writer « Robin Writes

Okay, we seriously have a lot of goals here, but the IMMEDIATE ones are to finish cleaning up that damn pile of junk up front that used to be the old house. Most of it is gone, burned, but we’ve added packing boxes and brush to the pile, so it seems it’s never really gone.

But we’re close!

This is what my husband’s been doing the last few days:

Those of you who’ve been here know how crappy it looked to begin with. Here’s a shot of the burn pile, so you can see how much stuff he’s pulled out:

This silly project has been going on for a year now. Ugh. I hate when that happens!

We’re also determined to finish the campsite. The shower parts are on the front deck in a big box, mostly so I could get it out of the house. The hole digger has been attached to the tractor and my husband is going to practice on the corner pasture posts before we go down in the woods.

We also figured out what to do with our old upright freezer from STL, the one that quit working last year.

It’s going camping.

Hey—it shuts, it seals, it’s good for storage! Going to look a little odd, though . . . But at least it won’t serve as a catch-all in the barn!

We’ve also been cleaning out said barn. Now, I know you’re going to say, gee, didn’t they do that already? A couple times?

Well, yes, we did. See, I go in there and I put away the hand tools in one spot, the power tools in another, the electric/battery ones in their places, all the fuel cans together, and pick up the trash.

Then my husband has a project . . .

‘Nuff, said, amiright?

We did make room for the exercise equipment—I know, I know. MORE EXERCISE??

Well, yes. Some things, like knee therapy for instance, are more effective with a weight bench. My husband even power-washed all of it, now we’ll see how often it actually get used . . .

Sunday, my husband started more bathroom destruction: the removal of the giant corner jetted tub. Now, it might be nice to have now and then, but it’s a real PITA to clean—not to mention getting in and out. Plus, it takes up a lot of room and collects dust and tools and parts.

And the cat. He’s going to miss it . . .

So we decided to remove the wide ledge at the back of the room, but left the other one on the east side. At press time, the cat is still trying to figure out why his dish moved and how he can reach it . . .

The next step was rebuilding the walls; fortunately, we have all the old cherry that he pulled off the outside of the tub, and of course, after that, a new tool is needed for the edges of the sill.

Off we went to the city.

About halfway down the state highway, the car dinged and it took me a minute to realize it was NOT the “change oil” ding, which sounded a couple days ago, but the YOUR ENGINE IS SERIOUSLY OVERHEATING ding.

Pulled off the road onto a farm lane and shut down the engine.

We were weighing our options when a pickup slowed and turned around. Brent offered to run home and get a couple gallon jugs of water, which we accepted, and then chatted with us for a bit while the car cooled down.

He also gave us recommendations for two local mechanics, told us he knew exactly where we lived, having known the previous owner some time back, and told us about the downfall and history of the little ‘burg nearby—actually, literally, a wide spot in the road.

He even offered us a ride, if the car wouldn’t make it either direction.

Finally we decided to go back home and grab the truck and go get a new whatchamacallit. You know, the thing that regulates the radiator pressure. The words, Robin, use the words!

It took us a bit to get there, though. We drove a few miles, the gauge went up. We stopped. We drove again, the temperature rose. The last stop seemed to do the trick—we made it 10 miles and the gauge stayed right where it was supposed to be.

Must have hit a rock or a pothole just right . . .

Well, I elected to stay home after this and finish up some trimming in the orchard.

Guess we’ll have to put off tiling the bathroom floor until tomorrow.

Oh, darn . . .