There used to be an outside door in this opening and a wall–not any longer! It’s going to open up the kitchen so much–the kitchen which isn’t built yet! Behind the Cowboy is a yellow door propped against a wall–that wall is also leaving which will open the kitchen up toward the living room. We’ve been scratching our heads and taxing our brains trying to decide the master bath layout–today while I was at yoga the Cowboy tore out more walls so we could kind of “see” how much room we would have. There is a lovely green cast iron bathtub in that old bathroom which has to be moved–ugh!–it’s going to be heavy!
Thursday the Cowboy decided to try his hand at destroying concrete–we/he has to run all new plumbing and this old house sits on a concrete slab. He ran sewer pipes last season and the pipes are located under the floor of the hallway addition to the Cowboy’s left. But the rest of the sewer drain pipes to the bathroom and kitchen sink have to have a path jack hammered through the concrete floor. At this point in time I’m thinking the Cowboy is wishing we had just built from the ground up! 😉 He purchased a rotary hammer drill the first year we owned this place and he is using that tool to drill a series of holes on either side of the path in the concrete. He then whacks the concrete with a sledge hammer–it seems to work.
We keep reminding ourselves that it is winter even if we are in Arizona. The wind blew yesterday and really blew last night bringing some torrential rain–lots of puddles and even some mud on the road. Our high temperature today was only about 54 degrees and this cool weather is to continue for a while–it is winter in Arizona. The dust brought by the wind coupled with the USFS produced smoke brought us a gorgeous sunset Thursday night.
I dug tumbleweeds both Wednesday and Thursday–we actually have some grass under all those sticker weeds!
Today was yoga for me and then we headed over to Willcox for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We also made a Safeway run. I sure wish this stupid romaine lettuce debacle would hurry up and end–that’s our lettuce of choice–it lasts so much longer than any other kind of lettuce! I had to buy red leaf lettuce today–I’m not a fan of iceberg–the Cowboy likes it but as I’m the cook you know what kind of lettuce we usually eat! 🙂
Now a little family overload–these were of course all taken last summer but the photographer had a bit of trouble with her computer–these are some of the latest batch to arrive and I love them!
Grandpa Lonn, daughter Katie and her two babies, Brooks and Millie.
Lora Elizabeth–our little blond doll!
Katie, her husband Michael, Brooks and Millie.
I think Lonn likes being a grandpa and Brooks love his Grandpa Lonn.
Restoration Cowboy Style 
Are you sure you haven’t moved to Mexico? Your construction problems are so similar to problems here… and folks just say… Well, remember, you’re in Mexico. So much that you write makes me think of Bill & his standards… and then what contractors here believe is the norm. I guess you either just accept and go on, or go crazy trying to complete a project on your terms. I certainly wish y’all luck whichever way you approach it (and I think I know which way you’ll go). I hate to lower my standards but sometimes it just quits nagging at me.
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We don’t envy you your building project in Mexico–ours is bad enough! The Cowboy always said he would rather build than remodel–he is for sure thinking that now!
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So much work, but everything you guys have done so far is just beautiful! Fun to imagine what we saw going through all these changes 🙂 Those skies are incredible!!! The family pics are adorable.
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Not very many of our friends have seen the mess that will one of these days be a beautiful home—you guys just happened to be some of the lucky ones! 😁😁
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Hey, who’s the guy in the BLACK hat?? Being familiar with the layout of your digs I enjoy seeing the reno photos and sometimes recognizing where those changes are actually taking place. Wished I had Mike’s smarts, work habits, and energy.
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Yep, as I told Jodee–you guys are one of the few who have actually seen the mess which will one day be a nice house. And the Cowboy does wear a black hat occasionally, especially when the wife made him leave that nasty, gross silver belly one in Montana! 🙂
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I get tired just reading about all the work that you two are doing. I know it will be lovely when you and Michael finish:)
The photos of the family are wonderful:)
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I think we are different than most folks–we rarely think of the “work” we are doing as “work.” It’s something we both enjoy (most of the time), it saves us a ton of money and in the end we have a beautiful home. This is the fourth project I’ve done with Michael. He has built four houses from the ground up, remodeled one and now we are working together on this one. Michael’s dad always stressed “having a project/job to do” and swore it’s what kept him going up until the last few years of his life. Nat helped us build our Montana house when he was almost 80 years old. My own dad had no hobbies–work was his hobby so I guess we both come by it honestly.
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