hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

My DH says a house is like a jealous mistress - she always wants something more! And, it seems he's mostly right. Hope you get the roof issue fixed... always something!

A leaky roof sucks. Hope you can patch it for now. Is it composition 3 tab shingles?

@baymule I don't know, it's just a normal roof from what I can tell.
The good news is that yesterday, after some pretty hard downpours, it wasn't leaking anymore. I don't know if the sideways wind and then the BF getting up there and moving around made it leak worse, or what, but hopefully it holds. It's still raining.
So far, since Saturday, we're up to 4 1/4", and it's still coming down today.

So not much else to report at this point. It's sloppy wet, and muddy, but we need it. As soon as the sun comes out again the growth is going to explode. That's assuming that things haven't drowned completely. I finally put a little lavender plant into the ground that had been sitting in a pot WAY too long. It had almost dried out too much several times, and now I'm afraid it's going to drown if we don't get some sun on it to help balance all this water out.

Hope it doesn't leak any more!

@baymule so far so good, and we've gotten more rain, so there's that!
Talked to SR last weekend while mom and I stopped by the farm, and he said that we've received our annual average precipitation NOW. So the next six months is surplus over the average.

Mom and dad had a great visit. They got here last Friday, and left this past Saturday morning early. We managed to do quite a bit of fun stuff. We went down to the Guinness plant which is now open for a tasting. It's the only US plant that they have. They make about a dozen different beers here in the US now, but of course, the classic Guinness Stout is not made here, only in Ireland. My mom fell in love with Guinness when they were in Ireland, so we knew we had to go taste to see what it was like. She said that what they have there is as close to the real thing that she's ever tasted. So now I guess we know that we've got to make a trip there whenever they're in town. I also discovered that I don't mind REAL Guinness, but that they have a Barrel Aged Antwerpen dark beer that was AMAZING. I'd drink that! It was like dark rich coke with alcohol in it (11.5% to be exact!)

We did a little puttering around the house, and hanging out, and then I took my parents for salt floats as a gift from my sister and I. She and I decided way back before mother's day that mom and dad could use some relaxation since they'd been under so much stress. The original house design that they had was going to cost an astronomical amount, and so they had to scrap everything and start over. Then my grandmother got sick and passed away, and they're still dealing with house details (though it is back on track, they broke ground just before they got up here). So my sister and I thought that doing something relaxing would be great. The salt floats were AWESOME. I can't recommend them enough if you ever get a chance to do one. The ones we went to were in "cabins" which was like a room that was a bathtub. It has a ship's door type thing to get into it because the "pool" takes up the whole space, there's no edges. It has about 1600 pounds of epsom salts in a 10" deep pool that's about the size of a full size bed. It's saltier than the dead sea. You can't not float. And ya'll it was amazing. I don't float, ever, and I floated in here and it was crazy!! The tub has lights, and there's pretty little lights in the ceiling that look like stars, but you can turn those off if you want. And of course, if you do, it's complete blackness. I didn't have the courage to turn them all the way off, lol, but I kept my eyes shut most of the time anyway. It was such a wild experience, I actually fell asleep floating the first time we went. I kept twitching myself awake, when you twitch in water it's a bit of a surprise, LOL. The second time I don't think I fell asleep quite as much but was zoned out in some kind of meditative state. I don't really remember much, but it was amazing. The interesting thing is that you have to learn to trust the water and really relax in it. You don't have to take any effort at all to float, but our bodies take a little while to get used to that notion. The second float was better than the first, and I expect that any others will be even better after that! I can't wait to go back, I'm trying to figure out how to get it into my routine, even though it's expensive. It was so freaking amazing though. Can't say enough good stuff about it!

We also ate at some fun restaurants, including a place that has home made pop tarts. It was to die for. The BF took this past Friday off, and we went out to some wineries which was a lot of fun. It took forever to get out there, but it was delicious and they had a LOT of really awesome wines, so that was a plus. Mom helped me with horse chores when I had to do them so that helped things go faster which was really nice for a change.

Speaking of the barn, I'm a wee bit ticked right now. Last Tuesday the girl that takes care of stalls and brings the horses in in the morning sent a text in the middle of the day and said something to the effect of "the horses didn't come in until 11, so whoever is coming this evening can come later if you want." That to me sounds like it's a "favor" that oh, you can come later. There's a couple problems with this... first, TM has a rule that the co-op horses have to be in by 9am, and the horses are required to be in for 8 hours so they can't go out before 5pm if they're brought in at 9. Second, she wrote the text like a favor and not an APOLOGY for running late and potentially messing up the evening schedule. TM and I chatted last night and she told me she was hoping I would have said something in the group text. Trouble was my parents were here, and I was focused on other things. And frankly, *TM* should be handling it, not ME (in my not so humble opinion). So I told TM I'd check in with her and make sure this Tuesday wasn't going to be an issue. So I sent her a quick text and asked if it was going to be an issue to have the horses in so that I could get them out by 5:45. Keep in mind that's 45 minutes AFTER the 8 hour mark. Well she got real crappy with me and offended that I would think my schedule is more important than anyone else's. I don't think my schedule is MORE important than anyone else... but I DO appreciate when someone is aware that their choices after affecting other people. I have a class at 7 that I have to get to, and it's not a stroll in late kind of thing, which means I'm depending on the AM person to get their crap done in the correct timely manner.

Just another reason I want to get Storm home.

Speaking of getting him home... while my dad was here, we worked on trying to map out the property. Holy canoli that did not go as I expected. My dad, being super smart and an architect and all that stuff, helped me figure out how to stake out the property lines. Actually, he did all the work, and then I did a lot of walking with a tape measure and little flags. So we finally found the pin on the one side of our property, next to the neighbors that don't say anything. Seriously. I've spoken to them twice in the 6+ months we've lived there. And that doesn't count the stories I've been told from the sisters. Anyway, I'm glad the pin is on THAT side, and so we measured across. Then dad did some fancy math to figure out how much of an angle the property line goes off of the road at and used triangles and more math stuff to figure out where the line went. So we started measuring... And the first thing I noticed was how far behind my awesome neighbor's house the property line goes. I feel like our fence is going to be in their back yard! He came out to say hello while we were working, and reassured me that it was correct (which made me feel slightly better... but still). So then we measured back across the property toward the quiet neighbors.... and discovered we had somehow lost about 8-9 feet. So somewhere along the way either our math and tape measures weren't quite as straight as they should have been (which means that we should be even further into GH's back yard than I thought we were...) OR the quiet neighbor's fence isn't in the right place, which means that we have a few more feet on that side than we thought. And frankly, we have such little grass space already that I'm going to take ALL of the space that is ours. What's interesting is that their fence is ON the property line, which I don't think is legal per the set back requirements) and we know they didn't pull a permit to install the fence. Of course who does, but at any rate, if there's a set back requirement then they should have followed that in the least if they didn't want to have attention drawn to anything late on down the road.

So now I'm thinking it's going to be smart to have an official survey done, which is gonna cost more $$. But after the crap today with the other gal in the co-op, I'm just ready to say screw it and put it all on my credit card. Tomorrow while I'm in the office by myself I think I'll be spending a fair amount of that time on the phone getting some more questions answered so I can try to move forward with this. I want him home before the winter sets in because I'm not interested in fighting the ice and snow again to do chores for a bunch of people who can't help themselves out of a hole in the ground.

hqueen13 said:

I want him home before the winter sets in because I'm not interested in fighting the ice and snow again to do chores for a bunch of people who can't help themselves out of a hole in the ground.

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You go girl! I am in total agreement (not that it matters, lol). But, I know your life will be simpler and a little bit easier when you get Storm home!

They are soooo awesome, FEM!!! The place I go to offers 60 minute and 90 minute floats. Right now 60 is perfect, but I bet that if I did it for a long time I'd appreciate 90 minutes. The water is 95 degrees, and the air in the cabin is 90, so what happens is you loose where the water ends and the air starts. It's sooooo relaxing. I know that temp sounds really warm, but it is just about body temperature, so everything evens out to a really comfortable feeling. And yes, put it on your bucket list and don't hesitate if you ever find a place to do it! (Or come visit me and we'll go! LOL)

So I got a call from a surveyor yesterday afternoon, my realtor recommended him, and he passed my info to the guy, too. Well, he called, and it will be $2500 to get the property surveyed. For real. I'm stunned. AND they want to wait until fall when the leaves are down so that they can use line of sight to find the pins at the back of the property, which are 800 feet from the front. I asked the BF if we could get a transit (the thingy that helps surveyors make big long straight lines), and he said he doesn't have the right thing at work, but he was looking online. I don't know what will make the most sense, and we've got to figure out how to read the old 1970something survey's compass markings because that was the last time it was done. Then I'm afraid we'll need a metal detector to figure out where the dang pins are in the dirt... There's supposed to be one close to the front of our driveway, but neither us or the nice neighbors know where that is. We have one on the other corner, which is the quiet neighbors, and I'm actually rather glad that pin is there because that's probably more important than the other side.

So yeah. Not sure what we're going to do about that.

My dad showed the BF how to design stuff using power point while he was here, which is a pretty impressive feat, and then the BF was sorting out how to read the compass marks, and doing a whole crap load of math that I never learned to figure out the geometry so he can make a drawing of the property. One of the things that's bothering me right now is that I have no clue how much fence I need because I haven't been able to take accurate measurements. So at least if we can make a drawing I'll be able to do some calculating and decide what's going to work best, plus move things around easily on the screen. Then I can figure out how much the fencing is going to cost so I know what I'm aiming for. I'm really not sure how I'm going to come up with the cost of the surveying, though. I just have to figure out how to bust my butt in my business and start calling in more money!

The salt float sounds awesome, I'll have to try that someday. We have all kinds of wineries around here, never been to one. I guess we'll have to go try some out, taste some wine and buy some.

I don't know how you don't blow your top at the crap you have to put up with. The sooner you can get Storm home, the better. You get used by inconsiderate people at those stables. It will feel wonderful to just walk out your back door and go take care of Storm. And do it on your own time, any time you want to.

I'm glad that your parents enjoyed their visit. I know you were proud to show them your new home and the work y'all have put into it so far.

I agree on the Guinness. The real Irish stuff is amazing! I drink way too much of it

Sadly the surveyors are for real. We had our farm subdivided in S.A. years ago. After waiting more than a YEAR for the guy to get round to us, he charged us the equivalent of a good years' wages for a day's work. Unbelievable. We had to get it done though.

Hopefully things will work out for you so you can get everything in place and get Storm home sooner rather than later. You absolutely do not need to have to deal with and sort out other people's nonsense and inability to stick to schedules.

@sumi
I wonder the same thing @baymule sometimes.... LOL

Whew, crazy weekend.
JS came into town on Thursday night. Friday she had a full day of appointments. I scheduled everything so that I could get her where she needed to go and then go do the stuff I had to do in between. It meant a LOT of driving and running around. Friday night I was at the barn doing chores, and decided to go into the storage barn to get out our outside umbrella stand because I had picked up a table and 4 chairs and an umbrella set at the grocery store for only $45 on clearance at the end of season. Stupid sale score! Anyway, I went into the barn, knew exactly where the umbrella stand was, and was ABOUT to pick it up when I got hit by wasps. I screamed like a little girl, and started flailing, and ran. I bolted straight around our pile of stuff, jumped up on some metal roofing pieces that had fallen down away from the wall, across them, across the barn, over the half wall and out faster than I think I've moved since I was like 5. Thankfully I had my bag of tricks with me with all my natural remedies, but even that didn't have much that was ideal. I did have a bottle of lavender, so I started putting that on immediately. I ran back in the barn and grabbed another girl that was there caring for her horse and she helped me put it on the stings I couldn't reach. I was aware of 6 stings at that point. I went and told TM, who was not nearly as energized about going and killing them as I would have liked (insert grumble about being in someone else's barn here), and then headed down to Cowboy and Coyotes. I almost didn't go because I knew I was going to start hurting bad really fast. But I can't not care for animals that are my responsibility. They only needed a top off of their water, and then I headed towards home, but of COURSE needed to fill up the gas tank to get there. I texted JS on the way and let her know what happened and she had some remedies ready for me. The BF was at a party with some coworkers, so he wasn't even home. JS had to help me get out of my shirt and sports bra because I was soaked in sweat and didn't want to scrape them over the stings. By then my hand was swollen up all the way across the bank and starting down my wrist, and my elbow was swollen from what turned out to be 2 stings. By the time I finished counting I had found 7. She told me to get in a hot shower, and then after I got out she helped me put a clay poultice on all the stings. Then I put on really light weight clothes and we ate dinner and I crashed.

Saturday morning I got up, and didn't feel great and had hand sized swollen spots at every sting point. It hurt! I had taken benedryl before I went to bed, but between the discomfort of the stings themselves and how strange clay feels when it's dried, I didn't sleep all that great. I woke up exhausted still. I took JS to her appointments, and then we had a little extra time in the middle of the day. I laid down but didn't nap like I wanted to because I wanted to be sure I was up for the people that were coming over for appointments that afternoon. So I mostly laid on the couch in between letting people in the house. And of course, everyone wanted to hang around and chat, and I haven't seen most of them in a while, so I did want to catch up. I finally headed out to go take care of Cowboy and Coyote for the afternoon, and also stopped by the neighbors to take care of the newfie while they're out of town. She's beginning to get the hint that I don't want to be jumped on, which is nice. She's 130 pounds and all love, and slobber, and she's still pretty young. She listens SUPER well when I have treats in my hand, and is beginning to understand that I mean exactly what I say, and I won't be budged off of what I asked for. She's been really good for being left alone for the first time, and she has access to the outside, so I only have to go check on her in the afternoon and give her more food. JS worked on me on Saturday night finally, and that was so nice. I had a few things that were a little wonky and she straightened me out. We got to bed later than I wanted to, but I crashed.

Sunday we got up and headed out to a new place to work on a dog and horse, and that was pretty cool to watch. She was really able to help the dog quite a bit. The horse also changed dramatically after she was finished. We went down and worked on 2 horses that are regulars, and then were getting ready to leave that farm when she checked her phone to find out that her flight was cancelled completely. Apparently there's a lot of bad weather that's messing things up quite a bit. So we went to get some lunch and figure out what other options she had. There were NO flights available to get her back to FL that day, so we headed home to check things out on the computer where we could read and see the options a little easier. We got her rebooked, and got that set. At least she hadn't taken the sheets off the bed to wash.
I got a call from my friend that runs the expos that I work every winter, and she was headed up towards us. She and I were meeting because she was selling me a 10x20 storage tent for $100.00. It had never even been taken out of the box. The BF and I headed down to get that, and then I stopped by Cowboy and Coyote on the way back up so that would be done. By the time we got back home, I had to turn around and head over to the neighbor's to check on Zella the newfie and cats, and then go to the barn to do evening chores. That took just over 2 hours, and so by the time I headed home it was after 7. We had originally planned to run out and get dinner, and so I hurried home and hopped in the shower. Then I went downstairs to find the BF and he says "oh, JS and I decided to order dinner." I was like WTF I just busted my butt only to find out yall changed plans on me. I was pretty irritated, and he and I had a conversation, which ended well, but was one of those that kind of needed to happen. He's been stressed out about a lot of stuff lately, which I get, and he doesn't like having JS in the house all that much, so he'd been avoiding the house most of the weekend. I don't mind that, but it was also Sunday night and he hadn't bothered to take the initiative to take care of anything else in the house. So the laundry sat where it was when I had started it on Friday, so he didn't have any clean shirts for work, and nothing else was done, and I got on him about not being proactive about dinner on Sunday. I told him if he was out of the house the whole weekend and busy, I would have done laundry and had a plan for dinner, and probably had it ready when he got home. He knows I go to the barn every Sunday night, so while JS having to stay wasn't in the plans, I STILL have my barn chores.

I'm exhausted from the weekend and getting up early to take JS to the airport. While I got up at my usual crazy early hour, driving in that much traffic is tiring too. And since pay day is Wednesday, I already paid myself for the hours worked for today and tomorrow, which means I REALLY need to be in the office. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be here today! So it goes.

There's a few bits of good news, though. The chicken coop is sold! Well, it will be when I collect the money tonight! The guy offered me $350, which is way lower than I wanted to take, but I also want it out of my hair. I had pretty much given up on selling it, and was going to talk to the BF about just bringing it home and using it as a shed and a tiny chicken coop, but then this guy called. So that's off my plate this afternoon.

Our lender also reached out to the BF and said that he felt like he could get us lowered payments if we wanted to refinance the house. He's run some numbers, and should be able to get us out of the PMI (the mortgage insurance, we weren't able to buy out of all of it at closing), and that will lower our payment by $100 - $200. That will help a lot! AND the added bonus is that we won't have a payment for September AND October. I'm not quite sure how that works, but whatever! I'm totally ok with it! That should give us the ability to pay off some of this extra debt that we've raked up in the past month or so, and hopefully get a few things done. It's all hinging on the house being appraised for 271,000, so we'll see what happens there. Keep your fingers crossed!!