100 years later

I feel like I am not making any progress right now. Intellectually I know that is not true. We have shingled 4 of the 6 roofs we had on the schedule for this year and it is not the first of May yet.

So there are 2 roofs left to do including this one. 

The garage that goes with the house has the roof done but both the house and the garage need siding. I enjoy putting up siding but it is a time consuming job. I hope to order the siding this week. The city has changed the code and we have to have houses inspected within 30 days of renting them. That means we can't register them as a rental with the city and figure we have 6 months before we will have an inspection. Harrison can be easy to work with at times and this was one of those times. He asked how soon we would have it shingled and resided. I thought about it for a bit as he tried to pin me down on a date we would be finished. I finally told him it would be done before the snow flew next winter. Surprisingly he said Ok. 

The city wanted the roof replaced on this house before we rented it. Different code enforcement. Mike asked me a couple of times during the winter if we were started on it yet. Each time I told him "It is too cold." I had a call from Dustin (city code enforcement) this week because we had a tenant with a couch by the curb. Dustin called me as a courtesy before he sent an official letter. I appreciate that Dustin! Dustin said "I saw you have the tarp off the blue house and it is roofed." Means he is keeping track doesn't it.

This house also needs to be sided this summer. It also needs new windows, kitchen cupboards, mud and tape on walls, painted inside and new floors. Oh, yea, it needs new interior doors and the bathroom redone as well. Just a few updates right?

 That is about enough to keep me busy for a while just inside this house. I need to chill out and relax. It will all get done eventually. I should consider it a good thing that I have productive labor to do.

 This is my Great Grandparents, Cornelius and Sjoukje Spoeltsra. They immigrated to America from the Netherlands in 1918. My Grandfather was 18 at the time. Later in life Cornelius said he immigrated because there was no room for economic advancement in Holland at the time. I am a 4th generation citizen of the USA. My family has now been here for 100 years. 
Instead of being worried that there is no room for economic advancement I am worried if I will get all the work I have to do done. 

A robin laid a couple of eggs in a window sill of the blue house this week. The robin did not bother to build a nest, she just laid the eggs and then seems to have abandoned them. Her labor was not productive and there will be no next generation to carry on.

Here's my point. My family has been here 100 years. We are here because the USA saw immigrants as a positive. They helped to build the economy. It was not always easy. My Great Grandfather's native language of Dutch was banned in public meetings and church services during WWI. The Dutch were hated by the earlier Americans because it was thought they were German sympathizers. My Great Grandparents were still allowed to come and they came. I wonder how many reading this know the story of when their family came to America and how many of you want to refuse entry to even legal immigrants today. This country allowed my ancestors to come even though at the time "their kind" was not wanted. Today even though I have the city officials carefully watching what I do, they continually tell me they are glad we are in Oskaloosa buying house renovating them and making the town look better. Harrison told me last Saturday "I like to inspect your houses, I never have to yell at you." Mike told me after we bought the blue house,"I am glad you bought that house." 

We can be like the robin who thoughtlessly laid her eggs in an open window sill with no protection. She had no thought for the future. If we do not accept immigrants the best and brightest from other countries will go elsewhere and we will lose all that they might bring to our country and economy in the future. My family was the hated foreigner when they came. Now we are part of the fabric of this country. Maybe too busy at times, but busy making this a better land and place.

protecting your assets

I like to do the worst jobs first so I can stop thinking about them and scratch them off the to-do list. We had (notice the past tense??) 6 roofs to shingle this year.

This house is done!! You could walk the roof but it was not easy. 5 of the 6 roofs we had this year were in that category of feeling you are going to slide off. 3 are done.

I am told this house has had that tarp on the roof for 4 years. When I put in an order this week to have the water turned on, and told them it was the house with a tarp, they knew where it was. I talked to Tom about getting Central Air Conditioning put in and when I gave him the address, He said "that's the house with the tarped roof." It was famous. I can't understand why the city code enforcement wanted the roof fixed. It should have been in the city tourist brochures, COME TO OSKALOOSA AND SEE THE HOUSE WITH THE TARP. But, oh no, they wanted a new roof. Total lack of vision.

Now no one will be able to give directions using the tarped house. We still need to put on new siding and paint it a color that will match the new shingles.

After we purchased this house last winter we were informed the city wanted this garage painted. Personally I think it could be called an antique look, but the inspector was not of that mind set.

I painted it on Tuesday while Micah was roofing with Logan helping. It was a struggle to stay off a steep roof, but I was able to steel myself and paint at  ground level. I guess I get the hard jobs of painting with a sprayer while Micah and Logan just took the easy road and shingled. 

Had 3 houses inspected yesterday. The first one nothing was found out of code. On the 2nd house I found out you can not have incandescent light bulbs in a basement with carpeting or a laundry. That bulb in the picture is a new LED bulb. Those old incandescent bulbs can break and hot pieces can fall and light the carpeting or laundry on fire. Yea, I would like to see the statistics on that one. 

And another thing you can have incandescent light bulbs in your fixtures with ceiling fans with flutes on them, like the one in the top right of this picture. Those I guess can't break and start fires. I know, I don't have to understand the rules just follow them.  

I do know every electrical box has to have the wires clamped. I thought I checked all the boxes in the basement of the 3rd house inspected. Boy, was I wrong! There was no clamp on this switch box

There was no clamp on either side of this box 

And the wire going to this box had the plastic coating removed. These are the pictures I sent to the inspector that all issues had been corrected.

When we started yesterday Harrison (the rental code compliance inspector) asked if these we our last 3 houses to be inspected. Oh no, my friend we have more. I know he has seen a lot of me and I have seen enough of him, but we will have to struggle on for a while yet.

I spent this week getting houses into code compliance. I don't have a problem with that. We put on new roofs and paint anything that needs to be painted even without being told we have to by the city. We just bought these houses during the winter when we could not paint and shingle and the houses were inspected before we were able to fix them. The houses we own are an asset. They are worth more if we keep them in good shape. The real Estate agent we use told another agent she would list any house we own for sale, because she knows they will be in good shape. That seems to be unusual for rented houses. It is short sighted for owners not to keep their assets in good condition.

It's Easter this week. We remember Jesus death and Resurrection. The most important thing any of us has is our soul. What shape are you keeping your soul? Do you know you are a sinner and only Jesus paying for your sins will get you into eternal life? 

Yesterday a couple of young women knocked on our door. They were missionaries of the Church of the Latter day Saints (Mormons). They asked if I had read the book of Mormon. I bet they were surprised when I said "yes". They asked "what did you think of it."

I replied, "I am glad it has almost the entire sermon on the mount in it, but some of the earlier stuff is kinda sketchy."

"Oh" They didn't argue.

Then I said. " The book of Mormon says you can only have eternal life if you know Jesus died for your sins. Do you believe that."

They said they did and wished us a happy Easter.

I have no idea what their total theology is. If they believe the whole book of Mormon is truth, they are wrong, but if they believe the historical Jesus died for their sins on a cross outside of Jerusalem 2000 years ago, that is the path to salvation.

I was blessed to be able to talk about the gospel of Jesus this weekend. To sort of check the state of someone ones greatest asset, their soul. 

What about you, what is the state of your soul? If the winds and the rains of this world come, is your roof rain tight and your walls sealed with a coat of paint? The only thing to rely on is Jesus everything else will let you down.

I fixed the electrical wires in our houses. Have you checked to make sure you have removed the dangers to your soul from your life? 

Jesus has conquered death, but we will only rise to live forever with him if we know we are sinners and Jesus has paid the price. 

They did what??

The weather finally turned warm enough I could start putting shingles on houses. 2 years ago we did 18 roofs. I don't remember how many we did last year but it was a lot less. This year as of now we are looking at 4 houses and 2 garages and that is quite enough.

I started on the one the city wants fixed. We purchased it in November. I am told the tarp has been on this roof for 4 years and all of a sudden the city wants the roof fixed. I can't figure out why. It is a landmark now. If you say the house with the blue trap on the roof everyone knows which house you are talking about. I think the city should put it on their website as a tourist attraction.

Now don't be sharing this with any city inspectors but this roof is definitely third on my list to get done. I did do the front addition one morning this week just so it looks like I am working on it. 

I pulled the tarp off and found shingles with at least 5 years of wear left. I have no idea why the tarp was put on the roof. What I do know, is once they ran nails through the roof to hold the tarp on, it now needs a new roof. I am continually surprised by the actions of others.Why would you nail a tarp down over a perfectly good roof? Mental illness is the only answer I can come up with.

After getting a start on the tarped roof I moved on to another house we purchased in November. We are using the garage to store supplies and when it rains, it was raining inside as well as outside. I was thinking it was taking me a long time to get this garage done when I measured it instead of calculating off the county website. 

Instead of being a 560 square foot garage it is 896 square feet. Plus a steep pitch adds more feet. As of this afternoon it is almost finished (the garage door still needs to be painted) but I was ready to quit and went home instead.

 I think I am going to have to order more shingles as the stack has shrunk a lot and I still have the house to do.

I am hoping to start on the house by Monday afternoon. I don't know if you can see it on this picture but all the tabs of the shingles are gone. The nails are all visible. I have no idea why this roof is not leaking, but it isn't. It will be leaking soon though and I will feel a lot better once the new roof is on. 

On the cold days this week I got the old kitchen cabinets tore out of the house I am working on. When you watch those house flipper shows on TV they always take a sledge hammer to remove the cabinets. That might make great TV for a lot of people but it leaves me yelling at the TV, "those cabinets are screwed to the wall, use a driver to remove the screws and carry them out you morons." It may not impact the house flippers on the TV but it does leave me feeling smug and superior. That's goal.

This afternoon as I was getting ready to call it quits for the week, I got a call from a tenant. "We have a smoke detector that is chirping. I think it's the one in the south bedroom." 

Now, sure, I was tempted to answer, "hey, thanks for the update, I bet you will have a much better night's sleep once you REPLACE THE BATTERY."

But that is not what I said, Oh, no, I said, "I will bring you a battery as soon as I leave this house." We buy 9 volt batteries by the case.

We also buy double AA batteries buy the case. The double AAs go in carbon monoxide detectors. Even though the tenants are supposed to change the batteries in the detectors, I don't want be responsible for someone not having warning if a fire happens. 

Sometimes it is best to stuff my primal urges down deep, act with compassion and do the right thing.

I do wonder sometimes if others look at what I do and think what a moron. This week I found a good roof under a tarp, Oh boy explain that one. I carried out kitchen cabinets in one piece instead of hitting them to splinters with a sledge hammer  even though the sledge hammer approach makes more entertaining TV. Whoever measured a garage for the county tax base came up a little short on size. A tenant thinks I should run over immediately to give them batteries for a smoke detector. 

I can see the shortcomings in others but I don't think I want a list of what others may see as my shortcomings. I don't think I want my hearing to be good enough to hear others muttering "What a moron" as they walk away from a conversation with me.

Judge not that you be not judged for with what judgement you judge you shall be judged. Oops, I may need a do over this week.

Unexpected encounters

The picture of this prime strip loin steak has nothing to do with this week's story. I had to cook my own evening meal a couple of times this week because Sharon was busy. I thought the picture of one of my steaks was a lot better picture to show up on face-book than the ugly rooms I have been working on.

I have been working on the blue house.  

 The bedrooms were way too small.

8 foot wide and then the closets cut out of them lengthwise so at one end they were only 5 and 1/2 foot wide.

Do you ever get a feeling that something is coming? We want our business to be used by God to touch people's lives. On Monday I knew God was going to "allow" me to impact someone's life this week. Honestly, my answer to God was, "How about I just get some work done this week?" We were gone 3 days last week and I was hoping to get caught up.

 On Tuesday I had a conversation with someone who appeared to be buying into the popular view of Christianity in the USA. Good people go to heaven when they die. My response was "No one goes to heaven unless they know Jesus died for their sins." I usually think it is best to explain the love of God. How God loves them and wants them to know him for eternity. This time the conversation was pretty blunt. You don't admit you are a sinner who needs salvation, you are not going to heaven. End of discussion. Good people don't go to heaven, forgiven sinners go to heaven.

OK, so I got to share the gospel as I was working and none of "my" time was lost. Do you think I have lost sight of what is important?? What is more important remodeling a house or saving souls. I think I needed an attitude readjustment.

Part of last week and again on Wednesday I had been working trying to tear out a wall. It was sheet rock covering plaster and lathe. I tried to cut the wall into pieces with a saws-all. I was burning blades in less than 4 foot of cut. I was down to cracking it apart with a sledge hammer and carrying the pieces out in buckets. I did not see an end in sight.

Thursday morning as I was carrying out a 5 gallon bucket of busted up plaster, a young man walked past the house. He stopped and asked if I was working by myself. If I was, could I use some help.

He told me he had worked construction in the past, but he had taken 4 or 5 months off to deal with family matters. 

I didn't ask what those family matters were. I did ask if he had ever done deconstruction. 

He was willing to give it a try and I hired him on the spot.

I do think there were moments when he was as much in despair as I was. He kept coming up with ideas of how to make the tear-out easier. Every time I either said. "I tried that" or "That won't work".

At 4 pm we quit and the walls were out. 

By this afternoon we had the new studs in

and the beginning of the sheet rock. For the 2nd time this week I shared the gospel.

The man's grandfather is dying. I asked if his grandfather had his sins forgiven by Jesus. He said yes. Then  I think I surprised the young man. I said "good then your grandfather is ready to die."

"Yes, but I don't agree with my grandfather" He said. "I think all religions have some of the truth but they are all missing a piece of the truth but I don't like to talk about religion because it always causes arguments."

I have found there are times to be silent. I think he was confused that I didn't argue with him or try to tell him what I believed.

He started to talk. "I don't believe it was wrong for Adam and Eve to eat the apple. I think original sin was when they killed the first animal for food."

I was not going to argue when the first animal was eaten, but neither was I going to let this pass. "It wasn't an apple that Eve ate. The ancient Jews think it was a fig. Doesn't matter what she ate. The command was not to eat from the tree of Tov-ra-vov. Knowledge of good and evil and everything in between. The command of God was broken when they ate and breaking God's command never turns out well.

He replied, "you are right, not obeying God never turns out good. There are 13 prophets and 12 of them are false prophets because they were out for a profit. There was only one true prophet Elijah."

"Um no." I explained. "There were false prophets but they were not the ones who wrote the Bible. The prophets who wrote in the Bible were not out to take advantage of anyone." Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Malachi, none of them spoke to take advantage of anyone."

"Well I am the kind of a guy who would give away everything I have and sleep in the street if I see someone in need." was his answer. 

His thought train seemed spastic most of the time.

My answer of "That was what Jesus taught you know" left him sputtering "but, but..." I continued "Yea I know most Christians don't live that way but it is what Jesus taught, love sacrificially."

Then it really got strange. He said, "I have been having a dream every night that I am going to meet a man that is going to be important in my life. Sometimes meeting someone is a once in a life time experience. You only get to have an experience like that once in your lifetime. You are a man like that."

I don't know what demons are plaguing this young man. I don't know what God has in store for him, but he did not get thrown into my life with out a reason. He has definitely hit bottom. I do know that the demons working on him will not get to me with false flattery. I know what my worth is because I know the thoughts of my heart and it is not a pretty picture.

I started my week thinking God was going to take "my" time to interact with someone who was needing to see the kingdom of God. I ended my week realizing that not only did God use "my" time to share the truth about Jesus, but God used one man I shared with to get my work done. I may think I know what is the best, but compared to God, I have no clue. 

I invited the young man to join me in church on Sunday. I doubt he will come but God seems to be working and I never underestimate the work of God. It may not be showing up in church Sunday morning that is God's plan, but I do know if this young man confesses his sin and his need for a savior it won't be the first time I have seen it happen. It is grace, all grace and the work of the Spirit.

God uses us even when we are dragging our feet and don't want to be used. 

Sharon has been praying for another man and all of a sudden this week he was also thrust into my life. I said to Sharon, "when you start praying it seems I always get punished." 

"Seems so" she said without apology. 

Between you and me I wouldn't miss any of those "punishments" I have gotten from her answered prayers for the world. Just don't tell Sharon that.