Hot day in June

Yesterday's project... Bryan graciously volunteered to take his tractor up to the barn and knock down the grass and weeds with his brush hog; that thing really got it done. The place looks 100% better, we can actually see the ground!

Bryan's getting started...

Bryan's gettin' it done. I cannot imagine trying to knock down the tall grass and weeds without the brush hog, in some places the grass was almost waist deep!

Scott and the weed eater... spent all day and there's more to do!
See Mom... I did trim up my beard and get a haircut.

Did I say the grass was tall?

Real tall! That little orange thing is the tractor roof.

Tazz like it! He supervised the days work from various shady spots.

From the north porch, looking northwest.

Looking North over the well-house

What a difference!

Bryan even found us a hot-tub!

By mid-afternoon is was 100 degrees, but the humidity was low and Bryan and I had momentum. Margot brought up some lunch, and was surprised at our progress. We have more grass and weeds to knock down, but Bryan suggested we wait until fall to expand the cleared area, so we really know what we're cutting. He spotted some small seedling trees, which we cut around, and some wild black berries. His experience in the area really paid off, we expect the grounds will be just as cool as the interior, and the views cannot be beat!

And while I'm thinking about it... none of this would have been possible without the generosity and hospitality of Bryan and Tina Baker, we couldn't ask for better friends and we can't thank them enough for all they've done for us...

And the project continues...

Been a while......

The pics are first, the story follows...

Our front porch... looking forward to the good times!

Upstairs looking north... big, huh?!

The south end storage

The north end full of stuff

North end after the trim

Got some trimming done

Margot and Tazz on the porch... I trimmed the grass!

Tall grass and wildflowers... work to do

The truck and trailer are finally empty... whew!

Well, it's been a while since we updated this place, for good reasons and not so good reasons.

The good reasons... for quite a while we just didn't have anything to say. After we closed on the property, we hung out in limbo for awhile. About the beginning of May, we got serious about getting out of Florida before the month was out, and we succeeded (sorta, more on that later).

The not so good reasons... well, it's been a damn busy and hectic month and a half, and we just couldn't make time to update the blog, much less check email or make phone calls.

So, here's how the story goes... After getting all the stuff in the house boxed up and prepped for the move, we started loading the truck. After a full (and I mean full) day of loading, with huge help from Dallas the Loadmaster, we figured out the 26' Penske truck I had rented wasn't big enough for all of our stuff... Houston, we got a problem... I get on the phone and start calling around to try and rent a trailer; no luck whatsoever. Jack Phillips comes to the rescue and offers me the use of his 14x7 enclosed trailer, which means I'm making two trips back to back. Well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do; by the time the truck and trailer were completely (and I mean completely!) loaded, it was 9:30 on Friday night May 30th. The house is cleaner than it's been since new, there was a few things left to get on my second trip, like motorcycles, and we're finally on the move about 10:30pm. I drove my truck, pulling the trailer (wrong size hitch on the rental truck), Margot drove her car and our friend Brigette drove the Penske truck.

We didn't get far Friday night, up to Ocala primarily to miss the morning traffic in Orlando. The fact that traffic on Saturday morning would be light was lost on me, hell I didn't even know what day it was. Saturday was long and uneventful, we made it to Clinton Mississippi. Sunday was equally long and not quite as uneventful; Brigette managed to hook the right rear bumper of the Penske truck on the concrete end cap of a fuel island. Lesson there? Always take the insurance, it sure paid off. We rolled into Lawton Sunday night about 10:30, worn completely out.

Monday morning, and we need to find some help to unload. VROC'er John "Coyote" Shreve rode up from Ft. Worth to lend a hand, we couldn't find any other volunteers. Off to the local labor place we go, and hire two brothers to help out. Well, they worked thier asses off (as did John, Margot and I) and the truck and trailer were both empty by 4:30pm. Funny... three days to load, 5 hours to unload. Well, almost unload, we needed more help for the 180 gallon aquarium and the large oak desk. The boys show up the next morning with two more kids, and in minutes they were done. Well worth the money! And damages are all minimal and fixable.

Margot and I spent the next three days working 12 hours a day, sorting and moving boxes, getting everything off the floor (the building leaks at the seams, it is a barn after all) and closing up windows missing glass, putting lock sets in doors and generally securing the place. Friday morning it was time for me to head eastbound again... yawn...

I did get a little lucky on my return trip. Through an old friend in the trucking business, I picked up an '06 Harley in Dallas on Friday for Sunday morning delivery in Palm Shores Florida. Although it didn't pay much, it covered my fuel heading east, every little bit helps.

Monday and Tuesday were spent cleaning up a few more details, loading the bikes and other stuff in the garage, the final details. Twelve hour days both, I felt like tired was a normal state. Up at 3:45 am (Central Time) Wednesday morning and headed west (again... groan). A 1000 mile day to Alexandria Louisiana, I don't care to drive I-10 ever again. Up Thursday to finish the trip, got here about 5:30 in the afternoon, wore out big time.

Friday we unloaded the bikes and the rest of the stuff, everything we own is now here... finally. Sunday we bought a new weed-whacker, I spent Monday trimming some of the grass. Margot and I picked up a bunch of loose steel panles and crap so Bryan can run his brush hog around when he finds the time in the next week or so. After that's done, the outside will look a lot better.

We'll be doing better on the updates as we make more progress. Thanks for reading!

Oh yeah, one more thing... click on the floor plans to blow them up big!

Ride safe!

This might load a little slow, be patient.

With invaluable help of TonyD, here's the proposed floor plans...

First Floor:

Second Floor:

I still haven't got the map thing figured out...

Ride safe!

Okay... so it's been a little while since I updated this place, so here's the latest.

We closed on January 11Th, I got the deed in the mail yesterday. Pretty cool, we actually own land!

We've also been trying to figure out how we want the place laid out. After a bunch of doodling, drawing and gnashing of teeth, we decided to get some professional help. Off we went to "The Plan Place", here in Palm Bay, and enlisted the help of Dan "The Plan Man" Frechette. Dan's helping us out with the layout, once we get that figured out he will be draw up complete blueprints for the whole place; layout, framing, electrical, plumbing and elevation drawings. All said and done, money well spent.

As soon as I can figure out how to convert the map and the floor plans from pdf's to jpegs, I'll add them to the blog.

We're getting closer....

Today's update

Well, the contracts are signed, the survey's done and all we have to wait for is the administrative stuff to get done. We're not going to close tomorrow, but I do have the property locked up. We'll be closing by FedEx before the year is out. I won't bore y'all with more pictures tonight. I can't figure out how to post a map on here, so I'll describe where we're at. Find Lawton Oklahoma, go north on I-44 a few miles to Elgin. Go east on Hwy 17 through Elgin and Sterling to 225th Street north, follow that a few miles to Wolf Road and turn back west. It's 1320 feet to our driveway, according to the surveyor. Unfortunately, when you find it on Google Earth the resolution is terrible.

A few more things to do tomoorw, and I am on the way back to Margot and Tazz.

In case I don't post again before Christmas, Margot, Tazz and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Clear endless skies...

Well, the weather finally broke today, endless clear blue skies and almost 50 degrees. I had to go take a few more pictures.

I will be a little busy this week, getting the property surveyed so we know where our borders are and getting a title search done. Hopefully we can close on Wednesday, so I can head back to Florida (and Margot!!) on Thursday.

So here are some of today's pictures... check in here once in a while to track our progress. You never know what I might post... haa haa haa

This is the south end of the house, the garage will be on the left side.


This will be the garage



That is Mount Scott in the backround, in the Witchita Mountains. It's about 35 miles away.

The view looking Northeast across Wolf Road

View from the gate looking Southeast at the corner of the property.

Looking Southeast from the gate. The little road goes back to open pasture land.