Tis the season for burning

     Long ago when the earth was young and the wind blew from the clouds, ( the Frisians, a tribe of Germanic peoples in North Western Europe had a saying back near the year 200 that they would remain free as long as the earth stood and the wind blew from the clouds. They are a people known for being extremely hard headed and stubborn even today. They were the last people to accept feudalism in Europe. Of course it is said they did eat the first Christian missionaries that attempted to bring them the gospel. You can tell who is of Frisian descent because most of their names will end with sma or stra.) anyway I digress, back when the earth was young and the wind blew from the clouds, back when we still lived in the country and our boys were young, every Christmas we would light the Christmas tree.

     The secret to properly lighting the Christmas tree was the decorating. Those were the days when there was a little less security with shredded documents. The shredded paper came from a bank. It was shredded financial documents. Can you image banks handing that out today. It was an innocent time when everyone was trustworthy and loved their neighbor, I think, perhaps, maybe?? Maybe not.

Anyway we would cut a Christmas tree early in December and allow it to properly dry until the great and momentous day arrived. A day for handing out presents and feasting on roast beef. Yes, that's right the day to Light the Christmas Tree.

     If the tree was dried correctly and had just the right amount of shredded paper, it created quite a flash fire. One fine evening as the tree exploded into flame I looked up to see that I had wisely positioned the tree under the electric line from the meter pole to the buildings. The line, over 20 foot off the ground was engulfed in flames. Lucky for me the tree was pretty much a flash fire and did not last long enough to send us into the dark with melted electric lines falling around our heads like snowflakes of ashes turned to venomous snakes.

     We could go back into the house and open presents with both light and heat instead of darkness and cold while I tried to call an electrician to come put lines back up on Christmas Eve. I am sure they would have rejoiced to do that when I told them why our lines were down. The little boy in the picture is Micah. Last year he lit a tree with his friends out at his grandparent's farm which brought the old tradition back to mind.

     Sharon decided this year it was time to bring back the old ways that are so beloved. Traditions that have been the glue that has held families together through the generations. To try to bring back that time when there was trust and good will toward all men. A time when all the men were handsome and all the women were above average. Yes it was time to light the Christmas tree as a reminder of all that is noble in our world. 

     Of course I don't think Sharon and her accomplices realized they did not have a tree they had carefully dried and prepared for the ceremony. They had to hunt far and wide for the perfect tree that still had needles yet had achieved just the correct desiccation. Then they had to make it stand upright and decorate the tree. Ah, Sharon's maiden name is Bandstra, see explanation of Frisians above. They found pieces of a few trees at the city leaf dump that they could sort of tie together, they found some paper they could use to decorate the tree, and some young men to aid them and the rest is history. A tree was lit to symbolize a spark of light in a dark and worrisome world. 

     Speaking of a dark world, I do have a confession to make here, among friends, that I, who love literature and books; I, who feel everyone should read at minimum at least one book they disagree with every year; yes, I am a BOOK BURNER.

     If you look carefully off to the right of the fire in our fireplace you can see the book lying on the top of the wood. It is a book on Greek Grammar. Our book shelves are overflowing and it is time to clean a few out so we can buy more. It is a painful experience for me to destroy a book, although there are a few I have burned with a smile on my face. I have no desire to dictate to others what they should read but sometimes if I come across a book that is vulgar or just flat out disgusting I burn it instead of donating it to a used book store and I have no regrets. The books we are burning now are not in that category, they are just books that would not sell if donated. I am sure no one who shops for used books at the local thrift store really wants a book on Greek Grammar. Although maybe I could have glued a picture of a man holding some damsel in distress to the front of it and it would have sold as a romance novel. Whoever bought it might have acquired a working knowledge of Greek before they realized they were not reading of some adventurous maiden's tryst with her masculine lover.             Boy, I missed an opportunity to spread a little knowledge in the world there didn't I?  ἰδοὺ  ἡλίκον πῦρ    (for those of you who did not read the Greek Grammar book I could have tried to pass of as a romance novel; that translates "Behold a small fire")

     So it has been a season of burning, a time to bring a little warmth to a cold world. A time when family can say "we spent some time together acting like juveniles". I hereby declare 2018 the year to stop taking ourselves so seriously. A time to stop yelling at each other because we have different versions of what "light a Christmas tree" means. Most will plug in a string of lights and have a satisfied feeling of seeing the beauty of a well decorated tree, others will laugh as a fire engulfs the tree as it is lit. 

     We all see things differently, none of us has it exactly right. Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals lets dwell in peace and enjoy each others differences. Jesus said a new command I give you Love one another. I want to see more love in 2018. I want to hear more laughter and see more joy. Lets all live as God wants us to live, in relationship with each other and spread a little light and warmth each in his or her own way.      ἰδοὺ  ἡλίκον πῦρ

(Those Greek letters really messed up the formatting so I had to do the best I could.)

Early Christmas

It was the Friday before Christmas and all through the house we were hurrying to finish and clean out the mess.

We took a load to the landfill and carried out all the tools. Packed up the extra flooring and took it to storage. Micah swept up the debris.

Matthew had changed out outlets and run down dead wiring.

The north side had been washed and the algae killed.

new flooring had all been laid and was looking so fine. ( this was the first time we tried this type of water proof flooring. You lay it by setting it and knocking it down with a rubber mallet. Pretty cool.)

The rooms were all cleaned. (Ok sort of cleaned it definitely was not up to Sharon's standards but she was no where to be seen.)

Potential tenants were on their way to sign a lease.

Appliances were in and ready to use.

The schedule was originally for completion sometime in February. Then a push for January 1. Now it is rented, rent paid and deposited in the bank, keys turned over to new tenants and I have vacation till January 12 when we take possession of the next house. That might be a fantastic Christmas present. Some work for VG Farms, write the 4 sermons I need in the next 4 weeks, maybe put a floor in a cabin for Lake View Camp. Wow if that is all I have to do I might get bored. 

Hey everyone have a merry Christmas and spend some time with those God has given you in your life. One of the best gifts you can give someone is your time.

Dust and broken pipes

This week we finished up at the house we have been working on. The last job was to clean out the garage. One day when it was drizzling outside we had the saws to cut flooring set up in the garage. Micah sent me to get some carpet strips so we would not be tracking so much mud into the house. He said if we swept the garage it would also help to keep from tracking so much into the house. "Why would it help to sweep a dirt floor?" I asked. "There is concrete under the dirt" He patiently explained. And so there was. I bought the house thinking the garage had a dirt floor. That was a nice surprise. Believe me the surprises are usually not the good kind. 

This is what the inside of the garage looked like when we bought the house. I do not know exactly how many pickup loads they hauled away. I do know one Saturday they took 7 loads and that was not even half of what they hauled away over a 3 week period. 

Wednesday I loaded the pickup with cardboard and milk jugs and took them to the recycling bins. I took a load of trash to the land fill and then started sweeping.

10 bags of dirt later I had a clean floor. The dirt had accumulated a little at a time while all the stuff too "good" to throw away gathered up in the garage.

The house we are working on the end of this week we purchased on a on-line auction. I will give everyone a piece of advice when asked"do you want to use our closing agent or your own?" ALWAYS CHOOSE YOUR OWN. It's not that they did not do a good job. It does appear to me though, that Chicago rates are somewhat higher than local rates. OK take the local rates times 4 and you have almost achieved the amount they charged. You will need to add a few more dollars just, well I guess, just because when they are billing they certainly wouldn't want to not take another $50 or so.

This is where we got one of those surprises that was not a nice gift. The house had been vacant for a year. The foreclosure company had winterized the house in October. See there is a problem there. Winterizing in October 2017 did not protect the pipes during the winter of 2016. The former owners had insulated the house to the extreme. seemed like a good idea until it becomes apparent that heat does not travel down well to start with and then if you put 10 inches of insulation between the joists and cover that with inch insulation board, you have no heat down where the plumbing runs. They had shut off the water but had not drained the pipes.

I spent all day Thursday turning the water on, seeing water spray, going to Kelly supply and buying sharkbite couplers, cutting out the split pipe and installing new. Then I would turn the water on, see a new water spray, go to Kelly supply and buy sharkbite couplers, cut out the old split pipe and install new. I did not count how many times I made that circle.

The one time that really made my day was when I found a cvpc line that was split for about 2 foot. Wow I have all the cvcp couplers and elbows on hand to fix that with out going to Kelly Supply. I got that baby all cut out and reglued back. I turned on the water only to find out I had glued the split pipe back into the line. See those short pices of cvpc laying there. They are now too short for some idiot to pick up and glue back into a water line. I wouldn't know any idiot who would actually do that but better safe than sorry, right?

John called this morning to see if we had any work we needed done. 

Well, John, it is painting day so grab a brush and a roller and start painting. Thanks for the help today.

Micah could get right after laying new flooring instead of painting. A much better use of his time. Last house start to finish took 43 days. I am booking 21 days for this house so that means if we fall behind schedule all the Christmas parties will be held at this house working. I am just warning anyone if they see a change of address where the Christmas party will be this year you might want to wear work clothes and bring your tools.

Falling tile and hiding carpet

    When we bought the house we are working on now the owner said he kept trying to stick the tile back on the bathroom wall, but they kept falling off.

He finally fixed the problem by taping plastic on the wall. He should put this life hack on Pinterest because I am sure there are a lot of home owners who would be excited with such an easy stylish fix. As he was telling me he could not get the tile to stick I was thinking, well you could try installing them correctly. 

When we pulled the old tile off that were still attached we had to use a hammer and a chisel to knock them loose. I was thinking see there is no reason the tile will not stick if you put them up right. I put the new tile up using the thin set I always use and they looked wonderful. You can see where this is going can't you? 

Yes the next morning as I was prepping the tile to grout, I noticed there was a loose tile. I pushed on it and it fell off. See all those tile on the living room floor. That means I get to do the job over again.

This time I put up new green board before I started putting up tile. When I go to restaurants I always notice the way the tile are installed in the men's room. They are never quite lined up and I think to myself, so this is a professional job? 

Well, I am calling my second attempt at tiling around this shower a professional job. Haveing to do it a second time may have made me work a little faster than was prudent.

  I went down to Menards on Friday to purchase a garage door.

     Everyone seems to feel we need to replace this lovely old antique before we rent the house. It has that fine patina of age to it that I believe the true enthusiast loves so much. There is some rust on the hinges and of course since one of the panels has fallen out since this picture was taken, that means it also has that easy pet access that is so much in demand today. 

     The former owner was going to replace the door with the one leaning against the side of the garage in this photo. That might have been a good idea if one of the panels on his replacement door hadn't already been broken in half. 

   So I drove down to Menards in Ottumwa and bought a garage door to keep the natives somewhat happy. I paid for the garage door and then had to go out to the yard to pick it up. I was quickly loaded, which is not normal procedure. I am thinking of sending notice to the Pope to see if we can get it listed as a miracle.

     I then drove up to the security shack to get the door checked and so Menards could check to make sure I had not loaded any random items I had not paid for. This usually is a fairly quick process. They count items and then lift the gate and off you go. Today there was a new woman doing the checking and I noticed she was reading the SKU numbers on every roll of carpet on the trailer ahead of me. I thought to myself Oh, no this woman is taking her job much too seriously. Then I heard the conversation between her and the customer.

     Can you count the rolls of carpeting? I could count them quite easily sitting in my pickup. Lets see 3,6,9 yes 9 rolls of carpeting. You can clearly see 9 rolls of carpeting. Problem was the customer kept insisting he had 10 rolls of carpeting. 

     He would pick up a roll and look under it to see if there was another roll under it. Nope, no roll of carpeting under that one. Then he would pick up another roll. He would go clear across the trailer picking them up and looking, then he would work back across the other way. When he reached where he had started he would begin again. I will have to admit I was thinking to myself , I am caught behind an idiot and I will be here when eternity comes as he keeps looking for that roll of carpeting he is so sure is there. Now if he had the capacity to think, he would have agreed with the security woman, turned around, went back to the load out door and gotten that 10th roll of carpeting. but, no this guy was not going to take the sensible road. There was no way he could be wrong. He had counted 10 rolls when they loaded his trailer so there were 10 rolls on that trailer and no one was going to convince him otherwise. I will admit I have to give him a 10 for stubborn stupidity.

     The security woman finally got him to pull out of the way. She told him to turn around and come back into the yard and he could continue counting his load to see if that nasty roll of carpeting would stop playing hide and seek. Oh, No, he was not about to pull back into the yard when he was sure he had 10 rolls of carpeting on that trailer somewhere. He pulled out into the front parking lot and started unloading them so he could get a good count. 

     I had an open road ahead of me and I left when I probably should have stayed to watch the show. Now I will always wonder how the carpet was moving around so he could not find it. Should we all be a little afraid that there is smart carpet out there. If you put in new carpet will it move from room to room when you are not looking? These are the kind of questions that will now keep me awake at night.

    

     Probably it will just keep me awake late at night though. I find it very easy to fall asleep in my recliner by 9:30. Light a fire in the fire place, lean back and drift off. Our stack of firewood was getting low so Sharon and I went out to cut some this afternoon. Nothing like the radiant heat of a crackling fire on a cold night in Iowa. I didn't count how many pieces of wood we put on the pickup so I don't know if wood hides just like carpeting does.

Aw Progress we can see

 We showed the house we have been working on to a prospective tenant today. They are renting another one of our houses but are looking for something larger.

They had driven past the house and were not impressed by what they saw. But when they saw the inside they had a completely different opinion. 

The outside still needs some work and much of the work will have to wait till spring and warmer weather. The house has aluminum siding that someone in their wisdom thought at one time would look just fabulous with a sort of pink color painted on it. I really don't think that was the best choice available. They tell me it has to be above 50 degrees to paint but it is going to be a long time till April looking at that travesty of a color..

We know we are getting closer to the end when we can start closing doors to rooms and say "that room is finished". Micah actually even laid the last flooring in a room today. Yea, I could bring the flooring saw blades home.

Its always a good feeling to know your improvements are appreciated. What was really appreciated was after Jeremy looked at the house today, He said ,"I have to go home and pray about this". Hey Jeremy that is so cool, yes go home and pray about if you should move. Ask God about what He wants you to do every day. The large things and the small things. Jeremy made my day today.

Spent too much time this week working on the bathroom of the house. Patrick had finished the sheet rock over a week ago and I had too many small projects waiting until the bathroom was to a certain point.

Maybe the tile is not grouted yet but at least it is on the wall around the shower. Do you see my mistake beside the window on each side? I was staggering the tile and put two in without the offset. I saw it the day after I had installed the tile and thought about fixing it for about half a second. I had measured so precise that I had exactly 1 tile left over so I would maybe, have been able to peel those two off and cut the required new pieces out of the 2 I had with one backup piece. Naw, looks good enough. I am going to just assume everyone will think I wanted it this way.

And look ma, there is a toilet. How cool is that, we even provide toilets in our houses. I had to pick it back up and reset it 3 times, once to put in an extra wax ring because the flooring raised the clearance, once because a bolt spun and wouldn't tighten down, and once because when I came back into the bathroom there was an inch between the tank and the back wall on one side and close to 2 inches on the other side. I think it is straight now, at least I am not picking that sucker up again. I one time dropped the tap to a new toilet seat into a brand new toilet. Never used but it was still a moment of mental anguish before I could use MY hand to fish out that tap. I know its a mental thing, but hey can you stick your hand in a toilet? So what I am saying here is I did not want to spend anymore time on that toilet today. I may be scarred for life already.

There was a house auctioned on-line couple of weeks ago. You bid on the house as is, where is, and you are not allowed into the house. They give you fair warning that anyone who tries to see inside the house may face prosecution for breaking and entering. Now before you start thinking that I am a complete moron, Sharon and I had walked through the house a year ago when it was listed with a local broker. We did have some idea of what shape it was in. The one big problem we found when we were given the lock box number and could access the house on Wednesday was it had a FUSE BOX. Our insurance company has a policy, NO FUSE BOXES. Rich and his crew showed up on Friday and got it changed out. 

Micah claims all we need in this next house is just floors and paint. Yea, sure, somehow there are always surprises. I will admit, though he did lay about 1000 square foot of flooring in the one we are in now, and I let him do it. Well, OK, I did occasionally take the tools out of his hands and place a plank for him. That was just an educational move. In my defense he did the same thing to me a couple of times earlier when we were in the deconstruction stage.

I leave you with this lovely picture of pinkish siding with a hole repaired in it so you can share my pain, but remember you just have to look at it once. I have to suffer all winter and part of next Spring.

Thank you Lord

     There have been several years in the past when I woke up on Thanksgiving day and wondered what I was supposed to be thankful for. I remember the year Sharon was diagnosed with cancer the day before Thanksgiving and our world was crashing around our heads. We had 2 sons who were not even in school yet and we were told there is no cure. I remember the year our cattle were dying and the realization was sinking in we were not going to survive financially. There were other years of less trauma, but still left me reeling by the morning of Thanksgiving day. So I understand if you are struggling right now and calling out to God, "hey, God I don't get it, I am in trouble here and where are You?" 

     This year I am in the land of plenty. God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. Matthew who was 2 years old when Sharon was diagnosed is 22 years old and Sharon is still here. God knows more than doctors. She is the light of my life and God has blessed me by leaving her right here with me. (I sure hope she feels the same way)

     God has allowed me to lead worship services just about every week for 12 years. There is a great joy in sharing the Word of God.

And now Matthew is in seminary and taking it up a notch

God has blessed us with our children.

All of them knowing that Jesus' sacrifice is the gate to eternal life with God. What greater blessing could a father ask for.

     God has given us a wonderful house to live in nestled in the pine trees. I know that God picked this house out for us and took us down a tortuous path to get us here. Sharon wrote about how that happened on this blog a couple of years back. 

     God has blessed us financially to the point where I can compare our life to the widow's jar of oil that did not run empty. God just keeps giving more and more. I am not sure why God has blessed us beyond measure. It is assuredly not because of what I have done or who I am, because I can say with Paul that I am the worst of sinners. I can honestly say that on my own I can do nothing.

     Someone asked me once 11 years ago, when all around us looked black, if I felt like Job. The man in the Bible who lost everything. Went from wealth to absolute poverty. I answered,"no, Job got it all back, I will be poor the rest of my life." Well now I know that is not true. God has given it all back and piled on more, and looking back over the last few years I have to confess, it was not me making investments grow and filling bank accounts. It was the hand of God pouring out earthly blessings to supplement the spiritual blessings that are so much more valuable.

     So it is Thanksgiving day 2017 and I am not writing this to say, hey look at me. I am writing this to say God has blessed me even though I don't deserve any of it. That is a visible sign of Grace, undeserved favor. If you are reading this and you also are in the land of plenty spiritually or physically, remember to whom God gives much, much is expected. Join me in sharing the wealth God has given, both spiritual and physical. Come join me in sharing the gospel with those you meet. There is no greater joy than seeing an unbeliever come to faith. Come join me in caring for the needy in your life. Yea this one will drive you crazy at times, but just keep telling God "be in control of all you have placed in my care and use it to build Your kingdom" and God will show you who to help and when to give.

     May every day of the coming year be a day of Thanksgiving for you.

Are we making progress yet?

Sometimes you get to the end of the week and you have to ask yourself just exactly what did I accomplish this week. That is when it really helps that you have been taking pictures with your phone

Here is the starting point 2 weeks back

Here is where the room was at on Friday evening. It is actually starting to look livable. And I did not smash any fingers installing this floor. Although I will have to admit I started it on Thursday afternoon and I was fighting every plank to get them to lock. I did a bunch of other stuff on Friday because I did not want to go back to fighting this floor. Mid afternoon I finally went back to the floor and was having a terrible time getting the planks to lock when it suddenly occurred to me. Hey dummy this is Tarkett floor, where is your 10 inch piece of 2x4. I went and cut a piece off the junk pile outside the house and the floor just started locking perfectly. ( if you are wondering you smack the side of the plank with the 2x4 and they fit snuggly into place) I think I am getting old when I forget those short cuts. (I also lost 2 pair of gloves this week, did find one pair on Saturday though. I had laid them down in our storage garage).

This is the living room looking to the east 2 weeks ago. 

Here is the same room looking west after Micah was done with it today. 

When we bought the house both Sharon and Micah said the kitchen counter top had to go. I had told Micah I was thinking about tiling it. His response was "does any one do that?"

Tuesday I stripped off the old Formica top 

And prepped it for tile. Wednesday morning I mentioned to Sharon that I was going to use the tile we had left from another project on the counter. Hey free counter top. Sharon was not amused. Her comment, I believe was "you know I hate tiled counter tops" 

Ah, but you know how it is. I was alone at the house. That was the first mistake for those who did not want a tiled counter. 

I had 3 boxes of tile in storage, that was just gathering dust and needed to be used. No one had thrown those out, so that was their second mistake.

Personally I think it turned out just fine.

And I am willing to bet no one is going to redo it either. I did the labor, Third mistake. Strike three, I win!!

And then there was Monday's project. When we bought the house the owner told us the basement drain was plugged. I had Cody come to try to open it. He gave up after he found the trap was filled with cement. Hammer drill and a chisel to break out 8 inch thick concrete. Now that is more fun than a man should be allowed to have on a Monday afternoon.

Well lookee there, a brand new basement drain. I even wisely left the cover on the new drain that is there to keep idiots like me from getting concrete in the new drain till I had it all troweled in.

As I write this at 7 pm on Saturday, Patrick is putting up sheet rock and taping the bathroom ceiling and walls. I know when you look at this picture you ask "why would Royce want those art deco walls changed?" Tenants can be so picky sometimes. Patrick asked me on Wednesday if I had any work for him. He was just walking by and stopped to see if we needed any labor. I said no and then he said, "I do sheet rock taping and texturing".  Bingo, those are magic words. Come on, buddy I have a bathroom to show you. I picked up the sheet rock this morning and he wanted to do the work tonight so he could texture the walls on Monday and get paid. Said he needs the money. 

He told me I would be impressed with the work done when I saw it tomorrow morning. I told Patrick I wouldn't see it in the morning because it was Sunday and I was going to church. I think that was way outside of the norm for Patrick. As I was driving home I thought the only difference between me and Patrick is, God has blessed me. 

That was brought home to me this week when I met Frank in Walmart. Frank asked me how many tenants owed us money. I said none. Frank looked at me and said "God has really blessed you hasn't He?

Yea, God has really blessed us and every day I wonder why. May your next week be as productive and blessed as my past week has been.