Good & Bad News

Good News First:

We had the handyman over the other day to give us info on putting in a new bathroom upstairs; 

he said he can totally do all we want, for $65 per hour. He said what we're asking for will take about three 8 hour days so... about $1720 after tax.

Here is a very rough drawing of what its like now. I've never liked the Jack & Jill bathroom 

but its better than none & better than walking down the hall.

What we've been doing previously to having a room mate was our bed was in this room & our clothes were in the other room & we would go downstairs to shower & get dressed. We did that so the person sleeping wouldn't get woken up by the noise of the person getting ready for work.

The current bedroom measures 13.5 X 14.5 and the bathroom is 12.5 X 5, 

there are about 4 feet on either side of the window and the closets are 2 feet deep.

The future bedroom will measure 13.5 X 9.5 and the new bathroom will be 12.5 X 5, 

we'll need to install a smaller window and remove one closet.

We'll use the door & frame that goes from this room to the current bathroom & put it on the right, into the new opening made when we take out one closet. The remaining closet is still huge.

We're going to put in a new double vanity in the old bath & matching single in the new, both are getting rubber waterproof click in flooring & both get new toilets and fans.

See the green wall in the original bathroom? If its not a supporting wall, I'd like to remove it completely. All it does is hide the toilet from the sink area & it won't be needed. Removing it will make the bathroom bigger and provide a space for a dirty clothes hamper & scales.

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And Now The Bad News:

Our Septic Design guy told us we can't upgrade our gravity system & would HAVE to put in a completely new pump system at a cost of about $24,000.

That's OK, we didn't want to ruin the lawn and now we can concentrate on the bathrooms.

His name is Frank, a friend of a friend. He quoted us $1,400 for the design & permits, ALL the other companies I spoke with wanted $4,000-$6,000 for the same things. One of the companies was rude to me in an email so she's not getting my money. 

Well, neither is Frank, he's not charging us anything at all.

Hosting Thanksgiving

We will be hosting our family this Thanksgiving & this is what's on our menu

I have been craving Costco Pumpkin Pie for months

Oh yeah, Banana Cream pie

Plus I won't go into detail over all the crackers & cheeses, etc.

Of course, we have been dieting. I've been doing really well and am happy with my results so far. Of course I'll gain weight Thursday / Friday but I'll be back at it over the weekend.

Next week I'll be going to Southworth dock for the rest of the winter/fall schedule. 

I'll have a 40 hour schedule, which includes 3 GRAVEYARDS, 10pm-8am. Those are going to suck but its a pay check. At Brem I'd be lucky to get 4 hours some weeks.

I dislike SW and those are going to be long, lonely nights, especially after the seller leaves for the night at 2am. But wait, Diana will be working at least a couple of those nights and she lives on the island so she will keep me company.

Puyallup Fair 2018

We had Joey, Wifi & Gus spend the nights in their stalls last night with the use of their runs for the first time. They all did well.

Mack spent the night in the arena because he is big enough that the others can all see him and not freak out that they can't see any other horses. So he knocked down this board and drug these blankets into the dirt. 

Then I went to the Puyallup Fair with my pal, Tina.

This ISN'T Tina.

We ate huge corn dogs.

I watched how this guy braided tails, now I want to try it with Gus.

Then I watched this gal braid Franks mane. I think I could do it with Gus's mane.

Old time poster.

The Walking Dead bobble heads

I bought scones and ate a lot of scones. Then I gave Wayne & Linda some, because he fell down & got hurt. I helped him get back up.

This is Frank, the dark blur on the left. He was a stinker.

Taking a tractor ride just to rest our feet.

Hand painted ceramic, won BLUE.

Bumper Cars!!  These were so much fun.

Life in the barn

Gary came out to trim hooves

Gus was a ROCKSTAR!!

It certainly pays off to work on picking up hooves

Joey was good too. I kept wondering why he was so perky, it was a Unicorn balloon in front of him

I paid $5 for this halter at a sale, its a really nice one. The other night I ordered halter tags for my horses, RED will be going on the wayside

I took this right after I had to get after Wifi for nibbling on my shirt. Shes never done that before.

She's still pouting

Gary likes her feet, its been 8 weeks and they still look fantastic. One reason is genetics, one is that shes never had shoes on before, one is that I try to keep them on a good schedule for trims. I started her trims when she was a month old, never too young to learn about the farrier

Mack was a turd, pulling back, leaning on Gary, pulling his hoof away. Sigh.

I ordered him a halter name plate also, just going to put it on his halter,, not going to tell Meghan till she comes out to see him.

I ordered Gus a new leather halter and found this at Stateline Tack for less than $12, its REAL NICE and adjust able so fits him well. I'm pretty happy with it and his name tag will look good on it.

TRIATHLON NEWS:

I have signed up for the December 30, 2018 Yukon Do It half marathon so I better get my ass out there and run, at least walk. I'm so fat right now so I'm dieting and walking every day. Have lost a few pounds, mostly food I haven't eaten so I'm not full of poop. We shall see how I'm doing in a week. I plan on getting out to walk every single day and start running soon.

Tomorrow is the VERY LAST  Tri Turtle Tri and since we won't be racing, Lan & I volunteered to help with parking. Neither of us want to be out there all day so I made sure to let her know we need to come home at noon. 

It rained last night so there is a bit lest dust, I hope it doesn't rain on the race. 

Round Trip

Right after we started our long drive to Canada to pick up my stall mats I received a text about the train derailment in Dupont telling me I'm lucky to be heading north.

Yes, lucky indeed.

My heart breaks for everyone involved.

It took about 3 hours to drive up to Canada and find the place we were going, Karen was navigator and I drove the whole way. She did back the trailer into the loading yard. There location is on a island in the middle of the Fraser river.

The yellow roll on top is mine & is now in my trailer.

Here is a ton of stall mats.

We had all the paperwork to return to the states with it but Customs & Border Patrol decided we needed extra attention.

So we went and stood in line for a half hour & then spent 15 minutes explaining what they were & telling them this was indeed made in Canada. They wanted us to pay an extra tax.

After an extra hour we left with all our money in MY pocket, not the nations pocket, and we were on our way. This handsome guy agreed to let me take a selfie with him. I thanked him for keeping us safe.

It was a 13 hour drive R/T, I totally went off my diet and ate 2 huge BAD/delicious meals but it was still a lot of fun. The mats are still in the trailer as I write this since I got up at 3am to spend a couple minutes with Lan before he heads to work. He will unload it this afternoon and it will be stacked in the barn.

About the barn:

The roof is finished and he is ready to start installing stall fronts. After we have the first two in, I can start with outer walls and the divider. I had planned to put the soft stall mat in the first two stalls and have the divider wall come right down to it but Karen pointed out that a horse could still cram a hoof under it. So I'll plan on putting the divider boards in with a 12" spacer on the bottom. They can still nose each other but not get hurt that way, I hope.

I hope.

We will be using plywood on the inside outer walls and 2x10 or 2x12 boards as dividers between only the end stalls; for the wash rack it will have permanent walls.

I'll use white hardboard panel boards like this photo so its light & bright like my old barn had. I'm even going to paint the ceiling white.

I found this photo on the internet & really like it; its got so many things I like. Small shelf for cleaning items (except we will have an outside door on that back wall), overhead sprayer like I'm going to install, drain, bright lights. The cross ties are recessed so the horse can't step so far forward into the aisle. I might make the overhead shelf a little bit bigger to accommodate the small hot water heater. I need to be able to reach it easily with at least a broom handle as its got an on/off switch so it isn't on all the time, no use heating water I'm not using 24/7. 

This is another stall I like, its got an overhead heater installed. Ours will have a stall front so it can be used as a stall if needed so probably any shelving will be temporary.

I picked up one of these IKEA metal carts for the barn

and am currently using it for the Christmas wrapping supplies. Its sturdy and strong, might be perfect for holding soaps and wash stuff... horse hair, dirt, broken hose nozzles...

I should just plan on getting another one for in the house because I really like it.