Quick check in

Way busy and just wanted to check in. We're at the Ringold Street houses all the time it seems. We got rolling on 326 and the renovation, and got stopped by finally getting the deadbeats out of 328. They were not the most awful we've ever had (that was reserved by the Nurse and her jobless husband who had fleas so bad we bombed the house 4 times-after we pulled every carpet from the place). But we've been over there cleaning the place. I swear, in the year and a half they were there, I truly don't think they owned a mop or a vacum cleaner. I've been on my hands and knees cleaning who knows what off walls and (shutter) bathroom. Butch has spent 5 days in the kitchen trying to clean what hasn't been cleaned in 18 months. He actually had to resort to a putty knife for cleaning the oven.
Just a word of advice....if ever anyone ever tells you that you can make money through investing in rentals...punch them, they lie. There are houses we actually have decent people in, that pay their rent and actually clean, but you have to go through about 3 crappy tenants before you get a good one. Anyway, we're pretty much done in 328 and can go back to 326 and the renovation. Thank heaven for R! He's the day shift (Butch and I are the 2nd shift) and he's has kicked butt working there!
gonna run, too much to do and too little time......

Ka-Chunk!

So last I left you, we'd spent a weekend pulling up the old Masonite and floor off the Ringold St kitchen floor. Well, we got through that and got it all loaded up and off to the dump. Now, we can start re-building. This is an old duplex house. I mean old. Okay, we're not talking about historical registers or anything, but they're damn old. Which actually means that there is nothing straight, level, or flat. The old tongue and groove wood floor base was severely cupped and sagging on at least two sides. So there's a product that is basically like silly sand, but it's cement. You mix this stuff up and you keep stirring until you pour and it sets up and hopefully your floor is better than what you started out with. Cool. So Butch got the luwan cut to size and placed and last Friday night we picked up the STAPLER! You hook this baby up to the air compressor and away you go! Well, I'm sitting on a stool with wheels so I can scoot around and have this stapler in hand and Butch says make sure you put a staple every 4 inches. I kinda figured this was an approximate measurement and he was like no, every 4 inches. So, I'm sitting there facing into a corner and the drywall square was there leaning on the wall. So, I flipped it down on the floor thinking that I could use it as a guide to 4 inches-you know, just for a bit till I got the hang of it. So I start off and the stapler is so cool. Ka-chunk, Ka-chunk, Ka-chunk......
Ka-chink!

Okay, I stapled the damn drywall square to the stinkin' floor. All I could do was laugh. Actually after prying it off the floor, Butch wasn't too pleased with me. For all he knew I could have stapled my foot to the floor, but nooooooo, just because his square now has a hole at 38 3/8 inches he was all upset with me. After I did that, I gave up on that 4" thing and just went for "about 4" "
I'm terrified of the nail gun, but that stapler was pretty damn fun.
He's been on shut-down at work this week, so he's been over there in the day, which means I get out of working at night. R has been helping him out with the painting and electric stuff. Butch says R knows what needs to be done and he just goes and does it. I think I'm jealous. I'll just bet he's not as much fun as me.....and I'm sure Butch sure doesn't have to worry as much either.

The Floor no more

Okay, remember a while ago I told you about Butch grinding all those nail heads?
Well, we were rolling along gutting that kitchen, thinking we could patch it where it needed to be and level it and go on from there. Doug, the floor guy came to measure and was not to optimistic about being able to work with it like that. So we've spent the last 2 days tearing it up. We're now down to original old tongue and groove boards. The pick-up is overflowing with old floor bits. And there are still some at the house.
This is what went on....you sat on a stool/milkcrate/something and with my favorite tool, a pry bar, and a hammer pried the damn floor up 4 inches at a time. Why 4 inches? Because that was how far apart the Person who put it down nailed it. I thought 432 staples he put in the one ceiling were bad. Of course, it's been mid 90 degrees all weekend. Talk about a hot pissed off grouch, and I was even worse!
We got the framing for the new ceiling up last weekend, and we did get it primed this past week, so we don't have to look at those scary walls. I had to scrub them down before we could even put the Kiltz on it. I honestly don't think that they'd ever been cleaned of kitchen grease or cigarette smoke...ever. I didn't remember to take the camera along, so no great photos of the mess.
Another night for rum and Motrin.....I sure hope we never run out of either!

2 years

See the picture over to the left? The happy couple barefoot in the sand of their favorite place in the world? Well, that was 2 years ago, yesterday.

We'll be back there the week after Richmond. There's nothing like September on Hatteras Island. It's even worth the very real threat of hurricanes. A couple of years ago, we ran off one side of the island while Isabelle was coming on the other side. Just wish we could find a way to hide there for a very long time.

Here's a couple of pictures from two years ago....

Lyd, and the girls

An explanation...my something old was a gold pin shaped like a palm tree. My grandfather, on probably the only vacation he ever had, went to Florida, and brought Lydia back the pin. So, I didn't want to lose something that meant so much by having it pinned somewhere, so I put it down the front of the brassiere. When Butch squeezed me and leaned me backward, the torture strapless bra threw my boobs up to my chin and smooshed the sharp leaves of the pin into the ta's. That was the moment the photographer took this picture.

We spent about 10 days on the island and towards the end of our HONEYMOON, I looked at my now husband, and realized that the one baseball cap he had been wearing the entire time of our HONEYMOON said.....

I'd Rather Be Racing!

432...

that is how many staples I pulled out of a ceiling in a 7'x13' room, and yeah, I counted. Yes, we're back to re-habbing. We kinda slacked off while Connie was up. (okay, that's just a good excuse) We were back to it this morning. Butch was down in the demo'd kitchen grinding those kabillion nail heads out of the floor, and I was upstairs pulling down a ceiling. So tonight his knees hurt (from kneeling all that time) and my neck hurts (from looking up over my head for 432 staples).

This is what will one day actually be a kitchen. I know you're thinking where can I get that gorgeous combination of lower paneling, textured paneling with the 1800's theme over top and to say nothing for that unbelievable flooring. You just can't get a designer look like this at lowe's, this could have only come from the 1970's. We do have an avacado green stove and fridge, maybe I could get something for them at the yard sale. So I'm hoping that after layers of Kilz that I can paint the lower paneling white and the uppper a light blue with a chair rail running between the two. Hopefully, it will give the impression of wainscoating. Okay, so I'm not holding my breath, but it will look a whole lot better than this crap. The drywalled wall is where the cabinets are going to be, with the sink under the window. The stove will be in about the space now occupied by that darling rolling table and precious table lamp. It truly is amazing what crap people leave behind when they move.

Off to refill the ice in Butch's ice pack and to meet up with Dr Bacardi.

A visit from Panama City Connie

Butch's sister Connie from Panama City Fla is up here for a visit. She surprised Miss V, who had no idea she was here.

My little buddy Alex (V's grandson) wanted to use my camera, and he took these pictures:

Connie and Miss Mary (Bless her heart----Now, don't get me started!!)

A serious picture of Butch. If he would only wear something that didn't have FORD on it!

This is my buddy Alex and his mom Tina.

While the girls were up here, they did a ton of running around. Connie, of course, can't find hog maw in Fla. (go figure) so she buys 6 or so of them and carts them, and hominy home to Panama City. If you don't know what hog maw is, trust me, you don't want to know. Or, you could be brave and look it up. yuck is all I can say.
On Fathers day we had a big cook-out and Daren and Wanda and Christopher and his family came over. Miss V and R were there as well as the Fla girls. We ate, we drank, we told stories, and we threw some bocce. It was a beautiful day out and we enjoyed it immensely.

The girls were off first thing this morning to head to West Virginia for Mary, and then off to Panama City for Connie later in the week. Safe travels!

In the yard again

This is Butch tending to his hollyhock he planted across the road (along with the mint).

The next day, it was cleared by the guy who owns it. The triplets that live on the next road were starting to ride their motorbikes on it again, and they won't listen to the stay off my property, so he bulldozed it all. Damn brats.

Here is a picture of the peonie bush in bloom.