December 1999

As far as I know,

this is the very first digital photo I took at Too.
At Twin Lake. 

I got a big Sony digital, Christmas '98.

I remember well.

I got sweet Morghan Grace in February '99.

Aw, the start of two great journeys.

Cabin Visits.

Grandchildren.

and better yet?
 Cabin Visits with Grandchildren! 

Winter's Day

The little holding pond is pretty solid ice.

And solid, pretty ice.

Where do these big bubbles end up.

What becomes of them?

I love watching them float and bob.

I'm starting to save up my money

for some beautiful, new ice skates.

I'd better include some knee pads and helmet.

The little bridge beckons one home.

And tells tales of who's been to visit in our absence. 

Backwards Week

I had had a hard week at work; I had described it to a fellow employee as "backwards week".  Decisions and computer entries hadn't come easily. Cases and decisions had to be redone, corrected and redirected.  Friday, we went "to the cabin" and on Saturday and Sunday, events and efforts still were cumbersome and awkward. 

Himself and I got up Saturday morning and drove to Chillicothe and that part went smoothly -- drive 50 miles south, shop at Lowe's, drive 50 miles home again.  It was easy and smoothly executed to drop a couple of hundred dollars at the counter and haul the goods home. 

We were home by 1 pm.  There was plenty of time left in the day to hang two doors and maybe get some sheet rock up too. 

We lay out one door; unboxed it, read some instructions and went at it.  Only thing is, the door didn't cooperate and we weren't getting it.  We read in the instructions "IF your door is a split jam . . . do this." 

First of all, we don't know what a "split jam" door is and secondly, we don't know if this door is a "split jam" or not.  In retrospect, we should have stopped right then and there and went and Googled "split jam".  We didn't.  And we suffered the consequences. 

Suffered consequences Big Time!  We wrestled doors in and out.  Up and down.  Length wise and Side ways.  We got one hung and one propped up, waiting to be hung.  sigh . . .

Yea!  This one is plumb and level, swings and it stays shut!  Way to go! 

Dance a jig!  Celebrate!  A job well done! 

So then we moved on to the bathroom drywall, leaving the bedroom door for another day and hoping to close in on the bathroom.  We didn't.  Close in.  Didn't move on. Dead end.   

We did dry wall a little and moved forward an inch or two . . . but it wasn't easy and at times felt backwards on my part.  I couldn't measure and couldn't trace out the fuse box or outlets and it was cumbersome and awkward. 

It was, after all, still backwards week(end). 



Drywall Started 9/07/2011

this is before we hung the drywall

After much struggle, discussion, more struggle, we finally managed to hang a piece of drywall in the bathroom ceiling.

This is what the almost final results turned out. Sure looks better than naked boards. Hopefully sometime in the near future we will be able to continue with the walls so I can finish installing the vanity and toilet. But we have to get the bathroom door installed before anymore drywall.

BOI'S SUCESS AND A FAILURE

Getting ready to "go under" the cabin to install more plumbing to the shower/tub.

Man, that ground looks hard.

                                                                        Here I go!!

                                  I made it under, around, on top of, you name it, its down here

                      We have Water, I took the first shower and herself had a bath. Everything works.

This is the bathroom vent/light/heater combination awaiting wiring.

Electrician, page 2

There's a light in the bathroom and plenty of outlets for when we have hair dryers and washer and clothes dryer.  And best of all there is going to be a heater built into the light and vent!  So I don't have to freeze anymore!

Himself took this shot.  Doesn't that look warm and cozy?

oh boy.  that's looks a mess! 

And shows how much more work there is to do!

But with electricity in the cabin,

nothing can stop us now!

Oh well, maybe putting that dry wall on the ceiling? 

That sure might slow us down anyway.

ANOTHER NEW TITLE FOR THE "BOI"

Now its "electrician". After spending alot of time wiring outlets, ceiling fixture boxes, and a new circuit box for the new cabin, it was now time to connect the 60 amp wires from the new box to the old box in the old cabin. I think I do fairly well at wiring when I know there is no chance of electricution, however this was going to be a test of my nerves. I do not want anything to do with wiring on the "meter" or hot side of the circuit box. The only safe way would be pull the electric meter, which I did not do, or hire a real electrician, which I did not do. I waited till herself had gone to town, surprize, so I would have no one watching as I nerviously proceeded to either death by electricution, or hopefully success. As I am able to write this, you can probably assume i'm still alive. And, by golly, we have full blown electricity service in the new cabin. Of course, by some strange fluke, the following day, Sunday, all electric power at the lake went out. And I could tell by the look on herselfs face that she thought the wiring I had done had somehow wiped out the entire lake's electrical power. And, actually, I entertained the thought that maybe something I had done could have caused the problem. But then I thought, if something like that was going to happen, it would have been the afternoon after I did the wiring when the AC was running full blast, refrigerator running, etc that any problems would have shown up. Nothing did. About 30 minutes later the electricity came back on and all was well.
Next we are going to start plumbing in the shower, vanity, and toilet.
Stay tuned
BOI

Projects

Himself gives me a bad time.  Says I don't complete my projects.  I believe I do complete my projects.  Sometimes it just takes me a while for various reasons.  Sometimes I need Himself to help me finish a project because I am not physically strong enough or I can't operate a certain hand tool and my biggest pet peeve of all! -- is that I cannot put the bit in or take the bit out of the BLACK & DECKER drill myself because I'm not strong enough!  (I swear, I am going to start writing Black & Decker and Sears and Montgomery Wards and anyone who manufactures small electric or battery operated drills.  They need to make them 1) so that a woman can use them and 2) that work the way they should!)

Anyway, off my soap box and on with this entry . . .

The reason I don't finish projects is because: 

1) My project is put on hold because of an immediate necessity to help Himself with a project.

2)  My project is put on hold because Himself assigns me a new, more urgent project.

3)  My project is put on hold because I need to buy materials for my project.

4)  My project is put on hold because I don't know how to finish it.

5)  My project is put on hold for any sundry of reasons.  (Is sundry a word?  Is sundry used correctly in that sentence?  Did I really mean Sunday?)

This weekend at Mo, again hot as blazes, there was only one major cabin project scheduled so I dragged out two of my old projects and the other project was there waiting from a couple of visits ago.

     Project 1 required some 2X4 lumber.  None on hand.

     Project 2 required a can of black spray paint.  None on hand. 

     Project 3 required some patience, determination and another nut and bolt.
                    Available, even if in short supply -- especially the first!

I like this photo, looking through the screen into the porch.  It is warm and fuzzy.  Two of the projects are there, inside the porch, just waiting to be seen. 

Project No 1 wears orange.  I've had these sweet little iron bed boards (head and foot) forever.  I finally got some 2X4's to fix up a little daybed for little children on hot, weary days at the cabin.  Or for Nana's.  A nap, mid-afternoon might be good.  There is a story here, for another day.  I will tell it later.  

Project No 2, is the decorative insert in this Mister-bilt screen door.  I noticed around the July 4th weekend, that little ones put their hands against the screen, when opening the door for their escape, instead of pushing on the wooden door itself.  The row of spindles should give some support and help keep the screen from being pushed out of the screen door. 

Project No 3 was basically done.  The back and seat boards had been painted red and the iron supports had been painted black.  I just needed to get all the nuts and bolts back in the seat planks.  Yep.  Done.  Finished yesterday. 

There!  three projects finished up!  All in one weekend. 

Hopefully next weekend at the cabin, we will be able to get the water or electric in.  I know we will be laying tile on the bathroom floor.  Stay tuned for the next installment . . .

sun·dry

[suhn-dree] adjective 1. various or diverse: sundry persons.

Electronic Free Weekend

Commander in Chief Hofmeister, declared the week of July 4, 2011 an "Electronic-Free weekend".  No electronic games, no game boys, Ipods, Cell Phones and absolutely no Black Ops! 

And interestingly, no one missed them!  Not a child said, let's go to town and buy one of those electronic games.

Instead, we had swimming and golf cart rides.  Oh, okay, we did have a movie or too on the DVD player but at the end of the days, we were all tuckered out!  We didn't keep our eyes open long after our heads hit the pillow.   Several of us girls slept on the little cabin porch.  It is a tradition.  Well, it is going to be!  

There was badmitten and fireworks and Keep Away in the water.  Nana was sure glad when that water football fell apart and we were done with game! 

There was bon fires.  But wait, CIC Hofmeister must have declared it a SMORES free weekend too.  There wasn't one single SMORE to be had.  To be eaten.  Nary a marshmallow roasted.  What?  that can't be right . . .

I like this photo, above.  The children are all fascinated with the camp fires -- and rightly so as they inherit that from their Nana who got it from Gramps -- but we are careful fire bugs! 

There was badmitten.  Did I mention badmitten?  There was croquet and more croquet and croquet again.  There were badmitten tournaments.

There was rivers and dams and broken levees and Giant Frisbie games. 

There was a covert search and rescue operation.  CIC Hofmeister declared that operation a huge success!  Good work, soldiers! 

Bella had her first solo cabin visit and Audri was sure glad she did.  These girls got on well together and Nana foresees future visits!  I may have to build a pool platform as putting the pool on the porch worked great, to keep the water in it, but the sun couldn't get in to warm the water. 

 There was even some quality porch sitting time. 

PaPa and I had a great vacation at Too.  We enjoyed the fireworks and all the games.  We sure enjoyed the visits from children and grandchildren.  We had fun and got some work done and PaPa is very glad to have the big plumbing operation out of the way.  Oh, er, hmm.  I meant to say that Commander in Chief Hofmeister called the plumbing operation a Success! 

SEWER RATS!!!!

That's what we are. We needed the sewer connected from the new cabin to the sewer line from Grampsie's cabin. We had called a Missouri plumber for an estimate. He actually showed up in a timely manner, prepared an estimate. This was early May. Well, Memorial Day holiday is coming up so probably won't be able to start until some time around the first of June. Fine, we said, since we we're going on vacation around that time. That would have to be another story as our vacation took us to a location about 70 miles from Joplin, Mo and the big tornado. We were there!!! Scary, tornados dropping everywhere, everyday, no place to run to. We survived and went back to the cabin for the final days over Memorial Day weekend to prepare for plumber. Went home, no word, no nothing. Went back to cabin 3 weeks later, no plumber. So I called. He had to order a part for his digging machine and is installing it as we speak, and will be there in a day or so to start digging. Another week, Herself calls and asks for a time frame and a call back. Nothing. 4th of July weekend: No plumber. You have to remember, this is Missouri. No one in a hurry to do anything, and if the have some money, they don't need to work.

SO, we decicded with a little bit of digging maybe we could installed the sewer ourselves. So we started by calling our builder to come over and give us some advice and help prepare a materials list. He did and so our "plumber" careers began.

Nance:  this is where the new and the old sewers join up. 

I started digging the old sewer line out so we could connect the new with the old. It started out badly. The old sewer line was 4" and the new was 4", however our new was much thicker than the old. What to do? I was ready to throw in the shovel right then, but herself declared "we can figure this out". And figure it out she did, we got the correct fittings, cut the old pipe, installed a "y" and a fernco boot and we we're off to the races.

The builder told us if we could get past this first hurdle, the rest would be a piece of cake. If the ground would have been soft like cake, maybe. I rolled over rocks, roots, clods, tin siding, boards, nails,  you name it, to get the toilet, tub, vanity, and washer connected, and about 8 hours of hard work and we were done. WE DID IT, DAMMIT,  and it doesn't look bad. Every section runs down hill. I even tested it this morning by dumping buckets of water down the toilet drain. It didn't leak!!

Nance:  Have you ever seen such neat and proper plumbing?  lol

Nance:  I've always wanted to use "unpinnings" in a sentence.

Still not sure that is proper here or not! 

Now we can move on to get some water and electricity to the new cabin, and on, and on, and on.  We aren't even close to finishing the new cabin, and already herself has plans for new stairs, decks, hot tubs, dog trots, and on, and on, and on.

As far as the sewer, I can safely say I will never again be a "sewer rat"

                                                                                                                           BOI

Weekend past

Himself and I had a good weekend at the cabin.  Himself has been "down in the back" but if he's careful and slow and "easy does it", he gets by.  So Saturday, he put up an electrical box in the new cabin and began the detail-oriented, painstaking work of wiring the new cabin.  Me? I slap-dashed a "board walk" together.  We have decided it is going to be a wet summer.  (Oh really? as we in Southern Iowa are working on the 6th inch of rain in two days.  Six? or will it be seven?)  And with the new boardwalk we will be able to walk from the old cabin to the new in our bare feet.  No tracking mud!  Yay!!!!

A small bit of the wiring. 

The new "boardwalk" with a couple of cuties keeping their tootsies out of the mud! 

Himself has spent a lot of time on the wiring.  He has enjoyed it, he said.  And yet, I don't have a photo of the "box" and the junction of all the wires coming together in the new cabin.  I will have to rectify this situation.  You will be impressed when you see the new breaker box and all the wires coming together to give us light, heat and entertainment in the years to come.  I'm SO impressed. 

II UPDATE-from Himself

Things are proceeding very well at the new cabin. We have pretty much finished installing the insulation in the loft, just a couple of side walls to go, and it should be ready for drywall.
We have hopefully secured what I need to run electrical wiring from the old cabin to the new electrical box in the new cabin. I just hope the plumber has done his "digging" and has the new cabin connected to the sewer and new underground water supply installed so I can dig a trench (by hand, actually by spade) to run the new wiring.
Then we should have electricity, then on to the finish plumbing, wiring the new exhaust fan/heater in the bathroom, and all kinds of odds and ends. There are so many things we have to think of as we go cause we've never done this before. Anyway, its still fun. I am looking forward to July as I and hopefully herself will have a week off to work.
Boi

Odds and ends

Little cabin visitors find it difficult to get the screen door open, even with that low door knob on there so Nana installed a door bell.  Actually, there are three little brass bells on that braided strip and they tinkle.  These bells are about the prettiest ringing bells I ever did hear.  So a small child (once trained) will be able to stand down and ring the bells and Nana will come running to open the door.  (Much better than one little one standing and screeching "Nana!  NaNa!  NANA! NNNaaaaaNNNNaaaa!

These bales of R19 insulation now have new homes in the wall of the second story.  We have cut, measured and installed the bats between the studs in preparation of the dry wall.  oh no!  I dread the drywall!!!!!!   

And this photo, dear ones, is what Grampsy would have labeled "The End".  : )

Perfect June weekend

The weather was about perfect.  It did rain a little Friday but by Saturday the ground was drying out and the sun was shining.  The evenings were cool but the days pleasantly warm.  Himself mowed the grounds.  Not once, but twice!  The grass is so thick and it was tall and a little wet when he mowed the first time so it really did look a lot nicer after the second mowing.  If you read Nana's View, you will know I've been struggling with writing lately so here are some photos to help me tell you about the weekend. 

All spring, our visits have been met with rains or we came just after heavy rains and the ground has been soggy and wet.  We've had boards thrown down to walk on, between the cabins.  This weekend started out that way too, on Friday.  Saturday, midday, the ground was drying out, the sun shining and the temps a rising.  Saturday turned out to be a perfect "outdoor" working day so we did. 

We moved the brackets that hold the wasp trap and the hummingbird feeder from hanging over the porch to "over hanging" the porch.  Hhmm.   We kill creatures at one end of the porch and nuture them at the other????  I might need to think about this!

I made more syrup for the Oriole/Hummingbird feeder.  And we watched the Orioles and the Hummers when we could, while we were taking breaks or walking by.  Himself has been standing at the feeder and had a hummingbird zip through within itches of his head.  The hummers are feisting, aggresive tiny birds.  Some hummingbirds live in Iowa in the summer and winter in South America.  Isn't that amazing?   That boggles my mind how far they fly, which is why the stuff themselves all summer in Iowa on honey and nectar. 

Himself climbed on the roof of the little cabin and cut tree limbs back that were hitting the vent and the TV antenna.  While he was up there, we decided he may as well do what he needed to do to take the old television antenna down.  Between the two of us, we got that accomplished.  30 years worth of rusted metal made it a bit of a challenge but we gotterdone AND I now have the materials I need to build a handrail.  Stay tuned for the rest of the story there! 

I changed my mind about Gramps old bench.  I had painted it gray and while it looked so much better than it had, I just kept noticing it as we were working around outside.  Finally, I said to Himself.  Shouldn't that bench be red?  And he agreed.  I think it will now be a great accent to our front porch. 

We not only bird watched this weekend, we critter watched too.  This is a little ground squirrel. Some folks call them Squinties.  My neighbor up the hill told me how just the day before, a Squinty ran into her trailer and how they had to corral it and run it back out!  We have had a pair of squinties living under the bridge but now they have moved under the cabin and their family is inhabiting our entire lot.  We see them everywhere.  We may have to declare war.  Himself also saw a badger this weekend.  He has zero tolerance for badgers so I imagine he is planning war strategies and cleaning the rifle. 

Himself and I did a little planting and rearranging this weekend, too.  We left the Illinois Katchutree on the hill and moved the honeysuckle.  I dug out around the Katchur hoping it will take off -- but if it doesn't very soon, it will be transplanted to a sunnier, lower area.  The honeysuckle was transplanted to the front corner of the new porch where I have visions of the future flowerbed.  It will be the basis for a new shade garden. 

So we mowed and weed eated and pruned and polished and plumped and planned.

 Did I mention it was a perfect weekend to work outside? lol