Second Part

June 10, 2007 (6:05am)
54º F, Clear blue sky and sun, Dead calm wind.

Good morning,

A bit warmer this morning and the day is supposed to be also. It was a beautiful day yesterday. Sunny most of the day, but turned cloudy about sun down looking like it may rain. Never did though. The temperature remained in the mid 70's all day and we had a very nice S-SW wind all day until about supper time. The mosquitoes have been very rare here so far. Different than FISKLAND. There are wood ticks here and I find one out for a walk on my body almost everyday. Only had two that decided to dine on me, but got rid of them before they could really start their dining though. Don’t think I have seen more than two wood ticks at FISKLAND the decade we owned that place.

Our neighbor, John, who owns the land adjoining ours to the west, stopped over yesterday to introduce himself and say Hi. He is from central Indiana, about 75 years old, and comes up for a couple of weeks this time of year then a couple of months in the fall to hunt mostly. It sounded like he was a widower and is getting tired of the almost 8 hour drive to get here. He was born and raised here and graduated from the Alpha school system. He sure does like to talk and we got some of the details of life in Alpha when he was a kid. Lots of them. Interesting! Sounds like I was pretty close to right when I thought that Alpha had bee a rip-snorting little town in days past.

John also told some of the things the previous owner of Guds Nordtre had done. One really sore spot apparently was the building of the pole barn almost on the lot line between the two properties. It sits about 3 feet from the line. Don’t know what the distance is supposed to be, but suspect it is closer to 15-20 feet. It wasn’t so much what he said, but how he said it. I get the feeling that he still wished he had gotten Leo to move it rather than giving in and letting it stand. Would actually be nicer if it were off the line more. There is one tree that is on the boundary line and close to the pole barn I want to take down. It is dying and on John’s property. I told him I would like to take it down before it falls on the building. He had no problem with that, so it will be down before winter.

John did really care for Leo’s workmanship either. I have to admit there is a lot to be desired. He mentioned that Leo was not much of an electrician. I also agree with that. Every light switch has two wires going to it, doubling the necessary wire. Everything is on the wall surfaces too. Hopefully most of that will change. John also said that Leo ran some kind of a flea market from here for some years. Didn’t know where he got all of the new things he sold, but sure had a lot of it. That is the first we heard of that.

We stayed close to home yesterday and I did get something accomplished to show for it. As I indicated yesterday, I got the cold water hooked up to the kitchen sink. Also got the cold line into the shower (shower isn’t connected, but the cold water line is there) and most of the first hot water line to the bathroom sink. It will not be long before I can move the hot water heater back into place and hooked up again. Most of the piping needed to be put behind it is now complete. Sure am tired of working in itty-bitty places down between my ankles! It will be nice to have that finished. I did tear up my left shoulder trying to compress a ring on one connection above my head. At a weird angle and a way I could not get much leverage on the tool. It takes a lot of effort to compress the ring, even with much mechanical advantage of the tool. It happened just about suppertime, so quit for the day and popped a couple of pills. It feels some better this morning, but not right by any means. Probably will favor it some today.

I spent about half of the afternoon looking for the shower mixing valve we bought a couple of weeks ago. I turned this place and the shop upside down several times. Like it just levitated out of here somehow, or evaporated, or something. I finally found it in some welding supplies I had stored on one of the shelves in the shop. I have no memory of putting it there or why. After the hot water heater is back in place and hooked up, I will tackle the shower. Then we can really clean up, rather than just pits and possible, and maybe even go to church again. I find I am running short on ½" PEX Ells so will probably need to run into town to pick some up before completing that job. There is one tricky spot in hooking up the shower. I need to cross a hot and cold line. If it were inside the wall it would not be a problem, but out in the open it is a bit tricky to make it look neat too.

The dehumidifier has really dried out the basement of the main house. Most everything is pretty much dry that got wet in boxes too. All I have to do is to burn the boxes now. Margriet continues to empty and sort "stuff" in the boxes and finds some treasure in almost every one. It really is fun to watch her discover things from my past. Fun for me too. She also is washing some things out, but not in the bathtub, rather in the kitchen sink. Soon she should be able to do it in the Hobbit Hus with hot water - I hope.

4:47 pm.

The hot water manifold is in and charged! Also have minimal temperature hot water running in the bathroom sink. No leaks, at least none found. Discovered the faucet at the kitchen sink is also damaged and will need to be replaced. The cold water passes through the mixing valve and, fortunately, into the shower stall. I had the hot water piped that far. The leak would have drowned Margriet’s sink cabinet otherwise. I ran out of Ells before I could get the shower and the kitchen hot water completely hooked up. Have to get more tomorrow. Hope the hardware store has re-supplied since I think I took all of them last week. Once I can get the gas hooked up, we should have hot water in the Hobbit Hus. also need to replace the toilet yet too.

June 11, 2007 (4:20am)
54º F, Fog and getting light, No wind.

Good morning,

Went to bed a bit early last night so am up a bit early this morning. Looks to be another nice day a-coming. Weatherman agrees too. We had a sun shower yesterday a little before supper time. There were not all that many drops, what did fall were huge. Felt like golf balls as I went out to close things up.

The sun shower reminded me of Uncle Louie. When he was out in the field on the tractor and one came, he would stop and get under the tractor to stay some dry (no cabs on tractors back then). As soon as he could, he was back on the tractor heading home and then down to the lake to go fishing, Said the bluegills bit best after a sun shower and besides, the fields were too wet to work. Sounds like a good excuse to go fishing! I probably would have done the same and probably have, or at least something similar to go fishing or hunting.

First order of business to day is to call the ISP and see what is happening with that and when we will see them. After that we have some bank type business to do and some hardware store shopping to do. Depending on the results of the hardware shopping, either I will finish the piping and installing a new kitchen faucet, replace the toilet, hang the storm door, new electrical fuse box, or finish hooking up the LP in the Hobbit Hus. Not that I have shortage of things to choose from that needs attention, but there are a ton of other things needing attention too. Never a dull moment I would say.

I am surprised at the number of Christian radio stations here. There are about the same number as country western stations. Only one public broadcasting station though, from the University of Northern Michigan in Marquette. Yesterday we had a good selection of Gospel, swing, jazz, and classical music to listen too.

June 12, 2007 (4:42am)
52º F, Clear, Dead calm wind.

Good morning,

As you can tell, we have the internet again. First time from here. The guys finally came here about 11:30 A.M. and spent a couple of hours getting things installed and hooked up. I can’t believe how have this is compared to the old barb-wire system at FISKLAND. They took an extra amount of time since they didn’t have one part, the router, along and had to drive to meet one of the other techs in Florence to pick one from his truck. This also required a different antenna than first thought and they didn’t think they had the right one for this location.

When they were out to see if a signal could be accessed, they assumed we would be in the main house. This house presents different obstructions, trees, than the other so are using the Crystal Falls tower rather than the closer Alpha tower as they originally had planned. Either way it really works well. The antenna looks very much like a very narrow and much shorter TV antenna. It sits a foot or so above the roof of the lean-to that I am taking down, attached to the Hobbit Hus. If the lean-to were not coming down, I would be worried about snow buildup on the roof causing problems. Bet it will be a neat perch for birds too.

The router we chose can be used either for hard-wired or wireless operation. For now, we are using the wireless feature, but eventually at least Margriet’s computer will be hard wired - I think. Don’t believe her’s has a wireless capability. Now we have two more black boxes (that really aren’t black) sitting in the room lit up with some lights blinking at me. Pretty soon we will not need a lamp or other light in the room with all of the glowing green, red, and blue lights on!
After the installers left, we finally did stagger into town to do some banking and visit the hardware store. Have to go back to the hardware store again though. We picked up a new faucet for the kitchen sink and when I took it out of the box, discovered that the cold water connection to it didn’t have any threads cut into the fitting. Not too sure how that was missed, but it was. Sure am glade I checked it out before removing the old one! I also picked up an electrical main disconnect and discovered I had picked up the wrong fuse for it. Have to trade that one in too.

Yesterday, before Margriet got up, I started to cut some of the storage bin racks apart in the shop. Couldn’t make any noise in here, so decided to do it out there. It will be a tough project as they are welded together in places it is hard to get a cut-off wheel into. One of the pieces hung out from the rest and I walked into it. It extended out about eyeball level and it was a good thing I had a hat on, as I was looking down at the floor and not at it. That was the first part to come off! The shop lean-to, soon to be wood shop, is becoming a storage place for all of the pieces I don’t want in the shop. As soon as the water and gas problems are solved/finished, I will have to get to work on the shop in earnest. Need to have some place to build/make some of the changes for the Hobbit Hus and the main house. Building the wood shop should be fun and some work. First time I will be able to do it right, rather than a make-do deal of some kind.

Margriet was finally able to unpack her media center she brought from Enschede. The folks who wrapped it sure did a good job and it took a while to get all of the paper and tape off of it. It looks kind of forlorn though with not much media on it! Only a boombox there now and we don’t have a large TV, so expect it will not be filled anytime soon. In all of the moving and packing, we have only lost one glass and a couple of jars to breakage - it think. That is a pretty good average for all of the times things have been handled and/or moved from place to place.

Hope to get the remainder of the plumbing finished today. Not too sure though since I emptied the hardware store’s supply of PEX Ells and I think I may be two short. Then I can install the new toilet and finish bringing the gas line into the Hobbit Hus. That has been on hold while I got the water leaks plugged. Margriet sure would like to use the stove. Using the new electric frypan is getting old for her now. Still, we have been eating pretty much like a king and queen at this place. The cook we have is a pretty darn good one!

Guess it is time to get this published on the blog and time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris ><>