Feb 17th - Ceiling Primed!

No rain today. Nor ice. Hooray. Monday morning we had some ice. This is our little (at least 6' tall now) volunteer white pine in the front yard. It survived the big ice storm last year. We didn't have nearly as much ice this time but it sure did stress this little pine. 

Kathy arrived last night. The most important thing she brought with her was a Valentine Lydia made for me.

Tim did the final sanding this morning. The outfit has a rotary sanding head in a vacuum pickup to minimize dust. It worked well. He dumped the dust from the vacuum into a cardboard box. There was quite a bit of it. I told him I would burn the cardboard boxes so that he didn't have to haul them home. Later, when I picked up the box with the dust, I picked it up by the tab on it. The tab tore and I dropped the box. It didn't tip over but I sure had a lot of drywall dust on me and the floor.

Kathy sat with Merv this morning so that Tom & Mary Lou could get a break. After  finished cleaning up the drywall dust I spilled I took down the "dust curtain". In the afternoon we primed the ceiling.

The plan for tomorrow is to prime the wall and maybe finish paint the ceiling. It will depend on how my neck and shoulders handled todays painting.

 

In case you don't see photos Kelsey posts on Facebook. Nolan is getting ready to head across the floor, but maybe not for a few more days.

 After sending Lydia the photo of me with her Valentine she gave me a thumbs up. She had been working with a red marker.

God is good.

Feb 13 - Still in TN

Two drywall guys came Friday and made another pass mudding. Tim said he will do another 2 passes mudding and then do the sanding to ensure the surface is ready for a "slick" finish, which is paint. Hopefully by Wednesday I can start prime painting the drywall.

Todays tasks consisted of doing a load of laundry and then clearing some brush. I ran a tank of gas through my brush cutting weed eater and a tank of gas through the chain saw. My goal is to get a view of the hills south of us.

As you can see in the photos our recent 4.5-5" of snow has almost all melted, or evaporated. The highest temperature I saw today was 28. In the woods wasn't bad but standing out at the end of the driveway, in the wind, and visiting with Delmar Burgess, a neighbor, was quite brisk.

I took the photos looking through our picture window. It is difficult to even see any difference in the photos.

This is the before photo. You can see the hills in the background, the dark area. I'm not sure how far away they are. I need to get out a topographic map and check.

The photo below was taken about 5 PM. You can see some color from the sun going down, even though the photo is taken looking southwest. Note the arrow pointing down. The "aisle" I'm clearing is between these 2 trees. Sadly I ran out of gas when I think cutting down about 5 more trees would have made a world of difference. (All I'm cutting down is scrub. I think the largest non-pine tree that I cut down was maybe 2.5" in diameter. I did cut down some Virginia Pine that was larger. The Area Forester told me I needed to cut all of it down because it is a nuisance.) I was tired enough, and it was late enough, that walking back to the cabin, filling the saw with gas, then walking back and cutting the remaining trees wasn't going to happen. Depending on the weather I may get back down there tomorrow afternoon.

In the future I may also widen the aisle for a better view, but that won't happen for awhile.

It was a great day in the neighborhood. PTL.

Feb 10th Progress Photos

I put up "dust curtains this morning to minimize the amount of dust getting into the bedroom areas once the sanding starts.

Tim Barnes, the guy who is taping the drywall for us, came this afternoon. He mudded all the seams and corners. He is coming back tomorrow evening to make the 2nd pass. Not sure if he will be back Friday to make the 3rd pass.

The total snowfall was 4-5" at our place. Overnight low was 15. The highest temp I saw today was 18, WeatherBug app says the high was 20..

Feb 9th - Brrh!! Cold in TN

I'm back in TN. Drove back Sunday. Kathy and I had been here for several days last week, drove here Mon, Feb 1st and back to MO on Fri, Feb 5th.

Our TN "cabinet", as Lydia, our great-granddaughter calls it.

 

Our view. Our property line is nearly 4,000' from the window. I plan on thinning out some of the trees so that we can see the "mountains" in the distance.



Things are a little more of a mess, and certainly more disorganized than usual. In preparation for having a guy tape the drywall in the kitchen and living room I've moved most stuff into the bedroom areas. I unhooked the temporary sink, just moved it away from the wall. I also left the refrigerator in the kitchen, just moved it away from the wall. Both the walls and ceiling are to be taped. I will put plastic up, over the door opening to the bedroom, before he starts sanding.

 I will also put plastic up across the opening to the future bedroom. No need to "wall it off" before he is ready to start sanding.

Once the taping is finished I will put a coat of primer on the drywall and maybe a finish coat of paint behind the area where the kitchen cabinets will go. Probably should put a finish coat on all of it before moving stuff back. After things are moved back I can proceed with putting up the remaining drywall, as I feel like it, and eventually get the guy back to tape the remainder. I'm considering building/buying a storage building (12'x16'?) so that I can move some tools & materials into it before installing the remaining drywall. It would be nice not to have to work around a push lawn mower, weed eater, gas can, 2 cycle gas can, shovel, rakes, extra plumbing fixtures, extra electrical supplies, left over shingles, left over siding, etc. I'm getting tired of moving them from one area to another as I work.

It started snowing about 4:30 yesterday afternoon. The snowfall is light and sporadic but we probably have 2.5" this morning. Forecast is to have another inch or two by tomorrow morning.

 

 

It is 20 degrees here now with the high forecast to be 26 today and 21 tomorrow. Overnight low is supposed to be 13 tonight and 11 tomorrow night. That is COLD for TN.

 

Even with the disorganization, furniture moving and snow I'm not "roughing it." Breakfast yesterday was eggs, side pork, hash browns, "hootch" ( homemade V8, but MUCH better), toast & coffee.

 



Jan 9th Favorite Christmas Present

Lydia gave us a calendar for Christmas. It is our favorite present. (I'm sure she had a little help from her Mom.)

Cover


Each month was a picture and a monthly calendar.

Jan



Feb


Mar


Apr


May


June


July


Aug


Sept


Oct


Nov


Dec

December

I haven't posted for a long time. Below are some December photos.

Grammy & Lydia relaxing in the hot tub. Been a warm December.


Interesting mural on a retaining wall at a Jefferson City gas station. The mural is makes it appear that there is a bridge and that you look down the highway. It shows what you would see, the capital building, if you could see through the retaining wall.


There used to be a bearing wall, supporting the upstairs and part of the roof, from the new post over to the corner by Doug, 15' long. We took it out and put in a new beam, and the post. The new beam is also supports an existing 12' beam that used to span between the dining room and living room. There will be no walls between the dining room, living room & kitchen when complete. There will be a large island. Kitchen is completely gutted.

 Christmas Dinner.


Lydia working with handicraft stuff she got for Christmas.


Saturday morning after breakfast. Trying out a new game. You put whipped cream on the paddle, spin a needle to see how many tries you have to see if the paddle pops up and splashes you with whipped cream.
 

 She finally got a some whipped cream on her face. Everyone but "stick in the mud" Gpa Bert gave it a try.
 

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Sept 30th - Been A While

God is good!

It has been a long time since I've posted. I thought it was time to post a few photos and provide a few thoughts/comments/updates.

Kathy is doing great after her surgery. Hallelujah! We go to St. Louis Friday for a follow up with the surgeon and to get her staples removed.

Weather has been nice here, but DRY. I think it has been 3 weeks since I've mowed the lawn, not that I complaining about that.

I thought all the fish in our pond had died because the duck week had cut reduced the oxygen levels. All the big fish are dead but we do have small ones. I haven't noticed any catfish so far, which is fine with me. I wonder if the other ones were eggs that survived the time when the oxygen levels were so low. I still need to get another grass carp, but that can wait until spring.

I've been working for ARSEE/T&L some while here at home, 5-10 hours per week. I still enjoy it so I'll keep it up until ARSEE's work load gets back to normal, or until I get tired of it.

I've advertised the motorhome and CR-V on a couple of web sites. A lady may come from the Dallas, TX area to look at it this weekend. I've probably spent 4 hours, either on the phone or emailing her, to discuss the sale.

The photos aren't in any order.

Watching the construction from Kathy's room was interesting. They have 3 tower cranes working and are working 24 hours a day. When I took this photo there was a guy hanging out over the side of the building welding on a column and another, one up on the floor above him, doing something with a BIG torch.

Hot tub fun.

This was the view outside from my motel room window in St. Louis. This is not a parking lot, it is a traffic jamb on one of the main Interstates feeding into St. Louis. The morning we drove to St. Louis it took us less time to get the first 60 miles than it did the last 15. Makes me want to kiss the rural ground of central MO, but I'd much rather kiss the ground of rural TN <grin>. (Actually that isn't so. I wouldn't trade time with Kelsey and Lydia for anything.)

Picking cucumbers with Grammy. We have NEVER had cucumbers produce before. We might get a couple and then the vine would die. This year Kathy has given me 2 bags to give away at church, and she has given away more to others.

Sun bathing after "swimming" in the hot tub. Notice the ice cream cone. Its a rough life.

Last Saturday the girls made tomato juice. I helped by cranking the Squeezo.

 Hospital visitors

 Fixing/eating a waffle on tomato juice day.

May God bless you and yours. He certainly has blessed me.