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Posted by TBUTLER, Aug 23 2010, 10:29 PM
I've been up on the roof washing and cleaning for the last few days. The experience brings to the fore one of the conflicts that plagues me. At heart, I'm a big advocate of trees. They are essential to our existence. Trees are beautiful and useful. Trees are also a nuisance.
On the good side, trees provide shade and keep our motor home cool. We're in San Andreas, California, and the forecast for the next two days are temperatures in the 100s, so I'll really appreciate the trees around us. I have many favorite memories of trees, but one of the best was in 2003 in northern California, riding my bicycle on the Redwood Highway. To ride along through a forest of these giants was inspiring. It was early morning, there was little traffic, so most of the time it was me and the trees. I've stood in awe looking up at limbs on a Sequoia that are the size of other large trees. Trees anchor the riverbanks on streams I've canoed. Trees and other plants made coal that provides much of our electricity. So what could possibly be wrong with trees?
A year ago we were parked under the tree from ****. It was early spring and the leaves were popping out. With each leaf came a few fragments of the bud packing a very sticky sap. They covered the ground, stuck to our shoes and showed up on the carpet in the motor home. Unfortunately, they also fell on the toad and on the roof of the motor home. A year later, I'm still trying to get the sap off the roof. There are a few spots that won't come off. Fortunately, a year of sunshine had dried most of the sap and it's chipping off a little at a time. I know that the trees contributed only a small amount of the dirt on the roof, but still, I hate to park under trees.
We stayed at a park in Golden, Colorado, recently. It was a park without trees. I really enjoyed the stay. The sites were side-by-side sites with about 6 feet between us and the neighboring RVs. We had large 5th wheels on either side, so they provided good shade for the morning and afternoon sun. It was life without trees and I enjoyed not worrying about what was dropping on the motor home. One afternoon I helped my brother-in-law clean the leaves and maple seeds out of his gutters.
At our current park, we cut tree branches to get into our site without scraping the paint off the motor home. Once in place we carefully located so we could put our slides out without having branches in contact with the sides and roof of the motor home. Today on the roof, removing dirt and sap, I'm ducking branches. There are two large oak trees to our west that give us some great shade in the late afternoon. We didn't park under them because we listened to the acorns dropping on the roof of RVs in those spaces last year. Tomorrow I'll tackle the air conditioners. I need to blow the leaves out of the cooling fins.
I love trees.
Posted by TBUTLER, Jul 20 2010, 02:39 PM
I've enjoyed reading a number of recent BLOGs from fellow travelers. It is good to see so many continuing stories. We each have different stories that illustrate the joy of traveling in a motor home. For our part, we have been "stuck" in one spot for two months now with just a short trip for a break. Stuck really isn't the proper word. We are at my daughter's home in Foristell, in eastern Missouri. We have attended my son's wedding, tended my mother after a fall in her home, returned to Texas for three weeks of construction on our new home and done babysitting duties at my daughter's home. Through all this our motor home has set motionless, parked, waiting for our command to roll forth on our next adventure.
Last week we spontaneously put together a week trip around the area. I called my son and we joined him his new wife and two of our grandchildren for a float trip on a central Missouri stream. They drove to Ozark Outdoors Campground Friday morning, taking a tour of Onondoga Cave on the way to the campground. We left in the late afternoon after leaving my orthopedist's office about 2:30 p.m. We arrived in the campground at dark and hooked up water and electric before hitting the sack.
Our float trip on Saturday was the first for our grandchildren and Jeff's new wife Melissa (and her two dogs). Our float trips normally occur in the spring or fall when temperatures are cooler and the crowds are smaller. This was a completely different trip. The wildlife we saw on this trip were in rafts sipping from aluminum cans of brewed beverages. It wasn't really that rowdy, just not the usual quiet trips we're used to where we see an occasional deer, a constant parade of ducks and herons, turtles, snakes and other living things.
Jeff and family left after the float trip, we elected to stay in the campground overnight and depart Sunday morning. Without television (too many trees) or Internet (too far from the interstate), we had a quiet evening and retired early for a good night's sleep. The next morning we were off to join friends near Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Tommy and Terry are friends we met at our Texas winter retreat. They farm a sizable piece of land, some owned and some rented, in a valley near Montreal, Missouri. We arrived to find our friends Bill and Laura (also friends we met at our Texas park) hooked up to full utilities and there was a similar site for us on the opposite side of the driveway!
Tommy and Terry are both serious enthusiasts of horseback riding. Tommy has been pursuing roping in the last few years and we enjoyed roping his metal "calf" in the front yard. Our friends Bill and Laura had been staying with Tommy and Terry for several days and they joined us Monday morning for a horseback ride. Tommy saddled up horses for all of us and we set out for a four hour ride. I said he was serious - horses, saddles and tack for six - no problem.
I drew a very well trained horse for the ride. Fred was probably the best horse I've ever ridden. We reached a near instant understanding, I would let Fred know what I wanted to do and he would do it, all the time giving me the illusion that I was in control. We could stop, turn, stand still to take a picture, then rejoin the rest of the riders. Fred would even back up when I wanted! We rode to a cave so large that we could ride the horses into the cave entry for at least 100 feet. We rode past several old barns from the 20's and 30's and one farm house from that era. They are now so far off the road that no one lives in or uses them. In an age past, a long stretch of rough gravel and dirt roads was no inhibition to living in a location. People were simply more self reliant, less dependent on their community for food and supplies.
We returned before an afternoon thunderstorm swept across the valley. From the vantage point of their home on a hillside overlooking the valley, the progress of the thunderstorm was an awesome sight. Then there was food, lots of food. Terry made it her mission to destroy any diets! We laughed, visited, shared pictures and generally had a good time. Terry would go to the hospital early Tuesday morning for gall bladder surgery. We would depart somewhat later on our way to the St. Louis area with our friends Bill and Laura.
In St. Louis we camped at Babler State Park near Chesterfield, Missouri. The sites are just large enough for our motor homes and we will have 50A electric to keep us cool in the very hot summer weather. Upon our arrival, Louise and I head for our "last" doctors appointment for this visit. I pass the dermatologist's inspection, no skin problems. Louise has one suspect spot on her leg and a biopsy is taken. In one moment, our visit has been extended two weeks to wait for results and possibly longer for treatment. There is one more stop at a chiropractor's office to seek treatment for Louise's stiff neck. The doctor examines Louise and takes x-rays. A follow up visit is scheduled for the next day. We return to the state park discussing our changing plans.
Wednesday, Bill and I played 18 holes of golf at a fine Gary Player golf course, Tapawingo. It was really hot and humid but we enjoyed playing golf together on a beautiful course. Louise and Laura went to the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis and enjoyed their visit. On their way home they stopped at the chiropractor to get results of the x-rays. Louise called to discuss the chiropractor's plan for two weeks of visits. Since we were staying for several weeks more anyway, this worked right into our tentative plans.
We BBQ'd steaks and played cards into the night. Thursday would be our last day together as Bill and Laura had to return home. We started the day with a trip to the chiropractor, Louise got her second treatment, noticing some improvement in her neck pain and mobility. We picked up Bill and Laura and headed for a St. Louis landmark, the Anheuser Busch Brewery. Almost 64 years old and a life-long resident of the area, I had never toured the brewery. We all enjoyed the tour. The brewery is an old structure which has been meticulously cared for. There are ornate features inside and out on many of the buildings.
From there we headed to Laclede's Landing on the currently bank full Mississippi River. In fact the river covered the cobblestone parking lots which are normally accessible along the river front. Hannigan's Restaurant served up a fine lunch and we set out to walk the grounds of the Gateway Arch. From there we visited the Old Cathedral just to the south of the Arch grounds. We had tickets for a Cardinal's baseball game and spent a little bar time downtown near the stadium before the game. We all enjoyed wonderful tickets behind home plate (a gift from a season ticket holder to my sister). We all enjoyed watching the Cardinals put runs on the scoreboard and win the first game of a series against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers.
Friday morning we depart, returning to our berth in my daughter's driveway. Bill and Laura head on to Kansas City for a visit with his brother before heading home. Once more our motor home has given us a fine adventure. Family and friends, adventures and sightseeing, and sporting events all in a single week. Louise just got word from the dermatologist that the suspect spot is benign. We will head west to Colorado as soon as her chiropractor releases her.
Posted by TBUTLER, Jul 4 2010, 11:08 AM
We've enjoyed the History Channel the last few days as they do their annual replay of US history. As we watch the programs it occurs to me that our experience traveling in the motor home for the last 9 years has given us a much closer connection to so many of the places that are mentioned on these programs.
Our understanding of any idea or concept is easier and more complete if we've had some personal experience with some part of the background or context of the idea. When it comes to history, the most important connection to make is time. As we have aged, we get a better sense of time as it relates to US history. It helps that we have lived about 25% of the US history since 1776. Somehow it makes the past a little less distant.
Another experience that helps understand history is to witness the changes that have taken place within our lifetime. To move from radio to HD TV, cell phones, twitter and e-mail is in itself a revolution. Of course, the history of RVs in our lifetime is equally as revolutionary. The difference of our lives today compared to what they would have been 60 years ago is startling. Having personal experience with this kind of change helps us understand the vastly different world in which our ancestors lived.
But the biggest experience that helps understand the history of the U.S. is having traveled, lived in and explored much of the country. We've walked Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields and toured numerous military forts and museums. We've seen the gold fields and panned for gold. We've visited railroad, auto and aviation museums. We've climbed volcanoes and rafted rivers. In short, we've explored this great country from one end to the other.
The History Channel programs continue ... buffalo, the Sioux Nation, Black Hills, more gold, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Manhattan and the modern skyscraper. Our motor home has made exploring all this possible in a way that no other means of transportation could. So today we celebrate the independence of this great country and we also salute the motor home and the independence it has given us.
Posted by TBUTLER, Jul 2 2010, 09:49 PM
There must be a message here. Perhaps we should not be setting up household but should continue to stay full time on the road! We have had no end of weather delays this spring while trying to get our manufactured home on site and ready for occupancy.
Each of three stages of concrete pour had to be delayed, some several times, due to heavy rain. Once we had concrete we had to wait several weeks for the ground to dry enough to bring in the manufactured home. Construction of an addition also has been delayed by rain. But finally after several weeks of construction we were just a few days from finishing the job. I left on Sunday the 27th to return to our motor home in Foristell, MO. It is a two day drive with an overnight along the way. I was driving the Trailblazer which is faster than the motor home but much less comfortable. By the end of the drive I was weary and also aware of the changing course of Alex, the hurricane.
Monday morning I called our contractor to ensure that all the construction materials would be removed and the missing windows and garage door would be boarded up to prevent damage to the structure. Tuesday I watched the weather and worried about everything getting done while watching the developing path of Alex. For a while it seemed as if it was headed directly for South Texas. It ended up well south in Mexico but that put South Texas on the windward side of the hurricane where the heaviest weather would occur.
Wednesday I had a doctor's appointment, routine check up. My blood pressure was a little higher than my normal good pressure. Meanwhile I was watching rain bands wind their way over South Texas, one after another.
Thursday evening we finally got a report from friends at Sandpipers letting us know the status of the weather and our home. A total of seven inches of rain fell in the vicinity of the park. There is a field that floods with heavy rain and it was once again "Lake Sandpiper." The debris on our driveway showed that the lake shore reached about half way up the sloped section of the driveway. By the time the pictures were taken, the water had receded about 4 inches.
Once the water recedes from the driveway and the road clears, perhaps by Tuesday, we'll be able to get the final windows and garage door installed. I called the supplier of the sun screens for our windows and he assured me he would replace the one which disappeared sometime during the storm. By the end of this week we may finally have a home. We can't wait to hear that the job is done. It will be October before we are able to inspect the final work and occupy our home.
Posted by TBUTLER, Jun 24 2010, 10:24 PM
I am at our new home in Edinburg, Texas. Louise is in Foristell, Mo., with the motor home. We've been meeting in the evenings via phone to catch up on the day's happenings. I was hoping to be able to tell her I would be leaving in the morning to join her, but construction continues on our home. At the end of the day when all has quieted down, I have been enjoying the evening on the porch of our manufactured home.
We have been staying at Sandpipers Resort in Edinburg for nine winters now. They call us Winter Texans and it is not a derogatory term when people here in the Rio Grande Valley call us that. We are an essential part of the economy of the valley. Every year 50,000 or so of us assemble in a wide variety of RV parks. Many people have mobile homes here in these parks. Louise and I are now among them. We figured if we're going to keep coming back here we might as well live comfortably while here. So we moved a manufactured home onto our lot in May. We've been busy turning it into a home. Weather this year has been quite wet and this has delayed much of the concrete work. Anyway, here I am, no longer a Winter Texan; I'm a Summer Texan! Boy do I know it. I can work until about 2:00 in the afternoon and then I'm shot for the day. Anything else I accomplish is a bonus.
Anyway, back to the porch. We have friends who have built porches on the front of their manufactured homes. We ordered ours with a porch. It's just 8 feet by 18 feet but it is a great place to enjoy an evening. This evening after talking to Louise I was thinking about sitting on the porch on a summer evening. I remember in my childhood, way too long ago, sitting on my grandparents' porch in the evening. We lived on the other side of town so we frequently spent an evening with my mother's parents. They lived on a farm north of Warrenton, Missouri, where I was raised. In those days, we had no idea what was happening over the horizon. The news and weather information was quite different from today. We used to see meteors, occasionally. Once in a great while we'd see an aurora.
One of the things we saw frequently in the Midwestern summer was called heat lightning. I saw heat lightning this evening. It always happened on those hot summer evenings. You could see flashes of lightning in the sky, kind of like a flash bulb (remember those?) going off somewhere behind the neighbors house. I never knew it by any other name than heat lightning.
This evening I checked the Weather Bug and the thunderstorm I was seeing was near Monterrey, Mexico. Almost 100 miles away, well beyond the distance where I would see clouds but the flashes of lightning were still visible here in Edinburg, Texas. I thought of the heat lightning of my childhood and how things had changed. Now I could look on the internet and find the exact location of that lightning I was seeing in the southwestern sky. But more than that, I realized why I enjoy sitting out on the porch and enjoying a warm summer evening. I was raised doing exactly that. What was a good experience in childhood remains satisfying in old age.
Does anyone even use the term heat lightning anymore or is that a now extinct term? There really is no such thing as heat lightning. We're really just seeing the flashes of lightning from distant thunderstorms. I think of the term as a reflection of a time when things beyond our horizon were totally out of reach. It was an innocent age, those flashes of heat lightning could have been someones severe thunderstorm but we didn't know that. Nature's fireworks, heat lightning. Get outside and watch the evening sky. If you are in the Midwest, you'll see heat lightning!
Posted by TBUTLER, Jun 16 2010, 10:49 PM
Do you have stuff? We have stuff! George Carlin used to do a routine on stuff. He had stuff, but he had another s word for other people's stuff. George was probably right, we have too much stuff. Andy Rooney, are you reading this?
Louise and I are coming in off the road. In July of 2001 we moved into a 1994 Monaco Dynasty (no slides) and we've been living on the road ever since. This fall Louise decided we needed a home, so like a good husband I set about working on the project.
We knew where we wanted to land. We had talked about it for years. We found the community -- RVers and people living in mobile and manufactured homes in deep south Texas. We were fortunate to find a place where we "fit" in to the community. It's always been a retirement community but one that is highly active. We've joined in the activities and contributed our own leadership to some of them. It is a community that thrives in the winter as flocks of northerners flee the s and c (snow and cold). Fully a third of our winter residents fly the maple leaf.
Any normal person would just look up manufactured homes on the Web, pick one and have it hauled in. Louise calls my projects "a Butler." I like to plan out every detail and get everything right. Nothing just happens, I plan it. So I've had many episodes of planning at 4 a.m. The result is that everything (well, almost everything) is going according to plan. The schedule is way out of whack, but we're getting it done.
So now we are accumulating stuff. I spent a day putting up towel bars, shower rods and other accessories. I needed a shop vac to clean up after myself. We are accumulating lawn and garden tools. I need plumbing tools that are different than RV plumbing tools. Every time I turn around, there is more stuff. Stuff we can't get by without. We're building an addition on the house for our stuff. The stuff needs shelves and closets.
When we moved all our stuff that was stored in my daughter's basement for the last nine years, it filled a 5' x 8' U-Haul trailer. Needless to say, we're up to a U-Haul truck already and there is no end in sight. It is time for you to get back into the stock market. I'm buying stuff, so somebody is making money! A lot of this stuff is Hecho en China! They make lots of cheap stuff and we love cheap! The dining set is Hecho en Malaysia! The shop vac was assembled in the U.S.! Who knows where the parts were hecho. It's a fine shop vac though, a vast improvement over the old one that I had when we last lived in a house.
So the anchor is set. We now have enough stuff to keep us tied to this location. We'll drift away briefly only to reach the end of our chain and then anchor will bring us back. We'll keep coming back to our stuff here in south Texas. Eventually we'll become feeble and we won't be able to drift away, and we'll huddle among our stuff to the end.
It was fun being without the stuff. Well, we really weren't without stuff, but we had almost all of our stuff in a motorhome. We set our schedule to suit ourselves and the people we love. We would wake up in the morning and discuss our plans for the coming weeks, throwing in thoughts about changes. We were gypsies. Now we have stuff.
Posted by TBUTLER, May 9 2010, 10:42 PM
Our house arrived on schedule and we are in the process of turning it into a home. Even when the house arrives fully constructed there is so much to be done to make it a home. I watched in fascination as the house was leveled and tied down to its foundation. Being a do-it-yourself kind of guy, I then set about hooking up the water, sewer and electric. To a specialist, these things go quickly. For me, they take somewhat longer. Not content to simply hook up water to the house, I planned a remote line to the front yard. Knowing that I will put in a tankless water heater and a solar hot water pre-heater I put in plumbing connections for a water softener to protect the water heating equipment. Each connection has its own master shut off so that any one can be shut off without turning off all the water to the house. Thus I can work on future additions without disrupting the water for showers or laundry.
Electric connections are similar. An additional panel will accommodate the power loads of the motor home and the tankless water heater. A junction box provides access to the incoming line so that when it comes time for the additional panel the work will be easier and faster. The work could have gone faster but would have taken longer in the future and would have caused greater inconvenience. This was written on May 8.
Picking up where I left off with this message, now a month later, we are living in the house. The whole process has been an extraordinary adventure. After getting the house up and running, there was a furniture delivery, then a concrete pour for a room addition. That pour like the first was delayed by the weather until I finally made the call and told the concrete contractor to go ahead a pour despite the forecast for rain. We got a two minute sprinkle just as they were finishing up the concrete. Nerves were on edge but everything turned out fine. The third and final concrete pour was for the driveway and was done while we were in Missouri for my son's wedding. True to form, it was scheduled to be done before we left but it rained again and we had to postpone. It was almost a week before the work could continue.
About the time we arrived in Missouri for the wedding my computer just about died. The tech that diagnosed it said he didn't know why it was still running. Despite that, they installed a new hard drive with about 1.5 x the capacity of the old one. They installed most of my software, just a few things I'm still working on. I got the computer back last week just in time to return to Texas.
Our return to Texas was uneventful. We rented a 5x8 foot U-Haul trailer and loaded all our possessions (other than the stuff in the motor home). We had a few things in the Trailblazer but all in all, I thought it was a pretty lean existence. Two days of hard driving and we were at Sandpipers Resort ready to go to work on the room addition.
In the meantime, my mother fell and broke a bone in her leg. At 87, she is slow to recover. Right now she is in a rehabilitation facility and we, my brother and sisters are dealing with life changing decisions for her. Some of us think her days of living alone in her home are at an end. This fall was unnoticed for about 10 hours and she was dehydrated and hypothermic when she arrived in the emergency room. I stayed in Missouri until she was safely in rehab and hope to complete work on the house before she leaves the rehab facility. It looks like I'll make it, they told her 6 to 8 weeks. Now if the rain would just stop so we could get to work on the room addition. Thunderstorms this afternoon brought a halt to all work. The forecast is the same for tomorrow.
At any rate, it is good to be back on board! The motor home is safely parked in my daughters driveway in Missouri and we are living in our stick house for the first time in almost 9 years. Can't wait to get back to the motor home! Will we hit the road at all this summer? I sure hope so but it looks like slim pickins (not the actor) this summer.
Posted by TBUTLER, Apr 30 2010, 11:01 PM
There are just four days to go until our manufactured (used to be called mobile) home is moved onto our lot at Sandpipers Resort. I guess they renamed them because they tend to be parked pretty permanently once they arrive on their home location so they really aren't that mobile. Now a motor home, that's mobile! What a funny language we have. Here in the Rio Grande Valley the mobile homes do usually move one more time. Local residents, many of them recent immigrants will buy them for pennies on the dollar when they can no longer stay in the winter Texan parks and they become home to a dozen people in what are called the Colonias. These are small communities with minimal utilities and hardly any roads that become their dream home, getting a toe hold on the good ol' USofA. It's the modern version of a "soddie."
Anyway, I'm in the process of running the utilities from the fence line through the conduit to the location where they will be hooked up to the house. Today I managed to get the water line connected and ready to hook into the house. There is a satisfaction that goes with getting everything to fit and work like it should that is hard to achieve in the more temporal occupations. I like building things. I'm not particularly talented at it, every project is a learning experience. I do love to learn!
Today Tom and Adelle stopped by to watch me work and visit. I bowled (had my best ever game, a 255) with them several years ago and really enjoyed getting to know them. Tom offered any tool (no help but any tool) I needed. Since I was working on plumbing he offered to bring me his PVC pipe cutter. I had never seen one but, OK, I'll try anything once. He brought it and it looked like a giant scissors. Well, that is exactly what is was and it cuts PVC pipe like a scissors. Wow, I never thought this was possible. For years I cut PVC pipe with a saw. So, I learned something new. There's a tool I've got to have! But, hey, I've got friends and I do have that tool!
I found that the main cut-off for our lot didn't cut-off anything, the water kept flowing so I had to shut down one whole section of the park and install a new cut off valve. Thanks to Tom's pipe cutter, I had it all done in 10 minutes. That was a snap! I don't thing anyone even knew the water was off. There are only two other couples home in that part of the park. One helped me find the main shut off valve and the other was mowing his yard right by the valve! I guess they knew. Can't get away with anything in a close community.
This evening I made a trip to town (Edinburg) to Lowe's to get supplies to keep a crew busy tomorrow. They will arrive at 7:00 a.m. to avoid the heat to the day. We'll put in a half day and by then the temperatures will be well into the 90's. That's why most everyone has headed north by this time. The park becomes a quiet ghost town. During the peak season in the winter, there will be over a hundred people at a feast. We'll be lucky to have 30 people at Cinco de Mayo. It is a quiet calm that makes the park quite enjoyable.
Tomorrow I have several members of the concrete crew (see my previous post) coming at 7:00 a.m. and we'll work on some landscaping and final preparations for the arrival of the house. Half the lawn can be roughed in and that is tomorrow's agenda. I have all the "stuff" for the day. Some conduit and gutter drains to be put under the dirt fill. I also have a shopping list for the next day! I hope Lowe's is open late tomorrow night. My project for Sunday is to get the electric run from the main panel on the fence to the point where they will hook up to our home. Bring it in and plug it in! I've done that a few hundred times!
I'm excited!
Posted by TBUTLER, Apr 26 2010, 10:51 PM
For almost a month we have been trying to get concrete poured for a manufactured home at our winter home in Edinburg, Texas. Today we finally achieved our goal. We have concrete. It is curing and we will have our home moved onto our lot next Tuesday... if the weather holds. Heavy rains could still make the move impossible but we are looking at good forecasts with temperatures in the 90's, sunshine and low humidity.
Meanwhile, we have picked out the furniture for three rooms and just went shopping for appliances. Almost as soon as the house is delivered we'll have the basics for living in the house. We won't be there long. We'll be departing for our usual summer travels as soon as we get everything set up.
I really enjoy working with the crew that did the concrete work for us. There are ten workers, all speaking fluent Spanish if not speaking only Spanish. Luis and his brother Javier are the crew leaders. Luis does all the business end of things and Javier is the crew boss. The rest of the crew speak English in varying degrees. I was talking with Luis today before the first concrete truck arrived. He mentioned the language of the workers and commented on the attitude of many people about non English speaking people. I related to him our visit to Ellis Island this summer.
One of the things that impressed me about this wonderful place was a room that had books brought by the European immigrants, some of their writings and one wall filled with ballots from many locations in the country printed in every language from Europe. Clearly, the ancestors of many if not most of us came to this country speaking a language other than English. Ellis Island should be on your list of places to visit. There are photographs of immigrants coming to America and the faces tell stories that are hard to miss. You can not look at the faces of these people and not feel compassion for them and their plight. What brave people they were and what wonderful contributions they made to this country.
Immigrants have always looked different from "us." Immigrants have almost always talked different from "us." Immigrants have consistently enriched the United States of America even though the people who came to America weren't always the best educated, most upstanding citizens. Their experience and hard work have built the great country we have today. The concrete crew that did the work for us today is an example of the kind of immigrants we've had in the past. They came to America with one plan in mind, to work hard and to give their children a better life than they have had.
I really appreciate the hard work these men did for us today and I don't care what language they speak, the language of their work is universal. They are recent immigrants to the United States of America and they are following in the footsteps of many of our ancestors. America has a bright future with hard working individuals like these men.
Posted by TBUTLER, Apr 20 2010, 06:52 PM
We have been home from the sea for just over three weeks now. I had grand plans for our return. I had outlined on my calendar the progress of work that should take place upon our return. We are in the process of putting a manufactured home on a lot at Sandpipers Resort in Edinburg, Texas. The home was ordered in December 2009 and delivered to the sales lot in late January. The lot which would be our home was occupied by another couple who had decided not to follow through on their commitment to put a house on the lot. We negotiated a takeover of the lot as soon as they were going to return to Canada rather than waiting for their contract to expire.
I had established the Monday after our return as the day for the concrete crew to show up and begin work for the concrete pad for the house. Eight o'clock came, Nine o'clock passed and still no crew. I called the contractor who was on another job and would be on our job Wednesday. Oh, well, I went shopping for a few supplies we needed and rewired the electrical outlet from a 240V 50A motor home box to a quad 120V 20A outlet box. I was now ready to operate any power equipment.
Shortly before noon on Wednesday the contractor showed up with equipment. Our first task was to do some digging to relocate a sewer connection to a more convenient place for the manufactured home. That turned into an epic adventure, exposing problems that would have haunted us for some time related to the plumbing. We dug and dug, some with the backhoe and some by hand. With the guidance and assistance of my friend Bill Fejfar (pipewrenchgrip) the main sewer line was replaced and connections for the home were installed. Bill was a plumbing contractor for many years and his knowledge was invaluable to me. Then we spent a day installing the feed lines to the sewer and another day putting in the sleeves for the electric and water. Finally, the connections were all in place and it was the weekend. The next week the crew began work on the lot in earnest. Being environmentally and engineering aware, I had the topsoil removed to be replaced with consolidated fill material which in south Texas is called caliche, a weatherd degraded limestone. We got some fine grained material and that was packed firmly in place and leveled by machine and then finally graded by hand. Forms were put in place and steel reinforcement added to reinforce and strengthen the concrete. By Friday afternoon I was on the phone with the dealer for the home requesting the tie down anchors be put in place in preparation for pouring concrete.
Monday arrived and the forecast was for rain so no concrete would be poured. It did however pour rain, almost three inches. Louise and I went furniture shopping. We spent the day and found basic furniture for three of the rooms in the home. We set a delivery date for May 6 and congratulated ourselves for finding a good sale and furniture we liked. When we got home I inspected the forms and my heart fell. The rain had been so heavy that the caliche had washed into the footings and there was water standing in the forms. This would cause a major delay. Tuesday came and it rained another inch or more. More of the caliche slumped into the footings and water was standing almost a foot deep in the footings. This was disaster. We had a little more rain on Wednesday, then clear, warm breezy days for the rest of the week until Saturday night when we got another set of thunderstorms and an additional inch of rain.
Monday I played golf. It rained Monday night. Today I played tennis until we got rained out. The forecast for the rest of the week is for partly cloudy to sunny skies and very little chance of rain. The crew showed up this morning to remove the iron and the forms in preparation for starting over with the grading, packing, forming and returning the steel to the forms. Meanwhile my son gave me a suggestion for getting the concrete trucks onto the soggy lot without getting them stuck. He is an engineer and worked for the electric company and the highway department. With luck, we might pour concrete by the weekend. I hope. My patience is wearing thin...
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on Trees: Love 'em, Hate 'em