Rest for the Weary

If you’ve read the previous blogs in my remodeling series, you know we’ve been working on a fixer upper since last October.  We originally planned to spend at least a year or more, getting it to the point it is in today.  Things jumped into the fast lane in January, when our son, Stephen, announced that he and his fiancee, Liz, had decided to have their wedding at the Cullman house.  Not only that, the wedding would take place on May 31st, only 4 months away!  I think everyone panicked except me.  I thought we had plenty of time to get everything done.  I was, of course, wrong!

It was planned as an outdoor wedding so there was quite a bit of pressure to get the yard right.  By “right”, I mean tolerable.  The lawn had been badly neglected so I knew there wouldn’t be lush green grass for everyone to walk on.  I made a valiant effort in sowing a 50 lb. bag of seed over two acres for four weekends in a row, but it just didn’t happen.  The temperatures stayed cooler for longer this spring and there were heavy rains after every seeding.  Seeds float well, so I have some beautiful grass coming up on the lower end of the property.

I ended up lowering my target to removing all the honeysuckle, poison ivy, and tree stumps to avoid trips and rashes.  We accomplished that goal pretty well but it was still a lot of work.  We put up an arbor under a tall sycamore tree which just happened to have a climbing rose-bush that had miraculously survived the overgrowth purge.  I found the arbor to be an amazing “female magnet”.  As the guys worked on the house or yard, you could quite often look down at the arbor and see a group of ladies discussing how to decorate it.  Countless hours seemed to go into that process for a fifteen minute ceremony.  Another thing I noticed as the ladies worked on the arbor, the most minute changes or additions had to “sit” and wait a period of time for approval.   The arbor came together beautifully for the wedding, but was only finished the day before!

  

It was really the first time the house had “guests” so we had list after list of small things to get done.  Things like putting door knobs on bathroom doors, placing light fixtures in multiple rooms, painting walls, putting baseboards down, etc.  We even cleaned and painted the two car garage as a backup just in case of bad weather.  In the end, we pulled it off with only a slight case of exhaustion.  We even coined the time change of “A.W.”  Next May will be year 1 A.W. (After Wedding).  If you would like to see a short video summary of the wedding, click here!

Judy and I have taken these past two weeks trying to rest and recuperate.  It’s difficult to adjust to the “empty nest” lifestyle but I’m quickly getting the hang of it.  I do know we have a spare bedroom that is the cleanest I’ve seen it in years!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the work and wedding.  The list is long and I’ll not name anyone for fear of forgetting even one.  But from the bottom of our hearts, Judy and I appreciate all the help.  For all you other empty nesters out there, “Let’s party!”

Thanks for stopping by!

Need a Good Plumber?

I’ve never been much of a plumber.  I can do the simple stuff but usually have to do it twice due to leaks.  Plumbing is just one of those jobs where you need someone who has the tools and the talent to get the job done.  Sadly, some plumbers are driving BMW’s because of overcharging their customers.  Don’t you just hate to see those news clips where they remove a spark plug wire from a car and take it to a mechanic to get it fixed.  Hidden cameras then reveal their outright lies on what parts the car needs and the outrageous cost.  It may surprise you that there are ethically challenged plumbers who do the same thing.  I think it is a reflection of removing Christian teaching from society.  Truth just isn’t important to most, especially where financial opportunity exists.

About the same time we were getting estimates on our roof, I called nine different plumbers from “Angie’s List” for what I considered a small job.  We needed a water heater replaced and moved about ten feet to a new utility room I planned to remodel.  The washer and dryer connections would be moved as well.  Of all those called, only one called and set up an appointment for an estimate.  I won’t mention any names here, but only call him “Mr. Plummer”.  He came out and crawled under the house, looked at what needed to be done and gave me the following report; Your toilet in the rear bathroom is a mess, it needs to be reworked too.  The washing machine drain is tied into the septic system, we can redo that and give it a separate drain out the side of the house.  You can call when you’re ready to have that done.  For just the work here, it’ll be about $2000.00.  But that’s only if you make a new opening on this side so I don’t have to crawl so far.

I gave him a Dr. Pepper and we talked about it for a while.  In that conversation he said he wanted to begin working more in the Birmingham area because city people just pay more for work done at their houses.  He said the country folks here just won’t pay it.  I thanked him for coming and determined that after he left, I’d crawl under the house and investigate my plumbing “problems”.

I carried my camera with me and took numerous pictures of the pipes and bathroom drains.  I noticed immediately that the washing machine drain went in the opposite direction of the septic tank.  That alone was enough for me to forget that estimate. After taking it over with my wife, we decided to put off the plumbing job till later.  We could manage without it till our money supply got a little better.  I guessed that he was very high on his estimate, but I didn’t know just how high at the time.

Fast forward four months, I started calling plumbers again.  I had one to tell me that he was just too busy and to call somebody else or call back in the fall.  Another said he didn’t want to come out to look at it, but would just say it would cost between $500.00 and $900.00.  My last call was to Bark-ley plumbing in downtown Cullman.  Brady and Tim were at the house within a couple of hours.  I explained what we needed and brought out my pictures of the pipes in the crawl space.  I asked if he saw anything under the bathroom that needed attention, and the answer was “no”.  Tim still crawled underneath and looked at everything taking a few more pictures with his phone.  The estimate was $200.00 for materials and $600.00 for labor.  Brady also said he would try to beat that price if he could. We set the appointment up for a week away since I still had to raise the floor about two feet.  Water heaters don’t hang well in mid-air.  I wanted to do a good job on the floor but it would still be somewhat temporary, since I have to remove the outside siding, re-insulate, and rewire the entire room.  We were just tired of not having hot water, along with all the upcoming activities.  I’ll blog about those maybe next week.

Tuesday morning, Brady, Tim, Matt, and Nick showed up at 8:30 ready to go to work.  It’s unusual to see two plumbers let alone four.  I was suddenly seeing $$ signs.  Brady and Tim just showed the other two what needed to be done and turned them loose on it.  They worked all morning and finished by early afternoon.  I was impressed with the work that Matt and Nick did and they were able to answer all my questions.  I meant to take some pictures while they were under the house but had too much going on.  Hope the following will suffice…

And last but not least, let me add a picture of Matt and Nick.

The final bill ended up being $750.00, which was great in comparison with my first estimate.  If you need a good plumbing contractor, I would definitely recommend Bark-Ley!

Clearing the Land

There are a variety of ways to clear land but it really boils down to two.  You can hire it done by spending a lot of money, or you can “do it yourself”.  The DIY method involves hard work, long days, and sore muscles.  It is much cheaper but takes longer.  We choose the latter method and spent about three months working each weekend to make the place “presentable”.

My plan was to work outward from both structures, the house and detached garage.  We would cut the heavier timber with my chainsaw and the little stuff with loppers.  Matt, our oldest, preferred the axe method and cut many the old fashioned way.  I took a few swings and decided to stick with the saw.

Where feasible, I burned off the ground debris afterward.  We put all the heavy stuff in burn piles for disposal.  Those became somewhat numerous because of my caution to burn them.

I would only burn when it had rained or was about to rain.  I had no desire to meet the volunteer fire department while uncontrollable flames were in the area.  Both sides of our acreage are covered with pines and therefore, pine straw.  It burns very fast and very hot, and being a former firefighter myself, I was aware of the dangers.  None of the fires got away from us, but I’m sure the neighbors were annoyed from the smoke.

We kidded everyone that our work days were from sunup to sundown and that was usually the truth.  When the sun set, we stopped for lack of light and literally “crashed” because we were so tired.

We finally reached the point where I needed someone with a tractor and bush hog for the final cleanup, since I had neither.  I sold my tractor and all the attachments when we moved to Birmingham, so I needed to hire someone to mow.  I searched Angie’s list, the Internet, and asked the locals.  One business kept popping up and it was “Man With A Tractor“.  Intrigued, I sent a text to the number saying I needed about three acres mowed.  In about ten minutes, Allen called me with an estimate and the day he could be there.  That’s the way I like to do business!

He did a great job mowing and even relocated a large pile of rocks with the front end loader, to the rear of the property.  I was planning to move those with a pickup truck, so it was a big help!

I would suggest that if you need mowing or clearing done in North Alabama, Allen is your man.  You can contact him at 256-653-1145.

Ready for a New Metal Roof

After purchasing our “fixer upper” home in Cullman, we hit the ground running.  During the first week it was ours, we had two big oak trees, which hung over the roof, removed.  We called about ten different roof installers to get estimates on a new metal roof. Two of them even came on the day that the trees were being cut down. Neither seemed to mind climbing the ladder to get their measurements while work was going on around them.

We decided on a metal roof over a shingled one based on longevity and looks. I knew it would cost about two to three times more but felt like it was worth the additional money. I scoured the Internet for installation information and felt I had a pretty good grasp of what I wanted in a roofer. I wasn’t fully aware of how much it would be but budgeted ten thousand for the project.

The first estimate was a really good one, coming in at $7,000.00 but didn’t include full tear off of the existing shingles and only partial sheathing repairs that needed to be made. The additional carpentry work and shingle removal was a disappointment for me, from most of those who came by. One told me the tear off raised the estimate $2,000.00 and very few had, what I felt, a good grasp on what needed to be done to fix the previous roof damage. Let’s face it, contractors are in the business to make fast money and move on to the next job. In this day and age, “customer care” isn’t high on their agenda.  When business is plentiful, some will even drop you for a bigger and better job and never call back!

It took about three days to get all the estimates and they ranged from a low of $7,000.00 to a high of $18,000.00, from Miller Roofing of Jasper, Alabama.  I mentioned the name of the last just because it was ridiculously high and he knew it.  He was pushing me for a shingled roof at a price close to what I was going to get a metal roof for.  I thanked him for coming and threw away the estimate.  Judy and I sat down and went over everyone’s opinion of what it was going to cost and the pros and cons of each.   We narrowed it down to two, the lowest estimate by Dale Howell Home Renovations and Terry Phillips of Phillips Roofing.  Dale’s didn’t include a complete tear off and Terry’s did.  I felt that was important, so we could find unforeseen roof problems.  Terry’s estimate was a little different too, it was $10,000 for the roof and we pay the wages & material for his carpenter to make the additional roof repairs.  He would also install a heavier gauge metal than the other roofers promised.  Since I was unsure of what the final bill would end up being, he promised to keep it as close to the estimate as he could and to keep me advised of the progress and how the cost was going.  He agreed to take the job and said they could start in two weeks.  I think there was a weather delay so the actual work started about two and a half weeks later.

We chose a charcoal metal roof because we halfway planned to paint the house ivory sometime in the future.  I discovered later that the color isn’t as important as I thought it would be.  The light from the sky, whether sunny or cloudy can sometimes makes it seem to be a lighter color anyway.  Another fallacy was that rain would be loud, it isn’t.  That story probably came from hearing rain on a tin roof, in an uninsulated barn.

Terry, true to his word, called often to advise me of what he had discovered and things that needed to be corrected.  They fixed two holes in the roof, one was pretty major, and corrected a valley with an improper slant.  In the end, we were extremely pleased with the results, especially with the final bill being only $1500.00 higher, even with the additional repairs.

About a month later, I discovered a small leak after a rain, under the carport.  I called Terry and he came by that afternoon and found a “boot” around one of the pipes needed a little more caulk.  It hasn’t leaked since.  That is pretty good service.  If your planning on a new roof, I would definitely recommend Phillips Roofing!

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The Large Oak Trees Have To Go

If you have a house that needs a lot of work, prioritization is key.  It has to be a ‘first things first’ operation.  After assessing everything we had to do, the top priority was the roof.  Nothing ruins a house faster than water damage and we had several locations needing attention.

We decided to put a metal roof on as a replacement for the existing shingled one.  That episode will be my next blog.  However, you’ll find with old houses, that before you do the thing you plan to, something else has to be done first.  So, we moved the roof down to number two on our list and decided that we needed tree cutters first.

Our new home had two towering oak trees which hung over the roof.  One of the large holes in the porch actually came from a falling oak limb.  They had to go.  Besides the fact that I’m fearful of falling trees from a storm, I certainly didn’t want the new roof damaged after such a huge expenditure.

We called Michael’s Tree Service in Cullman.  After looking them both over we agreed on a price for one and a half trees to be removed.  The second tree was split with half over the house and the other half toward the front yard.  They agreed to take down the house half and I would cut the other at my leisure.

The crew showed up at 8:00 A.M. the next morning with all the required equipment.  They cut a road to the work area, just to get their bucket truck in.

They did a great job and didn’t drop a single large piece on the house.  This was one of those jobs guys like to watch, so I have a series of photos as the trees got smaller and smaller.  If you have a tree cut, take before and after pictures.  It’s amazing how fast we tend to forget how things were.  It’s nice to look back and see how much has changed.

The crew even hauled off the logs and debris.  I was pretty impressed that the entire job only took about six hours.

The takeaway from this is twofold.  One, if you’ve got a small oak tree growing beside your house, cut it down now.  The longer you wait, the more it will cost.  If you want a large tree, plant it far enough away that the home wouldn’t be damaged if it fell.  Second,  if you need tree work done, I would recommend Michael’s.  They did a good job, safely, and cleaned up the mess.

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  Romans 4:4

Our Remodeling Adventure Begins

My wife and I decided to purchase an older home and remodel it.  Our money was somewhat limited and we also wanted at least five acres.  That made our search difficult but not impossible.  I firmly believe in divine help and  know that God assisted us.

In the early eighties we purchased a house that was built about 1940 and worked on it several years before selling and moving to the Birmingham area.  I know how physical the work can be but I also know how elbow grease works.  All houses need attention, older ones are like the elderly, they go downhill quicker through neglect and abuse.

As previously stated in ‘Changes and More Changes’, the house we purchased was badly neglected. When parked in the driveway, heavy growth of hedge, poison ivy, pine trees, and briars hid most of the house.  That probably worked to our advantage because even the realtor wasn’t excited about showing it.  Most people looked at the cosmetic damage and decided to pass on it.

Here is the view from the front porch…

There was roof damage from two large oaks that hung over it and had lost limbs at times.

But just because something or someone is old and damaged, it doesn’t mean there isn’t value or that the value can’t be wildly improved upon.  Perception isn’t always reality.  You have to look deeper to what strengths are there.  I always think of the Rocky movies for great comebacks.  Just because everyone thinks your down and out, doesn’t make it so.

So we decided this was the one.  We would nurture it back to health and it would return that attention by being a good home!

“I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”  Jeremiah 29:11 MSG

Changes and More Changes

Hi, I’m an AT&T employee and much of what you’ll read here is my opinion.

The last year has been tough at work.  I’ve battled frustration, depression, and anxiety.  Last April, my Father-in-Law suffered stroke like symptoms during the night and was taken to the hospital in Gadsden, Alabama.  They processed him through emergency and placed him in a room, where, he coded a short time later.  Hospital staff were able to revive him and over the next couple of weeks were able to stabilize his condition.  He did two stints in the cardiac care unit before finally being dismissed to a rehab facility.  He is much better now, but that started an episode of several months traveling to Gadsden to assist my Mother-in-Law as she became his primary care giver. 

Our family helped out in any way we could and we still drive down every other week to take care of their yard work.  Judy and Stephen have born the brunt of all the mowing and raking but a couple of weekends we even called in extended family for extra hands.

All that helped me to begin thinking that my problems at work needed solving.  Life is too short to be miserable.  

Being locked in to a supervisor that I considered a bully, was ruining my normally happy disposition.  I couldn’t transfer anywhere due to undeserved personnel entries.  You can read about those in earlier blogs.  My thirty-five year anniversary was in June and the company donates $200.00 toward a meal for a celebration.  I refused to have one, since I believed it would be hypocritical for the manager to present any award at any party.  It was my decision and I’m still happy with it.

I spent July through August mulling over how I could afford to retire.  The numbers just weren’t there and I was too young anyway. The problem of what I considered harassment and bullying at work wasn’t going away, so through prayer and talking it over with my wife, we came up with a solution.  I decided 2014 would be my last year at AT&T.  We would look for a new home, a “fixer upper” in a rural area.  We would spend six months to a year remodeling, retire if the situation didn’t improve, and relocate there.

We decided our hunt would center around the Cullman, Alabama area due to it’s central location to the children, grandchildren, and Judy’s parents.  From the time we made that decision, an amazing series of events took place and we had a second home in about thirty days.  By the end of October, 2013, we were spending every weekend giving an old home life support.

The house had been owned by an elderly gentleman with medical problems.  He was unable to take good care of it for quite some time and had moved away to Memphis six months earlier.  “Fixer upper” doesn’t really tell the whole story.  I’ll do that over the next series of blogs and show you some pictures, along with some good stories of problems we’ve encountered.

Getting back to the work update, I was changed over to the “NIBS” group in February in a company reorganization. My work responsibilities changed from working on mostly “pots” (plain old telephone service) to Uverse repair with some outside plant routine work.  It was a good change except for the scheduled hours that go with it, 9AM-6PM. 

About a month later, I arrived at work, turned on my computer and got the “time for a new password” message.  I sat there a minute and thought, “I need relief”.  I typed “relief” and added a couple of special characters to it.  Not a minute later, my manager walked in and announced he was moving to a new job.  It reminded me of the Jerry Clower story, “just shoot up here amongst us, one of us got to have some relief”.  He called me on his last day to say all the entries in my personnel file were gone and that I was free to go.  I could write a whole blog from that last sentence but it would challenge my Christianity, so I’ll let it go…

Our group currently has a “relieving” supervisor.  I’ve still got a transfer request to Cullman pending, just in case an opening for a facility technician becomes available.  I now have a linkedIn account and have the idea that some company in Cullman needs an awesome employee.