Last night l was feeling rather down. I know I'm ready to head for home but I thought I was getting homesick. Nah, it was more of a different kind of sick. I probably shouldn't explain how I know.
While I was gone yesterday and this morning in San Antonio, Dwight was getting the jobsite surveyed for a land swap. I sure hope the county guy knows how to use an auto level transit better than Dwight and I or we might get a piece of China.
...until tomorrow.
Another day on the job site and getting ready to put up the sheathing on the East wall. The first time we moved the sheathing from one side of the building to the other we used a toy wagon to haul two sheets at a time. This time we got smart and loaded 10 sheets on the back of an atv and away we went!
Megan continued her whirlwind trip this afternoon. I drove her to the San Antonio airport by way of a George Strait Store aka The Tractor Supply Store. Just had to get some John Deere clothes. She had a great but brief time on the farm. Now she's headed to El Paso. Who willingly goes to El Paso?
...until tomorrow.
Nice relaxing stay with cousin Gary. Slept in to 7:30 am this morning. Gary and I solved most of the world's problems by noon. Then Gary, Megan, and I got in the atv and headed out to check fences. Of course we made the obligatory stop at the gun range aka garbage pit for some target practice.
Headed South sometime after 4, back to Realitos and the house project. Megan will have a little time there before I put her on a plane to her next destination. Maybe Megan can show them how to raise alpacas before she goes.
...until tomorrow.
Took the weekend off and drove up to my cousin Gary in Nordheim. On the way there I stopped for lunch in Three Rivers. I'm sitting there eating and in walk my cousin Nancy and Aunt Georgie! They were on their way to a wedding shower in Tilden.
I packed lightly in a small suitcase this morning because I'm so smart. However, that's not the suitcase that I put in my car. So now I don't have my prescriptions for my high blood pressure, diarrhea, cholesterol, constipation...
What the heck?! My daughter Megan just walked in the door! She must have turned left instead of right at the Oregon border.
...until tomorrow.
Dwight had to be a rancher today leaving Nancy and me to work on the job site by ourselves. We put up the last of the stringers (whatever that is) from the top of the ladders. Good thing we didn't watch "Vertigo" last night ( sorry Cindy Peck, another movie you'll have to watch) or I might have fallen off the ladder.
I will spend the rest of the afternoon filling in the gaps between the stringers (there's that word again) so we can start covering the walls with wood sheathing next week.
...until tomorrow.
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| Get a-long little doggie |
We began our day by continuing framing the East wall. This was the first major wall that has windows in it so we stopped and mounted a window to see if we framed it correctly. Of course being the master amateur carpenters that we are it was a perfect fit.
While this was going on a Pacific front came though with wind gusts of 30 mph. While we were taking our first coffee break, thunder rumbled across the sky. We were perfect electrical grounds sitting in our metal camp chairs under a metal roof, so the house was in no danger of catching fire from a lightning strike.
...until tomorrow.
Ruth and I got up at 3:45 am to get ready and go to the airport. We stayed at my sister Merrily's and luckily it's only 20 minute drive to SAT. Still it was hard to say goodbye with my work trip lasting another 3 weeks before I head home. As soon as I dropped off Ruth I headed off into the darkness and headed South back to the farm. I turned on the GPS just so I would have someone to jar me-\awake when I needed to make a turn. When I was in my 20's I used to go to work at 4:30 am. I would wash my face, grab a Pepsi and a Snickers Bar and open the branch post office before the first load of mail arrived. I discovered that I still don't like getting up that early. Arrived at the farm 3 1/2 hours later before most everyone had woken up. At least I didn't miss breakfast.
Monday was Ruth's last day in Texas...or so we thought. We headed to San Antonio for her 7:45 pm flight only to find out that the Phoenix leg of the trip to Portland had a 3 hour delay because of wind. With a 3 hour layover to begin with it would be 2:00 am arrival and still a 2 hour drive back to Eugene. So...we changed her flight to Tuesday at 5:40 am. That gave us time to go shopping at the Market Square in downtown San Antonio. I thought I had moths in my wallet but it was 20 dollar bills flying out instead. We should have had dinner on the Riverwalk but duh, I didn't think of it.
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| Darling wife Ruth |
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| Did we really do that? |
We needed to satisfy our appetite ?seafood so we headed for Baffin Bay to eat at Kings Inn. Everytime we come to South Texas we have to stop here. Jumbo Shimp, grilled and fried fish, salads, fries, onion rings, sliced tomatoes, key lime pie, and wrap up the meal with some Alka Seltzer!
Dwight's grandson Donnie George is known as a finicky eater but he managed to put away 14 jumbo shrimp by himself. He did look a little green by the time he got to the last two but he had to finish it because we bought the last 1/2 pound just for him to eat. The Saturday evening was highlighted by all of us going to Lowes to buy more building supplies. Some fun eh?
Sometimes you just feel old and tired. Today is one of those days. When I was 40 I didn't have the drive. Now I have the drive but not the body. Dwight and I are just plugging along working to get the South wall up. We're unsupervised as our darling wives went to town for the day, not that it would make much difference to our efforts. As our cousin Gary says, "I'm over 60, I'll do it tomorrow." And with that in mind...
The weather is dryer and warmer today so we're back on the job site. Dwight went back to work on the breaker box to get electricity to our power tools. Then of course he proceeded to work on powering up the hot tub so we could relax after a hard days work. Darling wife Ruth drained the tub and took care of washing the interior. I was going to take a picture of her cleaning until I noticed her pants hanging on a board and thought better of it.
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| Aunt Jean giving instructions |
We didn't work on the job site today. Last night more rain came and dumped at least 5 inches. I say at least because both rain gauges overflowed. It was determined that we couldn't work because the interior floor and materials got wet. Now coming from Oregon that sounds a little strange since we don't usually build the roof first so I'm not sure what was stopping us. |
| Look! Look! Look! |
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| ...and now attach the green wire or was it the red one? |
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| let's talk about this first |
The Corpus Christi weatherman said they would have rain by 3:00 pm so Dwight thought we had until Noon to get the underground wiring from the pole to the house done. He worked like crazy with his grandson Theron while I worked at my leisurely pace that's normal for me. Noon came and went and still no rain showers. Skipped our siesta and still no shower. Finally, when victory was in sight it started to rain. Now when we talk rain shower in Oregon we mean prolonged drizzle. I forgot that in Texas it means massive downpour! We packed up and went back to the farm but Dwight headed back after a cup of coffee and attached the last of the wires. As for me, I put up my feet and watched TV. |
| Not the Keystone Pipeline |
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| Stephen found Duck shirt in LSU land. |
We had a great day with Stephen. Drove an hour to Pineville LA to go to his church. Great people and message. The pastor even knew Stephen. That always worried me when Stephen was a kid and an elder knew who he was. Things are different now. 
To all those missing the building progress I got a picture from Dwight. It appears that he was somewhat serious about putting up the breaker box so he could hook up the hot tub. That may sound good but I've seen the color of the well water. I don't think it's supposed to be brown.
This was Stephen's first full day as a military veteran. He said he wasn't sure how quickly he would adjust to civilian life. Stephen was afraid he would still wake-up at 5 am. Apparently that part won't be an issue as he got up this morning at 8:45 am.
In New Llano Louisiana outside of Ft Polk. I should emphasize outside as this was our son Stephen's first day as a veteran of the Army! We're thankful he spent all 5 years of enlistment in the U.S. I don't think I could have lasted 5 minutes in boot camp let alone 5 years. We'll spend the weekend here with Stephen before heading back to South Texas.
We left Jeremy and Amanda and headed toward Jackson Mississippi. Detoured to the Shiloh Battlefield for a tour of the grounds where Union and Confederate forces collided over 150 years ago. It was so interesting to see the battle sites that I've read so much about. Everything comes alive when you step onto the fields. I thought I heard the rumble of cannons but I think it was just my stomach growling. |
| No relation that I know of |
