calm before the storm

     I do feel for all the farmers struggling to get their crops out of the fields. It rains everyday and the fields have turned to equipment eating swamps. The crops are in danger of rotting in the fields, so for the farmers we are in the midst of the storm. Personally, I have no crops in the field to harvest. People ask me how much rain we have had and my response is "I don't know, I don't have a rain gauge." 

     I am in the calm before the storm. We have had our offer accepted on what we call the blue house.

I was adamant that we had made our best offer. Micah did not agree and we got into a blind bidding war for the house. Gotta love those bidding wars where you are allowed to raise your offer but are not allowed to know what the competing offers are. Well we won, so there. I just hope we only won by a little and not by way too much. We should be alright because the ROI will be at the upper end of our scale unless we run into unforeseen issues. It will probably be November before we get possession, so I have the rest of the month to take it easy. 

     Then it will be a heavy work load. Windows all need to be replaced and walls need to be torn out and floors need to be laid.

And that lattice has to go with the half walls it is connected to. I think this house alone will fill our winter days, and our agent called me on Thursday to ask if I was available. No I am in Pella. Well I am walking into a house that the owner started a remodel and quit on it. No sheet rock in the house. I said "I am guessing it needs roof, siding, windows, doors and all the interior?" Lisa said yes. I asked "How much do they want?" There was no answer. I think they are waiting till I tell them what it will cost to remodel and then set the price. I am looking at it this week. May be we will end up with 2 winter jobs. That might be a bit much.

Sharon goes off to a Bible study that includes a meal on Tuesday nights. That leaves me to cook my own meal. I asked her Monday if she was going to be going this week and she said "well I could stay home." No, no, I just want to know if I need to get a steak out of the freezer to thaw. It is a struggle but I am able to survive those Tuesday nights cooking my own meal. Well aged prime steak and hand cut fries on the grill. I know some of you out there are thinking, Royce, we can bring you some food to help you get though Tuesday nights, maybe a nice pasta salad or some steamed vegetables, but really I will be fine. Sharon makes up for it and feeds me well the rest of the week, I can get through one meal of lesser quality once a week.

We put down carpet squares in Micah's basement to replace old carpet that flooded earlier this summer

     We also made a lot of progress on his bathroom. still need a few more tile and some grout, but it is shaping up nicely. We need to get all these little projects out of the way because the storm is coming. It is easy at this point to say we will take our time and not get in a rush to get a purchased house ready to rent, but once we own it every month it is not rented is a lot of money not collected. 

     Remember to pray for the farmers who are looking at fields of mud and need some dry weather, they are in the midst of the storm. They have no control over the weather. That is in the hands of God. My oncoming storm of work is self inflicted. Till it hits I will be taking every chance to grill some steak and enjoy the calm.