How to surprise yourself…

OK, this is new.

Sometime this week, either Tuesday or Wednesday, I snagged a frozen chuck roast from the freezer, chopped up an onion, set the crock pot on top of a filing cabinet (note bathroom/kitchen is 1/2 step from office/living room – oh the joy of barn living), put it on the lowest setting, and then proceeded to make spaghetti in my wonderful electric skillet.

I enjoyed that spaghetti for three days and three delicious meals and TOTALLY forgot about the roast in the crock pot.

Working in the house this afternoon – yes, STILL plumbing….ARGGHHHHH! – I realized I was hungry.  In fact, I don’t recall having eaten all day.  I forget sometimes.  So as I wander back to the house, I’m going through my brain thinking what can I make quickly.  I open the door and am hit by this wonderful aroma.  I had to sniff around the room for a moment and then the light bulb – on a very slow dimmer switch (must be fluorescent) – finally turned on.  ROAST.

A delicious, tender, fall apart under the fork, perfectly slow, very slow roasted roast.  A little bread, a little dog desperate for a nibble (No!  Mine!!), wonderful au jus.  Ahhh.

Surprise!

Oh, and the plumbing?  I just had a couple little things to correct so I’ll be moving on to the next phase soon.  No really, I mean it this time.

Fear…Terror…Courage

Let’s just get one thing perfectly clear…I Hate Heights.  Really, really.  Painting the second story from the top of a scaffold is only slightly less terrifying than doing so from a twenty-foot extension ladder.

Heights + vertigo = Forget about it.

Yet on two occasions now, I’ve had to get up on the roof in spite of spinning.  The first time was to replace a chimney cover that had been torn off in one of our 95 mph+ windstorms.  The metal skirts are in place, but the chimney for the wood burning cookstove hasn’t been installed yet, so I have thick plastic covers generously duct taped in place.  Well, now they’re generously duct taped.  Fortunately for that one, getting on the roof is about climbing over the second story railing and stepping onto a JoDana friendly roof.  That means, if I fall, the slope is gentle enough that I will likely come to a stop before falling over the edge.  (Actually, I like this part of the roof so much that I will sit out there on warm clear nights and watch the full moon rise over the trees.  happy face.)

But there are some decidedly un-JoDana-friendly roof pitches, both of which are Two Stories Tall!    Aaaaaaaaaa!  I had to upsize a vent flange this week, which meant getting up on the second story steep roof, prying up a 1-1/2″ rubber flange and replacing it with a 2″ rubber flange.  First I get out the extension ladder and set it soundly on the up side of the retaining wall.  See the pitch of this ladder.  Doesn’t look like much does it?

Well, keep in mind that the retaining wall is about 9 feet tall.  So when you’re up on top looking down, it’s a little more intimidating.  Add to that having to pry out a very well attached piece of hardware.

So after getting up there and freezing in terror for a few seconds, I climbed down and used the JoDana friendly approach and then crab-crawled down the roof and attacked the problem from the top, the ladder acting as my falling-off-the-roof bumper, just in case.  What was funny is just as I was cresting the peak, I got a chain text from a friend in Cali saying if I forwarded the message some wonderful blessing would happen to me.  I responded that if I didn’t fall off the roof, I would consider that blessing enough.

So the lesson has been reinforced once again that Courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery over fear.  I hate heights, but there are things I have to do at the top of a ladder or on a roof top (I may even tackle tree climbing, complete with harness and climbing spikes).  It’s awful at the moment, but there is a sense after of having conquered.

The same goes true with butchering livestock.  I tackled the monster turkey first (not literally tackled; there was a firearm involved), and now culling the roosters is no big deal.  I put two more in the freezer yesterday (got enough feathers for a pillow now).   This was a process that was intimidating to me at first, now it is just generally unpleasant.  I don’t know of any sane person who enjoys that process, but it does serve an important purpose.  Helping my husband dress out elk and deer was good training.  I’m experimenting with trapping too.  Just trying to expand my skill set.

House-wise, making a few corrections and changes to plumbing.  Almost there.  I’ve ordered the spray foam insulation kits which should be here next week, so that’s a pretty good timeline.  The plan is 1 to 1-1/2 inches of spray foam insulation to seal up the house from air and water infiltration, topped with an appropriate amount of batt insulation to the necessary R-value.  I’ve also purchased a drywall lift and screw gun so I can install drywall single-handedly.  I have to wire in the sensors and thermostats for the electric radiant floor and set the fluorescent light fixtures in the garage and basement and I’ll be ready to start slapping on drywall.  From there, it goes pretty fast.  Can’t wait.

And finally, on the pet front. Shep has been practicing his shepherding, I mean birdherding, which typically ends with a lively game of tag with the geese.  He celebrated his third birthday last Friday with his sister Molly and cousin Sheamus and a whole bunch of kids from the park.  And fun was had by all.

And Proto.  Remember proto, the adorable little hatchling from an egg found in the scrap metal pile?

Well Proto is now a nearly full grown rooster who has found his voice and still, yes still, lives in the barn with me.  I’ve tried to incorporate him into the flock, but he just won’t have it.  Every evening he pecks and chirps at the door until I let him in, and he jumps in his box for his evening meal and then up onto the handle of the wood cart to roost.  Very cute, except for the recent development of 6 AM cockadoodling.  Not cool.

But he’s a stunner!

Plumb Tired

Had my first plumbing inspection – and I expected there to be more than one (I’ve never done this before and I’m learning as I go).  The great news is that I have some very critical features down pat – connections, drain pipe slope (critically important), over-all plan.  I need to increase some vent and drain sizes and finish a few details that I didn’t have quite right.

When the inspection and subsequent conversation were taking place I struggled because everything in my body hurt – even my skin hurt!  When everyone was gone, I came inside, flopped in my comfy recliner and cried for a few minutes.  I had been working late into the night, getting up early in the morning, pushing my body beyond it’s limits – particularly since I still struggle with vertigo and just keeping upright is physically taxing.  All that on top of a virus and my body needed a break.  I gave myself permission to take the next day off (the power was out all day due to high winds, so it’s not like I would have worked much anyway) and spent the day snuggled in a quilt, reading and napping.  Oh, it felt so good to rest.

That was about a week ago and I haven’t done much with the house.  I have budgeted out the completion of the project.  I’ve decided to go ahead and do the insulation and sheet rock myself.  With the right tools (ordered a dry wall lift and am going to get a dry wall screw gun – I have all the mudding and finishing tools already) it takes time, but is not overly difficult.  I have selected my garage door and am ready to order it, and am starting on the cabinetry.

My sister-in-law Pam, for whatever reason, has determined she is not going to visit (even though she really, really wants to) until I have a functional bathroom including shower.  I don’t know what the big deal is about portable toilets and bucket baths, but whatever.  So Pammie has determined the finish work priority.  1) Garage, so I can get the door up and use that as a workshop, 2) Bathroom, so Pam can visit, 3) Kitchen, so I can install the cookstove and chimneys, and then 4) the rest of the house.

I’m still several months away from being able to move back in and I’m moving much slower than I would like – this vertigo is really getting old – but I’ll just keep chipping away at it.  And, in looking forward toward Spring, I see the daffodils and day lilies are starting to sprout and the seed racks are ready for spring seedlings.

26#

In honor of my lovely turkey, formerly known as Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and now Easter, but commonly addressed as Turkey Lurkey. His 26 lb carcass is now plucked, gutted, and cleaned and taking up just about a full shelf in the freezer.

In can be said that he gave his all.  Yum.

Wink!

So, I finish up my plumbing work for the evening (I’m almost done!!!), and I step outside to find a fluffy snow flurry in progress.  Lovely.  The air is cold, obviously, but it feels fresh and crisp and the shush, shush of falling snow is calming.  Reminds me of childhood.

I walk back to the coop to put my feathered friends to bed, and there are, of course, those few that must be relocated.  They find the oddest places to perch.  I love that sleepy chicken sound.

As I’m walking back to my barn-house, I lift my face to the sky to feel the snow flakes fall on my cheeks and tongue.  That’s when I notice it.  Stars.  Hundreds, thousands of stars.  AND snow.  Not a cloud to be seen.  I marvel.

“Papa, now that’s impressive.  How do You do that?” As I stand amazed, staring into glittering heavens, watching as impossible, cloudless snow falls like flecks of falling stars, I see it.  An immense, brilliant glow in the sky, dozens of times bigger and brighter than the other heavenly objects.  It remains for a few seconds, and then fades away.

“You just winked at me, didn’t you?”  I smile and chuckle.

My Papa loves me, and He did all that just to show me so.

Amazing Baloney

I’m in plumbing mode now.  In fact, I’m hoping to have the rough in inspection next week, or the first week of the new year at the latest.  It’s been slow-going because of vertigo and just the stupid fact that I have to work for a living, but I’ve made good progress and it’s fun.  I like puzzles and plumbing is like one giant three-dimensional tubular puzzle.  I don’t even mind reading building codes!

But I keep hearing this statement in response to the news that I’m doing my own plumbing on this remodel…”JoDana, you’re amazing!”  Really?!  Over plumbing?  It’s not like it’s brain surgery (Actually, when you think about it, it’s much more like cardiology).  It’s keeping track in incoming water, hot and cold sources, drainage and vent systems.  Of course, moving around the electrical that was put in places where I clearly said, “This is for plumbing; put no wires here!!”  Grrr.  Or cutting around blocking when I said essentially the same thing to the framers.  Argh.

Is it really ‘amazing’?  Aren’t we supposed to be competent and skilled in a wide range of areas?  To me, compared with electrical, plumbing is a piece of cake.  Getting all the joints tight and leak proof is the only concern and you do have to test the whole system before any sheetrock goes up.  Anyway, it doesn’t feel amazing.  And it’s fun.

On another note, my uncle Ray Klecker passed away this week.  Great sense of humor.  He and my grandmother had a running joke for years – they’d give each other baloney for Christmas.  Every year until she passed away.  I may have to buy a package of baloney this weekend in his honor.  My aunt Millie has lost her love and her best friend.  We are rallying to her, but know that she’s going to be all right…eventually.

And life goes on…

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Vertigo update

Apparently I’m getting better, because I’m back to work on plumbing, this time installing the vent and drain pipes.  Did I say I love PEX?  I really love PEX.  Plumbing for dumbies.  I’m still spinning somewhat, but it subsided considerably today.  Last night I was up on an extension ladder running vent through the vaulted ceiling.  Didn’t fall and crack my head open, so that’s an improvement.  I stopped when I finally broke my 2″ boring bit (not a personality critique) and ripped a hole through my “good” Levis with a 4″ hole saw.  Amazing, no blood, but I decided to take it as a sign that it was quitting time.

Other stuff…the not-yet-dead turkey has been living in a dog kennel in the greenhouse.  Somehow, and I have no idea because this bird is as dumb as a rock, it managed to get out of the kennel and eat the heads off four cabbages.  Someday I’m going to eat that bird!

I have moved my refrigerator and other mini-appliances into the studio and out of the very, very cold barn portion of the building.  I have a nice 90% contained (minus porto-potty), warm cozy space.  I’ve decided to dispense with self-imposed deadlines since my illness and a heavy dose of reality, and I will be comfortable in my temporary digs for as long as it takes.  My hope is that I’ll have the rough-in inspection this month and then work on insulation and sheet rock after the new year.  It’s nice to have the pressure off.  I’m doing what I can do and am determined to be satisfied with that.

Screech!!

At about 3 AM on November 18 my world came screeching to a stop by way of constant motion.

VERTIGO!!  The sensation of constant motion and falling.  Too disoriented to walk so crawling was my chosen mode of transportation (better to be close to the floor if you’re going to fall anyway).  Motion sickness caused I’m sure a beneficial purging of my internal systems.  The sudden onset concerned my physicians.  Stroke?  Brain Tumor?  All manner of theories.  Of course, my first thought was the head-on collision I’d had with the dog a month prior.

So now we’re at almost two weeks of spinning in place.  I am immensely thankful to my dear friends and family who have not only expressed concern and shared prayers, but have driven me to doctors appointments, picked up prescriptions, shopped for groceries, done laundry, etc, etc.  Such wonderful and practical helps have been precious gifts.  Thank you, thank you.

I’m walking with a cane that I call Tripod, ’cause that’s what I use it for.  I spent a full week in a recliner eating soda crackers and applesauce (happy thanksgiving!!) and drinking club soda.  Medication has controlled the nausea so I’m back to eating real food (translated microwave meals).  Work on the house – and everything else – was halted for a week, but I’m learning to function in my current googly-eyed condition.  Got up on a short ladder to work on some wiring and plumbing – and didn’t fall off.  Been doing minimal driving around town, but won’t be doing any distance driving until this resolves a bit more.  The Jeep was towed off this morning for some transmission work and to figure out why it’s now leaking fuel (thank God for extended warranties!).

So I had a guilt-free week off to rest – I couldn’t do anything anyway, so why feel guilty about what I’m not doing, eh?  Now I’m trying to catch up on some work and puttering around the house in the evenings as I feel up to it.  I am making progress on plumbing, though, and while it’s going slowly because of this health hiccup, it’s going.

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Oh, and this week is my birthday.  I almost forgot.  Happy Birthday to me!!

A Giant Step Closer

Other than finishing the paint job (which may have to wait until next spring – too cold and wet), the exterior is Finito!!  I even put an Adirondack chair on the front porch to celebrate.

Now all attention moves to the inside.  I literally lifted a ton one day last week, unloading 2,600 lbs of floor tile.  I’m hoping to have the framing and rough-in inspections in a week or two and then I can get to work in earnest with insulation (soy-based spray foam), sheet rock, and finish work.

Not sure when I’ll get back in the house, but I know I’m getting pretty tired of ‘roughing it’.  There’s a lot of work ahead but it’s about rebuilding my life, not just rebuilding my home, and it will pay off to take the time to do it right.  This is a challenging and rewarding exercise of asking myself daily, “How do I want my life to be like” and then building my home to accomodate that.  Oh, the possibilities…

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Snuggling

Where is that line where a farm critter becomes a pet?  This is Proto – short for Prototype.  She is the first home-hatched chick at Covenant Creek.  She has a comfortable crate with wood shavings, food and water, some incubating eggs to keep her company, and a nice warm heat lamp to keep her warm.  She hops in and out of her crate at will – she knows where her bed and food are.  Happy little baby chick.

And when she hears my voice, she carries on as if she’s in utter distress and doesn’t calm down until she is nestled cozily behind my neck.  It’s a strange feeling, kind of tickles, but it’s very cute.  And I’ve become attached to the fuzzy little thing.  I think it’s mutual.

P.S. You should see what she does when I wear dangly earrings.  Tee hee.