Ah, Spring!

We’ve been back in Kansas for nearly a month now and finally our daytime temperatures are starting to match the ones in Yuma before we left. Today, we’re even in the 90s, but the rest of the week is forecast to be quite a lot cooler. The wind, however, has definitely lived up to its reputation for a Kansas spring.

We’ve enjoyed walks in the neighborhood recently and I commented how different it is than walking in Yuma. For one thing, we have sidewalks here, unlike most of our foothills neighborhood. There we walk in the street and rarely even have to watch and move for a vehicle. Here we find sidewalks most of the time, but we definitely watch for traffic and we haven’t met up with fellow walkers like we do there. No matter the differences, I thank God that I am still able to walk!

When we had the kitchen redone last spring/summer, we realized that we really needed a longer cabinet above the stove. What do you think?

I can reach, but wouldn’t want to try to put a heavy casserole dish in or take it out! So when we got back to Wichita, we went back to Home Depot to order something that is a better length. It hasn’t arrived yet, but we’re hoping to get it installed in a little less time than the rest of the kitchen took.

This week, we’re planning a garage sale. Tim and Heidi have lots of stuff to sell, but no place to sell it since they live in an apartment complex and LeRoy has the garage shelves full of things that we may or may not have be essential. We always enjoy a good garage sale, whether we’re shopping or selling. I hope our neighbors feel the same way!

Home!

Well, at least temporarily. A week ago today, the cleaning lady came to dust out our park model after the construction crew cleared out and with the help of three amazing teenagers, the children of our pastor, we got our furniture moved back in. The rest of the week, we were busy bringing the rest of our stuff from the garage room and the fifth wheel so we could live in the house and enjoy the great work that had been done.

This week, we’ve been spending our time getting ready to head back to Kansas, with the planned departure on Wednesday morning. If all goes well, we will be in Wichita on Friday afternoon. LeRoy has a doctor’s appointment in Wichita next Monday so we should be settled by then. We haven’t really gotten to enjoy the new kitchen in Wichita, so that will be fun.

We believe our newly rebuilt park model is in better shape than it was when we bought it in 2018. God has provided for our every need, even those we didn’t know we had! Prayers for travel safety would be appreciated.

Anticipation!

Well, I have to say that the contractor told us it would be an 8 week process and they first began to work January 15. Still, we kept hoping! This week, our park model should be ready for us to move in, just in time to leave for Kansas. I think we’re still lacking one cabinet door and a few minor details, but it’s basically finished. The cleaning crew is scheduled for Monday afternoon. Since the upper cabinets weren’t damaged, we just had the cabinet shop make matching doors for those and we will paint the faces to match in the fall. At least, that’s the current plan.

The dining room looks a lot like it did before, but much more useful. The old lower cabinet had four tiny drawers across the top and a divider inside.

I’ll have to decide what contents go where after we get everything back since we lost one cabinet to gain a dishwasher. I think it’s a worthwhile trade! LeRoy bought the dishwasher for my Christmas present and I’ve been patiently waiting. We also lost 10″ of countertop to gain a full sized gas stove to replace the 20″ that I had been using. I’ve promised LeRoy a pie for Pi Day on 3.14 if we are back in the house by then.

The pantry, which was one of the things I prayed for when we were looking for our park model years ago, is just renewed. We will probably add more shelves later.

The bathroom seems quite different, although not much has really changed. The space for a shower in the old rectangular configuration would have only been 24″ wide, which didn’t even give LeRoy room to stand, so we went with a nice corner shower and now we have room for towel bars, which we didn’t have before. The old counter continued around the corner over the top of the stool. The lid didn’t fit and you couldn’t make any repairs without taking the stool out! We went with a one piece unit and it looks really nice in the space.

The living room is basically the same except that we didn’t have an opening door put on the upper over the peninsula. We never used it because there were glass doors on it and the only things we put in it were decorative, never accessed from the living room side anyway. We’re rearranging the furniture in the living room, we (I) think. We’ll see how that goes.

Our daytime temperatures are trending upward, into the low 80s this week. We’re apt to be in for a shock when we get back to Kansas before the first of April! The fifth wheel we’ve been occupying all winter has little to no insulation and we’ve been waking up to temperatures inside the same as outside, low 50s, about the daytime highs we’re probably headed back to at home. Over all, we are just glad to see the end in sight, whatever the temperature.

Still waiting

We’ve learned that, no matter what we’ve been told the schedule is, it isn’t. The “second week of February”, when cabinets were to be installed, has come and gone with no base cabinets on site. We do have really good looking floors everywhere throughout the park model, though. Unfortunately, my computer is not cooperating today, so no pictures. The new promised installation is Tuesday or Wednesday this week, so maybe the problem will be straightened out in time to post another blog later.

LeRoy accuses me of not blogging about what he does, so I was going to show the trailer he built from a frame he bought. However, same problem with pictures. Maybe later.

Inch by inch

Not a lot of visible progress on our reconstruction project this week, but they’ve been working steadily on all the little things that don’t show. The plumbing had to be redone in the shower area and now the shower is going in.

All the subflooring is in and the drywall. In the living room and anywhere else that had textured walls except the bathroom, the patches look like the walls were never disturbed. The wall picture just looks white, so I’m not posting it for the texture fix. Trust me, it’s ready for paint, which will be coming Tuesday, we think. We chose paint colors this week and the cabinets will match the walls. The countertop is dark and should stand out. It is laminate called Forged Steel. The contrast will break up the solid wall/cabinet color.

This weekend we purchased or at least decided on everything we’ll need to furnish, we think: new gas stove, kitchen sink and faucet, water heater, and vanity faucet. We’ve been told that they need to be onsite by the second week of February. We’re excited to be at the place to see progress toward the finish!

Weather is forecast to be above January averages this week, so it’s seeming more like usual winter weather. That’s why we come to Yuma! With the possibility of more rain, it should be a nice week.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Do you remember the picture I posted at the end of the year? Not exactly “beautiful”.

After no progress at all since then, we were delighted when a crew moved in a week and a half ago. The ductwork has been repaired and for the last week, the mostly two man crew has been busy. This, believe it or not, is beauty in our eyes.

We met with the contractor and the cabinet man mid-week to make some choices. LeRoy has said for years that he would never want to have a house built because of all the decisions, but on a small scale, this is about the same. We’ve chosen flooring and cabinet style and color. The out of pocket cost will determine whether or not the upper cabinets get new doors, as those are not covered by insurance.

This coming week should see the new drywall taped, mudded and textured to match the rest of the walls. Since everything is out and we’re starting over from scratch, we’re making room for a 30″ stove to replace the 20″ one we had. That’s exciting! Until we got the full sized stove in our house in Wichita last spring, we had only had RV sized ranges since January of 2010. I hope I get to use it before we leave for Kansas!

We had rain last night and some all day today. We’re not used to getting wet going from our car to a building, but it felt pretty good. I almost feel bad saying that it’s been 75 degrees while so many people have had subzero temperatures and snow. It’s tough, but someone has to do it so we’ll take one for the team.

Another year gone

Goodbye, 2023!What a life we have been blessed to live! This year, our family has had its gains as well as its losses. Great grandson Jett Martin joined us in June, the son of our granddaughter Bailey and her husband Brett. In October, my brother-in-law Ray Kurtz went to be with Jesus and our best friend Johnny Schmidt joined him just before Thanksgiving.

After Ray’s celebration of life, we headed by car to Yuma and arrived on November 2, one day after our utilities had been turned back on. Not long, or too long, depending upon how you look at it. Due to our hurry to get away to visit friends before they moved to Wisconsin, we left faucets open that should have been closed, and we had the water turned back on on November 1, so we arrived to a waterfall in the kitchen of our park model. Progress has been slow. The remediation company came out the next day and finally, six weeks later, they are finished with their part and have removed the drying and air scrubbing machines. Did I mention that they also removed all the damaged parts? This worker is standing in what used to be the kitchen. Beneath the china cabinet, you can see where the shower used to be. That’s the ground below the open joists.

This week, after the New Year’s holiday, the air conditioning company is scheduled to come and make sure that the ductwork is all still as it should be. The contractor says we are #4 on his list of projects and he will possibly be able to start work by the last week of January! Since he estimates 8 weeks, we’ll be pushing our luck to get back for LeRoy’s eye appointment in Wichita the last of March. In the meantime, we’re blessed to have a fifth wheel with a working bathroom and kitchen, along with a comfortable bed. We may not get to try out the reconstruction until just before we leave for the season. Last spring, we got kitchen cabinets installed in our Wichita house the day before we left for the summer. I hope we’re not starting a new lifestyle!

A couple of years ago, Heidi brought me some Christmas cactus starts. Later, I propagated a new pot full. I’ve come to call them Holiday cactus, because they have, in various years, bloomed at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day and 4th of July! This year, both plants started putting on buds about a week and a half ago and this morning, one blossom was fully open.

The rest are following suit, with enough new tiny buds that it may still be blooming for Valetine’s Day! It’s a bright spot on which to start the new year. Welcome, 2024!

Moving right along, slowly

After a beautiful memorial service for our friend Johnny, we packed up the car and headed back to Yuma on Monday. We were thankful for a remarkably uneventful trip back. The weather cooperated and roads and traffic were as good as we could expect, but we were really glad to get back. I think we’re about rested up and LeRoy is glad to be back to his hot tub.

Since our return, we got word that a good friend from our days in Tonkawa, OK had passed away, Darby Wheeler. LeRoy worked with Darby and he and his wife Pansy were as good friends as anyone could want. Their youngest son was in our son Robert’s class in high school. We moved on and they moved on, but they have continued to be true friends. We will miss him.

On Thursday last week, the water remediation people came back to begin demolition in our park model now that we finally have an estimate of what the insurance company will cover. Every piece of furniture and cabinet contents have been moved into the finished room in the garage or into the fifth wheel where we are staying. They won’t be finished for a couple of weeks, since they have to wet everything down again and then dry it out, but I do have one picture of the house in-process.

The lower cabinets are out now entirely. The shower will have to come out in pieces and they should start on that tomorrow. We’ll begin the process of choosing flooring and new lower cabinets for kitchen and bathroom as well, but first a short trip into Mexico on a pharmacy run for a friend. We’ll keep you updated as things progress.

So much

So much has happened since I wrote last. No progress on our Yuma property, although we expect to have a determination this coming week on the insurance estimate. In the interim, we have had a series of deaths among our Northridge church family and friends. Just before Thanksgiving, our friend Johnny went home to heaven and we started making plans to come to Kansas to be with Karen. Since mid-October, we have lost 9 friends and family members.

We had a good drive back from Yuma as we were behind the winter storm. We didn’t see much snow at all until we got to the west side of Wichita and the roads were clear all the way. Heidi and Tim were able to move into their own place on the 18th, so we had an empty house to come back to for a while. LeRoy had to shovel the front deck when we got back, but one of the neighbors had thrown ice melt on the driveway, so it was mostly taken care of by the sun. It has been cold at night but the daytime temperatures are rising. It seems that we’ve been involved in funerals since before we even arrived. Several were held before we got back and two more this past week. We helped in the kitchen for one. A former pastor passed away this week, too. Johnny’s service will be next Saturday.

Before we left in late October, we had an appliance service check out the ice maker in the refrigerator here. It wasn’t functioning, so they ordered one but it hadn’t arrived when we left. Since we were here for a few days, we had them come and install it, although we aren’t using much ice with temperatures in the 30s!

We’ve gotten to spend time with great grandson Jett a couple of times. He’s almost 6 months old and really growing. Right now he’s pretty fascinated by Christmas lights.

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I hope everyone has a happy holiday season. We should, Lord willing, be back in Yuma by Christmas.

Situations and solutions part 2

More on the saga from last week. We live in such a helpful neighborhood here in Yuma. Last spring, we got new neighbors next door in a brand new double wide modular home. They are youngsters, in their early 60s I think, and newly retired. Joe was an electrician in his other life and he helped LeRoy check out the electrical problem in the garage. They ordered a new breaker and it is now up and working.

The water situation is another story. The restoration company called in an industrial hygienist who came Thursday. He only found mold in one place, about an inch or so square. That’s the good news.

The adjuster who was supposed to come Monday had a family illness, so couldn’t come until Friday. He and the person from the restoration company, along with LeRoy, checked the house out pretty thoroughly and the consensus is (although the final verdict will be up to the adjuster and the insurance company) that in addition to the flooring that covers the whole house, probably the subflooring and definitely the lower cabinetry will have to be removed and replaced. Wait! Didn’t we just go through a kitchen demolition and replacement over a period of 5 or 6 months? Well, it looks like we’ll be doing it again. God will provide, I’m sure, and he’s sure providing peace at this point. Soon the pack out crew will come and move everything loose from the park model to the one finished room in our garage, but we don’t really have a timeline on that.

I’m grateful for insurance. I’m grateful for helpful neighbors. I’m grateful for a husband who can and does do repairs. But most of all, I’m thankful for a God who cares!

More to come next time!