Okay, so technically, this headline is just about a week and a half late, but I wanted to share the kitchen post before making the big announcement.  Before I get to that, though, I hope you’ll indulge me for just a minute for some sad news.

I took an unexpected break a couple of weeks ago to attend a funeral back in Washington.  Jack was a co-worker, former room mate, and my best friend for the last 25 years.  He had been battling numerous heart and lung issues for quite some time, and ended up in the hospital for several weeks. 

Throughout his hospital stay, we kept in touch with him and his wife, Jayne on an almost daily basis.  With the various treatments, care and medications, it seemed like he was beginning to see some relief.  The last time I talked to him he had just undergone heart valve replacement surgery and said he was feeling better and was hoping to come see us soon and take a look at what we’ve been up to. 

Sadly, things took a sudden turn for the worse and he passed away just a few days later.  It won’t be the same without him, but we’re still hoping Jayne will be able to make it down soon.  Rest easy, Jack.

I got back here on Sunday and had one of those “sometime between noon and 4:00 pm” appointments with the DirecTV installer for Monday afternoon.  He arrived about 12:15 and by about 12:17, I had told him to get out.  Suffice to say that considering how much we pay each month for television, I was not fond of his smirk, didn’t care for his condescending tone, and just wasn’t in the mood for his arguing.  Strangely enough, he was somehow able to sense that I was displeased and managed to very quickly change his attitude.

Once he finished, I realized that we had a working kitchen, a working television, and a working, fully functional bathroom (including a shower).  We’re beyond the worst of the dust, and most of the flooring is down.  That got me thinking that continuing to live in the fifth wheel seemed sort of silly.

Don’t get me wrong; it hasn’t been nearly as bad as one might expect.  Sure, this past winter was a bit challenging at times, and filling the water tank, emptying the holding tanks, and having our own, private, porta-potty just steps away has been a definite adjustment from pour last house.  Still, maybe it was time to say goodbye to the trailer as ‘home’, and put it back in the category of ‘hey, want to hook up and go camping this weekend?’.  Besides, we can tell the world with a certain amount of pride that we survived a Colorado winter in a trailer.  I have no need to do it twice.

Our bedroom floor is still just plywood sub-floor, and I really didn’t relish the idea of setting up the king-sized bed upstairs, along with the headboard, dressers and nightstands, only to have to move them for the carpet installation.  But, the ‘sewing room’ downstairs has a finished floor now and is big enough for a queen-sized bed.

By the time Sandi got home, I had managed to move the bed frame, headboard, and mattress / box spring down from the barn and had them set up downstairs.  It’s not fancy, and it’s certainly not going to be long-term, but it’s working for now.

Another trip down from the barn and we had a dining room table and chairs, along with a couple of area rugs.  No, those aren’t our cows…  they just come and go as they please, leaving little souvenirs along the way.

A couple of days later, I had scrounged up enough phone wire to splice a few pieces together and run it down over the hill from the barn to the house so we now have Internet, too.

The carpet has been ordered and should be installed in the bedroom and on the stairs on the 17th.  I finished laying the floor in the office, and only have the tile in the mudroom left to install.

As always, I have a disclaimer…..  we are far from being done, and I still have quite a long list of things I need to get to, but the vast majority of those are relatively small projects like molding, hand rails, and window sills, and can be done over time.

But, it’s sure nice watching TV on our big-screen.  It’s a terrific treat to take a real shower where we don’t have to go through the turn on the water to get wet – shut off the water – get soapy – turn on the water to rinse off – shut off the water – wash your hair – turn off the water to rinse off again – process and hope you didn’t just run out of hot water along the way.  The pressure is good, we can leave the water on, and there’s more than enough hot water.  Sleeping in a real bed where we don’t bump our heads on the ceiling of the slide out when we get up is a nice change, too.

Sadly, it also means we no longer have need for this guy:

They picked it up this morning, so no more bundling up, trudging through the snow, and enduring below freezing temperatures with the wind blowing through the cracks around the door.  Ahh….  good times and great memories.