Taking It Easy

I sure hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you all have a Happy New Year.
We sure did, I can tell you I am blessed more than I should be.

I had five days off and I was looking so forward in getting a lot accomplished on the house. In the end I didn't get much done and for most of those days I just took it easy. It seemed I was in slow motion and couldn't get into it, I blame it on the weather. For four of those five days it was cold, rainy and windy. That kinda puts you in a blaa mood.

I managed to get the front steps on the porch built and 3/4 of the house roughed in with electric. I was hoping to have the electric and plumbing done by the first of the year but that's not going to happen. I ran into some problems, caused by me of course, but they are still problems. You see, I don't build houses everyday and hindsight is 20/20. The plumbing and electrical was always in the back of my mind, but I kept putting off thinking about them and saying to myself "it will all work out." I am sure it will all work out in the end, but I have made it a lot harder on myself now because I didn't stop and take the time to think every aspect through at least a dozen times. Shuda Woulda Coulda kinda of deal.

Saturday we took a break from the Camper and decided to cook some chili. We were right on the edge of East Texas in a little town called Lake Tawakoni.
Here's the problem with being 10th and 11th in the world, plus having a daughter that is always in the top 10 when we cook. When we walk in, we hear folks saying they don't even need to cook now that the Fords are here. And I just nod my head and say, "That's right"

Jessie took 7th, I got 5th and Candy won 2nd.
What can you say, the Fords were in the house that day.

We plan to do a New Years Eve night time cook off on the 31st up in Wichita Falls. We have cooked there before and had our butts handed to us. They say if you place there, you are somebody. I won't jinks myself and say you are talking to somebody, yet.
I wasn't too happy with 5th in LT, but I will be very happy with 5th in WF.


Please be safe out there this New Years Eve. You know what they say, this is a holiday for the novice drinkers. I am a professional and plan to stay off the roads.


See ya next year,
Jerry   

Two Men And A Baby

Okay, two old men and a young lady to be correct.
And we got it done.

 All weekend it was misting rain, cold and windy. Candy was using the wood scraps to keep the fire going so we could warm our hands and get feeling back in our feet. Jessie grabbed the nail gun, dad was the board man and I was ground support.  

 A steady supply of Coffee and Hot Chocolate for the women folk.

I would rather have one Jessie helping me then five men. This girl is a beast. I just wish she would get off the phone and come over here to hold this board. I think my look says it all in this picture.

Mud was everywhere. Each time we walked we got taller. Before long we had six inches added to our height and our feet weighed forty pounds. Any normal time I would have just said to heck with it be done for the day but I needed to get this done.









 The stairs are all boxed in now. I still need to put up a support to stabilize them. They are a little too bouncy for me.  And I also still need to put up the railing around the top and down the stairs, but that is at a later time.
This week I will trim out and seal everything on the front and this weekend I plan to start on the Electric. Fun, Fun  

 

I am very proud of the small work force I had this weekend and amount of work we got accomplished. With extending the bottom porch out another 6 feet, building the whole top deck, the small landing for the stairs and the stairs themselves, I guess in all it took the three of us 11 hours to complete. Not bad for two old men and a young lady.

If I don't see ya again, have a marry Christmas

Jerry

In The Dry

For the last two weeks we have been doing what we could on the house. The one problem is, the little house just keeps growing.

 In the beginning it was going to be a simple 500 square foot little, tiny house. Now we are up to about 896 if you include the lofts and the second story.
Two weekends ago me and my dad climbed up on a chilly, windy Saturday morning and shingled the roof. It didn't take us near as long as I thought and I had to call off the help that was coming over later in the day. Pretty impressive for a couple of old men.
Last weekend I was under some pressure. I had to get it in the dry due to the storms coming in on Sunday. High winds would have ripped the roof right off if I could not get the siding up. As you can see, there is nothing out here to stop the wind and a storm with sixty mph winds would have done major damage. So during the week we installed the windows in the front and back, trimmed the shingles and prepped everything for the siding on Saturday. In the end we got it done.

Sunday the rains didn't come in till later so in the morning I started on the second floor porch. This has also grown bigger than planned. Now it will run the full length of the building and overhang to the right three feet. You can see the beginning of it in the picture. A staircase will be down the side of the building and wrap back around to the front.  Go big or go home right? Excessive, maybe but in the end I want to be in a place I can enjoy.

That's all I got for now.
Jerry

Building Party

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, I know we sure did.

The weather was great, a little windy but other than that the temps were right on. Thursday was the traditional Thanksgiving we always have. I am not selling it short by no means, it was just the norm.
Friday was spent prepping for the building party Saturday.

About ten family members showed up to help with the build. A few more had to work but got there as soon as they could.

 Kylee (the youngest) took off work to be our "Runner" to run into town as needed. Jessie (the oldest pictured here) drove up from College Station to lend a hand. This was not her first rodeo and she jumped right up there and took charge with the framing crew while me and my dad stayed on the ground being the cut men.

 The nephews showed up after noon and did the decking, the wife was the our "refreshment" and food girl while mom sat on the porch and supervised.

 We ended up with about twenty folks stopping by throughout the day to lend a hand.
Some stayed late and we brought out the music and fire pit to finish the day off.

 
I can't thank everyone enough who came out and helped or stopped by for moral support. We got a lot of work done in one day.




Sunday was spent cleaning up and securing everything for the storms this week and relaxing a little.

Next weekend I will be putting shingles on the roof and putting in some windows.

 Other than that, not much happening here,
Jerry