Lots of Projects and Late Nights

We started April off with hiring José to move dirt from one side of the property to the other side because the wall was raised two blocks and we needed more 'foundation'. Then we taped all the seams on the shed trailer and Larry finished it off by painting two coats of sealant. It looks really great and we should not have any leaks for a long time!

              Larry raking the dirt José brought from the west side to the east side

          The roof of the trailer shed with the tape over the seams

 

 Larry painting the trailer shed roof

The morning sun still comes in and heats the side of the MH especially my side window so Larry fixed the outside screen we've had for years and put it over my side window. It does make a difference!

                         The screen Larry fixed over my side window

Larry made a rack for his extra long metal and moved the deck box beside the rack and it holds all his 'little' extra metal for his many projects. The place is starting to look more organized.

              The rack Larry welded together and the second deck box in its new home

The next project was two super bright LED lights for the RV cover, one over the Man Cave and the other over the MH. They are so bright you cannot look at them, much like the sun! It will allow Larry to work outside this summer at night when it should be cooler as he is happiest when he has 'projects'.

                         New light over the Man Cave

                   Showing how bright the new light is!

Since we were unable to find anyone to fix the boo-boo on the gutter (there were only a few screws actually holding anything) we ended up renting a scissor lift so Larry could repair the gutter properly. We had to deal with wind issues so ended up working until 11 or 11:30 PM the three days we had the lift. Along with repairing the gutter, Larry also hardwired the light over the MH using the lift. Since the light over the Man Cave can be reached by Larry standing on top of the Man Cave, he has not hard wired it yet but is working on it as I write. Since Larry was not able to reach the entire gutter via the scissor lift, he had to use the ladder to reach the west end of the gutter. When the wind died down after dark, he ended up painting the gutter until nearly midnight April 23. I guess the old adage “if you want something done right, do it yourself” holds true in the case of the gutter! At any rate, it is finished and done right now!

                         Larry working on the gutter

         Painting the gutter after dark since the wind had died down

         Hard wiring the light above the MH with the lift

                              Hard wiring the light over the Man Cave

                        The switch for the new light on one of the poles

We ordered sheep skin captain chair covers several weeks ago and they showed up April 23 so I put them on. They are very comfortable!

                                    Before the seat cover

                          With the new sheepskin seat cover

In between all the projects, we did make several visits to the doctor, dentist and chiropractor plus played Train with Vince and Dawn most Friday nights.

Easter Sunday we did manage to get to church and then went out for Chinese. We haven't missed a Sunday yet because we watch the service on TV but it did seem strange actually going out as it has been a long time since we last went in person.

Still rearranging

The 3rd of March we finished the second shed and then set about to put together and install the shelving we purchased from Home Depot.  That was a job!  Next I ordered several enclosed totes from Walmart and we also went to Target to get two clear drawers for my clothes in the motorhome.  Then we began filling the sheds and are still  making changes.  Unfortunately there are still items we cannot find even though we have looked and looked.  It is amazing to me how we can lose things in such a small space!

          She and He sheds with one of the deck boxes between them

We also ended up with two Deck Boxes to put our hoses and other items from the water bay into and one is between the house and the motorhome.  The other one hasn't found a permanent home yet (this one shown).

Larry began taking the Hydra-Lift off the MH on the 15th in preparation for taking it to Mesa, AZ for our buyer.  The buyer and his son came over on the 16th to help load the Hydra-Lift on the rented trailer and then the 17th Larry took it in the trailer to Mesa where he met the buyer.  Since he was gone the entire day, I was able to get a lot of deep cleaning done while he was gone.

                HydraLift on the back of the MH 

                     Hooking up the HydraLift

                   The HydraLift was finally off

   Our buyer and his son helping load the HydrLift onto the trailer

Stacy from AZ Awnings R Us came out and replaced the torn slide toppers on March 23 but I didn't get any pictures as it rained off and on for the entire time.  At one time it was really raining hard and they had to get under the the side of the house to not get drown.

Larry replaced the resin in our water softener and then reworked all the fittings beside the house to our water bay.  So nice to have soft water again!

      Setting up the water softener and new carbon filter

The Deck Box between the house and the MH with our hoses and other items stored away

The month of March was a crazy month with yo-yo weather, cold then hot, then windy, then cold, then windy and now today, April 1 it is HOT at 91º.  Hopefully this hot spell will be short lived but if not we are hoping the RV cover will help us stay cooler than last year.  We still have lots of rearranging to do and don't want hot weather.

Lots of Activity!

   

After months of inactivity, February was the month of much change. Feb 4 APS came out setting off the final phase of our project so we ordered 16 ton of rock delivered on Friday Feb 5. We quickly realized we could not move it all in many days so Larry called about renting a Bobcat and we were very blessed as he called at 2 PM and we had the Bobcat delivered by 3PM! Normally everything is already reserved on Fridays for the weekend since the rental place is not open on the weekends the equipment is for all weekend so that's three days of use for the price of one day. With Vince and Dawn's help we were able to get all the rock spread by Sunday afternoon AND were able to move the motorhome back onto the pad under our new RV cover! I'm SO glad to be back 'in place' and out of the front yard!! Monday morning the rental place called to see if we still wanted them to pick the Bobcat up and that it would be around 1 PM before they would come so Larry decided to rent a trailer from Home Depot to take the yard trash (cut from around the east wall with the Bobcat on Sunday and racked into a pile) to the dump, saying loading the trailer with the Bobcat would be easier than doing it by hand. The rental fellow arrived early as we were still using it to load the trailer and he asked if he should come back later and we'd be charged for an additional day. We said no he could have it. Then he did a wonderful thing for us. He got into the Bobcat and finished loading the trailer and then drove off with it to load it up for return! We thanked him many times. Next it was off to the dump where we waited in line for 45 minutes just to get in. Then we had to unload the trailer which was a job and a half. We were so tired as we had worked all weekend and then Monday morning without breakfast getting the debris out of the trailer was almost more than we could do. All of a sudden two fellows from the landscaping company to the right of us who were also emptying their trailer came over with a blower on one fellow's back and the other had a broom and they finished cleaning out the trailer for us!

                                                        Rental trailer at the dump

                                                            Backing in the Motorhome

                                                                   Loading rock

                                                Rock spread on the RV pad

                                Dump truck unloading the 16 ton of rock

                                              Beautiful AZ sunset!

How very wonderful of them we couldn't thank them enough and when I went to get them some money from the truck, they were gone having left immediately after their good deed. As a result of their good deed we were able to get the trailer back within four hours so didn't have to pay for a full day's rental. Another big Praise the Lord!

Once again Larry removed the tires from his Man Cave so it is easier for him to get in and out of it and he bought cinder blocks to put around the bottom of the trailer (Man Cave) to help keep the wind out as well as critters.

                  Covered tires mounted on front of the Man Cave

              Putting the removed tires on the rack

I got ambitious and washed the MH using waterless car wash since it was so yucky and discovered in a wind storm Saturday Feb 21 both slide toppers had ripped so we are getting an estimate to have them repaired.

We also ordered two sheds, his and hers, and Larry picked them up Thursday Feb 25 and we finished putting one of them together Saturday February 27. It took us two days and was a challenge but we should get the next one done faster since we now know what NOT to do!

                                  One shed finished

                 After the first day

                       Getting the shed pieces ready

Also on Saturday the 27, our Granddaughter Cerét, her husband Alen, Calvin, Anna and niece Millie (three of our great grandkids) came for a visit. It was great seeing them again and meeting Anna for the first time.

                       Alen, Calvin and Cerét

               Anna in the toy box

                     Dawn, Cerét, Larry and Anna

                           Larry, Calvin & Ellen

                                  Great grandma and Millie

February is a short month but we really got a lot done and are so grateful for all the help and are thankful to God for His provisions and love!

          Ending with another great AZ sunset

We are making progress!

 

Friday January 1 the RV cover was finished and Saturday Jan 2 the solar fellows showed up and they finished putting up the solar panels on Monday January 4 but that doesn't seem to mean much as here we are at February 1 and all the inspections still are not done! Perhaps by March 1 we will be back in place and everything will be done??

                                                 Putting in the inverters for the solar

                                       Lift to get both the panels and the workers on the 16ft high cover

                                Workers on top of the cover getting ready to put the solar panels on

                                                          Solar panels

I met with a friend for lunch on Jan 7 at Cracker Barrel and learned on Jan 9 that she had been exposed to someone with Covid so we cancelled our appts. until I learned on January 12 that my friend had tested negative. Better safe than sorry.

January 14 we once again became AZ residents getting our AZ drivers' license and registering the car. We had to have an appointment due to Covid and picked at great time of 1 PM as we had no wait. There was a line when we left almost an hour later however.

Larry made arrangements to have a steel gutter made for the RV cover and it was delivered January 18. Larry worked on the gutter sealing it and then painting it. Unfortunately we were not able to get it up before we had quite a rain storm on Monday the 25^th. We even had hail and a bit further north of us snow! Larry was able to get piping in from the house to the back of the property to help keep the water from the roof off of our RV pad and it worked well.

                                               Gutter for the back of the RV cover

                           Larry on the lift putting in the pipe to take the house rain water to the backyard

                                                        Hail on the driveway

I had a wonderful birthday as Todd came for a three hour visit and then the gutter fellows showed up and it was installed rather quickly and Larry was SO relieved to get it up finally! We went to Olive Garden for supper. Larry worked on getting the pipe from the newly installed RV gutter over to our rain harvest tank and finished Thursday at dark the 28^th.   On the 29^th we were able to 'test' the gutter and pipe as we had an afternoon of steady rain and it did a good job as we now have water in our rain harvest tank. That night we went to Red Robin with Dawn and Vince to celebrate my birthday, returned to their place to play Train and have angel cake and ice cream. The 30^th we received a deposit on our HydraLift from a fellow from Tacoma who has a Harley and loves to ride and wants to see all of America and is buying a motorhome for that dream to come true. It really was a full exciting week! 

 

                                                   Drain pipe into the rain harvest tank

                          Larry using the backdoor of the trailer to put his ladder on to reach the top of the cover

                                          Backing the trailer into place under the new RV cover

                                         Drain pipe from the new gutter to the rain harvest tank

Sunday Jan 31 we moved big rocks (that we put in four years ago!) from beside the pad to the front beside the driveway to help stop erosion and make way for smaller rocks beside the MH so they will be easier to walk on. We both are extremely sore and are looking forward to our afternoon appointment today with the chiropractor.

                                                 Where we removed the rocks

                                                                 Size of the rocks

                                                        Another beautiful AZ sunset!