Tuesday 5/31 - Joshua House

Monday - Kathy watched Lydia, & dogs, plus her normal work. We attended the VFW Memorial Day service in California, in the AM. Kathy & Lydia went to Jefferson City to watch a choral group in the afternoon. Lydia was enthralled by the paintings of Civil War scenes, in the Capitol.  Between outings they picked enough cherries for a cherry pie. I spent a couple of hours weed eating.

Kathy & Lydia picking cherries.

Tuesday -  Kathy had Nolan today. I worked with a crew at the Joshua House in Jefferson City.  We took the old treads and risers off the stair to the lower level. We also built the wall on the right.

We build around 20' of wall. Part of it was along the stairway and the rest was for a storage closet.

We took a broken toilet out of a basement bathroom.

We worked from 8:00-4:30. We still have more to do but we made good progress.

Doug is supposed to return tomorrow, and start working on our bathroom again.

May God bless you and yours.

Sunday 5/29 - Cherry Picking Started

Yesterday was our 49th wedding anniversary. I'm a lucky man. I got the best woman in the world for me. We didn't do anything special, it was just another day.

Saturday morning Kelsey texted that she had biscuits and sausage gravy almost ready and we went over for breakfast. Actually I ate breakfast but I Kathy has already eaten at home. I mowed the lawn and did some weed eating after we got home. In the early afternoon we went to Longhorn for a late lunch, as a treat. In the late afternoon Kelsey texted that they decided to build a campfire. We went over for hot dogs.

Today was church this morning and watching the Indy 500 in the afternoon. Kathy picked cherries, with minimal help from me. I might have picked half a pint.

These were all the ripe ones today. You can't even tell any were picked from looking the trees.

May God bless you and yours.

Friday, May 27th - Update

Not a lot going on here but thought an update was in order.

Dinner at Kelsey's

Husking corn for dinner

A photo of our cherries from last week. Kathy says not as many as last year. We (mostly her) will be picking them next week. Maybe some over the weekend.

Bathroom renovation progress Waiting on replacement shower valves before the shower stall, on the right, can be finished. New ones were defective. Need to finish the tub plumbing before putting up drywall around window.

No real reason for not installing the drywall on the bottom of the sides of the door. I'm just lazy.

It has been supposed to rain/storm here every day since last Wednesday. We have gotten a little rain, maybe a couple of inches, but nothing like what was forecast. Our pond is still not overflowing.

I missed the "fish trucks" when they were in our area. Yesterday we did some sightseeing and drove up to Perry, MO, about 90 miles north of here. Nemo Fisheries is in Perry. We bought a couple of grass carp to put in our pond, to replace the big one that died last year. It was a nice trip. We had a good lunch at Diner 54 in Mexico, MO. We were amazed at the number of Help Wanted signs we saw as we drove around. It sure looks like anyone who wants a job has one.

I've called several electricians about upgrading our entrance panel from 125 amp to 200 amp. Most are to busy to bother. I've upgraded panels in 2 of our former homes but don't want to do it here. I finally got a retired electrician out today to look at it. He has bad arthritis in his hands. He said that he will have his son help him do the work.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Sunday - Day of Rest

Yesterday we took up the remaining 20 sf of ceramic tile and barely started the electrical modifications.
Saturday PM Kathy, Kelsey, Lydia, Nolan & Doug went to the IKEA store in St. Louis to pick up more "stuff". They had a good trip.
Doug is in town "shopping" now. I think a Sunday PM nap is on my schedule.

Is our front porch looking Rednecky enough?

 Kathy's "new" Jenn-Air downdraft range.

God is good.

Fri AM - Demo Continues

Old vanity and garden tub in Doug's truck. He dropped them off at the Habitat ReStore.

 The shower stall is still in the bathroom but, with the exception of half of the ceramic floor tile, the bathroom is gutted. The section of floor was removed to be able to modify the tub drain for the new tub and so that we can modify the water supply lines.

The project scope changed. While Doug was dropping off the tub and vanity he did some "shopping" at the ReStore. He saw a lightly used Jenn-Air downdraft range. He said it probably cost near $3,000 when new. Kathy & Doug went back tot he store and bought it, $425. We were going to add an exterior vent for the exhaust fan that is built into our microwave. Now we need to run one in the floor for the downdraft fan in the Jenn-Air.

This afternoon (Saturday) Kathy, Kelsey, Nolan & Doug are going to IKEA in St. Louis to buy more stuff. Kelsey & Andy are staying home. I'm staying home and will probably take a long nap.

Thur PM - Demo Continues

I was a beautiful day here today. Kelsey & Nolan came over for awhile this AM and then Kelsey, Andy, Lydia & Nolan came to have supper with Kathy, Doug & I.

Doug did some measuring and online shopping this AM and then he and Kathy went to Jeff to buy materials. I removed most of the remaining gypsum board in the bathroom We still haven't removed the vanity so the gypsum board behind it remains in place.

Originally the house had a cathedral ceiling in this bathroom. At some time in the past framing was added and a conventional 8' ceiling was added.

Part of the project is adding an exhaust fan in the bathroom and a vent from the exhaust fan, in the microwave, above the range. Because we have a metal roof both fans will vent out through the wall.

Not sure what Doug has in mind for tomorrows projects but I'm sure it will be enough to make me tired by the end of the day. <grin>

May God richly bless you as He has me.

May 12 AM - Demo Continues - but not fast

Tuesday - Changed oil in new zero turn mower and mowed lawn with it for 3rd time. A word of warning to those with a hilly yard and who thinking about a zero turn. I was worried about mowing up the hill along our driveway. It does make me a little uncomfortable, because the zero turns have no weight on the front. Mowing down the hill is the problem. The first trip down the hill I ended up under a big cedar tree. I can only mow one strip downhill, the one next to the driveway where I can keep one set of tires on the asphalt. Several times during that trip down the drive I end up locking up the tire on the asphalt to prevent another "run away". Overall I like the mower and think it saves me time but it appears to me that they are suited for smooth, slightly rolling lawns; not hilly, rocky, rough lawns.

Wildlife - we have quite a few turtles on our property. This one was strolling across the driveway Tuesday. Its shell would measure about 9" in length.

Yesterday I had breakfast with the mens fellowship group from church. Six of us there yesterday. We normally have 5-7. It is an enjoyable morning. The local restaurant doesn't open until 9 and we are typically waiting on the sidewalk when the door opens. The first hour is spent ordering food, discussing happenings in our lives, waiting on food, more discussions, more waiting, etc. We normally finish eating about 10 and then have a time of study that lasts 45-90 minutes. Sometimes we have LOTS of discussion on the topic, sometimes only a little.

Later I removed the dry wall above the shower stall and cleaned up the mess.

Doug arrived around 2 PM and he and Kathy did more bathroom remodel planning. Today will be more demo and investigation of what is above the ceiling.

May 9th PM - Bath Remodeling

We started the demo for our bathroom remodel project this AM. First I installed "sideboards" on my trailer, getting it ready to haul the debris.

This PM I started demo. Actually I started yesterday. I took down the towel bars and misc items off the wall then. Kathy removed all the "stuff" from the vanity.

We are gutting the bathroom. Everything in it will be new by the time we are done. Doug is coming tomorrow to head up the project.

May 9th - Back in MO

We returned to MO Monday, May 2nd. The trip was uneventful.

We did some "camping" in our TT (travel trailer) at the end of last week. Great-granddaughter Lydia came over and we spent the night camping. Supper in the trailer and then she and Kathy spent the night in it. Lydia took the first shower in it.

Granddaughter Kelsey hosted Mother's Day for the family. She did a great job (so did Andy, he peeled the potatoes).

Lydia is attending preschool 5 days a week now so she isn't here nearly as often. Kathy baby sits Great-grandson Nolan 1 or 2 days a week.

After being pushed around the circle drive multiple times this morning, and eating, he was worn out.