Moderation

Our home heating system is hot water. Water is supposed to be more efficient than forced air, I remain unconvinced. Last year our old furnace developed a leak and we had a new one installed. Our old furnce was just a large gas burner and a heat exchanger full of water that was pumped through copper pipes. The new furnace is a "smart " furnace. It moniters the temperature outside. Controls how hot the water is when it is pumped out and the temperature when the water returns to the furnace. It has a 150 page manuel with all the various settings that the installer can manipulate. All wonderful until the new furnace would not keep the temperature steady in the house let alone increase it once the outside temperature fell below 5 degrees. It could hold it at 65 degrees which is kinda chilly when one has a very expensive new furnace.

It would heat the water to 180 then shut the burner down to maintain the water temperature at 157. 157 is not hot enough to heat the house when it's below 5 degrees outside. Too much heat loss through the windows and not well insulated walls.

Our HVAC man is a great guy and he was trying everything he could think of to make the furnace heat our house on cold days. I was thinking this thing has a defect and needs to be replaced under the warranty. The day before it fell to -11 during the night Tom said he had one more thing he wanted to try. That evening and the next morning were wonderful. The temperature held and I could even get it to rise. I called Tom the next morning and I know he didn't really want to answer. I said, "I don't know what you did but the furnace works." He said, " I didn't think that would work". Turns out the "smart" furnace thought we were losing too much heat out the exhaust if the burner was burning too hot so it would shut down the flame to be efficient.

I don't need a furnace that wants to save me fuel when it is -11 degrees outside. I want a furnace that keeps my house warm.

In November, while running tests to figure out why my blood pressure had risen so fast and why my heart was not pumping blood about every 4 beats, they found my cholesterol was "kinda" high. I was told that it would take a change in lifestyle, (that means no food that tastes good) and at least 2 cholesteral lowering drugs. I decided to try getting the junk food out of my diet route.

60 days later the numbers are consideralbly better. Not where the doctors want it to be but about what the cardiologist thought was best case with change in diet and 2 drugs. My doctor wrote in the notes after she saw the last test, progress is being made but the cholesterol still needs to be lower. Keep taking the pill and we will check in March. 

Yea, I never took the pill, just got the highly processed foods out of my routine. I have a ct scan in early Feb to see if there is artery damage. If there is minimal damage, I will stick to diet change and still avoid the drugs. 

My blood pressure is now actually low for a man my age. I am now drinking coffee again. I am drinking a lot less than I was before when the old blood pressure spiked. What I find odd is I was so cold when I was caffiene free. Now after a couple of mugs of coffee in the morning I can walk out side and be comfortable without a coat at 10 degrees. When I was not drinking coffee anything below 32 degrees and I was shivering and my fingers hurt from the cold even with gloves on. No idea if that is really a thing or if it is a strange mental effect my mind is playing with my body temperature.

I cleaned all the stickers a tenant had adhered to this door this week. Not sure why the need to affix so many, or for that matter any at all. I don't have any stickers on our front door.

We are in the process of closing on a house this week. We own the house across the street and last year a truck pulling a trailer went down the street and clipped off the electrical wires. Our house's wires repair was paid for by the insurance of the driver. We failed to look up for the wires on this house when we made the offer. Wouldn't have known the wires were gone now but the mast fell off the house last week. It is owned by a firm in New York, so we have padlocked the doors and I check it every morning to make sure there are no squatters. Low and behold what do I see Friday morning but the mast blown off the house. When the truck clipped the wires he must have pulled the screws holding the mast on and down it came 6 months later. 

Moderation, now there is a wonderful thing to practice in life. Moderation in how efficient we want our appliances to be. Moderation in what we eat and moderation in what we drink. Maybe moderation in how many stickers we put on doors and moderation on how high a load we take down a street. 

Moderation in our relationships with others. I know I need to be open and accepting to listening to others opinions instead of thinking I'm right and they're wrong. I know some will tell you compromise is a terrible thing, but it isn't. We should be a community, working together for the good of all.

Moderation instead of fanticism, knowing that no one has all the answers. Sadly not even me.

 

Who fixes it?

I know none of us sees ourselves as others see us. Most of us think we are doing OK and have everything under control.

One of our rental house looks clean and neat from the street.  I walked around behind the garage and was appalled. They were storing their garbage in a huge pile. It had overflowed on neighboring property. This is when I do what I call shake the tree. 

I went up to the house and pounded on the door. The door swung open on its own.The lock was broken out. I asked the young man who came to the door what happened to the lock. I might have used what I will call my firm voice. He asked "are you the landlord?" "Yes, what happened to the lock?". "Someone kicked the door in." 

"You were going to tell us when? How are you keeping the door closed to keep out the cold?"

"We put a bag of dog food against it?"

See, here I thought there was a problem but they had solved it. Just lean a bag of dog food against the door. Now how that worked when they left the house is a bit of a puzzler isn't it?

I told him we would have someone there in the morning to fix the door and asked about all the garbage in the back yard.

" Oh as soon as my sister has a day off work we are going to haul it away."

My response was a little more direct. "It will be gone this week!"

It was one of those weeks where we find a lot of "mistakes" made by others. One of the lights and an outlet in a house we just purchased didn't work. Whoever did this wiring should never, never ever wire anything never, ever again. Was I redundant enough to make my point? He, she, or it has no clue how to run a switch leg to a light. No idea of electrical code, and I am not sure why this didn't spark and burn.

And then we had the tenants who moved out still oweing January rent. Glad they are gone, but they really shouldn't have turned the furnace off when they left. We didn't find out they moved out until we received notice from MidAmerican Energy that the service was going into our name. Funny, but did you know when it is 5 degrees outside and you turn off the furnace the pipes freeze? Another case of we found someone had kicked in the door when we went to check out why the current was going into our name, (remember how I shake "shake the tree") we didn't need a key to get into the house. 

Still trying to figure out how this spiraled down the drain. They had stapled blankets and even T shirts over all the windows.

Must have made the house pretty dark. We are still pondering why they had taped cardboard over the furnace registers. Makes it kind of hard to get heat if you close off the heat source and the cold air returns. If they thought they were solving a problem, they were going about it all wrong. 

It looks like they were trying to help keep the house warm by putting plastic and cloth over all the windows and then stopping the flow of heat from the furnace. Now that is what I call self defeating. 

That is a lot like trying to earn our way into heaven. On our own we just do everything wrong. No one is ever going to be good enough to earn Heaven and all our efforts work against each other.

I am sure the tenants with the mountain of trash never intended to fill the back yard with garbage. It just started with a bag or 2 and kept adding up.

It's a lot like our lives. We think we know what is right and if it is a little wrong we will clean it up later. God has a different approach. He wants it cleaned up now. He has sent Jesus to pay for our sins but we have to admit we have sinned and we need a savior.

If you think being a good person will get you into heaven you are like the person who wired the light switch. No clue. Only admitting your are helpless and asking Jesus to save you gets you into heaven.

We are in the process of buying a house. We do not have possession yet but the owner has told us we can fix the door. The door on the house is broken and will not lock. It is an odd sized door with a metal frame set in concrete. That means the door either had to be custom ordered or we had to build it. The new door is built and ready to be installed. Once in it will keep the elements out and be a nice point of access.

Jessu says "I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."

Jesus is knocking, He wants everyone to spend eternity with him. That is more important than any other trials or problems you might have right now. Open the door and let Jesus make you right with God.

 

Dr says "maybe well done"

5 weeks ago my blood pressure was hovering around 148/92 on the good days. The Doctor was a bit sceptical that I would be able to make some life changes and bring it down without medication.

This was the reading this morning and yes it was calibrated so it is accurrate.

This is the average of the last 2 weeks. The doctor now tells me I do not need blood pressure medicine. Was it easy to make life style changes? Not always but I had a goal. I also lost 12 pounds in the last month. No caffine, less meat and smaller meals do make a difference. Now I still have the extremely high cholesterol levels to deal with. That test was also a month ago and the doctors have been telling me it is hereditary. There is no way diet changes are going to bring the LDL levels down by 70%, which is what they want to see. They are also telling me medication will not bring it down 70%. I am told if the numbers improve it will be a combination of a couple of drugs and staying on my current diet, unless I am one of the 10% who are not impacted by high cholesterol. I am having a calcium score test run in January to see if I am one of those lucky 10%. Also rerunning the blood test in January to see if diet has lowered the LDL cholesterol. 

We are getting closer to finishing Wild Flower cottage. This was a bedroom when we purchased the house.

At noon today this was the same bedroom, cleaned out and fixed.

This was the 2nd bedroom upstairs when we purchased.

Same room this morning.

I would have to say we have made quite a difference.

The hallway upstairs look a thousand times better as well.

This was the tub and shower when we took possession.

We have put in a tile surround (by we, I do mean Matthew although I did grout the tile). We should be wrapping this project up in the next week.

Then it is on to the next house. This is a picture that was on the wall in that house. All the stuff inside the glass of Dad'a best friend are dead roaches. Who was dad's best friend the dog or the roaches?

In life there is almost always room for improvement. I thought it would be really hard to stop drinking coffee. It was a major part of my life. When Tony was living with us he once asked me, "do you drink any water or just coffee?" He had a point but, hey coffee is just water with caffine added right?

We were traveling down to Murray Iowa to see our grandkids in the Christmas program on Sunday morning. I thought I would stop and get a cup of decaffinated coffee on the way down. Wow, that was awful! After 5 weeks without coffee, I don't want it anymore. Same with most of what I was eating. 

It is possible to change and change can be good. look at how the house we are working on changed. A real mess with terrible wallls and filled with junk, to a house I am proud to be one of the owners.

Sometimes we need to have a life changing experience. The man who lived in the house we are going to start on next was trying to get rid of the roaches. I know that because there are a lot of insecticides in the house. But insecticides still in the containers don't kill roaches. Good intentions don't change lives. It takes work and commitment. 

 

Give away

We buy houses from estates. Sometimes the heirs don't want to remove the contents of the house, that's where our offer of "as is" buys the house. We take responsibility of getting rid of the contents.

I found one of these plugged into an outlet in every room of the house we took possession of this week. I read online that they will keep pests away including roaches. I think they might have some false advertising going there.  When the roaches are dunging on the Pest Reject, I think the roaches are making a statement of what they think of this little item. Good news for us is the weather had gotten cold and the furnace was shut off in the house so almost all the roaches are DEAD. That's right the miriad bug sprays and devices the poor man had purchased didn't kill the roaches but cold temperatures nailed em.

A rule of thumb of mine is the dirtier the house the more cleaners we will find in the house. We are to the place we can hardly store all the cleaners we have gathered up. That goes for houses tenants move out of as well. If they leave the house filthy, you will find the cuboards full of cleaners. Good intentions I suppose, just no actual work involved.

We find a lot of "valuable" stuff in these houses. Not quite sure what we are going to do with the drum set yet.

Sometimes the house are so full of stuff, it's hard to even navigate from one room to the next.

On a previous purchase, I was told there are valuable antiques in the house. My reply "good get them out and sell them because if you don't we will set them on the curb or send to the landfill. This piece was picked up by someone and delivered to a charity in Pella. I hope they get a high price for it and use the money to help someone in need.

I don't know antique values and have no desire to learn.

We did think that buggy had value. matthew was going to sell it for $50 when Bob offered him a "crisp twenty dollar bill". Matthew said SOLD.

Once in a while we do save a piece for ourselves. This dresser is now refinished and in our house.

Usually we just start setting stuff by the curb and let anyone who wants it have it.

It would take too much time and effort for the dollars return to sort and try to sell what I see as junk

Sometimes tenants move out and are not quite honest when they say, "House is empty." Then we start stacking the useful stuff by the curb.

and more to the curb

and more to the curb. Hmm, wonder why they were unable to pay the rent and the electric bill. Maybe too much stuff was purchased that wasn't needed??

So I have started moving some of the smaller stuff to the curb out of our last purchase. Sharon has been loading out to give to a thrift store.

It's part of the buisness we are in to have to dispose of other's stuff. Some tell us we should try to sell it. I'd rather just let someone have it for free if they could use it. I don't want to price it. I don't want to have to meet someone to make the deal and then have 70% fo the buyers not show up. It makes my life easier to just give it away and if it helps someone else, that's a bonus, although I sometimes wonder if we are just adding junk to hoarder houses.

We looked at a couple of houses this week and took a pass. The next day we found out the owner was angry at the neighbor for having a trailer parked partially on the lawn while he resided his house. So he left a note they owed him $300 per day as long as the trailer was partially on the lawn of a house that has been vacant for 14 years and then called the cops on the contractor for having it parked there.

I would have gone over and asked them not to pull the trailer out if it rained so they wouldn't leave ruts and been happy we could help at no cost to us.

I think if we all treated each other as we want to be treated it would make life a lot more pleasent. Especially for the person who able to be the one helping others out in small ways.

Give and it will be gievn to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured in your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured to you

 

Doctor says

When I was about 45 years old, I was sent to a cardiologist because of PVCs. Basically that means your heart beats before it fills with blood. It's kind of a weird sensation and I was having a lot of them. The good doctor told me, there is medication for it, but PVCs won't shorten your life span. You can go on the meds but there are side effects. Having heard the side effects I decided the weird feeling was the better choice. They eventually went away and life continued on.

Then we were returning home from an 8 day vacation at the end of September. We got home early enough for me to make my appointment for blood donation. I just didn't feel right while sitting waiting for the tech to take my vitals. Yea, blood pressure was 196/98. I think that's close to the death by stroke zone. The tech waited 10 minutes and my blood pressure went down to a level they would take the donation. You have to ask is that a good idea? He has a heart problem lets take some of his blood. 

The next morning I had a revelation. the PVCs were back and with a vengence. Missing about every third heart beat. I have a blood pressure machine at home and was checking my pressure. It would quite often go above 160/90. Not good.

After 45 days I decided maybe it was time to see a doctor. Yea blood pressure was 160/90 still not good. I did explain that I had white coat syndrome and they could probably subtract 10 points just because we were in a doctor's office. Dr got out the old stethescope and was listening to my heart. She listened about 3 seconds and grabbed my wrist searching for a pulse. Hey I am still sitting upright, I do have a pulse, its there occasionally. Then the tests started: EKG, we'll take three vials of blood, here is a container and there is the bathroom give us a sample. 

We are going to stick this monitor to your chest for 48 hours. You will see a cardiologist in the next 2 weeks. We need to get your blood pressure down with medication. Then the tests started coming back. You have elevated cholesterol. Not just a little elevated but through the roof, you need to be on statins. You have a high risk of stroke and need to start taking aspirin every day and lose some weight.

Hold on, hold on here. I think maybe lets try a few life style changes first. The doctor said most people would rather take a pill than make lifestyle changes. Well, I am not most people and medications have side effects. I am a firm believer in pills when necessary but lets shock my system with some nutritional deprivation.

I know I was drinking way too much coffee. A pot and 2/3 was most likely way off the scale of normal. I think my Mr Coffee feels neglected and abandoned. I will have to say caffeine withdrawal is no fun at all. It didn't start till after 2 days caffine free and then boy it was like getting hit by a 2x4.

Oh and not just the coffe had to go. Those hand cut prime ribeyes I love. Maybe 2 ounces occasionally

BBQed pork rib meat. Yea, no more of that.

Those bacon slabs I slice thick, gone.

This meal no,no. Get the skin off the chicken and lose the chips.

I have 30 pounds of pork ribs in my deep freeze, I'm supposed to eat that, what sliced in small portions of 1 bone each meal??

3 years ago I switched out what I eat in the evening due to a health issue I don't remember now. This was one of my meals, well now the butter has to be gone from the bread and no CHEESE on the salad.

I don't know, do you live longer or does it just feel like it?

I might end up like the Beverly Hillbillies eating possum innerds. They're just as good the second day.

My plan is after this total shock to my system to start adding a few enjoyable foods and maybe some caffeine back into my routine. As of tonight my blood pressure has fallen and is in the normal range. Have no clue yet on the cholestrol and why after a week much smaller meals not one pound of weight  has been lost? Come on, I deserve to have lost at least 5 pounds with all the good food I have given up.

Problem is not falling back into really bad eating habits. Life is like that, we can make a decision to change and then just slide back to where we started.

Routines and habits are hard to break. That's why most people would rather take a pill than change their life style. I get that, it has been a tough week and will be several more tough weeks.

We all get comfortable not just with our diets but also with the sin in our lives. It's part of the comfort zone and it's easy to justify. It's not so bad, others are worse. Problem is, God calls us to be holy, not just better than how we see someone else. Being holy may mean kicking some things we enjoy out of our lives and leaving our comfort zone. Might have to ask God for help to change for the better because on our own we are bound to fail.

 

Left behind

We have climate controled storage units. If you want to store your very valuable things with us, like say old books you are never going to read or Christmas decorations you will want, maybe in 5 years, we will make sure they don't freeze or get damaged by our lovely Iowa high humidity. Because we have a furnace and an air conditioner and a dehumidifier in the building.

Of course, when I pull up in the morning and see that a tenant has blocked the door open overnight, it kinda defeats all our efforts. We have found we use our security cameras to police the tenants. Yea, you looked up at the camera when you loaded out the cart that belongs at the building. I am sure you made a mistake when you took it, so bring it BACK! Oh yea, we saw you block open the door and drive away, so don't do that again. No one seems to take it seriously that the sign says security cameras. These are not fake cameras, they are watching you. It's like the song. 

We see you when you're smoking. 

We see you when you steal. 

We know when you are bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.  

You better be nice

like sugar and spice

cause our cameras are watching you.

That my friends is a pile of dead roaches in an insecticide dust. We have a house that we are killing roaches in. One morning last week I counted 176 dead roaches. As of this morning in the last 24 hours only 86 died where I could find them. Progress is being made. I do wish the tenant had taken all his little friends with him when he moved becuase we have an empty house till we can be sure the roach count is zero, nada, nothing, all gone.

At the same house there was a jug of liquid left in the garage. No lid on it. I smelled it (I know that could have been dangerous. What if it was a chemical, Nah, couldn't be could it? It had no odor and the consistancy of water.) I poured it out. Strange how that water seems to have killed the grass. Hmm it must have been water so pure that it tied up all the nutrients and the grass died of starvation. yea that's it, I'm sure of it.

The house we are working on now had not had the yard cleaned up for, I am guessing here, 40 years. It was full of trees. The tree service came with those lovely machines and made the trees gone. I love how they grab the tree and it just cuts a chunk off. they have another machine that picks up the pieces and puts them in big trucks and away they go. Almost magical to watch. The trees all gone in a matter of a couple of hours.

So lets see, tenants leaving doors blocked open, roaches left in a house, an open jug of some chemical left, and trees left to grow till the yard was full. It was a week of things being left behind. There are people who say they are going to Heaven because they are good people. Well they are not going to heaven because they are good people. They will be left behind, like unwanted insects, chemicals and trees. The door is open only to sinners who know they are sinners. Jesus paid for them and has blocked the door open so they can go to Heaven.