Decemberish

 

The calendar continues to turn even during these trying times, and as the calendar turns, we continue to work on our cabin. Although I will say that the progress we are making is very slow at the moment. I only have myself to blame.  Rather I should say my hand is to blame. 

I am still having issues with my hand. The numbness and the pain continue. I have had so many doctors appointment lately. Last time I went, I saw my doctor drive up in a new Mercedes with the vanity license plate that said "THNXDINO". I have been to Orthopedics and  Neurology. They have done x-rays and MRI's. Over the last 7 weeks I have had no relief in pain. 5-6 hours of sleep is a good night. Finally after all of that, I do have a date scheduled for surgery. So there is light at the end of the carpel tunnel (pun intended). I have no strength in my hand. Here is a video of me trying to make a fist. Enjoy.

But enough about me. We have been able to make some progress. I was able to make a bed platform so that we wouldn't have to sleep on the floor anymore.

The real reason though is that it was just too damn hard for me to get up off of the floor. I looked like a turtle stuck on its back, which usually makes Lisa laugh. She has been laughing a lot lately. Like when she sees me struggling to put on my socks. It is very hard to do that one handed. So she will exclaim "OMG!" and then come over to put them on for me. In this Covid world, everytime we get in our vehicle we get the hand sanitizer out. I will grab it with my left hand a try to squeeze some out into my palm. I will squeeze and squeeze until my hand starts shaking, little grunts escape my mouth and sweat starts rolling down my face, then I hear "OMG!" again as she snatches the bottle from me and gives me a squirt. All while laughing hysterically. Serious, if you thought watching me use chopsticks is funny, you should see me try and get some hand sanitizer.

I try to be self sufficient but Lisa is not with me all of the time. I was at the local building supply store one day by myself. I had to use the bathroom. I finish my business and I attempt to button my pants. Fail. Then I proceed to button them again, and again, and again. Fail, fail and fail. I just didn't have the strength in my left hand to pull my pants together to fasten them. I look around to see if anyone is watching me struggle because that would be awkward. There was no one else in there, so I gather all my strength and with a final grunt, I failed again. Well I am not going to ask for help so I zip up my pants and fasten my belt and walk out with all of the dignity I could muster. Luckily I had on a belt. I am in the market for pants with elastic waist bands now.

Back to our progress. Boy did that take a left turn. Our son and his wife came out one day to help me start to hang sheetrock in our hallway. They did most of the work while I fell naturally into a supervisory role.

That was such a big help to have them do that for us. 

We went to the big city and bought Christmas decorations. We haven't really had any for the last 6 years so we had to start from scratch. Since my tractor wouldn't fit in the barn this year I ended up getting a portable shelter for it. The directions said it would take 2 people 2 hours to assemble. So in my reality, it would take a 1 armed man all day to assemble. Which it did. Lisa did help after I heard the usual "OMG!"

There it is all tucked away. To fasten that thing to the ground they supply you with screw in type tie downs. Those don't work very well when there is frost in the ground. You might as well try to screw it into concrete. I had some rebar left over from the concrete jobs so I took some pieces and pounded them into the ground making an X over the top of the legs. Genius! I know! 

What would my blog be if I didn't include a "Dorks on Parade" moment? As fate would have it, we had a wind event that very night. I think mother nature wanted to test my ingenuity. I woke up around 2 in the morning to howling winds outside. I think to myself "crap". I can hear the tarp material flapping like crazy. So I get dressed. Lisa was sound asleep. I wake her up just so that she would know that I am outside. I didn't want her to wake up and I was nowhere to be found. So as the wind was whipping around, I was taking tie down straps and fastening them to the tractor and around the frame. Crisis averted.

We were having some condensation build up in the barn along the wall  between the cabin and barn. So we hired another foam company (that makes 3 if you are counting). They ended up putting foam along the top where the other company just threw in some fiberglass insulation.

Hopefully that does the trick. Since that wall was cleared we put up some sheetrock. The bottom layer was easy to put up and it was something I could handle. Lisa helped hold them in place while I commenced to screwing. The sheetrock, not Lisa. Get your minds out of the gutter.

The sheetrock we do have up, I started to mud and tape. That's something that can be done one handed.

That sheetrocked wall in the cabin and barn will make our fire barrier between the two areas. We also had a tree company come out and trim our Oak trees.

There was no way that Lisa was going to let me climb a ladder with a chainsaw to trim them up. She said she didn't have a good feeling about it and feared for her life because she would be the one holding the ladder for me.

The only reason I agreed to that is because it would have been challenging to do it one handed. That kind of job is easier when you have the right equipment.

We have also been looking for new appliances. Always looking for a good deal and I think we found some doorbusters. 

With the money we would save we could maybe buy a Tootsie Roll or something.

That's it for now. We hope everyone has an enjoyable Christmas. Stay safe and make good choices.