# 582 - He Lost Me at "Impossible"

One of the biggest projects during construction of our house has been the tongue and groove pine wood ceilings.

I knew what I wanted, but it took a long time to find someone capable of doing the job and willing to drive the distance to our acreage to get it done.

Jason Riley of Riley Remodeling ended up getting the job, and he handled the installation of our wood ceiling like a true craftsman.

I spoke with five construction/remodeling companies in our area. I'd start out texting back and forth with them as they asked questions about what we needed. After explaining, I would send sample pictures of houses with similar wood ceilings. Yes, we realized it would cost a very pretty penny. Dump-truck loads of shiny pennies.

We live in a rural area and there aren't many jobs like this due to population. A massive hurdle. Houston, where I was born, has a population of over 6.6 MILLION, and you can find contractors able to do this level of work all day long.

But, if you leave Houston and drive a bit to reach our teeny town of Dallardsville with its population of around 350... it's another realm altogether. Our neighbors are hard-working folk mixed in among ranchers and timber barons. In our small town, we might be the only ones who have retired early from Houston. In the closest city to us, Livingston, 

So, it wasn't unexpected for a contractor to tell me he didn't want to install the ceiling the way I wanted, but would instead install sections of tongue and groove with faux beams in between. He refused to "strand" the boards together for the entire length of the ceiling. He didn't want to make cuts or stagger the boards the way I wanted. He said he'd install sections with uniform boards stacked one after the other.

I do like real or faux beams and had seriously considered working them into our ceiling design, but my final vision was one with clean lines, not busy looking. We already had dormers to contend with, and they break up the focus. I wanted the wood itself to be the main feature highlighting the ceiling's height and angles.

That guy stood in my house and rudely remarked, "You'll never get what you're asking for. Can't be done. Impossible."

Yeah... I've had a few country boys tell this woman she was asking the impossible of home builders and remodelers, but I hail from Houston, Texas, and "impossible" is far from what I'm asking.

"Do you realize pine yellows with time?" he asked with his jaw hung open.

"Yes, I do. I like the amber 'patina' of aging pine," I answered. 

He threw his hands in the air and spat out.. $25,000... to do a job he'd already admitted he couldn't do and wasn't happy about tackling. He'd lost the job before he even bid on it. 

He lost me at "impossible."

Why did this guy even make the trip to check out the job? He wasted both our time.

I kept visiting with potential contractors. Several people responded to my request for contractor references, leading us to Jason Riley of Riley Remodeling. During my first conversation with him, he let me know he was both skilled and brave enough to work on a ceiling of our height. 

It then took more weeks for me and Jason to coordinate our schedules so he could come look at the house in person instead of just in pictures. When he showed up, Jason was complete opposite compared to the other "impossible" guy.

Jason discussed my vision for the ceiling. He understood EXACTLY what I wanted and assured me it was indeed possible.

HIRED.

I worked a deal with him. We had scaffolding, but he needed more for our expansive Great Room. We agreed to rent more so he wouldn't have to deal with that upfront cost. And my husband bought all the materials and had them delivered to the house.

We hired a couple of guys to work at the house doing odd jobs, and they were extremely helpful, so we put them to work helping to poly the boards. Riley knew this part of the job would be handled by other workers.

Jason brought his own tools, and he brought along a helper (on most days). He thoughtfully approached the installation, but we made it easIER for him to show up and go straight to work on the actual install. 

But, this wasn't an easy job, by any means. Even so, he listened to what I wanted, and my husband listened to the two of us talk it out and then accommodated Jason as much as possible.

For that, I'm grateful.

And let me add... Jason is a young man who is deaf. Literally, I can't remember the reason for his loss of hearing at such an early phase in life... an ear infection or something of the sort. He wore hearing aids but would take them out during construction so the power tools, etc., wouldn't create major issues with his prosthetics. 

He'd lay his hearing aids aside and get to work.

Jason created a "bridge" to do the high-point of the ceiling.

I usually play music through the day, especially when doing chores, but we had to keep extraneous sound to a minimum, in case he did need to reinsert his hearing aids.

His attention to our ceiling made me pause.

I don't usually do much of anything in total silence, except during the early part of my day. Early, whatever time that means for us in retirement, is a time when I prefer silence for a while. 

No talking.

No sound.

Nature is all right, but I don't want to hear any synthetic/produced sounds.

However, I can't imagine working hours upon hours without any break or interruption so that my own thoughts can cease. Background noise can be comforting. It can fill the headspace that screams when it's too silent.

A television left on. An electronic device playing the latest news report or an audible book. Music. Oh Lord, music is a must-have for me, but Jason did not have those options.

He confronted morning-silence that lasted all day, every day, yet he focused on the task at hand.

I admire that kind of tenacity.

My husband and Jason worked out a system together. They got the ceiling finished. Jason definitely earned his money doing this job, and he didn't rob us. It took several weeks. He did have a couple of other jobs, so we worked with his schedule and the distance gap.

Yes, I am an "angles" person. Geometry-minded. Art.

Jason also drove every work day from Huntsville to our house to do the ceiling. That's right at a 100-mile round-trip every day, so he'd no likely be in our house for more than 5-8 hours at a time.

With a nearly two-hour drive each day just to reach our acreage, I was thankful to have found him and his remodeling company, even though we weren't remodeling... we weren't finished "building."

The "big bedroom" upstairs.

And to this day, every morning I step out of our bedroom, I marvel at the beauty of this ceiling. Solid wood reflecting our forested surroundings.

Warm and welcoming.

It's wonderful when the impossible becomes your reality.

# 513 - Country House Clarity

The great thing about waiting so long to build the seventh house we've lived in and hopefully the last house we will live in as our main homestead is that we are taking the time to make sure we do it right. Especially since our last home had a great floor-plan.

Location, location, location is everything --- this has been my major hold-up since I have been flip-flopping on the built site of our home on the acreage, until a few months ago, then I went back to our original site. Another full circle.

However, since that aspect of the build is SETTLED, I have been pouring over different floor-plans and house styles. In fact, this past year, I have reviewed no less than 1,000 floor-plans and home designs.

Recently, I came close to deciding upon a beautiful log cabin, but then I got the onslaught of information regarding the added upkeep with the expectation that the cabin will not be plumb, and I know that the lack of straight lines will eventually get to me.

At one point, going through house plans began to be an unpleasant task, so I avoided it. Then, I reminded myself that these frustrations are part of this wonderful process of moving to the country and that I should also embrace those moments too --- this is an American dream I am living. That attitude adjustment led me to a clear mind and to the floor-plan below that is one of my favorites; however, the upstairs will only have two bedrooms and a small loft with ONE bathroom, strictly for guests.

The great part of waiting all this time to build a house in the country is that I have had time to consider this house, full circle. At first, while living in a stylish home in the Greater Houston area, I had thought that I wanted to build a rustic-style home.

But, after living in an RV for nearly a year, I have come full circle, ALMOST, in that I can see that the rustic appearance would probably wear thin on me, but a CLASSIC farm-house style has stuck on me.

The elements I love are the white clapboard, the grey metal roof and painted grey porch floor decking. Of course, I can picture major landscaping around the house to bring the beauty home!

This is the kind of railing I like with the porch beams I prefer.
Also, this roof is my first choice with the grey accent and dark grey
painted porch decking. Any window shutters will be either black
or that same grey color. The house will be built on concrete
piers and wood beams.

One thing that I have changed lately follows severe storms that have been moving through the area. Now, I know that I don't want as many towering trees around the house. We will keep solid, oldies, but we will be removing more trees around the home-site than I originally intended.

That's because this past week, during a terrible storm, lightening struck a tree nearby and it made a deafening crack. I've been around many close lightening strikes in my life, more than is comfortable for me.

Living here for this past year has indeed been critical to this complicated process of moving from the city to the country, especially to acreage that is so raw and rural.

I cannot believe that in a few days it will be have been a year since the day came for us to leave our home in the city...

...and drive away with our RV...

and drive nearly two hours to literally drive up to our acreage, unload the chickens, set up the RV, and not have water connections and no electricity power connections to the land.

All the chickens made it safely to the acreage by riding in their special
cage alongside their coop in the trailer that I pulled as Sgt. Dave
pulled the RV with his truck.

 

Living with that generator noise for weeks on end was extremely challenging, but I am thankful to have had that generator to provide enough power to give us air-conditioning through the hot weeks of summer.

My dad stopping by to visit, even though he was in the middle
of his chemotherapy treatments, administered through a port in his
chest via a chemo pump attached to him. At this point, he'd lost
all that was left of his hair...along with his mustache. Thank God,
he is doing much better now, under close watch, a difficult battle.

We've come a long way. We have longer to go, but knowing we are narrowing down our home design and floor-plan means we are closer to breaking ground. Since I am figuring out our floor-plan with the perimeter measurements, this means we can go to the actual build site and mark it off, then begin removing the trees that must go. Since that area of our land is densely forested, this is an important and necessary step that we cannot avoid ANY LONGER! Haha.

Oh a hike along a back trail with a boundary marker. You can
see how thick the forest is in the entire area of our construction site.
And there are towering, massive trees there as well, which I am
going to do all I can do to keep. We will also be working carefully
through the area to retain the Oaks, Cypress, Cedars and to
keep the Wild Magnolias.

There are a lot of steps for us to take. I have to get official Floodplain maps and to certify that our build site is not in the 100-year floodplain through the Office of Emergency Management - Flood Planning Management for our area. I have to get a new appraisal of our land with the upgrades. We also have to get a new survey, which stinks because the one we currently have is too old to use, and we have built structures on our land since that survey was completed, which invalidates it.

Our first small barn. I still need to paint the outside of it, Barn Red.

Once all that is completed, then I must have copies of our architectural-construction drawings prepared and ready to submit to various venders for bids. Lots of bids.

This is a view of my favorite design, so far. However, I do prefer
the thinner clapboard that runs horizontal instead of this vertical version.
If the size is available in Hardy Plank, we will use the cement siding
to reduce maintenance on the house. I am hoping it will also
making the building process more affordable.

My head is spinning again. This week, I am simply happy to have gone through hundreds more floor-plans and designs to become more settled upon the direction we are taking. My old love of traditional colonial-time homes and Victorian homes is something that I can't escape. I hope that by honoring the type of home that has most appealed to me throughout my life, that we will indeed find ourselves living in a very beautiful home ready for new memories.

Here is an example of the house we will probably build. It's about
2,500 square feet, with most of the square footage downstairs as is
shown in the above floor-plans. I will be incorporating
pocket-doors into the plan, for sure!

Everything is happening in its right time. It will be worth the wait. Even so, I CANNOT WAIT!

# 508 - Almost One Year in the RV: Country Life

Construction update: We have met with our loan officer. However, building on raw acreage brings an inordinate level of difficulty to the building process. But, we are up for the challenge.

Right now, I am pressed to prepare a rather substantial proposal-construction package for us to finish the loan process and to get closed on our construction loan so we can start building.

We are now about 35 days shy of living on our acreage, in an RV, for one year! Can you believe it?

The first barn structure on our acreage.

From the beginning, we knew that we would likely wait one year before starting the building process, mostly because we wanted to actually live on the land throughout one year and through changing seasons before building.

I am thankful we decided to be patient.

Our first week in the country.

A few months later.

Loving those summer nights in the country!

The moon and stars suddenly have become visible, in a new way.

That patience has been invaluable in teaching us exactly how our land responds to different weather conditions. That has prompted us to build on the opposite side of our acreage, a couple of acres away from the RV site we've enjoyed for almost 11 months.

Lately, my oldest daughter, Heather, has been enjoying time here in the country, with her daughter. Heather is introducing her daughter (my first grand-child) to our family acreage in the country environment of the Big Thicket...we are also located in a part of Texas dubbed "The Piney Woods." My beautiful daughter is traveling back and forth from the Fort Worth area to the Livingston area to spend extra time with us and to help me coordinate efforts to build our next home.

Since Heather's husband owns a commercial construction business, they are going to help review the sub-contractor's bids and make sure things are on track in ways that I probably would not think about.

Heather, Coraline and Henry. Lol.

The really great part of all of this is that Heather and her husband own a nice, roomy fifth wheel that has been set up next to ours for visits as we go through these challenging months ahead.

A bonus of being able to spend extra time with Heather has been our time sewing together! We gave Heather a very nice sewing machine a couple of years ago, and we've been in this tight RV space USING that sewing machine to make the most awesome items for babies and children to add to Heather's online boutique for babies and children.

Bandana Bibs

Heather is extremely creative, so I am happy to teach my daughter some of my sewing skills that had also been used during her youth...to make adorable clothes for Heather and her sissy, along with other unique things!

My daughters wearing dresses I made
for them.

And now, my grand-goodie is getting to wear things that her mommy makes for her!

Sleepy Coraline still enjoying her mom and Nana picking out fabrics.

To check out Heather's work, check out the Facebook page below and feel free to "LIKE" it and give a shout out that you got the map to her page from her old momma!

https://www.facebook.com/CoralousCreations

As for my sweet grand-baby Coraline, she absolutely loves the forest environment. Once she is outside, she is literally fixated on a tree blowing in the wind, then she shifts her view to a bird at the feeder and is mesmerized, then she sees a leaf...it is never boring.

She's in her 7th month in this world outside of comfy womb-service, and she is a smart fart! It won't be long until her mom sees that baby RUNNING here and there, especially because she already pulls up onto furniture and free stands. Since Heather and her sister Stefie were walking by 8 months of age, I am sure Coraline will be walking very soon as well.

Oh Lord. We better get that house built so that our growing family can have the desperately needed extra room to move around!

So, even with all the chaos that constantly surrounds our busy lives, I've been enjoying my special time with Coraline and Heather.

My daughter and grand-daughter. Heather & Coraline.

I am 45 years old; Coraline is my first grand-baby and truly one of the greatest joys in my life. It was worth waiting 45 years to enjoy the treasure of a grand-baby!

Let's just hope it won't take another 45 years to build our house in the country!

# 484 - God's Canvas - Storm Clouds

Living in the country and getting to experience a life with increased solitude and privacy is definitely good for the person who is not afraid of being in touch with nature, with themselves or with God. For me, I need a good balance of socializing combined with moments of being alone.

I guess the "alone" time is beneficial to me since I feel close to God when I am alone, and I feel His presence when I am in the midst of raw nature.

This week, storms rolled in, but the beauty that comes with a storm cannot be discarded from the experience of a storm. And as I looked to the Heavens and admired the clouds rolling in, I felt awestruck at the natural beauty that surrounds us.

Man cannot compete with God's beautiful, ever-changing works of art, always on display...free to behold. God holds a universal canvas in his possession, yet He shares its captivating elements with us, every day. He is a generous artist.

It's up to us to decide whether or not we will take notice of the beauty in front of us.

I notice, and I celebrate the beauty He unselfishly provides.

# 451 - Life Goes On...

My husband's nephew was murdered this past week and we buried him this past weekend, on Saturday.

In the shot below, I am walking with my oldest daughter, Heather, to honor her cousin's burial. Heather is pregnant with her first child and this is too much grief for her to endure during a pregnancy; I am concerned. She is MY baby.

And in the photo below, I am standing with Stefie as they bury her "twin." The level of Stefie's devastation is almost unparalleled. Her and Chris shared a unique bond from growing up as babies who were drawn to each other to adults who still gravitated toward each other at every event. They were extremely close and bonded.

Brice is there as is David's other nephew who is standing close to the camera with his girlfriend. Such family sadness.

We know that we must keep moving forward with our lives. Life moves on.

 

Chris, we will miss you and always love you.

I must say that one major difference from having a death in the family by sickness or accident (which we have had both) is that murder means this situation is going to be re-played, publicly, by trial. We will be facing a trial and all the horrible details that comes with a courtroom replaying everything that happened.

Even worse, it turns out that a young woman was assaulted by Chris's murderer back in February and she has charges against him, but her case had not yet gone to trial. However, he was out on bond when he killed Chris, so things are about to get more dicey for that killer. The young woman the killer had attacked showed up at Chris's funeral, and she is one very traumatized young lady who sat there staring at Chris's coffin, knowing it might have been her in that coffin.

We are hoping the charges of assault and murder can be combined to give the killer a longer sentence. He won't be eligible for the death penalty because he didn't commit two crimes together, such as rape and murder...or robbery and murder...but we will do all we can to make sure he sits his little butt in prison for the majority of his pathetic life.

This was not self-defense. He first stabbed Chris as he was sitting down. Chris could not even believe it himself. My point is...Chris did not instigate this attack in a physically threatening manner. He was simply the victim of a person who had out of control rage.

If Sgt. Dave has anything to say about it...and he does...that creep won't be living a "free" life for very long. This Uncle is on a mission. He is advocating for his murdered nephew every single day.

Since our family is standing together and will be making our presence known in numbers...we will be closely involved with taking the killer down. We will do all we can to increase his chances of getting the maximum penalty. So, I am doing my best to re-focus our efforts on this land so we can eventually begin building our home, but it is tough. I'm sure you understand.

This past week, my mother and father-in-law camped nearby and we worked on the land. Sgt. Dave and his dad built the metal shed with a great plywood floor and the inside already has additional 2x4's installed.

My father-in-law added another pole that is attached to the shed and ran electrical line from the main pole to our shed because we have the washing machine and dryer ready to go into the shed so I can stay away from the horrible Washateria!

Each stage of them building the shed was interesting, from laying out the wood, to prepping the ground, to getting the floor laid so the shed could be assembled. All of us had our own responsibilities, but theirs was the most labor intensive. Now I have a nice little shed! The spot next to the metal shed will be a good sized wood work shop for Sgt. Dave.

Watching father and son build that shed was wonderful. I love my father-in-law, he has a great sense of humor.

We all had a beautiful week together, until we heard about my husband's nephew. Even then, we continued to busy our bodies with working because stopping meant crying and we did cry, a lot. My poor in-laws stayed busy until they could drop, as if they could not stop and face the horror of what had happened. I began to be very concerned about them.

But, the beauty of the land seemed to give us comfort. During water and rest breaks, we would listen to the birds sing and the breeze would blow through the trees...it was peaceful.

My mother-in-law and I would take a seat at the edge of the trees and the view would be breath-taking, reminding me of the reason we have gone through all this trouble to move to the country.

Even though the worst has happened, we are glad our personal commitment remains more determined than ever to enjoy our life on this acreage in the woods.

Sometimes, I feel so overwhelmed out here because there is so much that needs to be done and Sgt. Dave has a long commute that prevents him from being here to get it done.

But, when conditions permit it, there is always time for a burning project and to stand mesmerized by its captivating flames, soaring ashes and puffs of smoke.

However, on his days off, he is going nonstop to finish some project. And there are a LOT of projects.

I am especially ADD at this moment, so bear with me. I struggle to focus in a linear manner, but it's not really happening...Is it?

Sgt. Dave also ran PVC piping from the RV septic to our septic tank. No more holes in the ground! And he's constantly clearing thick underbrush and mowing different sections of land.

And for my blog buddies who have understood my frustration with going to a washateria...here is the finished project this week --- the shed and the washer and dryer have been put inside it, as of TONIGHT! Tomorrow they will be connected and we'll have a new washroom/storage shed combo!

I had resorted to doing hand-washing the essentials instead of going to a Washateria...

Just so you know, in the midst of the devastation of our nephew being murdered, we found time to finally grab a bite to eat and to share some laughs with our daughters and my husband's cousin, Joshua, who flew in from Oregon for the funeral --- the family who so loved the one who is gone was able to be together and find reasons to be joyful.

This is the reason life holds promise; human nature knows how to survive.

And my husband is already contacting the District Attorney's office to do all he can to make sure nothing slips through the cracks with his nephew's murder.

The country life cannot insulate us from such horrors, but it makes being home more peaceful. And in Chris's honor, we will be starting an "Artist's Garden" that will hopefully have a life-time of artistic garden items created by local artists so that we can remember the art Chris brought into our lives.

And Chris's mother gave us this piece that Chris had recently painted...my entire cabin in the woods will be built with this piece of art in mind. His mom told me that she knows I am also an art lover and "artist" with my own creations, so she wanted this piece to go to someone who appreciates art and who loves Chris, forever.

We are blessed.