Busy Waiting

I wasn’t going to post until we had siding on, but I am writing this for a history of our progress for ourselves some day, and next post will just be that much more exciting. The roof, however, is on and it’s nice to be able to sit or work inside in the shade. The 90+ degree days with humidity are tough; but we are still content to not have rain. Although tonight we got about 5 minutes of rain, and it felt wonderful!

We do not have our steel walls up yet – sigh. But this week! The steel should arrive Monday or Tuesday; it got slowed down, but it is now on its way. All of our doors are back-ordered but the 2 man-doors, I think you call them, are to be in Tuesday. In the meantime, Noel has been keeping busy on things he planned to do after the walls were up, but there was no reason for them to not go first.

He rented this boom lift for a month, first for the guys doing the trusses and roof; now he has used it to put up the soffit, get ready for siding, and multiple other chores. Noel is not a big fan of heights, and the bucket moves around quite a lot when he is standing in it, but he has gotten fairly comfortable with it.

He and Elvis got both barn doors built and mounted; one divides the shop from “the shed” – where the sawmill, tractors. . . . will be stored. The other is on the back side of the shed by the sawmill so he can easily bring logs in.

I have been moving dirt and rocks – piles from the front to fill in the back. Thankful for Boda, though she jars my insides! Noel said he practically built me a 4-lane highway, but it is just “a tad” bumpy! This hill does not look steep at all in this picture, but it feels like a mountain to me. I have lost most of my fear, but every once in awhile I tilt a bit and think I’m dying. I’m not at all dramatic!

This picture is exciting for 2 reasons. Noel almost has the wrap on which is his last step before the siding. And I am taking the picture from Mini. Yes, I am driving Mini these days. Successfully. Not skillfully but successfully. We use Mini to break apart the piles of dirt because it’s too much for Boda. This weekend, I successfully picked up a couple large rocks with the bucket and its thumb. I believe the neighbors down the road probably heard my celebration.

The Boys are so well-behaved when they are out there – emphasis on the “when they are out there.” I read somewhere that the age that dogs are most often given to the humane society because they are terrors is 6 months old. Don’t know if it’s true, but I’m quite confident that is the case. We made it through 7 months and hoping 8 months is a tad better. My well-behaved angels have disappeared – until they go to our property. Chewing is really their only guilty pleasure. But out there, they are busy. And they are so obedient and stay on our land, even when other dogs stand in the road and tempt them. They chase each other at top speed and love the dirt piles. The humidity has slowed them down, so they now have their own pool. But Dink, who is afraid of everything, is afraid of the pool. Fuzz is in it often though.

So far, this third offer on the house is still a go. We made it through inspection – only have appraisal to go. We will need to be moved in by July 21. It is doable. A concern right now is air conditioners are back-ordered. July in Arkansas – would sure be nice to have an air conditioner by July 21. That would be our prayer request this week!