Overtime At Work Pays Off

 I've spent so much of MY time working that now its finally paying off. Over 60 hours overtime in June, then 40 in July, now I've already gotten 10 in August. Summer is the time of plenty but in winter its a time of drought and us on-calls will struggle to get hours. The state requires we get 40 hours each week but they don't do it until we beg for it.

I got a nice check again today and I'll be putting a significant amount into the safe for hay and our fall trip to Pioche. I've already got an envelope overflowing with cash & think I need to get another way to hold it all.

We're heading to Pioche September 25th till October 3rd. 

There are many ways to get there and we try to go a different route each time.

This is the most direct & fastest (16 hours drive time) route and the one we'll probably take this trip due to only 1 week off.

But look at all the options, we could go thru Vegas but we hate Vegas.

We could go thru central oregon which is beautiful but seems like such a long drive.

Thru California to Tahoe & then over...

We only have a week so it'll be the direct route.

And we HAVE to have a plan on exactly what we're going to do while there. I'd LOVE to put in another window, get rid of the old one with the built in A/C unit that Lan broke on our last visit. We can take another unit, that's not an issue, but I'd like to get a window in.

We also need to prep for next spring when we're going to rent an excavator for a full week and remove the back two rooms and the old bathroom and then we have to make new outside walls. Or something, not sure on that yet. We WILL need a lot of wood, nails, screws, saw blades, etc, etc. We might need to take more than 2 weeks for next springs trip.

And we HAVE to have a plan in place for a roof over it.

I LOVE planning trip and things to do on the house while we're there.

Horse News:

Ambleside now has a properly fitted saddle and its XXXX Wide!  That girl needs to lose weight.

Saddle Fitter Sarah found:

 an older Wintec for $330.30

Gullet system $140

3rd saddle fit $50

And me riding alone for the first time in the new to us saddle

Two days later this became available, a Gypsy Gold 'Appleby' saddle for $1,200.

I'm supposed to haul Amble over to The Riding Place on the other side of town tomorrow to check it out. I do have the cash for it but then I'm stuck with the wintec too. Oh well, I might never get another chance to purchase a saddle like this while I have money to buy it.

This would be a great saddle for Amble if I can get her down in weight, right now she's a tank.

Oh yeah, I took her to a show last week & she got 2nd in Halter

Camping Fun

 We borrowed Terrys RV and took Soren camping at Spillman Campground, at Tahuya OHV state forest. He's 14 now, knows everything, still a kid at heart. 

We took the sxs and the guys took it out a few times and got good & dirty.

I stayed in camp, did a lot of cross stitching and relaxing.

BUT.

And there's always a BUT.

The neighbors were tweakers and on Thursday night they were screaming at each other for a while at about 10pm, on Friday they yelled a few times during the day and raked the forest floor...  We no longer felt safe with them there and more were showing up, plus their dog barked and barked and barked.

So we came home early.

And that was OK, since Soren had had his fill of camping, he missed his electronics and his girlfriend.

Fun was had, good food was cooked over the campfire, Soren had his Taki's and I hardly limited his eating. He also got to chop as much wood as he wanted and kept the fire stoked all day. 

Camping

 We're taking the 14 1/2 year old great nephew camping for 2 nights about 30 miles from home, taking the mtn bike for him to ride and the SXS for us all to enjoy. I'll take my cross stitch so they can go ride & I'll work on that, have a nap, enjoy snacks.

It'll be fun.

Cars On Trips

Which car will we take?

The 2025 Ford F-350? 

It still smells new & has everything but diesel is more expensive than gas and this gets lower mileage.

If 20 mpg, it will use 125 gallons of gas with cost of $686.25

The 2009 Subaru Impreza?

It gets the best mileage at 30+ but needs new tires and isn't yet 100% reliable. This would save on fuel but tires will be a few hundred bucks. Lan can mount them himself and we'll need them anyway but getting them for the trip means trip money goes to tires.

If 30 mpg, it will use 83.3 gallons of gas with cost of $374.17

The 2010 Ford Escape?

It also has a few quirks but its only getting about 20 MPG anymore and isn't 100% reliable either. With this we could make a run into Cedar City, Utah and bring back more than we could fit into the Impreza, plus we can take it off road. 

If 20 mpg, it will use 125 gallons of gas with cost of $561.25

If we take the truck it would be a bit slower just because its bigger but we can haul anything in it and go off road if needed.

If we take the Subaru we'll 'save' on fuel overall but no fun stuff.

If we take the Escape it will cover all the bases.

 

 

How To Proceed

OK, so here is our house in Pioche, what it looks like right now.

Living room on the left, kitchen on the right. It is 20' wide across the front.

This is a rough drawing of the house

And this is a rough drawing of what it might look like when we're done rebuilding it.

We're going back to see the house in September or October, we do need to winterize the trailer and get all the measurements and make final plans on how we're going to do next springs demolition of the utility, kitchen & bathroom and THEN we need to get it all covered again so the basement doesn't flood in the winter from any rain and snow. They haven't had much of either for 2 years so they're due for a good amount, I think, this winter.

The bedroom is already framed in and it will be 12'x12' with the closet on the side along the living room, to provide a little sound proofing.

We both want to have a large window out the back of the house to see the views of the valley but as of right now, we're not exactly sure how that's going to work out.

I had so many ideas of things we could do with this house but all those photos are lost and it kinda makes me sick.

 

Over Time Is Done

 We got home on June 5th and I had another week off, but got called in for OT on June 11th. Then starting Sunday June 14th, I worked 6 straight days for that first 60 hours, I had Saturday June 20th off, then another week of 60 hours, 1 day off and this week I worked the last FIFA hours yesterday. I'll work Thursday and Friday for only 40 hours this week.  There were 2 holidays when I got OT so cash wise they were each $1,000 days but I chose Comp days so I'll get more time off. Today & tomorrow are the first 2 days I'll have off together since June 12th & 13th.

What I need to accomplish in these 2 days is:

Get the RV cleaned out and set up for Jeffs visit Monday

Put bedding and stuff out there 

Make sure there is water in it so he can use the toilet if he wants

Shop for snacks and treats, and beer for Jeff

          Shop for gluten free foods since he is intolerant 

Shop for an awesome Birthday gift for Jeff, he will be 66 on Monday

 

On July 11th there will be a memorial for Aunt Rita and there will be far more people there that I don't want to see than the few I do want to see. Until 2 months ago I thought that things were good between Sali and me but then I caught her in a lie so I no longer care to see her. And YES, that's petty but she simply didn't need to lie to me in the first place. 

I wonder how many more family members will die before I see them all again?

 

Back To Work

 We've been home a week and during that time I worked 50 hours, 10 is overtime on a holiday so I'll earn about $1000 that day, now for my second week I'll work 60 hours so worked time is 110 hours plus a holiday, which for the regular holiday time I'll take as comp.

I did not plan on working so much right off the bat but its available and I'm high enough in seniority to get better shifts but honestly I enjoy every position on the dock.  Mostly I sell but traffic and plank are as easy as pie.

All this OT is due to the FIFA in Seattle; they are paying for extra people to be on the dock so I said 

SIGN ME UP!

The OT will be about 70 hours each week through July 10, by the time it's over I'll be wiped out.