45 Days

There are only 45 days left till my Golden Birthday and on that day we will be getting to the airport somehow, going thru security, waiting for who knows how long & then flying into Las Vegas.

There, we will pick up a car we've rented on Turo, make a stop at Walmart and/or Costco then driving to wherever and staying the night. 

Next day it will be Thursday morning, so we'll drive into Pioche and get our room at the Overland Hotel, then head over to our house. Its going to be cold and no warmer inside the house so Walmart will be selling us a heater. Also food, drinks, maybe a blanket to keep us warm inside the house. 

We plan on taking a few drives out to the desert to enjoy it in winter. I've been wanting to make it out to Atlanta but after doing a tiny bit of research I'm finding out its locked up tight & no one can get into the buildings.  I like exploring those.

While in Pioche we will visit Jon, eat at any restaurant thats open, view the town Christmas tree and just freeze our butts off.

Another Trip

We will be flying into Las Vegas on my golden birthday

We rented this jeep

We'll drive to Pioche

(red is our house)

We'll stay here for a few days  

While we visit our house and maybe do a teensy bit of work on it. 

We NEED to experience a few days in Pioche during the winter, 

since we've had some summer days already.

I'd like to finalize plans on the layout too but who knows. Here are some of the plans I've found online:

So anyway, I was born in '62 and I'll be 62 in 62 days.

 

 

 

It was good to go see and work on the Pioche house September 16-27, 2024.

Lan did 99% of the work again.

Here is the front yard toward Toms house

within a half hour the fence was cut to make room to drive through.

We're going to put a 12 foot gate there eventually.

This wall/floor was rotten and theres NO 2x4s in this exterior wall.

Lan ended up tearing out a 10x10 section of floor, replaced all the rotten boards and put in new sub floor.

He used anchor screws to pull the exterior wall in to the new floor boards.

It looks like an easy job but it took him 3 days and 2 trips to St. George, Utah for boards and supplies.

This was 2-3 inches of space between foundation and wall.

Seet that metal fireplace chimney? 

Its gone now.

And THIS is the reason the kitchen and utility room floors are completely rotted out, 

the dryer vent was going directly under them.

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We took a few side trips for a little fun.

On our way home we took a side road 20 miles off the highway to look for petrified wood and agates, maybe might have found a couple pieces but I liked being out in the middle of nowhere with silence; no highways, no cars, no other people. 

 

All The Possibilities

I've been thinking about the kitchen & bathroom we will end up with in our Pioche house. 

I want something light and airy

After looking at hundreds of small kitchens online, I saw this one with high windows and since our walls are 9 feet high, I want high windows.

I also love subway tile

I don't want open shelves, that's just asking for dust to get on clean dishes

and things to look unsightly.

The kitchen needs a white sink but it doesn't have to be a farmhouse sink and it needs to sit above the countertop, not beneath it.

It must have a dishwasher and a smaller one is perfectly fine.

BIG TALL windows above the sink.

Light colored countertop.

White cupboards.

I'd like the oven built into the wall.

I do not want the cook top to be in any island we might have.

Gas stove is highly preferred.

I'd love to have the fridge, dish washer and stove to look like the rest of the cupboards.

And the bathroom

While I've LOVE a tub like this, it's not practical, we need a shower.

We also need a washer and dryer in the house and I'm thinking a stacked set beside the shower would be just fine.

I like this idea of a fold up table too but not if there will be guests in the house.

I like how this shower folds in on itself, making lots of room when its not in use. One thing I HATE is not having enough elbow room while I'm doing laundry.

Lan wants a shower that's bigger than 3x3 and I insist on a door, not a shower curtain.

The shower below looks kinda trailer trashy but this is the kind of stacked combo I want. 

I'm also perfectly fine with a small storage area for towels, TP and soaps. 

IF, and I seriously mean IF, we do Airbnb with it, I don't want anything extra in the house that guests can ruin. The shower MUST be easy to get into to clean. The shower will not have inset cubbies like upper photo, that's a gross mess.

And I'd also like a built in ironing board cubby

Even just a small board in case I need to ever look nice.

Ambleside Update

I went over to Prosser to visit Amble and had a lesson with Will.

He worked Amble first, shes very reactive and nowhere near ready to hook up to a cart.

I knew it would be a slow process and I'm OK with it, shes young and I'm betting in a year she will be more mature and ready for this job.

I have 3 leather harnesses but am going to get her a Biothane one.

They're much easier to care for, you can literally wash it while you're washing off the horse.

Will let the harness traces hang down while he worked her so that she can learn about stuff hitting her legs and to feel the movement of it on her sides and legs.

I'm excited to bring her home and actually have something I can work her with. I don't have to have a harness on her, I can just long rein her and I can do it all winter since we have a covered arena. 

Put it to use finally.

 

Nothing Happening Here

 Its mid summer and we haven't done much of anything besides work and be home. 

Lan bought a cool dune buggy last week, a 1972 Meyers Manx.

Its really just the tub and a few parts. There is no title so he's looking for a 1968 VW Beetle to use the tub and rear running gear. 

OK, this thing needs a LOT.

We're hoping to leave in at the Pioche house when we're there so we'll have a desert runabout.

Amble has been in training for 2 months, shes got 1 month left before I bring her home. Next week I'll go to Prosser and watch her work, then have a lesson myself. I'm really excited for this new hobby in my life, give me something I can do with my girl over the winter. I also want to get a completely new harness for her, NOT leather. 

I've been working on making a cover for the covered wagon. I'm using a 12x15 cotton drop cloth from Harbor Freight and its taking a while as its heavy material and I'm making it all up as I go along. I did watch 1 video that explained enough to get me through a tough spot but its only about half sewn. I need to add the straps on the sides to hold it onto the bottom of the wagon, I need to add ties inside to keep the bows aligned, I need to add about 18" of material to the front because even though I measured AT LEAST 3 times, I still somehow made it too effin short front to back. Thats OK, I can fix it. 

I'm also adding a shade section for the front, in nice not too hot weather it can be rolled back out of the way.  I need to make seat covers because even though its got nice think seats, they are vinyl and I think maybe I'd like cloth, even if its just to keep the effin cats from fucking scratching them.

Work wise I'm making more money than I ever thought I'd make, $35,000 in the first 6 months of the year and it will increase significantly in the second half; I've been getting OT almost every week and we just got a $2 per hour raise. 

We're planning on going to Pioche at the end of September for 2 weeks, been planning on this since before we left there in June. Lans dad came over last week to tell us he had bought tickets to go to Hawaii for the same 2 weeks with his sister and I DO NOT hold it against him in any way, he needs a break too, but I do not want to have to stay and care for Jean. 

Jean is bedridden and can't get out now. Shes losing interest in food and is losing weight, she speaks well but doesn't remember much. When she gets confused she starts to sing a song about her dog and I will redirect her but Terry is tired of hearing it for the billionth time.  IF I do end up caring for her, I'll do 1 week & then fly down to Las Vegas.

Both Lan and I have signed up for FMLA so that if & when Terry needs a respite day, one of us can provide it for him.

I'm not supposed to get weeks off for vacations in the summer, its against the rules for on-calls, but one of my supervisors told me to say I'm caring for her while my FIL is away and just go to Pioche anyway and I'm seriously thinking about doing just that. 

 

First Trip As Our New House

Here we are, working in the 90* temps on the new house in Pioche, sweating our butts off. 

The house needs absolutely everything done to it and we hope we're up for the challenge.

This is what we saw when we arrived, the front door wide open. It was locked, but it didn't stay closed. 

Lan had to reframe the entire front wall and door to get it straight and he put in a deadbolt that keeps it closed. 

Looking from the front door looking to the left, this is the view. Vines taking over the Cressent berry bushes and Toms house

To the right is the pile of wood from inside the house that the previous owners removed and we added to. Every single 2x4 had many nails in it, none we were worth trying to save to make into sawhorses. 

This is the view from across the road toward our house

And this is the area between the fence and road. We have been told the is county property but we want to ask the county itself. If its ours we will move the fence out there. I'd like to have a better fence or no fence at all but it seems everyone in town like fences.

This is inside the house just before we left it. We had purchased all new matching cordless tools so they all use the same batteries to make the work go easier. Before we left, Lan buried them behind the old insulation. UGH. 

If you look closely, you can see that he built that whole front wall. The right side wall still needs support, its got dry rot for about 12 feet and no 2x4s so he will go back in September to do a good amount of work to get it set up for winter.  

I purchased a bunch of car window cover sun shades that I hung in these windows that really worked to cut the heat and I'm glad I thought of that. That window A/C unit over there still works too. All the windows have storm windows too so the broken ones have glass as well. ALL the windows will be replaced. They all measure 2x4 currently but I want MUCH bigger ones especially in the front of the house. Small windows SUCK. 

I know that we can install windows ourselves and we can do them one at a time as we build the walls. I'll just make it a point of purchasing one window a month or something and taking them with us as we go down there to work. Heck. the whole house will only have 6-8 windows in it.

I want a nicer door too.