Here We Go Again With Hick's Buddy System

Everybody is an expert, you know, when it comes to giving advice on what is best for presenting the Beauty Shop half of the Double Hovel flip house(s) for sale. Everybody except VAL!

"My buddy says that we should leave the front and side like that, so the realtor can ask the buyer what color they want it painted."

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard! It will discourage more people from looking at it. THEN you will be doing the painting for free for a prospective buyer, after they've made an offer."

"No. They will like that they can get it the color they want."

"But all the other people who drive by to look, or see it in the pictures from the realtor, will think it looks like an unfinished flip, with plywood on the outside to patch up something wrong."

"It's NOT PLYWOOD! It's cedar siding! They sell it everywhere! Lowe's, Menards. Everywhere!"

"The average person driving by will only see it and think plywood. Only flippers like you, who want to save a buck, will know that it's "cedar siding." There's a house on the road over by Walmart with that "siding." I've told you from the first time I saw it that it looked like crap! CHEAP! And they even have the whole house painted white. But since I saw it before painting, I know what it is. And I can see the pattern. It does not fit in with all the other houses in that subdivision. It looks cheap."

"Well, it's siding. Not plywood. Everybody else knows that but you."

"You are going to cost us money by insisting on this "cedar siding." It does not look good. It will scare away prospective buyers."

"That's why I'm going to ask the realtor about it this week."

Yeah. We'll see. Last I heard, Hick was going to contact the realtor on Friday. He's got a few projects that need completion before getting pictures of the Beauty Shop efficiency cottage out for prospective buyers to see.

The Pony Receives Acknowledgement For Suffering

Saturday, I got a text from The Pony shortly after noon.

"I've hit mile 4 of my walking today. I've just realized what I forgot this morning. My ibuprofen."

"Aww. By the time I could get to town, you'd be almost done. Or I'd try to bring you some."

"Yeah. I'm just complaining. A nice business might hopefully have some."

"It doesn't hurt to ask."

Fifteen minutes later, a follow-up:

"They had some. Wooo!"

You see, The Pony isn't asking for free drinks or food for delivering their mail. Only if somebody could spare an ibuprofen to soothe his recently-sprained ankle.

At 2:08, I got another Pony text:

"Ladybug landed on my arm while I was thinking about how bad this day is with the ankle pain."

"Aww. Grandma is soothing you."

Then at 3:29, a picture:

Can't pretend I'm not jealous. I haven't seen ladybugs of any kind for a long, long time. 

The Pony needs them more than I do. 

Another Day of Unfortunate Events For The Pony

Thursday was not a good work day for The Pony. Apparently, he had sent texts to Hick, choosing to spare me the details, lest I go apoplectic with worry. When The Pony clocked out, he sent a text that I could call after he had time to shower and order food.

Seems that The Pony's Metris (the mini van that has air conditioning, unlike the LLVs (Long Live Vehicles) had been commandeered that morning to give to a regular with more seniority. The Pony did not begrudge this usurption. After all, seniority is king in a government job.

"She had been having trouble with her Metris. And she has a route that is mostly driving. Mine is mostly walking. So I understand. It was more of a problem for her to use that Metris than for me."

Well. The Pony had an issue with the door not opening. It got stuck. Meaning The Pony could not get back into the Metris. He had to call the office so they could send out Maintenance to fix the door. Meanwhile, in the 110-degree heat index, The Pony had to sit on the back of the van and wait. No way to get in, because there's a cage between the mail-hauling section, and the driving section.

Also, the window didn't go down on the driver's door, and the back door wouldn't lock, to secure the mail.

THEN, The Pony noticed a problem with a tire. So he sent a picture to Hick.

"Like, this is to replace a tire kind of thing, right?"

Of course, Hick did not bother to reply. Though he said later that it looked like the tire had been run into a curb, and that if it was that bad, the tire would have been flat. The Pony, not hearing from Hick, opted to continue on his route, though going slower, hoping he didn't have a blow-out from the tire. Not wanting to wait in the heat for a mechanic to come change it, delaying his route even more.

Oh, and because The Pony was behind after waiting for the driver's door to be fixed, a portion of his mail had been given to another carrier, but that carrier had to go to the ER because of heat injury, so 3/4 of that mail came back to The Pony. Not that he begrudged that carrier medical treatment. At least that was one thing The Pony escaped that day.

Anyhoo... The Universe owes The Pony some good luck for a change. 

The Universe Seems to Have an Insatiable Thirst for Pony Ankles

The Pony sent me a text and some pictures from work on Tuesday.

"I keep getting extremely lucky to not break the ankle! This thing flipping over under my foot yesterday."

"It's a utility/water hole cover."

"And now this one!"

"See the problem?"

"Yikes! To the first one!"

"How about now?"

"That's treacherous!"

"This town is getting ridiculous with all of them!"

The Pony must remain ever-vigilant to survive the trail day after day.

Three Is the Unfairest Number

In the continuing saga of The Little Efficiency Cottage That Could (make Val crazy), Hick has finished putting plywood "cedar siding" on the side where he took out a window, and also on the front, where he said the siding "had some holes in it."

As you surely recall, Val wishes for the whole structure to be one color: white. It only seems right that all four walls of a house should match. However, the monkey wrench in this equation is that The Pony is an equal partner in this venture, financially. Still, that only gives him 1/3 voice in decisions. Usually, The Pony and I agree on matters such as a stove instead of a cooktop, and making this structure a house instead of a garage. That's our common sense gene, which is sometimes questionable in Hick's DNA.

I fear that The Pony has inherited Hick's aesthetic (non)sensibilities. Wednesday, The Pony said he likes the idea of a STAIN applied to those two "cedar siding" walls!!!

Here's the latest picture of the Beauty Shop half of the Double Hovel flip house(s).

"I still think Dad should paint it all white."

"I'm not sure. I personally lean toward a stain like on my back wall, but to be honest, I just like dark colors."

"I think they all should match."

"I feel like this would be decent on it."

Heh, heh! That's a picture of The Pony's back wall! You may recall that I was against that as well, but since The Pony is paying for his house, it wasn't my place to make that decision.

Anyhoo, there's a chance I could be outvoted on my white paint demand! Fair is fair. Majority rules on this project.

Meanwhile, Hick is planning to finish painting on the interior Thursday, get two bar stools to put at the kitchen bar, install the dryer next to the washer in the utility closet in the bedroom, and call a realtor on Friday. 

The end is in sight!

The Way Out of Val's Dog House Is Through Her Stomach

Hick might just have redeemed himself for ridiculing Val's views on his butchery of the exterior of the Beauty Shop half of the Double Hovel flip house. 

I was perusing the menu Hick brought home from the Senior Center. On Tuesday, they were having

Pulled Pork

Slaw

Tater Babies

Bun

Wedding Cake OR Fruit

"I think I might like you to bring me home a Senior Center lunch for supper."

"Yeah. I just have to call ahead to let them know."

Well. Hick came home with two plastic bags of styrofoam containers. Carrying them all willy-nilly, like a burro loaded for a trip down into the Grand Canyon. Seems Hick also brought himself another lunch for his own supper, even though I was planning to cook something for him. I guess that conveys his opinion of my cooking.

Anyhoo, Hick swore he drove straight home from the Senior Center. I had ordered suggested that he store my lunch/supper in a refrigerator at the flip house before coming home. He usually shows up around 5:00. But on Tuesday, it was 1:00.

A meal costs $4.00 at the Senior Center now. It used to be $3.00. Anyhoo... I took out one of the bags to look inside. The dessert puzzled me.

Well. That did NOT look like any wedding cake I have ever seen! So I looked in the little dessert container for the other lunch/supper.

That was unfortunate! This one looked even worse! I decided that I did not want dessert. (Hick later said  it was some kind of pumpkin dessert.) I checked the lunch/supper container.

Ooh! That was a lot of slaw! In fact, it had leaked out of the container and into the bag while Hick was toting it. I cleaned up the mess, and decided that this must be the container for me!

When I got home from town, Hick was out back working on POOLIO's filter. I told him I set out the container I wanted, due to the slaw.

"Is it creamy slaw? Or the other kind?"

"Looks creamy to me. White juice that leaked out of the container."

"Okay. Because the other kind was a vinegar kind. I don't like that at all! In fact, I don't even want any slaw. Or the tater tots. I just want the sandwich."

"I'll look in the other container to see what kind of slaw. I like the white kind."

Jackpot!!! MORE slaw! Since Hick only wanted the sandwich, I put half the slaw, and half the tater tots into containers for Wednesday. In fact, Hick took some of the pulled pork off his sandwich for me to save, and I did the same with mine. Seems that while eating his first lunch at the Senior Center, an old lady asked Hick if he wanted half her sandwich. He did! So I can understand why he was kind of full for supper. But he still had room for a dessert.

Anyhoo... this was a step towards smoothing Val's ruffled feathers over the Beauty Shop debacle. Hick SAYS he will paint those walls white. And that he has plans for a rock garden out front.

We'll see. Friday's Senior Center lunch sounds tempting...

Just When You Thought It Was Bad Enough

Never underestimate Hick when I comes to bad choices. Oh, he's good with construction knowledge. But aesthetics are his downfall. 

Monday morning, I got a text that elevated my concern for the resale value of the Beauty Shop half of the Double Hovel flip house.

"Sideing [Hick's spelling, not mine] on front corner. We can figure out color when I have it all on"

WAIT A MINUTE!!! ALL ON??? How much more can Hick lower the value on this property?

"What was wrong with the other siding on the front?"

"It had some holes in it"

Huh. That's news to me! I thought it was fine.

Now we are looking at TWO sides of that little "efficiency cottage" having different siding from the others. I doubt Hick would have gone to this trouble if he just left it as a garage. But drawing attention to an exterior that is not the same for all four sides does not bode well for the asking price. Says Val, an expert in real estate value...

Please, PLEASE let Hick listen to reason for painting that "cedar siding" white, like the rest of that little efficiency cottage!

It boggles my mind to put all this work and money into such a property, and then cut corners at the end, just for Hick's ego.