Thursday the local power company had a planned outage from 8am until 2pm or later. Seems they had to climb every transformer pole in this service area and flip some switch–the Cowboy thought maybe some of the transformers were accessed with a boom truck but the younger/skinnier of the two lineman who showed up at the transformer pole behind our house climbed the pole–
Rather than run the toyhauler generator all day for power we elected to head to Home Depot again—thus our credit card is starting to groan! We found a new front door and security door plus some door locks. We made a quick WalMart stop and also found a restaurant with outdoor patio so Emmi could sit with us while we ate–taking lessons from Nina and Paul! 🙂
Today was the day for installing the largest of the windows we purchased on Monday in Tucson. The Cowboy worked hard all day long finishing the install about 5pm. We are pleased and it helps make that little bedroom seem not so small.
Pardon the trash–Saturday is “go to the dump” day and we will have a truck load!
I was so tired of trying to find my clothes in that toyhauler–jeans, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, etc. were all folded and stored in one large cabinet plus the Cowboy’s jeans were mixed up in that mess too–no shelving, just a big open cabinet. What a mess! Today I visited the new Dollar General purchasing bins with lids–I sorted all the clothes and pushed the bins under the couches of the toyhauler–not pretty but at least I can find something to wear!
Can you believe the Cowboy is hiring someone to finish our drywall???–he had a lot of encouragement/nagging from his wife–I just didn’t want him breathing that dust! The guy is scheduled to come in just over a week so I’ve spent time moving what I can out of the guest house. Supplies were stored in two attached to the wall desk/cabinet combinations–I moved all those supplies to the main house then we disassembled the cabinets/desk and moved those too. The closet was FULL of boxes of our belongings from the North Ranch house–photos, wall art, decorative items, table wear, etc.–those boxes all went to the main house too. The drywall guy is going to do one half of the house at a time so we can continue to work on the other half.
Words of warning–don’t forget to take your credit card from the chip card reader and have text alerts on your phone for every time someone charges to your cards!!
Restoration Cowboy Style 
The way they handle chip cards down here drives me nuts, The transaction is approved before you sign the stupid pad and that signature pad is a joke. Back home there is no signature needed but you have to use your own secure PIN and unless you are sharing it around the neighbourhood it is a lot more secure than the chicken scratch signature that no one checks anyway.
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The chip card readers are a pain–they are all different–some have you sign a paper slip, some have you sign the screen. I’m afraid it’s caused more problems than it solved!
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Having just received a chip card, I really have to watch it and remember to take it with me!! A real aggravation indeed!!
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They are aggravating Don–one place makes you sign a paper slip, the next one makes you sign the screen–all the chip readers work differently!
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Having someone come in to do the drywall is a smart idea. I can’t imagine doing this job for a living even with a mask. You’ll enjoy watching someone else do this messy job:)
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After sanding that textured ceiling (which was a mistake!!) I just didn’t want Mike breathing that dust and lobbied hard for giving that job to someone else! I too can’t imagine doing that for a living!
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So happy to hear things are coming along.
Once the drywall is finished your
heading for home base.
Great progress. Thank goodness your
cowboy can do so much and your willing
and able to work so hard !
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We have a bunch to do in the nine days before the guy shows up but we think we can do it. Almost daily I say how fortunate we are to have our health and still be able to do what we do!
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You guys are moving right along. Yes a good idea to have a drywall person do the drywall. You are very fortunate to have Mike doing most everything else. If it was us we would have to hire everything out making that kind of extensive renovation impossible for us. Keep up the good work……………
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Al, you are so right, there is no way we could afford all these renovations and would have driven right by this little house if we were paying contractors!
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Not only better for Mike not to do all that drywall work, but I’m sure the hired hand appreciates the work. Great decision!
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I think the hired guy might really appreciate the work–not much going on in Pearce at the moment!
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I hate finishing drywall. That’s the only thing we contracted out on the six houses we constructed a few years ago. I really like the look of the new windows and door. As Al said, the cowboy is saving lot’s of money by being so talented.
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It took some talking but now I think he’s glad we are having someone else do the drywall. Yep, we wouldn’t have the homes we do if the Cowboy weren’t so talented!
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When the guest house is done is the main house next or are you taking a break to enjoy the area and starting the house next fall?
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Not sure what the plan is Sally–we hope to get a new roof on the main house before we head to Montana for summer.
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I take it that your card got left in the chip reader & someone tried to use it? I can see where that might be a drawback to the chip cards. But what choice do we have?
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No choice, Linda! Yep, by the time the Cowboy got back from the hardware store someone had used our card for an online music purchase. The hardware store said their card reader warned them loudly when someone left their card but in the next breath he said, “I don’t know how many times a customer hands me a card left in the reader before they can insert their card.” The credit card company, Citibank was awesome–we had a new card by the very next day.
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Can’t believe that’s the same guest house! You have to feel such a wonderful sense of accomplishment – you should! Glad you found someone to do the drywall, our friends didn’t know anyone nearby. It always feels like the “home stretch” when that big job is done! Pretty full moon 🙂
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We do feel as if we’ve entered the home stretch–we have an ulterior motive–to get out of that toyhauler trailer!!
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