A Stain Upon Hick's Reputation

Nothing much happening around here. So I'll show you the stain Hick put on the back wall of Pony House. It's not a good picture. You know Hick. He takes a panoramic photo with the subject a mere dot in the middle. And this was taken too early for sunlight to reflect the true color of the stain.

 

That's just the inner part. Hick has since done the whole back wall.

 

When I get a better photo, I'll be sure to share it! The stain actually looks good. It's the color of the roof. Darker than I had imagined, from the sample The Pony sent me. The Pony likes how it turned out. The stain cost more than the paint for the rest of Pony House! In fact, Hick had to go back for more, after the amount he used in the first picture. Apparently, that wood siding is very thirsty!

Speaking of the siding Hick chose for the back of the house... it's what he calls "cedar siding." Not what I call cedar siding. His main factor in choosing it was the price. I say you get what you pay for! It was cheap, because it came in 4 x 8 sheets like plywood.

There's a new house in a subdivision on the way to Sis-Town, just past the cemetery. They've been working on it for a while. Now that it's done, I noticed that they used the same type of "cedar siding" as Hick used on Pony House. They painted theirs white. IT LOOKS TERRIBLE! That house does not seem to belong in the subdivision.

I mentioned that this house had used his style of siding. Hick said he saw it:

"It looks like crap!"

Indeed... at least the dark stain is an improvement. Once you get an accurate view of it.

The Blue-ing of Pony House and Rue-ing of Hick

Pony House is gradually taking on a new blue hue. Hick has been working by himself for a couple afternoons, because his Old Buddy helper was feeling not up to stuff. Then again, neither is Hick. More on that after the picture.

 

Such a nice fall day. Hick has managed to paint the front and half a side of Pony House. Old Buddy is the ladder man. So if he's not available the next time Hick is ready to paint, Hick will move to the other side of Pony House and do the lower half. The more I see of his handiwork, the more I love that color.

And now for Hick's near-death experience.

Hick has been complaining that the backs of his legs hurt. Bad. My opinion is that it's sore muscles from doing work he's not used to. Like painting. And working on the electricity at his SUS2 (Storage Unit Store 2). He HAS climbed a ladder while working on both tasks. Just not high, or for a long time. Also, I suggested he talk to his doctor about his cholesterol med, which I remember had a warning about muscle pain as a side effect. He finally went to the doctor today, and is going to have some tests. Anyhoo... you'd think that would affect more than just the muscles on the back of his thighs.

Anyhoo... in talking off-handedly about his doctor visit, Hick said, "And I told her how sometimes I can hardly walk, and how I thought I was going to fall down when I tried to run the other day..."

"WAIT! You were RUNNING? What in the Not-Heaven?"

"To catch my truck." The Hick got that look like OOPS on his face.

"WHAT?"

"We was out at the lake, with the trailer, loading up the vehicle I was helping my buddy move. We had it over by the pond where we used to fish, on that hill, so we could just drive his truck right up on my trailer. And we about had it on there, when MY truck started rolling away."

"WHAT? Are you too dumb to put on the brake? And have it in park?"

"It WAS, Val. But when he drove his truck up on the trailer, the back of the trailer went down. Where it was hitched, it pulled the back of MY truck up. Like a V upside down. It lifted my back wheels up. So they was the ones that had the brake on. And my truck started to roll forward. When it was all over and we wasn't hurt, it was pretty funny."

"NO! That's NOT funny! How did it stop?"

"Well, it wasn't going fast yet. I was able to yank open the door and hop in and get it stopped. My buddy was in bad shape, too, because he was sitting in HIS truck that was half on the trailer, and he couldn't get out. He said he thought I was going to fall and get run over by my own truck."

"You are such an idiot! It's like the time your tractor went in gear and you chased it through the field to stop it."

"Well. They both worked out okay."

No explanation from Hick on HOW he stopped his truck. Maybe he just steered it to where the hill made it stop rolling. I suggested that he put blocks in front of the tires next time. And he didn't even smart-mouth me.

And Now For the Outside...

Hick had been busy all summer working on Back-Creek Neighbor Bev's new old house in the middle-er of nowhere. He's about to wrap up his current projects there, since the house is now livable, and they are out of their camper in the back yard. Just when he thinks he's done, Bev comes up with another project. Hick had to tell her that he has other things to do right now, and is phasing out her renovations.

The SUS2 (Storage Unit Store 2) has the electric hooked up. Hick has been moving merchandise every evening. There is a current lull in place for a future time-sucker that will demand Hick's attention. So The Pony saw his opportunity to request paint for Pony House.

"I know Dad has been busy. But I'd really like to get some paint on the outside before the weather gets too cold. Otherwise it will have to wait until winter is over."

Hick is no slouch when it comes to starting new projects. Finishing, yes. But starting, no. He and The Pony went to lunch on Monday, and made a trip to Lowe's for paint. They were supposed to do it on Sunday afternoon, but Hick "forgot." Poor Pony. He waited all day for his dad to call. Put off a trip to Walmart and didn't eat lunch. Waiting. Waiting. It makes me want to weep for The Pony. It was probably 3:30 or 4:00 when The Pony realized he had been stood up.

Anyhoo... they bought the paint, a blue the color of The Pony's bathroom, he said. I was not sure it would look good. I'm not really a fan of blue. Gray is more to my liking for a house exterior. But I gotta admit, once I saw it actually ON the house, I think I'm becoming a fan.

 

The day was overcast, with rain in the morning. Which didn't matter much, since Hick took the power-washer over to prep the exterior. The plan was to paint the porch first, to see how it would look, and then decide if The Pony wanted the rest of the house in that color. He does. It's actually brighter than it looks here. There's Hick's Old Buddy in the act of painting. The trim will be black, like the front door. 

More to come as the project progresses. The Pony had picked out a stain for the back wall that's wood, but Hick rushed through Lowe's without looking or buying. Hopefully they'll still have some when the painting is done. Hick already has some black paint for the trim.

The Pony Will NOT Be Getting a Silk Purse, Nor Chicken Salad

Hick finished up his work on the back of Pony House this week, putting in gutters. He says the discoloration on the bottom of the walls can be cured with power-washing and a little bleach. I think the whole house-back needs to be painted white. Hick wants a stain.

"It ain't gettin' painted white."

"The back of the house should match the rest of the house."

"The Pony don't want the house white. He wants it blue-gray."

"Well. Then the back should be painted blue-gray."

"That will be up to The Pony."

Yeah. I'm pretty sure The Pony has not been a fan of the wood look. Anyhoo... Hick had some gravel poured behind the house. Partly to help with drainage, and partly because he was contemplating a concrete driveway coming in from the side street. So The Pony could have off-street parking, and not deal with the running water that forms along the front street during storms.

 

 

Hick met with a guy Friday night to show him the area, and tell him the plan. The guy said he would get back to Hick with an estimate.

"How much do you think that would cost?"

"Oh, probably around $3000, or $3500."

"I don't know if we can swing that right now. We've used up all the money allotted to Pony House."

"Pony has money. He can pay if he wants it. Or it will just raise the cost of his house that he's paying for."

Hick received the estimate on Saturday afternoon.

"It looks like we ain't gettin' a concrete driveway for The Pony! That guy wants $6500! That's crazy!"

"Yeah. I think The Pony can do with a gravel driveway. What will that cost?"

"I'll need another load of gravel. This one doesn't go all the way to the road. Maybe two more loads. The whole thing will come to around $450."

"That's a lot more reasonable. And gets The Pony off the street."

There's a saying around these parts. 'You can't make chicken salad out of chicken sh!t.' And also, more common: 'You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.'

One thing's for sure. We made The Pony a safe, livable house. Not the Taj Mahal.

The Guys Are the Window to the Goal

Hick has been working on Pony House every weekday. He is limited only by other people not showing up as promised to do their part. His buddy has been recovering from a sickness for a couple weeks now, so that can't be helped. He's there when he feels okay, and Hick says he's a good worker who needs little supervision.

Hick trimmed out the kitchen window on Thursday, while working alone.

 

Hick is a good trimmer, but he had to wait until he and his buddy got that drywall up on the kitchen wall. The living room is looking like a disaster area. Might be time for Hick to make a trip to the landfill in SilverRedO, before he needs his trailer.

I don't remember if I mentioned this at the time, but a couple weeks ago, Tree-Trimmer Guy stopped by the house to work on the remains of the pecan tree. When we last convened on this subject, the tree looked like this:

 

That was November 5. Hick had paid all but the last $1000 for the job. Tree-Trimmer Guy, there in the background, said he'd be back on the weekend, but didn't show up. I talked to his helper, there in the foreground, who also works at the Liquor Store. He said Tree-Trimmer Guy had him working in St. Louis, where he got some jobs after a storm. Helper didn't really like that, because it cost him a lot to drive his truck and trailer an hour to the city, when he could have been driving 10 minutes over to Pony House.

Anyhoo... Tree-Trimmer Guy showed up a couple weeks ago, worked about 15 minutes on WHAT Hick couldn't tell, and then said to Hick, "I think I might just say 'screw it' and forget the rest of the money." Huh. I guess a contract only works one way. Hick figured he'd let it go, and eventually find someone else to take down the rest.

However... Tree-Trimmer Guy showed up on Thursday, and told Hick he was going to rent a lift to take down those other two limbs, but he didn't have the money for a $500 deposit. So Hick paid him the final $1000. Tree-Trimmer Guy came back with the lift, and took down the big limb over Pony House. Now the pecan tree looks like this:

 

Of course Tree-Trimmer Guy never showed up on Friday. I told Hick he probably won't see him again, now that he paid all the money. Hick says that's not cool. He called Tree-Trimmer Guy, who said he'd be back to take down the rest of the tree, but didn't say when. He's in for a big surprise on Facebook regarding his "business" if he doesn't come back!

One good thing about Friday... the Furnace Guy came to install the furnace! It's in the furnace room. The ductwork is in the attic. All hooked up. Hick can run the furnace now. Furnace Guy said he'll be back next week to install the air conditioning part of the unit. Hick hasn't paid HIM anything yet!

Hick is excited to have heat, since the temps have been falling overnight to near or below freezing. Now he can put up drywall so the attic isn't open, and Pony House will be warm enough to "mud the drywall." It has to be a certain temperature to work. I think in the 60s or warmer.

The next big project is getting the plumbing done under the house. Hick's buddy will have to crawl under for that. And Hick has a guy coming with a backhoe to dig up the old sewer, so Hick can connect the Master Bathroom plumbing to it. Hick is concerned about drainage from the Bathroom 2 area. He's going to run his "fish tape" through, to see if there's a blockage, since it seems sluggish. I suggested a tree root, but Hick said it might just be a squirrel that got in there and died (like under the house), since the pipe was open for a while.

Hick's eyes light up like a kid in a candy store when he talks about Pony House.

I'm Sorry To See It Go, But Less Worried When the Wind Does Blow

The pecan tree at Pony House is almost gone! According to Hick on Friday, there's about two days of work left for Tree-Trimmer Guy's crew, which is himself and two helpers. 

 

Wow. The sky is so bright when it's not full of tree. I think this must be the limb that pointed towards the front yard. The one the kept dropping limblets on the electric line. The guy in the foreground is the "kid" who Hick sees up at his Storage Unit Store. Apparently Tree-Trimmer Guy met him in the liquor store, where they somehow got to talking about tree trimming. The Kid has a bigger trailer and heavier truck than Tree-Trimmer Guy. I don't know if the other dude is the helper or Tree-Trimmer Guy.

 

You can see the size of the logs on the ground. That trunk is going to be a monster to move. Looks like some sawdust got on the roof. Hick has paid all but the final $1000 of the agreed-upon $3250. After seeing what it takes to bring down a tree this size, I am convinced that the job was worth it.

Here's a view from the back yard:

 

Pony House still needs a lot of TLC. But at least it won't get crushed if the next tornado steers this way. I really liked that tree. Until I realized it was a potential killer.

Back to Pony House

Hick spent a couple days this week working on the back of Pony House, on the side with Bathroom 2. He stripped off the old layers of siding, put in insulation, and finished it with the vertical sheets of cedar siding that I don't really like. He still says I'll like the finished house-back. I'm not so sure.

 

Hick spent Monday stripping. Heh, heh. I actually like this old wood siding better than the new stuff Hick is using to cover it up. But I'm not the one doing the work. There used to be a window here, which won't be now. On the inside, Hick is going to put a mirror in that space. Like a framed mirror. He happened to buy two mirrors at the auction for a grand total of $2.

 

Yeah. Not a fan of this look. I would at least expect it to be painted white. 

 

That white middle section will be torn off, and it will be an open back porch, but under roof. For now, Hick is leaving it there, to use as a storage area for his tools and materials, so they're out of the way while he's working.

Thursday, Hick had a hired guy there (who works for Hick's friend, who's a general contractor), to crawl around under the house and check out the duct work and plumbing. They found rotten floor joists under the Master Bathroom, so Hick has to replace the whole floor there. Also, he will need to shore up the floor joists under the Master Bedroom, but they're not rotten.

Hick hopes to finish Bathroom 2 by Monday evening! That's what he told The Pony. I'm not so sure, but Hick says he can. Maybe he means get all the fixtures in place, not necessary finished like move-in finished, with paint and everything. He set the shower base where it's going to be, to take some measurements.

 

Hick needs to put down the sub-floor and some kind of insulation board, and then he's using the laminate flooring, which he said is the kind MEANT to be used in a bathroom, which is labeled as such by something on the back of it. In fact, he said the laminate flooring he used in his Railroad Car Shed actually came out of Back-Creek Neighbor Bev's bathroom.

 

Anyhoo... he's got the toilet there, and a vanity top here in the BARn for the sink. I think he might need a cabinet to set that on. You can see the back entryway there through the wall studs. So he needs an inner wall, and outer wall which will again be that vertical cedar siding. He's keeping that board wall, and scrubbing and painting it.

This is Hick's favorite part of the job, when he can show off a nearly-finished room, that actually looks livable. I don't expect him to be done on Monday, but for sure by the end of the week.

Saturday, the tree guy is coming to deal with the (possibly) pecan tree. A price of $3000 has been agreed upon. Next to the heating and cooling, this will probably be the biggest expense of Pony House.

Trouble in Pony House Paradise

Meanwhile, back at our money pit...

It's a good thing Hick has been saving money hand over fist in gathering supplies to repair Pony House. We've been pleasantly surprised at some of the bargains Hick has found, and discovering that the back wall did not have to be rebuilt as he had budgeted for. However...

The heating and air conditioning will need replacing. It was an item planned for, but not certain until the heating and cooling man came to give Hick an inspection.

When Hick first got the keys to Pony House, and was doing a walk-through, the next-door neighbor guy came over to meet him. Next-Door Neighbor Guy brought up the big tree that's on the edge of Pony House property. He said limbs fall on his carport roof, and that he'd be willing to give Hick some money towards tree-trimming. Specifically, he would contribute $500.

Hick thought this was a generous neighborly thing to do. After all, a neighbor is not responsible for a tree not on his property. Hick called three tree-trimmers to get estimates. As of last Friday, two had given him a quote.

One wanted $6,000. Yeah. Recharge the defibrillator! That's pretty steep for cutting up a tree! The next guy wanted $4,300. Here's a couple views of that tree, from the first set of Pony House pictures.

 

Here it is, from the side street, looking at the back of Pony House. It's a good-size tree. A pecan tree. Hangs over Pony House Bedroom 2, and over the Neighbor Guy's carport.

 

The pecan tree is fairly close to Pony House. Nice and shady, but probably over 100 years old, since the house was built in the 1920s. As I said, Hick had planned on getting it trimmed, even before Next-Door Neighbor Guy offered to contribute.

Well. While Hick was mulling the estimates, and waiting on a different guy to call him back, who supposedly has a lift high enough to trim the top... something else happened.

 

On Friday, Hick went by Pony House after his Storage Unit Store, and found a LIMB DOWN! On its way, the limb ripped the electric wire off the side of Pony House. Now Hick has to call the electric company and have them shut off power, so he won't get electrocuted when he hooks it back up.

 

I guess the Next-Door Neighbor Guy is breathing a sigh of relief that it missed his truck and his carport. Hick thinks he might even offer a little bit more when he hears the estimates. Not that he's obligated. I'm still shocked that he's offered to contribute. Bad trees make good neighbors, I guess.

Right now Hick is waiting on the third estimate. He's going to negotiate a bit, because that price is cutting down the whole tree, and removing the wood. Hick only wants the dangerous limbs trimmed. And if he has to, he can get rid of the wood another way.

It's not money we want to spend, but the goal is to make Pony House a SAFE, livable house. Not a palace. But not a death trap, either.

Hick Demolishes Basically: Pony House Back Wall

Last Thursday, Hick and his helper HOS (Hick's Oldest Son) tore off the sagging back wall of Pony House. They first had to remove the steel siding. And the other siding under that. HOS had already done some work on it, but Hick needed him to help put up the new wall covering. We'll get to that in a moment...

 

This is the back wall of the Master Bathroom. Hick used his time without HOS to put in one of his new used $20 windows. Trust me, that window is level. Hick proudly sent me a picture with the caption: "Window dead level." Even though I think it was a different window... You can see the archaeology of the siding here.

Hick and HOS tore that wooden siding off until they reached the bare bones.

 

Hey, now! Stop peeping into The Pony's bathroom!

Hick wanted an economical material to cover up the wall for now. It might stay, it might be improved upon. I'm hoping for the latter. Hick got this bright idea on our trip to the Oklahoma casinos. He saw this material on a house along curvy two-lane blacktop.

 

This is cedar siding that comes in 4 x 8 sheets. Hick bought 11 sheets of it at $33 per sheet. He said that had it painted in a grayish-white color, but it was $48 per sheet. So he got this wood version, saving $165. I am not a fan of the look, but it's growing on me. That section to the left will be torn off, and it will be the covered back porch. Out of camera range, on the left side, is the back wall of Bathroom 2. It will also have this cedar siding.

Hick says he might eventually paint it white to match the house. Or he might put white siding over it. Right now he wanted that wall closed in for the winter. Let the record show that we actually put in, on purpose, a cedar accent wall on the front porch of my white-vinyl-siding $17,000 house, and it looked nice. Although it was the horizontal plank style cedar siding, not this vertical cedar sheet siding.

I guess you'll have to see the whole back of the house when Hick is done with it, to form a proper opinion. It won't hurt my feelings if you don't like it, since I'm still not sold on the concept. We have a specific budget for renovations, and this area might have to wait for more tender fond care.