Hick House Downstairs: Bathroom 04-13-19

The bathroom of Hick House is slowly coming together. HOS (Hick's Oldest Son) has been laying out the plumbing, but it's not hooked up yet. HOS also installed the sink, and cleaned up the other fixtures. At his own pace, of course. He's also been hanging siding on the outside.

Let's remember that the bathroom was originally just a room. Four walls. Actually three walls, I think, because Hick closed in a fourth one, to make a hallway between the bathroom and the kitchen.

After painting the bathroom a light green, and staining the wood floor a darker color, HOS turned his attention to the tub. Not the shower, as you can plainly see, using it as a catchall for junk. The toilet is one that Hick used to have on the second floor of his BARn. The lid has a damaged corner, because some squirrels got in the BARn, and knocked something off a shelf that hit the toilet lid and chipped chunk out of it. Still usable, though, for a $5000 house, and FREE.

Hick thought he might have another toilet, because his Storage Unit buddy called him Friday night, saying he had a toilet he'd taken out of his rental house. And it was green! Hick said not to throw it away, that he'd look at it. Unfortunately, the green was a shade too different from the walls. Besides, the buddy had not brought the lid! He said it was in his rental house somewhere, and that he'd find it eventually. Hick told him not to bother, because of the color difference. He put the green toilet in SilverRedO, but he says he's going to take it to the landfill.


Anyhoo... HOS got that tub cleaned up real nice, and added the faucet. It's awaiting the plumbing before being closed in. Hick actually had to add a panel against the wall, because he had to move the tub out so there would be room for the plumbing for the faucet.

You can see the sink that HOS installed, and a smaller medicine cabinet. Here's a better view, with the lights.

Also, you can see Hick's ill-fated light switch behind the door. This is an older style sink, which was in better shape than a stained, more modern one that Hick also had. I really like the light fixture. Not sure where it came from. The floor will still need baseboard trim when they're finished with everything else.

Opposite the sink is the alcove for HOS's stackable washer and dryer. And the other switch Hick installed that turns on the ceiling light/exhaust fan.

Two days later, HOS had cleaned up the shower. They'll be using a rod and shower curtain on it, unless Hick finds doors for it at the hardware resale store or elsewhere. Can't always come up with luxuries for a $5000 house with a $2500 budget.

I'm not sure what the next Hick House update will be, but I'll try to have something by the end of the week.

It's No COINcidence That Val Gathered More Pennyillionaire Funds This Week

Val's Future Pennyillionaire train keeps chugging on down the track. TOOT TOOT! Don't be laying any pennies on the track, you wannabee ruffians. That's dangerous.

On MONDAY, April 8, I found a two-fer at the Backroads Casey's. Two pennies for one sighting! Can't beat that with a stick!

Looking at that candy rack makes me want some of that Juicy Fruit gum! There by the empty space, in the yellow bag. I've never seen it in those little squares like Chiclets. Only in the yellow pack, each stick individually wrapped in foil.

It was a heads-up 2007, and a face-down 1984.
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On THURSDAY, April 11, my schedule was thrown off by a trip to the city to cash in my $1000 scratcher winner. It was after 4:00 when I got to town for my 44 oz Diet Coke. I'd thought about not getting one so late, but Val is a creature of habit, and loves her magical elixir. The minute I stepped out of T-Hoe, I knew I was meant to be there at that place and time.

I parked over by the moat that divides the parking lot of The Gas Station Chicken Store and the parking lot of Hick's pharmacy. Had I parked a few inches farther back, or to the left, I would not have been able to find the nickel rightfully meant for me. I doubt it was there during my usual noon-time Diet Coke run.

It was a 2013 nickel, heads-up. Hard to tell the date, because the rough blacktop had gouged out part of the date. Poor Thomas Jefferson had a big scar across his head, too. I imagine he'd been run over and flipped face-up before I found him.
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FRIDAY, April 12, I discovered a penny waiting for me in the Sis-Town Casey's, when I went in to pay for gas. Don't tell me to pay at the pump! There's been a rash of credit card fraud around here, from those scammer thingies put on Walmart self-checkouts, gas pumps, and bank ATMs.

So conveniently located, right by the register, easy to photograph and pick up while the clerk was getting my scratchers. No big winner this time. Just $5.

This was a face-down 2014. Nice and shiny.

If I could find 8 cents every week, I'd be $4.16 closer to being a Pennyillionaire by the end of the year! I figure we're 15 weeks into 2019 right now, and I should be at $1.20 to be on pace. I'm ahead of schedule, with $1.79. Future Pennyillionaire, here I come!
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2019 Running Total
Penny   # 52, 53, 54.
Dime    still at 7.
Nickel   # 6.
Quarter  still at 1.

2018 TOTALS
Penny  131
Dime  17
Nickel  6
Quarter  1

2017 TOTALS (Started in March, 2017)
Penny  78
Dime   6
Nickel  0
Quarter  0
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Hick House Exterior: New Steps and Deck 04-11-19

Hick works pretty fast when he wants to. He tore down the rickety steps of Hick House, and replaced them, along with a new deck, in two days. Probably three days, officially, because the rails aren't on yet.

Here's the picture from yesterday showing the old steps, coming out of the back porch pantry area off the kitchen, behind that newest old interior door painted white and gray. In fact, let's start with the latest picture of that door, showing the doorknob and latch:

If you step through this door into the pantry area, and make a left, you'll come out the exterior door, onto these rickety old steps. The picture from yesterday: 


Hick got to Hick House before HOS that day, and tore off the old stairs:

Look out for that first step! HOS arrived and put up more siding, while Hick built a deck and started the new stairs:


I think maybe Hick bought these runner things that the steps fit on. Or maybe he bought the boards and cut them. But the other lumber was used stuff that HOS had laying around, that had been given to him FREE by one of his salvage buddies.

Hick pretty much finished the steps, except for the handrails:

Here's the deck:

I can't say I'm on board with that picket fence railing. I dislike it enough in our front yard by the carport. Also, I don't think it looks sturdy, but Hick says every slat of it will be screwed in, and it will be plenty sturdy, unless you jump at it with both feet and try to kick it down. I'm just reminding him that HOS has a 10-year-old son, and a less-than-a-year-old son, so it must be safe. Hick assures me that it will be. Of course all sides will have rails. I'm not sure about a gate.

As with Hick's door and light switch faux pas in the bathroom, he also discovered a problem after putting up the deck. He stepped out of the house onto the deck, and noticed an electric wire overhead. It's only 9.5 feet above the deck. Hick is pretty sure that the electric company requires it to be 10 feet above the deck. He's going to call them and have them come take a look and advise him. He thinks he can raise it enough without rewiring.

On Sunday, you'll see more updates on the bathroom.

Hick House Exterior: Some Siding 04-10-19

With warmer weather for exterior repair work, Hick and HOS (Hick's Oldest Son) have been concentrating on the facade of Hick House. Let's backtrack a bit to recall the original appearance on February 25, when Hick and HOS went to see if it was worth $5000.

The city inspectors decreed that the upper triangle area over the porch needed fixing. That seems pretty minor to me, having seen the rest of Hick House, but as soon as conditions were safe for HOS to clamber up there without slipping, Hick assigned him to climb up there and put on some siding. Siding which HOS was given, FREE, by a buddy. Probably after a demolition project, because it was definitely used siding.

This was on March 28. I did not think that was an improvement, but I didn't want to belittle the hard work HOS had put into it. The added stuff on the porch did not help the aesthetics of Hick House. But it IS a construction site, and materials have to be piled somewhere. With no water hooked up, they couldn't spray the siding to clean it.

By April 8, HOS had been up there with a bucket of water and a scrub brush, improving the appearance of the now-completed section of siding.

That part is done, except for some paint along the eaves, or whatever that trim is called.

HOS has also started siding the side of Hick House.

Still a work in progress. That's their dumpster trailer that will be hauled to the landfill after they squeeze as much junk into it as possible. You can see the concrete garage building with no roof, behind the dumpster trailer.

Also note the steps that go up to the back porch pantry area off the kitchen. That's Hick's current project. More on it tomorrow. Those steps are another item cited by the city inspector for demolition.

The Road Worrier: Beyond Thevictorian Home

Winter wreaks havoc on our gravel roads. The gravel gets sucked down in the mud with repeated freezing and thawing, and potholes multiply. Neither state nor county road departments maintain them. We are on our own. Well, Hick and I, plus another 48 families who live up in here.

A couple times a year, some of the men decided it's time to work on the roads. All it takes to be on the unofficial road committee is a tractor, and communication with other tractor-owners. They used to go door to door and announce their plan, asking for contributions for gravel. Now they just put it on Facebook. As you might imagine, not everyone donates. I can understand if someone is on a tight budget and can't afford it. You'd think that over 20 years, twice a year, they would happen upon better times, and be able to kick in some cash. Gravel ain't free, you know. Even though the tractor labor of the unofficial road crew is. However, as with any microcosm of society, there are the ants breaking their backs, preparing for the future, and the freeloading grasshoppers waiting to benefit.

A load of gravel is currently $160 with the dump truck drivers Hick uses. His buddy will sometimes do it for cost, since he has a dump truck, but he's working out of town right now. A couple up the road from us called Hick, and said they were buying two loads of gravel, one for their driveway, and one for the road in front of their property. They asked if Hick knew who could haul it, and would Hick spread it out for them. Of course he did, and said he would. Even Neighbor Tommy bought a load of gravel (just for his driveway) and asked Hick to spread it. He did.

Another guy up the road by those people also bought two loads of gravel, and our neighbor next door, Copper Jack's human parents, bought a load. Other tractor guys spread them. Some of that gravel benefited the potholes in front of our BARn field, since there was enough to spread down this way. Hick felt like those people should have had their gravel dumped down by the mailboxes, since everybody uses that portion of the road, and it was in the worst shape. I disagreed.

"I don't blame them. If I was paying for two loads of gravel, you can bet that I'd put it in front of my house first, then where it was needed. Why should the deadbeats benefit?"

Little did I know that I WAS buying two loads of gravel, and that Hick put one down on a curve by the mailboxes, and the other on the road that runs past our other 10 acres where HOS is currently living. Though not right in front of that property, or its neighbor next to it. More in front of Crazy Stick Road Man's property. Don't even bother to ask if he contributed any money.

Hick had his reasons for that location. It's the road he takes out to the auction, and has really deep potholes, because nobody on that side has ever contributed any money for the roads. Gravel has been dumped there, though, and work done on that section, because it's the quickest road to the highway, for all the people who work in the city.

A couple of other families kicked in for a couple loads, and someone else gave Hick $60 towards a load of gravel. Any little bit helps. People who donate their money like that, and don't contact a gravel-hauler on their own, don't specify where the rock should go. They trust the unofficial road committee to make the decision on where rock is needed the most. It's been that way for 20 years, and the unofficial road committee members have not abused their power by having immaculate roads in front of their own properties. You can bet we'd have heard about it.

As you might imagine, the Never-Payers are the most vocal about where the gravel goes.

A couple days after the gravel was delivered and the potholes were filled in, the driving was much improved. No more dodging 20 potholes on the curve down by the creek, where items like a broken aquarium and an old refrigerator have been dumped in previous years. I even complimented Hick on his efforts. (!!!)

"That section is much better. Not even bumpy now."

"Yeah. I had a load of 2-inch-plus dumped there. I used it to fill in the potholes while the guy was gone getting me a load of inch-minus. Then I smoothed that over the top. It did turn out good."

Then a Never-Payer who lives closest to that section, who has to drive over it every day, got on the association's Facebook page and asked where the gravel was! Hick got on there and told her where all the loads had been put. I don't know his exact wording, or her response, other than she indignantly told him, "MY HUSBAND HAS A TRACTOR, AND HE WORKS ON THE ROADS!"

According to Hick, her husband does have a tractor. In fact, Hick encountered him on it, dragging gravel from the pothole area down towards the mailboxes (not towards their house). I figured Hick was just blowing off steam because his beautiful roadscaping had been disturbed. Then I drove over it the next day. It felt like my teeth were rattled loose, and several vertebrae compacted. Of course I called Hick.

"That road is a mess! It was better before it got fixed than it is now!"

"I know. That guy don't know what he's doing. Instead of letting the rock settle, and the 2-inch-plus filling in the holes and keeping the inch-minus in place, he drug that 2-inch-plus out in the middle, all the way down to the mailboxes."

"You want it in the middle, so the traffic on it lets it spread, instead of bouncing it off the edge of the road. But you don't want 2-inch-plus to drive on! You need one-inch minus for that. Not the big chunks. I can't believe the mess he's got it in now."

"Yeah, and you know who's going to get blamed for it. YOU!"

"I ain't payin' for no more rock to fix that mess!"

"I'm pretty sure nobody else is, either. They just paid!"

A few years ago, we had one old guy used to drive his 4-wheeler along, with a bucket and shovel, and get rocks out of the creek and patch potholes. Sadly, he sold his property and moved. I stopped to thank him a couple times, and he said he was just trying to help out.
I miss that guy.

Sometimes, it's better if some people don't help out.
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Other titles I contemplated:

You Can't Judge a Bum By His Shovel

The Road to the Mailboxes is Paved With Not-Heavenish Intentions
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A Harbinger of Ka-Ching?

Yesterday, I shared my ladybug sighting on Saturday. After missing a photo op with it, then finding it again on my mirror while waiting at a red light on my way to Orb K for scratchers... my mood was nearly at Level 10 on the Happiness Scale. How could I possibly top seeing a ladybug?

I'll show you how.

With a scratcher win! Not just any scratcher win. A scratcher win that comes maybe once a year for me. Last year twice, but that was extraordinary. This $5 ticket matched every number. I figured they'd all be $5 prizes, and was excited that I'd have a $75 winner. But it wasn't!

IT WAS A $1000 WINNER!

We'll have to drive it to the city to the Missouri Lottery office to redeem it, because retailers can't pay any ticket higher than $600. Such a terrible ordeal to go through.
Val people problems...

No special plans for this windfall. It will be socked away (not in an actual sock) for future consideration. It's not needed for my currently healthy casino bankroll. It might be needed (unfair to me, of course, since I bought it with my weekly cash allowance) for "surprise" purchases by Hick.

You never know when he might be stopping by The Good Feet Store. Or buying a new lawnmower. Or need 20% of the purchase price for a house.

A Spirit Lifter Alters Val's Mood

I caught a cold during CasinoPalooza 4, from my sister the ex-mayor's wife. How dare she BREATHE while riding in the seat behind me in A-Cad! I got over it quick enough, in eight days. Unfortunately, three days after that, I caught the much-worse virus that Hick had come down with. It's kickin' my ample rumpus. I'm on day seven of that one, haven't slept for four nights, and can't shake the cough.

I wasn't feeling up to snuff on my trip to town Saturday. I really wanted my 44 oz Diet Coke, though. And of course some scratchers. The day was overcast, temps in the upper 60s, so there's that. I was mentally arguing with myself about where I was going to get scratchers. I had $30 of winners to cash in. Of course I'd get a ticket at The Gas Station Chicken Store when purchasing my magical elixir. I hadn't been to Country Mart in a few days. So their lottery machine was a candidate. Orb K would probably be my other stop, having not been there for a few days, either.

The Gas Station Chicken Store business concluded, I almost went up the street to Casey's, to get it over with, leaving only Country Mart. But I didn't. I'd stick to the original plan. I headed through the light to Country Mart, and parked where T-Hoe had locked himself into PARK. Didn't bump the concrete bumper thingy this time.

As I headed inside for two tickets, I pushed in a cart. I had no plans to shop, only to return a cart to their vestibule. I'm a do-gooder like that. Karma. You never know when it will strike. Hopefully, I wasn't acting as Typhoid Cart-Val and spreading my disease...

I returned with my tickets and climbed into T-Hoe, thankfully shifting him into reverse with no issues. As I looked out the driver's side window for four-wheeled or two-legged victims in need of avoidance, I noticed a spot on the window. Huh. It's amazing how high that pothole water can splash!

Wait a minute. That spot was moving. Moving up the window, a perfect circle, not like a water droplet sliding up with a tail due to air blowing on it. I was moving forward now, on the way to exit the parking lot, when I looked again.

IT WAS A LADYBUG!

I was looking at the legs and underside of a ladybug as it crawled up my window. Up, up, up. Of all the times! I really wanted picture of that ladybug! I pulled into an empty row of parking spaces at the top of the parking lot. That ladybug had already reached the top  of my window and disappeared.

Grabbing my phone, I got out and searched the door. Not on the window. Not on the top of the door frame. I climbed up on the running board with the door open. Not on the roof. Not on the rubber gutter thingy along the door frame. Not on the windshield. Not on the hood. Dang it! Pics or it didn't happen, you know!

I was still thinking about my missed photo-op as I pulled out of the parking lot, and got in the left turn lane to head under the overpass to Orb K. The light was red, as usual. I think their timing system is off. I was happy to have seen the ladybug, but sad that I missed a picture. If only I'd looked out the side window before putting T-Hoe in reverse, I could have gotten a photo of that ladybug's undercarriage as it climbed.

I looked out the window, to see if cross traffic was slowing, wondering if it was finally time for my green arrow.

THE LADYBUG WAS ON THE MIRROR!

I got a quick shot, through the window. Unfocused, but definitely my ladybug. You can see Orb K's red roof under the overpass. And in the mirror, the rat poison factory where Neighbor Tommy worked for one week.

Dang it! My light had indeed turned green, so I had to drive. You don't want to be the one lagging at that arrow. People behind you get really mad, because then only two of them can run the red light instead of three! Seriously. That green arrow does not stay green long enough for the width of the intersection, and I was already three cars back.

Ooh, yeah! My next light was red. The ladybug was still on the mirror! Probably going to Orb K with me. I put down the window and zoomed in my phone camera, and THE LADYBUG FLEW AWAY! Dang it.

At least I had the first picture, even though out of focus. A ladybug found me. And I had proof.

You can bet I looked all over T-Hoe for the ladybug when I got to Orb K, but it was gone. I found something else there, though. More on that tomorrow.