Baymule’s Journal

[Baymule]

Save us from idiots!!! Sure glad Chris didn't just assume the damage was from a prior roof leak. I bet I would have given the info you had.

No kidding! Chris saved me a HVAC service bill. Every time the heat unit came on, it rattled. Last time I had a rattle, some years back, a bolt worked loose, fell out, into the fan and all he// broke loose! Fearing the worst, I was looking for a repair man to call. Chris found the source, a cover that went over the end of a filter was just laying across the pan. When the unit came on, it rattled. He put it where it belonged. Now how hard would it have been to just put it up in the first place? AARRGH!

 

[Bruce]

previous workman

I notice you used the term "workman" and not "craftsman"

 

[Blue Sky]

I had hm brown in much of my house. I replaced it with an agreeable brown that matches streaks in the ceramic floor tile. My kitchen is dark red. Somebody may well hate that if we sell.

 

[Baymule]

I had hm brown in much of my house. I replaced it with an agreeable brown that matches streaks in the ceramic floor tile. My kitchen is dark red. Somebody may well hate that if we sell.

I used a bright red paint in a kitchen one time. Red and white with the big gingham check for curtains. Another time I painted a kitchen lime green and white. I liked both kitchens, nobody else did.

 

[Baymule]

I notice you used the term "workman" and not "craftsman"

House butcher would be more like it. That same workman installed those 3 windows-all at different levels. 2 have trim on the inside of the window that meets the outside T-1-11 siding. 1 window has a gap between the trim and the outside wall, giving a view of the insulation and studs. The 2 windows trim is 5" wide, the 1 window trim is 3 1/2" wide.

 

[Simpleterrier]

@Baymule just to let u know the idiot who put the 90s in your ac drain might not be as big and idiot as u believe. Still an idiot but the 90s is called a drain trap it keeps the water from backing up and over flowing your coil pan and flooding. Now not being glued is dumb and not being installed inside of a drain pan with a overflow switch is dumb. And if your up north a rubber trap is preferred.

Your welcome brought to you by your friendly hvac guy

 

[Baymule]

So

@Baymule just to let u know the idiot who put the 90s in your ac drain might not be as big and idiot as u believe. Still an idiot but the 90s is called a drain trap it keeps the water from backing up and over flowing your coil pan and flooding. Now not being glued is dumb and not being installed inside of a drain pan with a overflow switch is dumb. And if your up north a rubber trap is preferred.

Your welcome brought to you by your friendly hvac guy

So the 90's are actually the right way to install a drain line, OK I am learning here. I can see the wisdom in installing it over the drain pan, which this was not. No overflow switch either. Not glued, which caused it to leak. Still an idiot!

Thank you from your friendly HVAC ignoramus.

 

[Margali]

@Baymule Atleast they installed one! The idiots that did AC at work just capped the drain. We found this out when collect condensate overflowed the lowest corner. I had to vacuum out about 10 gallons water before we could even fix it.

 

[Blue Sky]

I used a bright red paint in a kitchen one time. Red and white with the big gingham check for curtains. Another time I painted a kitchen lime green and white. I liked both kitchens, nobody else did.

The gingham curtains were already there but with an inexplicable salmon color on the wall. I worked at a retailer that has red as its color scheme. A red kitchen was a victory lap when I retired.

 

[Legamin]

I’ve been a member here for, let’s see….at least 10 years and have never kept a journal. My life has blown up to the moon, with the death of my beloved husband of 25 of the best years of my 66 years of life. I am Blessed to have known such pure adoration, wrapped in unconditional love, safe and secure in that love. Most people live their whole lives and never know the happiness I had.

This is us in 1996, we were married shortly after. My hair has long gone white, heck it was white then, but I wasn’t ready to deal with being white headed. LOL Over the years, his hair whitened and he had less of it, but when we looked at each other, we saw one another as beautiful as the day we met.

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I’m in a state of upheaval and change in my life. We bought our 8 acre farm in September 2014, moved on our 19th Anniversary, February 14, 2015. Our DD and family lived in Lindale and we wanted to be close to them so we could enjoy our granddaughters. They had to leave for better job opportunities 2 years ago, first in Odessa, Texas and now in Corpus Christi, Texas. Both locations are 8 hours away. I started making noises about moving closer, but staying in East Texas. BJ of course rumbled about moving, but eventually he would have caved in and followed me wherever I took a notion to go. He was always a good sport, no matter how wild or crazy of a thing I wanted to do, he piled in there with me and we did it together.

So now I’m all alone, no family, and the love of my life is in a cherry wood box on a table. I decided to move. I will put our farm up for sale in March. We had a great time. We worked hard, we lived our dream to the fullest. I raised feeder pigs and Cornish Cross meat chickens for the freezer, plus some to sell, that covered the cost so our meat was free. I raised a big garden, canned, froze and dehydrated the vegetables and shared with neighbors and friends. We bought 4 bred ewes, I couldn’t contain my excitement, I bed checked them every night at 11:00 and was out at daylight, looking for lambs. It seemed like eternity but I was finally rewarded by 2 ewes both presenting me with twins one morning. BJ ran out to see them and we held those babies, joy knew no boundaries.

I had 3 horses and a mule that we brought with us. I sold one of the horses and the mule. Later I saw a scrawny chestnut gelding, stocking legged and blaze faced, of course BJ bought him for me. We named him Prince and with care, he bloomed into a beautiful horse. One night I showed BJ a picture of an emaciated bony Tennessee Walker mare in a kill pen, slated for a one way ride to Mexico for slaughter. She was for sale. BJ named her Pearl on the spot and we went and got her the next day. Both horses were great with kids and I took the two little granddaughters with me on rides. We had a blast.

I always had chickens for eggs. I made us delicious breakfast with home raised pork sausage or home smoked bacon, with fresh eggs. We sold a few, gave away a few and thanked God for the bounty of the land.

BJ isn’t with me anymore. His smile, his laugh, his over the top personality, his never meet a stranger- in 5 seconds or less you’re best friends-in 10 seconds you’re kinfolks, is a memory of good times.

I must go on.

I did not make the decision to sell our farm lightly. I am embarking on a journey to find my place. I’m not sure just exactly where that will be. But I know it is no longer here.

My son has a house he bought 3 years ago to be a rental. It needs work. He is a crane operator and spends months being gone, sometimes moving his RV from one location to another, following jobs. He has tried to get workmen here to do what is needed, but has not had good results. Then the shutdown because of Covid, a year later he finally landed a job that barely covered the bills. Now jobs are opening up, he started a new job in Houston 2 days ago and will be moving his RV tomorrow.

He graciously offered his house as a place to stay after I sell the farm, to give me time to figure things out. It’s on 2 acres.

I gave away my hens to a disabled couple and their coops too. I sold my horses for real cheap, got tons of responses, and picked the families that I thought would give them the best homes. I’m keeping my sheep and dogs. I’ll have to build a shed to shelter the sheep and dogs, pens, etc. The property is fenced down both sides, with a fry-your-hair hot wire, it should be sufficient.

I’m here in the new-to-me house this morning, came down yesterday. I’m at the point of finishing up painting 2 bedrooms, still have to paint trim in one, then I can set up beds. I bought a twin/full bunk bed and will put the full in one room and the twin in the other.

I bought a coffee pot for this house, have been deprived on the couple of previous overnight stays. Everything goes better when I have coffee!

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I’m drinking my coffee, surveying my Queendom. What a mess. There is a pile of OSB, 2x4’s, sheet rock, ladders, saw horses with a sheet of OSB to make a work table, lumber, buckets, and everything is dirty. At least when he bought the house, the kitchen and bathroom had been remodeled, a little clean up and it will be real nice. My goal is to make this rentable. I can do a lot of the work myself. It needs outside work, now that DS is back to working like he used to, he has plans on getting that done. Together we’ll make it happen.

Never one to stay down for any length of time, I’ve hit the ground running. I don’t wallow in self pity, I carry my grief inside, it’s not for public display. I deal real well with reality.

What better time to start a journal. In a time of major change, striking a course to I don’t know where, y’all can hitch a ride on The Crazy Train and come along.

Wow. Touching. My wife and I just celebrated a wonderful 40 years. I am 60 and she….is not. I can not begin to imagine that loss. As such things draw inexorably closer to reality I purposefully have busied myself and resisted giving a place in my thoughts. I need to thank you for sharing your very heart rending reality. It is something we all know, have seen and understand will not stand still To appease us.
I read the end and glanced over to my wife across the room..smiled…and am soberly amazed at the wonder and grace of her love for me all these years. It has been God’s 2nd more wonderful gift. She gave me two wonderful loving and doting children who in turn have shared the wonder of six grandchildren. I noted all the positive changes that my life has seen as a direct result of her sharing it with me. Wow
Thank you. And with what I hope is your silent permission I will remember you in my prayers. You will need His comfort in the days to come. The animals will keep eating, the rooster will continue to crow. That is what their life and instinct tells them to do. This is what mine tells me.