AUGUST FLEW BY FAST

August started with a County Fair and Rodeo in a nearby community. We actually needed to clean the church that day, (just the 2 of us, but that doesn't take long since the church is so small), so we skipped the big rodeo and attended the Kids Rodeo. 

 They had a miniature roping contest as well as “Stick Horse” barrel races. It was really cute! The “horses” and ropes were provided for the contestants.

This is Nash who lives upstairs

Also early in August we were pleased to receive a visit from our daughter Shellie, her husband Jason and three of their kids. Although we only had them for one night, as they were en route from Utah to their home in Virginia, we loved each moment with them and appreciated that they came hours out of their way to see us. 

 We enjoyed card tricks, roping a “calf”, watching a heard of cattle grazing, experiencing driving on the crazy bad roads, and just visiting.

Our grandson Chance digging in the sand

                                                                                       Sterling roping

He learned quickly and was actually chasing the neighbor kids around the yard and roping    them!  It was really cute, and the boys loved the attention.

                                                                               Phebe worked HARD to catch this one!

Now that some of the water has receded from the roads we were able to travel to the west side of the ranch, where we visited 8 more homes.  Yes, they all need some work done, and yes, we are still receiving calls from the eastern and northern sectors;  "My basement just flooded", "My dishwasher is leaking water pretty badly", "The cold water in our shower isn't working," "The wind tore the rain gutter off our barn".  So we addressed those problems while also beginning work on the western homes, and we have met some more wonderful families and have already fixed some leaky roofs, repaired a couple of decks, installed a water filter, repaired lots of doors,  chased mold out of a basement, and much more.  We spent last week on a 4-day circuit where we would sleep at different ranches at night to save driving time getting to the next job the following day.  We put 200 miles on our truck driving the circuit.  

Following is a sampling of our projects this month:

                             This was a project I worked on.  Between the bad water and hot sun, the deck was a wreck.

       I was able to sand the rails clean, but will be repainting the deck boards in a couple of weeks

 One cowboy had a barn where he tack room door was so narrow that he couldn't carry his saddle through it without squirming and stepping sideways.

                          So Bruce added 24 inches with a new door and made the cowboy very happy!

                One day we are down in a crawl space beneath a house running pipe for the propane regulator...

 and later that same day at a different house (far away) Bruce was up in an attic trying to locate a roof leak.  He saw the tail end of a snake up there.

While Bruce was in the attic I was on the roof with a hose squirting water in all the possible nooks and crannies trying to discover the source of the leak.

While Shellie's family was in town we worked on a horse barn where the rain gutter had been partially ripped off in a storm.  The cool thing was that we could set up the scaffolding on the bed of a flat truck and just drive along the roof line.

This was another project of mine.  I called it "The Deck From Heck".  There was a big burn hole in the middle of the deck, which Bruce repaired before I sanded and painted.  The boards are warped and splitting, but a replacement deck is not in this years budget.

              Completed deck, sanded and stained

     This is the moldy basement where I killed the mold, patched the walls, sanded, then painted

The other missionaries are working feverishly on a new house that they want to have completed before November 1st when all the missionaries go home for the winter.  Due to some delays earlier this summer, they are behind schedule, so on Thursday we received our first "Mission Transfer" where the Ranch Manager asked us to slow down on the maintenance and work full time on the new house.  We still have two leaky sinks to replace, some doors and windows to replace, a counter top to fix and much, much more, so we are going to do some creative scheduling to try to get things done and help on the house as well. 

                                                     The new house is shaping up and is all framed inside.

                                                    Bruce on scaffolding working on attic ventilation

One tender mercy occurred while driving past the McGinley ranch, when we decided on a "whim" to stop by for a quick visit while en route to our next location for repairs.  Elaine Peters was there and it was obvious that she had driven her lawn mower down a pretty steep hill, and the lawn mower was totally stuck and high centered while resting against a tree.  She was praying that help would come along, as she thought her only option was to cut down the tree in front of her to get the mower out.

 So, Bruce pulled her out with a four-wheeler, and she was back in business.  It is always gratifying to be an answer to someone's prayers. We went home with a warm feeling in our hearts and some tomatoes and squash from her garden.

 A similar experience happened last month when we stopped in at another ranch where the cowboy's wife was trying to cut the lawn without much success.  Bruce discovered that one blade was twisted into a J shape from running into railroad ties. Bruce took the blade off, found a vice in the garage, pounded it straight and put it back on the mower. It worked fine for a while, then the mower stopped and wouldn't start again. Bruce diagnosed that it had a dirty air filter, which he remedied right away. Once again we were at the right place at the right time to come to their rescue.  It doesn't get any better than that! 

July Was Busy But Wonderful

The month began with a fun visit from our daughter Marcie and her family.

They spent the first night with us, then headed up to Mount Rushmore on the 4th of July for a backpacking trip in the Black Hills.  They experienced natures "fireworks" that night as a rambunctious storm sent lightening, thunder and rain at them all night.  On their way to Mount Rushmore we went with them to experience "Carhenge".

 Some of you have been to Stonehenge, but in case you never make it to Nebraska to see Carhenge, we will give you a taste of what you're missing.

Gwen leading the way

Covered Wagon....covered in what?

The Four Seasons Sculpture

Benches are made from tailgates & wheels

This sculpture actually has a title

There was so much more to see....including a gift shop, of course.

When the Francis family came back from their backpacking adventure, we had them for another 3 1/2 days, so we took them down to stay in a charming cabin that we are working on for a Working Retreat.

Front Porch...Jason, Marcie and Kids helped Grandma paint it.

Kitchen Porch with a J on it

We have no idea what the letters stand for, but they
are certainly charming.

Back Porch with the letter L on railing

Letter T on railing

        

           Everything in the cabin was totally cowboy oriented.  This is the kitchen counter.

                                                     Plates and dishes

                                                        .  

                                               Yup, even the toilet paper holder suggests cowboys

                                               . 
                                                                Sign on wall by bathtub

James and Grandpa replaced broken
planks on kitchen porch

Girls painted the bench, a chair & table

Marcie & Gwen sanding bench to be painted

Paige flies kite.  Wind blew it off
the string and over to the next pasture.

Paint all dry

A nice meal after working all day.



A Francis creature emerges

The Francis creature roams the house


Church together in our tiny Branch


Impromptu talent show for Family Home Evening


Marcie's talent - knitting with eyes closed, hopping on one foot


Girls in loft....no, they didn't sleep up there!


James joins girls in loft



Highlight of the month was taking a few days off to drive back to Utah for our granddaughter Abbie's wedding to Josh Card.  It was wonderful to be there for that special occasion in the Provo City Center Temple.


The day after we arrived back from the wedding we reported to a job site 40 miles away at 7:00 am to help with a concrete pour.  We had two such opportunities this month.


A basement bathroom in one older home was begging for help


The floor tile had been removed long ago, and we happened to have a piece of linoleum that would fit the space.


After patching walls, painting and supplying the linoleum, a new light fixture, a new sink, faucets and toilet the bathroom was looking much better.  Bruce jokes that we are helping to build God's Kingdom one toilet at a time!


This bell pull was used by the cook in the basement kitchen years ago to call the cowhands to dinner.  The rope still activates the bell located on the roof. We haven't had time to patch the wall yet.


We replaced a lot of windows this month.  This one was at a scale facility used to weigh calves before shipping them off to a feed lot.  We replaced 12 other windows in two other houses as well.


Another toilet got new flooring to replace a rotted piece of linoleum and floor beneath.


The back deck at the ranch office got a facelift this month


We had to wait until after branding was over to get a cowboy to bring us four scoops of soil (actually sand...we live in the sand hills) to fill in spaces under a deck and around the foundation of a home

Bruce had taken off a couple of steps to access the space under the steps.

After the dumps, the work began as we shoveled the sand to where it was needed
around the yard.


Every property has a propane tank, and many of them have needed a fresh coat of paint.  Because of the hot weather I wore some lightweight pants....and they were black....which was a bad mistake.  The pokey weeds and bugs went right through them and the wind blew white paint on them. In the middle of the job the sprinklers came on which further delayed the progress.  Oh well!

THE SAGA OF THE WATER HEATER
I'm sure we mentioned that we are 2 hours away from our Home Depot store.  One family of five was in great need of a new water heater so they could have more than one shower per night.  Because the space was limited where the water heater goes we purchased the exact brand and capacity as the old water heater.  Before we took out the old tank we realized the new tank


 was taller and much wider than the old tank...which facilitated another 4 hour trip to town the next day.  A different brand offered a smaller size (same capacity) but it was still taller but only slightly wider than the original (shown above).  This meant that all the water lines, gas line, and exhaust system had to be modified...which Bruce was prepared to do.  But.....

we discovered that the floor under the old water heater was in crisis condition, having melted through the linoleum and charred the wood beneath, and so we had another trip (only 45 minutes round trip this time...on bad roads) to get some heat resistant backer board to put down first.

It all turned out well, and once again we were grateful that Bruce is slender and a contortionist.


I am sitting in a cool tree with my little friend nearby.  This is somewhat unique because trees aren't plentiful in the sand hills region, making it harder for birds to nest and kids to climb.

Don't ask....the picture tells it all.


Actually in our weekly trip to dump trash I mistakenly grabbed Bruce's favorite pencil while gathering trash and threw it in......while in there, Bruce asked me to grab a few other items of interest.

Until next time.....have a great month!