Saturday, October 31, 2020

Big Purchase at the J-B!

It’s been two weeks since my last update on our lives. It seems like we have been busy all day every day but I cannot think of one big accomplishment with the house. Well, that is not entirely true. Now that I write this I can think of a couple.

The first of was the completion of the loft floor. This has been a long time coming months at a minimum. You see the house was originally designed like this…

Then one day Kevin said “Why don’t you square it off so you have more space up there?” So then the conversation began on how to exactly do that. Seems simple but one thing is tied to another and you cannot finish the loft floor until 3 or 4 other things get done. We cannot do the loft floor until the stairs are reset, the diagonal set for the railing and then the post at the bottom of the stair is set and anchored. Speaking of the post at the bottom of the stairs, one of the bonuses of extending the loft floor was the fact that we could extend that post all the way up so it is secured at the bottom and the top. Anyone who has installed a post on the bottom of a stairway can appreciate how much difficult it is to secure that post. All of that got done in the last few weeks so now I was ready to tackle the loft floor.  It took about (3) half days to get it done. Why half days? More on that later.

Loft floor all done!
But at least it is done so now we can move on to other projects that we could not do until the loft floor was done. Like putting the T&G on the hall wall and ceiling. We were just getting ready to do that when Kevin said “Let’s pour concrete in the garage next week.” Well, when he makes an offer like that everything else stops. But it is not like we can just pour the next day. We have a couple years of construction material and junk to move out of the way in the pour area let alone have room for the cement truck backing into the other bay so we can pour.
This mess is a little overwhelming!

It took Barb and I 3 more half days to get that all cleaned out and organized. Part of which was digging up the RV waste sewer like so I could put a T in it for a sink drain. A sink drain you ask? Well, now that we no longer have the big rig we are putting a woodworking/hobby shop in the garage on the side behind the camper. It will be something like 18’x14’. We are not quite sure yet. That is a project for much later.

Garage cleaned out and plumbing pipes in!

Being later October/early November we really had to watch the weather. As you know we got snow a couple of weeks ago and it had not warmed up enough to melt it for most of the past two weeks, In fact there were a couple of days that the highs were in the teens and the low was…….

Yup, that says -13F totally ridiculous for October. Since Daisy and Dakota cannot go outside and play in the cold, they opt to play tug of war inside...

But the forecast for the following week looked like this….We are scheduled to pour on Tuesday, I will let you know how it goes!

We had a surprise visitor of sorts last week. We knew he might stop by but when we received this photo we knew he did! Chad, the owner of Pasha Lake Cabins stopped by for the night on his way home from hunting in Wyoming. We were not home but when we received this text with him and his son Cavin…… and Daisy? Chad arrived and made himself right at home!

Due to “The Sickness” (that is what our granddaughter calls it), we had not seen Chad in over a year. In fact he was only able to get up to his own resort once this year as the border was closed. As you can imagine it has been a tough  year for Chad and his family as their sole source of income is the resort providing the income not only for them to live on but to pay the mortgage on their house as well as the resort. Both he and Michelle took jobs in Wisconsin and are getting by but they are sitting on a huge inventory of Pasha Lake clothing so if you are in the mind to help someone out and get some great clothing just in time for Christmas and help someone out at the same time click on this link to get to their website. If you do buy something, tell them Jim sent you!

You know you live in the right place when you run into a buffalo jam on the way to the grocery store. How many people can say that!?!?! We were headed to Hot Springs to do some shopping and went through Wind Cave NP when we ran into this....

Which turned into a new sport. Buffalo Weaving! We weaved our way through the buffalo and were quickly on our way. About 1/4 mile down the road we saw two hikers standing a few hundred yards off the road just standing there. We could not figure out why they were just standing there in the middle of the field and not walking until we saw why.  They were headed back to their vehicle which was parked properly in a parking area for the trail they were on. The problem was was that their vehicle was surrounded by buffalo who were licking the salt off their car! I don't know how long they had to stand there waiting for the beasts to move along but my guess is it was quite a while!

Now, several times during this post I have mentioned working “half” days, that is because it is prime time for archery deer hunting and I have been getting out as much as possible in the afternoons. The last two weeks I have been able to get out 10 of the past 14 days. I am seeing lots of deer, a few bucks but not “The” buck. 

Lots of does and fawns out there

Cute, but not Mr. Big!

This guy is very tempting but I think there is a bigger one out there!

The peak of their mating season hits in the next couple of weeks so hopefully the big one will make an appearance!

Our big purchase of the week?

A 1954 Ford NAA tractor! What am I going to do with a tractor? Well, I don’t know, I just wanted it! Actually, once I get the right implements I will use it to level the driveway, clear snow, haul logs, drag the fields…..the list goes on and on. I have been looking for one for quite a while and was lucky enough to find this one less than 2 hours away in Chadron Nebraska.

Our big news for the week is that we sold and closed on our 30 acres in Wisconsin! I had not been writing about it as I did not want to curse it but we received and accepted an offer a couple of months ago with a closing date of October 29th at 2:00pm CST. Since we did not attend the closing in person we watched our bank account to see if it went through and all of a sudden there were the funds! We have been trying to sell this property on and off for the past 3 years so we are very excited that we were able to sell it. We now have the funds to finish the house the way we want it! (and pay for our truck).

Speaking of our truck, we stopped by there this past week. They have all the parts and it being worked on as I write this. Depending on how it goes it will take 3-4 day so with luck we will have our truck back next week! We are so thankful to Kevin and Cheryl for borrowing us their truck or Jeep whenever we need it!

Last but not least we wanted to include this picture to taunt Farmer Bob.....

Barb made an apple crisp this week with the last of the apples from the farm. Bob.....in case you were wondering, it was delicious!

44 comments:

  1. Oh, man...congratulations on the sale of that Wisconsin property! That is a huge relief for you guys, I am sure. The Ford is beautiful. Nothing finer than Dearborn iron. That beast will serve you well. I’m really looking forward to the post that shows your GMC on a Ford used truck lot. :)

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    1. Have you seen the prices of new trucks lately? We seriously considered it and even looked at them but we just do not want to have that payment over our heads!

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  2. Congratulations on selling your property. I am sure that is a huge weight off your shoulders. Good luck on Tuesday with your pour. Great looking apple crisp, I can almost taste it. :)

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    1. It is. Barb (and you) is a great cook and baker, I cannot wait for our kitchen to be complete!

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  3. Congrats on selling your property. I would write more but I am only one handed now.

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    1. Thanks. How will you ever do your gaming with just one hand!?!?

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  4. Congrats on the sale of your land. Those are some nice bucks you’re passing up on. Looking forward to pics of the big one.

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    1. Me too, I have not even seen the one I want to shoot on camera yet!

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  5. Oh WOW...only thing better than Apple Crisp is mom's Cherry Crisp. And hey, that last Buck was probably big enough...just hoping you get the real big one to put up along the wall next to Barb's.

    Wondering how warm the inside was when the weather was so cold outside? Are you wishing you insulated even more than you did???

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    1. We are very happy with how we insulated. We leave our thermostat at 65 and with all the south facing windows our temp gets up to 70.

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  6. Wow you two don't sit around much do you. I was getting tired just reading it all. We got to experience the freezing temps too up here, wasn't that fun?? Same as you though it's nice again.Beauty tractor purchase, classic.Hope everything goes good with the new truck engine, Allison trans last forever. New truck prices are ridiculous.

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    1. I sure hope the transmission lasts forever, we are going to need it to!

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  7. Poor people waiting to get into their vehicle! I hope it wasn’t snowing?! There will be venison soon! Apple crisp looked tasty!!

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    1. It was cold and snowing. We were wondering what they were doing out hiking in that weather to begin with!

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  8. Congratulations on selling the land. I look forward to seeing more progress on the house. I'm sure Barb will be happy when she has a full-fledged kitchen to work in. Good luck on finding 'that' buck. Al pulled an elk tag!

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    1. Congratulations to Al! Send us an email with details and pictures if he is successful!

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  9. Congrats on all fronts. Selling the Property, fixing the Loft. finding the old Fordsen (Rare Find) but especially Barb's Apple Crisp.
    Hope that couple didn't have to wait too long to get to their car.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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    1. I am guessing they had to wait a while. In hindsight I should have probably turned around and seen if I could have "pushed" the buffalo away from their vehicle but I did not think of it at the time.

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  10. Good to see you have some new developments in the house. Congrats on selling your property. Big weight off your shoulders with building the new house. It will be nice to get the truck back. Love the buffalo jam! Delicious looking apple crisp, Barb.

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    1. We used to get stuck in "cow jams" when we lived in Wisconsin when we had to wait for the farmer to get his cows across the road to get to the barn. I remember getting frustrated by "being inconvenienced" by the farmer as I was in a rush to get to work. Then I had to remind myself how lucky we were that a cow jam was the worst thing we had to deal with on our way to work and that we were truly blessed to live where we did!

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  11. Congratulations on selling your land! Wow that tractor brings back memories. Remember Ernie's old Ford Jubilee? We started driving that solo when we were of legal age. 11 years old. Have a great time with it.

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    1. I had totally forgot about that until you mentioned it. Weird how memories come flooding back when triggered by something like that. Good to hear from you, hope all is well with you and Beth!

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  12. Now THATS a tractor and yes it's sexy.

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  13. Our local traffic jam was when the farmer moved the cows from the barn to the field across the street. Congrats on selling the property. Nice looking tractor, I know you'll find lots of uses for it.

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    1. Life is rough when that is your traffic jam for the day isn't it?!?

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  14. Huge shout out to Jim and Barb's Bed and Breakfast - although we didn't get a breakfast so not sure how to word that in the trip advisor review.

    Anyway - thanks for putting us poor folk up for the night. Cavin couldn't stop smiling after his interaction with the local wildlife. Too bad he didn't the Barb treatment from her - that of been the icing on the cake. LOL!

    Seems like I have some extra time on my hands now that old mother winter is here - let me know the next BIG project and Ill load up my tools...

    and send Cavin over to help.

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    1. Great seeing you guys, we miss you ....well mostly Michelle...and the fishing...and Tuesday fish fry. Hope to see you soon!

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  15. Love the tractor! And why shouldn't you get it if you want it?! Love those smiling faces of your company! Wind Cave we haven't been to, not sure why when we've been in the area. Love watching your home projects! Congratulations on the selling of your land! Sure is different when everything done over the internet, but nice you didn't have to be there to sign!

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    1. The title company had mailed us some paperwork to sign which we had to take to a notary but other than that we were not even needed for the closing!

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  16. Congratulation on selling your other property. I enjoy seeing your house come along and the nice work you two do. Seeing the wildlife right at your place would make my day. Hunting them, not so much ;-(

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    1. We should have more progress for you to see for the next post. Both Barb and I have been busy this week!

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  17. It's way cool to have traveled up to Custer SD this past year; to say the least, being able to identify with the areas you describe. We even stayed near Chadron. I'm still telling folks about the 6" of snow we had up there on Sep 7th. Good to be back in southern Texas however:) You guys really live in a beautiful area!

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    1. They do have some crazy weather around here don't they? Hopefully we will be around next time you are in the area!

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  18. You really know how to torture a guy with the apple crisp pictures. How long is it going to take Barb to forgive me for telling you (Jim) about AuctionZip? BTW have you found any more vintage decoys yet?

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    1. It could take a while for her to forgive you but if you bring any apples when you come down, maybe, just maybe she would make a crisp for you! As for the decoys, the two I just bought are going to have to last me a long while!

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  19. Something tells me that 2020 is going to go out with a positive bang and who knows what 2021 is going to bring you. You are certainly on the high road. Well done with the property sale.

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    1. I like your optimistic outlook! I guess it a depends on your view of the election and how seriously you take the outcome. I too think it will go out with a positive bang and am looking forward to 2021!

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  20. Ok, another question from the resident city slicker over here... When you say you are waiting for a bigger buck, is that because hunting licenses only allow you to hunt a certain number of deer per year and you want a particular size, or does any deer you shoot have to be a certain size/age before you can kill it, or do you yourself only want one because that's all you need meat-wise and don't want to deal with all the work of additional ones? Or am I totally missing the reason and it's something else?

    Congrats on the land sale, btw. We, too, had some cold weather here in Oregon, but it maxed out at "feels like" temp of 9 degrees... so basically "tropical" compared to what you had. :)

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    1. It varies from person to person but with archery you are only allowed one deer, it can be a doe or a buck. For me I wait for a bigger buck for a couple of reasons. One is that I like to spend time outdoors and if I shot the first deer I saw I would literally be done hunting within an hour. The second reason is that I like to challenge myself which is why I prefer bow hunting over rifle hunting and I push that a little further by trying to get the oldest wisest deer in the woods. Sometimes I don't get anything at all other times I will shoot a smaller deer near the end of the season so we have the meat and other times I am successful in getting the buck I want and have meat and something to put on the wall as well!

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  21. Congratulations on the sale of the Wisconsin property. Those temperatures you guys have been getting are way too cold. You remember how you were surprised that the time I had stopped by and you couldn't believe I had my furnace running. I did miss the fall colors this year, but last year when I left Wisconsin it was in a blizzard. The temperatures have been in the 80s most days, which is fine with me. But it has been getting down in the 50s at night. One morning I had to turn the furnace on already lol

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    1. I do remember that! Peoples thermostats are set differently. I am just glad that Barb and I enjoy the same temperatures in the house, otherwise we would be battling over what it should be all the time!

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  22. Minus 13 sounds way to cold for me. We have been enjoying nice weather in Alabama. Thought I would let you know, I bought a couple of shirts from Pasha Lake. Cool shirts and we all need to help each other out when we can.

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    1. It has not been bad at all this week with the highs into the 60's but the bottom drops out again next week with highs in the 30's. Thank you for your purchase of shirts from Chad and Michelle, I know they appreciate it!

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