392 Days

But who’s counting?  On the 392nd day after our arrival in Minnesota we finally slept for the first time in our new house.  

We started September 2022 with Gary’s birthday and celebrated by going to the Zach Brown concert at the Minnesota State Fair and then our niece’s beautiful wedding the following weekend after which I left for Memphis on a long ago planned trip with the girls.  Went all that way to smoke candy cigarettes.

Concrete unfinished floor

Once I recovered from the trip we started the acid stain on the floor in the house.  I had studied this process, watched lots of videos and called the customer service line so much we were on a first name basis.  Since this was my idea and it is a brand new house I had a lot of pressure to do this right.  After working on the floors for a week we finally finished. It was ALOT of work especially since I had my fingers crossed the whole time.  

Our next project was insulating the attic.  Ted came up to help and this process involves renting a blower with a long hose.  Gary was up in the attic while Ted and I blew the insulation up to him. This is a huge messy job.  While you have to wear a face mask it is impossible to cover your eyes too cause of fogging.  So after blowing 175 bags, we had insulation dust thru out the house, in our eyes, hair, skin and clothes, and some even made it into the attic!

Kitchen cabinets came up next. Little did we know when we ordered the cabinets they came in pieces.  Lots of pieces.  Neither of us are jigsaw puzzle people but that would have been helpful. It took a week to do the cabinets and countertops.  Let’s just say several new curse word combinations were invented that week. 

I still had my trips to the laundromat while this was all going on so Dede and I headed out with a car load of dirty disgusting laundry when a deer decided it was his day to die as he dived in front of the SUV.  As I slammed on the brakes all the dirty laundry flew to the front of the car and buried poor Dede.  And what did Dede do?  Absolutely nothing.  Anyway the deer limped off, I pushed the laundry off Dede and headed to the bar, I mean laundromat. 

And because we don’t have enough to do we picked up our new mini doxie puppy Woody at the end of October.  I forgot how much time and effort is involved with a new puppy. But why not?  

So we’re in our house and grateful for running water, a kitchen counter bigger than 6 inches, no more paper plates, at home hot showers, an oven and most of all a flush toilet. Living in a shed for 391 does that to a person. 

No Rest for the Wicked - We Must be Really Bad

Menards is even at State Fair

Things are progressing but we still have a ways to go.  Since my last blog in mid July we have had the duct work done, the plumber is almost finished and with Gary’s brother’s help, the electric work is nearing completion.  Gary and Bruce worked on it drawing out grids, looking for electric parts in the state and on line, checking wiring and getting the hot tub wired.  Things were going pretty good until the inspector checked on the hot tub.  Gary thought he had it all good and the inspector had another idea.  After the wiring was done and hot tub all put back together Gary spent two days undoing it, getting new conduit and rewiring it for another inspection.  If it wouldn’t pass then I think you could have picked up a hot tub at the end of our driveway with a Free sign on it.  

I just want to point out that when the walls went up and Gary started the wiring I thought what’s the big deal.  Some outlets and light switches.  Let’s get er done.  Man did I find out just how complicated it all is.    If I had to do it we’d be buying lots of candles and batteries.  

Unfortunately in the middle of all this our little girl Mojo was deteriorating and we had to make the most awful decision to let her go.  With Gary hugging her we said goodbye.  Anyone who has gone thru this knows just how hard it is.  Our little Dede is still so sad and for the first time ever she has no interest in food.  Good thing she’s a chunker.

Our lawn is coming along and I’ve actually mowed it three times. Found some bear poop in it one day so at least the bears are loving it.  Gary and I finished wall insulation a few weeks ago and yes you read that right. I worked on it til we got it done and then Sheetrock got started on August 18. It’s taking longer than we like cause we are a “fill in” job.  Once Sheetrock is done we start the floors.

We took a day off and headed to the state fair which had a lot more people than Willow River.  We saw the Zac Brown band, ate lots of good/bad for you food, tried some new brews and had a great time.  We haven’t been for about 15 years so it was fun to get back.

When you come visit look for our new gate.  Looks like a mansion should be behind it!

Summer Balls Swinging in the Breeze

Progress is being made and it’s starting to look like a real house.  We were able to get the infloor heat tubes installed which involved a lot of untangling and various curse words.  The cement floor was then poured and we could finally start putting up the house.  

Our first crew then showed up after we had gone over the blueprints and discussed what we wanted done.  This crew was just starting their new business and since finding help here in the forest is tough we decided to give them a chance.  Obviously they are much more suited to star in the next Dumb and Dumber movie.  Initially they told us they had no problem with what we needed done including putting up the trusses however they failed to mention they’re afraid of heights.  Needless to say we said good luck in Hollywood and started a serious search for a new crew.

After asking anyone we saw if they knew of a reliable construction crew, our concrete guy came thru with a company looking for fill in work.  We had to wait two weeks for them but it was worth it. They show up, work hard all day and know what they’re doing.  

And it comes in handy if kids show up and help too.  Not only are they good about helping but we get to have time together too.  

Mojo is doing much better too.  We seriously thought we had to say goodbye on July 1st but the vet did a laser treatment on her and with pain meds she is so much better.  We just aren’t ready to say goodbye to her yet especially with all the commotion here.  Besides she’s the supervisor so the house won’t get done without her!

Gary runs to Menards so much they gave him a name tag, the excavator has become a BFF since he’s here daily dumping gravel, rock or sand, we’ve had 16 pallets of pavers delivered, hot tub delivered, grass seeded, and my personal favorite, fly traps emptied.  If you think it looks bad, you should smell it.  Yowser!  For deer flies we have 4 blue balls hanging sprayed with tanglefoot. Who knew you could get blue balls just looking at Amazon???

We’ve been in Minnesota since October 1st and hoped to be in the house by September 1st.  Not gonna happen but we’re getting there.  Not gonna lie.  It’s been harder than we thought.  We’re a lot older since the last build and our bodies tell us that everyday.  Once that hot tub gets going we may not be able to get out!

40 Hours on the Edge

Sure you’re wondering about the title. Hold on. 

On Saturday, April 30th Gary had me pull a stuck tick off his stomach.  The tick had been there awhile nibbling on the free Gary buffet.   Because of the upcoming house building he couldn’t afford to get sick so he went to the ER in Moose Lake to have the area checked out.  After being assured he had no co-pay, he went ahead with the treatment.  The guy working the front desk apparently was hungover and informed Gary he made a mistake.  He owed $450 for the visit.  We have a lot of ticks here.  One decided to move into my bellybutton and play house.  I threw it in the wood stove and watched it burn baby burn.  I’m on a fixed income  I can’t afford a $450 tick bite!

Gary was able to get the electric hooked up after digging a trench.  We  passed the inspection which was nerve wracking.  We’ve had a lot of rain in May which has delayed the excavation and getting the footings and blocks poured but it was finally done on May 25th.  Then he started working on the plumbing in the mud on May 28th. We are hoping to have the in-floor heat done by June 6th to get the floor poured and then the actual building can begin.  If all the stars align and we splash some holy water on the dirt and no black cats walk under a ladder, it may happen.

So after a nice Memorial weekend, we were just settling in for the night when we lost power about 8 pm Monday.  It was storming but passed thru quickly. And this is when our 40 hours began. We thought we’d surely have power when we got up the next day but the storm was worse than we thought and a lot of people lost power. We had no way of knowing what was going on so after finally contacting the electric company we were told it may be awhile and we should just check the website for updates.  Really?  We have no power means we have no internet. This chick must have been partying with the ER guy.   And Gary’s phone was dead, mine was dying, we’re in the middle of the woods.  Do the ticks care?  No. They just keep looking for a warm bellybutton.

Ok.  I’m going to be honest. Living in the back of a shed is tough. Living in the back of a shed with no power is a little piece of hell. We didn’t want to open the frig or freezer and we couldn’t cook anything anyway so popcorn was for lunch and crackers for dinner.  I used the good paper plates tho.  I just kept thinking about all the food we didn’t get to eat.  I was saving a really good frozen pizza for a special occasion and now it was trash. I know a lot of people have it worse but it’s a pizza with extra cheese.

The power came back at noon on Wednesday.  It was one of the happiest moments of my life right after finding a dollar in an ATM someone forgot.  Trusses showed up yesterday and are spread over the yard.  I think we’re in business. All fingers are crossed which makes typing difficult.  

When is it Spring in Minnesota? Asking for a friend.

 

Dede wants to get started.

After much thought in the shed I knew it was time for an update.  Our first winter back in Minnesota has been challenging.  And spring hasn’t been much better.  Our local news says this is the third coldest spring on record. It’s been in the 90s in Florida .  What kind of game is nature playing?  Not funny. 

So shed living is getting normal.  We don’t have much to clean (yeah) and since we ran out of wood a couple weeks ago Gary is out sawing wood and piling up wet wood which we dry by the fire in the shed.  We never thought we would need wood in late April.  

But we have adjusted to shed living.  The dogs sleep most of the time, on the couch, in their own beds, in our bed, or by their food dish in case it’s time to eat.  Then they sleep some more.  

Gary is on the phone most days begging people to help put up the house, excavate, or move electricity.  He bought most supplies to build the house.  We are now officially hoarders.  We are just waiting for the hoarder specialist to knock on the shed door asking if we need help in her quiet sensitive voice while I slam the door in her face. Uh no.  I want a house so get lost.

Gary feeds the deer and turkeys now and watches on cameras.  We are not allowed to move if they are near the shed so now we have them controlling our lives so that’s fun.

We have a few more weeks until we actually start the house.  We hope for warmer weather to get started.  While Gary works on the house, I plan on golfing starting soon but have no idea where my golf clothes are.  And even if I did I couldn’t get to them.  

So with the right attitude we are doing fine.  Mojo was struggling but seems better which put everything in perspective.   She’s 14 and if she’s ok, we’re ok.  At a time like this patience really comes in handy.  If only Amazon had a sale on it.  

Our kitchen faucet

Happy Holidays from our Shed to Yours

The cabin is finally completely gone and except for a couple piles of old appliances and an orange excavator you wouldn’t even know there was once a cabin here.  Especially with about 12 inches of snow where the cabin sat. 

Yesterday we got back to our place luckily before we got snowed in here after spending the holidays down in the metro area with family which was soooooooo great after 17 years of being gone.  Before we moved to Florida 10 years ago we had a place in Isla Mujeres, Mexico where we wintered.  Holidays were different and we adapted but there’s nothing like being with family during the Xmas season.

But the main reason for this blog is our toilet.  There seems to be a lot of interest in our compost toilet and if I wasn’t using one I’d be puzzled about it too.  Yes I miss a flush toilet. Not gonna lie but it’s not gonna happen in our shed house so again we adapt.   About every 20 days we have to empty it and then refill with the compost material.  We use a coconut ground material which comes in a real hard solid block.  After I pour hot water over it and let it soak I break it up into fine pieces.  That goes into the emptied compost container after we dump the used compost.

Now for the fun part.  We haul the whole toilet to our dump spot.  The top of the toilet comes off completely and I dump the used compost and try to clean the container but without a hose and limited water…. Well you can imagine. It’s like a lot of dirty diapers that need rinsing but get stuck in a pile by the toilet until you run out of diapers and have to do a load of laundry.  But that really dates me cause who rinses diapers anymore.  I didn’t realize all those poopy diapers were preparing me for this. 

The front container holds the urine which gets emptied every few days. I’m old and pee a lot. And yes everyone has to sit to pee.  

So next time you do your business and enjoy a nice flush think of me.  So jealous.