Random

This week has been a week when I got excited that I was called because a water heater was leaking in one of our houses. It gave me a chance to get out and actually do some work. Although after putting a replacement water heater down a flight of stairs into a basement and then hauling the old one out, moving it up one step at a time, I did tell Sharon "I don't know that I will be able to do that in 10 years." 

A couple of other small projects this week, but most of my time was spent in my office. I had to keep telling myself, "no, you are not really hungry, you do not need to eat now." If this social distancing goes on much longer I will gain a lot of weight. We need to get a project house bought to fill my time. (We have 2 we are working on purchasing, but are at a dead standstill till covid 19 passes.) Till then I am waiting for the weather to warm up. Then I can paint a house and we have a couple of roofs to shingle.

To show how bored I was at times, I was cleaning and deleting files off my computer. As I was deleting I came across some photos. 

Sharon took pictures of our house after a spring snowfall a couple of years ago. I get a kick out of these pictures because they make it look like we live in a secluded area. This is taken from the back of the house.

This picture was taken from the street in front of the house.

This is taken standing on the north side. All the pictures are taken with a house just out of the frame. We live in town, there is a small creek behind our neighbors and if you frame the photo just right no houses are seen and it looks like we are in the woods.

Now having said that, this picture was taken not far from our house a couple of years back. That is a cougar. Yes a mountain lion. There is a breeding pair that have a territory that stretches from Eddyville Iowa up to New Sharon and they have been seen inside the city limits of Oskaloosa. The male has a white spot on him. Our neighbor Julie saw the male behind her house one day. The picture above is the female. Last year a friend was out checking the deer population from his deer stand in a tree. The female went right under the tree with a cub following. John did not have a gun with  him. He decided it was time to leave as soon as the cougar was out of sight. Cougars can climb trees. Might make an interesting day if you were trying to kick one back down a tree.

Wow do we look young! That was taken the day our oldest son Joshua was baptized in March 1989.

Joshua seemed to gravitate to Sharon's sister Diane. Diane died in a car accident when Joshua was 3 years old. 

This is Micah on my back as I do push-ups. I was in an farm accident when I was 15 years old. It left me with muscle and nerve damage in both arms. After that, I had physical therapy for months and it started a many years long schedule where I did a work out every day (I kinda foolishly let that slide about 4 years ago. I think I need to restart that. Ok, I just tried doing a push-up. My hand with the most damage from years back will not support me. Time to start working on that) Micah figured out he could get a ride up and down. He also figured out he could get a ride on my chest when I did sit-ups. It was like exercising with weights.

This is Matthew in Chicago. There is one million dollar bills in that cube. He wanted his picture taken with one million dollars. 

This is the wedding of my nephew Curt. My dad was the best man at one of his grandsons's weddings. I never thought how unusual that was until dad died, the minister at Dad's church told me, "your dad must have been a special man to have been asked to be best man for his grandson". 

I don't know who took this picture. It is Sharon and I dancing at Joshua and Casey's wedding. Sharon is the light of my life and I treasure this picture.

Sharon and I have had some very difficult times. She has fought cancer for 22 years. We had a financial disaster that left us totally broke 13 years ago. Sharon's sister Diane was taken to eternity at what seems to us a much too young age.

But, I can say without doubt that God is good. Yes we had to sell the home we raised our sons in, the house I had lived in since I was 2 years old, to try to cover financial losses. We have a better home now. There were times we wondered if Sharon was going to survive, but she is still here and the center of my life, because God is gracious. (Maybe God knows what a wreck I would be without her here.) Our sons are grown up and married and now we have daughter in-laws, so our family has doubled in size. Sharon and I can both look back at how our parents raised us and loved us and say God blessed us by putting us in our families.

I know many are suffering and some will even die because of covid 19. I also know that if you put everything in God's hands, He will take care of you. God cares for the sparrows and you are more important to God than sparrows.

Take some time this week to enjoy those God has put in your life!

Things are different

Life today is much different than it was when I last wrote on this blog. The only place where there are crowds of people now are in Walmart and the grocery stores. It has been interesting to see what people are buying. Why corn chips? That is the question I have. Walmart shelves were empty of corn chips most of the week. Yesterday I stopped to pick up a some fresh vegetables and carrots were gone. Have we begun to act with a herd instinct. "oh those people bought carrots, we had better buy some while they are still there." Doesn't matter if the last carrot was eaten in the household 4 years ago at a Thanksgiving dinner gone horribly wrong, when uncle Bob knew it was a good idea to deep fat fry a turkey in the garage, and the fire department had saved most of grandpa and grandma's house, but the meal was just grazing finger food to satisfy hunger once the family was allowed to reenter the house. "We might need carrots and the shelves could be empty didn't you see those last 2 customers bought carrots?"

I am told there is now a drop box where you can leave Tax payments and any other legal papers you need dealt with. Robyn and I recorded the contract on the house they are purchasing on Tuesday morning. We did that just in time. Yes, we could have waited, but I am sure Robyn and Shyanne are glad to know the house is recorded in their name as owners if they have to make mortgage payments.

We have all the houses we have purchased fixed up for right now. Still have a house to paint and 2 roofs to shingle once the weather gets warm enough, but for right now I am on vacation. Sharon and I were planning on going somewhere for a couple of days. yea, that didn't happen.

I spent most of the week in my office getting data entry done. I really did need some time to get caught up. I just didn't think I would be sitting in that chair several days in a row.

After the heavy rains on Wednesday night (I think it was Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the days have been hard to keep track of this week.) I did reshape some dirt around this house where runoff from the rain had found its way into the basement. It was great to get outside and actually do some physical labor.

I know some of our tenants are concerned about their income and ability to pay the rent. We have good people living in our houses and  know they will do the best they can to pay the bills. Although I am not a big fan of the government spending more than they receive in taxes, (Don't spend more than your income is a good model to follow. It's especially stupid to lower your income as you raise spending. I'm just saying.) I do think a stimulus payment to families to help them get through this crisis is good policy. I have been telling tenants, you are going to get help in the form of a payment, you can apply for unemployment, spend your reduced income wisely and you will be alright.

  Their concern makes me concerned because we have automatic withdrawals for loan payments, insurance and several other bills. This is going to be hard on the economy. This is the first time that I can remember since we started the rental business, we purchased no repairs or supplies on our credit cards for a week. We usually spend between $1000, and $1500 a week on "needed" supplies and repairs. This week $0. 

Sam contacted me yesterday and told me his job was gone. He couldn't afford the rent and he was going to move out. He has someone he can stay with. Thanks Sam for making the right choice. he wanted us to be able to try to get a paying tenant in the house to cover our expenses. He wasn't just thinking about himself, but how his situation affected everyone around him. I'll miss Sam. He's a good guy.

He left the house in immaculate shape. I rented it this afternoon.

Tomorrow our church will not be unlocking the doors. I was supposed to lead the morning service at Peoria Christian reformed Church, instead I will be leading an on-line service for First Christian Reformed Church in Oskaloosa. (Pastor John is somewhere between Arizona and Iowa, back on Monday. How convenient, let someone else crash and burn this week and then he will know what not to do, next week.) I do wonder how it will go. I have never given a message to an empty building before. This could be a disaster. If you want to watch https://www.sundaystreams.com/go/firstcrcosky  click on this link if you want to watch. Should go live 9:27 am. and later would be available recorded.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

This week was a first for us. We sold a house. I had been getting calls and Facebook messages if we had any houses for rent in the country. Our project house was not finished but I had started letting people look at it. I always warn them that it is a construction zone. It is usually a waster of my time because all they see is the mess and unfinished projects. Robyn and Shyanne contacted me looking for a house in the country. Robyn is my Father's cousin Marvin's grandson. They asked would you sell it? My usual answer is "no!" This time I thought "Why not?" They looked. Wanted it. We closed the deal on Friday and I gave them ALL my keys. I have never given anyone all the keys. That had a moment of finality to it. I can not go back into this house.

Before they came on Friday for the final walk through I took pictures so I could remember how it looked when it was finished. This is the entry area.

Living room looking toward the kitchen

Dining area in the kitchen.

Kitchen area. Robyn and Shyanne want to change out the cupboards at some time and I can't blame them.

Looking down the hall.

Bathroom was painted dark brown when we bought the house.

Master bedroom.

second bedroom

Third bedroom on the ground floor.

Basement family room with the 4th bedroom through the far door.

Water heater was almost new and we put in the new furnace.

Sump pump ready for any heavy spring rains.

Karen call this week. She works for the insurance company. The underwriter wanted to know if the east window on the garage was framed yet. It always was framed it was missing the trim. I had just finished putting the trim on a couple of minutes before Karen called, so I could say, "sure is."

They has also been concerned about the missing doors on the lawn shed addition to the house. Well, those are on as well.

That day I also received the paperwork from the insurance company. We have our houses insured at replacement value or repair value it depends on the age of the house. They had 2 houses listed at Actual cash value. I have no idea why. I went to check on both houses  in case the insurance company knew something from an inspection, that I had not seen. 

No, I could find no obvious problems with this house or the other one. I have sent off an e-mail asking for clarification, OK maybe it asked for a bit more than that.

I pulled all the tools out of the house we sold and put them in storage. When I handed over the keys I still had to replace some of the soffit and put up the eves troughs. All I need for that is a tin snips and screw gun.

Friday afternoon I got a good start on the eves.

Its a little hard to walk away from a house and know we won't be back. I have always said we will not be in the house flipping business, and that still holds true. This was a one time deal. 

There is a lesson here though, don't get attached to things. Hold everything on this earth loosely.

We are living in an interesting time. In the coming weeks some of us may become infected with Covid 19. If we do, most of us will recover quickly with no lasting effects. If the virus stays as virulent as it has been in other countries, a few will not.

Every day when we get in our vehicles we do not actually know if we will reach our destination. All of us can be taken from this world in an instant each day. This virus should be a reminder of that fact. Don't hold on too tightly to the things of this world. 

The big thing we should do as we prepare for the virus is tell those you love, that you love them. Think about that aging parent or friend, especially those in the nursing homes. It is too late for most of us to go see them at this point because visitors are now limited. You can still call or message those you love. Don't wait thinking the virus will not come here. It may not, but do you want to be thinking 3 weeks from now, "I wish I had told them one more time I cared about them"?

Others

Our insurance company does random checks on property they insure. For some odd reason we have our properties randomly selected every year, This year they only randomly looked at all 40 houses. Now that is what I call lucky (OK, we did change the policy from our personal names to an L.L.C. so it might be a little more justified this year, but the same company had all the houses insured in our personal names so???) Anyway Karen called me that we had a broken window at a house. Insurance companies do not like broken windows. It was the house we just evicted the squatters from, so I had been in that house and I was pretty sure there was no broken window. Then I remembered the plastic pieces on the back door. I made my case and sent a photo that the glass was not broken and the door was still weather tight. We will see if the underwriter is satisfied or if they want the door replaced.

Had the last city inspections of our houses yesterday. Now we should get a break until, I think, December when we start all over again. (unless we buy something between now and then.)

We were in the basement and Harrison was shining his flashlight above the water heater. He turned away and then turned back. I went over to see what he was looking at. It was the water heater vent. "That looks level" he said. I countered "It's not, I know because I thought the same thing. I put a level on it and it rises 1/4 inch. Less than a foot long and 1/4 inch rise means it meets code". "Should have a shorter water heater." Harrison said. "Doesn't need one, it meets code." I replied. We walked on. When Midamerican Energy turned the gas on after we bought the house I had asked the tech about the flue. She told me in an uninhabitable basement, it is more than adequate. I didn't share with Harrison that I had doubts and had asked an expert if it was safe.

I always warn the tenants do not have anything in front of a bedroom window. It needs to be available for egress. Well, the daughter had a bookcase in front of the window of her bedroom. It was just tall enough it was 6 inches above the window sill. Harrison was not amused. He was kind enough to help me slide it off to the side, and then he told the tenant "DO NOT MOVE THAT BOOKSHELF BACK". At the last house we inspected, after Harrison left, Lisa told me "he reminds me of a drill sergeant". I said "yea, I kinda saw that earlier today". 

This is the back side of the next house we went to. Harrison stopped and looked at that yellow window pane for a while and then walked on. I was ready for him to say that I had to change it out. I would have argued that is was a decorating choice (it may not be what I would choose but it is the BACK of the house).

We have 2 older homes. The last house we inspected was one of those homes. They are the ones that I am concerned about getting to pass and both of them passed easily. I think they let the older houses have some slack they do not allow in the more modern houses. I scheduled this one last, yesterday, because if Harrison found a problem I didn't want him looking to find something at the other 2.

It is a lot nicer in the inside than it looks from the outside. This is a picture looking into the kitchen when we were checking it out to buy it.

At the house we are working on now, it was time to do something about the missing cabinet above the range. It looked like the last owner had removed the vent over the range and the cabinet with an ax. 

I cut new rails for the cupboard and 2 shelves.

Had a gallon of Navajo White paint and problem was solved.

Got the last floor laid

and it was time to start painting trim.

I was down to the last piece of trim in the bathroom. It measured 26.75 inches. Went and cut the piece to what I was sure was 26.75 inches. As you can see It was too short. Measured again. Yes it needs to be 26.75 inches. I had 1 piece left that was 26.75 inches so I cut it to length.

Ah yes, do you see any difference? Me neither. I had once again cut it too short in fact exactly as much too short as the previous piece.

Went back out to the garage and scrounged through the scraps till I found a piece I could cut 26.75 inches out of.

For some unknown reason for about 10 minutes my brain - eye connection was definitely not working. I have no idea why I read the tape wrong, exactly the same amount wrong, 2 times in a row.

The inside of the house is really starting to come together. The end is in sight. I hope so, I have foolishly made a promise of occupancy April first.
So that was my week. Trying to keep insurance underwriter satisfied, get last of the houses inspected and passed, and start the last finishes on our project house so it is available by April.
I was trying to keep some people placated and happy so it would make my life easier. If Insurance gets cancelled because of a broken window, I have a problem, if a house doesn't pass inspection I have a problem, if house is creating bills and no income I have a problem.
All those problems go away if I can satisfy someone else.
I hope I have learned in life not to be confrontational. If you disagree do so respectfully.
Most people are just trying to do their job. If you make it easy for them they will make it easy for you.
I find quite often Christians want to be in the Lord's "army" they want to be soldiers. I am not sure that is a Biblical mandate. Yes I know about Paul writing to put on the armor of God but Jesus tells us to wash others feet. He told Peter to put his sword away. Be a servant, it makes others lives easier and it makes your own life easier also. Do unto others as you want them to do to you. If someone has a problem with me, I would prefer if they would talk to me and listen to my side before they start hacking at me with a sword. I need to offer the same to all around me. I need to be a servant. We are in the season of Lent when we remember that the Son of God became a servant for us. The least we can do is be a servant by being considerate of others and looking out for their welfare as well as our own.

Slow change

Started the week getting the last updates done to the house we purchased last Friday

Had to get GFI outlets installed  within six feet of water sources. Also had to get the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors put up.

Monday afternoon Koletin helped me move in appliances. I could have gotten the range in but fridges are more difficult to move. We had to open the doors on this one and turn it through the exterior door.

Also had to move one in at the project house we are working on.This one was more difficult. I thought we could turn it through the door way as well. There was no way that was going to work. We had to remove the exterior door from the house and the handles of the fridge. It had about a 1/2 inch clearance but we got it through the doorway.

I had to special order that cover for 5 light switches. I still don't have any idea what 2 of the switches turn on. I also painted the exterior door from the kitchen to the garage.

Bought the interior doors. This house was built in 1965 so I assumed the doors would fit in the same space as the originals. That would not be correct. I carried the first one into the house only to find it is 2 inches too tall. Great, every door and frame will have to be cut shorter.

I put the other 3 I had in the garage as they will need to be cut there anyway. I had to special order the last 2 as that width is no longer stocked at Menards.

Today I helped Tim put cabinets in the kitchen of his house. He was smart and had the doors and shelves removed. It cut the weight of the cabinets by more than 50%. Usually I make someone else hold the cabinets up while I drive the screws in. Today I could easily hold up the cabinets and let Tim drive in the screws.

He saw I was going to take a picture and quickly turned away. Said he did not want his picture on the blog. Well that's the coin you pay with for my help. I will say Tim and Katie have really improved the house. 

I didn't feel like starting a project this afternoon, but when I delivered a few supplies to the project house I thought "Oh, I suppose I could put up a set of blinds yet." I ended up hanging all 11 blinds. 

At the end of last week I thought I had cut the time down to finish on this house from months to weeks. At the end of this week, one of those weeks is past and there was not much progress. I did get a few things fixed up and done but they were small tasks that I was not counting. 

I think life can be like that. We are supposed to spend our time here on earth growing in faith and righteousness. It's called sanctification. It doesn't happen on a straight trajectory. Some times in my life I have grown in living a more God approved lifestyle and some times I have either not improved or maybe even slid back into past behaviors and mindsets I thought I had left behind.

Off with the old and on with the new. Become a new person in Jesus Christ. These are Biblical truths. When I was young, mom used to measure how much we had grown. She would get out a yardstick and we stood as tall as we could, maybe our heels even left the floor until she pushed us back down. Some houses we buy have marks on a wall going back years, marking the children's height and growth patterns. If you put a measuring stick up to your life are you growing in faith and goodness? I would like to think I am still growing, but I do know if the growth was marked on a wall every year, the growth would be a lot more some years than others. I think I need to work on that. Maybe God even needs to push me back down a little, like mom did, to let me know I have not grown as much as I want everyone else to think, and get a true measurement.