Catching Up with Butter

 

Our First Christmas Tree with Dead Tree in the back

 

 

I know, I know. I said I’d update this literally months ago. So, let’s take a whirlwind tour of the past few months (yikes!)

Just before Christmas, we awoke to the sound of chainsaws next door. Thomas went to chat with the guys and was able to talk them into taking down our dead tree for less than half the estimate they’d given us a couple months earlier.
They were already out there with their equipment, that sort of thing.

So, Merry Christmas! We don’t have to worry about a tree taking out our house (or the neighbor’s) every time the wind blows!!!!
It was really bothering us – if we were in the front yard or on the porch there would inevitably come a silence when we were both playing a sort of horror movie in our heads, staring Dead Tree.

THe guys that took it down were definite pros – scary to watch, but totally in tune with the way of trees – dead or not. They took down four or five that Friday. Had a chipper with them and took care of all the little bits for us. Then they segmented the trunk and large limbs and piled them in our front yard.
All of our friends with fireplaces got seasoned firewood for Christmas this year!

We had a little casualty, however. The unidentified bush at the base of Dead Tree got smooshed. Well, half-smooshed.
It’s growing back nicely though – if  a little harsh edged. 

And now – Pictures!

Our First Christmas Tree with Dead Tree in the back

Our Cat! (plus two dead trees)

It Made a Really Big Boom

Halved Shrubbery

Crack!

Hollow?

Path of Destruction

Sawdust

Seasoned Fire Wood, Anyone?

Treescape

Happy New Year!

My christmas wish was answered!
We have ceilings and walls. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am about this. Dance around the room, howl at the moon happy.
(way happier than some tiny cup of yogurt could make me – but, still a good ad campaign)

did you get that?

WE HAVE CEILINGS AND WALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have pictures of everything and stories to tell, but my cameras downstairs at Butters and I’m at Kelli’s house about to go to bed. But it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything that I just couldn’t hold it in any longer.

WALLS!!!!

There’s still a lot of work to do – little bits of sheetrock here and there and ever more mudding and sanding – but we’re getting there.
We even bought our paint today – Lemon Soufflé for the kitchen walls (see my post about our test kitchen) and Parmesan for the walls in our living room and dining room.
Is it really that surprising that we picked food colors? And we weren’t even hungry!
We almost went all desserts, with crème brulée, but that was a bit dark, and, not illogically, didn’t go well with the soufflé.

See why it’s time for me to go to bed?
I’m a bit giddy. That, and it’s time for me to take some more Emergen-C and slather on more and more lotion on my hands. Sheet rock dust is turning my hands into corn husks. ick.

I promise I’ll post more this week – pictures and pictures and stories. We have a new friend that’s made this all possible and I don’t think I can give him a proper introduction without a photo. Not to worry – I have the perfect one already.

If we only had some walls. . .

 

The beginnings of a ceiling!!!

Last weekend (the one before this one, actually), Greg, Dave and Erin came over to help us start sheet rocking Butters.
It was a full weekend – Thomas and I cleaned out all the floor joists, added plumbing in the kitchen (so we can have an ice maker in our fridge) wiring some more boxes, and finished tearing out the bathroom downstairs on Saturday.
Our awesome friends came over on Sunday and we finished cleaning and taking out even MORE nails (there were a phenomenal number – I’ve been pulling them since we started working on Butters!) and Thomas and Greg worked on framing out our soffit-to-be while Dave, Erin and I worked on starting the sheet rock in the kitchen.

We only have 3/4 of the kitchen ceiling done, but it’s still a big step.
Everyone says that once you get the wall and ceiling in, the rest is much faster.
If nothing else, I know it will make us feel so much better about all we’ve done thus far. It’s a long list, but it’s not very pretty yet, so it gets me down sometimes.

But! It’s coming – there’s a teeny tiny little light way down there – see it? You have to squint a little, but I promise, it’s there! (I hope.)

Before we started cleaning

After Cleaning

Which one would your rather use? Yeah, us too.

Herbie was very full after our night of cleaning!

Greg and Thomas working on the soffit

Thomas and I holding up stuff for the soffit

Still working on the soffit – it’s long!

Dave, Greg and Thomas trimming sheet rock (really, they were awesome!)

Putting up Some Ceiling!!!!

The beginnings of a ceiling!!!

 

Mr. Heatmiser

 

See our Ducts?!

We have heat!!!!

Our furnace is named – of course – Mr. Heatmiser.
For anyone who might not get the reference, here you go!
This is one of my all time favorite claymation Christmas specials. 

Pretty soon we’ll have a Mr. Coldmiser, and actually we do, but he’s not feeling so well. Thomas fixed some things on it, and then the condenser died – I missed it, but apparently it was rather spectacular.

We had our gas turned on last week, after we’d finished installing the furnace and all the ductwork.
Yep, we.
I really didn’t have much to do with the furnace itself, but I did help with all the ductwork.

It’s been pretty cool, learning about boots, registers, saddle collars, venting a furnace (very important!) and flexi pipe (very cool – they pack 25 feet into a 3 foot-ish bag. Open the bag and watch it grow! Sort of like the pill sponge animals from when we were kids).
Oh, and that wacky red tool I had pictures of a few posts back? Those are crimpers; you use them if your extending some of the rigid piping – we did.
Now we need to finish building the soffit that will go around the main trunk that runs along the living room ceiling. The flexi pipes fit nicely in the floor joists, so will be hidden by the sheet rock, once we finish installing that.

See our Ducts?!

Cutting Holes for the Registers in the Ceiling

More Register Cutting

Venting our Furnace

One thing I don’t have pictures of is our newly insulated and decked attic!
Yay Thomas!!!!!
I really didn’t do anything on this, aside from bring home many rolls of insulation and help get them into the attic. Then come back the next day and gush over the great job Thomas did. And I’m not being sarcastic; it looks great.
He had me save a bunch of panelling that we pulled out of the downstairs, and he used that for decking. We really have been reusing the heck out of our old stuff. The rest of the decking will be the big sheets of plywood over the windows (yes, we still have some boarded up windows – we’re waiting until we’re done working for most of them. Then we’ll replace any broken panes.
We also used a bunch of the 2×4s that were across the plywood for shims and, well, anything Thomas needed.

Pritz and Pipes

 

Pritz and Thomas Carrying Bad Pipe

 

We’ve been working nearly nonstop on Butters for the past few weeks, but now it’s time for a break. Thomas is in West Virginia working this week, and we’re at a point where I really can’t do anything by myself.
Well, not totally true – I’m going out today to buy a carbon monoxide detector and battery for our smoke detector. Big time, I know.

But, I do have time to catch up on blogging!
weee!

So, let’s travel back in time – to a time of uncertainty (and here’s where I put in my heartfelt “wooooohoooooooo!!!!!”).

While the country debated, I went downstairs and crinkled my nose.
Our cast iron pipes had begun to rot in earnest. Not a pleasant smell, thought, or reality.

Luckily, we have the handiest bunch of friends known to man, and our friend Dave (Pritz) offered to help us replace the cast iron pipes with PVC.

Perhaps I should clarify. These pipes that were rotting? They were leaking. What were they leaking, you ask? Sink Water. Bathtub Water. And, oh yes, Poo Water. 

Now that that’s settled, you can see why neither Thomas nor I slept well for the two days (or, well, went to the bathroom).
But Pritz came over on Sunday and we changed everything out – not quite so hard, really, though oh so stinky and disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!  If you ever need to hire a plumber – do it. And do not balk at the bill. These men and women are truly saints for dealing with what they deal with.
Do I need to use the P word again?

I stayed in the doorway while they cut through the old pipes (and stuff sprayed), but did help in getting the new pipe put together. We even thought ahead to the wonderful day when we will have a washing machine and added in a, umm, joint? where the out going water will join up with the main line. (I had all the terms down, but this was three weeks ago, so, no more).
Dave said I’m the neatest purple stuff applier that he’s ever seen. Thank you very much.
The mud room really looks nicer with all the old pipe gone – now we just need to, well, a lot.
I’m focusing on the positive here, not the ever growing list.

Go Dave! Go!

And we wondered why our tub didn’t drain well.

Our Cast Iron Pile

Pritz and Thomas Carrying Bad Pipe

Thomas’ Turn to Hit – Notice Dave Cringing?

More Pictures – Not Butters

I was on my way to Butters yesterday and stopped short outside of Kelli’s door. I just had to take some shots of her towering flowers.
Our mom and dad were here last week and saw one flower on her cosmos.
About a day after they left, it went nuts.
This is for you guys!

 

A picture, A thousand words

 

 

A View of Mr. Heatmiser

 

I’ve gotten so far behind that I feel the best way to catch up is to put up my latest pictures.
Sorry for no story – our furnace story looks to be turning into a choose your own adventure, so I’m trying to give it a little time.
Hopefully you’ll enjoy some shots of tools and such in the meantime!

A View of Mr. Heatmiser

You’ve seen this before – old ductwork

Dan, our furnace man!

Our Condenser Unit – Thank you Dave (and Dave’s Sister!)

The “door” to our attic

Our Breaker Box

I have no idea what these are for – but aren’t they awesome?!

I told you they were awesome!

Part of our Ductwork

Thomas Cutting Out Stuff

The Floor in our Living Room (for now)

Part of Dan’s Hydrogen Thing for His Truck

Kudzu Update

 

Kudzu on the Move!

Wee!

The saga continues. I think for many years to come, really, but this is just a short update.

After pulling all of the kudzu, ours and our neighbor’s (vacant house), we needed to do something with it.
Thomas met the guy who claims to own the house (though, according to the sign out front, it’s a bank, not a guy). But he said it was his, and was so thankful that we took care of his mess that he said he’d haul away all of the old kudzu for us. Something about owning a construction firm or something.

Do you sense a tone?
That would be because he never showed up and we still have mounds of kudzu drying up all over the Field of Despair. Well, I guess it’s the Driveway of Despair. Hmm, wonder if the Pit of Despair is anywhere near?

Re-enter Jerry’s trailer of wonder!
Thomas and I loaded it on up with piles of kudzu corpses and had it all ready to go down to Jerry’s for burning where it could then turn into useful fertilizer for his garden.

Enter freakish Atlanta gas crisis.
We can’t take it down to Locust Grove (about 30 minutes not towing who knows how much weight) until we can be assured that we’ll find gas to bring us back home and send Thomas off to work.

It’s been well over a week now. Thankfully Kelli and i can carpool a couple days a week and Midtown’s not that far away. But Thomas had to use my mower fuel so he could get up to a little tile job he had last night.

It seems to have eased ever so slightly today – Kelli and I were both able to fill up at the Citgo by our house; the ONLY station I’ve seen with gas in 4 days. They jacked the price of fuel up 20¢ though.
I know, it could be worse, but I thought that there was a price freeze in effect so that people weren’t getting gouged. Grr. Thomas filled up last night somewhere for about $4.39! Mom and Dad have $3.50 gas up in Michigan right now. (our gas is always cheaper than theirs)
I know a bunch of this is coming from people topping off whenever possible, but there must be more to it than that. ugh. I’m sleepy and cranky and well aware that things could be much worse than they are, but grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

 

Back view of the trailer

 

Turns out this was a three car garage

Remember I said we found an old structure? Our neighbors across the street filled us in on that – there was a three car garage that straddled both properties that was flattened by a falling tree limb.
Not nearly as dramatic and I’d hoped, but I think I’m ok with that.

Up next. . .

The COOLEST HV/AC MAN EVER!!!!!!!
We were lucky enough to find Mr. Dan Moss who is installing the new furnace that Thomas found on Craigslist. Yay Dan!!!!

I need to go to sleep now, but I have lots of pics and stories to post soon. Maybe even in the morning before work!

One pic now though – of a piece of old duct work (I think that’s what it was at least!)

 

Ode to Rust #1

Lake Santeetlah

 

The View From Our Tent

After all that crappy hard work, we needed a break. From Butters and our real jobs. Thankfully, so did some of our friends!
Last year on Labor Day, we went up to North Carolina for an amazing camping trip that involved kayaking and inner tubing on a lake, taking a stroll through an old growth forest and white water rafting.
It was quite a weekend.
This year, we couldn’t make it happen for the holiday weekend, so we made our own.

That picture up there? That really was the view from our tent. If you stood outside the door and took 13 steps (my steps), you were in the lake.
It’s just stunning up there; might be my favorite camping locale ever (thus far?).

This year we were short one day and part of our group met up with us on Saturday morning after a generator problem with a VW Bus stranded them in the local WalMart parking lot overnight. Turns out it’s quite the hopping place!
So, since we had sleepy friends and one less day, we decided to float around the lake all day (with Greg’s dogs!) and hang out around the campfire all night. Can I go back now?
Plus we got to stop at Colonel Poole’s on the way back home for BBQ – seriously, it’s really good. And I didn’t grow up with BBQ, not BBQ in the southern sense.

The View From Our Tent

Thomas and I in the Mountains

Self Portrait

Thomas and the Nearest Bathroom

Greg and his Traveling Caravan

Murray and Mandy in the Lake

Thomas in the Hammock

Palmer on the Wind Surfer

See Why I Want to Go Back?

1.75 Tons

 

Inside Out

 

Yep, all that was inside Butters.
Then we (mostly Thomas, but I helped) loaded all that you see up there on Thomas’ uncle Jerry’s 30 foot trailer and he and his dad took it to the dump.
The 1.75 tons comes in here. The dump charges you by weight, and our trailer full o’ Butters was 1.75 tons.

Seriously, let’s think about that for a second. Thomas tore that all down (as I think I’ve admitted before, I’m a bit of a wuss with the panelling) and I carried it all outside into that massive pile.

The top layer of that pile is another story. Icky night that was.
It was the day that we found out we needed to get rid of all of the kudzu, now. Thomas had pulled up the carpet in our office-to-be and found a nasty wood floor beneath.
So he started pulling it out, finding an even nastier wood subfloor beneath that.
Enter Kim, fresh off a long day of work.

I get in and Thomas gives me a crowbar and hammer and I start actually tearing out.
Turns out, it’s just panelling that I’m a wuss with. Floor? Well, rotted wood floor? I got that.
Ok, it wasn’t as easy as all that, but I was able to handle it. To a point.
I’m not sure what brought about the point, but it came. It may have had something to do with my foot repeatedly breaking through the subfloor, or thinking about the fact that it was about 9:30 pm and I had to be at work at 6 am, but I finally broke down and cried. In my defense, I think it should be known that I was holding the aforementioned crowbar and hammer – I mean how girly can I possibly be holding those?! Ok. I dropped them just prior to really crying.

Which sent Thomas into a concerned tizzy trying to figure out how I’d hurt myself now. Once he got me to talk (really a hard thing for me once I’ve started crying – ask my Dad, who learned that during a transatlantic call, poor guy). Anyway, once he got me talking, I think I gasped something along the lines of “we bought a rotted, termite infested house full of rat poo!” (yeah, I’ve left some of the more glamorous bits out – don’t worry about the pests though – both were WAY prior and have been dealt with).

A sweaty, dirty and kinda snotty (me) hug came next with Thomas turning into Mr. We Can DO IT!!! The Engine. He just kept reassuring me in his infallibly logical way; pointing out all we’ve done so far and how it’s going to be fine. He and his dad would be mudding the floor we were tearing out tomorrow and it would be done by the time I got home from work. It wouldn’t look like a pile of pallets exploded, it would be a nice, smooth concrete floor ready to be tiled. We would take care of the kudzu that weekend; he’d already called in help. He and his dad would take the trailer full of Butters away. . .all the while telling me how proud he is of me and what a trooper I’ve been. How he wouldn’t have been able to do this without me. How much he loves me. All the good things that I needed to hear just then. He’s a good man, that one.

It seems like that’s become our turning point – Thomas has even said that he was feeling just as beat down as I was and it took my breaking down to bring him up. He had to be the optimist and it helped put things in perspective, which showed him that it really was going to be ok.

whew. When I cry, things happen!

I don’t normally have photographic records of me crying – and there aren’t any shots here, but there are pics I took that lead up to the crying. . .

all that was in there!

The Pile at Night – that night

The Floor Mid-Tear Out

Rotted Floor

One of the places my foot went through

Thomas’ Dad (Tommy) mudding the Floor the Next Day

Thomas Mudding the Floor the next day