Month: March 2022

The joys of a real house.

03/13/2022 (started 3/09) Here we are, over a month from the last blog post and a LOT has happened. I’m not blogging because I have nothing to say, I’m just dead tired every day. ALSO. We don’t have WiFi. YET. I used to use my phone as a Hotspot but lately, I am unable to do that. Bill has me USB tethered to my laptop from my phone and I do file uploads and it’s all confusing as hell, during my trying to upload photos and resize them, I deleted them ALL. After they were all ready to go. It’s a damn nightmare and I hate it, several times tonight I’ve said I had it, screw the blog. I’m done. Bill to the rescue. Anyone who enjoys reading this babble can thank Bill. It’s only here because he knows I get insane.

With Bill having been sick and extremely run down, we had to take things slow. A speed I’m not familiar with. Aaron did come and take the 2 trees down, however, they didn’t deliver the house for another week because they are a miserable company to deal with. Promises, promises, no returned phone calls or emails, it was like pulling teeth. It has not improved.

Aaron and his son Colt in the blue hard hat. What a cool kid, he admires and emulates his father like crazy.

On 2/7 they said they were delivering part of the house the next day. We got to the property early that day and they had both parts of the house there, except, the first part was stuck 1/5 of the way up the driveway. They got off the stones and were in the mud. IDIOTS. Bill was not feeling great yet so he suggested I take the dogs and walk up the driveway so I could take photos of them bringing the house up. IT TOOK THEM 2 HOURS. At one point I was sure the house was going down the driveway backwards or that it was breaking in half. Finally, the house was up.

FOOLS
They had so many trucks trying to pull this. I really don’t know where all the trucks came from.
Yet another. This one ended up parked at the top of the drive.
This random truck pulled it up.
I was sure the porch was going to break off.
The second part was easy. Got it up on the first try.

One of the guys got a head start and floored it, he made it up the first try. Next they had to set the house on the foundation.

It took a crew of guys and equipment from Tuesday through Friday to set the house. We were here every day for that, it was sooo boring. We moved Walt down by the shop because I didn’t want to look at a potential meth lab (Walter White, Breaking Bad) while luxuriating in my tub in front of the 2 huge windows with no blinds.

While we were still at the cabin I left for some antiquing BY MYSELF. It was the first I had gone somewhere without the dogs since the first of the year. I found 2 antique stores, one was great and the other a trash hole. This is obvi the first place. They had so much stuff, I need to go back.
The second place looked like somewhere that a neighborhood dropped all of the stuff that was leftover from the huge neighborhood yard sale, 11 years ago. When I saw the full litterbox I turned around and left. That was gross. A litter box is one thing but geez Louise, clean the damn poop up. It must have killed the doll too.
This car was so full when we left the cabin. This was the morning of the 17th (would have been my Dad’s 101st birthday). There were actually 4 dogs and 2 humans in here too. GASP. We forgot the poop scoop and had to turn around and go back for it.

We were bound and determined to sleep in the house that night. We had a working fridge and running water and heat. We had to switch out the stove and dishwasher because I didn’t like the ones that “came with the package”. I wanted a dual fuel range (gas top, electric oven) and a totally stainless dishwasher. Bill eventually installed both.

Master bath, and yes, I believe that is PVC pipes laying outside of the window.
The Roatan Rescue dogs racetrack. It gets crazy sometimes.
The MUD room. Bill takes this word literally. He seriously thinks you are SUPPOSED to bring mud in to this room. At one point he had 6 pair of shoes there. ALL MUDDY. It’s a disaster. Tools, dog stuff, fleece leggings, gloves.
Nose Art Masters, L to R Gringo, Barrio, Highway, Max.

We spent the night there on a mattress on the floor. With 4 dogs who were really confused. They left their home on the island and moved to the Sonoran Desert. Then they travel cross country and sleep in a meth lab and poop and pee in strange places. Then they move to 31 acres and get to run and play but still live in a meth lab. Then they move to a motel, a cabin and finally, another house. And you know what, they just go with the flow.

I ran to the local IGA market one day for a few things. Looking ever so much like my usual fishwife self. I was standing in line, minding my own business. The man in front of me was buying a small bag of carrots. There was another man standing there chatting with him. I was NOT paying attention to either of them, I was probably trying to make myself believe I wasn’t really there. Anyhow, I heard someone say, “Do you like ’em?” Huh? I asked, “You talking to me?” The guy not in line says, “yeah, you like Pinto beans?” What in the ever-loving hell is he talking about? I said, “No, not really, I like green string beans.” He said, “Oh, they’re really good if you cook ’em up in some bacon grease.” I think I may have been gagging. I just shook my head and said to myself, only me.

So, the day we moved in, the finisher guy came. His name was Kenneth. He worked from Thursday through the following Wed. He was a super nice guy, we really enjoyed having him around. He was chill with the dogs and with the fact there was a stove in a box in the dining room and a dishwasher or 2, and, another stove in the kitchen. He never got frustrated with us.

Bill and I started moving stuff up from the shop using the tractor bucket. It was damn hard work, especially with him recovering from pneumonia. We did it though, and aside from a few appliances, we didn’t have any help. We almost dropped the brand new freezer. Bill had it in the bucket of the tractor, I was inside the laundry room trying to get it sitting on the floor but it wasn’t happening. We thought we were going to lose it, but somehow we managed to get it in. Phew.

We would move several loads in, then we brought the boxes in and emptied them. Then the stuff had to be put away. This photo was taken around noon.
It was bad.
I was a woman with a mission. By 5 PM I had the kitchen cleaned up. I didn’t know where anything was, but it was put away.
Clean. Organized. I like no clutter and everything has a place. Just like my father. My brother and oldest son are the same way. My sister is super neat and organized too but so is her husband so that doesn’t count.
Kenneth worked around this daily.
I got my glassware out and GUESS WHAT? I bought too much. So unlike me. I either need another shelf or I have to remember to get bubble wrap and put duplicates away.
These lights aren’t the original ones. I didn’t like them and bought something simple for now. Bill hung them while I was taking my car to get a factory recall fixed.
The boys have their chairs. I think this helps them to feel at home. These chairs have been theirs since Az in 2019. They are pretty much the only furniture we didn’t sell with the house.
Max is sitting in the dining room area. The chandelier is history too, getting a fan.
I rarely have a photo without a dog in it.

The living room and dining room furniture were delivered the Saturday after Kenneth left. They brought 4 of the wrong chairs and had to bring the correct ones the following weekend, but we had 2 stools. Prior to that, we were standing to eat at the island. Sitting is under-rated.

Highway and Gringo sharing a chair.
I hope he’s not waiting for me to serve him. After 30+ years he should know better.

Bill and I continued to move box after box in by ourselves. Some days I could hardly move at the end of the day and it was really kicking Bill’s ass.

I should have saved some bubble wrap to put some of my glasses away.
So much cardboard.
It was a daily mess that drove me crazy, I can’t stand things to be helter skelter. Many days I walked 6 miles, mostly in the house putting away stuff.

I have lost 15#’s, which is awesome, but I contribute it not to diet but to the fact I haven’t stopped moving for a while.

We made one last push and brought all that was left in the shop. Once again, it was a nightmare. The back of my car has boxes for donation.
97% of this is all put away. Well, except the craft/office room.
We still don’t have mattresses for the guest rooms, soon we will.
Seriously, they’ll NEVER be clean.
My friend sent me this as a housewarming gift. We love it, thank you Pam!

The other morning we were cleaning up the dogs feet and getting them back in the house when we noticed something all over the walls. At first, I thought it was dirt but quickly realized it was blood from Barrio’s tail. He’s big on whirlwind tail wagging and it looked like a meatpacking plant in our mudroom area, there was blood all over the walls, the door trim, everywhere. I got bandage stuff out and we wrapped it up. The bandage came right off. We tried a few more times and were finally able to keep one on. I called the vet and he said there’s not much you can do, it will heal.

We think because it’s wrapped with pink that Highway is confused as he is constantly trying to hump poor Barrio. I should have used blue. This stayed on for 3 days, we would clean it at night and rewrap. Sometimes we would get done wrapping it, he would get up, wag his tail and the bandage would shoot across the room like it was launched. It’s all healed now.

We had a real scare with Highway. He’s been hacking, gagging. Our vet here said he was cleaning his anal glands and it irritates his throat. He was ok after they were expressed but he got worse. One day he was really bad, Bill had already made an appt with a vet out of town. He called that night to see if he could bring Highway right away. He was not looking good, his eyes were not there and he was running a fever and shivering. Bill drove him 45 min to the vet. She did all kinds of tests on him and really found nothing, She wanted to Xray him the next day. We could either let him there or go back in the morning. Bill decided to bring him home. He was lethargic. At 3 in the morning, Bill woke me, he thought Highway was dying. We had the boys come in to him but they were weirded out and didn’t want to get near. We were both a mess. The next morning Highway wakes up almost back to normal. He ate his brekkie, ran out to potty, was feeling pretty good. Bill took him back for the X-ray. They think it was/is pneumonia. Irritating because she didn’t know if it was contagious. He’s on antibiotics, feels fine, acting normal but still hacking and now Max is hacking every now and then. This does not make me happy.

My new vino glass. I got 2 blue stemmed, 2 red, yellow and green, non stemmed of these glasses. They are nice and sturdy so I decided they were my new wine glasses. I love the colors!
It’s like electric kool-aid wine.
The boys and I walked to the pond the other morning. Max rolled in some unknown poop that Barrio tried to eat. I am so grossed out by these boys daily. I told my friend Teri, who has their Momma, Frito, to tell Frito her boys are bad. Later the same night Gringo started puking in the living room, got him outside quickly and he puked up his whole dinner and a ton of deer poop.
We weren’t mentally ready to hang our wall stuff but got so tired of moving it around that we hung most of it today.
Crap, that light looks crooked. (Bill fixed it.)
So much in this photo needs put away.

Last night (11th) was the first since Feb 17th that I have not slept on a mattress on the floor. It was glorious.

The weather has been pretty nice except when it rains, but it’s not freezing. However, Friday night it got down to 20 and snow was predicted.

Out the kitchen window.
I was anxious to get the boys out before the snow melted so we went for a hike at 7:30. It was sooo cold and the wind was blowing. This pic is walking down the driveway. Our favorite spot is between the trees in the distance. There is a huge field there and a pond on one end of it.
Gringo was supercharged, he zoomed all over the place.
I love fresh snow.
Max is a snow dog.
Barrio on the left and Highway and Max in the trees.

Unfortunately, the snow has mostly melted leaving us with MUD. Again.

Work continues on the house, gutter guy comes Tuesday, then once we get the block work down around the perimeter we can backfill and start getting ready for a yard and a dog fence, We really need a fenced area to let them out at night. There are usually deer in the field and they will chase them until they’re in Ohio. A fence will be coming soon or I will be one unhappy person.

Stay tuned, lots to come in the hopefully near future. Thanks for reading. XOXO

Eclectic Twist

Design And Live Outside the Lines