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 :-)