Rick & Lori: August 2025

We both arrived on Friday morning. Rick installed plugs and breakers for the stove and dryer and put the stove in the kitchen. Becky and I (with some help from Kemp) moved some boxes, a few small chairs, and a full-size bed over from Mother's. We also cleaned out some construction trash from the carport and took it to the city dump. We then installed the blinds throughout the house (we came up one short and will bring it next weekend). It was blazing hot.

On Saturday, we were up and out early to get as much done as possible before it reached the predicted 107 degrees. I trimmed the front rose bush (I didn't get a before pic, but you can see it through the living room windows on the blinds photos), and Rick installed the front handrail. Becky came over helped me dig up irises around the gates, move stuff around, and take down fencing while Rick installed the back handrails. We then removed part of the old fence, dug a 2' deep posthole in very hard clay (Rick did it), set a new pipe, installed two gates to allow Becky to get the lawnmower into the back yard (we've had part of the fence pulled back under the carport and Becky has been doing a limbo-type maneuver to drive the mower under the pipe and into the yard), pulled the original fence back into place, and worked on the gates. The heat wasn't terrible most of the morning, but the afternoon became almost unbearable. We finished the day doing small tasks in the house after a trip for tacos to the food truck set up in town from a nearby Mexican food restaurant--the tacos were great! The 3rd bedroom door was resized and installed, and hardware was added to laundry room cabinets.

On Sunday, we worked in the yard early installing a motion light and electrical plug at the back porch, fixing the final corner in the fence, cleaning stuff up and loading it in the van, and hoeing weeds. Rick worked on getting the backyard switch wired, a few touch up things, and getting the house cleaned up. I did touch up painting on the walls and vacuumed.

There are still a few minor things to touch up inside, but it's basically ready. She'll be moving in this week. We'll be assisting in getting moved and will hopefully be installing siding soon, getting the new roof and sidewalk soon, painting the house after the roof is finished, and working on adding siding to the carport/storage building.

Stove plug installed and breaker installed

Dryer plug and breaker installed

Living room ceiling fan remote re-paired and now working

Installing the new blinds (rose bush in background)

Living room windows (rose bush in background)

Stove in

Kitchen nook blinds

Living room blinds

Laundry room cabinets hardware installed

Front rose bush trimmed

Front handrail installed

Back gate after railroad ties removed

Back handrail installed

New gate going in

New post set

Original fence back in place

Back gate finished

Sunday morning corner gate finished

Completed back yard

2nd bathroom tile in place and grouted

1st bathroom tile in place and grouted

Laundry room door installed and cabinets finished

Kitchen finished

3rd bedroom cleaned out

Back flood light and electrical plug in place

Laundry room finished

Laundry room finished and cleaned out

Living room finished

Rick arrived Thursday before lunch in hopes of meeting with yet another concrete guy. The 2nd guy from last weekend (who had sent someone to measure last Thursday) didn't get back in touch with us and ignored texts at the first of the week, so we contacted an area concrete company for recommendations for another contractor. This 3rd guy was planning to stop by after a pour in the area on Thursday and look at it with Rick. He didn't show up, call, or respond to texts, but the 2nd guy from last week called Rick on Thursday morning, gave a pretty high quote, and said availability was probably at least a month out. I'm not sure what we're going to do.

Rick installed the thresholds in the laundry room and bathrooms and started tiling the kitchen. I arrived around lunch on Friday and helped with the tiling. We were able to get the kitchen finished in time to go to Stamford on Friday afternoon and pick up the insulation and the machine before they closed at 5:30pm. We unloaded the machine and the 14 bags of compressed insulation and got everything set up with a trial run Friday evening to make sure the hoses would reach everywhere, that the machine was working, and that I could cut/lift/load the bags into the machine.

Saturday morning was sunny but a little cooler early. We got an early start and finished in < 2 hours. We had the machine back to Stamford by 11am and stopped by a little restaurant in Haskell for a quick lunch.

While we were gone, there was a snake incident. Mother saw a snake in her kitchen by the trash can. She didn't see the whole snake but saw the tail (it wasn't a rattle snake). Someone came over to help but couldn't find it. We couldn't find it either when we got back into town. Despite assurances that "it's not going to hurt you" and "it's more scared of you than you are of it" etc., it seemed like an excellent time to go ahead and move the beds where we sleep over to the new house.

Later on Saturday, we put tile in both bathrooms behind the sinks (I forgot to get pictures), measured windows and the back of the house, dug up some roots in the backyard, vacuumed walls of the 1st and 2nd bedrooms, and grouted the tile. Our neighbors came by with fresh homemade rolls and bounty from their garden at the end of the day, and we had a microwaved fine dining pasta dinner (with fresh rolls). Saturday was hot and sunny, but we noticed a significant improvement in temperature in the first bedroom (door closed all day, a/c not used) later in the day after the insulation was installed compared to other similar days before the insulation.

It was rainy and stormy most of Sunday morning, but we worked on cleaning the last of the grout film off the tiles, putting up the last of the screen molding around bathroom cabinets, installing the living room ceiling fan (we're having a problem with the remote and will have to call customer service during regular business hours), installing door hinges on the laundry room cabinets, sorting out stuff to put in the shed and to take home, vacuuming walls, etc.

We still have a few things to touch up and finish. We also need to work on the back fence and gates so that they will latch and close properly and will need to install a large gate in the southwest corner to allow the lawnmower to drive in and out. It looks like we may have to rig up some better handrails, possibly put in a ramp or two, and do some work to allow her to move in prior to the concrete being finished. We're also scheduled to have the roof removed and replaced within the next month or so, and we'll be removing and installing new siding on the west side of the house soon.

(I'm not sure what happened on the formatting for the photos and captions this time. I tried to fix it but ended up making it worse. I didn't want to re-do everything, so....)

New threshold between kitchen and laundry roomThreshold between laundry room and 3rd bedroomThreshold between 2nd bedroom and bathroomThreshold between hallway and 1st bathroomTile up on east side of kitchenTile going up on west side of kitchen Tile up14 bags of compressed attic insulationInsulation bags and machine

Geared up for fiberglass insulation

Trial run in the heat on Friday evening

There was previously ZERO insulation in the attic--only the heavy layers of dirt and old wood shingles that we cleaned up and then vacuumed earlier this year

The setup--I cut the bags in half (they're pretty heavy) and fed 1/2 bags into machine (it's a very tight fit) while peeling back the packaging as it goes in. If it's peeled off too early, the insulation expands and won't go into the machine. If not peeled off early enough, you can't get the packaging off. Rick was in the attic and couldn't assist. It also had to be done fairly exactly to keep the machine from clogging. It was difficult.