Journal of Progress--Septermber 10-17

Monday, September 10, 2018

Don began his day by rubbing off the rust on the top of the truck.

Then he spray-painted the truck hood but ran out of paint half-way.

This shows the doors into the attic storage area.  They were actually built last week but no picture taken.

 Great day! With two actual carpenters working for me, we got a lot done: built the interior wall for the west end of the attic and erected it. Also, finished the framing for the coat closet and linnen shelf area, including the bedroom doorway. Moved the bath tub into the bathroom area and laid out the bedroom/bathroom wall.

 

 But the big deal was burying the “white whale”-- the big water cistern. Took delivery of ten tons of fill dirt, to bury it with. Had help from a neighbor and my backhoe guy, with his backhoe. With their help, and lots of brutal shovel work, we got most of the dirt off the street and onto the tank, where it belongs. I got covered in dust and dirt, several times. 

 

V

 

 Barbara's shadow from above.

(Barbara writing)  Don put these stones at the edge of the street to prevent anyone from on our water tank.  It reminds me of what I call a Peruvian speed bump.  When we visited a tiny village in Peru when we picked up our son from his mission, the houses went right up to the edge of street.  Some people had put stones into the street (not as large as these stones) to prevent motorcycles or cars from driving too close to the houses.  

I meant to try to go into Eureka to get a bath, but some neighbors gave us one of their extra water pumps. The people who owned the house before they bought it a few years ago kept replacing the pump, thinking they were just bad pumps. But our friend had once worked in a nuclear power plant, and was able to figure out that there must have been an air leak somewhere in the system. Turns out, the leak was in the TANK, caused by overtightening the output fitting. Whenever the water level got down to that level, it started sucking air, but there was nothing wrong with the pump at all! She fixed it, and the pump works perfectly. Now they have four water pumps, so they gave us one. Still in the original box! Barbara and I went over to their house to get it, and spent the evening sitting outside, talking to them. So I’m still dirty. I simply must go clean up the best I can before bed. My back aches, too, but it has been a very good day.

 We saw a magnificient sunset that evening.  Looked like the mountain was on fire.  Now you, at nighttime, you can see the flames on the mountains on fire on the mountains east of Payson.

It is a continous battle with flies out here.  These strips were pretty effective but the fly population is always far greater than our efforts to control it. 

Don bought this automatic zapper but it hasn't proven effective. 

In 1927, the Relief Society out here had a "Swat the Fly" campaign.  Barn-yards were to be cleaned up.  One or more fly traps were to be made and used at each home. 

Wednesday, September 12, 2018
The Elders came out and rendered service by working on our scrap wood pile.

Had four “assistants” working today: electrician, two carpenters, and “my” assistant, who eneded up helping the electrician all day, for which I had to pay him. His last day, as he’s going back to college to finish his degree, so I said nothing. Consider it a gift, I guess.

Installed the front door.

Turned out to be quite a puzzle to get it to fit properly.

A lot did get accomplished today. Nearly all the interior walls are up, except the last one downstairs. That would have been done, too, but we ran completely out of 2x4s. Have to get some more tomorrow, or we can’t work. Also, certain nails, etc. More onerous details, which I have to figure out how to deal with, because nobody else will. What I really want is to tell everybody else to go home, and just build. But Fall is approaching.

Built the east fake wall.

No room for me to work in the house, and no tool to use, so I did clean up all day, and supervision. Two chores I really dislike. Both of them give me bad feelings. Told Barbara I felt like breaking every pane of glass, then grabbing the Sawzall and cutthing through every stud, joist and rafter, then jumping in the car and picking a direction. I don’t still feel that way, but that’s how it affects me to have to supervise, while doing brutal clean-up like sweeping all the dirt off the road that Rich couldn’t get with his backhoe, which was A LOT! While the 20 mph wind was blowing it back in my face, no matter which direction I swept it. While fighting with The Home Depot on the phone. I do NOT EVER want to be a contractor. Or any other sort of boss. If heaven really does mean I’ll have to be a king, it will be hell for me, quite literally. Worst part was paying other people to do the fun things I wanted to do, while I did stuff I hate. Made me want to quit.

More deer friends.  Always surprised to see young fawns this late in the year.  Loved to see this.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Doesn’t seem like I did much today, but a lot got accomplished:

-- Attic gable wall braces installed. Walls are now rock solid.

-- I improvised a knob and latch for the front door, so it would stay closed, but could be opened from either side. (When I bought the door, I was so tired that I forgot to buy a lock set for it!) Then, just after I finished, the carpenter who I had sent to buy lumber, and also a lock set, showed up, hours late, with a real lock, which I installed.

-- Buried one electrical grounding rod and laid out the other.

-- Cleaned up a lot of trash around the house, and bagged up more firewood.

-- Took delivery of 51 sheets of 5/8" OSB for roof sheathing, and twenty twelve-foot 2x6s for truss members.

--  Built and installed bedroom window, with help of our lady carpenter.

Friday, September 14, 2018

Most helpers I’ve ever had in one day. The carpenter, showed up with his five kids ages 16-3.  All his kids’ names start with M as does his and his wife's. So we put ‘em to work. They are good workers. They cleaned up, sorted, and bagged nearly all the wood and wood products around the house, all before lunch! Then the little kids cleaned up general trash, while the older kids did fetch and carry chores for their dad.

Got a lot done today. All the interior walls are framed, except for the one in the root cellar that we may not ever build. Lights in all parts of the house. We’re ready to start running wire in the attic walls. The windows in the west attic wall are boxed in. Won’t box in the east windows until they are installed. Those two windows and the door are special orders that have not yet arrived. The attic walls are as stable as anyone could wish. The partition walls in the attic have been sheathed on the outside with OSB. The dormer window seat is framed in. I’ve started cutting lumber for the balcony brackets. All the facia boards are cut, ripped, and installed. The lower part of the roof is ready to begin sheathing. I supervised and built the dormer window seat, and part of the last interior wall, the one between the dressing room and the great room.

There is one wall that is built and in place, but not nailed in. That’s the one between the toilet and the bathtub. We’re not sure how much room to allow for the green board and shower enclosure around the tub, so we’ve left the wall movable. As soon as we get the tub actually installed, we’ll nail the wall in place. No door on the toilet cubicle-- it would have less room than the outhouse, and would feel awfully claustrophobic. Barbara wants some way to have a rear view mirror in the bathroom. I don’t know how we’ll do that. 

Saw Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Moon tonight coming back from the outhouse. Barbara came out to see, then nearly walked into three does grazing on our garbage, right in front of the trailer door. We froze, and they were then joined by a two point buck. That’s two points on each side, which is how they count antlers here. Other places, they count the total number of points on both sides, which helps with asymetrical bucks, but gets confusing. If you say it was a six point buck, does that mean three on each side, or four on one side and two on the other? My neighbor says he always counts one side on mule deer, and both sides on white tail, which are more likely to have asymetrical antlers. Who knew?

Nighttime shots don't work very well.

Saturday,September 15, 2018
We drove to Payson to serve in the temple, do laundry, a Home Depot run and pick up groceries.  The fire on the mountain east of Payson is frightening.  It covers a large area and, at night, you can see the flames.  It's getting awfully close to homes.