June 28, 2001 - Part 1
Well, plans change. At least we had a plan that we could change! We're often surprised by so many people who live without really having any plan about where they're heading. And I don't mean just the next leg of a trip, but for their lives. In our case, our plan to go to Nappanee, IN, to have the leak in the trailer fixed changed. Seems the first open date the factory had for us non-warrantee types was the last week in November. No way am I going to be in northern Indiana on purpose that time of year! The shop they recommended to us that was near them, was closed for this week, so we just decided to avoid the rain and head west. Actually, the leak is something we think we can fix ourselves by simply re-caulking some of the trim strips that have aged a bit. Stay tuned. As I write this, we're at Hart Ranch, Rapid City, SD.
Remember I said that Doug and Kerry had bought a house they planed to fix up? Well, on the left are a couple of the houses across the street from them, and on the right is their front porch. Yup, can't get any more "fixer-upper" than this.
The largest 4-legged member of the family, Maggie, turned out to be one of the mellowest dogs we've been around. And a Rotweiler that doesn't drool was a new one for us. She did like to lick the other two 4-legged members of the family, a couple of cats that seemed to enjoy the attention. And on the right is a bit of repair work that is waiting in the living room.
On the left is the bathtub that Doug painted, and the floor is only lacking the trim to have the bathroom finished. And then there is the kitchen. Well, we're just glad that Kerry & the girls are "flexible" about getting the house re-done. Doug is fully capable of doing it, and it's just a matter of time and money. Barb is still shaking her head, and while I am excited about the potential of the house, I'm glad I'm as old as I am. If I were younger, I'd be tempted to "help" with the re-model. Just too much hard work for this old boy I'm afraid, but we're looking forward to seeing the changes.
The wood used in building the house is exquisite, as you can see from where Doug skinned off some of the paint to check it out. And on the right, is a note that just cracked us up. "Dear Mom & Dad, Do not come get the dog, we are doing ane (sic) experiment!!!!! Love, Robin, Holly & Maggie" That would either evoke visions of terror, or knowing the girls and the laid back dog, you'd know they were just trying to figure out a way to get her to sleep longer in the mornings so they could too!
OK. Here's the real reason we came to visit before the girls came home from Alaska. So we could do some "puttering" in the yard. Doug is about 50' up the ladder with a chain saw, and I'm "holding" the darn thing while I pray.
It was refreshing to hear Doug using un-gentlemanly language as he sat up there with the wind blowing. Nice to know I'm not the only wuss when it comes to heights and such. He did say something about the tree being there for a very long time, and an additional 200 or so pounds shouldn't be reason enough for it to fall over now. And he was successful at cutting the limb he wanted, only it came down a bit too far from the house and landed on the ladder. Bent that fiberglass pretty good, too. I went partially up the ladder and shook it a bit to make certain it was safe for Doug to come down. It was.
A sigh of relief from everybody, as he's back on the ground again. And then Barb (who was manning the camera while all this fun was going on -- shades of knocking down outhouses at Avon Park!) saw where Doug had left a stump that had grown around the fence that used to be here.
Good shot, Barb! The limb (#3 of the 4 to come down) is on the left going down, and if you can see it, there is still sawdust in the air. The next limb to come down went its own way, took the ladder with it and hit the house less than 4" from their wonderful front window that looks original. 1898 was when the house was built, and it would have been a shame to loose the wonderful rippled glass. But there's Doug 35 or 40 feet up in the tree with no ladder. I laughed at him good for that, you can bet. And getting the heavy thing back up to him was no easy task, either.
Limbs are down, Doug's cutting them into bite sized pieces, and we're loading. I traded Barb jobs. She hauled trash and I took pictures.
After loading the pickup, it got emptied and the trailer from the shop came home to be loaded with the rest of the brush. Since Barb's smiling at me, I'm guessing it's OK for me to use the camera while she's hauling trash. On the right I'm at Doug's shop and there are a couple of cars waiting work A fully restored Model A on the left, and a T-bucket on the right, an excellent comparison of what to do with old cars.
Am I pleased with what comes out of the shop? Yup. The "purple" car has very subtle "ghost" flames, and you have to look carefully to see them. The helmets, tanks and fenders are jobs that are waiting to be picked up, and used as display in the meantime. There are probably 25 cars on the property in various stages of being re-built or built. 18 technicians full time, a bookkeeper, and a couple of part-time people. Pretty good for just a little over 2 years of effort.