Daytona Beach FL

Our 19th wedding anniversary was the 6th of December, and we decided to book a few days in Daytona Beach FL. I wasn't able to get away from work until the Wednesday the 15th. We drove to the beach and it had been very cold anyway. On the 16th it started to warm up, and we got some time on the beach. On the 17th, we went to the lighthouse at Ponce Inlet. Then we spent the rest of the day at the beach reading books and maybe a little RUM. I love the fact that you can drive right on the beach. Tailgating at the beach is great! The weather called for rain on Saturday, so we decided to go to Orlando to the Epcot center. Neither of us had ever been there. The best part for me was the hydroponic greenhouse. They farm beneficial insects to use in the greenhouse.There was 150lb pumpkins, and a tomato plant that gave over a 1000 lbs of tomatoes. That is from one plant. I have attached a few pictures.

Flooring

We started Thursday off putting down the Hardy-Board underlayment. I just glued it down with thin set, right over the old tile. I ended up 2 pieces short, with nothing open on the Holiday. I finished up with the underlayment on Friday and started laying tile. We got the dinning area laid by Friday evening. Saturday we went to the Kingdom Hall in the morning, and continued with laying tile Saturday afternoon. We got the kitchen area and pantry, with the exception of the area under the refrigerator, laid. Sunday we completed the tile and most of the grouting done. We had the refrigerator pulled out and grouted behind it. We now only have the area in the kitchen by the sink and stove left to grout . I will have to get new thresholds, and shoe board and we will be finished. On Saturday evening, Jerry Bragg passed away peacefully at his home with his family by his side.

Floor Tile

I bought the tile for the kitchen and breakfast nook after work. It is still in the back of my PU. I will try to get as much done as possible over the 4 day weekend. We will see!!

Steve's Remady

I talked to my brother on the phone a little while ago. I guess he will get to retire before me. Darn! He thinks it will be in June. I will probably go till July. See my July 7th post. This post is of Steve when we were in Colorado in July.

Old Chain Saw Sold

I put my old Chain Saw on Craig's list, a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get any calls for over 2 weeks. Then on Tuesday, on my way home I got a call from a guy that lives in Mount Pleasant. He asked if I still had it. I said yes and he asked if it ran, and it does. He said he wanted to come and get it, and he did. DONE!

Expired Plates

Last week I got a call from Alex. She was in the car with some friends when a policeman pulled her over. He told her that the registration on the car was expired. He took her license and went back to his car. That is when she called me. I had recently got an inspection on my truck and put on a new sticker. My truck expired in September. I didn't think to look at her car, or maybe she wasn't there when the thought passed by. Anyway the pictures tell the rest of the story. She asked me to go to court with her on December 10, 2010. Since it was my responsibility, I will. It cost $25 for the inspection and $28 for the registration, we will see what local financial support I will be making. When I got home I asked Shiloh if she had been told that she was a criminal. I got no laughs from my girls.

Worked on the yard this last weekend. I wanted to start on the floor, but Alex thought we should over seed and fertilize before the weather got cold. She is right, so that is what we did. 10 bags of lime, 10 bags of 10-10-10 and 75 lbs of grass seed. I was a little stiff on Monday. Hope we get some rain now.

Floor damage

My friend Leonard thinks dogs are a liability. Our dog Shiloh helped ripe the old tile off the floor, because she knew that we wanted new flooring. See Leonard, they can help.

Rain

First we have had in a while.

Culvert Fixed

The roofing company came by and fixed the culvert to my satisfaction. It wasn't great before they bent it. I released the final check from the insurance to pay for the roof.

TexasTaxes

Hi Louis ,
We have received your 2010 Property Taxes for Terlingua Ranch Tract:XXXX– A & XXXX-B and have paid them for you. Please submit with your next payment $25.61 to cover those taxes, and if you have any questions please give us a call.

Thank you,

Lori Murphy
Classic Country Land
1420 West Exchange Parkway, Suite 120-A
Allen, Tx 75013
Ph:972-649-6200 x101
Fax:972-534-1085
lori@classiccountryland.com

After the roofers left, I noticed that they had backed their trailer off the edge of the driveway and bent the culvert that goes under my driveway. I called and they came out and looked and took pictures. I have not herd anymore form them. DA! GONE!

New Roof

The roofers came on Sunday to install the new roofing. We got some wind damage and the insurance company bought off on the whole roof. We are going to list the house in the spring, so I hope this helps to sell the house. The only thing left to do before that time is flooring in the kitchen and dinning room. That will cost about $1000, I'm estimating. The pictures are of the completed roof and the roofers working on the roof. They worked all day Sunday and it took them 12 hours. By the time they finished and cleaned up, It was dark. I will post a completed picture later.

Long dry time

It took a lot longer for the papercrete blocks to dry than I thought. This just isn't the WEST! I put about 2 lbs of paper in the first form and doubled the paper in the second one. As it worked out one is about 2" thick and the other one is about 4" thick. The overall outside dimensions didn't change as much as the thickness. I will try adding something more, maybe vermiculite or something. I really don't want to add sand, because of the insulation loss. Insulation is the whole point for me. I like the feel of the blocks, and I will try a couple more. They are very light and firm. When I get several, I will mix some more of the same mix to use as mortar and connect them together, stacked. I'm not sure of the dry time in southern Colorado. I don't want to commit to using something that will delay me too much needlessly.

Papercrete trial blocks

I have been thinking of using Papercrete to build with. I learned about it on the internet. I have been very empressed with it for dry climates with a large temperature swing. Namely the Southwest. I decided to try a few blocks to get my feet wet, so to say. I took a bag of shreaded paper home from work to try. I mixed it in a bucket, and only used paper and portland cement. 1 5 galon bucket of schreaded paper and 2 lbs. of cement. added water and mixed. It will be a few days before its dry.