Saturday
Oct. 27
Getting the winter
house spruced up.
Now
that we are back for a spel at our winter plcae it was time to get busy
to work.
We
ordered a center swing partion patio door that will lead to the deck.
It
needed to be a special order since we were replacing two of the four windows
in the living room that face east onto
the
deck not a standarde replacement size. It must be slow at the door factory
since it was made and arrived in about
half
the time quoted. Time to get in gear and get her placed I guess.
So
a few pictures of the mess that used to be the living room.
Checking out what was above
the windows. No headers just 2X4s all the way up between each window.
But there were hurricane
straps. In AZ?
Below the center windows
had power runs so Terry had to rerun them down and under the floor and
back up again on the other side.
While at it he added an
outside deck light with dimmer switch inside. Had fun fishing the
walls.
This wall was put up
to carry the load since a load bearing header needed to be placed above
where the door will go.
You can see the door is is
place after much help from our neighbor to help lift it up on the deck
and get it in place. One heavy sucker.
Plactic to help keep down
the dust since drywall had to be removed. We, I mean Terry did cut a hole
in the wall after all and remove two windows.
There were four windows but
now a double door and two windows. One section does not open and
the other swings in.
There will be a slidding
screen door on the outside.
Hello, come on in!
This is gunna be so nice
when done. Their are blinds built inside the UV sealed door windows.
Now have to replcace drywall
and trim. But the hard work is done.
Thanks to Terry the carpenter.
Saturday
Oct 6
We
came a long way baby.
.
Now
that we are back at our winter property in AZ that is. First things
first how did we get from there to here?
Cochiti
Lake was nice and Terry did get to take the light rail once again to Santa
Fe.
But
hitchitch set in and off we moved on down I-25 to Socorro on west on US
60 past the VLA National
Radio
Astronomy
Observatory
Datil south on HW 12 to Acache
Creek where we stopped for the night at a forest seervice campground by
the same name.
10
campsites at 6400 feet above sea level provides some nice alternative to
New Mexico's frequently HOT southwestern lower elevations. Plenty of tall
ponderosa pine trees provide shade for the campground.
We
had been having trouble with our Honda 3000 generator as the electric starter
went out at Creede, CO and on this AM at this campground we could not get
it to start. The pull starter was getting very hard to pull so we
gave up. We would be alright as we were going to head to Safford,
AZ to the state park which has electric and then we woudl be back in Benson
and could get it serviced for later use in Quartrzsite when spend part
of the winter boondocking again in the LTVA.
It
felt like we were in Montana instead of western central New Mexico.
Let
me tell ya the drive and roads in western central NM are something else.
Long
stretches of wide open nothing and then hills and curves to get the kunckles
turning white.
The
highway had no shoulders and was not smooth as the 5er took a beating.
But
later on the main road HW 78 heading into AZ was the killer I had forgotten
about. And to think we had 2/3 tank of fresh water.
Yes
we did stop after the worst part and let most of it drain out along the
roadside. A little to late but what the hell...it made me feel better.
Looking west into AZ.
We
landed in Safford, AZ at the Roper
state park campground which has a hot spring which Terry took advantage
of twice. The park was almost empty mid week. We stayed two nights
wanted to explore the area. Yes another mountain drive...
The
road heading up to Mt Graham on the Swift
Trail Parkway east of Safford, AZ
We didn't make it all the
way to the top... Sometimes ya just got to say enough is enough.
We have landed in our winter
home and fought getting through the summer grass growth to get the 5er
leveled so we could start unloading things into the house. All was
well with the house... just get settled... first thing was to get the computers
inside and hooked up. Union Contract deadline Saturday. Since I do
the Des Moines local web site need to be up to speed in reporting it all.
I had called the Wi-Max internet service to get back online when we would
get here and when I booted my desktop was on line. How cool was that.
The housed looked nice with no broken windows or sky lights. Got
the water and power turned on and turned on the faucets and flushed
the stools. No stink from dryed out spectic lines. We had placed
plastic over the stools to keep water from drying them up. It worked and
also put veggie oil in the other drains to keep them from drying up.
Aren't we so smart...
This has now been mowed and
the sprinkler is working overtime as when cut the bottom was brown.
Terry insisted on mowing
a path to the RV door so he would not have to walk through it. Snakes
in the grass ya know. Non to be found.
In great fashion our key
for the gate fence didn't seem to work... so our neighbor had to come over
with his spare key we gave him to let us on our own property.
We are feeling fine and
are happy and healthy as you can get at our age...
A look
at the next project... There are four windows in the living room that look
to the east out on the new 12 X 24 deck. Now we (I mean Terry) will
be ripping out the two center windows and installing patio doors.
And looking to get new carepet throughout. Oh and don't forget we are going
to price out a inground pool.
Have
question or comment email rbunge@hitchitch.com |
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