Thursday, June 10, 2021

Set Backs, Discouragement and Perseverance

Hi Friends,
How are you? I hope you are well.


It's inevitable that there will be things that occur with any new property or project that set you back. If you have been following, you will know that we hit the ground running with our new house out in East Texas. I fell quite in love with the place. Bill was in love at first sight but a honeymoon can't last forever and both of us got discouraged and disillusioned but for separate reasons. 



Let's talk about Bill's set back. He's been heavy into demo in the Quonset hut. The more he took it apart, the worse things looked. There is the shed portion which we call the cabin. Then there is the carport structure we call the Quonset hut. I think metal building sales sites call them Quonset huts even though old military Quonset huts were more rounded. I don't know why this seems important but I felt the need to clarify for some reason. Quonset is capitalized because they were named after Quonset Point where they were manufactured. Now you know! 




The kitchen and bathroom were in the Quonset portion. The cabin had a closet and the living room. Bill has demoed the kitchen, the back exterior wall, the bathroom, the walls separating the bedroom and bath from the kitchen, all the sheet rock, insulation, the tile floor and all the beadboard mess that you see in the image above. He has made numerous trips to the dumping station. The other night we had another rain storm blow through. We have had so much rain in the last month it is almost Biblical. I keep wondering where we are supposed to meet the Ark.  
Long after the rain stopped, water was still dripping through the metal roof. Drip, drip, drip. It was crazy. We knew it had been leaking in several spots because of mold on the floor. We didn't think that it was still leaking. 


He has it stripped down to the metal structure. I thought it could be saved but Bill knew it couldn't. He was going to make this into his shop but now he's not so sure. The price of lumber is a factor but essentially, this is a metal carport cover so it may be used for storage. He's been exhausted and discouraged but he has rallied and is ready to finish the last few bits of demo. 
He needs to chip up some uneven concrete and then he is done. 


We're left to decide what to do with the nice part which is currently filled with any salvageable lumber. 


I'll let you know what we decide to do with this space. Maybe this could be the workshop?  

Now for my issue.  


I love foraging in our woods for wild flowers. Exploring our property during each season has been a delight. A few weeks ago, I had two ticks on me when we got back from a walk in the woods. I haven't been in the woods since. I can deal with my far share of creepy crawlies but I do not like blood sucking, illness borne insects. 
Nope. 
Bill, being the problem solver that he is, tried to brainstorm though my instant aversion to our East Texas paradise. He was discouraged. I was discouraged. We were tired. I mean, we have a new baby that is keeping us up at night. 


She sleeps great during the day, however. 

I want to be outside. 
The new mower is fun. It takes about an hour or so for me to mow all of the yard. 


My potager is thriving in all the rain and I want to enjoy puttering in this area. 


We have had a bumper crop of green beans. 


I am not going to let a few ticks keep me from enjoying the yard. I may stay out of the heavily wooded area this summer but I'll be out in the yard. 
What is going well? 
Bill made me a tuteur for the cucumber bed. We need to pick up the finial from Home Depot to finish it off. 


The zinnias will explode in bloom in the next week or so. We're looking forward to that. 


The pest control company has not been able to exterminate for the ants because of all the rain. 
Fortunately, they aren't eating anything that I can see. 
The front landscape is settling in before the heat gets here in earnest. 
We got new gutters so the trough caused by the rain will even out eventually. 



The edging in the above image needs to be moved to discourage driving on the grass. The grass is filling in though. Bill was very opposed to people using the front lawn as a circle drive. The edging invites drivers in my opinion so it must be moved. 


The back yard is coming along. The bed to the right of the door is planted. 
The stock tank pool pump finally arrived so we can fill the pool. We'll need it once the rain stops. 


There was spirea and propane tank right outside the back door. We had the propane company move the tank. We still needed to move the spirea. The image above shows the spirea in its new spot next to the cabin. I had a hose with a timer on it for a few weeks. With the rain it is doing fine so far. It's always a risk moving a big shrub during the season but we really didn't want to wait until December to move it. 



It's so much better. The brown circle in the image above shows where the spirea was. 
It shouldn't take long for the grass to fill in. 


I love how the backyard is coming together. 

Here is a before shot. 


Another shot after the house was painted but before we moved the tank. 


Bill made a darling birdhouse for the old satellite dish pole. 



I said to Bill that there will be set backs and disappointments but it's all worth it. 
We rally and persevere with the next challenge. 
It's just part of it. 
Thanks so much for stopping by. 
Katie 

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