10/27/24

It was another Friday-Sunday weekend. The window connector arrived, so we were able to install the front two windows on Friday. It was a little more complicated than a single window but was relatively smooth. Rick also removed the wall furnace from the living room wall.

Saturday, we worked on running electrical plugs, prepping the walls/baseboard areas/windows, and installing sheetrock on exterior walls in the master bedroom. Rick also foamed all of the new windows and put up the exterior trim on the new front windows.

Sunday, we repeated the process for the 2nd bedroom but didn't finish. As is almost always the case, we ran into lots of challenges that slowed us down. 

Next weekend, we'll complete exterior wall sheetrock for the 2nd bedroom and begin repeating the process in the living room. We'll also be taping/bedding and possibly texturizing walls in preparation to install the mini-splits for heating. The last window (in the laundry room) has been ordered and should arrive in a few weeks.

 

Found a rough sketch of the seats in the dining room nook on a random board pulled out of a wall somewhere in the house.

We won 60-0 (called at half).

Front porch light now working 

Sunrise and the volleyball girls leaving early for a Saturday morning game

Master bedroom

2nd bedroom

Rick is re-doing electricity in the attic as we go. It was less than ideal.

 

10/20/24

 Once again, we arrived on Friday. We replaced the kitchen/dining room window on Friday. It gave us lots of trouble and took all day. It was cool and breezy, and we weren't able to complete the exterior trim until Saturday afternoon. Rick also repaired some soffit and fascia on the north side of the house while we had the ladder out and did a lot of work on electricity and lights on Saturday. The days are getting shorter, and lighting is needed in the morning and late afternoon. We now have operational lights and some operational electric plugs in the kitchen, living room, utility room, and master bedroom.  

One of our biggest headaches and worries was also resolved on Saturday. The property came with a 70'+ tower with TV antennas at the top. It had been in place for probably at least 60 or 70 years. We hadn't quite figured out how we were going to handle it yet. Our new neighbor, Harold, saw a lot of movement in it during a wind event in the middle of last week. (We haven't been there yet when the wind was really blowing). There are several anchors on our property and on his property, and apparently some of the guide wires had been relocated to our carport area at some point and were rubbing and causing damage. He found a large, loose concrete anchor in our yard which was moving significantly when pulled. He was willing to take the tower down with his son's help with our permission. We agreed, and they were able to lie it down, mostly between trees, between the two houses on Saturday afternoon without incident! Once it was down, he noted that the guide wire that kept it from falling on our house from west and southwest winds only had 2/6 wires intact--the others had rubbed and broken. He took it apart and stacked it up behind our shed. We are relieved to have it down safely and very appreciative of good neighbors!

On Sunday, we sheet-rocked the hot water heater closet and started working on figuring out the electricity for wall sockets and figuring out sheetrock and baseboards in the master bedroom.

We've already purchased the two windows for the east wall of the living room (front of house) but are waiting for the connector piece to arrive. It could be a few more weeks. We'll hopefully order or find a window for the north wall of the utility room this week. We have more work on sheetrock and electricity for the master bedroom, 2nd bedroom, and living room. The mini-splits will also need to be installed soon since we could get cold weather at any time, but the sheetrock needs to be finished first. 

We actually arrived at work both days prior to sunrise!

Last photo of tower still standing

Yes, that is bermuda grass from long ago that had grown up thru the walls!

10/13/24

We arrived again on Friday morning. Unfortunately, it was another very hot weekend with Saturday's high >100 degrees again. Surely that's the last one this year. We installed windows for the south master bedroom and south living room areas on Friday and Saturday. We're waiting for delivery of a connector piece for the double east facing living room windows. The north facing windows in the kitchen and utility room are a little different and we haven't fully decided yet which windows we'll use.  

I finished scraping the kitchen floor on Friday afternoon (I have a few "almost completed" photos but guess I didn't get any completed ones), and Rickey did some taping and bedding and installed the toilet in the 2nd bathroom. Saturday we ran electricity for the stove/dryer/hot water heater under the house and outside into the main breaker, installed the dryer vents up to the attic, and insulated water pipes. (City water services were started this week, and they installed a new meter. We're having pressure problems, and they'll be digging down the street to check & fix a water tap from the main line a couple of hundred feet away.) I worked on mudding over screw holes in all of the areas we have installed sheetrock while Rick worked under the house on Saturday.

On Sunday Rick ran wiring for plugs and lighting in the hot water heater closet. We had to figure out how we were going to deal with some issues with the baseboards and varying wall surfaces throughout the house starting in the 3rd bedroom, and we finished putting up sheetrock on the ceiling and walls in the 3rd bedroom.

Next week we'll work more on sheetrock, electricity & lights, taping & bedding, and maybe the east windows in the living room if the connector piece arrives. The days are getting shorter, and we'll need lighting. Plus, it's frequently been too hot for Rickey to get up in the attic to do much work on electricity and lighting. We also need to get the sheetrock up and taped/bedded/textured in the 2 bedrooms and living room where the mini-splits will be located so that we have heat when it gets cold.

The only time you won't see a parking lot packed full of cars at Ranchland.