picture updates on the house

Built a wall around the backside of the kitchen cabinets. still need to mudd them and paint. will get to that one of these days :O)

 

 

Starting to paint the bedroom after I got all the taping and mudding done. Had my nephew help me on part of it.

 

The bathroom obviously lol but that is the before picture of the floor.

 

(learned something while painting, do use the blue masking tape, its designed for this. DO NOT use green automotive masking tape, the adhesive is alittle to good for interior house painting, has a tendency to pull things off the sheet rock. ) Just saying lol

 

this is the after pic of the floor :O) I think it turned out rather nice considering lol

 

Ceiling is textured, walls are painted and the floor is covered as well. The floor got the liquid carpet treatment as well lol

 

Another pic of the bathroom finished floor.

 

Not a good picture but I was trying to show you all the legs of the wood stove and what I was doing to them. wHEN I FIRST PUT THE STOVE IN THE CHIMNEY WAS ABOUT 1.5 INCHES TOO SHORT SO I STUCK SOME Scraps (oops, sorry about that, fat fingered the caps button lol)  of wood under the legs, I cut some pvc pipe pieces about 1.5 inches and then jacked the stove up and put them under the legs, I then filled them with quick Crete cement.  Worked pretty slick :O)

 

another better pic of the leg and pvc.

 

Another day I was looking at the wood stove area and thought it was kinda bare looking, decided it needed a mantel.  Got some old growth yellow pine that came off of ft Riley back in the day. Not sure when they built the building this came from but I can honestly say that this is some actual old growth yellow pine forest wood.  Anyway, just thought you all would maybe like to have a little history about where that wood came from.  Sanded it down alittle, left some of the roughness for character. There are even the old bolt holes and nail holes that they used to hold the building together.   Anyway :O)  there it is in all of its glory lol  I think that it looks pretty good.

 

I moved some more of my stuff home as you can see, The curio cabinets are in their appointed places, When I was in the planning stages of the house plans, I came up with the idea on where to put them and believe it or not lol that part of the plan stayed the same all the way to the finish..  A lot of other ideas never made it lol or got rearranged. I have a saying that I use often with my place here, inside or outside. "Subject to change"  and that is the truth :O)

 

So there is alittle bit of the updates I promised :O)  More too come.  Be safe :O)

creating another monthly bill but worth it :O)

  Well I am back again, I will be making regular posts now. I have gotten the Internet into the house finally.  No more excuses for me to not be blogging about life as it is around here :O) 

 I have changed jobs, no longer am I driving a semi for hours and hours with no time for me to get much done. I feel a lot better. Miss the money but money is not everything.  It is rather exciting to make yet another step in the right direction.  Might be backwards but its a direction lol 

 The garden has been growing, the corn not so much and what did grow the deer or the coons have promptly ate..  The zucchini, cucumbers, cantaloupe and tomatoes are doing really good. Been giving mom the zucchini so she can make her zucchini bread, I'm hoping that I get some, I'm out. 

 Just sitting here typing away and thought to myself that I may have created another monthly bill but I can see the world again even if it is only from my lazy boy recliner :O)  No more running to the library, no more having to "Go" places to borrow the Internet. I can just sit here in my own house that I have built with my two hands and surf to my hearts content :O)  I can even sit here in my underwear if I want lol   Patches doesn't mind.   anyway.

  I have so many pics to upload on here, I believe It should be my next post. Will take some time to download them and then make a comment about each picture. Might even wait for the weekend to do that.

 Going to go cook some supper and then water the garden, got  a shower this morning but not enough. Be back soon :O) Be safe .

Im still alive :O)

   Hi all, wow its been along time since I have been on here.  So much has happened that I really don't know where to start.  About all I have been up too was working, trying to get things done with the house,trying to  Kill the cat, (joke) maybe...  Put a garden in again this year, but its been raining so much that its not doing real good. Grounds still too cold for things to grow good. Corn has been about 4 inches tall for the last month since it has came up. Radishes are doing great though.
  I finally got the bedroom sheet rock mudded and painted. Ceiling is textured. Really looking good in there. Still need to paint the rest of the house, its just primered white still but it passes for a paint job for now :)  I couldn't afford carpet yet in the bedroom so I got some of that shop floor sealant paint and painted it. Poor mans carpet, I even used the sprinkles lol   I think it looks pretty darned good actually. Better than looking at gray concrete. Now its "wheat" colored concrete :O)
  In other news, I have a queen size bed now, might not seem like big news to many but you have to realize that since Feb 5th 2011 I have been sleeping on a twin size bed...   And for a more complete picture you have to remember that I am 6' 2" and 300 pounds.  Yes :O)  I am on the fluffy side. So as you can image, I have a lot of room in bed now. I can actually roll over without falling out of bed or basically getting up and squirming around to roll over and still stay in bed.   Its almost heaven :O)
  This year has been a really wet spring, was in the middle of a drought for a while but its not now. We are all hoping that it stops raining for a while so we can get caught up on everything. The creeks and rivers are full, lakes are flooding the camp grounds, its a muddy mess.  The mosquitoes are getting thick!!!  I have to mow the grass when I can between the storms, tearing up the lawn is what happens, probably should just wait until it drys up and then mow.
  Back to the garden, I planted the garden spot and ran out of room but still had stuff I wanted to plant so I had to till another spot up.  Now if things will just grow.  And to keep the deer, rabbits, turkeys, ground hog and the guineas out of it is a full time job in itself..  I have Potatoes, corn, radishes, tomatoes,lettuce, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, zucchini, cantaloupe, carrots and , guess that's it.  Still haven't put in a asparagus bed or strawberries but will in time I hope.
 
  One year when I was in Colo I found a tree that another tree had fallen on, it had caused it to grow really crooked. I cut it down (it was dead by the way) and brought it back to Kansas, it was about 10 or 12 years ago that I had done this.  I was pacing myself for this project :O)  anyway, I found it a few weeks ago in my storage trailer and decided it was time to make a cane out of it.  I sanded it all down and stained it, need to get a pic of it and post it here. It really turned out pretty nice. Iv been thinking about doing some carvings on it as well but not sure if I will get that far or not.  Now when I get old and decrepit I will have a cane :O) 

 I have a ton of pictures to share but not enough time today, since I have more time on my hands now maybe I will be able to be on here more.  I still would like to have the internet at my house but Im still being a tight ass about spending that kind of money lol  Got better things to do with my money :O)   like pay bills :O( grrrr 

         anyway, you all be careful and be safe, I will talk to you all soon :O) 
 

where does the time go

Hi all, Its been a while that's for sure.  Been so wrapped up with work and stuff that I just don't get to town for the Internet much. Would like to get it at the house but it is expensive. 
  All about I have been doing is working and sleeping.   Thank goodness winter is here. Now I can relax a bit.  Unfortunately, I have been sick with the flu since Sunday.  Not good, but I have lost some weight :O)   don't know how much and need to loose some more but its a start right? :O)  
  Patches has been fine, still the pain in the butt that she has always been.  If I sit down that's her que to jump up on my lap and go to sleep.  Stupid cat.

  I really haven't been up to much, went to a gun show a while back, bought me a Stevens crack shot single shot 22 rifle. I have wanted one of those since I was a kid, finally bought myself one. Its a rabbit slayer :O)   Sweet little gun :O)  Really happy with it.

  Had a issue with the water well on one of our nasty cold snaps, the water line where is comes out of the well casing and goes to the well house froze. Very unusually place for it to freeze. Its 3.5 ft under ground.  Nothing like getting up in the mourning and wanting to take a nice hot shower to only find out that there is no water. Thought it was the pressure switch at first but clayt brought on over and we put it on and no change. So we decided to pull the pump to check it. Only so many things can go wrong with a well system.  Had a hard time pulling the pipe fitting out of the side of the casing, got it finally only to discover that it was frozen and the coupler and down the black supply pipe. Thawed it out and water started flowing. Mind you, this is outside in the wind where the wind chill is about -5   yes people, :O) it was cold.  
  Then we went to put it back together,,  talk about another pain in the butt....   I had put a piece of pvc on the top for a handle. shouldn't have done that :O)  it kept bowing backwards so the coupler wouldn't line up. I tried, clayt tried then I tried again and got lucky. thank goodness :O)  put things back together and took a can of spray foam and sealed a few holes in the well house and on the electrical box. I think, that the heat bulb was creating a draft somehow and that's what froze the line. Its been even colder since then but knock of wood, It hasn't froze up since then.   Like I said, put it all together and then went in the house and filled the wood stove to capacity and stayed by it for  quite a while :O)  Uncle Gary stopped by and had to leave because it was so hot in the house lol And hes the guy that's always cold lol

  In other news, don't think I have told you all yet but the concrete floor is all complete in the garage now :O)  It is so nice. Just need a heating stove and some lights out the now so I can work in there.
  Had to get a new hydraulic line made for the tractor last weekend, blew one of the original hoses out,  new in 1999 guess I got my moneys worth out of it :O)  Love that tractor. Its just so danged handy. 

  Still haven't gotten the house totally done lol  still need carpet, mudding and taping in the bedroom, some paint, but hey :O)  its my place and I will get to it someday.  Most likely :O)

  well shoot, better go for now.  take care all and be careful :O)
 
 

Catching up

  Hey there everyone :O)  Finally got some time to up date.  Iv been working like crazy this summer, gotta make that money you know. That is honestly just about all I have gotten done this summer besides mowing the yard and trimming, which I bought a new weed eater. Its a stihl :O)  love it, best weed eater I have ever owned so far. Will wait and see though, I bought a weed eater from walmart once and it out lasted two relationships for me lol  bought it in 1991 and its still running today as far as in know. my ex wife gave it away to one of her friends after it tried to eat her leg off.  hehe   

 Anyway, the garden worked out pretty good this year. got some corn, banana peppers, bell peppers, jalapenos, and tried with the cucumbers but they didn't make it for some reason.  Its all tilled up and ready for some cow manure now, just have to go get it from my farmer buddy. 

  I'm sitting here at the truck tire shop getting a steer tire put on, keep wearing out the passenger side tire on this thing. Have had it in the shop several times for alignments and repairs but it keeps wearing them out.  Soon as its done its back to work hauling rock and sand to the ready mix plants. Little circles and big circles.
 
  Think I might have to buy a chain saw this year too, might as well try out a stihl. Got plenty of trees to cut down this winter, for some reason the black locust trees around here have been died off the last few yrs.  cant see any bugs boring into them or anything but they have practically all died on my place. Still have plenty of other live trees but still. 

Didn't make it to Colo this year or any where else for that matter :O(  Haven't been anywhere since 2012. getting really itchy feet too.  this job crap is for the birds lol  I actually bought a lottery ticket the other day, first one in several yrs. As you noticed earlier I said I was at work so no, I didn't win lol   Might try again in a few yrs again. 

  I have some pics that I really need to post on here but the connection I have is not very good, or else I would bomb you all with allot of pictures..  Sure glad its Friday, been yet another long week. Looking forward to winter and having some time off from work, I'm thinking a good old fashion cold and snowy winter would be good :O)   sitting by the wood stove listening to it crackle and watching it snow outside, doing some wild rabbit hunting for something different to eat besides store bought stuff.  Watching some old reruns on TV and catching a nap or two :O)   I might even work on the house some lol   so glad that fall has arrived, I'm getting to the point where I just about cant tolerate the heat of summer anymore.  that's when I missed traveling the most, knowing full well that out west there are mountains and cooler temps at the higher elevations.  

 Just ate at my favorite Korean restraint :O)  Pusan restraint :O)  makes the best bulgogi around here...  And the lady that owns it (for 32 years) is so very friendly. We talk garden stuff while I eat. She even gives me seeds to plant in my garden.  Very very nice lady.  you ever get to junction city Kansas, the place is on north Washington street west side of street by the muffler shop :O)

  Well, guess its time for me to make my way home and do some stuff around there, don't get much accomplished during the week, not with working 12 and sometimes 14 hrs a day :O(    I'm thinking I better finish up with my water drainage project, rained the other night and right now I am a pretty good pond builder in front of the house lol   

                                                Be safe all :O)   talk later with ya.
 
 

Back country road Memories

 

 

 

I got up this morning feeling pretty good and decided that I would run too town and deposit some money and do some other errands as well. Took a shower, got in the car and headed out.

  Half way to town I decided to cut off onto a gravel road that I hadn't been on in a long while.

  I went up by a pond that is huge and its a spring fed pond as well. Perfect for swimming in, just as clear as a public swimming pool. We used to go here all the time back in my youthful days :O) many a times I went to this place to cool off during the hot summers and even a few nights as well :O)

 

I stopped and looked at it from a memories point of few, catching the worlds largest bass (at least I thought that at the time) having camp fires and drinking beer with friends.  Swimming and swinging off the tree rope that we never did figure out who was brave enough to climb the tree to tie the rope into let alone go off the first time. Damn but it was way up there lol  Swinging off it the first time in your life was a terrifying experience to say the least lol.

 One summer particularly sticks out in my mind though, it was a summer of cruzin, girls, and beer lol  what a summer it was people :O)  Mike and I still talk about that summer, its a wonder we didn't get hurt maimed or just out right killed with some of the shit we did lol  But that is part of growning up isn't it? Finding out who you are?

 

  So on down the road I went, Went by the place we used to ride our atv's back in the trees and by the creek. Sometimes we didn't miss the trees.

 

  On down the road  I came to the place of a lot of childhood memories, mom and dad had some friends on this road, we used to go over there quite a bit when I was about 7 or 8. they would play cards and us kids would go out and have a blast in the wilds of the country :O)  One time in particular, we went way back in the trees and pasture to a pond that Gary and don knew about. Yep, it was summer and hot so we all decided to go swimming. Would have been nice if I knew how to swim lol  Nope, obviously I didn't drone but my god I sure was scared out of my mind thought that I was going too. as I drove by today and looked up the draw where the pond is you wouldn't even know its there because of all the brush that's growed up around it. Wonder how many people actually know its there?

 

  On down the road about 1/2 a mile is a old RR bridge over the creek, good fishing hole. My dad , cousin Jay and I went up there one week end to set bank lines and too camp for the weekend.  We were there having a good time when my wife pulled up on the bridge and honked her horn, I went up to see what she wanted and too my utmost surprise and horror she informed me that she was leaving me. No reason or why just that she was moving back to her mothers.  Needless to say the fishing trip was over for me.  granted I was the perfect husband but who is? Some years later I asked her why she left me and you know what? She told me she didn't know why.  I imagine that at the time she had her reasons but it would have been nice to have known what it precisely was.  I will never know now, she passed away this last march, cancer.  she was 49.  It was a shock to me to hear about it,  even though we were divorced and hadn't talked in years it was still a shock. No matter how things end between people, there is still a little bit of a connection to them and when its severed by death it makes you think about things. at least for me it does.

 

On down the road I drove into junction city where I have spent many of years running around, working and just goofing off :O)  Bought my first bottle of whiskey here with my fake id :O)  cruised many of miles up and down sixth st. and Washington. Don't want to forget the drive inn on grant ave. Its gone now, been gone for along time but the memories are still fresh :O)  The stop light too stoplight drag races in the old 1978 firebird :O)  I bought that car when I was 17, got the bank loan all on my own too thank you very much.  still have that car too. Shes not as pretty as she used to be, rust mights have not been kind to her, sitting in storage for the time being until I get things figured out so I can take her to the body shop and make her like new again :O)  Might happen, I hope :O) 

 

well anyway all :O)  time to go and get back into the present. Hope I haven't bored you all to much with my memory lane drive down the country roads of the past :O) 

Talk later and be safe :O)



:O) hi

 

Hi there all, I have finally made it to the library on a day off from work.  I have I said that work is entirely over rated? sure it allows you to buy the things you want and think you need but it sure cuts down on the time you have to goof off. :O)  

I really haven't been up to much honestly, just work, keeping the house mostly clean, mowing the grass. you know, the mind numbing stuff. But even that in itself is gratifying too, lets you know that you are alive.

I still haven't gotten the house finished, might not get that far :O)  If I keep it ugly then I don't have to worry about anyone wanting to stay. 

The fourth of July was dads birthday, wanted to get on here and say happy birthday on the fourth but didn't make it so Happy Birthday Dad.   Didn't do much for the fourth, I did go out to my uncles place (Tinkers) and visited with all his family. Had a pretty good time.  I saw the fireworks display in my home town this year, I have to admit that it was pretty dang good.  Might be a small town (around 500 pop ) but they out did a lot of other bigger towns. Again, pretty good show.

 

These pictures below are just random pics that I have taken over the last months.

 

 

 

The walk way I made right before the major snow storm. Got tired of walking in the mud to get too the house. As you can see the snow kind a drifted around in front of the house and door. I had to go out the big shop door and then around to the front to shovel the snow so I could get the door open.

 

 

 

There is the drift in front before I shoveled it.

 

This is my new to me frig :O)  Its only one year old. works great, got it for 150.00

 

wood stove and stuff, random photo lol

 

This is the garden, not much of one but its a garden, got some tomato plants, pepper plants and some sweet corn but the deer are eating the corn before it ripe enough to eat for me. f it was cooler I would have to contemplate about putting one of them in the freezer :O)

 

Went outside just the other evening and this one lone thunder storm head was in the sky,  looks like a giant smoke column.  Late there were some really major storm that moved threw the area.

 

Here a few weeks ago we had some major wind, about 80 mph. It was blowing out of the east too. My place is tucked in behind a wind break of trees for the most part, tree line on the west north and part of the east side but that gap on the east let a lot of wind threw. Was the first time I heard the wind roar like that. Unusually I don't know the wind is blowing unless I step outside but I sure knew it that day.  So my tin shed house has been wind tested up too 80 mph and no problems.  :O)  Knock on wood.....

I am really happy with the insulation too, Its been in the 90's several times so far the summer and I have a small ac unit (supposed to cool up too 150 sq ft) and its cooling the whole place. well :O)  all 700 sq ft of it but it keeps it at a average temp of 72 to 75 degrees . It does warm up pretty quick when I have the stove top going cooking and the oven really warms things up too but doesn't take long to cool back down when I am done. I do have a fan in the bedroom pushing the ac air out into the kitchen and living room plus another in the living room circulating it but it works pretty good :O)

 

  My last electric bill was 89.00. I'm not complaining, I hear others talk about their bills and I feel very fortunate.  I used about  one and a half cords of wood last winter to heat my house and we had some pretty dang cold days this year. so all in all I am pretty satisfied with my choice to have that type of insulation sprayed into my house. 

 

  I am working on putting my concrete forms up in the shop to pour the floor, going to do it in three stages, to old and fat to do it all at one time. Got to approach things a little differently now a days :O)  Will be nice to have a concrete floor in the shop that's for sure. tired of tracking dirt into the house form the shop. Ex specially when I have to use a shop vac to vacuum the floors. Working on getting a regular house vacuum soon.

 

got my cloths line up, using today as I type this up. I have to go back home this afternoon and mow, again, need to weed eat too but I believe I will wait till the next time and do that in the early morning coolness.

 

  well all, got to go. Hope you enjoy the update :O) 

Be safe all :O)

 

oh yea. p.s.  My aunt and uncle went to AZ this last winter and we run their concentrates the other day and found gold in it :O)  yahoo to Peggy Gary and Matt for finding some gold.  Always happy to see someone be successful at gold prospecting and finding some color.