Home again

Home again - what a crazy, busy trip but quite the feeling of accomplishment.

Yesterday dawned bright and early again but it was good because we were at church at 8:00.  I liked this church - Holy Mother and Child.  It's small - they only have a Saturday 4:00 service, the 8:00 Sunday morning, and then there's a 10:30 in a nearby town.  But I kind of liked it.  I told Jim that we will have to take our time finding a parish we like before we join.  However, while we are living in Corinth, it will be hard to beat the convenience of this church.

After church, we went to Mollie's Mason Jar for breakfast.  This is the place where Jim had the cranberry nut pancakes on one of his trips.  It's situated on a golf course and the scenery is just beautiful.  I had banana nut pancakes which were amazing - much better than Jim's - ha!

After breakfast, it was back to the apartment to unload the last tubs that were on the truck and to load up some empty ones and boxes that were in the apartment.  I packed some sandwiches, made sure all was well to leave the apartment, and we headed to the lot.  We wanted to cover up the building supplies we left there.

All covered up and awaiting Jim's return!

Unfortunately, this trip didn't afford much time to spend at the lot.  But it's so gorgeous and really helps us focus on the goal of living here. 

 

After some last looks, we went to Saratoga Springs.  We swept out the storage unit there to make sure it was nice and pretty and that we would get our deposit back.  In fact, I called the manager while we were there to take care of that, so hopefully we'll get our deposit and partial month payment back.

Then we headed to the barn to unload a few things there that Jim decided he wanted at the barn instead of in Corinth.  I hadn't seen all the work Jim & Kyle had done there - everything looks organized and in place.  Still can't believe they got all that done in one day!

 

Then we set off towards home.  We encountered a few areas of rain, but for the most part it was a nice trip home.  Truck did amazing - we are getting between 11 and 12 mpg, which I think is great for a huge, loaded truck!

 

Today, of course, it's back to the reality of trying to get everything done here.  One of the big tasks of the day for Jim was trying to get the gas tank off of the 4Runner so he could see for sure where it was leaking and then fix it.  He finally got it off and the rust doesn't look pretty.

More of the same

The day dawned early...5:00 early.  Will definitely be looking into some kind of room darkening shades for the bedroom.  I'm an early riser, but 6:00 or 6:30 early not 5:00 early.  But it was nice having the mattress last night.  It's warm today but actually hasn't been too bad in here.  We have one fan and may want a couple more when we are here for good.

After breakfast (complete with slightly frozen milk...frig needs adjustment apparently!), Jim went to the Corinth storage unit to drop off the things we loaded up last night.  I stayed at the apartment to start organizing.  I took everything out of the one bedroom where Kyle and Jim had just dropped off all the boxes.  So things were stacked awkwardly and in no order.  I got everything back in neat piles of organized chaos.  So at this point all the boxes we had brought here are either organized where they will stay or unpacked.  Progress.

Organized chaos

Then it was on to cleaning.  Each room has plastic mini-blindsand they were filthy.  They really need to be taken down and soaked but I did the next best thing and scrubbed them all.  So I'm taking a break after all that.  I washed the floors of the rooms we are using for storage - although it's cheap linoleum so you really can't tell.  At this point, I have bathroom and kitchen floors to do.  At least it's a first pass and makes me feel better.

Jim just called and they had just gotten to the barn with a truckload.   Once they get that unloaded, it's back to the Saratoga unit to pick up the rest and get that taken to Corinth.  If all that can happen before Kyle had to go back, that would be amazing.

Sitting in the living room writing this sure emphasizes yet another sign that we aren't at home.  Corinth is a little city and our apartment is right in the heart of it.  With no air, windows are open so you hear lots and lots of noise...car traffic, motorcycles, sirens, music...quite the difference from the quiet country life that we're used to.

Okay, rested long enough...it's back to work, Cinderella!

Jim got to the apartment about 5:00 - they had taken the load to the barn, for back to the Saratoga unit and got everything emptied out and back on the truck.  They stopped to get water refills and then headed to the Corinth unit.  They got the truck totally emptied out and even got some furniture that we had put in that storage earlier back on the truck and moved upstairs into the apartment!

Unloading in Corinth

Putting the bookshelf back on the truck ready for the apartment

So after yesterday's "what are we doing" overwhelming day, we are so happy with everything today.  Jim and Kyle were totally able to accomplish all the moving goals and the apartment is clean and organized.  We were able to run Kyle through McDonald's and got him to the bus with about 5 minutes to spare.  Jim and I celebrated with a Hawaiian pizza at Pope's.  Life in Corinth is good.

A Trying Day

Well...we got into town late last night. It was too late to even grab the mattress off the truck so we just crashed on the sleeping bags.

The morning starts early here - by 5:00 the room is bright. There are only cheap plastic mini-blinds on the windows so we may need to do something about that. 

After breakfast, we started on our storage adventures. First, Jim had to meet Mike to get the keys to the barn where we are going to rent space. I stayed here and did a little cleaning. It's going to take a lot of work to make this home!  It will be good for us but when I was cleaning years of gunk from blinds in the bathroom, I sorely missed my nice clean home!  I also spent way too much time on the phone with Time Warner again.  A bill was waiting for us here and of course it was more than it was supposed to be.  After probably a half hour I was able to get them to reduce it a bit so I guess that's a victory. 

This is the view from the street in front of the apartment...check out that mountain!

After Jim got back, we first went and rented the storage unit in Corinth. It's a nice space...Browns colors!  We took a few things off the truck that will need to be moved to the barn. Then we came and unloaded some stuff into the apartment.

Then it was off to the barn. It's probably close to a half hour away in the truck. We had a little trouble getting in...Mike gave  Jim a janitor-like ring of keys and wasn't sure which one it was. Plus he said the locking mechanism on the overhead door didn't work well. He ended up having to go through a side door - again after trying scores of keys - and navigating in the pitch dark to get to the door and open it from inside.

A quick pb&j and then it was on to unpacking. I felt bad because a lot of this was heavy stuff and I couldn't be much help.  

Pictures of the first barn unloading trip!

Jim was getting a little frustrated because we spent a lot of time moving things again and again in the truck.  Then to make matters worse, he had put the big pattern cabinets in the truck first that are filled with hundreds of pounds of hardware.  He was going to make something to keep the drawers from opening while the truck was moving. Well, the truck got loaded without that happening. It didn't matter when the truck was full and everything was held in place. But once we got things emptied out, it became an issue. So he was trying ropes and boards which did an okay job but added to the stress.

Then it was back to Angel. A sorely needed reinforcement of why we are doing this.  Everything looked beautiful. Even though things had grown up since Jim had done some clearing, you could still see all he had gotten accomplished. 

And our well is gorgeous too!

Then it was back to unloading...Jim had brought some wood and steel that he's just keeping there so we got all that stacked up. But again...it's moving things out of the way to get to other things over and over. And more stuff off so redoing the pattern drawer fix again. 

It was warm and we were pretty beat and debated about going to the Saratoga storage unit to load up some of that stuff.  We finally decided to press on.

As we were leaving, you could see the markings on the road from the utility company where the pole will go!  

Probably not the best decision to keep going. When we got to storage unit and opened the back of the truck, we saw we had failed to strap down Jim's tool cart...so it had fallen and spilled ratchets, sockets and misc all over. We got that cleaned up and then opened up the unit. It was a big overwhelming to see all the STUFF we have and that needs to be moved. Jim was frustrated because he is so uber-organized at home and knows where every tool and part is. We just stuff things in cabinets now and everything is spread out over 3 places.   So it's going to be hard. Plus it was just a look at the shear volume of all we gave - plus there's still tons at home. 

So in that frame of mind we started moving a few things into the truck to be moved into the Corinth unit but things weren't going well do we finally called it quits. 

We just came back to the apartment and then walked up to the store to get a couple things I needed. We ate our first meal together here and had our first enchilada night!

Whew...a busy day and we were beat.  At least we had the mattress so we didn't have to sleep on the floor - although it wouldn't have mattered at that point!

A Whirlwind Week...

This was my first official week of summer - my last day of work was Friday the 14th.  Of course, I'm hoping that was my last day there ever!  That will just depend on how fast the house sells.  Which leads me to the whirlwind of this week...

Jim has worked like crazy around here.  He got the roof jacks down and holes fixed, finished drywalling, sanding and even painted in the basement, worked on the truck lift, packed up the truck, and on and on.  And we're leaving today for New York!

Finished chimney caps - they look amazing!

Wow - all completed and looks great!

Drywall done and primed

Bryan and Cindy came over last night and Bryan helped Jim move some furniture from upstairs out to the truck.  So things are starting to empty out a bit.

Bryan has the gate basically done - and it looks amazing!  Jim has some pictures which I will get from him and attach.  It's ready to be sent off to be powder coated.

So...we will be off to NY later this morning!  I'm so excited because I haven't been back since the end of April.  Our mission this trip is to switch storage units and move and rearrange all the stuff in the units so that Jim has easy access to the things that he needs.  Kyle is hopefully coming up Saturday to provide his muscles into all that moving.

My mission for this trip is to try and organize the apartment.   I'm so anxious to tackle the mountain of boxes and organize them so we know where things are.  And then start putting things away and making it into our home for the next year or whatever time frame it will be.

Bon Voyage!

Good news and busy times...

It's been a busy few days since Jim got home from NY.  He started working on the basement tile repair project...quite the chain gang all week.  But things are all ready to be installed again, so the big part of that battle is at least in good shape.  I was working scraping the backsides of the slate trying to get all the old mortar off - that's all done now too.

Sunday evening, Jim went to Bryan's and picked up the completed new chimney caps that he designed and Bryan fabricated and had powder coated.  They're going to look so nice on top of the chimney!  He also took over a part for the gate Bryan is making and he's really excited about how it's coming together.  Jim designed part of the latching mechanism to include our address - Bryan is going to make that out of stainless steel. 

New roof chimney cap

Today Jim decided to start tackling the 4Runner issues.  He wants to run the gas tank dry before he explores that issue but he was kind of afraid to drive it too much if it was a water pump problem.  But some good news...it appears to be the compressor of the air conditioner.  So he's exploring whether or not he can fix it without taking the compressor off or not.  If he can, it would be a relatively easy fix.  If not, he'll probably disconnect it and wait until he has more time to worry about it.  We aren't big air conditioning people but sometimes it's nice and it helps with defrosting.  So at least it's not the water pump that would involve taking apart lots more of the engine.  Whew!

Working on the engine...

We are debating about going to New York this weekend.  We need to do the big ugly storage unit switcharoo...moving some things to Mike's barn, others to the closer storage facility in Corinth, and basically reorganizing things so that they are more easily accessible.  But we have to make sure it's worth the time to make the trip.  With so much going on, we really need to focus on the house stuff too.

We got a little bit of disturbing news last night.  The landlord of the apartment called me and said that she has put the building on the market.  She wanted to let us know that the real estate agent was bringing someone through today who wanted to look at the apartment.  Kind of hate that when we aren't there, but I trust Tom and I'm sure that the guy just wants to get a quick look at each of the areas.  What we are worried about is someone coming in and changing our lease agreement and terms.  Right now we are month to month, have free heat - works perfectly for us.  Scary to think that before we even move in, things could change.  The landlord said this person is just looking - so it could be awhile before they find a buyer, you just don't know.  We'll just have to wait and see. 

 

Tests to perseverance...

Jim got home really late last night - or more accurately, early this morning.  Trip went well - I hate him traveling that late at night by himself but he's a good, careful driver.

However, today he took me outside to listen while he turned the 4Runner on.  Even my ears could tell that it didn't sound good.  He said when he was near Syracuse, it started making the noise - he said it's probably a water pump bearing.  So he had to travel the entire trip with his eye on the temperature gauge praying that it didn't break and overheat.  He didn't tell me so I didn't worry...which of course I would have.  But the good news is that it got him home safely - thank God for that.

Then he was looking at the gas tank issue - the guy at the service inspection station thought it might be leaking at the pipes but Jim didn't think so and was hoping maybe at the filter.  But running it today and looking at it, he's afraid it might be the fuel tank itself.  Which is a horrible, scary job to do.

So...when he came home to devote time to finishing up all the multitudes of jobs that need to be done around here, now he's looking at two big jobs on the 4Runner.  And since he's started the inspection process, it really needs to be fixed to get that block checked.

These are the days that require you to reach into your stores of perseverance.  Jim is so good at that - he gets taken back but is able to step back and regroup.  He said today...I'm not letting these things defeat me.  I love that attitude and it will serve him well as we move forward on building the house.  But right now, it certainly makes you pause.

Electric company and on his way home!

Quite the day for Jim today.  He had the meeting this morning with the electric company reps.  Jim said two people came and they were both helpful.  Although we can't go through the trees like we had originally hoped, they did say that they would give him 100' at no charge so that will help the total (giant) bill eventually be cheaper.  But Jim got lots of good info on what he now needs to do.  They discussed where the utility pole will be placed on the road and marked that.  They told Jim exactly what needs to be done at the pole, how the trench needs to be, what he has to do for the transformer, and for the temporary pole.  There is a lot of work and some requirements are more stringent than Ohio, but at least he knows what has to be done and can do it.  It will be a lot of work but what else is new?

He also stopped at the Time Warner office in Saratoga Springs.  That was more difficult.  Jim wanted to talk to someone about getting the cable put in the same trench as the electric so another trench doesn't have to be dug - that's what we did in Ohio.  But of course at the office, you are talking to a not-so-helpful customer service person who basically just takes people's payments.  She put an order in for a technician to call Jim so we'll have to wait and see how that goes.

The big down part of the day was that Jim took the 4Runner to be safety inspected.  Another new requirement from what we are used to.  After Jim filled out the paperwork at the DMV and got the license plate, he had 10 days to get the safety inspection.  It's pretty involved and you have to have it done every year.  He had to wait about an hour and then - it failed.  They said it has a gas leak - which we sort of knew about.  We had been able to smell gas at certain times.  It's not leaking in the lines so Jim is hoping it's a filter issue.  But of course that requires him working on it and then taking it back in to be re-inspected.  The guy said that the 10 day rule shouldn't be an issue because Jim has paperwork proving that he got it inspected within that 10 days.  So that will definitely have to be done on the next trip.  Isn't it always something?

But now Jim is on his way back, so that makes me happy.  He really did get a lot of the administrative headache jobs worked on while he was there, so it was definitely a successful trip.  He's anxious to get back here and get the house jobs done so we can get it on the market.

More "to do" blocks checked...

Today Jim went and found the lumber mill that's less than half an hour away from Corinth.  He's looking into decking for the flooring in the carriage house.  Unfortunately, they were conducting a tour for school kids so he only got to talk to the guy he wanted to for a few minutes.  But he did say he was able to do what Jim wanted.  So it will just come down to price...as do so many decisions!

Jim also stopped at Bobcat to talk about getting the ditch bucket he wants to help with grading and trenching for the electric line.  So the guy is holding one that he is selling to him for a little cheaper than he could get it here in Ohio. 

Check out this gorgeous view on his way back to Corinth!  This is the Great Sacandaga Lake - part of the Adirondack Park - a 41 square mile lake!  Looks gorgeous - can't wait to see it in person! 

Great Sacandaga Lake

Jim spent the rest of the afternoon on the Bobcat doing some clearing on Angel.  Tomorrow morning is the meeting with the electric company rep.  Fingers crossed that they are cooperative!

Good news...Kyle just texted this picture of the frames up in the gallery at the Art Institute of Chicago!  They look gorgeous and look like they survived their weekend on the loading dock fine.  What a relief!

NY milestones

Today was the Time Warner installation appointment at the apartment. Thankfully Jim went back to the apartment early - our appointment time was between 1:00-2:00.  He went by before 11:00 and they were there.  After some confusion with what our bundle package consisted of - they had told me it was basic cable but the guy said it was digital - the guy got everything going. It took awhile and after he left, Jim couldn't connect to the Internet.  But he spent more time later on and got it working. He didn't take a TV or phone so we'll just have to assume those work.

He was also able to finally get all the paperwork done at the DMV and we now have NY plates!  Jim still has to get the 4Runner inspected and then that will be all finished. The stickers there are good for 2 years although you have to get it inspected yearly. So although this initial title transfer, buying the plates, and the sticker was pricey, eventually it won't be that much more than we pay in OH.

Last I talked to him, he was on Angel and going to do some Bobcat work.  

A couple more blocks checked for our transition!

NY plates!

Back to NY!

So after a crazy week and an even crazier weekend, Jim hit the road again this morning headed to NY.  He called and had gotten into town safely about 8:00 tonight.  He was heading to Pope's pizza for dinner.

Hope all goes well on this trip...tomorrow is cable/Internet/phone installation and Thursday is the meeting with the electric company rep. With a lot in between I'm sure!  

The Golden Frame Saga

Well...Kyle came home last weekend on the bus from NYC to build these giant frames he needs for a CLOG exhibit at the Art Museum in Chicago. 

Before Kyle got here, Jim had assembled the new molding machine, worked all the wood we bought at Yoder's in Millersburg to make it perfectly straight and gotten everything ready that they would need.  I picked up Kyle at the bus station Saturday morning and they literally worked round the clock making these four frames - each one is made of 2 or 3 pieces of molding that had to be designed, molded, glued together, mitered into frames and on and on.  Each frame is a different design to correspond with the renderings that ate going to be projected in each.  The only real break they got was late Sunday night when we went to Outback for a belated birthday celebration and then to see the new Star Trek movie in 3D (awesome, by the way!).  By the time I had to take Kyle back to the bus, they had just finished the last frame.  They came out amazing!

But of course that wasn't the end of that story.  All this week, Jim had to finish them.  Sand, prime, and then spray paint gold.  Jim's fingers will never be the same.  They are so big that it's an enormous adventure.  Then they have to lay somewhere to dry.  He finished the last one last evening.  But then they have to be taken to Chicago.

While Kyle was here, he did some (very late) investigating into shipping - if it was even possible, estimates were as high as $3000!  And that didn't include packing, getting them somewhere, etc.  Because they were so newly painted, they can't have anything touch them or they might mar.

So guess who's driving them in the truck to Chicago?  That's right...May Trucking Company.  I'm on my way now to pick up Kyle at the bus station.  Jim is designing a way to fasten the frames to the bottom of the truck so that they don't touch each other or anything else.  We'll drive them today, drop them off at the museum and head right back because Jim has to leave for NY on Monday.  Crazy!!!  Off we go!

Kyle with new molding machine and the start of the first frame

Joining corners with biscuits!

 

Making perfect corners!
 

Screwing everything in place

 

Drying in the garage after painting

 

Fastening the finished frames to the bottom of the truck

 

Jim made a way to stack the frames without them touching each other or anything else

 

So we set off for Chicago after Jim and Kyle got the frames fastened to the truck.  We didn't put anything else in the back (except for a box of tools to take things apart that was also fastened down) so that nothing could move around and damage the frames.  Everytime we stopped for a drink or bathroom break, we checked the back of the truck to make sure all was fine.

 

The truck did really well.  Jim had made a last minute repair to it before we left - installed the new clutch fan - so that was a relief.  Unfortunately, we had horrible winds most of the way to Chicago - remnants of the Oklahoma storms that caused so much damage.  We didn't have any problems except for lowered gas mileage.  And no real rain to speak of until, of course, we are trying to find the museum in downtown Chicago - then it just dumped.  In fact, this view from the truck shows the view totally obscured by clouds.  And then there was that traffic to contend with, in the truck, in the rain, not knowing where we were going.  Thank goodness for GPS and Jim's driving abilities!

 

When we got to the museum, Kyle went into the receiving area while we waited in the truck.  Not sure you can really see it in this picture, but the sun started peeking out and we saw a pretty rainbow in the sky in front of us.

After talking with the security guard, they opened up the overhead doors and Jim had to back the truck into the dock.

The frames made the trip beautifully!

 

However, since nothing goes too easy, the security guard checked and said that she wasn't expecting any kind of shipment and we couldn't unload.  Kyle showed her multiple emails from the curator of the exhibit saying that he was bringing them on Saturday and could unload.  Kyle got on the phone and called the curator and explained the situation.  But the security guard wouldn't budge.  She finally called her supervisor.  He came down and after talking with him, he finally agreed that the security guard could accompany us and we could take them to the packaging area and leave them outside the doors.  So the unpacking of the frames started.

 

Unpacking the frames

 

 

The manager said we could put the frames in the elevator and take them down to the area.  So Jim and Kyle got them out and carefully placed them in the elevator.  Aren't they pretty?

 

After they were all out of the truck, the security guard comes over and said that the manager had called the curator and now she was saying that we couldn't take them into the museum.  Kyle and Jim were fit to be tied.  So after much back and forth and Kyle on the phone again, we finally had to leave them sitting on the loading dock and just prayed that they would be safe til Monday morning.

Leaning up against the walls - not the best situation

Finally they were all unloaded on the dock and there was nothing to do but leave them there and hope for the best.  Thankfully, the rain had stopped and traffic was light getting out of the city.  That was my first trip to Chicago - I can say I've been there but I didn't see anything and only got out of the truck long enough to watch the frames being unloaded!

Then we started back home.  We had hoped to make it back to Toledo the same night so that we would only have a couple hour drive on Sunday.  We stopped in South Bend, IN, to try and find something to eat - by the time we found Texas Roadhouse, it was close to 10:00 and we were starved!  The burgers were amazing and we toasted to the frames being in Chicago!

By the time we were done eating and back on the road, we didn't make it to the hotel in Toledo until close to 2:00 in the morning.  Poor Jim had done SO much driving in one day!  In the morning, we got up, went to church, then hit Cracker Barrel for pancakes before heading back on the road.  But it was good that we did that.  We were able to get home in time to eat a quick bite of lunch and then Kyle helped Jim clean up from the frame-making and start loading up some of his tools into the truck for the next trip to NY.

A successful May Trucking Company adventure!!

Clearing out the workshop and moving tools onto the truck!