July 11, 2020

The Remodel, July 11, 2020

 This week, the stem walls did get poured.  The forms have been removed, but the trailer is still out front with a few miscellaneous things still hanging about in the back yard.  The roof is all stripped except for a small part of about 10 x 2 feet on the garage.  But the big mess below was picked up by me and Mike on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Now we have a clear path into our garage once more.

 The cabinets that were on the driveway were picked up on about Wednesday 7/8/2020.  The "REStore" came and got them. I can picture them cleaned up, painted and with new hardware, giving many more years of good service. Plus a few minor repairs to damage that happened when they were being pulled out. They were installed to STAY.

Dirt- Moving took place on Friday the 10th. Poor Mike was SO SORE that night, and he wasn't even doing the shoveling. He was on a tractor.  They (he and Larry L.) moved a lot of it, but there is still much MUCH more to move and re-arrange. Maybe even haul away.  It's important that we not disturb the grade of our garden so the irrigation water will be able to flow downhill to the trees and shrubs.

Mike also did put on the waterproofing coating on the foundation walls. That also hurt his hands quite a bit that night. He hasn't slept well lately due to severe soreness of joints.  And muscles!  Yesterday brought on cramps like he's never, EVER had before. And he's experienced severe cramps.  This old age stuff. Not for sissies, that's for sure.


Here are the results of the dirt-moving excavation work done on Friday.

Here's Mike applying the waterproofing goo. It's silver (like for roofing, but still waterproof) instead of black and it is SMELLY stuff. I had to go put his pants outside, the smell was so strong at bedtime just from the pants being in the same room.  Like paint, kind of. It was better than tar, but still potent.

Mike doesn't seem to think he needs any more dirt in "the hole", but what IS there must be moved around. He does have to do something about that last basement window. The other two are covered, but not waterproofed  yet.  That's the job for Saturday, July 7. I'm at work for 4 hours, so sadly cannot help.

This is a very persistent asparagus plant. It may have come up from 3 feet of dirt. perhaps. 

This has been such a gorgeous rose bush!

This is a view looking at the very north west corner of the new foundation from under the apple tree.

This is like the tractor he rented to do the work. The apple tree really gave him grief! Stepping in and out of it was rough on his legs, apparently, or he wouldn't have had such awful cramps.

Fourth of July, 2020

Damian came for a few days around the fourth.  On the 3rd, Lexi, Braeden and Ella had come to help me and Mike with some things at the house.  Lexi and  Braeden left earlier and Ella stayed. She ate dinner with us and was texting her Dad back and forth as he arrived at the Las Vegas Airport.

He stopped at the fireworks stand in the desert near Moapa Valley Paiute Travel Plaza. It's a great place to buy fireworks.  He stood in line outside in the blazing hot sun in 104 degree heat, waiting to buy how many dollars worth of fireworks. He told Ella, via text, that by the time he got in the building there were only SEVEN left in the entire store. She believed him.

However, he did come to town with a very full SUV of glorious fireworks. YOWZA! 

She's excited!

Braeden, Lexi and Ella did a lot of demolition at our house during their week helping!  The took out the bedroom and bathroom walls and the kitchen cabinets, and then came back and did the kitchen wall interior, too!  It is such a great help to Mike because he simply cannot do all that pounding and pounding and pounding. Not to mention all the walking in and out the house, dumping things into a dumpster, etc.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

*******************************************************************************



Mike and I just puttered around the house the morning and early afternoon of the 4th. In the afternoon, we went to Kanarraville for dinner and fireworks.  Yummy food!  Years ago, there were many of Pam's nieces and nephews there with their families, but this year there was just Tandy's family and one cousin.  Small and intimate, but plenty of water fun for the kids.

Lexi was helping a little cousin (Nash?) with Mentos and Diet Coke. That kid was a sticky mess!

 These are fun bouncie things. Braeden is on the left, Lexi on the right. He said, "Just run at me. I won't move." So she did. And bounced right off of him. She exclaimed, "OW! I'm too big for these. That hurt!"

Damian's festive Socks for the day. 

Water balloons are a big part of the Christensen 4th Festivities.

Ella, Lexi. Below, Braeden.

 Even Tandy and her cousin, Christi, got in on the act. I think they got buckets of water dumped on them. But it was warm enough.  It wasn't something either Mike nor I cared to do, however.

 Mike, just relaxing, observing, avoiding the water fights.

I guess we're getting old. ha. ("GETTING?!")

The park's play area was full. The crowds mostly stayed apart, practicing Social Distancing. However, there was a DJ and music this year and as the evening wore on, they attracted the youthful set who danced together (closely, but in line dance-styles) to the music. It was cute and coordinated. However, not during a pandemic, folks!  I predict a large sure of 500 new COVID-19 cases around July 18.

That's the top of my head, under  Damian's hand, as I work hard to expose the fuses on all those boxes to help save them some time. I'll get this close BEFORE the show, but sheltered under a tree to avoid all the ashes and fallout DURING the pyrotechnic displays of the evening.

 Lexi and Braeden. They are holding Propane torches.  Yes, they are beyond lighting anything of this scale with matches or "punks." Or even a barbeque grill lighter!  Propane all the way.

 As you can see, it's pretty complicated and intricate with fuses attaching to more fuses, attaching to the big momma one, etc.  It's quite a show. 

Grandmas ;-)

Music AND treats!  We were full from dinner, so chose not to eat the free kettle corn. But I did take a bag of it home.

And here is the pile of trash AFTER. At least some of it.

The fireworks have to start before it's totally dark because they have so many!  In the very blurry photo above, it is a lot darker than my camera would lead you to believe. It was almost dark. As it was, the show was over at just about 11 pm.  The show was spectacular, nobody got burned or injured and no fires were set off (that we are aware of). I felt bad that we forgot to bring our large push brooms to assist in parking lot cleanup. Damian and Clint and crew are among the few who actually clean up the debris from their show.  Everyone else just leaves theirs there.  Boo!

Sunday afternoon, July 5, we went to Kanarraville to have Church with Pam, Tandy, Lexi, Braeden and Ella. It was a long meeting because sometimes grandparents are long-winded. However, Mike shared mission experiences and his testimony with grandkids, which is an important thing to do! It is a rare occasion.

We helped them eat some of the leftovers for dinner, visited a while.  Nice, relaxing day after the 4th. Damian had already headed home that morning.
And of course the obligatory Sunday afternoon nap!

Till next year! Damian really does spoil us.  As Tandy says, "Gotta love Damian’s once a year artistic/creative expression." And we do!

The Remodel, July 6, 2020

We have some more progress today!  So exciting.

The forms are set for the stem walls. Should be poured tomorrow.  

The roof shingles and tar paper have been removed from the back side of the house in preparation for the new trusses and walls.

The interior of the kitchen's west wall was demolished, along with the overhead soffits in the kitchen.

AND

The tile backsplash was removed from where the stove/counter top used to be. The whole piece of sheet rock was just removed, rather than stick away at some very tough tile that wouldn't have come off without leaving big chunks of wall missing anyway.  Mike put that up only about 4 years ago. When he puts something down, expect it to stay.

Everything--including the kitchen sink.

The string of wires coming out of the ceiling are going to the outside power box.  :-O

The Remodel July 2, 2020

I spent part of my day packing up kitchen . It's pretty empty. The guest rooms and basement storage rooms are VERY full. We had our last supper in the kitchen tonight.

Lexi and Braeden (and Ella till noon) helped finish the demolition in the master bedroom and bath. That floor tile was really hard to get up! Plus the hardy board it was stuck to.  Those kids are hard workers. We sure do appreciate all their help.