Part 2

May 27, 2007 (5:07am)
57ºF, Cloudy, Brisk N wind.

Good morning,

it got real tired last night so went to bed before finishing this. The woodstove had caught and it was very comfortable in here. The temperature was in the mid-70's and the fire kept well overnight. Still in the mid-70's when I got up. Just raked the coal to the front of the stove and put in another piece of wood. I must say, the little woodstove sure doesn’t use much wood for the amount of heat it produces and holds a bed of coals very well over night. Really am impressed in what at first I thought was cute, but more of a decoration than a real heat source. Hope that is true at -20º F too.

Our ride yesterday netted most of what we needed. When we stopped for brunch in Eagle River, Margriet discovered that she had forgotten to take her poke along (she carries the money in and I carry the bags out) so had to do with the money in our pockets. We did find the Home Depot and Maynard’s, but not Fleet Farm. We stayed overnight in Rhinelander a couple of years ago when we were on one of our adventures, thinking we knew the town somewhat. We didn’t. Too many other towns we have been in and after a while they tend to blend together. By the time we really started looking for Fleet we were about out of money, so went to the Home Depot instead. I got, I think, all of the fittings that I need plus some extras, just in case. Also picked up a new fuse box for this house as it still uses the old style screw-in plug fuses and the box looks like this is a second or third use. Lots of knock-outs knocked out and some rusty. First I want to get the water working though.

I went over to the main house yesterday evening and looked out of the living room windows. There was a doe and two yearlings slowly eating their way along the edge of the yard. Must have watched them for 10 minutes or so. While watching them, I saw something I had never seen in the woods before - a deer pooping! Of all the hours, days, and weeks I have spent in the woods, and all of the deer I have seen, it was the first time I had ever seen that. Have to mark it on the calendar for sure! I hoped they would keep heading in the same direction and across the driveway so Margriet could see them, but no such luck. I must have spooked them when I left the house and headed to the Hobbit Hus. Tried not too.

While in the house, just for the heck of it, I tried the phone there. Sure enough it worked, the phone company had hooked up the wrong house! Never did see the phone man at all. Probably just connected from the terminal box the one he though was right. Or it may have happened at the office too for that matter. I will call them on Tuesday for sure. This has been a real comedy of errors. At least we can call out if we need too. Nothing from the ISP though yet.

On our ride yesterday, we went through some incredible areas of trillium. Some of the areas in the woods along the road were covered with them, like a really bad growth of dandelions in a lawn. There were places I don’t think you could put your foot down without stepping on a half dozen or so. Not just small patches either, several hundred feet across and some as far as the eye could see. I have never seen so many, growing so compactly together before. Some also had streaks of pink in the flower. Never seen that either. It was a very beautiful sight. As Margriet would say, "Really special!"

Since we ate such a light and late breakfast, we decided that we should head into Crystal Falls to Fob’s for lupper. Margriet had a Ruben sandwich, the first she had ever eaten. I thought she had before, so proceeded to tease her that she probably wouldn’t like it. After it arrived, she took a couple of tentative bites and decided I was all wet. After we left, she told me it was her first. Did I feel like a jerk or what. Anywho, she liked it, especially the "real German" dark rye bread it was made from. Anything with kraut is a good thing too for her. I had a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy. A really good portion and very good tasting. Instead of our normal three meals a day, we had two yesterday.

Guess I had better get moving here and see what kind of mischief I can get into.

10:03 am.

We have water in the Hobbit Hus! Hooray! Finally!

4:20 pm

The cold water manifold is mounted and pressurized. Hooray!

4:59 pm.

The Queen of the Hobbit Hus, Margriet, has a throne to sit upon! Now she can reign over her Queen-dom!

6:12 pm.

Time to end for the day. At least with the plumbing. Got a major goal accomplished today Margriet has her seat in the Hobbit Hus. Something she has been wanting since we landed here. Me too. At this point in time, having a water closet in this house is a real pleasure. Everything works in the main house, but it is nice not to run over there first thing in the morning. It is a bit like camping, only more modern.

I took apart the lavatory and am getting ready to reassemble it with new parts. The new faucet does not have a drain control on it, but I think I can make some of the old parts work on the new one. The only real difference is a hole drilled in the case. It is even marked on it! Do need to get a new connector though, as the old one is broken. I can’t believe how the old lavatory was installed - simply dropped in a hole in the counter top! Nothing to hold it in place at all. I picked up some industrial strength adhesive yesterday so it should be a bit more solid from now on. Would like to have some mechanical fastening, but there isn’t any place for any on the bowl. After it has set, I will apply some caulking for the purpose.

The PEX is very easy to use. Because of the close quarters and short distances, I am using more Ells than I would like, but there is not space for sweeps at all. Still, it is a bunch easier than the PVC used in the past. The biggest problem is trying to work with my kneecaps in my armpits, with my ears between my ankles at the same time and trying to get my elbows to fold in the opposite direction there were designed to do. Only real problem I have had is a bit of a tight place for the line shutoff to the hot water heater. Could use another inch for the handle of the ball valve to operate it more easily. Hope I never have to use it.

May 28, 2007 (5:28am).

37º F, Clear sunrise, light NE breeze.
Good morning,

It is another beautiful day breaking this morning. The weatherman talk of possible frost last night, but don’t think it happened. Yesterday looked like rain all day, but that never happened either. Just before sundown, the clouds headed east and there was a short time of sunshine. By in large, the weather, while cool especially in the morning, has been pretty much as expected. We do enjoy the cool much more than the hot, especially when there is some physical work to be done.

Margriet is still going through the boxes and finding new treasures, to her. She even found an old high school newspaper which had an article about me in it, with picture. I even had hair then! Every once in a while she comes over to the Hobbit Hus with a new treasure and asks, "Do yo know this." Off to the memories and stories we go. It really is fun and we are able to equip this house with just about everything we need. Some things we don’t need too. Margriet is really enjoying the books that we have. Most came from my Mom’s house and while some she has already read, there hare many she has not read yet. Think she will have all of them read before the snow flies at the rate she is going.

Since the phone is hooked up in the main house, Margriet called Astrid. Since we don’t chat with her online much, we don’t know what is really going on in their world. Sounds like they are healthy and busy. M&M seems to be busy from the time she wakes up until sleep finally overtakes her at night. Guess Astrid would like her to slow down a bit. It also sounds as if Pim is doing well and busy too, but in much different ways. Don’t know about Onno, but expect he too is trying to keep up with the squirts with Astrid.

Astrid wanted to know how come we bought this place and not simply buy a small house or rent an apartment somewhere and just slow down and enjoy life. For us, this is slowing down and enjoying life. The fun and excitement comes from the planning and putting together a home here. Watching our ideas take form and counting the slivers and blisters. We were talking last night, that with the exception of getting supplies and gasoline for the chainsaws, or going to church, we would not really need to leave here at all. We have or will have everything we need to be very comfortable.

They do want to come here and visit, but want to be sure they will have a place to stay that doesn’t leak like the outhouse did the last time they came. Astrid got the impression that the buildings were not all that inhabitable. Guess I have been talking of all the things we want/need to do, she got the impression the house(s) are uninhabitable. Actually the main house has been lived in until Leo died a bit over a year ago and this one a couple of years ago. There are many things we would have done differently, but that we are taking care of at present. I really am anxious to get this house set up to live in this winter (the water system rebuild really set back the time-table though) and then get on with the main house. We have many ideas and plans. Hope we will get to have at least some of them complete too! This is the fun part.

I listened to a NASCAR race on the local radio station yesterday while fooling around with the plumbing. Haven’t done that in years. Forgotten how interesting the word can be over the visual picture. Would like to have the radio on while watching it on TV sometime. No Indy 500 though. AM broadcasting is nearly nonexistent up here - too much iron in the soil I think.

1:29 pm.

Lavatory has cold water. No leaks! New faucet connected. New drain connected. Lavatory is glued in place. Will add caulk when we get some the next time into town, probably tomorrow. On to the water heater!

May 29, 2007 (4:53am)
58º F, Overcast, Dead calm wind.

Good morning,

I did manage to get the water heater plumbed in yesterday and the hot water manifold mounted with it plumbed, but there are a lot of joints needing to be soldered or crimped. While fitting the PEX from the cold water manifold to the water heater, I discovered that I didn’t have enough ¾" PEX Ells to complete the task. One short! Figured I could connect it using iron pipe for the connections to the tank and PEX to the manifold, but didn’t have nearly enough fittings for that. Started to scrounge for PVC piping, but again didn’t have nearly enough fittings. Finally dawned on me that I had picked up copper pipe and fittings to do that part! Da! So .... after fiddling around for an hour or so, cut and fit the necessary copper to do the job. Just before supper, I started to make some really dumb mistakes, so decided to call it quits for the day.

While working on the hot water heater, I notices a small about of water on the floor near the toilet. Didn’t think much about it yesterday when the same thing happened as I was emptying old pipes, but today everything was dry - but the floor. On very close inspection, I found a couple of hairline cracks in the bowl of the toilet. Every time it was flushed, some water would seep out. Things like that don’t have a habit of getting better, so I guess a new water closet is on the shopping list too. Hoping to avoid that, but no such luck.

My goal yesterday was to get cold water hooked up to the kitchen sink, that didn’t happen. As I mentally inventoried my fitting supply, I don’t think I have enough ½" fittings, especially ells, to finish the rest of the plumbing. There are a lot more twists and turns to this project than I had planned on. What makes it more difficult is the compactness of it. Generally most of this would be in a basement, but here it is in the corner of a very small bathroom for the most part. Besides using more fittings, it is very difficult to work, for me, in such tight quarters. Need extra wrists, elbows, knees, &c. that the Good Lord didn’t provide me with. Of course, 40 less years of age would also help in the pliability department too!

Trying to figure out the phone system here, I discovered the main connection box is in the basement of the main house. Normally it is on the outside of the house somewhere. There is a second line coming to this house from there, underground following the same trench as the electrical wires and waterline. I think I may be able to switch the connections to connect this house and not the other. Then when we move into the main house switch them back again. Finding that also told me that there wasn’t anyone who came out or attempted to. We spent a lot of time sitting here and waiting for someone who never came - twice! Grumpy.

Margriet took a walk along one of the old tote roads and found a couple of old, industrial strength desk type chairs in one of the "dumps" there. They are in fair shape, needing some cleaning and some new upholstery, so decided to bring them back. She quickly discovered they are very heavy, but did manage to bring a couple back. Another project to repair and refinish them in the future.

We are also discovering there are some flowers planted around both houses, or at least in spots. One that both of us really like are lilies-of-the-valley. They are right outside of the window where I am sitting. There also are others that we haven’t identified yet, but will as they grow. Maybe it will look a bit Dutch here yet!

Margriet made Leberkase for supper last night. Really good. She is getting the hand of this one pan cooking deal pretty well. We are progressing from the crackers and cheese kind of meals to real eating slowly. Yesterday with the water connected to the bathroom sink, our 5 gallon water containers left the kitchen. She gained a bit more counter space in the deal. It is even possible that Margriet will have a fully functioning kitchen before the snow flies this winter! Eh!

May 30, 2007 (5:31am)
56º F, Semi-overcast sky, Calm wind.

Good morning,

Interesting day yesterday. Most important task was to get a checking account set up for Margriet so her pension moneys could be transferred here rather than to the Kewaunee bank. That took some effort. We had to pick-up some things at the hardware store and see what was available at a small food production plant that had a "retail store." The bank was the last stop on our trip. When we got there, the gal we had to talk to was on lunch break, so had to come back in about ½ hour. Since we had some frozen food in the truck, we went home and returned. On the return we stopped for lunch, Polish sausage and kraut. When we did get to the bank for the second time, started to fill out the paperwork, discovered that some of the identification she needed was here - so home we went again to get them. Finally, after much fooling around, we got the job completed. Since 09/11 things have gotten a lot tighter with emigrants so we ran into the hassle of maiden name on some documents and married name on others. To top things off, the bank uses two separate systems to set up the accounts, I think for security reasons some how, and the two systems were not talking to each other! Some how, I think they more or less manually set up the account in the end and we left.

To ease some of the problems of the past with getting wire transfers, we chose a bank chain instead of a smaller local bank. The local bank in Kewaunee had to work though another bank to get the transfer processed. This is eliminating that extra step. A couple of times, Margriet’s funds got "lost" for a time at the second bank level. So we now have a stage coach in our life, since it is the Wells Fargo Bank in Crystal Falls. We’ll see how it rides.

The food processing plant we stopped at, makes pasties, mock chicken legs, and bulk potato sausage. We picked up some pasties and chicken legs to try. The prices are very reasonable and we have something like six meals in the freezer for $6.00! The potato sausage comes in a small foil baking dish that only needs to be put in the oven for an hour or so. Margriet has already figured out a couple of ways to prepare it, so expect we will be picking up some in the near future.

Crystal Fall’s main street is torn up with a new sewer/water construction project and will be for most of the summer at least. I am remembering the days at my store and Dale’s when we went through a reconstruction of the highway in front of the store. Not a good time for businesses. It must be a rather expensive deal too, as the main street is a rather steep hillside. The detour is an adventure too. Main street is really the only wide street in the area, at least wide enough to handle the big logging trucks. Truck traffic is detoured to a different route. Bet the folks living on those streets are thrilled! While the detour eliminates all through traffic on main street, they are only tearing up a block or two at a time and putting down a temporary blacktop over what is finished. Most of the businesses are accessible by car most of the time. It still will affect business, but much better than tearing up the entire street and making it impossible to drive on for a long period of time.

We found the ride to the hardware store in Iron River is shorter if we go through Alpha than through Crystal Falls, much prettier and fun to drive too. Needed to pick up a tail piece for the bathroom sink. Got it installed and it held water in the bowl just fine. When I opened the drain to let the water out, there was a leak. The joint between the cast connection and the tail tubing, leaked! Someone missed a step or some such at the factory. So .... today I will take it back and try to get a new one, hopefully one that doesn’t leak.

I need to put some of the water piping behind the water heater in the bathroom. It was full, so I couldn’t move it. Attached a hose to the drain, put the other end into the shower, and opened the drain valve. After about half of the tank was empty, there was some water appearing from beneath the shower pan! Anything else going wrong with the water system. Running out of parts to the system that have not been replaced! After some investigation, it think the leak is from the drain to the PVC joint. Guess that will be my next repair before hooking up the lines to the kitchen sink and the shower. Sure would be nice to have water everywhere, but only where we want it!

I did call the phone company to get the lines straightened out and this house’s phone operating. I got a royal run-around and they want another $100.00 to correct their mistake! It costs that much to have a man come out to do it right! I talked to three different folks and all told me they could only do it this way and the cost is my responsibility. Two of the folks said noone was sent out on the two previous scheduled appointments, even though I was told to be here and wait for them all day between 8:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M.! I really don’t understand the deal and will be following up with complaints to AT&T as well as the State/Federal regulatory agencies involved. I am really grumpy waiting two weeks for the phone to be hooked up.

I also called the ISP to see what was up on that front. Unfortunately I called after all of the tech’s had gone home for the day. The gal answering the phone didn’t know the results of if someone had been out here. She would be back at work at 11:30 A.M. this morning and I should call then. I will do and hope we can get something hooked up soon.

Seemed like yesterday was a day of one step forward (checking account) and two steps backward (plumbing and phone). For the most part it seemed like I could have stayed in bed!