Halloween

Our first Halloween in a 'neighborhood' in many years. Hey, what do we know, we bought a $15 bag of mixed candies.  My girl asked me to wind down early and be with her to give out the candy.  I did (I was really planning on doing so anyway) after all it is the time of ghosts and goblins.

WE are ready, we waited,......... and waited.  It got  dark, now it is time, the door bell rang. A little 'Frozen Queen' from down the street. It has started...  We waited....... waited...... We had a good visit. Time to sit and chat. Make plans for a possible bathroom.... we waited... Ah, kids noise.. THREE of them... Good stuff cute and dressed up in bought costumes.

We waited..... lights... A truck.... Son Mark came up and yelled, "Trick or treat!"  He was the last....  Maybe he will take a lot of candy back home with him!

I guess there are so many church and school activities now that house to hose trick or treating may be dwindling. Or that is what it seems like here tonight.

So Happy Halloween to all of you ghosts and goblins.

Nite Shipslog

PS:
I miss seeing kids imaginations as they made their own costumes. I understand businesses wanting to sell costumes, but I do not like it. I like to think I understand change,  and understand this is 'these kids time' I had mine.  But I still miss the home-made creations.

These could be Halloween cars.

Some Furniture

I PUT THIS ON LAST NIGHT AND JUST FOUND OUT, IT DID NOT PUBLISH.  BUT HERE IT IS:

We did get a small wooden dining room table and chairs at an estate sale.   I have  grown to like chairs that roll, these do.  We also purchased a used couch and recliner at 'Hospice Re-sale'.

The trailer has come in handy. The couch was not real heavy but awkward. I had back the trailer to our front door and we were  trying to get the couch and chair out before our neighbor spotted us. TOO LATE, Miguel from across the street, came running and without asking, started helping. 

He would take no $ for the help, and only said, "We are neighbors."

He was like 'The  Lone Ranger', leaving immediately after the help was rendered.  It was very nice of him. 
(Still no silver bullet)


I will put some pictures on of the furniture soon.

I am working a little more on the shed. I now have 30' of wide shelving. Work goes slow when you take time to shop for stuff. LOL (I am falling asleep as I type.)

I also found an office chair at a yard sale as a  replacement chair for my computer dining room chair. Mine was worn out (fabric wise)!

NIte Shipslog

The Studebaker

Hair

There is nothing  I know of that makes a woman feel better about herself other than a 'successful' trip the the beautician.  Most of the time my girl comes out happy.  At home our grand daughter Sherece does her hair and she is always pleased.  Traveling is another thing,  She must find a beautician.

When she reads this she will be surprised, because she hasn't mentioned a hair stylist here in Deltona. I don't think she has had time. LOL

When she was a kid, she had long hair:

When we met she had long hair:

When we were married she had long hair:

One of favorites the pony tail, she had two boys by now. 1960's

 Then the late 60's early 70's it was shorter.

Early 70's the working lady in Cuba, at a key punch.

I forget when but remember the high DOO's  (60's or 80's)

 Now the hair is shorter, a beautiful silver color and always beautiful.

Wearing a pack

OR EXERcising:

Her hair looks good!  (The last picture was taken last week I think, the girl looks good in her 70's doesn't she?)  (I will suffer for the last picture, OUCH)

She is sleep reading as I type so I am safe until tomorrow after we shop for some furniture and she looks at this. Imma thinking should I delete the picture?

Nite Shipslog

The fleet line Chevy from the late 40's My girl's favorite classic car.

And then for your entertainment and to jog your memory, if you are in a state way north of us, 

COMING SOON:

This and that

Darla and the folks in the North woods of Wisconsin were threatened with the 'S' word and dodged the white bullet. BUT OLD WOODY in NY, and his sweetie got their first taste. SNOW.

We are in a camping club with Thousand Trails. According to our membership, we should stay in Florida all winter at no cost. BUT like a lot of 'time-share-plans' today they tend to over sell. As usual I went to the web site and asked for a couple weeks to stay near some friends. The answer came back 'nothing available'! WHAT? in November, never happen. It never gets tight in Florida until after Christmas.  The soonest we could get in a site is 19 January. WHAT?

Some folk just simply lead, they do not even have to say, 'follow me'.

Oh well, we are two fortunate people. I say blessed because we saw this coming (but not this soon) Thousand Trails are selling more options than the Three Stoogies could come up with. See, this was our plan when buying this house. There is room for the RV and I already have the full hookups set for it. So when nothing is available with our RV friends, we can come HOME!

Our sons and all our grand kids have keys to the house and know they can come to Florida anytime they want to, except Ben & Corey out in Utah. But they can also have a key if they want to come out for a few days.  We know how to pile up and share, even sleep on pallets, if there is a crowd.

I was disappointed today, I spent most of the day shopping for material and getting a tag for the trailer. Tomorrow we will look for some furniture. 

We do have a driveway man coming, REALLY! You know the oddest thing, TIMING? Many times when we push our buggy out from the grocer, the guy/gal parked beside us is loading the car with groceries. Well, Sherry called the Paver  to find out when he could do the driveway. He said tomorrow. Sherry said, we cannot be here, I have a Dr's appointment. So he said he would call back when he had another opening.  I don't mind, in the mean time I am digging across the parking area to bury pipe that I might need if I later need to run something under the drive without cutting thru it.

I will close with a thank you to all who take time to read this drivel, and also those who take the time to comment. THANKS

Nite Shipslog 

only a few folk reading this can remember gas this cheap!

I saw it that cheap a couple times  when this 1956 Buick was new.

Blogs and bloggers

I never had a pen-pal, or 'secret-pal'.

Today was a long day, The eye appointment was a disappointment. We arrived early and Sherry was called on time. I sat in the waiting room and read some magazines. Then I thought of my Amazon Fire in the car with some Western's on it I had not read, so I retrieved it. and Read some. I looked at my watch and it had been over an hour. This was only a check up to see how the surgery awhile ago was doing.  I saw patients go in and come out and no wife showed up.

After awhile she walked out, she had seen a couple of technicians but had been sitting for over a half hour to see the doctor, and she was fit to be tied.  I said are you ready to go she said "YES".  She told the technician she was leaving and the look on the lady's face was shock, like you can't do that ( or we forgot you).

Asked if she could reschedule and Sherry replied no.  She had already been rescheduled to fit the doctor's schedule. Anyway we left. The only other time something like this has happened was when I waited over 45 minutes past a dental appointment, and walked out.

We are both usually more understanding (and forgiving) than that, but we were supposed to pick up Son Mark 70 miles down the road and travel another 40 miles to meet Josh and Megan for dinner.

I understand emergencies happen, but common courtesy should be informing someone who is waiting.  One gets the idea 'you are here at my beck and call'.   Even retired, our time is important and we also have plans.

But to Blogs, Bloggers and pen pals.

After the above incident we did have a great time with the kids (?). We had supper at ‘The Conch Republic’ at Redington Beach (ST. Pete Area). It was near midnight when we got home. I just looked up at the clock and it is about 1:30AM.  I opened the computer and realized I was about to visit friends. I had a few blogs to read and you guys made my morning. It was like a visit from old friends.  Talking about dad's, self checkout, real Halloween, Jean taking care of Grover, Scenes of leaves in the Blue ridge, one trying to find a way to forgive a  (not so) thoughtful husband, One who has an angel in her work life, Someone cold in NY, and friends  seeing freezing weather in Wisconsin, and much much more.

I realized you   guys are the best, THANKS. Oh, and on the way home I stopped for gas and bought a Big cup of ice with a little drink in it. The Clerk was a bundle of joy. A guy who exuded happiness.

Life is good, I guess finally at 77-78, I have Pen Pals.

Nite Shipslog

today started as one of these days,

But ended like this:

Fun Work

I have never had a job I disliked, but I have had jobs I enjoyed more than others.  Over the years I have tried many trades and was able to work with them all, but if not careful one can become "A Jack of all trades, but master of none." 

Of all the jobs I have had in my 77 yrs of life, General Contracting of residential homes was my 'dream job'.  Building a house was just a big fun puzzle to put together. I also have to give my sweetie credit for pushing me the way I wanted to go.

I had built one house, a small two bedroom house. No A/C because I did not know anything about installing air conditioning, but back then folks used window units..

(My sisters and their hubbies came to see the first house, that is young Shirl in foreground and Kat & hubby Dick. Jim took the pic.)

Sherry hates debts, we had bought a house for $21k with payments of $203 a month. She despised house payments.  On one of our walks she asked, "Honey, can you build us a house and get us out of debt?"

MY answer was quick, "I believe I can. No, I am sure I can."

"Then let's find a lot and do it."

We did just that. We found a beautiful sloping wooded lot.  WE cut trees, dug stumps actually loaded 500 lb stumps on our pickup using levers, ‘come-alongs’ and brute strength and took them to the dump one at a time.  I’m smiling because she even helped me roof that one. I think we were in our forties. 

(We mixed every bag of mortar, laid every brick and drove every nail in this house)

But that was the start of our construction business.  I hated to quit in the evenings. I could not wait to get back to the house I was building.  I did become what I considered a master home builder. My policy, that I tried to pass to my son, was: I will never build a house I would not live in.

But that experience is why I can do this kind of work. Besides, I love this little house. It does need two baths, and I might just boot-leg one in.

Tomorrow we head to The Villages and Sherry's eye checkup.  Then down by Marks and on to St. Pete to meet with Grandson Josh and wife Megan. Looking forward to it.

Nite Shipslogt.

PS: I know part of this is a repeat, 'I can still work pretty well, but my memory don't do too good.'

This is a 1905 Mason Car. I can't say that with out thinking 'Mason Jar'.

'Upon the Roof'

That was either the name of a song or one of the lyrics.  But that was today's aim, a roof.

Mark helped me put the plywood (OSB) on the roof. I knew he needed to be in Port Richey to ready his house for the home inspector, so I told him to shove off, I could handle the rest.:First step of the roof:

Sherry came out and took this picture as I rolled out the first line of the Felt.

I asked her to bring me the camera. My girl it s trooper, she climbed the ladder and gave me the camera. I caught this picture  as she when down:

The roof is felted. We used to call it 'tar-paper' but it got a bad wrap so it is felt (Underlayment for shingles).

I run an outline of shingles as a guideline first, of the right end and bottom run. I also caught Sherry returning to the motor home after washing clothes with out 'new to us' washer and dryer. (that I hooked up this morning!) This shingle is called 'Golden Cedar'.

 A 'Square' of Roofing shingles (3-tab type) weighs 210 lbs and  comes in three 70 lb bundles (or they used to). Lemme tell you something I just learned today.  I grabbed a bundle and it did not move. the bundle that used to be 70 pounds is now 700lbs (my estimate).  I looked around to make sure no one was watching and divided a bundle by two, then climbed the ladder. I smiled as I climbed the ladder thinking of how we could joke and talk as we carried the bundles up. Years ago if there were ladies around, son Mark would carry two bundles up the ladder to impress the girls..

Today I carried 7 bundles up that ladder in 14 trips. LOL. But it is finished.

All it needs is a trim, but this old man is beat. Timewise this took over 4 hours labor. A young roofer (even me 20 yrs ago)  would have laid the shingles in an hour. Age does take its toll.

Some fun and benefits. I am up about 12 feet and right beside this squirrel nest.

The dude of lady came out and looked at me as if to say, "What are you doing up here, this is my territory, MOVE it!"

I know you did not need a roofing lesson, but right now, that is all I have. I'm bushed.

Nite Shipslog

The Edsel convertible

and a '51 Studebaker

Getting ready to finish the Storage building.

Mark went down to Melbourne for a couple days so I worked  and set things up for his return.  Sherry walked out to take a picture of the lone ranger:

 I filled in all the open spaces with siding, It will have double doors. I did get the doors built and one hung.  You see in the lower picture the rafters are in place. Mark and Janie just got back and we will roof the shed tomorrow.

Slow day today, sorta relaxing.  

Hope you guys that visit are well and also had a good day.  Life is good!

Nite Shipslog

Look at this old used car lot. Nice cars.

The construction project, storage

We all know no matter where you are, you have or accumulate 'STUFF'. Plus I need a place to play, so We needed a storage building. We had the floor done last night after Pizza and Mark playing with the limb the he felt was in his way, so after breakfast  this morning, we bought new saw blades and he removed the limb and we raised the first wall.  Lemme tell you those walls got heavier since I made it to 77. 

We raised the first wall, it is 10' 3" high by 16 feet long and has the siding nailed already (about 350 lbs)  .Of course 30 years ago when Mark and I were working together, we would have grabbed it and had it up in less than a minute, but this morning it took 3 or 4 minutes. That sucker is heavy. This is the second wall we are putting together:

 The front wall is now ready to raise. It only weighs about 275 lbs. It is only 8' high by 15 feet.

 WE took a break before raising it. The first wall about done us in, Mark is in his 50's now, and he is Sherry's baby boy.

 Test, dad 77 depending on the son as we raise the wall.

 Wall up and being plumbed and braced, Sherry brought out some Tuna salad sandwiches. We took a break.

 I want to inject here. In the 1950' when I was doing a little carpentry with my mentor Luke Tucker these walls would have been built standing and would have taken three times more hours work. There was a far sighted man called Jim Walter, I guess since he produced Jim Walter's homes.  He was laughed at by the 'old line carpenters'.  His homes were the subject of  many jokes.  You could buy Jim's homes at any stage of construction. Many folk bought the homes unfinished, and had not figured the work and cost to finish. I have been in Jim Walters homes in  the 1960s that at blankets hanging where sheet rock should have been and no interior doors. BUT, but that was not Jim's fault.

Jim Walter's revolutionized residential construction. He taught us to build the walls on the floor with much  less effort and much faster, then raise them in place. All of us carpenters asked, "Why didn't I think of that?" I won't go into it, but floors and roof construction was revolutionized by Jim Walter. In reality Jim Walter sold a pretty good cheap home.

Below Sherry and Mark talking after we ate. Janie ignored them.

 WE raised the third wall and sided it. Then raised this end, where the door will be.  Mark showing off here, had to leave fot a party down in Melbourne. 

Mark left and I started cutting the rafters. I cut and installed all the rafters and got one sheet of siding on this end as dark caught up.

It is good to have the shed nearly finished. adding a roof and door and we are in business. I debated on a gable roof or shed  roof and decided a shed roof would allow for more shelving. So that is my world.  All is well, I hope yours is the same.

Nite Shipslog

This is a 1946 Buick