Thursday, June 25, 2009

I'm on Strike! or just Queen of the Procrastinators

I just haven't been able to get motivated to do much of anything today. Yesterday my friend (and former college roomie) came over to highlight my hair. I'd not accomplished much in the morning - oh, I got a few boxes packed - hair & visiting took up the afternoon and even though it was pretty nice out last night I stayed locked in the house with the air conditioning running... more to combat the humidity than the heat.

Today... I couldn't believe that we slept in... it was after 10:00 when we rolled out of bed. I called Spencer, knowing he had today off, to see if he wanted to have lunch (well of course, he did!). A quick trip to WalMart for some little lock things Jerry needed & back home into the air conditioned house. I've been sitting here all afternoon staring periodically at the mess of boxes & stuff in the kitchen while piddling around on FACEBOOK hoping the boxes would somehow fill themselves. I guess I just need a good swift kick in the pants to get me going. Better not say that too loudly or Jerry will be following me around with boots on!

I think I can get the remaining two boxes filled without any problem, fill a cooler with a few food items (not cold/frozen stuff), sweep, vacuum, dust, wipe down counters, clean the sinks, tub & toilet & feel pretty good about walking out of here tomorrow (if Jerry gets the trailer packed sometime soon?). I'm just ready to get out of this sweltering sauna and back to the cool morning sunrises, the star-filled nights of the mountain, the howl of the coyotes... oh, yes...and back to work on the cabin! It ain't gonna finish itself now is it?

(Not sure who "we" is in this picture... but "I" can do it!)

A sad day....



Today we say farewell to Farrah Fawcett... best known for her role in "Charlie's Angels" and the red swimsuit poster that graced the walls of teenage boys around the world!



Also just heard that Michael Jackson has died at the age of 50. The only MJ album I ever had was "Thriller"... and I played it until it wore out!

May they rest in peace.........

Monday, June 22, 2009

Stinkin' hot & humid weather.... UGH!


We surprised friends Friday nite at a street fair here in town (saw one of Jerry's boys - twice that day)... Saturday we drove to Kansas to surprise my mom on her 75th birthday -- and the 50th wedding anniversary of cousins and Father's Day... then on back to Nebraska to surprise Jerry's dad for Father's Day. Today we saw two of Jerry's boys... had two meals within 4 hours. We're stuffed & tired! One more of Jerry's boys to see... and maybe we'll see Spencer too??

Anyway... the weather here is ABSOLUTELY miserable! How in the world did we tolerate living here during the summer?? If the heat doesn't get you, the humidity will. I straightened my hair this morning... and before we left the house it was already getting curled back up because of the humidity. Thank goodness for headbands! I don't know what my hair is up to... for years I spent money on perms because my hair was SO straight... and now it has decided to curl & do all kinds of weird things. Hormones, I suppose. Whatever it is I wish it would make up its mind... I'm tired of guessing/stressing out about it.


I was going to pack more tonite... and discovered there was only ONE box left in the house that was empty. We did grab a large box Son #3 was throwing out... it will be good for packing clothes in I think... but since Jerry's the only one who has clothes left here... he'll get the honor of packing it! Tomorrow I'll make another run to the local liquor store to get more boxes. Hopefully I can get LOTS more packed - even if we don't take it all now - at least it will be packed & ready to go!

I'm hoping we can head back Thursday. I don't think I can stand this weather much longer! Calgon take me away!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

.:PROGRESS!!!!:.

I know it's been a while since I've updated.... now I can't get pictures to load (the pix are loaded onto the other laptop because the camera is not compatible with this computer - then I email the pictures to myself, save them & post them here. I can get pix off the Internet & save them to post.).... so when I can I will be SHOWING you what we've been up to.

We searched far & wide for regular 4'x8' paneling... the kind your mother warned you about... but evidently in the Valley there is not a big demand for your typical paneling - we presume because there are so many natural wood products available. I like the look of Aspen so we went in search of some tongue & groove. We checked with a local lumberyard that is going out of business to see if they had any "deals" on Aspen tongue & groove... even at their "discounted/going out of business" price it was TOO much for us. So we moved on down the road to a local sawmill - expecting it would be pricey as well. The first price we were quoted was more than we were willing to pay. As we visited with the manager (about things like Big 12 football - he likes the Huskers - & oh, BTW, did we mention we have season tickets to the Huskers?) he mentioned that they have something called "cabin grade" tongue & groove... it tends to be knotty and imperfect... but we actually like the look of knotty wood... and we would get some 8' pieces and some 4' pieces. We were pleasantly surprised when he quoted us a price that was half of the "good stuff".... and knocked off another 15%!! He loaded the truck & we hauled our booty home!!
Truck unloaded, we began hauling 4' pieces up the stairs (these stairs are my buns of steel workout) and began nailing them up. This actually went fairly well... considering we nailed it all by hand - even tho some of the boards were a little bendy & didn't want to go in. We have a few boards set back for "craft projects" like birdhouses or something. We got three 4'x8' sections of the ceiling done with 4 footers... then decided to tackle the 8'x8' section in the middle... with 8' boards. This was MORE difficult than the 4' sections... but it surely does look beautiful!!! (Can't wait for you to see it!)
We finally caved in & bought another roll of insulation to finish off the area above the stairs... it was twice the price - no rebate and twice the thickness (we had to pull it apart to get it to fit)but at least it's done and we were able to finish the T&G above the stairs as well. Currently the only place that has not been completed is the section where the stove pipe will exit the roof. We thought maybe it was best to wait until the stove pipe is in before we cover it.

Our "garden" (in pots) is doing fairly well. The cucumbers, radishes & carrots are up... don't know what the green beans & peppers are waiting on. I STILL haven't planted the lettuce... don't know what I'M waiting on.

We've returned to Nebraska for a few days... my mom is turning 75 today and tomorrow is Father's Day... and we wanted to pick up the rest of the insulation we bought & take another load of stuff back with us! The weather here is icky... in the 80's but the humidity is kicking my behind! Ugh! We'll be back on the mountain soon!

**Pictures coming soon (I hope)!!



We went to Menards yesterday... bought 4 solar powered INTERIOR lights (like these, only ours are white)... and electrical boxes, switches & outlets and wire. Guess what our next project will be!! Better check with my insurance agent to make sure we're covered. Ha!!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

We're here!!!!

We left Lincoln on Saturday May 30... pulled onto our property in the mountains about noon on Sunday, May 31. We got rained on in eastern Colorado... and decided after getting thru Colorado Springs what we really wanted to do was sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We found everything pretty much how we left it... just dustier! No one finished the cabin for us while we were gone. Oh well. The roof looks great in person... the roofers left the left-over green metal for us (not sure what we're supposed to do with it?). We pulled the camper out & got it set up. It seems much smaller than it did last year. We also discovered that there is a broken water pipe... so we can't currently use the water pump & have to haul water from a 55 gallon barrel. Not a problem... just a minor inconvenience. Actually the real inconvenience is having to take the bed apart to get to the water pump to fix the broken pipe.

We brought with us the solar panel system & have one panel hooked up to run the camper lights. We also brough 12 rolls of R-25 insulation for the roof/ceiling. We got that task accomplished by Wednesday!! We were one roll short of completing the job - but that un-insulated part is over the stairs & we're not too anxious to get it done. We also brought 4 rolls of R-13 for the upstairs walls. Have not begun this task yet... but probably will have it done by the end of this week. We brought 6 windows... 2 side-by-side windows & a small window for the living room, 2 side-by-side windows for the bedroom & 1 for the kitchen. We have the kitchen window done... one small one in the living room (looks to the mesa west of us) and one tall window (facing Mt. Blanca). We'll get the other one installed in the living room later today probably. Jerry did get the hole cut for one of the 2 bedroom windows but it was SO stinkin' windy he didn't want to be on the ladder holding on to a window that acts as a parasail in the wind!! It's just nice to have some light in the cabin!!

We discovered we have (had?) a mouse (at least I hope it's just one... but I doubt it!). Of all the times to be without a cat!! We haven't actually seen IT... just it's calling cards! Don't know if Skeeter would be at all interested in it... he's too busy tearing around the property finding all the bones he'd buried last fall!

We have hooked up with friends we made last year & have made some time for socializing (when it's too windy or rainy to work). This morning we went to church. It was nice to be back!!

Currently at the RV park doing some laundry after having lunch with friends following church. Jerry's hoping to either get the other living room window in (depending on wind) or start working on getting kitchen started. We brought countertop with us... so we could at least get it installed & have some workspace!

Nothing too exciting going on right now. I will try to get pictures posted. I can't find the cord for my camera! Duh!