Looking down

We are getting close to finished with the house we have been working on.

Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are in. That usually means the end is in sight.

I finished the north bedroom door

and put 2 coats of polyurethane on the bedroom floors. I only have 1 coat on the living room floor yet.

I was waiting for the windows to come in from the manufacturer. Tuesday late afternoon they were delivered to Menards.

I drove down to Ottumwa on Wednesday morning to pick them up.

Got back to Oskaloosa and started carrying them into the house.

11 minutes to remove the old window and install the new one.

Did that 8 times in a row. I was impressed with myself. I was in Des Moines working on a house a couple of years back, watched 2 "professional" builders work for 2 days to install a window. I could not figure out what was taking them so long. Could it have been when one of them would take a measurement and then yell the number down to the guy on the ground, then the one up by the window to be installed would lie down on the roof for a while. Yea, that might have been one of the reasons they were not getting the job done very quickly. Even so 1 of them could have laid down the whole time and it should have not taken the other one more than an hour, tops, to finish the job. It was a wonder in unproductivity to watch. 

After the windows were in, I could start painting the outside trim. I still have the other 3 sides of the house to finish yet.

We went to Omaha with Micah and Linsey Thursday. On Friday we were driving back from a park where we had a picnic lunch. there was a sign for a Holy Shrine. I turned off and we went to look. Above is a fountain that comes down through the ceiling in the welcome center. It drops a small drizzle of water into the rock pool in the floor.

When you walk out of the welcome center you see the glass chapel ahead.

There is a stream running from the welcome center down the middle of the rock path toward the chapel.

I opened the door to the chapel thinking it would be just another tourist type of building. On opening the door I was hit with the feeling that this was a sacred and holy place. I took this picture later as I left but almost felt guilty as though by taking the picture I was violating the space. Sitting in a pew, at first I was bothered because down below the chapel you could see and hear the busy interstate. then, I got it, I understood that there was symbolism in the chapel up above the teaming traffic below. The world was churning on but I was in a safe, seemingly quiet place. It was as though we were above the world sitting in that chapel even as God is above the world watching us as we go about our busy lives. No, I am not a deist who thinks God set the world in motion and now is no longer involved in the world. I believe in the omnipresence of God and the providence of God. I know he is intimately involved in our lives every minute, but sitting there I realized that even as that traffic down below did not impact me so our busy bustling lives and world do not impact God. He is above it even though He is in control and caring for each of us. We were short on time but each one of us wished we could have stayed longer.

Back in Oskaloosa late this afternoon, had a tree that had tipped over and was caught in another tree. As Brandi said, "that's a widow maker."  I cut through it with a chain saw, knowing that it would remain stuck in the tree beside it, but at least 1 end would be free.

Cut another chunk off the trunk and now it was hanging free. Ok, we have now reached the real danger stage. When was it going to come loose and crash.

James tied a strap around it and 3 of us gave a pull. It came sliding down and caught in another tree. I was going to cut another piece off the trunk when James said, "I'll cut it." I found I was more nervous when he was cutting than when I had the saw in hand. He was almost cut through and he gave it a kick. The tree folded at the cut and the top 20 feet came right over backwards. It missed James by at least 2 feet when it slammed into the ground.

I couldn't help but think back to that chapel watching the world go flying by as I sat in a pew and being reminded that God is looking down. He was looking down when the tree trunk missed James. God was looking down when our windows came in earlier than expected for the house. I had a call this weekend from a man who is living in a hotel right now and needs a house. I could answer, "I think I have one for you next week." I have a lot of times when I can say, wow, God had that lined up just right didn't He? God is looking down and taking care of everything.

Do it right

We installed 2 exterior doors this week. I like to put the door knobs in before the door is put in the rough opening. That way it is easy to tell if you have it in square or you need to shim it at top or bottom. If the door latches it is in square.

Do you see the problem here? The first one I installed this week, at the end of the day when I went to lock up the house both the dead bolt and the knob were in backwards. The keys slots were on the interior. If the door was locked you needed a key to unlock if you were inside the house but outside, just turn the knob. Good job, Royce! That is some "outside the box" thinking. 

As we were installing the second door yesterday, I was telling Micah about my earlier brilliant move. When the door was finally set in place (with close to an 1/8th inch clearance on each side, it was a tight fit.) Micah said, hey dad, you put the lock in backwards again. I guess I am just trying to be inclusive and not lock anyone out.

It took a gallon of paint to paint just the east side of this old garage. I am glad the other 3 sides have steel on them. The wood was mostly devoid of paint and sucked the new coat in. I started with the sprayer but could not get the paint on thick enough to get a good coat so it was brush time.

Had some tenants move out and there was a wall with paint missing in spots. Time for an accent wall. It actually turned out pretty good. Even Sharon said it looked alright.

At some point a door knob had gone through a wall. It had a patch put on it at some time, but the patch had failed. Now there are 2 ways to fix a door knob hole (no, one of those patch kits from Walmart is not appropriate, just saying, see last sentence). One you carefully cut it out square, fill in a piece of sheet rock and then mud over it. After that, you come in and feather the mud back, and after that, come back when it is dry and sand it smooth then paint. 3 day process. Or you go buy one of those door knob wall protectors for $3.49 and stick it to the wall in 15 seconds. Guess which one I did.

When we bought this property, some previous owner had fixed the garage windows by cutting plywood to fit and then running a bolt through to a 2x4 and cinching it tight in place. We had left it for 3 years but with new tenants moving in it was time to get it fixed right. (sorry Chris and Bethany, I should have gotten it fixed when you were living there, and congrats on owning your home now). I have the wood all out but I am waiting for the glass to be ready. As they are steel frames it could be interesting putting the new panes back in. By this time next week, I may be wishing I had left it as it was.

Megan called me this week. She was landscaping and wanted me to see what she was doing. It was a hot afternoon and she was out there working and making the place beautiful. This was after working a twelve hour shift the night before and looking at another 12 hour shift starting that evening. I can not say often enough how much I appreciate tenants who want the house they live in to look nice. I hear people comment as they drive past a house and yard that are a mess, "That must be a rented house". Well, often that is wrong. Many of our tenants take great pride in where they live and want it to look great, and they are willing to invest their own money to make that a reality. Thanks Megan for making my day.

There seems to be 2 ways to do most anything. usually one is the right way and the other, at best is not the right way. You can install door knobs keyed inside the house, not a good choice. You can just do a quick spray paint job and have a lousy cover, not a good choice either. You can try to match paint on a wall or repaint the whole wall. You can fix holes in sheet rock with a cheap patch or one of 2 better ways. You can cover a broken window pane the right way or create an eye sore. 

Or you can do some work and get the job done right. Megan did some work and the job is done right.

Don't take short cuts or the easy way in life. Do it right. When you get older like me, you look back and think, it only would have taken a little more effort to do that right the first time.

That holds especially true for relationships. I have never regretted being kind, but I as I look back I wish I could go back and change the times I was not kind. There are conversations I wish I could make have never have happened, but I can't. There are times I wish I could go back and change my actions but I can't. Maybe I am naive, but I think  actually need to have some of the doors in my life the locks opening from the outside. Come on in and share your story. That way I know where you are at and I will be better able to do the right thing. 

Unforeseen problems

The inside of this closet door was smashed in. It is one of those lovely finds that I probably saw when we walked through the house before we purchased it. Then just conveniently forgot about it until I was going through the house getting a list of what needed to be done and opened the closet door. 

Mirrors attached to closet doors are wonderful things. tenants like to have a full length mirror and I have a hole in a door completely hidden. It may have been an unforeseen problem but it had an easy fix.

I was working in the house when it began to rain. Then the deluge came. That was when I found out that the roof leaked. The plaster work I had done on the ceiling and the new coat of ceiling paint was in danger of failing again. I put a bucket under the dripping to save the hardwood floor from damage, went to our storage and grabbed some left over shingles. I was glad I had already set up the scaffolding before the rain so we would be ready to shingle as soon as the rain quit and the temperature cooled down. So I shingled a part of the roof in the pouring rain knowing I was going to tear it back off within 48 hours. Did not see that one coming.

As of this afternoon the house has a new roof. All the leaks should now be fixed. It is supposed to get hot again in the coming week and I am glad to have the 2 roofs we needed to do this year done.

That is if we don't buy any houses that need a roof this year. We looked at a couple of houses on Friday and have an accepted offer on them. This house looks pretty good from the outside, but it is definitely a project house. There were some issues inside that could not be seen from the outside.

The owner of the house has rented it out for years and she no longer has the energy to fix it up (she is 80 years old). She had a tenant go nuts and tear the place apart. I am not sure why he decided a piece of the foundation had to go. But he peeled up the steel siding and ripped out about 6 foot of bricks and stone.

Evidently the toilet bothered him as well. He broke the tank off. That must have sent some water spraying and running across the floor.

Yea, the kitchen cupboards were also a target of his destruction. It is beneath this wall that he took out part of the foundation. Who knows what he thought was hiding down there.

This is the point where the water running across the floor from the toilet was probably a good thing. If you light the curtains on fire, it tends to make a mess. I think that window and the wood around it needs to be replaced.

This is where it gets scary. See the bullet holes in the duct work. I really don't think he should have had a gun. I am hoping he just shot into the duct work and the furnace and AC unit are salvageable. 

I know all I have is anecdotal evidence or stories from my life, but I meet some people with pistols that really should not have them. I would not want to be a police officer and have to deal with these people. they are armed and they are nuts.

I used to have a couple of revolvers. I sold them when we were foster parents. Teen age boys just getting out of lock down some for weapons charges don't need access to a pistol. I felt the best course was just to get the pistols out of our house.

I remember back around 1980 when I applied for the permit to buy the pistol, I was asked what I wanted it for. I replied, "target shooting and household protection". The nice lady behind the counter at the Sheriff's department said. " No you don't. No permits are given for weapons, for household protection." I said, " Oh. I'm sorry, I meant just for target shooting."  I was given the permit after all the background checks were run.

I have not applied for a permit again since that time but it is my understanding that now, protection is a perfectly valid reason for a permit. We may be making a mistake in arming the population with hand guns for protection. It might have created an unforeseen problem and we are reaping what we have sown.

I realize that some of you who read this weekly are going to take offense at that statement. This is not an issue that should be politicized without due thought. Put yourself in an officer of the law's shoes. How do you respond differently if you know there is a great number of armed citizens out there with concealed carry permits. I support police. Take away all concealed carry permits. I support Black lives Matter, No one needs to be beaten up by a stressed policeman. 

Now some may need to take a deep breath and let their blood pressure return to normal. But I would ask you to think about this. Is a pistol better protection than a shot gun? Better spread pattern with a shotgun, much harder to miss what you aim at. What exactly are you protecting yourself from? If it is a home intruder in the dark a pistol is a lousy defense. I was an excellent shot with a pistol, but if I absolutely needed to hit what I was aiming at, I used a rifle. And I would ask a totally crazy question. Are you expecting a home intruder? Once again all I have is anecdotal evidence, but if one of our rentals is broken into, so far it has been because someone in the house is using illegal drugs. Those tenants are soon gone. I have a tenant right now who is very concerned her house is going to be broken into. I know her history, she may be clean now but I can guarantee there is a past drug abuse problem.

Maybe we should stop having knee jerk reactions to those who disagree with us and ask each other what can we do to make our country a better place. No name calling and acting like junior high kids. Wow that was an insult to early teenagers wasn't it.

We have a problem. An unforeseen problem. We just don't want to admit that more of the same will not fix the problem. Some say a definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. 

Now if it makes you feel better you can call me a "snow flake" and I'll pretend I am wounded.

Changes

Last weekend we had some tenants doing some landscaping on their yard.

Behind that large Maple tree there is an old stone fireplace with a chimney. Jared is building an out doors entertaining space in front of the outdoor hearth.

He has replaced the railing by the steps up from the driveway with a piece of driftwood. Usually when a new tenant moves in they are excited about having a yard, but then the flowers all get mowed and they never step onto the yard except to grudgingly mow it. We have several tenants now who are making some nice outdoor living spaces and it is great to see.

Monday the deal closed on this house. My days are suddenly more than full of work to do.

Monday late afternoon I did a walk through on this house. The outside is well cared for.

Even a 2 car garage behind the house. The owner told me it needed some work in the inside before I showed up. I was thinking that it couldn't be that bad from the way the outside looks. The owner was right. Made him an offer of 77% of asking price and he accepted the next day.

Once the deal closes next month, one of my first calls will be to Rich. We will need this collection of fuse boxes replaced with a breaker panel. Oh, and Rich if you read this, it is only 60 amp service coming in so it needs a new mast and meter and wire to the panel as well.

In the house we took possession of Monday there were some walls and ceilings that needed plaster work.

Some one years ago had made repairs.

I think it might have been the first time they ever picked up a mud knife.

Once the walls were relatively smooth, it was time to shoot some texture.

I did every room except the bathroom.

I hate painting ceilings. All the ceilings needed to be painted. That 5 foot extension for the roller was a neck and knee saver this week. I painted 3 ceilings from the floor. No ladder needed. I also painted 3 rooms without bending over. Just stood back and ran the roller from floor to ceiling. I have to admit, I should have used one of these for the last few years.

There was an old non-working florescent light above the mirror in the bathroom. Our policy is, if a fluorescent light does not work it goes into the dumpster. Doesn't matter if it is just the bulb that is bad, they are gone. This fixture might be a bit of overkill for a small bathroom. It was the only one I had in storage. It was given to us by Deb when her and Byron were changing out some fixtures. Now whoever rents this house will have 360 watts of light over the vanity as well as a ceiling light. It is a bit bright in there.

Yesterday I was checking how much work there was in the basement to get the electrical to pass code. There were a few boxes that needed knock outs replaced and an outlet cover was missing. Then I found this lovely wire. I am not sure why the insulation was pealed back and the wires made bare at some time. I traced it back to where it had been cut off on one end and the other end went up the wall. I did get a tester to make sure the live end was the one that was cut. I could cut the wire where it comes down out of the wall but I have decided to leave it for now. I want to see Harrison's (the inspector) face when he sees this wire. I am hoping he thinks I have missed a major problem and tells me I have 24 hours to get it fixed as he walks over to shut off the current. I want to be able to say, " I don't see the problem there is at least a half inch between the bare wires. I am sure the current won't arc." Then as he starts to to read me the riot act, I will say "oh, alright, I'll fix it then." pull out my linesman's pliers and cut it off. If he thinks I am cutting it live he might just yell, "Don't" as he covers his eyes to protect them. 

 I am on a committee for the city of Oskaloosa. At our Zoom meeting this week the largest item on the agenda was, Does this committee still need to exist? I think the consensus was it's useful time had passed and the work could be done by city staff. When asked my opinion I responded, "Do not continue to do something just because it has always been done that way." 

We see a lot of bad "improvements" that have been made in houses we purchase. (I am sure at some point that will be said of some of what we are doing now) We fix what we see as a past mistake. We have tenants upgrading yards right now, maybe because they have been stuck in their houses too much because of covid and want a different place to be, but changes are being made for the better. 

Ecclesiastes 7:10 says "Do not say, why were the olden days better than these? For it is not wise to ask such questions." 

The kingdom of God is not for the backward looking, we are called to build not be static. It is a call to change your world for the better. We all need to look around and ask ourselves what can I make better. God tells us not to look back and say that was better but to imagine and work for a better future. A future where there is love and justice for all. Remember small changes make a big difference. Who would have thought a 5 foot extension on a paint roller could make my life so much easier. We are not all called to do great things, but we are all called to do things.