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

Next Trip Planning

We're hoping to take another trip down to Pioche in the fall to winterize and prep for the big demo next spring, when we remove the utility room, kitchen, basement stairs and bathroom.

Here's a diagram of the current house, it measures about 20' wide by 36' deep and the bathroom is 5x5

This is maybe what our future house will look like. This isn't to size but you get the gist.

We still need to figure out how to get into the basement after we remove the stairs down to it.

This section on the left is the bathroom that we will remove, and the brick chimney on the other side, the metal one is already gone. The part on the right is the kitchen & utility and they will be gone too.

Here's a better photo of the chimney

This is the utility room, the door leads to the stairs that go 3 up to the utility room and 7 down to the basement floor; all the blue area will be removed along with the door/stairs,

This is the basement stairs thing. Its all going to go.

We will need to make sure the exterior walls are straight and cover them up with new siding of some kind. Currently the house has stucco on it but we're not sure what we will use on the new sides.

 

Kitchen Dreams

I'd LOVE to have our kitchen end up nice and bright like any of these  

I like the white subway tile and our sink will be below a large window

Our kitchen will be all along a wall, not U shaped like this

I wish for a propane stove

I love these old wooden beams

The high shelving would be useful, IF I have a ladder to get up there

I do not want upper cabinets, I want minimal stuff in the house, since its so small.

Vacation Prepping

We'll be leaving home to go to Pioche in about 10 days and I couldn't be more excited.

I've been gathering necessary supplies and stacking them in the living room, I have 5 old kitty litter plastic containers that I'll use to transport our stuff, those containers and uniform size and shape, have sturdy handles and are waterproof.  I've got items ready to put into the containers but am waiting to see just how much stuff I'll have all together before I start stuffing. I already have one with food in it and I'll have at least one more.  I need to freeze a gallon jug of water to use in the cooler to keep things cold. So much to plan for! 

Lan has already begun working on some plumbing things; a distribution panel from hot water to different areas of the house. This consists of red and blue PEX pipe with valves and fittings mounted on a 2x4 piece of plywood; each one will be able to be shut off individually from the rest in case we need to shut off water just to the bathroom or kitchen.  There will be hot water to utility room, kitchen sink, bathroom sink and cold to same areas plus the back yard.

Thats one of the things Lan will be working on, I need to find SOMETHING I can work on while down there. If we had insulation rolls I'd be cutting it and stapling it into the walls but thats not going to happen yet. I do have cross stitch but I'm not going to use that 'work' and work.

In horse news: 

Amble comes home next Saturday. I'm going to have her harness there and ask Wil or Teresa to help fit it to her properly. I'm also going to borrow a saddle from Terry and see if it fits her. God, I'll need a saddle  more than anything.

I suppose I should start my Christmas Wish List, on it I'll need a nice buggy whip.

This coming Friday, the day before Amble comes home, we are having a yard sale, what I always advertise as the BIG ASS BARN SALE. We have a bunch of stuff already inside the garage, need to get it set up better.  Theres stuff all around the walls not for sale and we either need to move it all or cover it.  I have a ton of crap inside the house that I'll take out Thursday night and set out. I need tables and they need to be clean.  There are 2 picnic tables here, a round patio table and a tiny cafe table. I should sell both those last ones, or take the cafe table and its 2 chairs down to Pioche since we only have a couple camping chairs there now.

 

What to Do?

 I've been looking forward to our next trip to Pioche since we left there in December. At that time we were in a rented car, leaving the hotel in town since it was 20* at night and our house has zero insulation and holes in the walls, no beds, broken windows and no water so no toilet.

This next trip down we will focus on two things, interior wiring and getting the toilet sewer pipes hooked up so we can at least pee in the house. It's still going to be a ways down the road before we can have our own running water in the house, since I'm not up for paying $64 per month for it when we will only be there maybe 5 weeks per year. The neighbor Tom has said we can use his water all we want so I want to fill the bathtub and use a bucket to fill the toilet tank for flushing. I think its weird that I still haven't even tasted the water in town either.

Thats something I'll need to do on this next trip.

I've gotten SO MUCH STUFF for the trailer that we're taking down & leaving in the yard, a place for us to stay whenever we got down there. I'll have to get used to showering in a tiny tub, one that's smaller than the shower I currently use in our house in Washington. Eventually the house will be finished and I'll transfer all that stuff into the house, then we will sell the trailer.

Now, since we'll be leaving the trailer down there, will we need to cover it? We have a cover so that's not an issue but never having had a trailer down there long term leaves us with questions. We WILL winterize every time we're leaving so we won't have to worry about freezing pipes on future visits.

My horses are all fine, Wifi just turned 18 years old; I SOOooooo wish I could ride her. Joey will be 29 on April 15th, and Amble will be 4 on June 21st. They're all shedding and Joey looks like a floofy mongrel moose, he had matts all around his chest and belly but I got most of them off him. He will create more.  Amble is shedding but slower and Wifi, as always, has a ton of hair.