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. 

Easy fix

Have a tenant moving their last belongings out this weekend. The lawn had not been cut for over a week and I knew they were living in Des Moines. I figured I should mow that lawn before Dustin put a notice on the door and the city had it done with a bill to me for $250.00.

When I was behind the house I saw there was some paint pealing off. There was a new gallon of gray exterior paint in the basement when we bought the house several years ago. I have saved the paint and I used it to touch up the house this week. I do hope when it dries, it blends in. As I was finishing up, it looked spotted. best case i have the paint no longer missing patches on the back of the house and it was a free easy fix. Worst case it is the back of the house. 

I also had some paint come off the house I had painted with a brush this spring. I have no clue what was on the siding on the north side of this house but small flecks of paint have come off twice now. I got a bonding agent to put on the 4 boards that were flaking. After I had the bonding agent on, I thought I should go do something else while it dried properly. Then this strange urge came upon me and  I read the directions to see how long I had to let it dry. Normally I am not real good at reading the directions. Everything should just work the way I think it should. Well the directions said I had a maximum of 30 minutes to get it painted after the bonding agent was on. Good thing I didn't drive away and let it dry and cure for a couple of hours. Of course if I had and the paint didn't stick again, I would be telling everyone what a useless product that bonding agent was and it was not the easy fix it claimed to be..

Had several interesting repair jobs this week. Had a tenant call me on Tuesday that they had an electrical breaker going off about 6 times on Monday and several times Tuesday. I went over and took a look. Breaker was on and I didn't see an immediate reason that was popping the breaker. I called Rich and he headed my way. While he was on his way over I started tracing down what was on the breaker. Lets see, when they rented the house there was a window air conditioner and the fridge on that line. Oh you added another window air conditioner. OK the breaker is probably going to be able to carry that. Ah, last November you added a deep freeze. So now it is warming up and you turned on both air conditioners after adding the deep freeze. Oh, you added another deep freeze to the line in February. So we have a fridge, 2 freezers and 2 air conditioners on a 20 amp breaker.

Rich showed up just as I was unplugging a deep freeze and looking for another electrical outlet. He put on a tester and I had them kick in the a/c units and the fridge. Only 9 amps going through the breaker at start up. I had Rich replace the breaker just in case it was weak, but I think I had found the problem. Fixing it was easy, just plug appliances into different outlets.

Had a tenant tell me they had a ceiling fan that had a bad wobble to it. I took my step ladder over, (10 foot ceilings) and thought I would be pulling that fan down and resetting the screws that were holding it up. Once in a while you have a fan poorly installed and the screws pull loose. The fan starts to really shake as it turns.I was not looking forward to this job because the whole fan and light have to be disassembled to get at the screws holding it up. I am not that fond of working over my head and I usually drop a screw and then can not find it. It seems that every one of these things has a specialized set of screws that are not interchangeable with other ceiling fans.

 I climbed up on the ladder and pushed on the base of the fan just to see how loose it was. The base was solid as a rock. I turned on the fan and it was wobbling slightly. The fan has a short shaft down for an extension and it has a ball attached that fits into a flange. If any fan blade is out of balance it will wobble. I took a cloth and wiped the dust off the fan blades. tried it again and gave it some speed. Yep it turned smooth as can be. That is the kind of fix I like, just a dust cloth.

Next job up was a water leak. Floor of the bathroom and the laundry room were wet. They share a common wall. I was thinking it was probably the wax ring under the toilet. That would most likely mean cutting off the toilet bolts with a saws-all, disconnecting the water line, picking up the toilet, trying to move it without water left in the toilet splashing out, and working behind it in a small bathroom to put down a new wax ring. That was just not high on my list of things I wanted to do. OK, it might be really low on the list of things I want to do. I have people ask me all the time how they can become a landlord. They really need to come along and fix someone else's toilet sometime and then decide if they still want to rent out houses.

When I looked in the bathroom it was obvious the water was coming under the wall from the laundry room. Now we are talking. Shut the door on that toilet and go to the laundry room. I pulled the washer out away from the wall. I thought "it sure looks like this washer has a leak under it". Now I did not want to buy a new washing machine (we provide washer/dryers in 3 houses, the houses are small so we justify the rent by providing all appliances) I climbed behind the washer to check out the elbow of the drain pipe. I had to move a clear plastic tube out of the way to have free room to work. The tube came down out of the ceiling. I checked it and yea it looked dry as well. I wondered what in the world used to be attached to a clear tube dropping out of the ceiling in the laundry room.

I got down and took the drain elbow apart and it was not leaking. the washer drain hose was wet and it didn't look like it touched the floor so I took it off and filled it with water. No it wasn't leaking either. The only thing I could figure at this point was the washer itself had a leak. 

I went to the store where we can often buy used appliances. They had no used washers. Well, it seems they had 2 of them but they had not checked them out yet to see if they were fixable. They would get to it next week. For a fleeting second I thought about buying a new one for $350.00 more than a used one. The urge quickly passed.

I went to the next store where we can sometimes get used appliances. No used washer. Couldn't even get a new one till maybe June 5. Manufacturing plants were slowed down by covid. Turns out he did have 2 used ones in the back he was trying to make 1 good one out of the 2 by taking the good parts and combining in 1 unit. He would call me next week if it worked out.

I went to get our appliance cart to remove the old washer and bring it down to the land fill. Wanted to get it out of there so the tenant wouldn't be tempted to use it and the floors would be able to start to dry up.

I climbed behind the washer once again and started to turn the water supply off. That was when I knocked that clear tube that came off of the ceiling off the washer. It had been lying with the end turned up. Water ran out of the tube. I traced it back. It went to the bottom of the furnace. It was the drain for the water condensing off the Central Air conditioner. The house is built on a cement slab and they installed a pump on the side of the furnace at the bottom. The water is collected and pumped up to the ceiling and then it goes above the laundry room and is supposed to drain into the washer drain. Yea, at sometime during the winter when the A/C was not running the tube was pulled out of the drain. It was now dumping on the floor. I sure am glad I could not find a washer to buy when it was a free fix, just put the tube back in the drain.

Next I went to fix an electrical outlet that was not working. It just stopped one day according to the tenant. It does happen that an outlet wears to the point you can't get good connection when something is plugged into it and that is what I assumed I was dealing with. Seldom do you find a broken wire behind the outlet, but that is possible as well. I plugged my tester into the outlet and yea that sucker was dead. I was about to pull it out when the tenants son, Derek said "the switch over here turns the outlet on." What? At what point was anyone going to tell me that. It is much more likely that a switch wears out than that an outlet does. I left my tester in the outlet and went to get a different tester to check if current was going through the switch. I pulled off the plate and took the screws out of the switch. Put the tester on the wire coming in. Current coming in and current going through. Did I mention there were 2 switches beside each other? Well when I was removing the one switch, I turned the other one on when I was pulling out the first one. Derek said "there's a yellow light on in your tester over here in the outlet." What? Yea there was now current in the outlet. The tenant had somehow gotten confused which switch was which. She kept turning on the outside light when she wanted the outlet on. She kept saying "I am not crazy the other switch runs this outlet." Um Hum, sure it does. "Well it used to." Um Hum, sure it did. Once again some investigating for a free fix, just turn on the switch.

Jesus said "A new command I give you, love one another." There are lot of things going wrong in our country right now. There is an easy fix. Love one another. Take a walk in someone else's shoes. Have some empathy for those around you. Take Jesus's words seriously, Love one another. It is an easy fix to complex problems. 

Sharon's birthday

An update for those of you who read this every week, the woman who called me that she was being tested for covid and might have exposed me, tested negative so  am free to interact with others again. It  does give me pain to know that several people are exposed daily at Chrystal Heights as they care for inpatients in the midst of an out break. A big thank you to each one of you who is showing up to help the vulnerable and my condolences to those who are losing loved ones.

 The bats were gone from our vent until Friday and they were Baaack! Now it is down to seeing how uncomfortable I can make them until they find a new permanent home. Somewhere far from me is the goal.

 35 years ago I met this girl who had just graduated from college. She was related to a young man who was our neighbor. He was related to me as well. I asked her for a date, I know, how messed up is that? I had a great uncle who was married to her great aunt. Our family told their children don't marry a Bandstra and their family told their children don't marry a Spoelstra. It was obviously meant to be. How much more can a young couple rebel against the norms than that? Sharon's dad used the same lawyer my family did. The lawyer told Bert his daughter would never be poor if she married Royce. Yea, well I proved that guy wrong.

We married in 1986 and Joshua was born in 89. 

Micah was born in 93 and Matthew in 94. We had 3 sons and life was good. Then the unimaginable happened. Sharon had a physical and they did some blood work. The tests did not come back normal. I had a crash course in Waldenstrom's macroglobulinimia. It is a cancer of the immune system and it is not curable. We had 2 preschool boys and a 3rd grader and the doctors were only offering delaying the inevitable. 

This picture was taken many years later along the roller coaster ride of thinking Sharon could win the battle and then seeing the cancer spread again. I still get tears in my eyes when I look at this picture knowing how brittle she was at then. God is good! After this time of treatment Sharon has done exceedingly well. As of her last tests there is less cancer in her blood now than there was when she was diagnosed 23 years ago (I think I have that calculated correctly). God has heard and answered the prayers of His people in a miraculous way.

Sharon is the joy of my life. I could not survive without her.

I told one of my sons last year that I shorted them by not showing them how to fight with their spouses. He said "yes, you did short us." I hope and pray that they have a relationship like Sharon and I have had. I hope Sharon has the same view of our relationship that I have. I know we had not been married long when I over heard her tell a friend, "I tried the silent treatment on him, but he never noticed." So I know we have had differences but I can't remember them or what they were about. I am not so foolish as to ask Sharon. She might remember because I am sure she was the wronged party not me.

Our family has grown as the boys married.

Sharon now has daughter in laws to perhaps make up somewhat for living in a household of males for so long.

When Sharon was diagnosed, her goal was to survive till Matthew graduated high school. The boys are all through college and married. I think the new goal should be 95 years old,

because I adore her and have no desire to walk this life alone. Sunday is Sharon's birthday and I wish her a happy birthday and many more to come. She brings joy to my life.

Heading out of Des Moines on vacation a couple of years back. Sharon has taught me it is OK to fly somewhere for vacation.

Train station in Chicago. She went with her mom. She hasn't taught me it is OK to ride the train on vacation yet.

If there is a state or federal park, it must be seen.

105 degrees out? As long as there are no bugs we go.

Oasis in the desert? Get your feet wet even if there are signs about dangerous bacteria in the water.

Sitting on the top of a stone mountain wondering why they keep shooting off a canon. Yea, they shoot off the canon as a warning to get off the mountain because lightening is coming. Should have probably read the information before hiking in a couple of miles. We once hiked down a trail in a swamp in Louisiana. When we came back out I read the sign "Do not hike this trail unless you contact the ranger you are on the trail, so there will be a search if you do not come back out." We met another hiker who asked us where our walking sticks were so we could push away the venomous snakes. Lesson is don't travel with Sharon if you want to take the safe path.

Don't drive by a historical site. They must be seen.

Climb to the top of any pyramid (Memphis I think) or tower and look around.

Find interesting places to eat. Had some wonderful meals and experiences in restaurants and some memorably awful experiences (the awful ones make the best stories. The one that was packed with customers but was so filthy that the door ways to the kitchen were black from hands of workers leaving grime. The southern BBQ place where they just added vinegar to boiled pork, Yum) in the picture we are the first customers after a 10 year legal battle that went clear to the Supreme Court, to allow this Subway to open.

Sharon you have taught me to be inquisitive when I did not want to be, enjoy the small pleasures in life, take time to get away and yet allowed me to build a business not once but twice (first one failed spectacularly. When our CPA looked at the numbers and then looked at me, I said "hey, if you are going down leave a big hole in the ground when you hit.") 

Sharon, it has been a whale of a ride. Let's keep enjoying life together for a long time.