That Didn't Last Long

The offer on the house fell through and we were thrilled that happened. 

You see, I don't want to live in a trailer in my In Laws pasture while we look for another home and I've decided I can stay here forever as long as I don't know where we're going to end up. Lan doesn't want to make an offer on another place until we have cash in hand. I had started packing, again, but it was HARD not knowing where my stuff was going to go and for how long. There weren't any good houses available for sale in Idaho or Montana when we were looking.

The people paid for a home/property inspection, found dead mice under the house. Big deal, they were all dead. They had also ruined the insulation but oh well.

Then the people wanted a septic inspection & the guy they chose to do it said one of the two arms had failed & the other had extra stuff added onto it, done illegally by 'some homeowner'. 

The people offered us $25,000 less, saying the drain field would cost them that much to repair. 

We said NO. 

They backed out.

Whew.

We spent $1,600 for our septic guy to come pressure wash out the drain field arms and do video; he said there was no failure, just dirt that you should expect after 40 years. He told us the Distribution Box needed to come up, it had sunken into the clay about 6". The 'illegal' stuff wasn't even there, it is exactly as the county plans were drawn up in 1978. 

We replaced the 'D' box & the pipes connected to it, brought it up to the correct height and put gravel on top to keep it up. Installed 2 risers over the tank openings & got it buried again.

This was in seriously rainy weather, all of it. The 'D' box, pipes & risers cost an additional $800 so we put $2,500 into it all together, just 10% of what they wanted to get out of us.

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So now I'm turning the old dog room into a pantry. It measures 8x8, has this closet inside it. Its also got an outside window, an outside door & a door into the kitchen. I had to clean all the dirty dog dust, dirt, mud and smell out of there. Painted all the walls & trim then started on the closet.

We put in the supports at measurements I found here 

(this Pinterest photo)

It didn't work perfectly since our closet already had the one shelf & dowel but I worked around that. I want 5 gallon buckets to fit under the bottom shelf, I want the top shelves to be a bit smaller so I can use them & they aren't closed off by the ceiling/top of the door area.

I cut all the supports & painted them before I put them up; later I figured out they weren't thick enough & with any weight they would bow & fall. 

So we added more support on the left hand side but Lan put them up before I could paint them. 

That's OK though because I need to paint a couple other spots on the supports too. I hadn't painted the tops because I figured they weren't going to show but once we put the shelves in I discovered a few of the tops will show.

Here are the shelves I got painted today. The color is SHADED GRAY, its the same color as the room trim & on our bedrooms & bathrooms trim upstairs. I've got 1/2" of paint left in the can & still need to paint 2 more shelves and the doors.

These will be painted soon but not tonight.

Same with these doors, they will be painted but I'll need another gallon of the paint. 

Sigh. 

I'd rather get a gallon of the paint, then there is plenty left over for any spots I need to redo upstairs.

This is the door into the pantry from the kitchen.

A can holder similar to this will also be built, it will go on the wall to the right of the window & left of the closet.

I might do another one of these between the door to the kitchen and the outside door, all depends on how many cans I end up getting. There seem to be a lot of them in the kitchen now, stored here & there but I'm sure once I get things organized in the pantry that it will seem bare.

I have a Food Saver vacuum that I use a LOT and now I'll have a place to store all those containers that are currently stashed in various places. I don't feel like this is enough supplies to last very long in case SHIF but it will be better than nothing.

This silly drawing is what it should end up looking like.

 

We Got A Full Price Offer

We got a full price offer for the farm,

had it listed on Zillow for $649,999

The couple who offered are from San Diego

I sincerely hope they appreciate at least the house

They aren't hors people & it hurts my feelings that they won't even appreciate the quality of the barn

The lady was about 30, said they have a 2 year old daughter, an African Gray Parrot & an Australian Shepherd. That damn dog will just chase the chickens that I offered to leave here for them.

They wanted to keep our generator, the riding lawn mower & the tractor with all the implements. WHF do they want a tractor when they don't even do farm animals? We said NO on the tractor. 

When they tried to offer $15,000 less for no tractor, we said take it or leave it.

On Wednesday they had the inspection.

Yesterday it was the water test.

Then the septic inspection, which didn't go well. They discovered that one of the two arms has failed & practically accused us of 'fixing' the other one.

Today said they want $25,000 credit for repairs to septic and that the roof over the implement shed leaks so it needs to be replaced & there is no insulation under the floor except in the kitchen but rats got into that so its ruined. 

I said no, price is $650,000. Take it or leave it.

Stubborn assholes will probably take it.

I don't want to move, we have no place chosen to move to. I don't want to live with my in-laws, they are hoarders & their house smells. I'd go to work stinking to high heaven.

We should know Monday morning if they choose to purchase or back out.

 

Cleaned The Barn

The barn wasn't too messy but I wanted to straighten it up some & get current photos.

At the front end, this is Macks stall that Wifi uses and Gussys stall just past it.

From the back.

You can just about see the aisleway net. It came off a ferry & fits here perfectly. Horss could easily jump it but its a psychological barrier more than anything. They all respect it.

Four of the stalls have corner feeders but Gussys is too high for him so he gets his bit of grain in a rubber feeder on the floor.

Actually all of them are getting theirs in tubs on the floor right now.

I love that there is water in the middle of the barn aisle

Are a safe place to hang halters where the horses can't get to them & mess them up.

This red & white rope is used more than all the rest put together.

Wash rack

This drain grate came from the same farm where we got the stall fronts

Stalls from the back of the barn. I've got hay in this one right now & there are a bunch of colored hay nets just waiting to be fed to the horses. They are color coded, blue for Joey, green for Wifi, red for Gussy & black for Mack. That doesn't mean they aren't all fed out of whichever one I feel like giving them but Gussy gets a lot less hay, Wifi gets more than him & both boys get about 10 lbs each feeding.

That net on the door is from the ferries, I've got 2 & they make great barriers to keep the horses in if I don't want to have the doors closed.

 

Unplanned Time Off

 I deliberately bid into an on-call shift at work so I could get out of the sellers booth for a while & do some Traffic & Plank shifts.  

This is an older photo with a now retired and much missed Wendi directing traffic onto the ferry.  We're supposed to stand between the 2 loading lanes of traffic and have them go out & around but there are too many on their cell phones & not paying attention so I get them started & then get out of the way. 

Traffic people have it pretty easy at our dock, since theres only one boat every hour & 15-ish minutes, they can relax a lot.

Heck, everyone there can.

This is Craig in the sellers booth. Its about 5 feet wide & 10 feet long. When selling, we're mostly stuck in here for a 10 hour shift. Plus, you never get to stop working because everyone has to come through the booths to get onto the dock.

There are also a lot of people looking for the motel, conference hall, museum & a plethora of other places & we have to open the gate & send them on their way.

This is taken from the Plank cab area. This is where people walk onto & off of the boats. When doing this shift you push buttons to raise or lower the cab & the apron, once in a while you'll push another button. Thats it. We make it look harder than it is.

Election Night

Tonight is the big night, when we discover if President Trump wins or if we get a new president. I voted for President Trump, again, because I believe he is the man for the job. 

Since he has been in office I personally have been able to save for retirement, I have been able to take some awesome vacations and I've just never been so financially secure. Our entire country has been more prosperous than at any other time in our history.

I'm not watching the news, I'm not listening to the radio & I'm not talking politics to anyone. I can post here simply because this is MY page where I post my own thoughts.

I'm not a person who prays much but I am praying that enough people will vote for him, again.

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In our state, Washington, our current governor is Jay Inslee, a Democrat, that is RUINING our state. 

He promised NO NEW TAXES but has raised them higher than any previous governor. The people of the state have voted THREE times to have $30 car tabs yet Inslee and his cronies have beaten us down, this last time they said we didn't know what we were voting for.

Inslee has shut down our state & ran small business out of business, he's made it a crime if we don't wear a mask in public and he has let the druggies run rampant & said its OK for the rioters in Seattle to be there. 

So along came Loren Culp, a decent human being, a police chief from Eastern Washington, a K-9 cop. He is a Republican and he believes in what I believe in.

We went to one of his rallies & listened to him speak. He was approachable & kind. He isn't a career politician. Here is a bit of an article about Loren Culp:

When he applied to be a police officer 10 years ago, Loren Culp was 49. He had no experience in law enforcement, but said the job would fulfill a childhood dream.

Six years later, the former construction business owner was promoted to police chief in Republic, a town of 1,100 people in northeastern Washington. In that role, Culp has managed a department that, at its peak, consisted of himself and one other officer.

Now, Culp is applying for a much bigger job: leading Washington state, with a population of 7.6 million and more than 68,000 state employees.

Get the entire interview here: https://www.kxly.com/how-loren-culps-book-tour-turned-into-a-campaign-for-wa-governor/

This is my choice for Governor, the small town guy who knows how life actually is. He said his first change if he wins is to withdraw the mandatory mask mandate & get small businesses open again. I sincerely hope Mr. Culp wins.

 

There's A New Kid In Town

 There's a new kid and a returned kid. Soren is back with us for a while. His mom had a baby last Friday; we welcomed Lincoln Gene into the family at 2:46pm, weighing in at 4 lbs 14 oz and 18" tall. 

 Soren has been staying with us till his mom is able to take care of him at home and its taking our entire village to care for him because with the Covid BULLSHIT going on, he is home schooled & suddenly I'm in 3rd grade. 

It's all online & with books provided by the school but his lazy ass mom didn't see the need to pick up his books in the previous 2 months he was in school & then they moved & didn't have internet for another 2 weeks so he's really behind. But Soren is a trooper & while class is in session he does great. He enjoys participating and speaks right up. He also gets the math very well. We went to the school & gathered his books & supplies so he is liking it even more.

Mom was released yesterday and came home, got a nice long shower and packed a bag to go back to the hospital. Little Lincoln was born a month early & there have been complications so he has to stay a while longer. Mom is lucky that she can stay in the hospital with him. I've done a lot of baby shopping in the last 2 weeks and they should be pretty well set, at least for a while. I hope she doesn't expect me to do this all the time, I do have my own bills I'd like to pay. Baby Daddy stayed in the hospital with her from Friday till yesterday, then he stayed home last night. I hope he's looking for another job because he hasn't worked in 3 weeks & I'm not paying their rent.

I've decided to have Christmas here & I'm telling everyone that we'll do a gift exchange, $20 limit. I'll tell everyone that families/couples only need to get one gift. Here's the kicker: I'm giving everyone the same name on their gift person, that will be SOREN. 

Soren

9 years old

size 8 shirts & 8 slim pants

size 3 shoes

Likes: Beyblade toys; they had this at Walmart for $29.99 three days ago, now its $43.  Hhhmmm...

I want to find some nice little baby toys, rattles & stuff but with Lincoln I can get away with just a single toy, he won't know.

We Travel A LOT

 We took another trip to Las Vegas, this time just to relax. But it as 103* there every day & we chose to do a lot of hiking in the desert. 

Day 1: to El Dorado mine area, about 7.5 miles. Then Jubilee mine & swam in Lake Meade.

Day 2: to Mt Charleston & hiked UP to a waterfall, 2.5 miles, then home to the pools.

Day 3: Didn't hike this day but spent the day in town going to junk stores & just doing nothing. Swam in the lazy river & the pool, felt great. 

Day 4: Valley of Fire State Park, which is BEAUTIFUL, and a hike to a ghost town, 2.5 miles.

Day 5: Started our drive home, up highway 93. About 40 miles north of Las Vegas we almost died when a semi truck didn't see us & drove into our lane of traffic, head on. He had to leave the road on our right to avoid us, and we had a semi passing us at 70mph on each side of us. Scary shit. But we made it to Jackrabbit Tunnel and explored there till dark. I found an old rusty metal bed frame, brought that sucker home.

I had flown down, Lan had driven with his parents. They bought a brand new class C RV & were picking it up in Draper, Utah, so Lan dropped them off & then picked me up on Sunday morning at LAS. I had paid for our R/T air flights in July, $255 for both of us & I only used one of mine, making it expensive but we had a better trip because we were able to drive home together and see more.