Turtle Speed vs. Sloth Speed

 As we build our "Fortress of Isolation", Lisa and I are having a heated debate over which is slower. Turtles or Sloths. One thing we both agree on is that our house project is slower than both. We have been discussing amongst ourselves about these construction companies in our area. The building season is short, there is a ton of work to do and the fact that they keep telling us they are way behind for one reason or the other. What we can't figure out is,why can't they work on Saturdays if they are so far behind? None of them do and we have asked all of them. Weird. Work when there is work because you know you will be taking the winters off. Sorry for the rant.

13 days since my last post and I expected to have a lot of progress to report. There has been steps forward but it is the ole' hurry up and wait game. One day while we were waiting we got a surprise call from our plumber. He said he was in the building putting in the floor heat and he had a question. We really don't know why these people don't call us ahead of time to say they are going to be there on a certain day so that we can meet them. But he was out there which meant the concrete people had to have been out there also. Communication is a wonderful word when used properly. (I don't know if you can tell by now our frustration levels are getting higher.)

Sure enough, they had been there and by the time we got there they were gone. I guess we shouldn't have slept in that day.

The top picture is the barn floor with the rebar waiting for the concrete. The other picture is of the bungalow with the floor heat installed. So we were excited that we were going to get concrete any day now. Then mother nature had to throw a monkey wrench into the mix. Rain. We got a storm one night that dumped over 4 inches of rain on our property.

So I went out to check on things that morning and saw the rain gage. I drove around and looked at other things. The road that we use to access the back part of the property was underwater and will probably be like that till next summer.

The road that the cement trucks have to access our property was washed out so I had to fix that before they could get in there.

This is nothing but a mudhole now. There was no way a fully loaded cement truck would get through that. so we told the builder that I would get a load of rock and spread over that for them. I ordered 12 yards of rock and then I needed something to help with the work. I have a tractor with a bucket, but I needed something more. A blade. Off to the local farm store I went and bought this.

I know the blade is not green, but I saved several hundred dollars by not getting a green one. I got this on a day that Lisa was not with me because getting it out of the truck was a little tricky. This thing weighs 300 pounds and knowing how accident prone she is, it probably would have fallen on her or something. So with her out of the way I was able to use some good old fashioned ingenuity. Remember kids, don't try this at home, I am a trained professional. (You can see how high the mud goes up on my tires.)

Easy Peasy. Once it was all hooked up I went to town on that road. Spreading rock like crazy.

It still looks wet. That's because I was dumping rock over mud. Remember I said something about communication before. We told the builder we would get rock. So the next day we go out there to this.

They dumped another truckload of rock on it. There goes $350 right into the crapper. Once they are done with the concrete though I will haul that rock away because the excavation company will fill that in that area with fill and gravel later on. More rock for me.

So we wait for things to dry out some. That gave me time to perfect some of my cooking skills. It has been awhile since I have done omelets. It took a few days of practice to manage the flip, but I did it.

That is a sausage, onion and cheese omelet. That's how you get the day started. Not by eating porridge or gruel like someone else I know.

I also had an epiphany. During this global pandemic, I noticed that everytime we went to a store and walked down the canned food section, the Spam shelf was always empty. Making me think that a lot of people are eating canned meat. So by chance I was able to get a can and created what I will trade mark as a "SPAMBURGER!"

Take it from me folks. It tastes as good as it looks. Feel free to cook up some of those at your next barbecue, unless you don't want to use some of the Spam you are hoarding (Jim).

Our grandson Virgo came out for a visit. We bought him his first bat and ball. He loved it and I was amazed that he took to it like a natural. He had the perfect swing and technique. Mark my words, you will see him in the major leagues.

Finally we got our cement. The floor looks great and we are happy with the outcome. It still is not finished because there is supposed to be a 4 foot apron along the front. That will probably take another month to get that done.

They told us they ended up pouring 5 inches instead of the usual 4 inches. Hopefully it won't crack but concrete up north always cracks. Once the floor was in, that gave me 4 days to put up some walls before the spray foam insulation guy comes in to insulate the outer walls and ceiling.

BAM! Walls! Those walls will go up to the ceiling but we left room for the spray foamer to reach the ceiling.With the walls in separating the rooms really gives us an idea of what things will be looking like. We think we will have plenty of space for us. Keep in mind we have been living in a camper for the last 6 years and this will be like the Taj MaHal. I may not be able to find Lisa in it for days.

Also we had the fireplace people come out and install our chimney for our woodstove. They wanted to rough in that before the spray foamer got in there.

The woodstove will go in that corner of the room. Hopefully there will be room for a bear skin rug that Lisa can lay upon in front of it with a come hither look on her face.

So that is where we are at now. Still a long way to go. We are still looking at a September move in date. We have to because the campgrounds close september 30th The three things we need are sewer, water and electric. None of which we have yet.