guys decided to demo the wall to find out what was there.

It changed the outlook.

And they just kept going...

Late afternoon sun shines on the workbench...

Today the trencher is coming. They just called to say so. The problem is our help was here yesterday. Getting things coordinated to happen sequentially seems to be the major obstacle. I won't care one whit once this initial project of sewer/water/electric to the back yard is completed along with the dirt and rock work and our MoHo is sitting in its new home. The work project can then go as slow as necessary to have it all fall into place with nary a complaint from me.

Till next time...

Trencher day

Today is the day we are supposed to get the trencher. I am such a skeptic these days. I do not count on anything happening as it should until it does. But our plans are made and so are the sandwiches. I decided we may not want to take time out to go somewhere for lunch...if things go as planned...so I made sandwiches for us.
I am also taking my camera to get some updated pictures. My friend Mickey said she never ever got enough in process pictures on remodeling jobs. I know how it happens- you become involved and taking pictures is not in the forefront of your mind so I plan to take a few today and get them posted asap.
Till then...

This 'n That

We worked yesterday at the house. Butch took down the ugly wrought iron railing on the front steps for me. That was a big job as the posts of the railing were set in cement. I have replacement posts for the main supports  but the uglies will have to stay for awhile to hold the porch roof up. They had outdoor carpeting on the steps and they had glued it down. My plan was to sand it off but as luck would have it that didn't work. Plan B is to sand it till it is smooth and paint over it. Butch and I both worked at sanding it down yesterday so it is now ready for paint. Looks much better even without paint.
Butch mowed and I raked most of the back yard. Neither of us are used to this physical labor. He is more used to it than I but we were both stoved up last night. A couple of aspirin and a good nights sleep does wonders.

Done Deal

So we did change our permanent residency yesterday afternoon and it did indeed take most of the afternoon. Now I know what our contact in South Dakota did for us and her other clients. It was sort of a sad deal to tell her we were changing. She had become a friend over the years. If any of you are interested in changing your residency and mail service to South Dakota you can contact Terri Lund at Terri@dakotainternationalservices.com or you can read all about what it entails to do so at www.mydakotaddress.com. She certainly deserves the plug.

Today we will be putting on our work clothes and working at the house. Butch plans to mow ( He loves it) and I plan to sand off the concrete steps in preparation to paint them. I am working on curb appeal for the time being. The serious stuff will begin when we are parked in the back yard and do not have to leave for lunch breaks etc.
later...

Change of Address

Well it looks as though we will be changing our address from South Dakota to Iowa. We can then change our insurance on the motorhome to RV insurance and the cost will decrease more than half. When it was our only home we carried much more insurance on it. Other things are a bit higher but it all evens out to be a more profitable decision to make Iowa our permanent address...for now. We are like gypsies sort of and so therefore you can never be too sure of what we will decide in the future. But in this year of 2011 we will become Iowa residents once again.
Our address will be 402 N Cedar St., Jefferson Iowa 50129. Any snail mail can be sent to this address at anytime as we already have the mail part set up at the post office.
This afternoon we plan to go to the courthouse and make it official after visiting the
Assessors office (Homestead exemption)
Drivers license (No test now)
Car and motorhome license and registration
Voter registration? ( Not sure we can do that just yet)
Then we go across the street and pay up on insurance policies for both vehicles.
Notify a whole bunch of businesses and people and the change will be made.
I have probably forgotten something but if any of you know what it might be be sure and let me know.

PS: Many thanks to all of you expressing sympathy on Angels passing. It was not easy for either of us to endure. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers.

Angel 1994-2011

She was the best of cats.

Elise and her first Easter

With her loving grandparents

Another Delay

Can't get the trencher we ordered because someone else has it and I assume they have been delayed by weather and so therefore we are too. Perhaps we will get it next Monday. We are scheduled to but that doesn't mean much. The sun was out for about an hour this morning but back under cloud cover now.

I have done two bracelets and one ankle bracelet in the past two days. The ankle bracelet is waiting for a snap clasp that I have ordered before it will be completely finished. They all have homes and will soon be delivered. It keeps me busy. I have a pink cluster partly finished that I set aside to get the ordered ones done that I will pick up and finish most likely today.
We are still doing research to see if it is feasible to change our residency to Iowa. So far the figures are tipping about $400 towards Iowa but we haven't looked into changing the registration on the vehicles yet. If there any fees to do so it could tip the other way. The last I knew Iowa required all new residents to take the written drivers test before issuing a drivers license. I remember this from when we moved back from Nebraska because I was incensed when I had to take it. You can only miss three so I best pick up a book and start studying if we make the change.
So we are bit bogged down and I am a bit peeved but nothing I can do about it but get over it.
Till next time...

Lowes and other updates.

Lowes are becoming our new best friends. We have been there the last two days but now we have all of the supplies needed to put in water/sewer/electric for our Moho hookup. Machinery,supplies and people are all lined up. The big bugaboo is cold and rain. We need a few dry days and some sunshine before starting on dirt work and ditches so we take comfort in the fact that at least we will not need to interrupt the work to gather things we need once the weather cooperates. It is all there. Today Butch may get around to doing the put-together part so it will be ready to go in the ditch when it is opened etc.
We have decided without a doubt that April will be a travel month for us next Spring. Running heat in April is really unnecessary if you stay in the right part of the country. The month of May is soon enough for central Iowa regardless of the stage of construction we are in at the time. I was reading Howard and Linda's (full-timing friends) journal and Howard talked about avoiding storms in the Spring and that too is a factor. Last April we were in southern Mississippi and they were getting hit hard north of there. Same is true this April. A certain amount of it is just taking life chances but staying in the Midwest especially southern Midwest in the Spring may be pushing it a bit. When you know better, you do better.
Our 16 year old cat Angel is not doing well. She cries alot for unknown reasons. She has difficulty getting up and down. So much so she rarely does it. She spends 95% of her life sleeping. She no longer asks to go outside or get treats. The decision is hard but we may need to make it soon.

Mr Potatohead

Ethan showed up at church with Mr. Potato head glasses on.  I laughed long and loud when I saw this. I gleaned it from Laura's Facebook page.

Easter Sunday Too

Ethan hunting Easter eggs.This is fun?

"Nana" getting closeups.

Found that one!

And that one!

Easter Sunday

Butch and Keri loading Keri's brothers dogs in her car. I was laughing so hard on the second one that I only caught one picture. Hemi didn't think Butch's "bridge" was a good idea.

House pics (Before photos)

We have been gathering materials for the first project which is getting us settled into our back yard RV site but in the meantime we have been doing what we could inside too. The rain and cold has held us back. It looks as though we have the right people and materials lined up and things should come together in the next couple of weeks if we can catch a break on the weather.The green carpet has now been removed from the steps. Some sanding, painting and new posts and railing are in the future.

This is what we will call for now Bedroom 2. There will not be 2 bedrooms when finished so once the wall comes down between it will become part of Bedroom 1. 

Bedroom 1.

Bathroom

Where the water heater used to be.

Backyard looking northwest from far southeast corner of  the backyard. There are orange flags marking spots for sewer/water/electric line and RV site 1 but they are hard to see. Gary and Susan's travel trailer is in the background on our other lot.

Old kitchen. New kitchen will be essentially in the same area but none of what is there now will be there later. Wall on the right will be gone.

Living room. Windows will change and wall on left will be gone.

Back yard view with house in it. Front of RV would be just out of view on the lower left if it were parked there.

Butch's brother Bill the plumber came yesterday with supplies and advice. We needed both and he was very helpful. Brother Leo was off at a Tax meeting so missed out on lunch with his brothers.

Today we are off to gather more supplies and do some shopping. Later...