Yesterday, I had another of those 'Sleeping Migraines', which kept me in bed all day. Steve was impatient with me at first, but saw how I heaved and threw up when I tried to get up, so he soon turned compassionate and took pretty good care of me. It snowed on and off most of the day. It always snows on Jonquils, and they're blooming now.
I got an e-mail from Betty Pike telling me of Fred Denton's death. It had been expected for some time. She is good to keep me informed of the 'going-ons' within the Truth. Fred had been ill for a long time. He and his wife, Wilma, called themselves The Flintstones, and were well-liked. Wilma had never professed, I don't think.
At Creekside, I had asked Steve if we could convert the door between the living room and the downstairs sun room into a pocket door. I didn't want the door to swing either way, and this will be a good alternative. There's a wall space to accomodate it, and I think it will be a good idea. I had found a lovely french door for that doorway, and I think making it a pocket door will be nice.
Janie and I went up to Jo's for lunch on Friday. She has a small restaurant in Rogersville. She had struggled at first with her business, and I had helped her some with dishes, table cloths, and decorations, so I have a personal interest in her doing well there. She won't let me pay for my meals, which is a priveledge that I am careful to not abuse, and makes me feel appreciated.
We also went to a small shop there, where we found some little treasures.
We stopped at some other small places, and then got back home to Creekside and to work.
It was a nice diversion. I like to include Janie in my ramblings, as she does the driving, and we have so much fun. Our personalities blend so well.
I found some lovely pink draperies at one shop, and they will be a nice decoration for some room. I don't know yet where I'll use them, but they will come in handy, and the price was right. It's hard to find several pair of draperies at a re-sale shop, and all my rooms seem to have so many windows.
Gary, the man who lives with Joy, Janie's sister, started working on the tractor, which is the bane of my existence. It has never run right, and I'll be so glad if he can fix it. He's then going to repair the brakes and do a tune-up on the red Dodge truck. I picked up the parts at Doyle's, here in Rutledge. When he gets all that done, he plans to repair the white Dodge truck. We're going to keep him busy.
They're planning to move here, which will be nice, as Joy is so nice (much like Janie), and Gary seems willing to be a help. He's a great ol' big fellow, and can really be a help with the heavy lifting.
Guy, who had worked for us some time before, came by Friday night about 9:00, demanding money from Steve. He didn't get any. Guy had worked under Stucco, and I had paid Stucco, who said that he would pay Guy. We don't owe Guy anything, as I figure. He went on a tirade to Steve, telling him we were cruel to have worked him for so little, but we paid him what he had asked for.
Stucco still has a key to the house, as he still has a set of Baker's scaffolding there. We set it on the front porch last week, but he's not come after it yet. It was in the way of Janie's cleaning, and Stucco's not there anymore.
We find holes (still!) in the house every time we start to do something new. I don't know how anyone ever lived there.
The work I did to the sunroom floor has made such a remarkable difference. Everyone who walks on the floor comments about it. It sure feels stronger.
Friday evening, I worked some more on wrapping water pipes down in the basement. It was supposed to get down to 18 (I think) last night, and I was trying to get ready for bitterly cold weather. I told Steve to leave the lights on down there, and he said he might put a small electric heater down there, too. Running a little heat would certainly be better than broken plumbing.
I used some old socks of Steve's to wrap the bends and corners. They stretch like Ace bandages, and fit the bends better than anything else I've found. The pre-formed L-corner pieces you buy at Lowe's do not fit very well. They also do not perform well. So, I used what momma had always used...old socks. I taped them to the pipe bends, then started wrapping just like I would for a damaged wrist or elbow on a person. It made a pretty neat 'bandage'.
I don't know why builders don't just wrap plumbing while the wall cavities are open. It sure would be easier. I put foam pipe wrappings on our plumbing here while we were building. Some people asked why I did that, and I told them that it was to keep down noise of water passing through the pipes, and to prevent freezing, 'just in case'. This sure is a well-built house, and I'm glad we have it. It is a house built on a rock. Lots of them.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Sunday Febuary 5, 2012 Noon
I've got to catch up. My hair continues to fall out at an alarming rate. My fingernails have split into the quick, and I am now wearing glue-on nails to prevent injury and infection. Janie wants to get me in to see my endocrinolgist as soon as possible, and I'm all for it, if he can help me.
I'm to the point of using a full-cap wig, as my vanity just won't permit me to wear baseball caps or be seen in public bald. I've never been able to wear them, so this will be an adventure.
The work at Creekside is going along smoothly. Stucco is still gone. Janie and I are working with this fellow, Jr, who has some emotional problems, but is a good worker with a great attitude. He helped me with some styling on the dining room windows that turned out perfectly. They look as if they were always that way, and the products are very low maintenence, I had them in stock, and they were cheap....all which I just LOVE.
He has two of the upstairs bedrooms ready for primer, except for a little window trim, and I'm glad for that. We will have to get the trim pieces that he needs to finish, but it's fairly common, and Janie and I will probably go get the pieces this week, early. He is off Monday for a doctor's visit, and that will give us the chance to get the supplies he needs.
He did a general clean-up of the yard on Friday, and he did a really good job. He used some paving stones to make a sidewalk in the back yard, so we can stay up out of the mud.
Janie and I went to the Habitat in Dandridge on Friday, and they had a piano and an old antique organ that had been electrified, and I demonstrated them for Miss Ann. She recognised my hymns, and sang along with them. I told her that I liked that, as it meant that I was playing well and that she knew the songs of the church. She's the general manager there, and I like having her as a friend.
Janie got a good deal on some plywood and siding for her Hobby Hut.
One of Carzel Owen's sons gave me a new set of wood bi-fold doors that had come in to the trash dump that morning. I'll probably use them for shelving, but I was glad to get them. They're going to call us if they get any more siding. Janie will be glad to hear that.
Cherokee has not been by to see us. We asked about her at the Goodwill, but they don't see much of her, either. She did not look well the last time I saw her, and I worry about her health.
I took Barbara some things at Tangles on Friday morning, and got to see Elizabeth for a while. She is such an awesome lady, with so many stories to tell about her past, which is considerable...She's 97 years old, and her mind is as sharp as ever. I adore her, as does almost everyone else, and she's so much fun that she wins new friends every day. She's really fit into the culture of Blaine, Rutledge, and East Tennessee. Darla Daniel does her hair, and they just love each other. Darla dotes on her clients, and everyone who knows her loves her, too.
The girls at Tangles love to hear me and Barbara 'go at each other'.
I told Barbara that I had her another Christmas present, but I would have to bring it to her house in the truck...It would be a pair of shoes. Everyone loved the reference to her big feet.
I'd buy her a dress if the fabric outlet carried enough material to cover her. They carry foam rubber there, too, but she don't need any more padding. She needs more Jenny Craig and less Sarah Lee.
Skunks are all over all the roads, having been hit by cars during their very early mating. It's like spring now, with hardly any cold days in the very recent winter. My Jonquils are in bloom, and it always snows on Jonquils. I don't think we will have much winter. It's been nice to not have such high heating bills.
The wood stove at Creekside is a lot of work, but Janie and I keep the place nice and warm with it. We made a trip to Clairemont to get firewood one day while it was a little dry last week. We were able to pull the truck down into a pasture where there was wood stacked, and it saved a LOT of heavy carrying.
I have been working under the house, and I was appalled at the scarcity of nails in the floor support system. I started nailing the boards together better, and it turned into a three-day project, but the floor in the downstairs sun room no longer bounces when you walk on it. It's an amazing difference. I shudder to think what might have happened if I had not caught that situation. Other people, in the past, had gone under and put upright supports, but had not secured the 2X10's to each other, and that's what made the difference. Some of the cross-members had come loose from the foundation, and seemed ready to totally drop the whole floor. It's better now.
Betty Pike should be able to speak in meeting about some foundation work from that experience. Her father got a good laugh at me years ago when I told him that my barn was built on a huge rock, and he and Maw Pike came out to my farm and saw that rock. It's still there, as is the barn, which was built from Wormy Chestnut.
That wood really lasts. The huge timbers in the floor of Creekside are Chestnut, too. They're worth a tremendous amount of money, because Chestnut trees in the U.S. were wiped out by disease in the earlier days of America.
I'm glad the Lord has blessed me with having so much. I wish He'd now consider giving me the strength to care for it all as I wish to.
I haven't heard from Lynn. I don't know how her health is now. Steve has been lucky to have all his immediate family still. I don't know how he will deal with it when they begin to die, as we all will.
There was some younger man in the Truth who died week before last, according to an e-mail from Betty. I didn't know him, so I didn't send anything or go to the funeral.
An old school mate from Dante died last week....Gary Bell. They had lived across the creek from us when we were children. He was a really nice boy when we were growing up. He's had two brothers and his father preceed him in death. One was his twin, who we always called Runt.
I often think of some of the old neighbors in Dante. Many are still there. It seems like many of the Fine families are getting gone.
We're getting low on hay here, and it's good to see the longer days and the sunshine, which will grow some grass for the cows. I have two young bull calves that I need Ed Bowling to get to auction for me, while beef is high.
The peacocks are growing their tails and strutting, so mating for them is not far behind. I want to breed my Jave Green male to some hens. He's magnificent, and they bring a LOT of money.
Janie wants a peacock, but doesn't know if he'd last at her place. They make good watchdogs.
I can mimic a male calling and get mine to yelling. Well, I could before this throat pestilence.
I hate having to give up on singing. I used to love to sing along with BBN, a Christian radio channel. I don't have a song now. I can listen, though. And learn.
It will soon be time to mow. I'm not going to neglect the lawns at Clairemont this year. They still look bad from the scant service of last year. I'll have to take one day a week to work here this summer.
Janie and I are going to have a spring cleaning day, and probably a yard sale after it, to bring Clairemont back into shape and good form. It's a shame to neglect such a lovely home and grounds, which Steve and I both worked so hard to have.
The white Dodge truck, which is my favorite, is still not running right, and I'm going to have to have it towed or hauled on a roll-back to get it to someone to repair it. I'd like to get it to Gordon Treese, if he has the time to work on it. It's in the transmission or the 4-wheel drive works, but I have no idea what it is. It's a lot easier on fuel than the big red Dodge pick-up, and it has the enclosed camper, which is nice for hauling home my treasures found at Goodwills and yard sales.
Lakeshore Road has 18 miles of yard sales in the spring and fall, and I want to be ready for that this spring. Lynn said some time ago that she wants to come and go with me, but she'd better make a reservation. Janie and I are planning to go. We really should take a tractor-trailer rig.
I need to get busy with real work. I've been writing this for over an hour, and Steve must be thinking I'm having an on-line affair by now.
I'm to the point of using a full-cap wig, as my vanity just won't permit me to wear baseball caps or be seen in public bald. I've never been able to wear them, so this will be an adventure.
The work at Creekside is going along smoothly. Stucco is still gone. Janie and I are working with this fellow, Jr, who has some emotional problems, but is a good worker with a great attitude. He helped me with some styling on the dining room windows that turned out perfectly. They look as if they were always that way, and the products are very low maintenence, I had them in stock, and they were cheap....all which I just LOVE.
He has two of the upstairs bedrooms ready for primer, except for a little window trim, and I'm glad for that. We will have to get the trim pieces that he needs to finish, but it's fairly common, and Janie and I will probably go get the pieces this week, early. He is off Monday for a doctor's visit, and that will give us the chance to get the supplies he needs.
He did a general clean-up of the yard on Friday, and he did a really good job. He used some paving stones to make a sidewalk in the back yard, so we can stay up out of the mud.
Janie and I went to the Habitat in Dandridge on Friday, and they had a piano and an old antique organ that had been electrified, and I demonstrated them for Miss Ann. She recognised my hymns, and sang along with them. I told her that I liked that, as it meant that I was playing well and that she knew the songs of the church. She's the general manager there, and I like having her as a friend.
Janie got a good deal on some plywood and siding for her Hobby Hut.
One of Carzel Owen's sons gave me a new set of wood bi-fold doors that had come in to the trash dump that morning. I'll probably use them for shelving, but I was glad to get them. They're going to call us if they get any more siding. Janie will be glad to hear that.
Cherokee has not been by to see us. We asked about her at the Goodwill, but they don't see much of her, either. She did not look well the last time I saw her, and I worry about her health.
I took Barbara some things at Tangles on Friday morning, and got to see Elizabeth for a while. She is such an awesome lady, with so many stories to tell about her past, which is considerable...She's 97 years old, and her mind is as sharp as ever. I adore her, as does almost everyone else, and she's so much fun that she wins new friends every day. She's really fit into the culture of Blaine, Rutledge, and East Tennessee. Darla Daniel does her hair, and they just love each other. Darla dotes on her clients, and everyone who knows her loves her, too.
The girls at Tangles love to hear me and Barbara 'go at each other'.
I told Barbara that I had her another Christmas present, but I would have to bring it to her house in the truck...It would be a pair of shoes. Everyone loved the reference to her big feet.
I'd buy her a dress if the fabric outlet carried enough material to cover her. They carry foam rubber there, too, but she don't need any more padding. She needs more Jenny Craig and less Sarah Lee.
Skunks are all over all the roads, having been hit by cars during their very early mating. It's like spring now, with hardly any cold days in the very recent winter. My Jonquils are in bloom, and it always snows on Jonquils. I don't think we will have much winter. It's been nice to not have such high heating bills.
The wood stove at Creekside is a lot of work, but Janie and I keep the place nice and warm with it. We made a trip to Clairemont to get firewood one day while it was a little dry last week. We were able to pull the truck down into a pasture where there was wood stacked, and it saved a LOT of heavy carrying.
I have been working under the house, and I was appalled at the scarcity of nails in the floor support system. I started nailing the boards together better, and it turned into a three-day project, but the floor in the downstairs sun room no longer bounces when you walk on it. It's an amazing difference. I shudder to think what might have happened if I had not caught that situation. Other people, in the past, had gone under and put upright supports, but had not secured the 2X10's to each other, and that's what made the difference. Some of the cross-members had come loose from the foundation, and seemed ready to totally drop the whole floor. It's better now.
Betty Pike should be able to speak in meeting about some foundation work from that experience. Her father got a good laugh at me years ago when I told him that my barn was built on a huge rock, and he and Maw Pike came out to my farm and saw that rock. It's still there, as is the barn, which was built from Wormy Chestnut.
That wood really lasts. The huge timbers in the floor of Creekside are Chestnut, too. They're worth a tremendous amount of money, because Chestnut trees in the U.S. were wiped out by disease in the earlier days of America.
I'm glad the Lord has blessed me with having so much. I wish He'd now consider giving me the strength to care for it all as I wish to.
I haven't heard from Lynn. I don't know how her health is now. Steve has been lucky to have all his immediate family still. I don't know how he will deal with it when they begin to die, as we all will.
There was some younger man in the Truth who died week before last, according to an e-mail from Betty. I didn't know him, so I didn't send anything or go to the funeral.
An old school mate from Dante died last week....Gary Bell. They had lived across the creek from us when we were children. He was a really nice boy when we were growing up. He's had two brothers and his father preceed him in death. One was his twin, who we always called Runt.
I often think of some of the old neighbors in Dante. Many are still there. It seems like many of the Fine families are getting gone.
We're getting low on hay here, and it's good to see the longer days and the sunshine, which will grow some grass for the cows. I have two young bull calves that I need Ed Bowling to get to auction for me, while beef is high.
The peacocks are growing their tails and strutting, so mating for them is not far behind. I want to breed my Jave Green male to some hens. He's magnificent, and they bring a LOT of money.
Janie wants a peacock, but doesn't know if he'd last at her place. They make good watchdogs.
I can mimic a male calling and get mine to yelling. Well, I could before this throat pestilence.
I hate having to give up on singing. I used to love to sing along with BBN, a Christian radio channel. I don't have a song now. I can listen, though. And learn.
It will soon be time to mow. I'm not going to neglect the lawns at Clairemont this year. They still look bad from the scant service of last year. I'll have to take one day a week to work here this summer.
Janie and I are going to have a spring cleaning day, and probably a yard sale after it, to bring Clairemont back into shape and good form. It's a shame to neglect such a lovely home and grounds, which Steve and I both worked so hard to have.
The white Dodge truck, which is my favorite, is still not running right, and I'm going to have to have it towed or hauled on a roll-back to get it to someone to repair it. I'd like to get it to Gordon Treese, if he has the time to work on it. It's in the transmission or the 4-wheel drive works, but I have no idea what it is. It's a lot easier on fuel than the big red Dodge pick-up, and it has the enclosed camper, which is nice for hauling home my treasures found at Goodwills and yard sales.
Lakeshore Road has 18 miles of yard sales in the spring and fall, and I want to be ready for that this spring. Lynn said some time ago that she wants to come and go with me, but she'd better make a reservation. Janie and I are planning to go. We really should take a tractor-trailer rig.
I need to get busy with real work. I've been writing this for over an hour, and Steve must be thinking I'm having an on-line affair by now.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
January 31st PM
It's been a while sinse I've posted, so I'd better catch up.
Yesterday was the Grand Jury Trial for Penny and Randy. Penny plead guilty and got 5 years probation with irregular submission for drug testing, 125 hours of community service, court costs, and restitution to her victim (which will NEVER be paid). She was then placed (or kept) in cuffs to be sent to Jefferson County for trial there on charges of manufacturing meth.. I'd just LOVE to know what she was thinking while she was riding over to Jefferson County.
Randy was not ready to plead, so his trial was delayed for getting him ready for trial.
Stucco has left the work at Creekside again. He aledged that I owed him $1000.00 for the rest of the work he had done. I had already over-paid him, but Steve said to just give him the money and get rid of him. There's much less friction in the air now, and Janie and I are getting so much done by ourselves.
There was some problem up at the trailer with the heat, and Randy Newberry came to repair it. He then came to Creekside to collect his money, and got the 50-cent tour. He was very impressed with the progress Janie and I have made. He likes our taste, and is in awe of our abilities.
Steve decided that he didn't like the way the front door was hung, so he took it apart three days ago, and it's still not put back. It might never work right again. He's doing a lot of yelling about it.
I went into the crawl space to work this evening. It's a lot warmer and friendlier down there.
I'm nailing some supports at the junctions of joists, to tighten the floor up a bit. It was badly needed. some of the braces in the floor could be moved with the slightest pressure of your hand. I think they didn't spare any nails. I'm using 2X4 blocks and joist hangers....and LOTS of nails.
I've still not got all the insulation done down there. There's so many holes in that building, it's like a chicken coop.
Janie and I came up to Clairemont today and got a load of fire wood for the wood stove at Creekside. It was dry enough to take the truck down into the pasture, so it saved us from having to carry the wood up the hill by hand. We got quite a pile moved.
If we have cold weather now, we'll be ready for it.
I'm still losing hair, and my throat still sounds terrible. I don't know what to do.
Janie and I are contemplating a trip to Mayo Clinic in Florida soon. Maybe they can help me.
The Womack's dogs came the other day and killed Billy, our pet goat. They tore him all to pieces. I am so mad. Their dogs have caused so much grief for us. Billy was the oldest animal on our farm.
Yesterday was the Grand Jury Trial for Penny and Randy. Penny plead guilty and got 5 years probation with irregular submission for drug testing, 125 hours of community service, court costs, and restitution to her victim (which will NEVER be paid). She was then placed (or kept) in cuffs to be sent to Jefferson County for trial there on charges of manufacturing meth.. I'd just LOVE to know what she was thinking while she was riding over to Jefferson County.
Randy was not ready to plead, so his trial was delayed for getting him ready for trial.
Stucco has left the work at Creekside again. He aledged that I owed him $1000.00 for the rest of the work he had done. I had already over-paid him, but Steve said to just give him the money and get rid of him. There's much less friction in the air now, and Janie and I are getting so much done by ourselves.
There was some problem up at the trailer with the heat, and Randy Newberry came to repair it. He then came to Creekside to collect his money, and got the 50-cent tour. He was very impressed with the progress Janie and I have made. He likes our taste, and is in awe of our abilities.
Steve decided that he didn't like the way the front door was hung, so he took it apart three days ago, and it's still not put back. It might never work right again. He's doing a lot of yelling about it.
I went into the crawl space to work this evening. It's a lot warmer and friendlier down there.
I'm nailing some supports at the junctions of joists, to tighten the floor up a bit. It was badly needed. some of the braces in the floor could be moved with the slightest pressure of your hand. I think they didn't spare any nails. I'm using 2X4 blocks and joist hangers....and LOTS of nails.
I've still not got all the insulation done down there. There's so many holes in that building, it's like a chicken coop.
Janie and I came up to Clairemont today and got a load of fire wood for the wood stove at Creekside. It was dry enough to take the truck down into the pasture, so it saved us from having to carry the wood up the hill by hand. We got quite a pile moved.
If we have cold weather now, we'll be ready for it.
I'm still losing hair, and my throat still sounds terrible. I don't know what to do.
Janie and I are contemplating a trip to Mayo Clinic in Florida soon. Maybe they can help me.
The Womack's dogs came the other day and killed Billy, our pet goat. They tore him all to pieces. I am so mad. Their dogs have caused so much grief for us. Billy was the oldest animal on our farm.
Friday, January 27, 2012
First post in a long time
I haven't been posting because Steve won't fix my computer.
He wants meto use a new one he bought me some time ago, and I want to keep using this one. He won't update things for me, and I get bumped off-line all the time. I think he should be killed.
I've tried to post many times, but my long posts just get bumped off into cyber-land, and I never see them again.
My health is about the same, except for now, my hair is coming out in spades. I suppose all the stress and physical illness is causing me to go bald. I am so angry at this illness.
The work at Creekside just creeps along at a snail's pace. Janie and I seem to be the only one's who can walk fast, think, or make a decision. It keeps one of us after the men all the time, or nothing gets done.
We primed the dining and living rooms today, and they look fabulous! We used a beigey-yellowish primer for the dining room, as we plan to use gold wallpaper in there. We primed the living room with white, as we want that room a dusty antique desert rose color, with white wood work. It excited us to finally get to doing something others can actually see as progress.
Here at Clairemont, we had an incident with the Womack's dogs again. They chewed up our pet goat, Billy, so badly that we had to put him down. They had torn holes in him the size of grapefruits, and they had him down in the pond, perhaps to drown him. He was so muddy that I wasn't sure what kind of animal he was at first. I'm mad as blazes at the Womack's. They cut my fences to let their dogs come onto my property and kill my livestock. This has been an on-going problem for several years, and nothing seems to stop it.
I'm also angry at Stucco. He keeps raising the amount I owe him to complete his contract at Creekside, and I'm tired of paying him just what-ever he wants. He agreed that he would not ask for any money until the contract work was finished, then he has asked for money almost every week, and sometimes more than once in a week. I had warned him that he would not have any money left if he kept getting it all along, but he 'needed' it.
He is still wanting several hundred dollars more than he had told me he was owed a week ago.
I'm afraid it will ruin our friendship.
I worry too much,
I'm going to try to schedule an appointment to go to Mayo Clinic, but Steve will probably jinx my computer so that I can't fill out all the applications.
I need to find out what all is wrong with me, and get it fixed or just go ahead and die with it.
I can't stand this much longer.
He wants meto use a new one he bought me some time ago, and I want to keep using this one. He won't update things for me, and I get bumped off-line all the time. I think he should be killed.
I've tried to post many times, but my long posts just get bumped off into cyber-land, and I never see them again.
My health is about the same, except for now, my hair is coming out in spades. I suppose all the stress and physical illness is causing me to go bald. I am so angry at this illness.
The work at Creekside just creeps along at a snail's pace. Janie and I seem to be the only one's who can walk fast, think, or make a decision. It keeps one of us after the men all the time, or nothing gets done.
We primed the dining and living rooms today, and they look fabulous! We used a beigey-yellowish primer for the dining room, as we plan to use gold wallpaper in there. We primed the living room with white, as we want that room a dusty antique desert rose color, with white wood work. It excited us to finally get to doing something others can actually see as progress.
Here at Clairemont, we had an incident with the Womack's dogs again. They chewed up our pet goat, Billy, so badly that we had to put him down. They had torn holes in him the size of grapefruits, and they had him down in the pond, perhaps to drown him. He was so muddy that I wasn't sure what kind of animal he was at first. I'm mad as blazes at the Womack's. They cut my fences to let their dogs come onto my property and kill my livestock. This has been an on-going problem for several years, and nothing seems to stop it.
I'm also angry at Stucco. He keeps raising the amount I owe him to complete his contract at Creekside, and I'm tired of paying him just what-ever he wants. He agreed that he would not ask for any money until the contract work was finished, then he has asked for money almost every week, and sometimes more than once in a week. I had warned him that he would not have any money left if he kept getting it all along, but he 'needed' it.
He is still wanting several hundred dollars more than he had told me he was owed a week ago.
I'm afraid it will ruin our friendship.
I worry too much,
I'm going to try to schedule an appointment to go to Mayo Clinic, but Steve will probably jinx my computer so that I can't fill out all the applications.
I need to find out what all is wrong with me, and get it fixed or just go ahead and die with it.
I can't stand this much longer.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012 AM
I had another of those 'sleeping migraines' yesterday. Steve said that I slept 12 hours. I just can't stay awake during those times, and if I get up, I throw up. I guess it's just my body telling me to rest, but it happens at some unhandy times.
It started snowing yesterday, and, this morning, we have a white yard. The roads look like they're clear, but I'd say there will be no school in Grainger County. They call off the schools for some of the oddest reasons.
Stucco and Guy have not been back to work at Creekside. It's been two weeks now. I don't know if Cherokee knows where Stucco is. She came by one night last week, and told Janie and me that she didn't know where he was then, and there's no sign that things have changed.
Steve is upset that Stucco left with one window unfinished. One whold side of the house is covered with scaffolding, needed to finish the trim on that one window, and it looks like a major work project, when it's only one window.
Junior, the man that Janie brought to work for us, is pretty good with his hands, but his mind is damaged from Agent Orange, and you have to keep a constant eye on him. He can't remember instructions from one minute to the next. He's always sorry when he messes up, and keeps telling me he's so grateful that I'm patient with him.
Things are still going slowly, but they're going.
I'm sleepy again, so I'm going back to bed for a few minutes.
It started snowing yesterday, and, this morning, we have a white yard. The roads look like they're clear, but I'd say there will be no school in Grainger County. They call off the schools for some of the oddest reasons.
Stucco and Guy have not been back to work at Creekside. It's been two weeks now. I don't know if Cherokee knows where Stucco is. She came by one night last week, and told Janie and me that she didn't know where he was then, and there's no sign that things have changed.
Steve is upset that Stucco left with one window unfinished. One whold side of the house is covered with scaffolding, needed to finish the trim on that one window, and it looks like a major work project, when it's only one window.
Junior, the man that Janie brought to work for us, is pretty good with his hands, but his mind is damaged from Agent Orange, and you have to keep a constant eye on him. He can't remember instructions from one minute to the next. He's always sorry when he messes up, and keeps telling me he's so grateful that I'm patient with him.
Things are still going slowly, but they're going.
I'm sleepy again, so I'm going back to bed for a few minutes.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 AM
I have a few minutes more this morning, as it's so foggy you can't see more than a few feet in front of yourself. I can begin my (outdoor) duties a little later this morning.
My feet and legs are so sore this morning. Janie and I built some shelves yesterday, which are in the cellar at Creekside, and I carried nails and screws down the stairs to stack on them. I feel like I've been marching all night. Steve said that I 'twitched' a lot more than usual.
We need to get a lot done today, too, as rain and cold weather is coming tomorrow, and we want everything ready for that.
Steve finally finished the installation of the new water heater in the west end of the crawl space.
I will now need to build a 'room' for it under the house, as it will need to be kept in a fairly well-insulated space. It will serve the two baths on the west end of the house. It's the one we got on a special sale at Lowe's in Jefferson City a few weeks ago. He drilled holes in the floor joists to run the pipes through, to get them up off the ground where they had been, and so that the floor insulation would also insulate the pipes as they run along under the house. I still have the floors in that part of the house to insulate. I'll use a lot of those foam rubber mattresses that I bought at Habitat for that purpose. It's LOT nicer than fiberglass in a tight, dark area.
I used some re-purposed laminate flooring insulation to line the south-facing wall of the downstairs west bathroom. That is the coldest bathroom in the house, and I think it's because it's got all those concrete stucco walls. I climbed up on a ladder, used some roofing nails to hang the insulation, and used some caulk for adhesive to secure the insulation to the walls all the way to the floor. There's a noticable difference in the temperature of that room. Janie noticed it right away when she came to work on Monday. She thinks my little money-saving ideas are neat, and she says she's learned a lot from me.
She was surprised at how simple it was for us to build those shelves. It is nice to have the floor space on the ground floor where all those nails were stored before.
We discussed taking some paving stones from Clairemont up to Creekside to pave the floor of the cellar. This conversation came about because Steve had a plumbing leak that flooded the floor of the cellar, making it look something like the French Broad River. We think it will make a good walking surface that also keeps us up out of the mud, should there ever be another plumbing disaster...and there will. I also hate walking on dirt floors in a house.
Janie and I are pretty close to getting the library ready for paint. It's going to take a lot to cover the maroon that some tasteless person had slathered all over the walls and baseboards in that room. We SO want to get just one room totally finished. We are also close to getting the upstairs west bath finished. Steve has to make some small repair in the overhead light, and we have to come up with a vanity top, and it will be finished, except for curtains on the windows.
The upstairs sunroom still has to have baseboards, window and door trim, overhead lights installed (which I have), and curtains.
Of course, all of the older part of the house will still have to have the floors sanded and re-finished. I don't know when we will get to leveling and re-working the floor of the downstairs sun room.
I talked with Dorothy and Robert Reagan yesterday at lunch at the Down Home, and Robert mentioned that Randy Reagan was his nephew. They encouraged me to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law. Robert told me that they were, in the past, afraid that he would break into their home while they might be out to the grocery store. They said that they didn't want to live on the same road as he did.
Anna Vee Phillips told me several weeks ago that I should prosecute him, as other victims of his actions might not have the money to do so, or might not know how to go about it. I have assured everyone that I will prosecute him, and that he will serve every minute of his sentence this time.
I've been spending a lot of time late in the evenings (after the workers are gone) insulating the pipes under the floor. Steve has a lot of new connections and pipes, and I don't want them to freeze. I'm amazed at how many pipes there are to provide hot and cold water to a house that size. It takes a lot of patience, and a good working knowledge of bandaging comes in handy.
The bends and turns are the hardest part of the job. I need ace bandages.
We have a lot of heat tape, but Steve is afraid to use it. I just keep on wrapping.
There's still lots of concrete rubble and rock to remove from under the house, to make room for more work there, and to keep it from drawing moisture. Some of the wood remnants are mostly eaten away by insects, termites, and rot. I burn them, as I don't know what may still be living inside. The rock is used to fill the low end of the yard, with the smaller stones kept for our driveway at Clairemont where there are low places that become muddy.
Janie and I need to come back to Clairemont today with all the blow mold, unload it from the trailer, put it in the barn loft, and then load the trailer with paving stones, which we will then take to Creekside, carry down into the basement, and install on the basement floor. Sounds like a lot of fun, I know, but someone has to do it. And I'm someone.
Janie is so good at pitching in to help with just about any project.
She's good as gold.
The pestilence in my respiratory system is still keeping my immune system wrecked. Some days, I sound terrible, but some days, I don't sound too badly. I feel terrible almost all the time, and I constantly keep the symptoms of cold and flu. I have began to feel that I will die from this disease. No one is able to diagnose or treat it. I've had it for a year this month. My throat feels like I've swallowed needles, I'm weak, I'm tired all the time, my stomach hurts if I eat, and I'm passing small amounts of blood almost every day. My sinuses run all the time, I have bad headaches, and my tinitusis in overdrive.
I feel a need to get things finished.
My feet and legs are so sore this morning. Janie and I built some shelves yesterday, which are in the cellar at Creekside, and I carried nails and screws down the stairs to stack on them. I feel like I've been marching all night. Steve said that I 'twitched' a lot more than usual.
We need to get a lot done today, too, as rain and cold weather is coming tomorrow, and we want everything ready for that.
Steve finally finished the installation of the new water heater in the west end of the crawl space.
I will now need to build a 'room' for it under the house, as it will need to be kept in a fairly well-insulated space. It will serve the two baths on the west end of the house. It's the one we got on a special sale at Lowe's in Jefferson City a few weeks ago. He drilled holes in the floor joists to run the pipes through, to get them up off the ground where they had been, and so that the floor insulation would also insulate the pipes as they run along under the house. I still have the floors in that part of the house to insulate. I'll use a lot of those foam rubber mattresses that I bought at Habitat for that purpose. It's LOT nicer than fiberglass in a tight, dark area.
I used some re-purposed laminate flooring insulation to line the south-facing wall of the downstairs west bathroom. That is the coldest bathroom in the house, and I think it's because it's got all those concrete stucco walls. I climbed up on a ladder, used some roofing nails to hang the insulation, and used some caulk for adhesive to secure the insulation to the walls all the way to the floor. There's a noticable difference in the temperature of that room. Janie noticed it right away when she came to work on Monday. She thinks my little money-saving ideas are neat, and she says she's learned a lot from me.
She was surprised at how simple it was for us to build those shelves. It is nice to have the floor space on the ground floor where all those nails were stored before.
We discussed taking some paving stones from Clairemont up to Creekside to pave the floor of the cellar. This conversation came about because Steve had a plumbing leak that flooded the floor of the cellar, making it look something like the French Broad River. We think it will make a good walking surface that also keeps us up out of the mud, should there ever be another plumbing disaster...and there will. I also hate walking on dirt floors in a house.
Janie and I are pretty close to getting the library ready for paint. It's going to take a lot to cover the maroon that some tasteless person had slathered all over the walls and baseboards in that room. We SO want to get just one room totally finished. We are also close to getting the upstairs west bath finished. Steve has to make some small repair in the overhead light, and we have to come up with a vanity top, and it will be finished, except for curtains on the windows.
The upstairs sunroom still has to have baseboards, window and door trim, overhead lights installed (which I have), and curtains.
Of course, all of the older part of the house will still have to have the floors sanded and re-finished. I don't know when we will get to leveling and re-working the floor of the downstairs sun room.
I talked with Dorothy and Robert Reagan yesterday at lunch at the Down Home, and Robert mentioned that Randy Reagan was his nephew. They encouraged me to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law. Robert told me that they were, in the past, afraid that he would break into their home while they might be out to the grocery store. They said that they didn't want to live on the same road as he did.
Anna Vee Phillips told me several weeks ago that I should prosecute him, as other victims of his actions might not have the money to do so, or might not know how to go about it. I have assured everyone that I will prosecute him, and that he will serve every minute of his sentence this time.
I've been spending a lot of time late in the evenings (after the workers are gone) insulating the pipes under the floor. Steve has a lot of new connections and pipes, and I don't want them to freeze. I'm amazed at how many pipes there are to provide hot and cold water to a house that size. It takes a lot of patience, and a good working knowledge of bandaging comes in handy.
The bends and turns are the hardest part of the job. I need ace bandages.
We have a lot of heat tape, but Steve is afraid to use it. I just keep on wrapping.
There's still lots of concrete rubble and rock to remove from under the house, to make room for more work there, and to keep it from drawing moisture. Some of the wood remnants are mostly eaten away by insects, termites, and rot. I burn them, as I don't know what may still be living inside. The rock is used to fill the low end of the yard, with the smaller stones kept for our driveway at Clairemont where there are low places that become muddy.
Janie and I need to come back to Clairemont today with all the blow mold, unload it from the trailer, put it in the barn loft, and then load the trailer with paving stones, which we will then take to Creekside, carry down into the basement, and install on the basement floor. Sounds like a lot of fun, I know, but someone has to do it. And I'm someone.
Janie is so good at pitching in to help with just about any project.
She's good as gold.
The pestilence in my respiratory system is still keeping my immune system wrecked. Some days, I sound terrible, but some days, I don't sound too badly. I feel terrible almost all the time, and I constantly keep the symptoms of cold and flu. I have began to feel that I will die from this disease. No one is able to diagnose or treat it. I've had it for a year this month. My throat feels like I've swallowed needles, I'm weak, I'm tired all the time, my stomach hurts if I eat, and I'm passing small amounts of blood almost every day. My sinuses run all the time, I have bad headaches, and my tinitusis in overdrive.
I feel a need to get things finished.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Friday, Early AM
I haven't been on my blog much lately, because my computer has been 'out of whack', and Steve won't fix it.
I'm going to hire someone to come and fix it.
Steve and I both have become so disillusioned with the very slow progress at Creekside, so we decided to have everyone (except Janie) take this past week off. We figured Janie and I could clean, sort, and catch up with the work that the men are doing.
We haven't really done as much as we had wished for, gut we have made a lot of progress.
Janie brought a neighbor friend of hers to help with the heavy lifting, and he has been a lot of help.
Steve has mostly conscripted him to re-hang doors and trim windows, and he's doing really good work. He's a disabled veteran from the Vietnam war, and has some mental and psychological problems (he can't be around many people at the same time), but his work is good.
He got the kitchen and cellar doors straightened out and level, and has trimmed the dining room windows, and he's only worked two days. Most of our time is spent looking for various pieces of lumber and the assorted tools he needs. He's warming up to us, and we're glad to have him.
Janie and I were talking with him yesterday afternoon, and someone mentioned that there were so many Baptists around here. He said that he had once been one, but was not now. When I asked what he is now, he said he was Apostolic. He REALLY warmed to me when I told him I was once Apostolic, myself. Now we have more common ground to talk on.
It's been cold, so Steve loaded a truck with fire wood and brought it to Creekside one day this week. That wood stove has made a tremendous change in the comfort level. We've tightened up that house so much, but it's still needing some more work, and it's a lot of square footage to heat. It seems like someone is always having to put some wood in the stove. It's supposed to be a bit warmer today and the next few days, so there will be a little less work.
Janie and I have finished the floor in the upstairs sunroom, and it's turned out beautifully. We still have the closet to floor, but it's a small area. We used engineered flooring, which is like thin plywood that has a wood finish on it. You have to put it down board by board, but it makes a very pretty floor. We took so long to get it done because we're constantly inturrupted by other projects and trips for supplies.
We discovered during the job that I had bought the wrong kind of adhesive. I always use latex base, because of the easy clean-up. But this time, I had got five gallons of mineral base. By the time we discovered my mistake, Janie had sat on the lid (upside down) and stuck it to the seat of her pants. We got it everywhere that we didn't want it. Clean up was a chore, but we got it all cleaned up and got back to work. We are both really proud of the floor.
Mary Douglass came by yesterday afternoon, and she is pleased that we're getting so much done. She's always said that Creekside would work me to death. It's not finished yet, so there's still a chance.
Steve said that Clarence Singleton was by to see me yesterday. He must be feeling better. He's had a terrible time with a former hip injury lately, and I worry about him and his well-being. I've tried to assure him that he's always welcome, and I'm sorry I missed him. Janie and I were out getting supplies.
Yesterday was a clear, crisp day, not too cold. If it weren't for all the mud, it would be a good time for yard work.
In spite of the work we're getting done at Creekside, there's still a LOT more to do.
Steve is currently running the water lines to the new water heater which will serve the west end of the house. There are two baths there. The old water heater, which was in the house when we bought it, will serve the east area, which will have two baths, the kitchen, and the laundry area.
Both are quick-recovery. The house was formerly served by only one water heater, and I'll bet there were a few cool showers. The new idea for two water heaters will eliminate running the water for a while to get it hot. I guess I'll get to go under the house to insulate the pipes. He's used pex, which is supposed to be cutting edge in water lines nowadays.
Janie and I are trying to come up with ideas to re-do the downstairs sun-room bath. It's a truely awkward room, with lots of wasted space, and it just doesn't 'flow'. The walls are concrete, which is very limiting, with tall windows, which is frustrating. It also now has the door facing a major living area, which I don't like. I'd rather have a small hallway with perhaps a closet at the end. We are thinking it over before we jump into it.
I offered Steve my sun room package that's been setting out in the back yard for a year to use to replace the back porch. I think it would be valuable space, and definately good for solar gain. It's all metal and glass, except for the floor, and it would be lots cheaper and less work than a stick-built room or porch. It's twelve by 32, so it would add a lot of year-round living space, and tremendous value to the house. It has it's own air conditioning and heating unit. Sometimes it's hard to get him to see the logic in my ideas.
I saw a little couple yesterday in Jefferson City that live here, and they are (like myself) addicted to yard sales, Goodwills, and re-sale stores. The man said he has some building materials, and he always thinks of me first. He has sold me lots of useful items in the past, and he's really low in his prices, so I was glad to bump into them. Janie said to turn her onto any I didn't want.
Janie and Pete are getting ready to change their siding and put up an outbuilding, and she's avidly collecting any building materials she can get her hands on. I gave them a set of roof trusses for Christmas, and I told her we could go through some lumber I have stashed away to see if there might be anything she could use. I've already promised her some facia stone. I don't have enough to do much with, but she's going to use it under her eat-in counter in her kitchen. There's enough for that. We love invisioning all our improvements together. Her husband, Pete, is disabled with some heart issues, but he putters around the house for her, and comes up with some fantastic ideas. He (like both of us) hates waste, and he will re-wire, put in handles, paint, and re-work just about anything until he's got it useful again. He restores antique cars, and he's a perfectionist with finishes and moving parts. They are a really neat couple.
Steve and I didn't do anything special for Christmas or New Year's. Both days, we worked at Creekside alone. I like it when we're there alone working. He's usually off somewhere else, but I hear his noises. There's not so much confusion when it's only us.
We usually wind up working alone late at night when everyone else is gone for the day. It feels cozy.
I'm going to hire someone to come and fix it.
Steve and I both have become so disillusioned with the very slow progress at Creekside, so we decided to have everyone (except Janie) take this past week off. We figured Janie and I could clean, sort, and catch up with the work that the men are doing.
We haven't really done as much as we had wished for, gut we have made a lot of progress.
Janie brought a neighbor friend of hers to help with the heavy lifting, and he has been a lot of help.
Steve has mostly conscripted him to re-hang doors and trim windows, and he's doing really good work. He's a disabled veteran from the Vietnam war, and has some mental and psychological problems (he can't be around many people at the same time), but his work is good.
He got the kitchen and cellar doors straightened out and level, and has trimmed the dining room windows, and he's only worked two days. Most of our time is spent looking for various pieces of lumber and the assorted tools he needs. He's warming up to us, and we're glad to have him.
Janie and I were talking with him yesterday afternoon, and someone mentioned that there were so many Baptists around here. He said that he had once been one, but was not now. When I asked what he is now, he said he was Apostolic. He REALLY warmed to me when I told him I was once Apostolic, myself. Now we have more common ground to talk on.
It's been cold, so Steve loaded a truck with fire wood and brought it to Creekside one day this week. That wood stove has made a tremendous change in the comfort level. We've tightened up that house so much, but it's still needing some more work, and it's a lot of square footage to heat. It seems like someone is always having to put some wood in the stove. It's supposed to be a bit warmer today and the next few days, so there will be a little less work.
Janie and I have finished the floor in the upstairs sunroom, and it's turned out beautifully. We still have the closet to floor, but it's a small area. We used engineered flooring, which is like thin plywood that has a wood finish on it. You have to put it down board by board, but it makes a very pretty floor. We took so long to get it done because we're constantly inturrupted by other projects and trips for supplies.
We discovered during the job that I had bought the wrong kind of adhesive. I always use latex base, because of the easy clean-up. But this time, I had got five gallons of mineral base. By the time we discovered my mistake, Janie had sat on the lid (upside down) and stuck it to the seat of her pants. We got it everywhere that we didn't want it. Clean up was a chore, but we got it all cleaned up and got back to work. We are both really proud of the floor.
Mary Douglass came by yesterday afternoon, and she is pleased that we're getting so much done. She's always said that Creekside would work me to death. It's not finished yet, so there's still a chance.
Steve said that Clarence Singleton was by to see me yesterday. He must be feeling better. He's had a terrible time with a former hip injury lately, and I worry about him and his well-being. I've tried to assure him that he's always welcome, and I'm sorry I missed him. Janie and I were out getting supplies.
Yesterday was a clear, crisp day, not too cold. If it weren't for all the mud, it would be a good time for yard work.
In spite of the work we're getting done at Creekside, there's still a LOT more to do.
Steve is currently running the water lines to the new water heater which will serve the west end of the house. There are two baths there. The old water heater, which was in the house when we bought it, will serve the east area, which will have two baths, the kitchen, and the laundry area.
Both are quick-recovery. The house was formerly served by only one water heater, and I'll bet there were a few cool showers. The new idea for two water heaters will eliminate running the water for a while to get it hot. I guess I'll get to go under the house to insulate the pipes. He's used pex, which is supposed to be cutting edge in water lines nowadays.
Janie and I are trying to come up with ideas to re-do the downstairs sun-room bath. It's a truely awkward room, with lots of wasted space, and it just doesn't 'flow'. The walls are concrete, which is very limiting, with tall windows, which is frustrating. It also now has the door facing a major living area, which I don't like. I'd rather have a small hallway with perhaps a closet at the end. We are thinking it over before we jump into it.
I offered Steve my sun room package that's been setting out in the back yard for a year to use to replace the back porch. I think it would be valuable space, and definately good for solar gain. It's all metal and glass, except for the floor, and it would be lots cheaper and less work than a stick-built room or porch. It's twelve by 32, so it would add a lot of year-round living space, and tremendous value to the house. It has it's own air conditioning and heating unit. Sometimes it's hard to get him to see the logic in my ideas.
I saw a little couple yesterday in Jefferson City that live here, and they are (like myself) addicted to yard sales, Goodwills, and re-sale stores. The man said he has some building materials, and he always thinks of me first. He has sold me lots of useful items in the past, and he's really low in his prices, so I was glad to bump into them. Janie said to turn her onto any I didn't want.
Janie and Pete are getting ready to change their siding and put up an outbuilding, and she's avidly collecting any building materials she can get her hands on. I gave them a set of roof trusses for Christmas, and I told her we could go through some lumber I have stashed away to see if there might be anything she could use. I've already promised her some facia stone. I don't have enough to do much with, but she's going to use it under her eat-in counter in her kitchen. There's enough for that. We love invisioning all our improvements together. Her husband, Pete, is disabled with some heart issues, but he putters around the house for her, and comes up with some fantastic ideas. He (like both of us) hates waste, and he will re-wire, put in handles, paint, and re-work just about anything until he's got it useful again. He restores antique cars, and he's a perfectionist with finishes and moving parts. They are a really neat couple.
Steve and I didn't do anything special for Christmas or New Year's. Both days, we worked at Creekside alone. I like it when we're there alone working. He's usually off somewhere else, but I hear his noises. There's not so much confusion when it's only us.
We usually wind up working alone late at night when everyone else is gone for the day. It feels cozy.
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