Fall 2023

Procrastination-the action of delaying or postponing something. (Oxford Dictionary)

I have been meaning for weeks now to put a blog together. I started out naming it just October. Then I changed it to October/November. Finally settling on just "Fall". Mainly because it encompasses many weeks of activities. When thinking about subjects for the blog I go around and around about ideas. Usually shooting them down because of the lack of entertainment value or witty insight on my part. 

But after reading a blog I found on the internet today about a guy playing the word game called "Wordle" and about how he went on and on for ever in his blog. Then the other half was about dogs. Maybe if the dogs were playing "Wordle", then maybe it would have been interesting. So I thought to myself, can I really do worse?

We can't believe that it has only been over a month since we closed up our food trailer. It seems like it was a lifetime ago we were slinging soup and Cheesey Sasquatch's to the populace of Ottertail county. But that is the beauty of having a seasonal business. We can pack it away and then concentrate on other aspects of life. Such as our next big endeavor.

Well as many times it happens, we were enjoying a fire with libations. We find that libations really get the creative juices flowing. Decisions were decided on and plans were planned. It was time to start working on our new addition to the house. Once done it will nearly double the living space keep in mind that our cabin is small to begin with. 768 square feet. The new addition will be 576 square feet for a grand total of 1,344 square feet. We will be expanding into the barn with our cabin. Not needing such a large space because we have decided to sell our fifthwheel next spring. So if anybody is looking for a great camper, let us know.

So with our plans decided on it was time to get things in motion. First off we had the side overhead door removed.

Inside of door.

Outside of door.

Once the door was removed. It was time to frame it and install the new walk in door.

Door gone.

Framed and new door installed.

Then came the time to add the OSB sheeting, Insulating and add the steal to the outside.

OSB installed.

Insulated.

The outside view.

I think it came out pretty good. Just for the record. I have not had any formal training in the construction arts. Although I did attend "Josef's School of Construction" as I grew up as a child. My father was a DIY'er long before it was cool and I was always around to help him out and to carry on his knowledge. Don't get "Josef's School of Construction" mixed up with "Josef's School of Hair Design". Two different things and I went to both. Confidence was high so I started the next phase. Framing the rooms. We are adding a family room, a walk in closet and a primary suite which used to be called a Master suite until everybody got hyper sensitive.

Again things were going much better than anticipated. So much so that I decided to start my own construction company. It is going to be named, "Cripple Guy Construction". My motto will be "When you simply can't afford anyone else". Well after the framing it was time to put the floor joists up. I had to hire my son to help me get those 16 ft. long 2X10's up there. It took us an hour and a half. 

Up top we hope to use for storage of our many treasures that people start gathering when they live in a house. In other words, a place to store junk as Lisa would say. When we lived in our RV for those 6 years, everything we owned was inside the RV. Now we are buying it all back. So the next phase is to build stairs. Never have I ever done that. Here goes nothing.

I looked at the local lumber yards to see if they had them pre-made. They didn't. It was a special order. So I watched a ten minute video on Youtube. After that I was 50% sure I could do it. 16 ft. 2X12's are only $35. So I laid it out, marked it and began cutting. We brought it into the barn and held it up there. Perfect! Took it back outside and traced it over the other board and cut that one also. Nailed them in place and then put the stairs on them and Presto! Steps!

That is where we are now. 4 weeks it took us to get to this point because at "Cripple Guy Construction" we work 2-6 hours a day, depending on if our arthritis, gout, hips, knees and all other joints, IBS, and ED aren't acting up.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night!