You know you've become a Redneck if....

you've allowed the hair on your legs to grow so long, you could braid them. Yes, I've let myself go to pot living out here in the boonies. But it does help keep you warm, right? Well, I took care of that little problem. It's a good thing the hair is blond so you could hardly see it unless you were looking. Obviously,  no one was....
    So Pa got home by 8 pm on Friday night. He didn't stop to eat, just kept truckin. Since it was so cold at night, he left all the groceries in the truck. He brought home 85 pounds of chicken breast from Liberio, the Mexican grocery store, We split them with Daisy Mae and Lil Abner. I mean, after all, they were only 97 cents a pound. How could we resist? Saturday morning I wrapped each double breast separately and popped them in the freezer. Pa also got 25 pounds of hamburger which I wrapped each package with enough for two people. Then there were the 5 flank steaks which got the same treatment. I hate having raw chicken on anything, including my hands so I bleached the cutting board and my hands before proceeding to the beef. I have a new respect for meat butchers having to spend all day wrapping meat! We have enough meat for a couple of months or more. I hate shopping even for groceries so we will have to supplement with fresh produce and eggs.
    Sunday, we started moving things into the house. Boxes everywhere. Both of us are so sore today we can hardly move. A lot of kitchen stuff got put away.
   Today, Pa is going to call the stove installers and get that on the road and then call the solar people and get that started. Hey, we may get to actually get to move in some day!!!!

Pa's on his way home!

Pa called at 2 pm and said he was just leaving Vegas. That will put him home sometime around 10 or 11. More power to him! I would have stayed another night and leave in the morning. His last stop was Costco and he said the lines were 12 carts deep.
   I blocked off the doors to the kitchen, put some water and dog food in and left the dogs in there all day while I trekked to Show Low. My main reason was to get some trim to finish off the edges of the spot where the wood stove will sit. I couldn't find anything I liked so got some quarter round wood to stain. Well guess what? It ain't gona work. The quarter round is too small. By the time I shopped at Big Lots ( how can you spend almost $100.00 in Big Lots?) looked at Walmart for towel bars, went to Home Depot, then to Lowe's and then back across the street to Home Depot to return some thing I bought there, then to a Chinese Buffet for a late lunch. I was exhausted! Part of the reason is because it takes over an hour to get to Show Low and you are exhausted before you even start shopping. I wanted to go to Lakeside/Pinetop to see what stores they have but changed my mind. I did get a piece of 4 x4 plywood 3/4 inches thick to start on my table top and more tile so I can get started on that right away. Table legs are expensive so I bought some 1 x 3's and hopefully can use them. If not, I will be taking a lot back to Lowe's.
    My new Josh Groban album arrived today and for some reason it won't play in my lap top so I had to dig the portable radio/cd player out from under a ton of stuff . Then the darned cd player didn't want to open, then once I got it opened, it didn't want to close! I had to set a two pound can of peanuts on the top to get it to stay closed so it would play. The album isn't one of my favorites, I prefer it when he sings in a foreign language that I can't understand. It speaks to my soul instead of my mind. I have quite a few albums in foreign languages, usually Spanish or Italian. Have no idea what they are saying but it soothes my soul and takes me to a better place. Pa thinks I am nuts but Pisces are supposed to be ethereal, dreamy, and soulful. That's me!
Oh, wait a minute, Pa is a Pisces also. What happened to him? He is neither ethereal, dreamy or soulful. He's more of the bottom line type. Guess that shoots that theory about how you are supposed to be when you are born under a certain sign. Maybe he was born under a cusp or something or maybe the cusp fell on his head when he was born. Whatever!

As Promised!

Ta Dah! Yes, there here, pictures of the tile I installed. Pa did the cutting and I did the installing. Luckily for him he only had to cut 5 or 6 pieces. Guess I will go to Show Low tomorrow and get the finishing pieces. I have had to do all the things Pa usually does each day. I pumped some water into our water tank in the motor home and had to change out a propane bottle to our Mr. Heater. I hate to admit I know how to do it because Pa will start expecting me to do it. I am at the point where I just want someone to take care of me. I took care of myself for so many years, it's nice to have someone to lean on.
    I lugged a couple of buckets of warm water into the house and using Murphy's Oil Soap, washed down all the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms and mopped the kitchen floor. That took the better part of the day. I was so anxious to get started on my chores, I forgot to put make up on and shocked my self when I looked in the mirror later in the day. By then it was too late anyway. I know, there is no one out here to see me but I don't feel awake if I don't have my hair done and make up on. Today my hair looks like a straw bale sitting on my head, feels like it also. I notice that my hair feels a lot dryer in Arizona. A good cure for that is Coconut Oil. You can get it in the vitamin section at Walmart. Of course mine is packed away some where. You just slather coconut oil on your hair and let it sit for a few minutes and then wash it. It is also good for dry skin especially your legs, just soaks right in. You can even use it for cooking. It is very healthy and good for you. That's your lesson for the day.
    We are trying to find some baby trees to replant lining our driveway. Unfortunately our property doesn't have many baby trees. Fortunately our good friend Steve owns property a couple of lots down from us so I am going to see if I can find any there. Oh, I guess I had better ask him first. We have Junipers and Cedars. The Junipers have multiple trunks coming out of the ground and Cedars have one and have a conical shape. We want the Cedars.
    Pa will be home sometime tomorrow. He has to stop at Liberio and pick up a ton of chicken breasts for us and Daisy Mae. Then a stop at Costco to get a month's worth of supplies. They have the best hamburger and other meats altho we have found that the Safeway stores here have good meat but not the good prices of Costco. The nearest Costco to us is in Albuquerque which is at least 3 hours away. That's where the nearest Hobby Lobby is also!!!!! Thank goodness for ordering on the internet!
   I must make a comment on the weather today. Fabulous just about describes it. By 10:00 a.m. it was 25 and felt like 40 degrees. Blue, blue skies, such a beautiful day. It may have just made it into the 50's but I was very comfy doing my chores. I just love it out here!

Pioneering on my own

   What can I say? I didn't blog yesterday to post pictures of the tile. By the time I was done tiling the three tiles and the wall behind where the stove will be, I ran out of time and energy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
    Pa left at 3 this morning to go to Vegas. He had to have some blood work done before his doctor appointment on Thursday. I slept in till 7:30 even tho my plan was to be at the laundromat by 8. The best laid plans.... I did make it by 8:45 tho. While I was there, a man came in with some laundry, then went to his car and brought in more laundry, then went to his car again with more laundry and was still bringing in laundry when I left. He said he hadn't done laundry in 4 months, he just kept buying new clothes. He said he just kept throwing his dirty clothes into the barn. He was even using large dog food bags to bring in his laundry! There are currently 13 washing machines that work and he took them all, probably two or three times. I was just lucky I got there first as mine were already in the dryer. It might have been cheaper for him to continue to buy new clothes at $2.00 a load for the washing machines.
    On my way back home, I stopped for the mail and then the library for more books. I am still reading all of Harlan Coben and Margaret Coel's books. Those Coben books are hard to put down once I get started on them. I finally finished the tile  (more or less). I grouted every thing and it looks so beautiful. I promise pictures tomorrow. I need to go to Show Low and get some edging tiles to finish it off. I hate to leave the dogs home alone that long . I have two choices, lock them in the new house or lock them in the dog pen. Either way, it will be chilly. Maybe I'll wait till Pa gets home. I can't take them with me because Pa has my truck with the front and back seat and I have his with only the front seat. Too crowded with four dogs. The last time we were at Home Depot or maybe Lowe's, some guy brought his chocolate lab into the store with him. I thought you could only do that with at Pet Smart or Petco.
    I am pooped! Laundry and grouting are so tiring. Or maybe it is the altitude. If  I don't go to ShowLow, I will clean the kitchen in the new house tomorrow and maybe move some things in.

Oh! My aching back!

And my thighs and my knees and my elbows! No I'm not sick. I spent the entire day yesterday tiling the front entry way and the 5x5 ft area where our wood stove will go. Pa cut the cement board and a few tiles and I put them on the floor. Unfortunately, I only had three tiles left to go on the floor and ran out of adhesive! By that time I was so tired, I could no longer function so it didn't matter anyway. Today we ran to Springerville and bought more adhesive. I still have to go three feet up the wall behind where the stove will sit. We certainly don't want the wall to catch fire. We checked a couple of stove stores to find out how much it will cost to have the stove professionally installed. Really, all we need is for someone to cut the hole in the roof and install the first section of stove pipe and make sure the roof doesn't leak. Guess how much.......are you sitting down? First quote was for $550.00 and the second was $750.00. Isn't that a bit steep? I am calling someone else tomorrow for a third quote. We need to have it done so we will just have to bite the bullet. Who wants to live in a cold house anyway?
   Tomorrow, Pa will put the cement board on the wall and I will tile it. The next day I will grout everything and darn it, I forgot to buy some grout sealer. I will stop by our tiny Ace Hardware tomorrow while I do laundry and see if they have any. It will probably be $50.00 an ounce.
    One of our four dogs has turned into a hunting dog. Tilly sometimes looks like a German Short Hair Pointer when she is in hunting mode. Of the four dogs, she uses her nose the most and courses back and forth, nose to the ground. She caught a dove yesterday and ate everything except the wings. I put them in the burn barrel. She looked so funny with her face full of feathers. I should have taken a picture but as I mentioned before, I was no longer functioning. I know Mini Schnauzers were used to hunt vermin but I didn't think they were bird dogs.
    I guess I will take my sore, tired body to bed so I can hurt myself more tomorrow. It will be worth it tho because the tile is so pretty. I 'll take a picture of it when I am done and post it in my next post.

Almost done

   My Vegas daughter informed me today that I should update my blog more often so she can keep up with what is going on in my life. The reason  I haven't been is because it takes so darn long to upload pictures to this blog. So here's what's been happening lately. The construction crew finished with their part on Wednesday. The foundation is all done and the land got moved about so the ground slopes away from the house. The dirt goes up to the bottom of the top block. See the vents that lets the air circulate under the house? That's James putting some wedges under the house. He is such a nice guy and really funny. He promised to come back and visit sometime.

Here is James putting the dirt close to the foundation and then leveling it off to the proper degree. I can't say enough nice things about this construction company. They went above and beyond the call of duty. They tore out trees, moved our water tank, moved the semi trailer out of the way so it is now behind the 40 ft. containers, and even put in the doggie door. So you readers in Phoenix especially, if you need anything done, give RC Homes and Development a call and you will get more than your monies worth. They also do work in California, Utah and Nevada. They are located in Camp Verde, Arizona.

This is Robert, He is the owner of the company. He is one of the nicest guys you will ever encounter. He will bend over backwards to do the job right. We had such a good time while the crew was here, we really hated to see them leave.

Here's the front of the house.

And, here's the back of the house. Yes, we need some shrubs and landscaping but that will have to wait for spring. We will put chain link fence in the back yard to keep the dogs safe.
   As soon as the construction crew left, the inside guys came and they patched up all the cracks and re textured the walls and then painted. I couldn't believe it when we inspected everything after they were done. They vacuumed the house and wiped things down so the house looked fairly clean. I will have to reclean the kitchen before putting things away.
   Yesterday, Pa and I went to Show Low to buy some guttering, some tile and other things to finish up the house. We thought we would be gone for maybe 4 hours so we left the dogs in the motor home. Eight hours later, we finally made it home. The poor dogs couldn't hold it that long so we came home to a wet floor but we really couldn't be mad at the poor things. It is just impossible to go to Show Low and expect to get home at a reasonable time. It takes an hour to get there and an hour to get home and then going to Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, Dollar Tree, an auto store, propane store, Safeway and lunch at a good Chinese buffet. Then in Saint Johns, we had to get gas and the mail. So you can see where the day went.
     Anyway, the inside crew got their work done in record time and today, the carpet guys came and are doing their thing. They got lost coming out here and just about turned around and went back to Bullhead City. After they are done, the house is ready to move in to. We will start moving in some things but really can't move in till the water, propane and solar is ready to go. I have to tile the spot where the wood stove will go and the front entry way. OH, we need someone to come out and install the wood stove. Our main concern is getting the hole in the roof done properly so it won't leak and that's why we need professional help.
    I haven't seen Daisy Mae for a couple of weeks. Lil Abner stopped by the other day. He is healing up pretty fast from his surgery.  I got word today that my favorite aunt passed away last week. She was 95 and was like a second mother to me. She had no quality of life the past few years and now she has been reunited with her mother and sisters and what a reunion that probably was! She was the funniest lady and had so much life in her until she had a stroke while on the bowling alley at the age of 85. My mom is the only one left and she is in pretty good health.
  That pretty much catches me up for now. I will try to do better in the future, Vegas daughter!

Progress

It's Friday so the construction crew is home for the weekend. They are almost done with their part. They put the foundation in today and have to let it dry completely before setting the house on it. Then they will back fill and put dirt up to but not covering the last block. They put close-able vents all around, interspersed with the block on the top layer. You close them in the winter and open them in the summer. They will be the right height to let the rattle snakes slither in to find a cool spot in the heat of summer. I can just see them, all gathered together, throwing themselves a party under the house. Hopefully we won't have to go under to fix something. Who am I kidding! Hopefully Pa won't have to do it. No way am I crawling under that house under any circumstance. Isn't that what we have men folk for? I'll take care of the inside and Pa can take care of the outside. With the exception of the Ditch Witch. I love driving that thing.
  Ok, you always hear about women doin' most of the talking and men are the silent type? Well, that's a lot of bull pucky. Mr Chatty, aka Pa talked up a storm last month and went 185 minutes over our allowed time. To the tune of an extra $85.00!!! Unfortunately I can't take it out of his allowance since he doesn't get one. For the record, neither do I. Every time he would call someone during the week, I would say, "Is that a Verizon number?" Can't it wait for the weekend? He never pays attention to what I say. The bottom line is, we upgraded our Verizon to 1400 minutes a month along with Friends and Family. So we get to call our favorite F&F who don't have Verizon, any time we want. I usually talk to my mom every Saturday and other than a rare call to my Vegas daughter, I rarely talk on the phone so this is mostly for Pa.
  I discovered a new author, for me anyway. Margaret Coel. She has written novels about a modern day priest who is stationed on the Arapaho reservation who solves different mysteries. It keeps me entertained. Another author I recently discovered is Harlen Coben who also writes mysteries. For light entertainment, Sophie Kinsella is a great writer. Light and funny and uplifting. I've read all her novels.
    I was so sad to hear John Dye from Touched by an Angel passed away. Only 47 and a major heart attack. You just never know when your time is up. Andrew was my favorite character on the show.
   Finally ventured off the ranch yesterday and went to Springerville to shop the sales at Safeway. I finally found a laundromat with machines big enough to wash my sleeping bag in. It sure smells better! It's a long way to go just to do laundry tho. About 40 miles away from us so if I do it again, I'll have to make it a sales day at Safeway. It only cost $1.00 to do a load of clothes in the smaller machines which are three times bigger than the ones in St. Johns.
    Any plans for the weekend? Pa is going to put in the pump that will increase our water pressure to the house. I will probably vacuum  and try to reorganize the motor home. We need to take somethings outside but basically everything we have in here, we need on a daily basis. We have things packed under the table, on half of the bench seats at the table, things are falling out of the cabinets, food is so jam packed in the fridge, you have to unpack it to find anything. I can't leave the canned goods outside because they will freeze. Can you tell I am starting to crave more space? I'm proud of myself that I haven't started whining. I know it will be worth it in the long run. I also know that we have too much stuff to go into our new house. Maybe we can have a garage sale this summer altho there aren't enough people out here yet to have anyone show up. Maybe some of it will make good firewood? Hello Pa? Surely there is something you could part with....NOT!

DO NOT TRUST WEATHER REPORTS FOR THIS REGION!

   The construction crew was supposed to start the foundation for the house today and guess what? We woke up to snow!!! The weather report said it would warm up each day by a couple of degrees but didn't mention snow. The health inspector did come out yesterday and said our septic tank was good to go so they can cover it up now.
    Pa took Lil Abner to Show Low for his check up this morning. They are going to Lowe's to get some supplies so I don't expect them back till late this afternoon. What with the snow, it looks like I will be housebound for the day. Thank goodness, I still have 3 books left to read. I wish I had kept out my counted cross stitch to work on but alas, I didn't plan to well.
   Gosh, we still have so much to get done before we can move into the house. The construction crew still has to put in the foundation, put the roof cap on and finish leveling the house. Then the inside guy has to refinish the inside of the house and fill in all the cracks but he has to wait till the house is level. Then the carpet guy has to come and restretch the carpets. Then the propane guy has to come out and deliver the propane tank and connect the gas to the house. Then Pa has to build a shed to house the propane generator and batteries in and then order the batteries. Oh, then get a load or two of water for the water tank after hooking it up to the house. Maybe we will be in by the end of February? I sure hope so!

Under Construction!

  Well, would you look at this! Finally, something is being done. The septic tank is in the hole and we are now waiting for the inspector to come out and give the go ahead for step two. For some strange reason, we have to fill the septic tank with 1000 gallons of water so the inspector can see that it doesn't leak. Where in the world does he think the stuff in the septic tank goes? What's the difference if it leaks out the bottom or goes down the leach line? It all goes to the same place. Oh well, that's bureaucracy for you. The inspector has to earn his salary. He will have to come out twice more. The construction crew started clearing the land and are now waiting for gravel to be delivered. It was supposed to come yesterday but the gravel truck broke down! That's small town living for you. But the important thing is we are finally getting started.

The guys moved our water tank to where we wanted it to be which was a huge relief because there was no way we could do it on our own. They were going to move the semi trailer but the back hoe couldn't do it so they will do that for us when they bring their big truck out to haul their equipment home.
   Today it was 4 degrees at 8:00 this morning! A regular heat wave! It's hard to believe but it was 35 yesterday and with the sun out, we were all wandering around in long sleeve shirts. It felt a lot warmer.
   Lil Abner is slowly healing. He said one of the wire stitches holding his sternum together is sticking out of his skin which I think I mentioned before. I am going over today and grout the tiles I set in the guest bathroom. While we were house sitting , Pa made a big batch of swiss steak and here is a picture of some of  his helpers.

They must have an inkling of how yummy, Pa's swiss steak is! It looks like two of our dogs are missing in action but it was getting a little crowded. Pa is an excellent cook so I hope he wants to continue when we get our house set up. The kitchen in it is nice and big. I hate to cook for some reason, maybe all those years of cooking for the kids. I know part of it is because Pa is so darned picky about what he eats. I will have to say he has come a long way in the 15 years we've been married. He is eating a lot healthier now. He could live on bacon and candy and fried cholesterol if I let him. I'll never forget when he made fried apples using Crisco. All I could taste was the Crisco.....never again!
  Well, I'm off to grout!