Working with Bozo

With a title like that you might think that Lisa is writing this blog. I assure you that I, Dino am writing this. That does not mean I am calling Lisa a clown because I am not. I wouldn't even call her a cow like someone else I know who's initials are JN. I know better. Keep reading to find out who is the clown.

 The calendar has flipped a page here in Minnesota. What that means is that it can cool down very fast. We went from the 80's to the 50's in a matter of days. In fact as I write this it is 36 degrees out with frost. The frost is a good thing because it will kill all of the blood sucking mosquitos that erupted from our excessive amounts of rain in August. The cool temps really have us scrambling to get our house built because the campground we are in closes September thirtieth.

Since our last update we have seen some progress that we can actually call progress. 

We were at a point where the next step was to have the person spray the walls and ceiling with spray foam for insulation. We were giddy with anticipation because that was an important step to get completed so that the electricians can come in and do their thing. We hired a local guy thinking that giving him some business would be good karma. 

He would start the job on a Tuesday. We got a call Monday night from him telling us the foam he ordered for the job hadn't arrived yet. Uh-oh. He accepted this job back in June. He would let us know in the morning if it arrived. Tuesday morning arrives and no word from him. Uh-oh. We finally get a hold of him and he says that he is taking matters into his own hands and driving to Fargo to get the foam. Great! A real go getter! He gets to the bungalow around 2 and starts to get to work. Usually foamers like to work when it is cooler out but he was bound to get going. He stops around 5 and says he will get an early start in the morning and should be done in one day.

We drive out there Wednesday morning to check his progress and guess what? He isn't there. Uh-oh. Lisa calls but he isn't answering his phone. Uh-oh. Finally after 5, he emails Lisa saying that his phone "broke" and he had some "stuff" come up and will be there first thing Thursday morning. 

Again we drive out there Thursday morning and no foamer. Damnit! Again no calls and no emails. Lisa gives him an ultimatum. Get to work on Friday or that's it. By Thursday afternoon she is fuming and we just decide to fire him. What a clown. 

So what he got done was part of the living room and that was it. Now we have to find someone else to finish the job. Thankfully the guy that built our barn knew a company out of Fargo and they were able to come in and finish it later on the following week.

They did a much better job than the clown and we are very pleased with the outcome. Thanks to that clown, that put me a week and a half behind on putting up the rest of the walls for the electricians.

Other things have happened while we messed around with the clown. Our well got drilled.

The first day they came in with the big trucks to find water. It was very interesting to watch them drill. They found water at 100 feet which was good. We were quoted for 150 feet and at $24 a foot, we saved some money. That crew left and then the next day another crew showed up with a very big digger.

This crew was installing the well pump and the water lines to the yard hydrant and to the house. In this part of the country the winters are long and cold. So cold that the frost will go 6 feet down into the ground. So they had to bury our water line 8 feet to make certain that it wouldn't freeze. 

You can see that there isn't a lot of topsoil. It is mostly clay. It was wet clay all the way down to the 8 foot level that they dug. It is just a wet summer here. In fact it was interesting that when they drilled they could tell what kind of earth they were going through. 

From 0 to 1 ft.  it was black soft dirt.

From 1 to 31 feet, it was brown hard clay.

From 31 to 80 feet, it was brown sand/gravel.

From 80 to 100 feet, it was grey sand/gravel.

There is no chance that "Timmy" will fall in the well. 

Once the foaming was done I started to get the walls ready for the electricians. Running stringers across the beams. This is not like a normal house and the studs don't go vertically. That's the problem I was having trying to figure out how everything will come together. I was thinking like it was a normal house. I even finished the bathroom like that and then tore it out.

Now everything is running the way it is supposed to be,

While I was struggling with that Lisa was working on some landscaping with the help of her mother.

I also found the time to fix the floor drain that they put in the barn. It just drains to the outside. I dug it out and it was plugged with dirt. I was thinking, how could this drain? So I made a big hole.

I then put a couple of inches of rock in the bottom.

Then I took a 5 gallon bucket and put drain holes in the bottom and sides. Then I put that in the hole.

Then I filled the whole thing in with more rock.

Then I put 2X4's over the top of it and filled it all in with more rock and gravel.

You can't even tell its there. I think it will dran much better than what the original plan was. That is the side of the barn our RV hookup is on but it is too close to the build that our fifthwheel won't run over it.

A couple other things that got done. One was to move our propane tank farther from the building. It was too close and after a 4 inch rain running off of the building, it started washing away the concrete blocks that support the tank. So that got moved. Second thing is that we got our gutters and downspouts installed.

We are getting closer. Electricians have installed our meter and circuit panel. Now the power company has to run a power line from our pole to the house.

I have a couple of days to finish the walls before the electricians get back. So we could have power in a few days which is very exciting to us.

Stay tuned boys and girls. We might not be homeless in just a few short weeks!

On a more personal note. I had an emotional set back as I try to cope with my physical limitations. This was due to Lisa telling me "That if I fall off my bike I should just get right back on it." Maybe she was referring to how good I look in bicycle shorts? So what does she want to do? Eat Sushi! Well in my case it is more like wear Sushi.

As I struggle trying to eat it, battling hand cramps and flying Sushi, it dawns on me that maybe "I" am the clown.  I know Lisa sure got a laugh out of it again.