All Boxed In

When we broke for the Christmas Holidays, we had all the walls done, the OSB attached to the external walls, and all the headers installed for the doors and windows.

From top to bottom:
1. Standing in the back door coming out of the living room;
2. Standing in the front door;
3. Peering out my kitchen window.

Since we broke, we have bought all our kitchen appliances and selected our garage door.

We're starting back to work on January 12 at which time we'll start installing the trusses. I'll be a much more efficient carpenter as Carl gave me my very own "Fat Max" tape measure for Christmas!

FRAMED!

At day's end on Friday, we completed 10 straight days of construction (WHEW!. We now have all the interior walls built and several of the headers for the windows. We start up again tomorrow and plan to complete the headers and install the Tyvek before we break for the Christmas holidays.

Before we actually started construction, I had visions of being involved in the process -- primarily in the role of "go-fer". I had no idea how much I would learn about construction , the number of power and hand tools I would learn to use, and how much constructing I would actually do.

I also had no idea how rewarding and enjoyable the work would be or how draining it would be on me physically, mentally, and emotionally. More important, I had not idea how thrilling it would be to see my dream house come true in front of my own eyes!

Day 7 of Framing

This is at the end of Day 7 of framing as well as the end of 7 straight days in a row of working my "tutu" off!

We have braved the elements (heat, cold, wind, and rain) and equipment problems and have all the OSB on the outside of the house and about 1/3 of the inside walls installed.

We are having a ball!

Day 4 of Framing

The house is now completely framed and about 1/2 of the OSB is mounted to the outside wall. It's looking more and more like a house!

Day 2 of Framing

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love all holidays but I truly believe Thanksgiving is my favorite: Texas is beautiful in the fall, there is very little (if any) hustle and bustle associated with the holiday, and the whole purpose of the day is to reflect on one's blessings. My blessings are too numerous to list here so I will lift up my top five: my parents (though deceased I am who I am because of them), my husband, my extended family, my friends, and my health.

To celebrate the holiday, we're going to Big Bend National Park with our best friends. We're having Thanksgiving dinner at the rustically-chic Gage Hotel in Marathon, TX then we'll stay inside the park in their pop-up trailer for the next four days. We're looking forward to hiking, bird watching, playing Mexican Train dominos and just relaxing.

Here's wishing all of you a blessed Thanksgiving holiday!

My Birthday Week

My actual birthday was Tuesday, November 18 but the celebration started Monday evening when my sister and brother-in-law presented me with a beautiful gift from Brazil: a beautiful, 6" long sculpture of amethyst crystals in the shape of a clump of grapes (purple is my favorite color and grapes are my favorite decorating motif). See picture

The celebration continued on Tuesday when we went to Austin to have lunch with a friend. She took us to a quaint Italian restaurant downtown where the atmosphere was charming and the food delicious. The best gift however was when our friend told the waiter it was my birthday. Without missing a beat he quipped,"So you're turning 25 and your insurance premiums are going down!"

Carl and I agreed we would go out for our celebration on Wednesday since we were still full from our lunch. So on Wednesday he surprised me with (1) dinner at The Vineyard which is definitely a celebration-type restaurant -- see picture; and (2) a Nikon Coolpix camera. The latter blew me away as I would have NEVER suspected a camera from him. He said he thought I needed one to carry in my purse so I can take pictures of the things I see in my shopping expeditions for our house "stuff." It's a kicked-up "point & shoot" as there are custom settings but they are all on a menu -- just the perfect camera for me. Is Carl good or what?!!?!!

On Saturday, we went to our best friends' house for dinner where they presented me with a case for my new camera -- it's even the same color!

I LOVE being 60!

Update on Construction

Since the last update, the following has been accomplished:

1. tons of trash to the landfill;
2. all the rebar left by the foundation contractors moved to the back of the shop;
3. all the brush we cut down moved to a brush pile at the back of the property;
4. we purchased a used full-sized refrigerator which we put in the shop (YEA!);
5. we emptied one of our storerooms which is saving us $50/month;
6. we completed the 12' x 64' deck;
7. all the lights, plugs, and switches plus a motion-detector light were activated in the shop.

The plan is to start framing the house the Tuesday after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Stay tuned! :-)

Costa Rica and Panama Revisited

Pura Vida! (This is the Costa Rican version of "Aloha")

We returned on Tuesday, November 11, from our 14-day trip to Costa Rica and Panama. We spent 5 days touring Costa Rica via bus, 3 more days touring Costa Rica via small cruise ship (78 passengers), and 6 days touring Panama via the small cruise ship.

We've not had time to get our gazillion pictures in shape to post so I'll just lift up some of the amazing things we experienced (in no order of importance or interest):

1. the tropical rain forest via aerial tram, zip line, and numerous hikes;
2. relaxing in hot springs fed by an active volcano;
3. snorkeling with sharks, and Carl saw a seahorse skittering across the sand;
4. going through the Panama Canal;
5. two indigenous peoples -- the Embera's and the Kuna's;
6. breath-taking views of little islands, reefs, mountains;
7. the best fresh pineapple in the universe;
8. planting trees with 3rd graders in Costa Rica to help them with their reforestation project;
9. a Costa Rican rodeo;
10. a tour of a coffee plantation;
11. sightings in the wild of 3 varieties of monkeys, a boa constrictor, coati mundi, many exotic birds, and 2- and 3-toed sloths;
12. learning about the project to preserve butterflies of Costa Rica;
13. touring the tropical mangrove forest of Panama via zodiac boat; and (Carl and I only)
14. experiencing the expertise of the Costa Rican medical community (I slipped in the shower of one of the hotels we stayed in and had to have 5 stitches in my head).

It was an amazing trip, we met great people on the cruise, and we met wonderful folks in both countries we visited. This is a trip we would highly recommend!

JJ & Grover Meet a New Neighbor

The pups are a interested, but a little tentative about playing with this new neighbor.

Workshop Complete

Here are some pics of the workshop. Note Linda working "high steel."



Carl putting the finishing touches, adding the ridge vent.

Update on Construction

It's been almost a month since I updated the blog due to a combination of (1) my laptop being in the shop for over a week; (2) being out of town for over a week; and (3) being so tired at the end of a day of construction that I can hardly wiggle.

Here's where we are:
1. Completed foundations for house, deck, and workshop;
2. Completed driveways;
3. Built 24' x 30' metal building for workshop;
4. Built small bedroom and potty room inside workshop;
5. Completed plumbing and wiring for workshop;
6. Connected washer & dryer, as well as full-sized refrigerator, inside workshop; and, FINALLY
7. Moved RV from RV park to property!

It is wonderful to be living on this beautiful piece of property, even though we are still in the RV; I can only imagine how wonderful it will be once we get into the house. . .

Work on Workshop Begins

We have begun erecting the steel building that will be our workshop. The important thing right now is that we will use it to move our household goods from rented storage buildings and then can move our travel trailer to the site. We are going to construct a bedroom in the building for Maxie and Sharon to stay in while they are here to help us.
Being at the site will save time and money. Plus we are just so excited about actually living on our property!

By the way... in the last pic, you'll notice that we have allowed Linda back up on ladders.

Beep Beep!

One of the delightful scenes at the building site was this Paisano strolling across our foundation. Mr or Mrs Road-Runner has been wandering around the neighborhood for weeks, and this was the first opportunity for a picture. He/she didn't seem too disturbed by our presence.

Deck Construction a la Linda & Sharon

Now that Maxie and Carl have completed the substructure for the 12' x 64' deck on the back of the house, the real test of construction prowess begins. Linda and Sharon are hard at work installing the deck flooring.

Meet Marshmallow

This is Marshmallow, a beautiful and HUGE white rabbit who lives with his owners a couple of RVs down from us here in the park.

Every evening Marshmallow's owners put her in a baby carriage and take her for a walk. This particular evening Grover and J. J. met her. They all got along quite beautifully!

As Easy as Falling off a Ladder. . .

I've heard this metaphor all my life and never really understood it. I now understand that it is VERY easy to fall off a ladder; it's not so easy, however, to recuperate from said fall!

On Wednesday, I was up on the top step of a 5' ladder installing the tin on the roof of the workshop; the next thing I knew I was on the ground and Sharon & Maxie were asking me if I could move my feet (Carl was at the dentist, so he didn't see me fall -- THANK GOODNESS!) Evidently, the ladder broke and I fell from the top step; I'm told I was out cold; that I stared into space for 30 seconds or so and then started babbling nonsensically; and slowly began gaining consciousness.

I am so fortunate that I did not sustain more serious injuries; I have a puncture wound in my head (lots of bleeding but no stitches needed) and some significant bruising on my left side (I'm now beautiful shades of dark purple, green, yellow, etc). I have a dull headache and I'm VERY sore (Thursday morning I waked up feeling like a 600-lb. gorilla had been tap dancing on my left side all night). However, I was able to work on the workshop Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday and Friday (I even regained my ladder privileges on Friday!).

The ladder is a cheapo we bought to keep on our RV and we were using it because we needed another ladder. We have since bought a good quality ladder and I'm going to keep the cheapo to remind me of how fortunate I am. . .

The Skinny on My Skin

For years I have been plagued with periodic outbreaks of dry, scaly, itchy patches on my forehead, nose and ears. The past couple of years the outbreaks have been almost consecutive so, with pressure from my husband and my best friend, I finally made an appointment with a dermatologist.

I now have a diagnosis: I have seborrheic dermatitis -- no prevention known and no cure, but it can be controlled. I got a prescription for a topical lotion (a mild steriod) that I use only when I have a flare-up and a recommendation for an over-the-counter anti-fungal shampoo to use as a face wash a couple of times a week.

I am VERY happy to report that I am scaly and itch free after only a couple of treatments.

Just amazing what a visit to a professional will do :-)

Work on Workshop Begins

The third part of the foundation project is that for our 24 x 30 metal workshop. The crew began laying the forms for it last week, the plumber is supposed to add the plumbing this weekend, and they plan to pour on Tuesday.

Real Construction Begins!

Carl and Maxie have the substructure for the deck almost complete! We think we'll be laying the deck flooring Monday or Tuesday! YIPPEE!

Footings for the Deck

Once the house foundation was completed, the crew started on the footings for the deck. The deck will be the length of the house (65'), 12 ' deep, and about 8 ' tall -- quite a structure. Here's a portions of the pouring project:

All In A Pickle

We got home from Camp Meeting with LOTS of eggs! I made egg salad, we had fried egg sandwiches for breakfast and we STILL had eggs. I had heard my sister talk about pickling eggs so I decided I would do that.

I went on the Internet and found a recipe that (a) seemed fairly simple; and (b) called for ingredients that I had on hand. The only exception was something called "pickling spices" so I looked further on the Internet for what that meant. I learned that it was a combination of things such as peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, mustard seeds, bay leaves, cloves, etc . etc. I went to my larder and found that I had peppercorns, bay leaves, and cloves, so that's what I used.

The next problem is that I didn't have a container in which to make my pickled eggs. Carl went down to our local resale shop, coerced the employee to sell him something after they had closed, and came home with a great looking glass gallon jar (with an orange lid which goes beautifully with my decor in the trailer) so I am all set.

I made two dozen pickled eggs and now, a week later when they are ready to eat, I have to say they are delicious!

Who Knew!

Making Room for VIPs

My brother-in-law is our builder of record (definitely a VIP) and he and my sister will be staying with us during the building of our house. Our long-range plan is to wall off a 9x12 area in the metal workshop and put a bed and window unit it in for them to stay in. That is still a great plan BUT until the foundation for the metal shop is poured and the metal shop is built, they will be staying with us in the 5th Wheel (aka "trailer" and "RV").

After they stayed with us on Friday, I realized we needed to make some more room in the trailer. So I spent most of Saturday going through every cabinet and piece of furniture and packing up every item that we were not using. Then Carl came up with the idea of taking out the table. We then went to the trailer's storage hatch; cleaned it out; and freed up even more room.

Today we made a run to (a) deposit "stuff" into our store room; and (b) take more "stuff" to Goodwill. We also went to Home Depot and found "over the door" hooks to install so that my sister and brother-in-law will have a place to store their "stuff."

I think we are officially ready for our VIPs to show up on Tuesday :-)

Vacationing in Our Own Back Yard

Yesterday Carl and his best friend, Bill, played their weekly golf game at a beautiful course about 30 minutes west of where we live. Bill's wife (and my best friend), Susan, and I decided to go with them and lay by the pool. The pool area is gorgeous: surrounded by huge oak trees and beautifully appointed. We had the pool to ourselves, there was a gentle breeze blowing, and it was like being on an island somewhere far, far away.

We read our books, talked, snacked on mini-corn dogs and played two rounds of Trivial Pursuit (both of which I lost by 1 pie).

It was relaxing and very enjoyable girlfriend time.

Workshop Arrives!

The foundation for the house is complete and work begins on a footing for our back porch deck (the first picture).

The exciting thing is that the steel building materials have arrived and as soon as the shop foundation is poured we can erect it. We plan to move all of our household goods from rental storage into the workshop and then move our RV to the property. We'll live in it until the construction has been completed.
Carl worked his tush off helping to unload the steel and slept very well that night.

Live Music in the Most Unlikely Places

We went to my sister's place on Lake Buchanan this weekend as that is where our freezer is located and we needed to get some meat. When we got there, my sister said she'd like to go to the Lost Creek Winery to get a hostess gift for a friend they are visiting next week. We got to the winery and found wonderful live music happening in a beautiful setting outside the equally beautiful tasting room. We were on a schedule so we vowed to come back at a later date.

Our schedule was to meet our aunt and uncle at a local restaurant in Tow, TX to hear some live music. We walked in and found a table reserved for us with a bottle of wine and a "Welcome Back, We've Missed You" card for my sister and brother-in-law who've been in Las Vegas teaching school from August, 2007 - June 2008. We then were treated to THE BEST chicken fried steak I've every had (and I'm a Texas) and some wonderful live music from two local guys (old country like Bob Wills and less old country like Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, etc.)

It was delightful and we'll definitely go back!

Free Timing with Free Cell

I love playing free cell on my laptop and, being every-so-slightly left-brained, I decided some time ago to play the games in order starting with game 1. My rules are that (1)I can't go the next game until I've won the game I'm playing; (2) if I've not won a game after 5 times, I put that game number on my "replay" list and move on to the next game; (3) each time I log on I start with the games on my "replay" list -- if I win it mark it off the list, if I lose I move to the next game on the "replay" list; (4) once I'm through the "replay" list I go the next new game.

As of today, I was playing new game #736 and I still hadn't won game #598. I thought I had approached it every possible way (obviously I hadn't because Carl has won it) but I FINALLY won it today!

OK, so this doesn't rank up there with an Olympic medal, but, for me, it was a victory!

Now That's A Foundation!

Well, the last update on the foundation left you with us awaiting the steel to be installed. While we were away at Bloys Camp Meeting, they installed the rebar and when we returned they poured the slab. Linda took pictures of the operation, which was amazing.
Click on the slide show below and you'll see that 126 cubic yards of concrete make for a pretty tall foundation. The last picture in the slide show is of Linda and Carl at our front door (or where it will be).

A Belated Birthday Celebration

My brother-in-law's birthday was on Friday, August 15, but we celebrated it today. We asked them to meet us in Johnson City at the Silver K Cafe for a brunch and music by John Arthur Martinez (JAM is a musician from Marble Falls who came in 2nd in the first Nashville Star competition).

The company was the best, the venue is great, the food was delicious, and JAM's music was enjoyable, as always.

A great time was had by all!

Beads, Beads, and More Beads

My friend, Susan, and I have been dabbling in beading (we're not bad at it and may, if we have the time, actually make some money at it!). She was wanting some silver wire to make some bracelets and hadn't been able to find it, so we went to a "Bead Show" in San Antonio on Saturday, August 16.

Three observations of the "Bead Show":

1. I had NO idea of the number of beads that could be in one place -- it was a space of 10,000ish square feet and it had beads of porcelain, metals, woods, glass, crystals, gems of every size, color, shape, and style imaginable. Thankfully, both of us were so overwhelmed that we weren't tempted to buy!
2. I had NO idea of the number of people who were interested in beading and would attend a "Bead Show"! We were there fairly early in the day and the place was PACKED!
3. I had NO idea how many men would attend a "Bead Show" -- I'm estimating that 1/3 of the folks there were male.

Susan got exactly what she went for (and at a price far less than she expected to spend) but it was WAY too many beads for us to look at!

An Extraordinarily-Special Camp Meeting

This site has been very silent for a couple of weeks. We were in the Davis Mountains from Wednesday, July 30 thru Monday, August 11. Once home, Carl had to play catch-up with work and I had to play catch-up with laundry, unpacking, mail, bills and all the other things you have to catch up with when you've been out of town for almost two weeks. I'm back on track now and plan to stay more current with my updates. I'll start with our week at Camp Meeting.

We went out early in order to continue to make repairs to our camp caused by a 300-year-old oak tree falling on our cook shed and taking out our bunkhouse, our storage facility, some plumbing and some electrical work. And, of course, there are the perennial leaks, shortages, stoppages, and other plumbing, electrical, and sewage problems that occur when you use an facility only once a year.

Everything was in tip-top shape by the time the majority of our campers arrived and we had an extraordinarily wonderful camp meeting!

1. It was my 60th and Carl's 18th time to attend;
   
2. My cousin and his daughter from Alaska were there and it was the longest time I've ever spent with them.
3. My nephew and his wife were there for the entire week; they brought a friend of theirs with them that we thoroughly enjoyed being with;
4. The Methodist preacher on staff has been newly-appointed to New Braunfels and we really like him and his wife (she's been coming to Camp Meeting as long as I have and we decided we most certainly attended Sunday School together out there!) so we are eager to visit their church;
5. As always, we had a wonderful time re-connecting with old friends and meeting new friends.

However, the event that made the week extraordinarily special was when our cooks walked out on us in the middle of breakfast on Thursday. I know this sounds like a deal-breaking event but our campers pitched in such that we finished cooking breakfast for everyone, we put together an amazing lunch (90 lbs of meat loaf, just to illustrate the volume we serve), we had roasts in the oven for dinner that night, and briskets in the smoker for lunch the next day. We had folks falling out to wash dishes, clean off tables, and handle all the details for serving lunch. Then we learned that we were hosting the camp preachers, the camp music staff, and their families for lunch -- we were asked if we wanted to reschedule, but we said "no" and lunch was FABULOUS!

All of us agreed that we had fun pitching in to help and I truly believe our campers are more invested in the process. It was a very special time!

And, the good news is that we had a new crew on board by 4:00 that afternoon and they are SO much better than what we had! What a blessing in disguise. . .

Visiting and Packing

We had a delightful weekend at my sister's place at Lake Buchanan: my younger nephew and his wife were there with 3 of their friends, my sister's friend from Las Vegas was there with a friend of hers from Austin, and I got to visit with my cousin and his daughter from Alaska as well as another cousin I haven't seen since Christmas.

Yesterday we met my sister, brother-in-law, and friend from Las Vegas in Gruene for lunch and shopping.

Then it was time to start packing for our 11-day trip to the Davis Mountain (we're leaving tomorrow). This is not as easy as it sounds as we need to pack tools (always a need for construction and repair out there), clothes for hot and cool weather plus clothes for painting and other dirty work, plants to spruce up the cabin, books to read, household items (mops, etc.), food, and a variety of other odd items.

We'll be gone until Monday night, August 11 and I'll be off the blogwaves until then.

More Foundation Progress

This past week, the plumber and electrician added their entrances to the foundation prior to the installation of steel rebar. Bug-A-Meister, the termite man, followed up with treatment around the newly-installed drains.

The day after the plumber finished, Hurricane Dolly hit the coast of Texas about 300 miles south of us. Storm clouds began forming so the contractor quickly came in and lay plastic tarp over the base fill. He said that they wanted to prevent any washing away, but more important was preventing excessive settling of the fill. If the fill settles then it means more concrete would have to be poured. We had a couple of days of good rain, which was very much needed because of the drought.

The steel has been ordered and installation should begin next week, followed by the concrete pour. Soon we will be seeing a real foundation!

Playing Catch Up

We learned on Wednesday that Carl's best friend's sister died; on Thursday we drove to Kilgore in far east Texas and drove back home on Friday after the funeral. Even though I was born in Texas and lived here my entire life (except for two years in Oregon), I know very little about the eastern part of the state. We drove through country I'd never been to so it was a lovely, but long (7 hours each way), trip.

On Saturday my sister, brother-in-law, and a friend of theirs from Las Vegas came down and we took a kayak trip. It was relaxing and uneventful until I turned over going through a chute and lost my kayak, my paddle, and my shoes. Everything was recovered and I suffered only minor cuts and bruises. We ended the day enjoying a shrimp boil at our friends' house.

As far as progress on the house: we now have foundation entrances for electrical and plumbing; we expect the foundation steel to be delivered in the next couple of day and the concrete to be poured this weekend.

Until later. . .

Foundation Progress!

Well, in the last couple of days, amazing progress has been made. On Saturday we went by to see what had been done and saw that they had begun "bagging" for the concrete beams in the center of the foundation.


This is a view from outside the garage, down the length of the house.

We went back on the property on Monday, but all that had been done was that seven or eight more loads of base fill had been delivered.

Today (Tuesday) we visited and were amazed at what had been accomplished. Seven workers were making bricks out of plastic sheets while another guy brought in more fill with a front loader. We watched for about 15 minutes while they built about three feet of beam walls.















Later in the day we went back and they had nearly finished all of the beams. There is just a little more to do in the garage area, and then the plumbing and electric entrances will be laid.


Here's what it looks like now after about a full day's work.