Thursday 6/2 - Bathroom Work Started Again

Wed - I had breakfast with our men's fellowship group. After breakfast I ran some errands while in Jefferson City. On my way home I went to the home of our Pastor and his wife, to look at their mower. They mow a little over an acre. I think Carolyn does most of the mowing and she asked that someone try and figure out why their mower was "digging in" on one side. She had hit something and bent one of the blades. I took the blades off and she said she would have her son-in-law put the new ones back on. He farms and is really busy right now and she didn't want to have him spend a lot of time trying to diagnose the problem. I tried to get her to call me when she had the new blades but she didn't think he would mind taking a few minutes to put them on. Doug came in the afternoon.

Thur - We finished cutting and laying the cement board for the floor, set the tub to determine where the drain cut out needed to be, finished installing all but 2 small pieces of drywall. Doug started taping  the ceiling. Kelsey and Nolan came over for a visit in the AM and then all of them came back for supper. Kelsey started the old rototiller that had not run for a year (it must be 15 years old) and tilled her garden. Kathy & Kelsey bought a bunch of on sale plants at the little store down the street. Kelsey put some in her garden and Kathy planted some here.

Hopefully we will finish the water and drain lines for the tub tomorrow (I saw we, Doug is doing 90% of the work.)

May God bless you and yours.

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.