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Old 03-06-2014, 11:47 AM   #561
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I wish the doctors could fix your back as well as you can fix/remodel a room!

Despite it all, though -
you are amazing!
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Old 03-09-2014, 12:05 PM   #562
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you are amazing!
Flattery will get you everywhere (almost).

Mudroom progresses—cabinets painted. The surface came out rough instead of smooth. This was after buying a mohair roller that is supposed to provide a smooth surface. Maybe it was the paint—we used Valspar satin instead of semigloss. The solution was to lightly wetsand it with 600 grit paper. That helped a lot. Since we'll be painting the rest of the cabinets in the kitchen proper, we're not sure whether we want to get semigloss for that, but at more than $30 a gallon, maybe not.

Barb is a good painter, so I did carpentry details while she painted. My arm is shot (tendonitis, scars on ulnar nerve and something is worn out in my wrist) so painting hurts a lot. An elbow brace and wrist brace keeps it operating, but painting is just too much. I put in beadboard in the space next to the cabinets where the bench will go and it looks great. We got the maple for the bench, hooks for coats and hats, will use some extra maple a friend gave me for the hooks, started making a countertop and picked up some tile we needed to make the countertop surface. I realized when I moved the receptacle I put it in a little low, but I can make the backsplash just fit. When you make it up as you go along, sometimes this happens. I hope we can finish this next week and move on to the hallway.

It is springlike here, making me itch to travel even more. But Colorado can fool you and months of winter may be ahead. Since we prefer to shower with water instead of sand, we need lots more snow. Buyers aren't out buying yet—hope they come soon. We really, really want to finish our move and can't do that until we have a contract on the "old" house and we are pretty sure the deal will work.

I have to start thinking about work on the trailer for the travel season. The fridge was acting up last year and I may be able to remodel a house, but RV fridges are intimidating.

Gene
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Old 03-24-2014, 08:13 PM   #563
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We didn't finish it on time because no project comes in on time and under budget. The bench is built, cabinets painted and hardwared, beadboard done, and tiling is progressing. Being a complex pattern in a small area, this is taking a lot of time and I hope to finish the tile tomorrow. Grout later, do some paint touch up and move on to the next big thing (the hallway).

Thinking about where to go in May (wedding anniversary #26 at end of April, Barb's birthday and anniversary of the day we met #28 are in May). Denver is a thought—we could go like tourists and see things we've never bothered with because we lived nearby. I guess everyone is stoned now and there are munchie carts on every street corner. By May they'll all be running around naked.

People are starting to look at houses in our price range. We had 2 showings (can't remember the last one before) a week ago and the big issue was they wanted a one story house. So did we when we bought it, but there were very few one story houses around. Those guys will buy them up quickly and then we are hopeful for a sale soon for two wonderful stories!

I had the cysts that had filled up with fluid drained again a week ago and so far things are good. Another week and I'll probably know if it will work longer this time than last time. The doctor doesn't seem to think it will work, but it is a lot less invasive than surgery. If it doesn't work then I have to do some intense medical research to decide what to do next. I wouldn't opt for surgery until fall anyway. Why waste the summer?

Maggie, hope you're doing well.

Gene
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Old 03-29-2014, 11:47 AM   #564
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We had another showing yesterday, but I found out later the people probably could never qualify for a loan. But that's the 3rd in 2 weeks. Someone will qualify and fall in love, soon I hope.

We're still trying to figure out where to go in May. Moab is close and maybe that's the place to go. I wish I could tow the trailer with an FJ Cruiser, because that's the vehicle for exploring the backcountry, but we'd destroy it towing such a heavy trailer. 20 years ago we explored Canyonlands, Arches and all the surrounding backcountry. Canyonlands may be my favorite national park. There are a lot more rules there now because it got so popular, so I'm glad we did it long ago. I'm not sure what we would do now.

Below is a photo of the mud room section of the kitchen/garage hallway. We've started with the preparation of the doors for the center hallway which connects most of the rooms on the main floor. Two are sanded smooth and polyurethaned on one side, the other side and casings next week. We'll start finishing the 1x4 for baseboards and ceiling moldings too. And pull off all the old trim, remove old doors, and do some finishing touches on the mud room.

Five more days and no evidence the cyst that was drained for a 2nd time has filled up again. First time I had this done in January, I suspected a problem by now. The other cyst is still good. My back is a mess anyway with deteriorating discs and arthritis anyway—but I get along and hope to be able to for a long time to come. If we can sell the house soon, I am looking forward to one or two real trips by late summer and into the fall. I am hungry for travel. I also have to deal with a fridge that was working intermittently last year. There's some other things that need some work, but nothing urgent.

Gene
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Old 03-29-2014, 11:51 AM   #565
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Hang in there. It will all work out eventually, I hope. Jim
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Old 03-29-2014, 05:50 PM   #566
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Hang in there. It will all work out eventually, I hope. Jim
I'm hanging (not literally). Thanks Jim.

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Old 04-05-2014, 09:07 PM   #567
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According to the WSJ yesterday, your neighbor Joe Cocker and his wife put their 16,000 square foot, 240 acre property on the market for seven million. Should create some interest in Crawford properties!
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Old 04-13-2014, 06:31 PM   #568
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According to the WSJ yesterday, your neighbor Joe Cocker and his wife put their 16,000 square foot, 240 acre property on the market for seven million. Should create some interest in Crawford properties!
They can buy ours and 5 or 6 others and have as much space for a lot less money. Then when the guests get up early and want breakfast, you won't be disturbed. The Cockers are going to build a smaller house nearby, but they could just buy ours. I'll have to ask their realtor about that (everybody knows everybody in a small town).

We lowered the price on ours to fit into another price category. More than 90% of buyers now research on the internet before they contact a realtor. You can limit your search on price to $25,000 increments, so it hopefully it is better to be the highest priced one in a price category than not be seen at all by people who cut off the search at that price point. I guess it makes sense.

After a string of showings, it now feels so quiet. I hope it picks up again soon. We have painted the main hallway and removed all the old molding in the new house. Doors are finished and await installation. I started finishing (sanding smooth, then 3 coats of polyurethane, each one sanded very smooth) the wood for moldings and other trim. But a trip to Barb's parents tomorrow to celebrate her mother's birthday interrupts the process. I guess I'll get to sleep a lot and I need it. Lots of snow in the mountains and tomorrow's trip over the Divide should be interesting. About a foot of snow is forecast for Monarch Pass. A late start seems like a good idea to let the roads be cleared.

Looks like our usual May trip to Ouray will be in June so we can meet up with some friends. Do we summerize the Airstream in May and go somewhere or keep working on the new house? Moab comes up in my mind again and again, but we could stay at a motel, take the FJ Cruiser and go into the backcountry. We'd better make up our minds soon because it can get really hot there by late May.

Snowing here now. We had 1.5" this morning and it melted, now more wet snow. the worst thing about wet snow is that it screws up the satellite reception. Dry snow does not until it is 4 or 5" deep, but before that it falls off the dish. So we are watching a program late in the evening and the reception goes away. I have to put on a coat and hat and get the extended pole with a broom taped to it and wipe of off the dish—the dish is mounted on the second floor to miss the trees. The pole is hard to maneuver with one hand while I try to aim the flashlight up there. Snow is falling on my neck, melting and dripping down inside my shirt. The snow I wipe off the dish lands on my face. Makes me think giving up TV is a good idea.

Four weeks this coming Tuesday since I had the last procedure on my back and no nerve pain. It has been long enough so I forget about it for days.

Gene
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Old 04-27-2014, 02:24 PM   #569
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No showings lately on the Crawford house, more work on the new one. Now working on taking out old doors and installing new ones. One new southwest style door in, three old ones removed and waiting for new doors. Another old one still to be removed. The small door repainted and the trim around it replaced to blend better—used flat wall paint on it to make it disappear. We're sanding and polyurethaning 1 x 4 and 1 x 6 for baseboard, ceiling molding and trim around doors. We're trying to come up with something cool over the bedroom door. We looked in the architectural trim and accents sections of Lowe's, but didn't see anything that turned us on.

My back is not doing well again and I see the cyst-draining-doctor again this week to re-drain the right cyst—got 3 months out of that one. My left knee is hurting again and I see the knee guy also for a steroid shot. Too many doctors and dentists in my life. My right hip may be going bad—have to find a hip doctor next. Apparently orthopedists only know about a square foot of the body and then you have to find another orthopedist for the next square foot. Since seeing a doctor takes a lot of time (little of it actually spent with the doctor), I foresee a life of going from one doc to another every day.

I am fantasizing about traveling on the west coast. I need to see an ocean and heavy rain once a year and we missed out on both last year. I keep thinking Point Reyes and the coast highway. Gotta sell this house and start driving.

The people who own the mansion below us across the road are having a big 2 story garage type building put up. I guess it is for their big red water truck (18 wheeler size tanker). They may have a mansion, but we have a good well. They are also building roads into the sage that don't go anywhere. Will they put up condos? This is part of our entertainment—long lens on the camera works pretty well for watching this.

Next month we get overnight guests. The major ones are Barb's parents and aunt (average age about 91), so I get some rest while we show them around. Still haven't come up with anyplace to go in May and we probably won't. I have to get the fridge checked out in the trailer and do summerizing in the next few weeks. That may be enough for May.

Gene
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Old 05-03-2014, 04:09 PM   #570
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I had a cyst drained again on Thursday and feel much better. I hope this lasts longer (first draining, 10 weeks; other side on 2nd time, 6 or 7 weeks). I am becoming resigned to surgery someday, hopefully far away. The chances of the cysts staying quiet are not very good. I have to find out the recovery time for taking cysts out of a vertebra. I'd want to wait until late fall.

Work on the hallway with 7 doors is going well. One more door to install and I started on the trim around the bedroom door. I wanted to do something special over the door since it can be seen from the "great room" and should be cool. We looked at all sorts of architectural stuff, talked about all sorts of ideas, then thought about tile. We went to Lowe's and found some 10" x 3" bull nosed terra cotta tile. So I cut a dado (rectangular cut into wood) to set the tile into an 1 x 8 and it looks good over the door and only cost about $20. I'll make other for the bathroom door at the other branch of the hallway as soon as I change that last door. After that, moldings and trim, beadboard and on to the next room. And I have to put up a mica shaded lamp a friend made for us over the dining room table before Barb's parents' arrive.

It is getting time to summerize. I have to check whether the fridge is working and am hoping it does, but if it does, then I'll worry about when it won't. I think I'm going to have to have it checked either way.

And I keep thinking about the west coast and want to drive. No house showings since a month or so ago. Good numbers on jobs and factory orders may encourage people to look. Interest rates are stable and pretty low.

Gene
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Old 05-11-2014, 04:06 PM   #571
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We awoke to 1 1/2" of snow this morning. It melted off and we have had thunder, rain, snow, dark clouds, sun and fog today. More rain and snow later and temps in the 20's. Springtime is here.

Last week's showing did not happen as the showees got tired and decided they didn't want to look at another log house. From what I could gather, they want a very conventional suburban house on a flat lot but in a rural area where flat is relative term. Bummer.

The hallway is virtually finished—some polyurethane to apply in some spots. If I decide to put up ceiling molding, best to do it later when I do the "great room" so I can blend the moldings together. The photos do not show the tile above the doors well, so imagine terra cotta colored tile.

The 3rd photo is the mansion across the road and below us. It is a grey day, but the mansion compound looks just as bad in the sun. The mansion windows remind me of some sort of multi-eyed monster. The 2 story garage looks complete. It may be a metal building. The color and style don't match the mansion. There's a porch roof on the other side of the new garage and maybe some windows—we can't see that side from the road or our house. We still don't know what the roads cut into the sagebrush are for. I'm fairly sure we won't like it.

Barb's birthday in 10 days, our anniversary of 28 years together in 4 more, in-laws in 8 or 9 days, an overnight guest next week. Not the best time to start the bedroom remodel, but there are a bunch of small projects that have been delayed by winter or lack of interest that I can do in the next week.

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Old 05-11-2014, 06:03 PM   #572
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Beautiful carpentry, Gene.


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Old 05-11-2014, 09:10 PM   #573
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Maggie, thanks. A not too good photo can mask the worst carpentry mistakes, though I will say it looks pretty good, or at least better than the photos. It's a small space for all that naturally finished wood, so Barb suggested ceiling molding might be too much wood. I can put it off and we'll see.

I need to get to the window well project—clear high impact plastic covers to keep animals from falling in (when we looked at the house there were 2 dead rabbits in one plus mice), but allow people to get out easily in a fire. I've got to attach supports to the concrete foundation and bolt some hooks to the plastic to hold it down with bungie cords. One of the screens needs fixin' after the rabbits went nuts in there. And then put up a post in front with a solar LED light on top. Oh, finish another interior door for the bedroom. Maybe drill some more holes in the rear deck for drainage. Design a niche for the bedroom (the wall for the bed and 2 night tables isn't wide enough for a king bed, so I have to extend it with out it getting in the way) and we are discussing just what it will look like. And what do we put in the niche? We had a pretty good laugh about putting in electrified sex toys as a possibility, but I think we'll come up with something else. Tile will play a part, maybe. An easy couple of weeks.

Snowing for hours, though only a little is sticking. I've seen lots of snow in May, but not so much in this part of the state. I wonder how all the fruit orchards are going to do?

Back is holding up after last procedure. Knees hurt, but the one with the steroid shot is calming. I'm asking around about the best back surgeon in Colorado just in case, but so far not getting much info.

Glad to see you're out and about.

Gene
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Old 07-05-2014, 01:26 PM   #574
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Since I get questions about my back and the house sale, I thought after 2 months of nothing on this thread, to update.

We've had a number of showings in June, but no offers. We're taking care of the landscape and making little improvements. The realtor made a virtual tour which is being edited down from being too long. Ran some ads in a national magazine that targets people with some money and environmental interests. Some houses that have been on the market for as long as ours have contracts. People are looking for suburban houses with a first floor master bedroom. Ours has a different style and a second floor bedroom, but summer isn't over yet. But it is stressful taking care of 2 houses. Zillow gives weird estimated values on houses in rural areas because their computers appear to be set for suburban and urban areas where all the houses in a neighborhood are worth about the same amount, but in rural areas the housing stock is heterogeneous and computer programs that overly rely on comps come out wrong. This misleads people and hurts the values of higher priced houses, but there's nothing we can do about it.

The cysts in my lower back haven't gotten so bad since they were last drained that I can't get around, but it is not easy. I've seen a neurosurgeon who wanted to fuse 2 vertebrae and put in 2 screws as well as shave off some bone and remove the cysts. Long recovery—3-6 months.

Then I saw an orthopedic surgeon in Denver and he was sure he could remove the cysts, probably shave some bone and not fuse or use screws. Six week recovery. He assured me that when he has done this, the cysts do not return. The neurosurgeon had said the deterioration in my spine would cause new cysts to grow. We liked the orthopedist more. His explanation of the procedure was clear and he was a calmer person. Barb is a great help in this. Just like you shouldn't be your own lawyer because of your emotional attachments, a good friend may be more objective when listening to doctors about things we don't know all that much about. So, I take her advice after we talk it over and we almost always agree.

I'm getting another MRI in a few weeks to see if there are any changes since the last one in December. Then I see the orthopedist again. Doctors on the western slope don't like it when we go see doctors in Denver, but Denver docs often have much more experience at certain procedures because of the larger population. Docs in smaller cities have to do more different procedures and get less experience at any one of them. And like any metropolitan area, better professionals tend to congregate there, especially if there's a med school and teaching hospital. It is a pain to drive 255 miles to see a doctor, but this is too important to do otherwise.

We have finished the main floor bathroom (paint, moldings, different mirror, this one from Mexico). I am slowly finishing the paneling for the master bedroom—140+ 8' panels—sand smooth, polyurethane, wet sand, repeat 2 more times. I also built a storage closet in the workshop since no matter how big a room is, you still need more storage. We have a new door for the great room/back deck entry. We were looking for a front door, but found this patio door instead. It is a full light with an arts and crafts glass design. It has to be painted since it is a steel door—these are good doors, well insulated, but very heavy and you can't make them look like wood. The glass is the attraction though. We have to decide on an outside trim color and have jumped all over the color palette on this. We're still looking for a front door—fiberglass with craftsman design and a 1/4 light with a cool design you can't see through. You can get a steel door like that for less than $300, but no fake wood grain—that ends up costing two or three times more. There are door sales in the summer, so we keep looking.

There more summer stuff to do outside—properly installing window well cover (just held down with rocks now), drill more drain holes in the deck. The dining room light has been waiting on the floor to be installed for a year. I never seem to get to the bedroom except I'm down to about 20 panels to finish. I have to finish them so Barb can start painting the new patio door because I've been using the benches for the panels. I think I have enough space on saw horses for the remaining panels. Once that's finished, I have electrical work to do in the bedroom—switches and wiring for 3 sconces, install 3 way switches for a ceiling lamp, build a soffit, install a new door to master bath, change bedroom patio door (using the one presently in the "great room" which has a window, and remove the old base moldings. Then I can panel.

Surgery, even the outpatient type recommended by the orthopedist, means I will be grounded for a while and that may drive me over the edge. Yes, I like to read and do read a lot and there's always lots of stupids thing to watch on TV. But I like to move around, pick up things that weigh more the 5 lbs., and work on the house. We're trying to get summer things done now. And if we get an offer on the house, that takes a lot of attention and time—I fully anticipate surgery will bring an offer making me more crazy. I have to find out more about recovery and what it entails. Do I have to lie down most of the time for several weeks? Probably they want PT so you can be observed. How often can you sit playing on the internet? What they tell you is for a sedentary person who never exercises, so they recover slowly. I've come to peace with the thought of surgery—it has taken me a few months and bad and good advice from all over. It is clear that it doesn't always work and sometimes there are serious complications—infection, paralysis, death. An outpatient procedure means less trauma to my vertebrae, less chance of infection, shorter time under anesthesia, so that is very appealing. One of things that I've learned is that really good surgeons create the least havoc inside me and robotic surgery evens out the small twitches hands inevitably have.

I'm hoping to put this off until fall, but pain may increase at any time and move up that hoped for schedule. In the meantime, we're going to Jumbo CG on Grand Mesa for 3 nights next weekend. The fireweed should be blooming and we have a large quiet spot picked out. A good rest. I don't know if we go anywhere in August—lots of work to do, uncertain timing on surgery and I can't tell when my back may suddenly gets worse. Surgery in August could mean being recovered by October (for my birthday!) and a trip to somewhere. We sure like to make plans months out, so uncertainty is hard to handle, but we will.

The house sale feels more important (I'm a man, I can take any pain—who needs some stinkin' surgery?), but my back is at least as important. This all causes lots of stress on Barb and I don't want her to overdo it either. Lots of hugs and love help, but we are both tired of facing these challenges.

No choice but to move along and hope to make the best decisions. Just deciding the exterior trim color is difficult. I'm favoring terra cotta (not too orange or pink, not too much brown). I started with turquoise with terra cotta field color, but Barb suggested terra cotta with a tan field. I said ok, but now she's changed her mind. She's good with shades of color and how they match, but prefers less bold colors than I do. We'll work it out. Maybe I'll go back to turquoise and terra cotta as a negotiating position and then groan about my back for sympathy. Of course, I don't want to hear in 2 years, "I hate the colors!" The garage doors are bright white—we haven't agreed whether to paint them trim or field color. We've never had a house you have to paint before (always natural wood on exterior), so this is new to us. I wish we could change the green roof shingles, but they are 50-year shingles and I'm not touching them. I've learned to ignore them. I want shingles that are black in the winter to absorb heat and white in the summer to reflect it. I also want them to be free and install themselves. I'm not holding my breath.

With the loses some Forum members and our friends have faced recently, my problems seem small. I'd rather these losses hadn't happened, but they do provide perspective.

Gene
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Old 07-05-2014, 06:59 PM   #575
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But, Gene, the problems in our lives are the issues we face.....whatever they may be, they're ours, and affect us, worry us, stress us.

Sure would like to see you get that house sold and your back straightened out. Seems like it's all been dragging out way too long

My friend here in MN also has debilitating back issues, facing surgery once insurance will approve payment. And, arthritis in her hands so bad she can't lift anything heavy. Other issues non-medical, but worrisome and stressful nonetheless. In some respects, make my own problems this year seem minor.

Would seem that, if you try to be a good person and live an honest, productive life, things should be smoother. They're just not, for whatever reason.

Seems like there are always burdens to bear, for all of us, of one sort of another. I'm sorry for yours, and sorry for mine. If I could fix them, I would.

Hang in there, one foot ahead of the other, every day, doing your part, and trust that it will all work out however it is meant to.

You have friends here, you know. We listen to and support each other, good times and bad.

I'm pulling for you.


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Old 07-06-2014, 02:59 PM   #576
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Thanks Maggie. Seems like we all tell each other the same things and it is always helpful to hear them. I have one friend whose wife moved out 2 months and they are trying to heal; another whose son died in an auto crash just before Christmas and I keep in touch with the wife of a friend back east who died last October after what appears to be botched surgery (makes me nervous about surgery). Then there's the recent losses suffered by Forum members. We talk to the survivors the same way and they say the same things to us when we tell them about house selling, remodeling and back (and other medical) issues.

We are all in this together and helping each other through stressful times helps each of us. The "Golden Years" aren't always golden and as we age, we tend to need more and more help. Some people don't have anyone, or at least anyone who cares enough, to talk to and share with. So, we are lucky to have each other whether on a Forum or next door or thousands of miles away via e-mail or phone.

Spent some time this morning taking out deer fences around some of the more mature trees we planted more than a decade ago. We use fencing material attached to T posts to make about a 6 square foot box ("tree jail" as we call it) around the tree. Eventually, no matter what we do (ground cloth, wood chips) to prevent weeds inside, they grow anyway and the fence and tree make it hard to keep the area looking good. Removing a T post can be difficult, but I realized just digging down about 3 or 4" around the post and pouring water in the hole helps. The water lubricates the post so it can be pried out with a long shovel used as a lever against the post. Still takes some work, but only an Olympic weight lifter can pull these things out otherwise. If you don't put fences around young trees or bushes, deer sample the leaves and, in winter, the branches. If the deer don't like it (they usually don't; they are grass eaters) they spit it out and then may come back months later and try it again—deer are not too bright. They can denude the lower branches and even girdle the tree when they get really hungry and try to eat bark. Once the tree matures, they usually leave it alone. But then we wrap some fencing material loosely around the trunk to discourage them just in case the bark looks tasty after a hard winter.

It hasn't rained here in a couple of months except for one or two sprinkles. We irrigate the trees as much as we can with the water we have, but some rain would really, really help. Going for long periods without rain or snow is normal here, but it is always stressful when nothing falls out of the sky. A fair amount of snow and rain in late spring made for rapid growth for a while, but we need more now. Now the earth is starting to crack from drying out completely. I never thought I'd live in a desert. It doesn't look like the common perception of a desert—no sand dunes, but lots of trees and grasses plus sagebrush, but it fits the desert definition. Much of the west is a desert and we love the low humidity (except when our skin gets too dry), but anxiety about when snow and rain will return is the norm.

Gene
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Old 07-06-2014, 06:38 PM   #577
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Gene, use a high lift jack and a short piece of rope or chain to pull the T posts....rained a quarter inch on the fourth and again today.


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Old 07-06-2014, 07:29 PM   #578
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Originally Posted by Denis4x4 View Post
Gene, use a high lift jack and a short piece of rope or chain to pull the T posts....rained a quarter inch on the fourth and again today.


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Ditto that The ONLY way to go!


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Old 07-06-2014, 08:59 PM   #579
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I'm sure if I were taking out scores of T posts, that would be efficient, but for 6, we got them out pretty fast. Did you mean a bumper jack? I haven't seen one since my father's '85 Toronado. An engine jack? None around. Shovel and water easy to get.

Lots of clouds, some lightning, a little thunder, no rain.

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Old 08-23-2014, 06:05 PM   #580
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Rain and more rain—may be about the wettest August ever on the western slope. I kind of feel like I'm in the northwest, but a month of rain here is like a day or two there. To get a whole day of rain here is very unusual—we may get torrents for 30 minutes, drizzle on and off for half a day.

I've been busy trying to get as much of the master bedroom finished as I can before back surgery in 2 weeks. This is outpatient surgery to remove one cyst in the lowest vertebra. There was a 2nd cyst there, but it disappeared. That is very rare, but I'm not complaining. My leg pain gets better and worse, worse and better, depending on how hard I'm working. I am tired of this and hope things improve. The first surgeon we saw wanted to put in 4 screws, fuse 2 disks, trim off bone and change my oil and filter. He also seemed a bit hyper. He said if only the cysts were removed, they would come back. I did some research and the studies show a 1 to 20% chance of that. The studies with the most people had the lowest percent recurrence. I am told that surgeons in Grand Junction want to do more than those in the big city—whether it is because of inexperience or a need for more income, or maybe it is just a myth. Then we saw a surgeon in Denver and he said he had never seen cysts grow back. So I made an appointment, made arrangements with my internist for some tests beforehand and got lodging near the outpatient center. Then they switched my appointment plus never answered a lot of questions. I raised hell about that—they were very apologetic. Rescheduled, changed other things and got more time to finish the bedroom (figure I'll be lying around in it for a while). But we felt the surgeon was the right one for the procedure even if he's too serious, doesn't tell me much about recovery and works at a group where they screw up appointments and other stuff. The important thing is he good with his tools.

When the surgeon thought I had 2 cysts before he saw a 2nd MRI, he said the procedure would take 90 minutes. Maybe less now. No one tells me much about recovery except to say don't do this and that. No one tells me what I can do. The instructions about pre-op stuff from the doctor's group and the outpatient center are quite different—great communication. They all seem very inefficient. No wonder medical care in the US costs much more than anywhere else. It is supposed to take 6 weeks to recover. I may go nuts sitting around. I will finally finish Picketty's nearly 700 page book on inequality. It is pretty easy to understand for a book on economics (economic history so far) and fascinating.

It feels more and more like we've moved. We switched satellite TV to the new house and started taking our 21 plants. I don't know when the cat comes too. He will not like that at all if Barb can catch him and get him in a box. He's 14 and still semi-feral and very strong. We now spend 5 or 6 nights at the new house and 2 at the old one. There have been many showings, but people are very picky and we haven't found the right one. Styles have changed and many people want lots of giant windows and super-modern design. A cozy log home in a relatively remote area doesn't seem to have the appeal it did before.

We took one more trip to Grand Mesa quite a while ago and spend 3 peaceful nights there. Now we have to winterize the trailer—strange to do in August. Not being able to sell the old house plus my back has made it really hard to travel. But we've had so much time to move things in our pickup and SUV, we will save a lot of money on moving.

But the bedroom is past the halfway point. It took over a month to finish the panels so they would be ready to put up. They go up pretty fast, but the moldings take a lot of time. And the electrical work can be slow. I also built a soffit to frame one part of the room better and to relocate a light. Quite a change from tan drywall and plain white moldings. I hope to get one more wall done before I'm cut on. But next week we have to put in the window well covers, drill another hole in the back deck to allow water to drain better, winterize the trailer and cut the rabbit brush that is taking over the driveway. We also found a new door to the deck—wonderful Art Deco glass design. We wait for sales and one finally came on this one—we ordered it just as they discontinued the design. We also decided to replace more electrical receptacle plates with another Art Deco design and they just stopped making them. I ordered more from a company that still has them. Seems like we are going out of style again.

Maybe I'll remember to take some photos.

Gene
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