New Residents

Yesterday was a productive day.  I took a load from Janie's house and brought it over to my house and stuck it in the storage building.  Went to town, deposited some money for GSH, returned a movie, went to Home Depot and picked up the tile for the countertop and backsplash, dropped that stuff off at the house, erected some T-posts to put up some fencing for a temporary sheep setup, and headed back up to Janie's for some tie-wire.  I really wanted to get some sheep chomping down the brush so I could see what's under it.  Janie decided to join me and help me put the fencing up.  So back to the house we went, armed with what we needed, and started taking apart the mess around the little corral.  Janie is a machine.  She got all of the wire wrapped up nice and neat (there was hot wire on the inside of this corral for some reason), and we took down the various layers of fencing, etc. and cleaned it up quite a bit.  Then Janie came up with a great idea for blocking off a couple of areas and putting up a gate, and boom!  We've got a secure area for sheep.  Back to the house we went and brought ten lambs from the house and plopped them in the new area, and I set up the water trough.  They were all of our cull lambs (except for Janie's bummer lamb from a couple of years ago -- i.e. the lambie leader), and this is somewhat experimental to see what kind of coyote problem we have, if any.

In the meantime, Kirk finished laying the floor in the kitchen, and it is gorgeous!  He's done an amazing job!

Here's a few photos.

The sheeps made it through their first night.  Woo hoo!

(Hard to see ... photo was taken at 6:00 a.m. this morning.)

Here's a picture of the floor before grout.  Isn't it pretty?

Then Kirk just laid some of the countertop tile out to see what it looked like and to get a preliminary idea of how it's going to work (or at least that's what I think he was doing ...).  I took a picture of it without stepping into the house, so here it is.  I can't wait to see what this will look like when it's done.

I have to start working on the cabinet doors and drawer fronts.  This is going to be a giant job.  I need to get rid of those awful colors.

Happy tails,
Jodi

Destruction is good

We've had a busy weekend.  Thanksgiving was fun!  Jaenne came over, and brought my son with her.  It was good to see them both.  Jaenne cooked us some awesome Korean food for dinner, and I provided the baked apple pie that I actually made myself (well, Janie made the crust, and then held my hand through the rest of it). 

Friday, Janie and I went over to the house and continued to clean up the floor.  She manned the power tool and I cleaned up around her.  Kirk came by and started destructing.  We were going to keep the backsplash, but Kirk made an executive decision to ditch the hideous shit and, thereby, force me to do something about it.  I couldn't have been happier!  I am so sick of looking at that slate crap.  He also decided to get rid of the countertop all together and replace it with new stuff, and also removed the "appliance cubby" that I didn't need, so now I have more countertop space. 

Here's the tile I bought for the floor, so this is what I had to match.

Here's what the countertop looked like with the tile off, before Kirk decided to replace the entire thing.

So Janie and I went to Home Depot and found this tile.  It's 2" x 2" pieces in a 12" x 12" layout.  I love it!

So we'll use that for the countertop ... and then this for the accent on the white backsplash.

So ... Saturday morning, I swing by the house after taking my first truckload of stuff over, and I washed some of the walls, cleaned and prepped some of the trim to paint, and put a second coat on some of the trim in the living room.  I had, of course, my buddy with me. 

Yes, that's paint on her.  I haven't bothered trying to wash it off, as the dogs' favorite places to lay seem to be right up against wet paint.

So I worked on de-icking some stuff.  Like the bathtub.

And the toilet ...

I'm not going to bother with this sink, as I have a new sink/vanity waiting to be installed.

Here's the stove that came with the place.  People who saw this when I first saw it won't recognize it now.  But it's been de-icked for the most part and now just needs a good cleaning.

Here's the kitchen without the countertops with the backsplash removed.

(I wonder if anyone is even reading this or cares!  LOL!  In any event, this will be fun for me to look at when this is all said and done.)

How do you like the previous colors used?  LOL!

Kirk showed up and the construction started.  Here's the new countertop.

And the floor is starting to look awesome!!

I have to say ... this whole process has been an amazing experience.  I have learned a ton, and there is so much more to get through.  There will really be no way for me to thank Kirk and Janie for all this ... ever.  I am just really lucky that they adopt pathetic saps like myself and try to make their lives much better than when they started. 

Happy tails,
Jodi

Tile ...

Yesterday, after talking to my brother who recommended I call a tool rental place to find out what I could use to break up the tile, I called Tates Rents or some such thing. They recommended a big electric hammer type of thing. Cool. Said they'd charge me $90 for the whole day, or $70 if I took it on my way home from work and returned it the next morning. So I figured I would talk to Kirk about it first.

I stopped by WalMart and picked up some goggles and home I went to pound some more tile. Thankfully, by getting the initial few tiles up, it provided a little bit of "wiggle" room and the tiles were starting to come up in larger chunks and eventually even some in whole pieces. Still ... very strenuous and tiring work. And ... don't get me wrong ... MOST of it was still coming up in little itty bitty pieces. Just as I was starting to cuss at all of it, a truck pulls into the driveway. Who is that? IT'S KIRK ... AND JANIE! Woo hoo! Kirk already
had one of those hammer things with him and had bought a new bit for it! Awesome! Things started moving very quickly then. Janie sees me hit the hammer a couple of times, and does her, "Gimme that!" I handed it over to her, along with my gloves and goggles. She starts hammering away, while Kirk is using the big hammer thingie, and I start handling the removal of everything that is now coming up. I found one glove in my truck that had holes in two of the fingers, but I guess 3/4 of one glove is better than no gloves at all when dealing with very sharp slate tile.

I had put the 4" x 4" tiles from the counter in the trash the night before, and you would not believe how heavy that made the trash can. I couldn't add anything to it, so I humped that heavy thing all the way down my driveway and set it in the street in hopes of the trash people picking it up despite its weight. Janie and Kirk were making quick work of the tile in the kitchen so I grabbed the large metal dustpan my son bought a few months ago, and the rock rake and started cleaning up around them and bringing piles of tile and tile pieces outside as fast as I could go. A broom took care of the stuff the rock rake missed, and the shop vac will handle the rest.

Once the main part of the tile was gone, we called it a day. We'll go back tonight and clean up and get up the rest of the little bit of tile on the floor. Then all I have to do is the rest of the countertops ... which is a piece of cake in comparison.

Here's some photos.  The main floor area.

This is where the refrigerator will go, and where the hookups for the washer used to be.  (I had the washer hookup moved to the "second bedroom" ... aka the "utility room".)

Here's the countertop where I've removed the tile, but I need to remove the rest of the crap and get down to the wood.  The backsplash is staying.

Here's where the water heater used to be (see Kirk?  I didn't call it the "hot water heater"!!  LOL).  The water heater joined the washer in the other room.

And finally, here is the tile Kirk will be laying for me.

As you can see, there is a ton of work to be done in the kitchen.  I will hopefully be taking down the cabinet doors tonight and getting ready to start stripping them for paint.  The entire kitchen needs painting (other than the ceiling ... thank YOU Janie!) but I imagine that gets done after the countertop?  I don't have a clue.  We'll see, I guess.

So there will be a lot of activity at the house this weekend.  I'd like to get the curtains up in the bedroom, and potentially paint the second bedroom while Kirk is doing tile, but I don't know if that's a good idea with as much dust flies with tile.  There are plenty of other projects I could work on ... putting up curtain rods, fixing the light to the fan in the living room, etc.  Janie said she can start on the curtains soon.  Woo hoo!  It's starting to feel like we're hurdling over some massive obstacles here.
Happy tails,
Jodi

Darling Deere

I'm not sure what to call this post, so I'll rename it later.

What's been happening? Well, not much, but I can't seem to find time to do anything, either.

Been painting ... or not really. I ran out of trim paint, and after Kirk walked into my yellow and green dining room and said, "John Deere!" ... I've sort of lost my gusto to continue painting. Not really. But that's a great excuse.

He's right. It's those exact colors. I looked online and they actually have a John Deere wallpaper border! I'll put a border in the dining room to break up the color, and it will probably have a tractor on it, but not that one.

Anyway, the living room sits waiting for a second coat of trim paint. And I haven't gotten to it yet.

So I decided to start breaking up tile in the kitchen.

The slate tile on the kitchen counter ... no problem. It goes, "plink!" "plink" with each smack of the hammer, and the little 4"x4" squares come off pretty easily.

On to the floor. Ha! These are 16"x16" tiles ... all 3/4" slate. Nasty nasty stuff. Swinging the hammer as hard as I can, and little tiny pieces break off, leaving much of the tile intact. So frustrating. Dynamite might work. I'd love to have this done by Friday to Kirk can come in and lay the new tile, but I don't know if it will be done by then.

Talked to Jaenne today, and Justin tonight. Told him that Jaenne was talking about cooking Thanksgiving dinner here at Kirk and Janie's (they are going to Janie's brother's girlfriend's house for dinner and are letting us use their house seeing as I don't have one yet! LOL). Jaenne makes killer Korean food, and Justin likes it, too, so we're all set to go! (By the way, Jaenne, Justin said noon is fine.)

Oh and while I'm thinking of it ... Colleen ... I looked at my disk with all of the photos on it. I have a lot of photos of you and Reena on there, so I will burn them all to a disk and send them to you ... promise! Email me your address and I will get it done. I was going to call you tonight, but it got too late. See above comment about time! Yikes!

Had someone come by the other day for an instinct test. Used Zip to break off some sheep and then be the backup dog. For the most part, he did a very nice job. He's such a pleasure to work, as he seems to know what I want or need. Or maybe it's that I know his working style so well, that I adjust my needs to fit his style. I have no idea ... either way ... I love that dog. He's quite useful. And he's all heart. If he can't convince the sheep to do what he wants because he's too nice about it, he will keep trying and stick with it and try different things to see what works -- all the while continuing to be real nice. It's great when I have newbies watching and he's not nipping or gripping or causing a wreck, but it can take a bit longer, when one good hit would get the job done in a hurry. That's the tradeoff I guess.

Janie's been working Echo, or at least using her when she needs to move sheep around and such. I don't know who's having more fun ... Janie or Echo! LOL!

Found a vet in Caldwell that will test hips relatively cheaply. I need to get Echo scheduled.

Bought some black curtains for the bedroom tonight. Hopefully I can put them up this weekend and get the bedroom completed and at least have that room out of the way.

Need to head to bed. More pounding at the tile tomorrow. Teeth will rattle, ears will ring, spiders will complain about me waking their broods, and the mice will plot their reign of terror to be executed on my first night of sleep there.



Jodi

Whisker-Butt

Finally! Some photos of lil' Whiskey!

I brought her in the house tonight to see if I could get a decent shot of her. I failed miserably, but here are a few shots I attempted. She moves pretty quick, so it was really testing my skills to get something in focus.





Hmmm ... What is she looking at?

Rascal!



Apparently Whiskey felt it was in her best interest to try to charm the pantaloons off him.



No, it never did work. He was not real happy she was in his castle.

"My mom and my gramps have some very very nice ears. Did anyone see my good ones lying around? Echo keeps laughing at me."



"Here. Do they look better if I do this?"



"How about like dis?"



"Do you think Santa will bring me some if I put it on my list?"

More house pics

Ok ... the living room is green. Bright green. I haven't done the trim yet (hunter green), but at least the awful dark army green and darker burgandy colors are gone. The true hue of the green is not going to be possible for me to capture until it's light outside.



here is a comparison of the yellow in the dining room to where the living room wall starts.



The hallway looking toward my bedroom ... and a very sleepy dog that already got paint on him.



Once the trim is all painted, I get to start breaking out this tile. Doesn't THIS look like a fun project?



Jodi

The Green is Starting ...

I stopped by Home Depot on the way home and bought tile for the kitchen and entry way. It's pretty ... and relatively cheap.

Swung by the house and stacked the tile in the entryway. Cranked the tunes and started touching up some of the white paint. Taped off the ceiling and starting cutting in with the green all the way around the living room. Janie called me at one point and asked me what my plan was. I thought that was kind of odd. She said they were sitting down to eat. I thought it was kinda early, so I told her I was going to paint while I had it out. Soon enough, the shadows were doing weird things, and I couldn't tell if I was getting good coverage with the green. I finally figured out that it was well after 8:00!! No wonder she was calling! I cleaned up and went home. Kirk made barbequed shrimp, fried oysters, white rice with garlic, and salad. Yummola!

And now ... it's 10:00. Where the hell did the day go?

Tomorrow I'd like to continue with the green and hopefully get the whole living room and hallway done so I can start working on the trim and have that done by the time the weekend rolls around.

Happy tails,
Jodi

Looking forward ...

I am getting really excited about the house and moving in and stuff.  I can't wait to have my own place again and getting settled in for the winter.  I will miss the fireplace I used to have, but I will soon buy myself a pellet stove.  It's nice to finally have a place where I can do whatever I want with it.  I don't have to worry about popping too many holes in the walls, or scuffing a doorway moving a piece of furniture in.  I can now fix it, and paint it whatever color I want, or put polka dots on it if I feel like it!  Once the paint is done in the living room, I can start treating the hardwood floors.  I can't wait to see what they look like when I'm done!  I will also start breaking out the tile in the kitchen so Kirk can start doing the tile in there.  The kitchen is going to require quite a bit of work, but it will be really cute when it's done, I'm sure.

 

The front two rooms -- the "mud room" and the "utility room" -- will be easier.  There's not much to them.  A little bit of paint, and some wallpaper (and some tile in the mud room) and that'll be that.  By the time Spring hits, I'll be ready to do the fencing and have my sheep back (if I can't get it done in the meantime). 

 

I've also been thinking about what to do with Echo, whether to breed her, or to spay her.  I'm going to breed her.  I don't know if it will be this heat season or next, but it makes more sense to do it when she comes into season this time around so that she's ready to work again by Spring.  We'll see.

 

Happy tails, 

Jodi

 

More paint. Imagine that.

Got up early this morning, and went and prepped the living room and hallway for paint. That took quite some time, as there were a lot of holes and peeling paint and scuff marks on the walls. Sanded off the spackle and laid a layer of white paint. Now it's ready for the light green. I'll probably do that the early part of this week. Once that's done, I get to do the trim in the living room, hallway and dining room. Oh joy.

Phyllis and Glenda came by today to help me. They've been very supportive through all of this. I showed them around, and instead of working, I took them to lunch in Marsing. It made for a nice afternoon break.

Kirk made a killer dinner, and now I'm sleepy.

Jodi

The Cool Part of Painting

So yesterday, Echo and I sorted sheep. She wasn't convinced I knew what I wanted, so we had a heart to heart. I finally got sick of arguing with her. I made it very clear that she is to do what I say and that's it. Afterwards, we got some really good work done. She is just fearless and I love that about her. We had to sort off 5 or 6 sheep to take over to someone's place so they can be walking lawnmowers. We also needed the rams. All of them. One of them (the horned one) was going to go as payment to someone that let us graze on his place this summer, but he decided he didn't want him, and we'll just sell the ram and pay the guy instead. And I needed to bring Pepe and Janie's ram to a friend of Janie's so she could choose a ram to visit with her girls. Well, the rams were none too pleased. Pepe is a "man" now ... not my cute little black ram lamb that I can pick up and kiss all the time. He doesn't even see me as a safe place to be. But man is he gorgeous! I can't wait to see what he puts out as far as babies.

Oh back to the Monster. The horned ram wanted nothing to do with Echo, had no confidence in Echo's abilities, and was going to get rid of her. So he lowered his head and tried to slam her into next week. He was too slow. He got her, but when he pulled his head back, he had a dog firmly attached to his nose. It made a believer out of him, and we didn't have any more problems with him the whole time.

So we loaded them up (that was not easy ... 5 lambs and 3 rams ... go figure) and made our deliveries. I dropped the trailer back off and headed to Marsing for some lunch. Then back to my house to spackle off the living room, and finish up painting the edges of yellow in the dining room. I was rather bummed out about the way the bedroom came out with all of the bleed-through of the black on white, lost interest, and headed back to Janie's for a beer. We figured out a plan for the evening as we were all going to the hoedown, and then Janie told me to go get back to work. Reluctantly, I loaded up the truck and headed out.

I decided to try to clean up the black and white. I can't just leave it there, hating it. So I grabbed a little itty bitty brush, and some white paint, cranked the tunes and went to work. And I think I found the best part of painting! I loved it! I totally have the patience for this type of tedious, time-consuming detail stuff! And it looks great! Janie called me later and said, "We're on our way to pick you up." 2 1/2 hours had gone by and I didn't even realize it! I have a little bit left to do in there, but it's almost completely done now, and I love the way it looks!

Off to the hoedown we went. What an unbelieveably talented bunch of young people ... all led by a very dear friend of Janie's. Amazing! And so fun!

Need to go sand the spackle and start laying the white in the living room.

Laters,
Jodi

A few house pictures

Yesterday, I stopped by my house, and being that I don't have a porch light, I left my headlights on. Was just checking on things on my way to work. It was early in the morning, so the lighting isn't wonderful.





The tree is coming down piece by piece. The guy who is doing it is taking good care not to hit my house, and to clean up his mess. It's very nice.

Here is the oh-so-yellow dining room. The trim will be a forest ... or hunter green.



And here's the black and white bedroom. The closet.



The built-in drawers.



The effect is very dramatic, and I love it. However, there was a lot of bleed-through on the tape, and I will need to go over it with some white paint. You can't see it in the photos, but believe me, it's there.

When I went back out to my truck, my battery was dead. Remember ... I left my headlights on. Rrrrgh. Called roadside. They came and saved me. Weird that I'll be living alone and don't have Justin to take care of this stuff for me. He is coming for Thanksgiving though. We'll probably end up going out to eat. Unless ... Jaenne has a big cook-less plan.

Anyway, I stopped back by the house last night and started to prep the living room walls. Going to deliver sheep to several locations this morning, and then go back by and do all of the spackling and hopefully get the first coat (white) on so I can do the "Pistachio" tomorrow.

Janie is taking me, Kirk and Penny to a Hoedown tonight! I can't wait! My sister sent me a whole box of really cool clothes, so I'll actually have something to wear! Woo hoo! From what I understand, these kids are a talented young bunch!

http://www.idahopress.com/?id=27522

Happy tails,
Jodi

Taylor Swift ... are you KIDDING me????

Country Music Awards "Performer of the Year"??????

 

She doesn't sing country music!!!!!!!  She's a teeny-bopper pop star.  WTF????

 

What. A. Joke.

 

 

Paint, paint and more paint

I went over to the house this morning and prepped the dining room for paint. I also taped the bedroom so I can do the trim. The bedroom trim is tricky because the room is white and the trim will be black, so every little mistake will show up. Once I used the blue painter's tape and taped off all of the trim, I was tempted to leave it there. It looked pretty cool.

I then moved back into the dining room and cut in with a brush everywhere I needed to. (It's a very bright yellow paint.) I then got out the roller and rolled for my very first time ... and it looked awful. I am rolling bright yellow paint over dark ugly army green and burgundy. So it didn't cover very well, and I was very discouraged. So I went back to Janie's for lunch feeling like I wanted to give up and just sell the house (just like every time I run Echo, I am ready to sell her and take up agility instead).

I ate some lunch, snoozed for a few minutes, and then took Echo out to sort off a few sheep for an instinct test I had coming. He showed up and what a great guy! Young and eager, with a cute mixed breed dog that has plenty of heart and want-to. We chatted for a couple of hours. I bid my adieu to him, and went back in the house -- where Janie then pushed me to get my ass back to the house and get painting.

I did.

I put the second coat in the dining room - and what a difference! It looked really nice. I love the color!

Then I broke out the black paint. It was an oil base paint. With the hardwood floors (and all the damage we're doing with just the water based paint), I was really afraid to use it. And ... it didn't mix right anyway. So I went to Walmart and bought some water-based black paint. Met Janie and Penny (Penny is here for a doll restoration seminar that Janie is doing ... she'll be here for two weeks) back at my house, and Penny helped me take off the door handles of the built-in drawers while Janie put on the first coat of black paint for the trim. I think it's going to look great! I haven't taken photos yet, but I will soon.

Tomorrow, after work (yes, I finally have to go back to work, although, I almost welcome it ... I'm tired) I will drop by and do the second coat of the trim, and start prepping the living room for the base coat. Thank doG the ceilings are done.

Happy tails,
Jodi

I've been Janied.

Well, I left the house early this morning and prepared the living room ceiling for painting. The plan was that Janie was going to come over and spray paint the bedroom, and the ceiling in the living room and we'd be done.

Um. That's not quite what happened.

She did the bedroom, did the hallway, and did the living room ... while I was fumbling around underneath her trying to keep paint off of as much stuff as I could (it's amazing because once again I ended up covered in it somehow!).

Then she said, "We might as well do the kitchen ceiling while I have this thing out." !!!!!! What? I haven't even swept out the cobwebs. So now we kick it into high gear, clean out the entire kitchen and start covering stuff up as fast as I can ... and we also moved into the entry room ... and the second bedroom! Yikes! Way more work than I had anticipated. She is a working machine. Unbelievable. So we got the bedroom done, and the ceilings in the hallway, living room, dining room, kitchen, entry way and second bedroom.

Now I get to start rolling the walls and doing trim. Yahooie!

After I got done bitching about it, and whining and groaning and complaining, I was very glad we did it and can move on to bigger and better. Janie will be tied up with a guest for the next two weeks, so I am on my own now. It's all good. I need to learn.

The tree guy came back with his wife and cleaned up most of the mess they made thus far. He'll be back to chop down the rest of the tree in the next few days.

I'm excited. This is starting to come together. After I get painted and moved in, I really need to get my fences up so I can put my sheep out and let them clean up the pastures for me.

Happy tails,
Jodi

Timber!!!!

I went over to the house today and worked on prepping the bedroom for painting. I know this doesn't sound very difficult, but it was actually a lot of work. This place hasn't been occupied in a couple of years, so there's a lot of dust, which needs to be gone in order to spay paint in there. Also, lots of holes in the walls where there were nails and anchors and crap that needed to be spackled, etc. Anyway, it's ready, I think. Janie will be coming by tomorrow to paint it.

The dude that wanted to cut down the tree came this afternoon with his son and a giant boom thing and a very loud chainsaw. The had ropes going and chainsaw buzzing and branches making their way across the driveway. I called my sister and was chatting with her on the phone when BOOM! A large branch hit the house. Apparently, it didn't do any damage, but from the sound of it, I thought I would have seen branches in my living room when I recovered from being startled. This happened a couple of times. One time, it actually wiped out a small piece of siding that he'll replace. I can't believe that was the only "damage." Hearing the logs fall on the concrete pad out there was really loud. That is a huge tree. Well, soon to be not-tree.

I'll post photos tomorrow, hopefully, of the painted bedroom, and the tree-less front of my house.

Oh, and I got internet today! (My computer is still about two weeks away from being hooked up, I would guess, but at least I have something to hook it to now.) Rhonda, you should be getting a free month of internet service. Thanks for the referral!

Jodi

White Widow

Well, I just got back from painting the inside of the shop. Egads!

First off, I couldn't get the sprayer to work. I had to clean the nozzle a couple of times, got frustrated and almost quit. Decided I wasn't going to let this damn thing get the best of me, so I cleaned it out ... again ... and got it to work. Ok ... so off we go. Holy cow! Anything that's in the way -- and even stuff that isn't -- gets painted!

Despite the shop being relatively small, it was a lot more work than I thought it would be. I ended up covered in paint, as did everything around me -- my phone, part of my truck, my clothes, my shoes, etc. By the time I was done, I was done.



It was up my nose, in my ears, everywhere.

Took a break ...



But the inside of the building is white.







Zip's still trying to figure out if it's me.



More tomorrow. Gotta try to get some of this crap off me.

Jodi

p.s. - oh, I forgot ... "White widow" ... Phyllis and Glenda thought I was talking about me. I said, "No, I'm a lot of things, but a widow isn't one of them." I painted a black widow white. Ever seen a white widow? I wish I could have taken a photo, but the floor was wet by then.

Scary Stuff

So I went to the house yesterday and swept out the "shop" (the outbuilding that needed painting in order for the loan to be approved). This was a pretty yucky job, despite having preliminarily having swept it out once before. The cobwebs were bad enough, but the dead bees ... they were in every nook and cranny. There were a bazillion screws sticking out of the walls that used to hold different tools and things, I'm sure. And there were stickers identifying different sizes, etc. The stickers have been there forever so they were near impossible to even scrape off. The screws ... they were all different kinds. Nails, too. Everywhere. String hanging off nails. Not sure why. A pencil sharpener screwed to the wall ... the kind you would have seen in schools years ago. I should have saved it, but it went in the trash with a bazillion other little parts and things I unscrewed from the walls. So then I practiced scraping the walls and spackling. Spackling will take some time to "finesse" ... but I'll get it.

The guy who is going to be removing the giant tree in the front of my house came by with his wife (who does window coverings professionally for a living) and son and assessed the tree. They left and said they would be back on Monday or Tuesday with a boom or a lift so they can safely take the tree down. I got a copy of their liability insurance in case anything happens. Nice that they are happy to do it for the wood alone. I will rest easier knowing the dead tree won't fall on the house in the wind. And the wind in this area can really whip.

So about 3:30 ... I cracked open a beer ... cranked up the music ... and started to wipe the walls down with a wet rag so I can get the rest of the dust off. I was standing at one end of the work bench and looked down to the other end and saw ... yes, a live bee. I don't understand it. I just sucked everything out from over there. Where are they coming from? Are they in the walls? So I am now getting the creeps all over again. Made a mental note to call the realtor and ask him to call the seller to find out how the hundreds of bees that were in here got dead. Did someone just spray some nasty stuff on the ones they could see and it killed them? Or did they have a professional exterminator come in? I thought about taking the claw to the hammer and opening up one of the walls ... when a figure appeared in the doorway! (Remember I had the radio blasting.) I screamed and damn near fell off the step stool I was on! It was that uncontrollable scream. I was still screaming long after I saw it was Kirk, but now I was just screaming obscenities and throwing my wet rag at him. He didn't try to scare me, but it's kind of like when you sneak up behind someone, and they never hear you. Now you're standing behind them, and it doesn't matter what you do, you're screwed and the person is going to be pissed. LOL! Poor Kirk.

So I showed him around a bit, we chatted, had a couple of beers and took off. I went home and showered (thankfully!) and went down to Marsing for a beer and a bite to eat. Sitting in the bar by myself, watching who walks in, the crowd interact, etc. I am starting to figure out who the locals are. One guy, we'll call him "Fred" ... was quite drunk. He would stand, wobble, then lean against the bar, and hit on whatever woman happened to be next to him ... to the point they would either walk away or leave. I was sitting at a small table that had 4 chairs total. I was sitting in one and pulled the other close to me and put my sweatshirt on it. I ordered a beer and a BLT. While I am eating my food, I am watching "Fred" wobble around the bar, slamming drinks. He sat with some "friends" of his ... a guy with his wife ... when another gentleman with a fantastic smile came in and sat with them. This guy was tall and thin, dirty blonde hair, had obviously been working all day and looked quite yummy, despite that I normally don't like thin men. Anyway, we'll call him "Tim." So, Fred would join them while those three were eating, and then he would saunter back up to the bar. Tim and the couple would talk about how wasted Fred was. I was within earshot and could watch this all unfold. Fred would walk back over to Tim and tell Tim, "Who loves you, man?" ... or "I love you, man!" ... and say, "So where the hell have you been?" ... as if he could carry on a conversation. He was clearly beyond that point.

After the couple and Tim gone done eating, they left. As did many other people. So now Fred was at the bar talking to another couple of guys. Each time a woman would come in and stand at the bar and order a drink, Fred was hot on it and would go over and talk to her. She would leave. And ... then it happened.

He looked over and saw me. Damn.

And here he comes.

I'm sitting by myself so I might as well had a target on my head.

He sits in the chair that I had pulled close to me, he's now fully leaned up on me, looks at me and says, "Who loves you, man?" and spits while he talks! Unbelievable. And the stench. OMG. He proceeds to repeatedly tell me how drunk he is, and ask me 16 different ways to take him home, to sleep with him, to take him somewhere and have my way with him. I told him that I wasn't looking for a man, but was simply coming in for a bite to eat, but that if I was, he would certainly be my choice. LMAO!

He sauntered off, and thankfully the waitress showed up so I could end this particularly long part of my evening, and I made her stand between me and "Fred" so Fred couldn't see me paying and leaving. And I managed a Fredless escape. Whew.

Went home and crashed.

The sun is up now, so I'm off to paint the inside of the shop. I'll see if I can take some photos.

Oh, Rhonda, I have the people you recommended coming out on Monday to see if they can get a signal so I can get online. I'll let you know how it goes.

Jodi

No net for me ...

I got to work at the crack of dawn this morning, worked until around noon, when Digis called me. They are the internet provider I've been banking on. They were on the way out to the house. Woo hoo! So I met them out there. The contractor was there finishing up what he was doing, also. The Digis tech (who was absolutely adorable!) told me that, unfortunately, he was not able to get a signal because of all of the trees. There are many providers who are not able to get me service because of the spot I am in. I guess that's the trade-off for being in such a cool spot.

Digis told me they are putting up a new tower in the next 3 to 6 months, and that one would be the perfect one for me, so I might just (have no option but to) wait. We'll see. There's been a couple of recommendations by folks who live in the area, so I'll call around again tomorrow.

My new toilet has been installed! Woo hoo! The water heater, and washer and dryer hookups have been moved into the utility room. It's not pretty, particularly, but it's functional, and I guess that's all that matters. Oh and it's out of the kitchen. So that's good too.

I hung out and burned a bunch of crap in the burn barrel. There was a bunch of crown molding laying around, so that went in there, along with a bunch of crap from where the mobile home used to be. It got quite dark, so once I couldn't see anymore, I left.

Tomorrow morning, I'll go back there and start cleaning the walls and taping off everything I don't want covered in paint. This is going to be a giant undertaking. It will be nice when I have it all done.

oh my lender sent me a $50 gift card to Home Depot. I bought the green and yellow paint for the living/dining rooms. Awesome! Free stuff!

More later,
Jodi

Blogging again today

Imagine that.  From near nothing to twice in one day! 

 

I was just checking some stuff out online ... and found something quite interesting. 

 

I was born and raised Catholic -- guilt and all.  The day my mother died, my "faith" died with her.  I feel a ton of guilt, but seriously, I do not believe in God (why am I capitalizing that?) or any afterlife or some of the outlandish, ridiculous stories attached to many religions.  Am I atheist?  I don't think so.  I can't say a diety does not exist anymore than anyone can say with certainty that one does.  I have lack of proof just like every theist.  Agnostic?  Perhaps.  But I think I found a better description for how I feel. 

 

Nontheist. 

 

A Humanist. 

 

"...[B]eing a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead."  

 

http://www.americanhumanist.org/  I think that wraps it up quite nicely.

 

And I'm tired of feeling guilty.  There's nothing to feel guilty about.  I like life.  I don't believe in ghosts.  I don't buy into kneeling and mumbling shit to something that there is no proof exists.  So there.

 

Anyway ... moving on...

 

The Boreds.  Holy cow.  Now that I've stepped back from it, and can view it for what it is, I'm embarrassed that I ever participated in that shit. 

 

Some of the characters.

 

You have the vet.  I'll call her "Zil" ... She's been a vet for like ... oh ... 5 minutes or so now.  She is not only a vet, but a genetics expert, that used to do every sport with her dogs, but can't anymore because they are all somehow crippled or mentally retarded, but none of it is genetic, so she can still breed her dogs.  Whew!  Thank doG for that!  If she did it once, she knows everything there is to know about it.  And she's a vet, so you better believe her now.  Just call her Dr. Zil.  She loves that.

 

Then you have the Coattail Rider.  Daddy's little girl.  She does her best to separate herself from her daddy, but the minute she needs statistics or something to back up her crap (because she as none), it becomes "we did [this]" ... or "we have [that]" ... or "That's happened to us a ton of times."  ... Yeah ... okay.  Well into middle age and still living at home ... but she's as cool as they come and will tell it like she thinks it is.  Unless you're one of her very few friends (read "can put up with her nasty shit") or you kiss her (nasty) ass.  Then her rules don't apply to you.   

 

Then there is, of course, the Queen.  Up until recently, her wise philosophy was that if you identified yourself, you were allowed to post whatever you wanted about a breeder or another person, and they were free to come on the boreds and defend themselves.  If the victim knew nothing about it, the person's claim would stand out there as fact.  And that was ok with the Queen.  Until ... CR (that's Coattail Rider for those of you that are still asleep) came on and slammed a whole bunch of people.  All at once.  The Queen practicly begged her to name names.  So she did.  And, as it turns out, the people that CR was slamming happened to be some of the "big hats" in the sheepdogging world.  (I'm sure CR made tons of friends pretty quickly there!)  And lo and behold, the Queen is now re-thinking the "Name Names" policy, and the thread magically disappeared.  Imagine that.  But all of the rest of the breeder slams have remained.

 

Oh and let's not forget the nice ones.  The ones that basically blend into the background, call themselves novices repeatedly, and make nicey nice with everyone.  She even tells people off so nicely, they don't even know they are being told off.  Most recently, a person with a very pretty show bred dog shows up, and Ms. Nicey Nice responds and tells her to make sure she reads the philosophy of the boreds, and that by the board's philosophy, her dog basically wouldn't exist, but stick around and hang out here ... and it was all very very nice.  Yeah.  Thanks for the warm welcome.  For those that love passive-aggressive, this is the place for you!

 

Amazing.

 

Tell them straight up, and you're gone.  Unless you're CR.  Then you can stay.  Queen likes CR.  Or CR's father.  One or the other.  Maybe both.  They are one in the same.  Sometimes.  Depends on the point needing to be driven home at the moment.

 

And then you have the ones who don't know their ass from their elbow, and they post all of the mis-information they can think up, and Q doesn't say a word.  They are politically correct and all nicey-nice, so let it be.  Yup.  Leave dogs unattended with 2 year-olds for long periods of time ... I do it all the time!  Works perfect!

 

What a great place!

 

http://www.creators.com/comics/49/49138_thumb.gif

 

Happy tails,

Jodi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slowly Slowly Slowly

Everything is moving at a snail's pace, or so it seems.

The contractor is scheduled to come in today (but he has the flu, so I am not butthurt if he waits) to move the plumbing and stuff for the hot water heater and the washer/dryer, and will replace the toilet. Then tomorrow, my internet people are coming to put the satellite up for my internet connection. I have to work Thursday and Friday, unfortunately, but hope to take Monday and Tuesday off.

This Saturday, the plan is go tape off everything in the house I don't want paint on. This includes the inside of the outbuilding. Then Sunday, a friend is coming over to help me paint (thanks for the sprayer Janie!) everything. This will be nothing short of a huge job, but once it's done, I can start moving in ... for real! I miss the dogs terribly and can't wait to have them around me all the time again.

Last night I went by there with Jag and removed another piece of fencing. It was really hard to work in the dark, so I gave it up after about an hour, but at least I felt like I got something done, however little it was.

Off to work ... again.
Jodi

A Drop in the Bucket

Well, the house is now officially mine.  The loan funded.  All of the paperwork is complete. 

 

So I went there last night before it got dark to start taking down some fencing and start cleaning up where the mobile home was.  I worked for about an hour and fifteen minutes before I couldn't really see much anymore.  I got a stretch of fence down, rolled it up and put it in the storage building.  I pulled those T-posts and a few others that were randomly throughout the pasture.  I then started picking up trash, and creating a pile for wood I will keep, and throwing other stuff in the burn barrel. 

 

As I drove out, I looked at what I had done, and I could barely tell I was there.

 

It's going to be like emptying a bathtub with a teaspoon.

 

Jodi

 

 

House update

Well, it closed on Friday.  Finally!  It should fund on Tuesday and we'll be completely done.

 

Now the fun part starts.  All the work.

 

I am going to prep the bedroom to be painted this week.  The contractor is scheduled to come in on Wednesday to move the hookups for the washer, dryer and hot water heater into the utility room.  That will give me more room in my kitchen.  I will also find a chest freezer for that room also so I can store meat, bones, bodies, whatever. 

 

I am taking Thursday and Friday off, and I hope to be able to get the fencing up and bring the sheep home so they can start helping me get the place cleaned up. 

 

I wish I could do everything at once.

 

Maybe if I cross my arms, nod my head and blink ...

 

Happy tails,

Jodi