The Real Steve

THIS REALLY BUGS ME!

2010-10-20T00:16:00.004-05:00

Self interviewing.

Definition:
when someone is being interviewed
and they begin to take charge by asking themselves questions.

Like,

"Am I sorry I did what I did?" (self answered) "Yes".
"Would I do it again?" "No."

That drives me crazy

because they never ask themselves the question
we really want to know the truth about.

Like,

O. J. Simpson asking himself the question,
" Why did I kill my wife and her friend?"

See what I mean?

Also,

I believe people do it
because they like to hear themselves talk

and

they think they sound intelligent.

I say,
Why say more when less would be clearer.

An example of too much,
Q. "do I miss my friend" A. "Yes"
Q. "do I wish he was here" A. "Yes".

An example of just enough,

I miss my friend.

THE END

p.s. I am only referring to people being interviewed by another person.

p.s.s. Now re-read this post using Andy Rooney's voice.
(The old guy at the end of 60 minutes.)

Let me tell you how I feel about Cheez-its.

2010-09-14T20:28:00.003-05:00

When I was a kid,
living at home,
my Dad would often by a box of
CHEEZ-ITS and a COLD PEPSI
and we would have a treat.

I,
however,
would buy a box
of Cheez-its
once every year or two.
Probably because I
would see Dad 2 or 3
times a year
and eat his cheez-its and drink
his Pepsi.

Now that Dad is gone
I have a hard time
passing up a box of

I know food can be
EMOTIONAL!
This IS for sure.

And I don't see it
stopping anytime soon.....

2010-05-07T12:37:00.006-05:00

Wyatt,
A Valiant Warrior

Ili shared with me, how they named their son.

They knew that his name was Wyatt!

They just knew.

Wyatt means,

A Valiant Warrior.

It must be true.

Last night I went to LDS.org;
I found these comforting words by Bruce R. McConkie..

We may rest assured that all things are controlled and governed by Him whose spirit children we are. He knows all things from the beginning to the end and he provides for each of us the testings and trials which he knows we need. President Joseph Fielding Smith once told me that we must assume that the Lord knows and arranges beforehand who shall die in infancy and who shall remain on earth to undergo whatever tests are needed in their cases. This accords with Joseph Smith’s statement: “The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth.” (Teachings, pp. 196–97.) It is implicit in the whole plan of things that those of us who have arrived at the years of accountability need the tests and trials to which we are subject. Our problem is to overcome the world and attain that spotless and pure state which little children already possess.

And this.

Because they will receive a celestial inheritance, they will come forth in the first resurrection. President Joseph F. Smith said: “Joseph Smith taught the doctrine that the infant child that was laid away in death would come up in the resurrection as a child; and, pointing to the mother of a lifeless child, he said to her: ‘You will have the joy, the pleasure, and satisfaction of nurturing this child, after its resurrection, until it reaches the full stature of its spirit.’ There is restitution, there is growth, there is development, after the resurrection from death. I love this truth. It speaks volumes of happiness, of joy and gratitude to my soul. Thank the Lord he has revealed these principles to us.” (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 455–56.)

I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Master Electrician

2010-04-15T09:11:00.002-05:00

Yesterday,

I passed the Texas
Master Electrician Test.
Now I can work as an electrician in Texas.

I studied for 5 weeks, 4 to 5 hours a day,
reading the book called
the National Electrical Code.
I won't call the book boring

but.....

If Michael Jackson had just read that book
instead of taking all of those sleeping meds
he would be alive today! And well rested I might add.

I want to thank my
late father,
Tom Freeman,
for teaching me the electrical trade.
It has served me well my whole life.

Thanks Dad!

Leather, tools and time.

2010-03-21T17:57:00.003-05:00

A couple of years ago I found
Tandy Leather here in
San Antonio.
I went nuts buying tools and leather.
As time passed and I would look
at my supplies and think of things to do with them.
Well, I came up with custom guitar straps for the...

Freeman Brother's Band!

This one is for Ralph.
It is his birthday present.
I have no trouble posting it here because
he doesn't use a computer
(very much).
(he will probably log on to this post though)

When Diane and I went to Luckenbach
I bought a concho just for this purpose.
Because when Ralph and I were younger and
worked together, we liked listening to the song
Luckenbach, Texas. We had no idea where or
what it was but we really loved the song.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

RALPH.

33 years

2010-03-05T10:29:00.007-06:00

33 Years ago, today
Diane and I
were married in this temple.

A little later on
we were in this building

The Mark Hopkins
in San Francisco.
I was uncomfortable being in San Francisco in the late 70's because of the Zodiac Killer and
Patty Hearst and her nefarious gang. So I packed up my bride and headed....

HERE

Today, were are headed to
the Texas Hill Country as we
start our journey
for the next
33 years!

I love you doodie!

2010-01-25T09:45:00.007-06:00

Vintage ?

This picture appeared on Yahoo today.
The caption below it reads
"A young Willie Nelson (right) is shown with John T. Floore in the 1970s".

The photo appears because the city of Helotes has named a street after Willie Nelson and J. T. Floore's dance hall is located on that street.

What got my attention is the date, 1970's. I thought to myself "that's not vintage!" But then I added up the years,
it is vintage.

The other day on Chrissy's blog she posted some patterns for neck ties,
she called them vintage.
I have photos of me wearing those shirts, ties and hair do.

Ouch!

I do recall living in the 70's and thinking how old and dated the 50's styles were.
That was only a 20 year swing.
Today I'm talking about a 40 year swing.

Time does fly by.

For what it's worth
(one of my favorite songs from the 60's)
I can remember the 60's also!

Me, playing my guitar in 1970.

Officially,
Vintage !

Nick Names

2010-01-14T12:27:00.008-06:00

Eck.
I am interested in nick names.

I was listening to NPR the other day and a musician was being interviewed. The name they called him was T. Bone Burnett. Now, I would never name a child T. Bone, or Sir Loin or Butt Roast, but T. Bone Burnett is cool.

One of the rules of nick names is, you can't give yourself a nick name.

When Mike was in his teens he gave all of his friends nick names. There was J man, H., Beast (we later found out that beast didn't like being called beast). His sisters were Crike, Bert and Chloco. Now Chloe has many nick names Tiny, dawpers, double d. I asked Mike what his nick name was he said he didn't have one because he was the one that made them up. Later I think I heard his high school friends call him Freedog. Now Britt and Chrissy are married and Mike has altered their nick names to include their husbands. Britt and Ili are Brili (I like that one a lot) Chrissy and Zach are Crack (not so big on that one) I like CeeZee but that didn't catch on.

That's another part of nick names. What makes them stick after you make one up?
Growing up my younger brother Don, was nick named Tiger by our bishop. That stuck while he was growing up mostly because he was so darn little. But he is no longer called tiger. When I first started dating Diane, she and her mom thought I looked like a tiger so she started calling me Tiger or Tige for short. She still calls me tige. When Diane was just crawling her dad thought she looked like doodle bug so he called her Doodie. I call her that more often than her name. My friend Rick Dutson and I used to have a comedy magic show we called the "Way Cool Rick and Steve Show". I started calling Rick
Way Cool.

Then there is Major League Baseball. They seem to have a requirement to give everyone on the team a nick name. Your'e not a real player until you get your nick name. I don't think that the use of the first letter of the first name and first syllable of the last name is a very good nick name. Like A Rod or C Web. When the A's were a great team they had Stew, Eck, Big Mac, Hendu. Not bad but not as good as Mr October or the Fridge. Here's one nick name that took me a while to figure out. The Mo Tab.

What are your favorite nick names? Do you have one? Have you made one up for some one?

Thomas L. Freeman

2009-12-23T09:58:00.002-06:00

It has been a little over a month since my father passed away. I am not yet able to express exactly how I feel about it because my feelings keep changing. It is just odd to think that Dad is no longer here, I believe I know where he is but it's just not here. Then I think of my dear mother. I cannot imagine how she feels. Though I live 1,600 miles away, I know she isn't alone. She has caring children, grand children, great grand children that live near and visit often. She has told me how much it helps her on days when she is having a hard time.

At dad's funeral service, my 3 brothers and I each gave a eulogy. My brothers were able to stand up and deliver a wonderful speech with just an outline. Not me. I have learned that I have to write every word down. Especially when I feel that I might get emotional delivering the message. I have wanted to blog my eulogy for sometime but until today I just couldn't do it.

Thomas L. Freeman
To me Dad was a true patriarch to his family. He and mom have attended every special occasion that our family had. He was always ready, worthy and able to bless us in times of need. When our daughter Chrissy contracted spinal meningitis he blessed her that she would get well, she did. Our daughter Brittany was in a near fatal car wreck, he blessed her, she has made a full recovery. My wife was having debilitating health issues, he blessed he that it would stop, it did.

Another gift dad had was that he was completely comfortable with who he was. I never saw him intimidate or be intimidated. He had total integrity and was a kind man. As a young man, I was dad's home teaching companion. We were always assigned to less active and part member families. Our first visits were invariable through the screen door. But by the second or third visit we were welcomed inside the home. In a couple of more months the whole family would gather when we visited, even the ones that weren't members of the church. I know that, as a home teacher dad helped several families become eternal families. After I became a father I asked him "What is it that makes you such a good faithful home teacher and member of the church?" He answered "that's what I said I would do when I joined the church." Now that is integrity.

Dad had a great sense of humor. He wasn't a joke teller, he just found the humor in the every day experience of life. He served in the bishopric in the Oakhurst ward. At that time the young men liked to sit in the foyer during sacrament meeting after they had administered the sacrament. The bishopric had several discussions with the young men about the issue and wanted them to sit with their families in the chapel for the balance of the meeting. One ward conference Sunday, with all of the stake leaders present, the young men performed their duties and then walked straight out of the chapel to the foyer. Dad was conducting the meeting so when he stood up to announce the balance of the program he began by saying, "I'd like for all of the young men sitting on the couches in the foyer to return to the chapel, sit with your families and be bored like the rest of us."

My favorite story about dad is when he and mom owned some apartments in Oakhurst. One of their tenants was rebuilding a car in the parking lot, which violated the lease. Dad had spoken with the father and son two or three times about the problem and they promised to stop and clean things up. On his next visit dad saw that they had not stopped or cleaned up. He went straight to their apartment and talked to the son. He told the boy to clean it up right now. The conversation went back and forth for a little while then the boy, looking for some empathy from dad asked "weren't you young once?" Dad snapped back "NO, I've always been just like this!"

(At this point in the talk I read exerts from my families blogs sharing their feelings and thoughts about dad. I'm sure if you are reading my blog you have already read the comments left on the various blogs)

I once heard that the idea is to die young, as late as possible. Physically dad was old but young in every other way. He taught me to love my wife and family by loving his wife and family. He taught me to be honest by always being honest. He taught me to enjoy life by enjoying life. He taught me to live the gospel of Jesus Christ by living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If there is just one thing we should take from our association with the wonderful life of Thomas Leslie Freeman, it would be integrity. Plain and simple, have integrity.

That is my eulogy for my dad.

Dad is the first person to die from my immediate family. My grandparents have all passed but that's not the same as a parent. I miss him. Everyday.
Dad was the last living member of his immediate family. I now know he must have missed all of them dearly. Perhaps he is with them now.

Songs I've heard in Texas

2009-10-07T21:05:00.003-05:00

The other day Chrissy blogged regarding her feelings about Texas. The next day I was driving with her and the Freeway was at a stand still I said to her "We need to take a Texit". She didn't know that Texans have a word for how they exit the freeway anywhere or anytime they want. It made me think of other unique things I have noticed while living in Texas.
Here are some funny titles of a few songs.
I Don't Know Whether To Kill Myself Or Go Bowling.
I Changed Her Oil, She Changed My Life.
I Fell In A Pile Of You And Got Love All Over Me.
I Still Miss You Baby, But My Aim Is Gettin' Better.
I'm So Miserable Without You, It's Like Having You Here.
You're The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly.
It's Hard To Kiss The Lips Of The Mouth That Has Been Chewing On Me All Day Long. (edited version)
You got to love county western music.

TEX MEX MMMMMM!

2009-10-04T18:49:00.005-05:00

When we moved to Texas I had trouble enjoying the Tex-Mex style of Mexican food. I loved Cali-Mex. After a year we developed a liking for a Tex-Mex restaurant in Helotes. We call it El Chap. A couple of weeks ago Diane and I ate dinner there. When it came time to order I could NOT decide. I had the waiter come back 3 times and I still couldn't decide. I asked what do you recommend? He said "grilled shrimp chile rellenos". He offered a guarantee if I didn't like it he would buy my dinner. Decision made, bring it.

Well it was sooooo good, I had to pay for my own food. But as I ate I took notes.........

'cuz this one is going to be copied.

Today was the day.

I made Broiled shrimp chile rellenos. MMMMMMM!

Have a look......

Everything is cooked in this picture. I just broiled it for about 8 minutes before serving to melt the cheese.

And then it looked like.....................................................This

All I can say is MMMMMMMMMMMM!

I'll post the recipe in comments if any one wants it.

It's getting weird!

2009-10-04T14:24:00.000-05:00

Repairing my car has gotten weird.

In the quest to keep my car in tip top shape without spending a fortune, I met a man at a car dealership. He asked me about my car, when I said BMW, he said, "I have a friend who is a mechanic and will give you a real good deal." My car needs a 4 wheel alignment, something I cannot do.

I called his friend and got a quote for $65, which is less than half of the next lowest quote. I asked where his shop was. He said at the BMW dealership. (What the...) I set an appointment and he said, "meet me at the back gate at 5:30 pm." Having been to the BMW dealership before I knew that it is surrounded by other auto repair shops. I figured his shop must be just behind the BMW dealer.

I showed up at 5:30 to nothing but a vacant lot. huh???

I called him and 2 minutes later the gate to the dealership opened and he waved me in. I asked him, "where's your shop?" He didn't answer me. He took my car into the shop and asked me not to go into the dealership showroom. So I went for a little walk in San Antonio, for about an hour and half. I got a phone call "it's ready" . I gave him $65 cash and the car is running great!

I don't know what to think about this . . . but I like the price.

Stay tuned the car needs some more maintenance that I can't do.

The Reluctant Mechanic

2009-09-21T21:28:00.004-05:00

When we bought our BMW in 2002, I looked under the hood and couldn't find a single spark plug. Not that I wanted to find them but I knew down the road (pun intended) I would need to know where they were. I was very pleased to know that the spark plugs that came from the factory were good for 100,000 miles. WELL, WELL, WELL, WELL I may never need to find them!

Fast forward to 2009 and the car now has traveled 130,000 miles. It's now over due for a spark plug change. I got a quote from my mechanic, of $400. Now I DO need to know where the heck those spark plugs are! I looked under the hood once again and it looked like this...

This not a spark plug wire in sight.
I scratched my head for a day or so then......... YOUTUBE! I typed in what I wanted to know and presto a full video of how to change the plugs in a 2002 325i. This was the easiest change of spark plugs in any car that I have ever owned. My mechanic said it would be very hard to do at home. HA. It took 15 min. to take the covers off and 15 min. to change 6 plugs.
Where are the plugs you ask?

There are 6 little squares going down the left side of the engine. The plugs are under there, about 10 inches deep. Very easy to do. I saved $250.00. Thank you very much.

My trusted mechanic is now under a cloud of suspicion. He would have made $250 in about a 1/2 hour. OUCH.

Back In The Saddle

2009-09-18T22:02:00.011-05:00

Wonder what I've been doin'?

(with the help of Chrissy)

Kitchen Sink wall . . . Before

. . . After

Stove and Refrigerator wall . . . .Before

. . . After

For more.....check out the July 10, 2008 post

Where do guitars come from?

2009-08-02T18:22:00.001-05:00

If you want a guitar but don't want to go the guitar store to get it you can do what I did. Buy a slab of "tonewood" and glue it together.

Cut it into shape. Carve out the needed spaces.

Back and Front

Install the hardware. The neck screws on here.

attached with very strong screws to sustain the tone.

slap some strings on it and start jammin'

Play it for a year and decide to put a glossy finish on it.

I found this cool wood called Leopard Wood. I used it for a pick guard and other accents.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!

That is Bareknuckle BPK 92 soapbar pickup. The wood is Basswood, maple neck with rosewood fret board, and Fender tuners. This puppie screams!

Thank you my dear family!

2009-02-09T01:20:00.000-06:00

Well my stay here has come to an end. This is the wonderful bedroom my parents offered me.

Most night this is how ate dinner. Mom would make something, simple and delicious for dinner. Don came over and had left over ribs, we were eating split pea soup.

LaRee eats most of her dinners with mom and dad. I really enjoyed talking and eating with each of them.

Before I go home I must thank everyone in my family.

I don't think Spencer knows what a blessing this work has been to my family. I came at just the right time last Oct. and this time as well.

Mom and Dad were so helpful, feeding me, driving me, reading the scriptures every night with me. We read the Doctrine and Covenants together and I was reading Matthew on my own. I want to leave these verses with all of my family in Fresno. Matt. Ch 25 V. 31 - 40.

I love you all!

Now I must go to sleep because in 6 hours I drive to San Jose to catch a jet to San Antonio and then into the arms of these beautiful ladies.......

Who I have missed so VERY MUCH.

Gibbs Sunday Dinner

2009-02-09T00:21:00.000-06:00

Evan.
The rest of the gang.

Such a lovely pose.

Dad, Gibbs ejector chair, Dad Freeman has one too.

Tatie, smashed on the wall, ooouch.

This her "Mexican woman" look. Close but........... no.

Mom, dressed and ready for DiDicco's, yummmm.

The end of a long, cold day

2009-01-30T22:28:00.000-06:00

After working all morning in 45 degree fog and climbing a ladder over & over again. I was very tired and hungry when I got home. Mom says "let's go to Chili's". Who am I to say no.
Mom and LaRee ordered cajun shrimp pasta,

Dad had baby backs and I had country fried steak.

Mom had a coupon for free dessert, yummm.

10 seconds later!

Wire Pulling Day

2009-01-28T20:33:00.000-06:00

Well today was the long awaited day to pull the wire to each building. This is Dad showing up for work right on time. Study the picture below, that person sitting on the tail gate of the red truck......that's dad doing his job! Good work dad! In fore ground of this picture you see 4 rolls of wire which are 1,000 ft long. Our first pull was 360 ft.

We rolled off the wire, cut it to length and organized it.

We use a large fork lift to help pull the wire, it didn't pull the wire it held 2 pulleys in place. We fed a rope through the pulleys and Ralph's truck did the pulling. Spence, with nerves of steel place this giant beam in the electrical room.

Ralph guided it in to the exact spot.

You can see how close to the door jam this contraption got. There was no structural damage to the building.

We tied the rope to Ralph's truck and he started driving. There are 4 of us feeding the wire into a 3 inch pipe. Sound difficult but it's very hard to do.

There is about 10 acres of land here and on this day, at the same time, 3 trades decide to work at exactly the same spot. There are concrete workers, PG&E workers and us. This is a picture of PG&E's truck.

Here is the fresh concrete that we can't step on. OOOOOPS, that's going to leave a mark.

PG&E workers in the fore ground, Ralph in the back ground.

All in all it was a good day. A good day to have behind us. Tomorrow, back to lights, fans and plugs.

Week 1

2009-01-25T15:36:00.000-06:00

This is where I have been and will be working. My brother Ralph and his kids are building 4 buildings that are 5,000 sq ft with 18 small offices in each one. They are hopeing with the down economy that people will like to down size.

This shot was taken Monday the 19th, the door are now installed.

Nothing like a Costco dog for lunch, not to mention $1.62 is unbeatable. That's Ralph on the left and Don.

On Saturday, the 24th Don and I started installing ceiling fans. At this picture we had 1 down and 71 to go. By lunch time we were installing 4 fans per hour. But then the unexpected happened. ( see the next picture)

Don suffered a near fatal condition know as "looking-up neck" I had to help him to his truck and drive him home. On the way home we felt that eating at Casa Quintero was the best medicine he could get. So I took one for the team and ate some good mexican food. (someone had to do it!) Don felt so much better he was able to Jam at Ralphs into the night. ( To view the jam session please go to alexthepixie.blogspot.com. )

I, however, did not suffer from the same condition, but Don was my ride home.

Notice the outlets on the wall, there are 6 in each office we have installed 216 of them with 216 to go. We suffered from the very painful condition know as "kneeling down knee" on those days. I don't think age has anything to do with it but the combined age of the 3 electricians on the job is over 150 years.

When you add the age of the this guy "the boss" the age shoots up to nearly 250.

He didn't like that comment and left the job. Sorry Dad. In reality he just went to get another Pepsi. (this is a big glup cup in his right hand)

Fresno work

2009-01-19T01:59:00.000-06:00

Well I'm in Fresno for a couple of weeks to help my nephew Spencer finish a "mini office complex". I'll post pics and words as we go along. Work starts tomorrow.

Please, no pictures...

2008-07-27T11:56:00.000-05:00

I have spent 3 days this week at the house. Just putting up sheet rock, patching holes and tapeing. In the bathroom I left about 6 sq. ft of the original sheet rock and put up new rock in it's place. I discovered that the bathroom was smelling better with each piece of old sheet rock that I replaced with new. Next I need to sand the tape, put a top coat on, then texture and then paint. Sounds difficult but it's very hard to do!

As I work the debris is just put in the backyard. It is mounting up. Last weekend Britt and Ili informed me of a scrap iron business that will by my old iron. Now when I look at the pile of trash I see $$$$$. Well at least I won't have to pay to have it taken away. I think I'll make enough $ to pay for the gas to the scrap yard.

Thursday, I was headed to the rehab and it started to rain so hard I couldn't see where I was going. So I decided to just visit my Curves Clubs and then go home. About an hour later Diane called and asked where I was. She said don't go to the rehab, there has been a tornado in that neighborhood. It turns out that the tornado was about a mile away and our house was safe. Thank goodness. To be honest the house looks like it was hit by a tornado.

If I get to paint next week look for some pictures.

Toilet troubles

2008-07-18T20:25:00.000-05:00

Today I planned to finish rocking the bathroom but that odor had to go. I pulled to toilet out of the bathroom and scrubbed the floor and walls to no avail. Since I had the toilet out I started the repair on the cracked floor by said toilet. I began to pound and chisel way. I hit the floor where the toilet was sitting and bam..... it caved in. There was no support at all under the toilet. I rebuilt the sub floor and it's ready for new tile to be installed, someday. This took much longer to do than to tell. I hope the odor will be less or even gone by tomorrow. But I don't think it will, it's an old house.
The main problem I am having with this project is getting there before noon. Today I left the house at 8:30 am. I had to stop at 2 of our clubs to deliver stuff. When I am there members and employees alike, need to talk to me. So that makes each stop about 1 hour. Then to the UPS store for drop off. Then to Home Depot for supplies. Then a call from a 3 rd club, their computer is not working right. Another hour gone. It was about 2 pm before I started work. I realize the clubs pay our bills and I am grateful for them, but today they killed my productivity.

Call in the Pro's

2008-07-16T22:14:00.000-05:00

After blogging last night I grabbed a phone book this morning to find a plumber. Then it dawned on me to check Craigslist.org. I had great luck with an AC guy. I called 2 and this guy, Paul, answered his phone. If you look closely at the photo you can see his blue tooth on his ear. Good move, it made him $100.00 today. When they drove up to the house both he and his son, also named Paul, came to the door. I recalled the early 90s when Mike and I would go to work together, doing closet organizers. Those were the days! And probably why Mike is a teacher not a contractor. It was so cool I asked them to pose for my BLOG.

He charged $50.00 per blockage. First was the kitchen sink. Cha-ching.
Then the tub. Not so fast on this one. It has a drum trap, something Paul said I should just cut out, things will drain just fine without it. (Why is there in the first place?) Old school plumbing I guess.
Paul Jr. got to help on this one. He held the "snake" while it spun around and down the drain. Paul kept telling Paul Jr. during this procedure, "don't touch your face until you wash your hands". Very good advice in light of what was coming out of the line. yuck.
No I'm not trying to decide which color is best for the bathroom. The blue is mold proof sheet rock that the tile will go on. The green is moisture proof sheetrock and the white is just sheetrock.
I decided to ad another layer of sheetrock over the ceiling which was falling down. It is very hard to hang sheetrock over your head without a helper. Tomorrow I get to tape the rock,....... over my head!

Today as I was going to the hardware store, I saw a man with a lawn mower just sitting on the curb by my rehab house. The grass in the front yard is about a foot high. I asked him if he would like to do the job. He said yep, $10.00. I said it's a small yard how's $5.00? We agreed and as I drove off he yelled "get me a cold drink" So for $5.00 and a big gulp my yard is now mowed. One less job for me to do.

Good night all.

A small set back..

2008-07-15T22:08:00.000-05:00

Today I tried to finish the bathroom. I put the tub in place, connected the fittings and secured it to the wall. I had installed one piece of sheetrock when the thought occurred to me, make sure the tub doesn't leak before you cover the plumbing up. I filled the tub with water up to the overflow drain. NO LEAKS! I pulled up the stopper to drain it and nothing. Nothing at all. The water was going nowhere. I have a blocked line. Some where between the tub and toilet. I checked the kitchen sink and it is blocked also. The toilet works great, and that's a good thing!
So what do I do tomorrow. Crawl under the house and re plumb everything from the toilet to the tub and the kitchen sink. (Now that I'm thinking about it, I didn't check the bathroom sink,oops)
Or do I call roto-rooter to try and clear the line. Trust me I have given this a lot of thought. I don't want to call roto-rooter, hear his advise on this old house and pay him a ton of money. The last time I hired a plumber, in Fresno, CA. he did a great job but after he was done and paid he gave me a pamphlet with some strange religions questions on it. We had a rip roaring discussion about religion. My father-in-law was with me and was not a member of the church, Mormon, at that time. He really chewed the poor plumber up with a mixture of Mormon and Baptist believes. I can still see that plumber trying to get into his van and drive off while Dad is just nailing him on basic Christian theology. He couldn't get away fast enough.
I think I will call roto-rooter tomorrow for 3 reasons. 1 I am not a very good plumber. 2 I don't think mr. roto-rooter will bring up religion again, but if he does........ 3 That let's me be free to work on the drywall and get ready for paint.
That' it for today.
good night.

All alone....

2008-07-15T08:58:00.001-05:00

Well today I was all alone. Now the work starts. My goal today was to have all of the sheetrock up. But I realized I had to put the tub in before I could rock the bathroom. Plus the bathroom ceiling had some serious problems. All in all I feel good about the days work.

this is the hole left when we removed the wall heater.
Now patched.
Future home of the tub.
2.5 hours later, tub in. The bathroom ceiling was falling down. It didn't respond well to being put back in place. I may have to remove it all and replace with good sheetrock. I hope not.
Well back to work on Tuesday.

Help or Be Famous?

2008-07-10T22:11:00.001-05:00

Today we installed sheetrock in the kitchen. First we measure the rock then cut it to proper size and shape.
Then we attach it to the wall with screws. [I have learned that what a person wears while working, if you blog the photos, is up for public review. Notice my new attire for today.]

A nice surprise today was Britt and Ili dropped by to help and or get on my Blog. Yes, they brought their own camera and these are their pictures. Thanks for that. And they brought lunch. Ili cooked up some fried rice and a pork dumpling of sorts. Very delicious! Ili jump right in with the rocking and tape.

Chrissy and Ili spreading mud like pros.

Britt assumed the job of handing out sheetrock screws. Not a hard job but someone had to do it.

Which leads us to the last 2 photos. The girls had watched a TV show last night,"So You Think You Can Dance".

They liked what they call CRUMPIN'. I had to ask "What's that?"

Soooooooooooo.

That's what you're looking at. CRUMPIN' Britt and Chrissy style.
Tomorrow I'm hoping for a little more working and a little less Crumpin'.

Reconstruction begins

2008-07-09T19:29:00.000-05:00

Chrissy and I pulled this tub out on 7-8-08. When we turned it over we saw a date stamp that said 1926. That's an old tub! That's a HEAVY old tub. Watch the video on this post of how we broke it free from the floor. You've got to be creative.

Before we could lift the tub I had to crawl under the house and cut the drain to free it. After that we still could not lift it out. So I used what Chrissy called a contraption. See video.

Chrissy wanted to know all about electricity so I had her nail on the boxes and pull the wire. She did a great job. Chrissy is a hard worker and great company to spend the day with. It is very easy to stall out on a difficult problem but with Chrissy there asking me "what's next dad?" keeps me going as fast as I can go. Thanks Chrissy!
As you can tell by looking at the expression on my face I am not a plumber. Nor do I aspire to the trade. Out of dire necessity I now know a few things. 1 Water flows downhill. 2 The worst thing that can happen is flooding. Oh and this is big in plumber land... righty tighty and lefty loosey.
I am in stalling an air vent for the sink. That is another lesson learned the hard way. I once installed a sink without the vent, not good.
Sheetrocking aka. drywall is a skill. Tape and texture is an art form. What I am doing is butchering a perfectly good piece of sheetrock. Actually it fit rather well once I put in place. Chrissy put the screws in.

On the 10th we will be back in the house to finish sheetrock in the kitchen, tape, float the walls and repair old sheetrock. We discovered that most of the bad odor comes from the old sheetrock, but I'm not going to replace all of that. From the kitchen we move to the bathroom for electrical and sheetrock. More photos and stories to come.

Step 1

2008-07-09T18:44:00.000-05:00

The place where the stove and fridge will go.
The place where the cabinets, counter, sink and dishwasher will go.
A pressure washed house, the fireplace was grey, it looks better now.
The bathroom is now gutted. No sink, tub, tin or flooring, I have a video of Chrissy and I tearing out the tub.
The bathroom floor has tile under the yucky lino.

The first thing I did after the purchase was to have the house leveled. It was 5 inches lower in the front. Getting bids was interesting. The first guy drove up in a small Chevy truck, pulled out a 4 foot level and started slapping it down on the floor and saying " I yi yi, I yi yi". So I would say "what, what, WHAT?". "Ees bad, berrry bad". He didn't even look under the house and said "At leeeest 5 thousand, maybe more, we'll see. OK?" I asked for his card as he drove off. The next guy was GOOD. He brought in a computerized leveling system to determine the amount of correction the house needed. Then he crawled under the house, told me what he saw down there and said I'll email you a quote tonight." Which he did,$2,500.00 He got the job and did everything he said he would, good job! The next item was to get the peeling paint off. I called my window cleaner guy, he pressure washed the house and garage for $300.00. And there it sat until after THE WEDDING. Now I'm in a go to work everyday mode until I get the job done. I'm going to post some pictures and try to get the text to match the photo. Wish me luck.

PS. Thanks for the comments, I enjoy them. Diane is right, you can't smell the photos thank goodness.
pss. blogging is a big commitment! I've been told more than once I need to update. And it's only day 4 of blogging, wow.

GOOD BONES

2008-07-06T13:39:00.000-05:00

These are the first photos of the house. I liked the chimney and porch. It has potential curb appeal.

The photo below is living room with hardwood floors and cute fireplace.

There is even an AC that works, big plus. Below is the garage that will be demolished.

It is in BAD SHAPE and will ad no $ to the sale.

The kitchen had some charm but was rotten. It is now down to the bare walls. ready for new electrical, plumbing and drywall. We will ad a dishwasher, stove, new sink, new cabinets and counter top. Tile the floor and some of the wall.

The bathroom needs work. We planned to gut it but discovered a few things as we removed the tile and tin. The tub can be saved and under the floor lino. there is cool ceramic tile that we think we can keep. That toilet doesn't look to good.