Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Ridgetop]

I have shopped at those stores in Palm Springs. Simply sooooo many gorgeous things to choose from! I went to a Jewish thrift store and came out with a arm full of great buys!

Awe damn @Ridgetop and @murphysranch - yall making me want to go to Palm Springs shopping!!

ROAD TRIP?!

YES! Those stores are great. Almost new pieces to old used junk, always something to find. I usually can find good Christmas gifts for hard to buy for relatives there too.

Had to make a run to Lowes this morning trying to find a nut to go on the bit attachment for the hole saw. I have three full sets of hole saws IN CALIFORNIA! The set I brought does not have the nut to hold the saw onto the bit.
Worst part is that it does not have the same attachment so can't be used with the other sets.

Having driven the 10 miles to Sulphur Springs I made the most of the trip by dropping into Walmart. Yes, I got Blue Bell - our supply being almost gone. In order to justify the Walmart purchase to DH I bought him a package of underwear. "Well, Dear, since I was there anyway, I bought Blue Bell". Oddly the 10 miles from the ranch to Sulphur Springs seem longer than the 10 mile trip to Burbank. Maybe because it is a highway surrounded by fields with no stop lights, etc. The speed limit is much faster though, and it is a prettier drive.

Now that I have the hole saw, I can cut the holes for the plugs to reach the outlet, put the shelf in place, and attach the earthquake straps. I don't expect earthquakes here, but old habits die hard and all tall pieces of furniture in our house are attached to the wall. Maybe I should call them anti-tipping straps. Anyway, once those are in place, I need to wash down the bookcases and put the shelves in. However, we are leaving the end of the week so I think I will wait to put the shelves in. I don't plan to unpack all the book boxes yet. If I do, I will have to dust off the shelves and books each time I come out. Why make more work until I move in? I am very pleased with the way the bookcases look next to the big built-in display cabinet. That cabinet was just sticking out into the room and was awkward. With the oak bookcases next to it, it looks less overwhelming. I am glad i decide to keep it since at the moment I am just unloading all the china, crystal, and bric-a-brac into it until the rest of the furniture arrives. I do need to build the island for more storage. I will check out Contractor's Warehouse in CA that sells all wd cabinets in flat pack. I might be able to get the large pot and pan drawer units there cheaper than ordering them from Home Depot.

The dumping mechanism on the flatbed trailer is not working properly. We will have to take it home to DS3 to be repaired. We wanted to bring out our old blue Explorer to leave here to drive around in during our trips and to look like the house is occupied. Cheaper on gas than the diesel truck. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a functioning AC, but we are coming into 6 months of cold weather and the heater works great so . . . . DD2 has been borrowing it for several months so we will need to pry it back from her. They need to buy themselves another vehicle. The blue Explorer is actually SS1's car and he has to use our car since DD2 has been using his.

Did a load of laundry before the Lowes trip. Next job the bookcase, then scrub the bathroom cabinets FOR REAL TODAY and prime everything. Got to get to work since we need to leave this weekend to get DH home for his DDS appointment. Has to get all dental work done before his October 11 knee surgery.

First, better go out to the barn and admire DH's job. He also needs help to move some sort of plow share in the back corner.

 

[SageHill]

ROAD TRIP?!

Sure!

 

[Baymule]

Oh, y’all NEED a ROAD TRIP!

 

[murphysranch]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....date shakes at Hadleys!!

 

[Ridgetop]

I will let you know when we set a date. Anyone can join in. "BYH Goes to Palm Springs". LOL Sounds like a comedy movie title.

The temperatures have eased off a bit here since Sunday. Lots of clouds moved in which helped with the heat, and we were supposed to have a 40% chance of rain on Sunday and Monday. That chance gradually reduced to 10% the 0. The temperatures went down to the 90's although the humidity increased for a couple days. Supposed to stay in the high 90's for the rest of the week.

Tuesday, I washed down the painted cabinets and woodwork in the bathroom. There is a lot of it. I think the wainscoting was originally the same oak as is in the living room and hall. I wish it was still wood, but it may have been damaged by water, etc. I usually wainscot the bathrooms (especially round the toilets) with tile. In any case, I washed all the woodwork down and got ready for the priming and painting. I still need to do some ceiling repairs due to the Big Snow several years ago which caused a roof leak. The roof was repaired, but the leak loosened some of the ceiling plaster on the wallboard in areas. I will repair those areas as I work on the various rooms.

Yesterday I prepped and primed the woodwork and cabinets in the bathroom. Lots of prepping around the doorway and tub. Even though I will eventually remove the shirt Formica tub surround and replace it with tile, I don't want a messy paint job. I had almost finished when we had to stop and get ready to go to Bible Study up the road. Very nice people there, several of them are California transplants from midstate to northern California. Met a new neighbor who is moving in next to Jeremy from Weatherford. Very nice fellow. He will probably be established here about the time we are. He is doing the same thing we are - packing and bringing a load to the ranch, then unpacking and returning for another load. No wife or kids. Told him to stop by when he sees the truck in the driveway.

Anyway, some ceiling drywall repair today and then finish the priming and start painting. I planned to leave on Saturday, but DH realized that the hay place in AZ is not normally open on Monday. I called to make sure he would be open on Tuesday due to Labor Day weekend, and he is so leaving on Sunday. This gives me 2 days to finish painting the bathroom, do laundry, pack, and close up the house. I told DH we can rest on Saturday if he wants. LOL

Hope to get all the rooms finished by the time we move in permanently. Easier to paint and repair without furniture in the rooms. I won't remove the divider in the living room/entry until we are ready to put in new flooring in the living room. Also need to replace those 2 windows and the back patio door. The kitchen and patio doors seem to be hollow core instead of solid core exterior doors. We will replace both windows and doors at the same time. The front door will stay. It never gets used! There is not even a path to the front door and porch! LOL The front door is a double door from outside, inside it is only a single door. I considered removing both doors and installing a single door wth sidelights. Then realized there was probably no double door header. Now the front doors stay, just will be painted outside when we repaint the front porch and any trim.

Dreading doing the master bedroom though. Have to strip all the wallpaper - not a rough job just time consuming and sort of smelly (hot water and vinegar combined with old glue) before painting. I also want to remove the lower closet shelf and double rod the closets. The wall the bed will go on has one window awkwardly placed to one side looking into the carport. Since the carport entrance is right next to that window, and is what everyone uses, that window blind stays closed. That window is for a fire safety exit since the other window is a high clerestory type. Having the bed on the wall with the one narrow window will be completely off balance. Afte considering different ways - i.e. putting curtains or drapes on the entire wall to disguise the window, a fancy wooden screen, etc. I have figured out a way to make it look good. I will frame the window with 1 x 4s and do a matching faux frame on the other side. Then the actual widow will have hinged opening wooden shutters with decorative hinges and latch. On the other side will be a matching shutter with decorative hinges and latch. That one won't open of course. With those two "shuttered windows" framing the bed and a painting over the bed between them, it will look very nice, have privacy from the carport, and still allow fire escape. And my OCD will be satisfied because it will balance. The MBR and bath will be the last rooms I do. We may have to sleep in the guest room while I do them. Or if DS1 is back in CA we can sleep in his room. That would work even better.

DH has collected all the junk from the barn floor, and he have a pile of scrap metal that was partially buried ready for the metal yard. Several large items, a metal cattle stanchion, a plow with one wide digging blade, identified as a "middle buster"?) - had to look up what the parts were - several cultivator shanks, assorted other blades and parts, gears, etc. Also, an inside can and paddle to an old butter churn or ice cream maker. Not very large in diameter so maybe a butter churn. Has a shaft that would fit into a mechanism to turn. The tow bar with the blade was so heavy we had to drag it over with a rope and DGH had to attach his forks to the bucket to lift it over to the pile. If I was in a town area, I could probably sell all these items as gen-you-wine antiques to city folks. LOL Since there are no gullible city folks around here DS1 will have to load it all up and sell it at the metal yard. It is a very heavy so even at just a few cents/lb. it should bring some $$. Luckily there is a place that buys metal scrap just down the road. Other than the highway, I am liking this location better and better with it's proximity to everything we need. Of course, what we think we need is different to most retirees moving to a new location!

There is now a big pile of old cow manure and dirt in the garden area ready to be plowed into the soil. There is also a large pile of shredded stuff that can be burned this winter and the ashes plowed into the soil. Hopefully we will have good veggies. The southwest corner floor of the barn has a dip in it and the ground at the back is very soft and spongy. Not sure why. I wonder if we will have to bring in sand or decomposed granite to level it out and prevent flooding in that corner. Or put in a French drain there. Later decisions once we are living here and see what happens year-round. The back of the barn will be open to the field behind once we remove all the old rusty metal gates and panels that are wired in there now. We will put up our own old rusty metal panels - LOL - with a gate panel. The ones we have salvaged we are keeping. They will be useful eventually. DH wanted to hire Levi to put another fence along the open back of the garden area with another gate but I told him NO. We have enough portable panels to fence it off and have a couple large gate panels. Just need gateposts. No need to pay out more money. The old bank balance is getting low. Need to save up.

Next trip out we will bring a few more pieces of furniture, lamps, etc. Hopefully will find a nice sofa or small sectional for the living room in Palm Springs. Hopefully leather since I don't want to have to worry about upholstery every time DH or DS1 come in from working and sit down. I am taking exact measurements of the rooms and drawing them up in scale to make sure everything will fit. I am already taking some dishes and the cupcake pans back to Ca since I probably won't be making cupcakes for kids' parties anymore. Just kept one for muffins. DS2 was already upset that I accidently packed all the 9x13 baking pans. He called here looking for one since he wanted to make brownies and had no pans. LOL I told him to use the Pyrex ones. Then I packed up a couple pans ad returned them to him. He was actually looking for my special Wilton cake pan. Those Wilton pans are specially made with straight sides for cakes to be decorated. I packed all my cake decorating stuff and the cake pans. I did sort out the specialty shaped pans and gave those to Daniel. I don't think I will need the teddy bear, Mickey Mouse, lamb, etc. cake pans here. Those were for the children when they were young. Daniel can take over that baking. I promised him I would teach him how to use the decorating kit I gave his mother. She never had time to learn so he might as well.

Lots of small repairs and clean outs to do once we are living here. Some grouting is missing, cracks in concrete to be repaired, some barn repairs to be done, etc. One big job will be cleaning out the overhead storage in the carport. There are a lot of items stored there that were not removed by the seller. Definitely some old shutters, and probably a lot of junk wood, etc. We need to remove all that stuff, retrofit the space with heat barrier, and build a new access door for the opening. currently the space is open to invasion by wasps and unwanted insects. It will need to be cleaned out, sealed, and insulated so we can store Christmas decorations and other seasonal items up there. If the shutters are not in bad repair, maybe I can use them to in the MBR.

Haven't caught up with anyone else's posts yet. Will check after priming the rest of the bathroom cabinets and the paneling behind the toilet. We want to replace the toilet with a taller model, but I can touch up the wall when we do that. Just need to get as much painted now as possible. Will do the tile above the tub for the new shower later. Will need to have the hot water lines run through the attic to the tub, then put up concrete board around the tub and tile the walls from tub to ceiling. (Saves on trim tiles and also keeps from getting water damage above the shower surround.) I will need to buy a new tile saw. My old one was a small, cheap model, really worn out after doing 8 kitchens and 11 bathrooms. Turned out to not be usable after years of open storage in the shed. It was starting to fail when I stored it, the cuts were not exact, and when we pulled it out, the box had been chewed open. Rats had nested inside the box and the saw deck was covered in rat feces. Not worth cleaning up to use. There is a Harbor Freight near us where I can pick up an inexpensive model which will be all I need for this house.

DH has gone to gas the truck and pick up last carton of Blue Bell. We will leave Sunday am early. He mentioned 3:30 - 4:00 am departure. I reminded him that the last time we tried that we fell back asleep after the alarm because we never sleep well before a trip. Ended up waking up at 8:00. We will get up around 5:30 and leave by 6. We'll shut all the front pasture gates, set the lights on timers, and load the truck on Saturday. Plan to spend 2 nights on the road, getting to the hay place early on Tuesday am. DS1 didn't want us to get another load of hay but said now that he thinks he can fit in at least 60 bales. Told us to check with him and maybe we can bring a full load of hay depending on how much storage he has. This will be the last trip with the flat bed until DH has recovered from his knee surgery. DH wants DS1 and I to make a trip back with more furniture in October or November. DS1 and I will put up the portable fencing in the barn and some behind the barn. Will also have to put up a corral for the rams with shelter. The rams will be the last sheep to arrive. Once the sheep arrive in January, DH and DS1 will make another couple trips with the last of the corral panels. DH is not sure whether it would be cheaper/better to have a Connex delivered here and set on the blocks by the delivery people or bring out one of ours and try to set it ourselves. He also has to decide where to put it so . . . .

Back to priming the bathroom. Primer smells terrible - I hate priming a room. But I can't put it off any longer. Paint smells better. BTW Does anyone remember how popular Sears brand paint was? They used to add Vanilla to it to make it smell better so people would like using it. Clever way to make it a best selling brand!

 

[SageHill]

I will let you know when we set a date. Anyone can join in. "BYH Goes to Palm Springs". LOL Sounds like a comedy movie title.

The temperatures have eased off a bit here since Sunday. Lots of clouds moved in which helped with the heat, and we were supposed to have a 40% chance of rain on Sunday and Monday. That chance gradually reduced to 10% the 0. The temperatures went down to the 90's although the humidity increased for a couple days. Supposed to stay in the high 90's for the rest of the week.

Tuesday, I washed down the painted cabinets and woodwork in the bathroom. There is a lot of it. I think the wainscoting was originally the same oak as is in the living room and hall. I wish it was still wood, but it may have been damaged by water, etc. I usually wainscot the bathrooms (especially round the toilets) with tile. In any case, I washed all the woodwork down and got ready for the priming and painting. I still need to do some ceiling repairs due to the Big Snow several years ago which caused a roof leak. The roof was repaired, but the leak loosened some of the ceiling plaster on the wallboard in areas. I will repair those areas as I work on the various rooms.

Yesterday I prepped and primed the woodwork and cabinets in the bathroom. Lots of prepping around the doorway and tub. Even though I will eventually remove the shirt Formica tub surround and replace it with tile, I don't want a messy paint job. I had almost finished when we had to stop and get ready to go to Bible Study up the road. Very nice people there, several of them are California transplants from midstate to northern California. Met a new neighbor who is moving in next to Jeremy from Weatherford. Very nice fellow. He will probably be established here about the time we are. He is doing the same thing we are - packing and bringing a load to the ranch, then unpacking and returning for another load. No wife or kids. Told him to stop by when he sees the truck in the driveway.

Anyway, some ceiling drywall repair today and then finish the priming and start painting. I planned to leave on Saturday, but DH realized that the hay place in AZ is not normally open on Monday. I called to make sure he would be open on Tuesday due to Labor Day weekend, and he is so leaving on Sunday. This gives me 2 days to finish painting the bathroom, do laundry, pack, and close up the house. I told DH we can rest on Saturday if he wants. LOL

Hope to get all the rooms finished by the time we move in permanently. Easier to paint and repair without furniture in the rooms. I won't remove the divider in the living room/entry until we are ready to put in new flooring in the living room. Also need to replace those 2 windows and the back patio door. The kitchen and patio doors seem to be hollow core instead of solid core exterior doors. We will replace both windows and doors at the same time. The front door will stay. It never gets used! There is not even a path to the front door and porch! LOL The front door is a double door from outside, inside it is only a single door. I considered removing both doors and installing a single door wth sidelights. Then realized there was probably no double door header. Now the front doors stay, just will be painted outside when we repaint the front porch and any trim.

Dreading doing the master bedroom though. Have to strip all the wallpaper - not a rough job just time consuming and sort of smelly (hot water and vinegar combined with old glue) before painting. I also want to remove the lower closet shelf and double rod the closets. The wall the bed will go on has one window awkwardly placed to one side looking into the carport. Since the carport entrance is right next to that window, and is what everyone uses, that window blind stays closed. That window is for a fire safety exit since the other window is a high clerestory type. Having the bed on the wall with the one narrow window will be completely off balance. Afte considering different ways - i.e. putting curtains or drapes on the entire wall to disguise the window, a fancy wooden screen, etc. I have figured out a way to make it look good. I will frame the window with 1 x 4s and do a matching faux frame on the other side. Then the actual widow will have hinged opening wooden shutters with decorative hinges and latch. On the other side will be a matching shutter with decorative hinges and latch. That one won't open of course. With those two "shuttered windows" framing the bed and a painting over the bed between them, it will look very nice, have privacy from the carport, and still allow fire escape. And my OCD will be satisfied because it will balance. The MBR and bath will be the last rooms I do. We may have to sleep in the guest room while I do them. Or if DS1 is back in CA we can sleep in his room. That would work even better.

DH has collected all the junk from the barn floor, and he have a pile of scrap metal that was partially buried ready for the metal yard. Several large items, a metal cattle stanchion, a plow with one wide digging blade, identified as a "middle buster"?) - had to look up what the parts were - several cultivator shanks, assorted other blades and parts, gears, etc. Also, an inside can and paddle to an old butter churn or ice cream maker. Not very large in diameter so maybe a butter churn. Has a shaft that would fit into a mechanism to turn. The tow bar with the blade was so heavy we had to drag it over with a rope and DGH had to attach his forks to the bucket to lift it over to the pile. If I was in a town area, I could probably sell all these items as gen-you-wine antiques to city folks. LOL Since there are no gullible city folks around here DS1 will have to load it all up and sell it at the metal yard. It is a very heavy so even at just a few cents/lb. it should bring some $$. Luckily there is a place that buys metal scrap just down the road. Other than the highway, I am liking this location better and better with it's proximity to everything we need. Of course, what we think we need is different to most retirees moving to a new location!

There is now a big pile of old cow manure and dirt in the garden area ready to be plowed into the soil. There is also a large pile of shredded stuff that can be burned this winter and the ashes plowed into the soil. Hopefully we will have good veggies. The southwest corner floor of the barn has a dip in it and the ground at the back is very soft and spongy. Not sure why. I wonder if we will have to bring in sand or decomposed granite to level it out and prevent flooding in that corner. Or put in a French drain there. Later decisions once we are living here and see what happens year-round. The back of the barn will be open to the field behind once we remove all the old rusty metal gates and panels that are wired in there now. We will put up our own old rusty metal panels - LOL - with a gate panel. The ones we have salvaged we are keeping. They will be useful eventually. DH wanted to hire Levi to put another fence along the open back of the garden area with another gate but I told him NO. We have enough portable panels to fence it off and have a couple large gate panels. Just need gateposts. No need to pay out more money. The old bank balance is getting low. Need to save up.

Next trip out we will bring a few more pieces of furniture, lamps, etc. Hopefully will find a nice sofa or small sectional for the living room in Palm Springs. Hopefully leather since I don't want to have to worry about upholstery every time DH or DS1 come in from working and sit down. I am taking exact measurements of the rooms and drawing them up in scale to make sure everything will fit. I am already taking some dishes and the cupcake pans back to Ca since I probably won't be making cupcakes for kids' parties anymore. Just kept one for muffins. DS2 was already upset that I accidently packed all the 9x13 baking pans. He called here looking for one since he wanted to make brownies and had no pans. LOL I told him to use the Pyrex ones. Then I packed up a couple pans ad returned them to him. He was actually looking for my special Wilton cake pan. Those Wilton pans are specially made with straight sides for cakes to be decorated. I packed all my cake decorating stuff and the cake pans. I did sort out the specialty shaped pans and gave those to Daniel. I don't think I will need the teddy bear, Mickey Mouse, lamb, etc. cake pans here. Those were for the children when they were young. Daniel can take over that baking. I promised him I would teach him how to use the decorating kit I gave his mother. She never had time to learn so he might as well.

Lots of small repairs and clean outs to do once we are living here. Some grouting is missing, cracks in concrete to be repaired, some barn repairs to be done, etc. One big job will be cleaning out the overhead storage in the carport. There are a lot of items stored there that were not removed by the seller. Definitely some old shutters, and probably a lot of junk wood, etc. We need to remove all that stuff, retrofit the space with heat barrier, and build a new access door for the opening. currently the space is open to invasion by wasps and unwanted insects. It will need to be cleaned out, sealed, and insulated so we can store Christmas decorations and other seasonal items up there. If the shutters are not in bad repair, maybe I can use them to in the MBR.

Haven't caught up with anyone else's posts yet. Will check after priming the rest of the bathroom cabinets and the paneling behind the toilet. We want to replace the toilet with a taller model, but I can touch up the wall when we do that. Just need to get as much painted now as possible. Will do the tile above the tub for the new shower later. Will need to have the hot water lines run through the attic to the tub, then put up concrete board around the tub and tile the walls from tub to ceiling. (Saves on trim tiles and also keeps from getting water damage above the shower surround.) I will need to buy a new tile saw. My old one was a small, cheap model, really worn out after doing 8 kitchens and 11 bathrooms. Turned out to not be usable after years of open storage in the shed. It was starting to fail when I stored it, the cuts were not exact, and when we pulled it out, the box had been chewed open. Rats had nested inside the box and the saw deck was covered in rat feces. Not worth cleaning up to use. There is a Harbor Freight near us where I can pick up an inexpensive model which will be all I need for this house.

DH has gone to gas the truck and pick up last carton of Blue Bell. We will leave Sunday am early. He mentioned 3:30 - 4:00 am departure. I reminded him that the last time we tried that we fell back asleep after the alarm because we never sleep well before a trip. Ended up waking up at 8:00. We will get up around 5:30 and leave by 6. We'll shut all the front pasture gates, set the lights on timers, and load the truck on Saturday. Plan to spend 2 nights on the road, getting to the hay place early on Tuesday am. DS1 didn't want us to get another load of hay but said now that he thinks he can fit in at least 60 bales. Told us to check with him and maybe we can bring a full load of hay depending on how much storage he has. This will be the last trip with the flat bed until DH has recovered from his knee surgery. DH wants DS1 and I to make a trip back with more furniture in October or November. DS1 and I will put up the portable fencing in the barn and some behind the barn. Will also have to put up a corral for the rams with shelter. The rams will be the last sheep to arrive. Once the sheep arrive in January, DH and DS1 will make another couple trips with the last of the corral panels. DH is not sure whether it would be cheaper/better to have a Connex delivered here and set on the blocks by the delivery people or bring out one of ours and try to set it ourselves. He also has to decide where to put it so . . . .

Back to priming the bathroom. Primer smells terrible - I hate priming a room. But I can't put it off any longer. Paint smells better. BTW Does anyone remember how popular Sears brand paint was? They used to add Vanilla to it to make it smell better so people would like using it. Clever way to make it a best selling brand!

Wait wait - bring that junk back to CA - there are plenty of gullible city folk (esp in LA) who will pay big $$$$$$ for the gen-you-wine antiques! Could even be enough to pay for a load of hay!

 

[Ridgetop]

Wait wait - bring that junk back to CA - there are plenty of gullible city folk (esp in LA) who will pay big $$$$$$ for the gen-you-wine antiques! Could even be enough to pay for a load of hay!

I wonder if I could bring it to PS and put it in a consignment store? LOL Do you think they would take it? Maybe if I clean it up and tag it with some cool names.

Priming is finished - used almost the entire gallon of primer. I wonder how many more years I can twist myself around the back of a toilet like a pretzel to paint the wall behind it? Or rather, do it without severe injury?! LOL After priming I patched the ceiling damage. These ceilings are orange peel texture, not smooth like they should have been in a bathroom. But that was the '70's. The trick was to cut out the damaged stuff, retape a couple places, and apply drywall compound. Finished up and it looks good. I will wait till it is dry - probably 24 hours, and then put on more compound using a wet paper towel to texture it. If that doesn't look ok, I have some spray on orange peel texture which I can use. I will paint the woodwork, wainscoting, and cabinetry, leaving the ceiling and upper walls alone for now. I would like to paint the walls a soft color to enhance the style of the wainscoting. Maybe a soft sage green to blend with the brown porcelain fixtures. That is a pretty neutral color. If I can get up to Lowes, they are having a Labor Day "Buy a Gallon - Get a Gallon Half Price" sale. I can get a gallon of semi-gloss pale sage, and a gallon of semi-gloss Swiss Coffee for the
other bathroom. Never have too much semi-gloss Swiss Coffee for trim. Will need it for the spare and MBR woodwork too. Will check the ad wording to make sure I read it right and it is not some online thing.

 

[Ridgetop]

Finished painting the woodwork in the bathroom. What a job! Crawling behind the toilet, under the cabinets, on the ladder, drawers and cabinet doors separately without hardware. The bathrooms in this house don't have cabinet doors under the sink, they are open for use as makeup area or wheelchair access. I plan to build them in and put doors on since I don't like the open area and loss of storage. Topcoat finished but it looks like despite the primer I will need a second coat of paint on the moldings. Now that everything is painted white it shows where there are gaps in the moldings, and needs caulking. I need to crawl around caulking everything, then another coat of paint.

My old tenants, Larry and Vikki, came by this morning to visit. They liked the paint colors and agreed that painting the bathroom woodwork white made a big difference. They luve in Alba now but will be coming through to Sulphur Springs frequently so will stop off again. I told Larry that DH said he might have to get another tractor eventually and we would call him to go to some auctions and sales looking for a used tractor. He was a dairy farmer all his life and knows tractors, plus used to buy and sell trucks, etc. so knows his stuff. They are really nice folks. We drove around the new fences and they liked them. Larry said he wished he had tall fences around his garden. I guess this is a bad deer year for gardens. The deer will all disappear opening day of the deer season of course! LOL

Started cleaning the house, getting ready to pack for the trip home. Put a case of water in the fridge for the cooler. DH finished cleaning out the barn and found more stuff buried in the dirt. More antiques? LOL I will try to finish the caulking and painting today so we can pack and relax tomorrow before leaving for California Sunday am. Probably have to wait for the next trip to paint the upper walls. I might leave the rosin paper taped to the floor but need to remove the tape from the woodwork. The trick is removing the tape from the woodwork before the paint has time to cure too long. It comes off easier that way, otherwise you have to use the utility knife to cut through the dried paint and free the tape. Learned that after having dried paint peel off the woodwork when I left the tape on too long.

When the temperature drops more, I will have to go around and caulk the windows on the outside of the frames. They seem to leak air so I will need to seal them all. There is also a crack in the wooden panel on the front door. Need to fill the inside of the crack with wood filler and the outside with caulk. Walking around outside I have found a couple places where the sections of grout are missing from the brickwork. That will need to be refilled as well. Other brick repairs are needed to the steps as well as fixing a crack in the concrete in the carport. All can be done later. The fencing is up, the house is livable, and we can start moving in for real as soon as DH has his knee surgery!


When I get home, I will start taking down the wrought iron fencing to bring out to TX to put up in the front yard. I hope I can get the fence posts out and knock the concrete off them. Otherwise, I will have to buy new posts at the Lowes out here. I have enough fencing in California to do half of the fencing I still need across the front yard. Then I will buy the rest out here. Once that fence is in, I can start planting shrubbery/vines along it. The shrubbery will help to cut down the noise from the highway and will give a little privacy. Also look pretty from the house windows. I will need to get a book of Texas plants that will grow in this climate zone.

Well, can't put off the caulking any longer.

 

[Ridgetop]

Finished the second coat of paint on the woodwork! I am now officially crippled from contorting myself around toilets and cabinets and kneeling on my bad/new knee on the hard floor. The bathroom woodwork was painted dark blue.
Dark blue woodwork with wallpaper and a border. The wallpaper was old and worn, and there was some water damage to the ceiling and walls in 2 places. DH hated the color so now it is painted white, wallpaper stripped, and wall primed for new color paint. I love wallpaper, but am just painting the upper walls. The white makes the bathroom a lot brighter. I repaired the ceiling damage with the first coat of compound and tape. I will put the second coat of drywall compound on tomorrow and do the orange peel texture. It can cure until we return when I will paint the ceiling patches and the upper walls. Once we are living here I will get a plumber out to see about running the hot water lines to a new shower. Then I will tile the tub surround up to the ceiling - that saves a lot of money on trim pieces. Field tiles are relatively cheap, trim pieces are expensive. By tiling to the ceiling, I save about $50-$100 in trim pieces. We have turned off the breaker to the second hot water heater that feeds the second bathroom since we are not using it. Hopefully that will save a little electricity. We also turn the AC up to 80 when we leave.

 

[Baymule]

You hit a house like a tornado, but in a good way. Your whirlwind comes through and everything is cleaned, painted, repaired and perfect. By the time y’all move, the house will be brand new inside and ready for y’all. I see you now casting your eyes outside, on the brickwork. Soon it will be repaired and new again.

Front shrubbery, do you want a thick wall of green? Red Tips make a good hedge and grow as tall and thick as you let them. Just remember to plant the “in” far enough so when you leave, you can see around them.