March 28, 2017

It snowed last night!!  There was about 1/2 an inch on the ground when I got up.  John said it snowed heavy for a bit after he got up.

I showered and then went out and shoot photos of the snow.  Checked out Casa, too snowy to work.  Hope it's nice tomorrow! 

Snowed off and on all day.  Didn't do much today, took naps and read.  John worked in the shop a bit.

March 27, 2017

Busy day!  We worked at Casa all day, demolishing more walls.  John had the idea to leave the logs up part way for a fence around the cement area, but we found the bottoms of the logs were rotting out, so gave up on that idea.  He cut the porch roof and wall where we are going to tear part off and tomorrow we'll try hooking up a chain and pulling it.  Hoping it will pull the shed off the building.  John took out the bolts holding the porch roof to the building. 

I found a piece of cardboard in the bathroom wall today that has a monkey on it.  It was a box for Monkey Grip tire patches.  I googled it hoping to find when they were made and as far as I can tell they started making them in the 1920's.  From clues in the picture of the piece I found I think this box was from sometime in the 1950's.  That would put the construction on this addition a lot later than we were guessing.  They started making the patches in the 1920's but didn't make tube tires until in the 50's and the picture says they are for tires and tubes.  I was hoping to find info on when they used the monkey in the picture I have, they apparently changed monkey's over the years, but I can't find any info on that. 

I have found dates on the pieces of paper they used to seal up the cracks in the porch in the 1960's and today we looked at the strips closer and found a piece from a catalog cover saying Mor-Valu family gift album.  I looked that up and found a picture of the whole cover!  It says it's from the 1970s. 

We worked an evening shift at Casa.  We went back after supper and tore down the porch.  Our set up worked so slick!  John cut a hole in the roof over the window, threaded a chain through the hole and window and we hooked it up to a tree with a come along in the middle and ratcheted it until it fell!  I found 33 cents, a ring and some game cards and pieces along the edge of some concrete!  I picture the money fairy going around the house and yard sprinkling money everywhere.  I keep finding coins in the yard, in cracks in the house, not a lot, I'm not sure how much I've found, but I keep finding them!  I don't think our house and yard have any, so I'm not sure how they got sprinkled around at Ray's. 

March 26, 2017

Wash day, so I started laundry.  John installed a hitch on the putt so he can pull the long trailer around the yard with it.  Then he went over and tore down the south bathroom wall.  Just a bit of the east wall by the tub left and then we can demolish the outer walls.  We're getting there!  I didn't think two old people could do what we're done.  Guess we're not as old as I thought we were!! 

Connie called, Guy is coming over to visit and they are having a luncheon and we're invited.

Had a good visit, the lunch was at Julie and Carl's house.  It was good to see Guy, it's been a while.  After lunch John and I went up to see Mom, she's doing good, she's been going through all her stuff and weeding out things and trying to get her photos in order. 

March 25, 2017

Windy day!  The wind really did a number on our pour, insulation stuck to it and it didn't sweep off!  Didn't have time to finish it up either, so it's kind of uneven.  Took down the attic boards and then the rafters.  Lots of insulation up there, we put what we could in boxes.  I was getting stuff in my eyes and it was terrible so I went and got some goggles and that helped a lot.  We got one wall of the bathroom down, the east wall.  It had the water pipes in it, so took a while to cut them off. 

March 24, 2017

Cold morning.  Not many clouds left from yesterday's storm.  Never did get any snow on the ground.  John got the cement and poured another piece of our sidewalk today  The part under the door.  It was a booger to do and the wind picked up just as we were done and sprinkled insulation all over it!!  Darn wind, anyway!!  It's supposed to get pretty breezy this afternoon.

March 23 2017

Cold today, we got some wind and snow.  Picked up our food order and John got a few things at Bashas he needed for his lunch. We pretty much eat separate meals now, I can't eat what he does and he mostly doesn't like what I eat.  I had cabbage slaw for lunch and he had mashed potatoes, breaded chicken strips, peas, gravy and toast. 

It's been cold and windy all day with showers and a bit of snow.
Took a load of roof boards, etc to the dump.  Didn't cost as much as John was thinking it would, $10 something, he thought it was going to be 20 or more.

March 22

John took down the rest of the roof on the bathroom part of casa.  Next are the floor boards from the attic.  I think he will put them on the kitchen side, it made it much easier for him to remove the roof with the boards to stand on!  We filled up several boxes with the blown in insulation.  Yuck, what a mess!  Chuch Slade and another guy stopped by this am to take a look at the stucco we need done.  Sounds like they are interested in doing it.  Not sure, LOL!  Never did say how much they would charge to do it. 

March 21 2017

I had an appointment with the eye doc today.  He said my eyes are doing better as far as dryness goes.  I have a bump on my right cornea, he's not sure what or why but thinks it is a contributing factor to my worsening vision in that eye.  Decided to wait for cataract surgery he thinks my eyes need more healing.  I stopped taking the expensive eye drops he gave me to take.  They wanted over $400 in January to refill, so I didn't get them.   He said the flax, chia seeds, fish oil and massage will work, it will just take longer  That's okay with me.  You have to use a steroid drop in your eye when you have the surgery and steroids don't like me, so I'll put if off as long as I can!

When I got home we went over to casa and John got up on the roof and demoed more of it.  Didn't want him up on the roof when no one was home to call 911 if needed!  We also knocked down more of the log wall on the north so there is a big opening now.  Can't wait to get the roof all off.  We're leaving the side over the wood shed there for now, we need good weather so it won't rain inside and make a mess in the cellar. 

March 20 2017

The first day of spring!  Leaves are coming out on trees and I'm seeing lots of blooming trees around town.  Weather says more winter is coming, wind the next two days then snow, then more cold weather.  The blooms will be all frozen.  John said he thinks our pear tree has bloomed and frozen, I keep forgetting to check.  I haven't seen any flowers on it.  Rex Brown brought his tractor over for John to help him build some supports for his plows.  He says the hard ground will make them get off center.  They got it all done today.  We were thinking about doing the second pour on our sidewalk today, but decided we'd wait until the bad weather is over.  Don't want to take the risk of it freezing.  Instead, John started taking the roof off the part of the building we're demolishing.  He got quite a bit of it done.  It's going easier than the first one he took off, it was connected to roof we were saving and lots of nails to take out.  This one he's cutting strips out of the roof.   Went shopping today. 

March 19 2017

Sunday  Did laundry today, not much else.  I still don't feel well, feel feverish this evening.  John took the forms off our first pour and will get more bags of cement for the next one.  I counted up 4 more sections. 

March 18 2016

I didn't feel good today, felt feverish and my heart was acting up.  Spent a lot of time sleeping.  Took my temp in the evening, it was only 99.6.

March 17 2017

We made the first pour on our breezeway this morning!!  We poured the last stem wall on the east side and added more fill dirt.  Loaded up the stucco from the area where we demolished the kitchen wall and took it to the dump.  10 bucks plus a few cents to dump it!!  And the trailer wasn't that full!  We have got lots more stucco to remove, wish we could find another way to dispose of it!  
Today is St. Patrick's day, didn't even wear green!  Too busy to celebrate.  Took off the form from the east wall and put it on the west wall.  We will pour that tomorrow.  I haven't felt good all day.  Woke up early and have been nauseated all day.  Wonder if the metformin is doing it?  It did it before when I was taking it.  I'm only doing a half dose, I take it at night. 

March 16 2017

Worked at Casa again.  We poured more of the wall around the edges of the breezeway and put rock and dirt in the middle to bring it up to the edge of the walls.  Tomorrow we are going to pour the first bit of the sidewalk!!  Eric dropped off the cd's Connie made of family tapes.  I was sad that they don't work in my computer or John's.  We tried one in the pickup and it will play there.  Emailed Charles to see if he knows how I could copy them from the CD's to my computer.  Hope there is a way!  Nice day, there was a bit of a cold breeze this afternoon.  We got the cement for our pour tomorrow.  It's going to be so nice to have it all done!!

March 15, 2017

Went shopping this am.  Had a long list, we've not been in a while.  Worked on the breezeway at Casa, put up a form and poured against the adobes under the back door.  We're going to pour along the house side and the wood shed side to keep dirt and water away, then fill in between the pours, then pour on top of them for the breezeway floor.  Not sure how it's going to work out, we keep running into unexpected things, like a rock foundation where we were going to remove the floor. 
Spent most of the day working at Casa.  We removed some of the foundation rocks that are sticking up too high for the walkway we want to pour.  Wish we could go back in a time machine to see when construction took place!  We keep finding weird things going on.  There is some concrete under where we removed a slab and I think there is a foundation wall lining up with the interior kitchen dividing wall.  Was the old kitchen walled in with no door at one time?  And why did they pour the floor outside the bathroom twice? 

Went for a walk after supper just as the sun was going down.  Made it a mile and turned around cause we didn't want to walk in the dark.  Just after we got home the sky lit up with the most gorgeous colors!!  I had to go out and shoot it.  Didn't have my shoes on and ended up walking down the Casa driveway to get some shots in just my socks! 

March 14 2017

Spent the day working at Casa.  We tore up the floor that was the old kitchen just outside the new back door.  It is now outside the building and is wood and wouldn't last long out in the weather.  It was cool to see how the floor was constructed.  Wood logs laid on a rock foundation and flattened on top with the floor boards on the logs.  Ray or Sam had added particle board on top of the old flooring.  Under the particle board was the old linoleum and under that was newspaper and tin over that where Joe had his cook stove.  I guess to keep the floor from catching fire?  I did see a bit of black wood next to the tin, so maybe it was helping.  The newspapers were dated in 1948, wish I knew if that was when the kitchen was built or just when someone put down new linoleum.  We thought we'd have to put blocks for a foundation under where we're building a wall for the woodshed part, but there is a rock foundation near where we were going to cut, so we'll just make the woodshed a bit larger and our foundation is already done! 

Tired tonight, we worked hard today!  We're going to pour cement next to the adobe walls that will be beneath our new floor, then fill the inside with dirt, then pour a floor on top.  The hole is too deep, the floor would be 12 inches or so thick! 

March 13, 2017

Didn't feel good this morning.  My stomach is upset and I am nauseated. 

We worked at Casa this morning.  Filled in the window space in what is going to be our wood shed and took down logs in the north wall.  John left a message with Chuch Slade to come look and see how much he would charge to stucco the places that need in on the main house.  When we took down the kitchen roof, it exposed some adobes we need to get them covered.  We've had plastic on them this winter. 

March 12, 2017

Worked at Casa all day.  We got the adobe wall on the south side knocked down.  Just need to cut back on the roof part. Dug into the mess by the back door to see what is going on.  Found 2 logs that hold up the old kitchen floor and a bunch of rocks under the cement slab that was there.  We busted out the slab, it was sticking up too high and was busted in places. 

I have not felt good all day, my stomach is bothering me, I'm wondering if it was the cereal I ate for breakfast?

Tired this evening, had a hard time staying awake! 

March 11, 2017

John and I worked at Casa this morning, then went on a picnic to 20 foot falls again.  We met Andy's family and Johnathon Holden about 3 pm.  We thought maybe the flow would be higher in the afternoon as it had all day to melt snow, but it was about the same as yesterday.  Carrol Spence and Christine were there, said they'd been there all day and that the water was running good when they got there at 11.  Had hot dogs with Andy's family, had a good visit, came on home.

March 10, 2017 Setting up for WITL

I'm setting up a space for 2017's Week in the life with Ali Edwards.  Hoping to get er' done this year!!  At least I will have a blog just in case I never finish the album, LOL! 

Today we are going to go on a picnic to the 20' falls.  We've visited almost every year for a long time now and it feels like spring is finally here when the snow melt starts running!  We have to guess when we think the water will be running each year, some years we get it right and others it's finished or the flow is dwindling down.  Cousin Mel has been watching the water flow past his place this year and he says it's running pretty good now.  Hope today is as gorgeous as yesterday was!!

Went for our picnic to the falls.  They are running!  Yea, spring is here.  Connie, Eric, Julie, Shirley, Chuck, Spence, Christine and their granddaughter came.  I wore my brand new Keen shoes and they were pretty keen!!  We hiked up the hill to the top of the falls and walked quite a bit and my feet felt good.  When I first put them on, they hurt my toe and I was afraid they weren't going to be good, but the pain stopped when I walked in them, maybe they stretched a bit.  Just after we finished eating lunch, Mel noticed that the water looked kind of muddy, so we checked it out.  The flow had increased! As we were leaving, Andy, Susan and Mamma Mia showed up.  He said he kept getting phone calls and they couldn't get away any sooner.  Visited with them a bit, then headed on home.  Jess and Jonathon Holden came just after we got home.  She was up to a track event here that Jonathan was participating in.