This Old House ~or~ Bob Villa's Nightmare

On August 1st 2003 Patti and I took possession of a 1600 square foot house in Lordsburg New Mexico. We were fortunate to have our offer of $50,000 accepted and we happily moved in. This house was built in 1949. It was a little bit smaller then, but over the years there have been a couple of additions that make it the house it is today. I have however learned that when you buy ANYTHING used you need to learn to be a handyman of sorts. Older houses require a little of attention every now and then, and of course Patti and I have our vision of what we want it to be... one of these days.

One of there days, we are going to put on a new roof. I have been up on that thing many times looking for the most logical route that water would take to leak into our bedroom. Sometimes I find it and sometimes it takes trial and error.

One of these days, we are going to get rid of our 1970 vintage shag carpet. Our carpet is a multi shade of browns and tans. Almost a camouflage pattern of browns. It made us very vigilant in Red's early puppy days, when looking for a warm surprises.

One of these days, we are going to paint the exterior and the interior. The interior could use it to make it brighter and more colorful on the inside. The exterior could use it for the same reasons and to seal some of the stucco repair that I have done and to seal cracks before water seeps in and damages the walls.

One of these days, we are going to get a new furnace. The one we have (no lie) has the date 1962 stamped on the top. It still works as well as I guess it ever did, but I don't think that efficiency was a big priority back then. Or rather I don't think technology was as advanced then as it is now, because it LOVES to burn gas.

One of these days, we are going to get a new cooling system. Currently we are cooling it with an evaporative cooler. It requires a lot of maintenance. I buy a new pump at least once a year, new belts at least twice a year, and a new motor...well this one has been going for 2 years (knocking of the closest wooden thing I can reach right now). The water here in Lordsburg has a lot of minerals and you would not believe the stuff that comes out of this cooler. It causes the pump to clog and burn up occasionally, especially if we turn it off for a few days. To keep the pump from doing this we tried not turning it off at all during the summer. OK... that has bitten us hard a few times. For instance when we went to Florida for two weeks, and came home to the pump over flowing onto the roof and causing some damage. It also flowed into the ceiling in our hallway so that when we came home from vacation, it looked as if we were going to Carlsbad Caverns with stalactites (minerals and drywall) hanging from the ceiling.

Yes, we are getting experience. Kinda like the experience Tom Hanks had in the movie "The Money Pit".

However, when we were looking for a house to live in, gasoline was about $1.50 a gallon. We were driving back and forth everyday from Silver City to Lordsburg. About 90 miles round trip. So there is a silver lining. Today it is $3.59, so the house is more than paying for itself in the gas money we are not spending now.

We tried to buy a different house prior to finding this one. The bank was in the middle of checking our credit and getting a loan together, when the owner decided not to sell right now. He was in Iraq at the time. So we made the offer for this one, not knowing that the earlier credit check made our credit rating points go down. We asked for a 20 year loan at 7% interest. Everything was a go until the bank called us in because the reduction in point did not qualify us for the loan that we had arranged for. Upset, we went to the bank to rearrange the terms finding out that the interest rate had fallen over night and that we would now be getting 3% interest for a 15 year loan, since we no longer qualified for the 20 year making our payments a little under $400 a month. Another silver lining.

Everything sort of fell together when we got this house, and I recognize the hand involved in the help. We have been in this house for 5 years now and in another 10 it will be ours lock, stock and barrel. We have made some changes and some improvements as we have gone along. Some of them out of necessity, and some just to make it ours. Most of all, despite the problems, the headaches, and the heartaches, it is home. We love it, and one of these days it will be ours, and it will be what we want it to be, but for now... it is sufficient, and we are happy.

How it looked when we moved in

Today

Ok... Time For Another Update Picture

Here is my eight month photo.

This is Patti one year out.

Not meaning to toot any horns but I did want to keep everyone updated on our progress.

Another Disney Malfunction

Here is a picture of Patti and Danneel in the tunnel incline on Great Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland. We were enjoying the ride and then all of a sudden it stopped right under the waterfall. The loudspeaker came on and told us to sit tight and they would be along in a few minutes. They told us not to move around in the cars until they were able to chain it down and immobilize the coaster and make it safe. We sat tight.

After a few minutes they turned off the waterfall. A little bit later some boys came along, chained down the coaster, and started helping people out from the front first. You can see in the picture that they are helping some people out of the cars in front of us. It wasn't that big of a deal, I mean how often are we able to see backstage Disneyland? We were using up some "Year of a Million Dreams" passes when the train broke down. Fortunately they gave us some replacement passes to get back on the train, after they finished fixing it of course. That was almost a year ago, but I figured what the heck it is a matter of interest that I could include on my blog.

Those dream passes were a gift from some castmembers that were passing them out as we were getting off an earlier ride on the same train. Patti was waiting for Danneel and I to finish the ride. When the ride was over I stayed behind to take a picture of the train, when I heard Danneel yelling at me to hurry that they were "passing out dream passes!" I had just got through telling Danneel and Patti to flirt with all the castmembers to get them to give us a dream. I was lucky they were running out of passes. We were able to get Patti a pass too calling her into the exit.

Dad's Napkin Art

That's it! Either we lose weight or get a bigger boat! THAT AIN'T FUNNY COME BACK HERE DOG! Job ain't finished until the paperwork is done.

I just wanted to include a couple of Dad's drawings on my blog. These are drawings that he usually leaves for the waitresses in the restaurants that he eats in. He does this art on his napkins and they love him for it. The boat one is my favorite.

Doggy update ~or~ Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?

Adieu Fido!!! The poster blitz worked after three days of wondering if I have accidentally stepped into another dog... he's GONE! His owner saw the poster called me up this morning and I took him his dog. He was a local truck driver who left that window down just a little bit, and Rover saw his opportunity to spend a night out on the town. I was just trying to make sure he didn't have to spend the night on the road. Well to make a long story short. Dog and owner are once again reunited. YEA!!!! Red hated him and was looking for his opportunity to get killed to death. This dog had no tolorance for any little dog syndrome and even bit Ari! I had made up my mind if I hadn't heard by Friday he was going to have to go the the animal shelter, but now I get to have a happy ending and Rin Tin Tin gets to go home. Aloha!!!

What Was I Thinking?

This evening Patti and I went out to dinner at the Flying J truck stop/restaurant, had dinner and were going to leave when we saw this dog. He was running around the parking lot dodging cars and trucks. Patti went in to have the clerk announce over the loudspeaker that a dog had gotten out of a car or truck and was in danger of getting hit. The clerk told Patti that the dog has been roaming the parking lot for the past 6 hours.

I was watching the dog and decided I couldn't leave him here to get killed, thinking about how I would feel if I had accidentally lost Ari or Red. The dog was frantically looking for something, I assumed it was food and tried to give him a piece of fish from my "doggy bag" (box). He sniffed it but turned his nose up at it. I figured he wanted water. I got a spare network cable out of the trunk and made a makeshift leash and walked him back to the car, and took him home. I set up a shelter for him in the back and Patti brought out some food and water. He attacked the water gulping it down. I took a couple of pictures and then made a "Found Dog" poster and took it out to the Flying J. I am praying that the owner will call the Flying J and there can be some sort of reunion, otherwise I don't know what I am going to do. For now the dog is safe and has shelter food and water. I guess for now that will do.

Patti Two-Shoes ~or~ It's Time to Wake Up For Work

These are the shoes I had to take to work so that Patti can choose one and actually wear a pair. Patti called me this morning before I headed off to work and asked if I would grab her one or the other of the above shoes because that was the pair of shoes she was wearing. She has been somewhat stressed and distracted with her new job and I guess it is finally showing in her apparel. I don't know why, she is performing her duties like she has been at her post for 20 years. She shows extreme confidence and everyone has noticed. Well at any rate she has come up with her Native American name... Patti Two-Shoes! Sorry honey I can't resist.

Back to the ol' salt mine ~or~ Am I smarter than a 5th grader?

Actually I am excited to get back to work this summer. We have had a great vacation season, and it is time to get back to work and earn our living. This year I am going to be at the 5th and 6th grade level after 11 years K-2. Last year I did do some limited 4th grade along with my K-2. This year it is mostly 5th and 6th with limited K-2 so I haven't left RVT altogether. GOOD THING TOO! I bought 14 of those RVT shirts... I gotta have a reason to wear them! R.V. Traylor Elementary is like home but I guess I am going to have to expand that idea to include Central Elementary. Its fine, I am excited to get started. I have the opportunity to work with some students that I haven't seen in a few years and keep them moving forward. It's going to be a good year!

Once again I am in the same building as Patti Jo. She is the secretary at Central. She has been at it for about a month and has hit the ground running!!! She is doing a bang up job and is well received among the teachers and staff. I will miss my lunch bunch at RVT, but they all moved away anyway. However with Patti here I may be able to sneak in a lunch with her occasionally, and that is always good.


Here is a picture of me and Patti last summer when we were in Nassau on the Disney Cruise.

U-Haul, I-Haul, We All Haul....

After a month of being tucked away in Danneel's garage, we attempted to get our broken car home. We were going to rent a U-Haul towing dolly and pull it home with our Dakota, but apparently the towing vehicle has to be at least 700 lbs. more than the towee vehicle. Sooooo after we got to Mesa, we had to rent a U-Haul truck as well. The fun part was getting to Mesa. Since we were going to be towing our car home with a truck we were picking up in Mesa we had to get there with help. We got help... we did a relay hitch a ride from Lordsburg to Mesa. Mom and Corky took us on the first leg to Pima where we met Timile for the second leg, who took us to Globe where we met Danneel for the third leg, who took us the rest of the way into Mesa. THANKS EVERYBODY!

Patti had a Dr. appointment with Dr. Simon in Phoenix so we figured we would kill two bird with one stone. We were on our way to Dr Simon's at 10AM when we got the call that he had emergency surgery and could not meet with us at the designated time. However, since we were from way out of town he arranged to see us when he was done at 2PM. Patti got to weigh in and has officially lost 140 lbs. since her surgery one year ago.