What Else Do You Need?

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day.

Even with a broke back and in constant pain, I had the privilege to spend a few hours with my girls before they were gone and on their own way once again.

With Kylee working all the time, Jessie away at school and Hannah raising her own family, it's not very often I can get them all together in one place anymore so on those rare occasions it is very special to me.

I am back to work this week and still in a lot of pain, but the bills still have to be paid. Candy is up and around after a major knee issue, but she to is still having to take it easy. We are getting by and doing what we can until we heal. Then, it's back in game and we will do one final push to get the kitchen done, or most of the way done by August.

See ya in a week or so,
Jerry  

Full Time

I didn't want it to happen, but I knew it would. We are now living in the house full time even though it is not done.

This weekend we had a big push to get it livable with A/C in the whole house. We got the insulation done in the Kitchen/Living area, put in the big A/C and even boxed in the drop down in the center with cedar. The walls, floors, ceiling, cabinets, stove and everything else that goes in a kitchen/living room still needs to be done.
I joked with Candy by saying, "We started off on plywood floors and now look at us 25 years later, right back on them."
Everything else is done in the house and I knew that once we started spending most of our time there it would not be long before we just moved in. It got really old going back and forth from the house to the camper and having some things over there and some stuff over here. Plus running the electricity in both started to get out of hand.  All we were using the camper for was to cook and do dishes anyway. So to get completely out of it and just shut the thing off is a good thing.
The biggest problem is now I have to work around more stuff.

My dad gave me an old ice box that is just the size we need. It holds everything we had in the two refrigerators we were running in the camper plus some. I also took an old outdoor kitchen project I made a couple of years ago and modified it to fit our needs now.

I set it up right outside the front door on the porch so it's easy to get to. I then installed this sink and hooked it up to the garden hose. We have hot water, but just what is in the hose. It's enough to do the dished with and if we need more then we just bucket it in from the bathroom. For the drains we use five gallon buckets and empty them when they get full. Hey, it works and it's functional. Plus, food always tastes better when cooked outside.
Once the kitchen is done then this will go away and the sink and stove will be used in my real outdoor kitchen on the deck beside the house.

But then disaster struck. Sunday afternoon we had a large portion of the family over for hamburgers and to show off the house. It had been raining and I was showing the upstairs area. On my way back down I fell. The end result is I broke a bone in my lower back. I have pretty much been in bed ever since. The doctor said it is broke in an area they cannot brace or get to so there is nothing they can do except manage my pain. It will be four to six weeks before I can lift anything, squat or walk up stairs. On top of all that, last night Candy was coming down the ladder from sewing all day and somehow managed to almost destroy her knee. Torn ligaments, messed up knee cap and the whole works. She is in a full leg brace and on crutches now.
What a mess, she can't take care of me and I can't take care of her, but we are managing, just a little slower than usual.
I didn't have any plans this weekend anyway, but what a way to spend Father's day. I would have much rather been playing golf.
Jessie is coming in this weekend to help take care of old mom and dad. I told her she better get used to it. LOL
Okay, pain meds are kicking in, I need to get off here before I say more stupid stuff.

See ya down the road.
Jerry

It's Not Much

The rain has stopped, for now, and the water levels are going down slowly. The sun is out along with the humidity, the ants, the mosquitoes, the flies, the bees and the flees. The temps have jumped from the mild 70s to the mid 90s in one week. With the heat index it puts it right at 100, already.
But, it's good to be dry.
 
I have not done a lot on the house except look at it. What I have done does not measure up to much.
During the rains I found that the house leaked in several different places. Mostly due the fact I did not trim it out all the way and the sideways rains found every crack there was. I fixed all that by trimming out the whole house and chalking every seam. The wood floors in the bedroom suffered some damage and about 1/4 of it needs to be replaced because it has now buckled. If that is the worst of it, then I am golden.
The shower is operational now so all we use the camper for is to cook in. Most of the time we cook outside anyway (when it's not raining) so really, all we use it for is to hold our food.





The upstairs is complete except for the railing. The trim is all done except a few little touch ups on the stain. The carpet is laid and Candy has even started putting her office and sewing stuff up there. The recessed lighting really lights up the whole room and I don't bump my head on them. I still need to build some shelves for her fabric and trophies, but that ain't nothing and will not take too long.








 I'm not going to worry about doing the railing around the pass through holes until we are done with the kitchen. It's only a seven foot fall and if she decides to jump, she will live.





 Here is picture of the top floor when we started. it is amazing how good it looks now. Even though we are behind schedule, I never really thought we would have got this far.

 Even though Candy has a nice staircase on the outside to get up to her room, I built this ladder so she can get up and down in the rain. It folds up against the wall so it's out of the way and can easily be pulled out to use.





I know it's not a lot but it's still something and we are moving forward.





This weekend we are cooking chili in a little town named Lone Oak. Jessie won there last year, Candy got second and I got 4th. Lets see if we can do it again this year.


See ya,
Jerry