Stupid Cable Company

It's been awhile since my last post. There's not much going on here because school is taking priority right now. I officially made the deans list again. I have one more week of clinicals and then I will be able to get back to work on the dining room and bathroom restoration/remodel....the dining room is a restoration, bathroom a remodel. Classes start again in the middle of August, so I have to get most of it done before then or it won't be done for another year.


We got home Thursday and there were two green pipes sticking up in our yard, and there was spray paint all over the grass and deep ruts all over the side yard. We were a little confused about what was going on so I asked the neighbor. She hadn't seen anything because she hadn't been home. But she did say that our local cable company is going to be burying their cable line so that's probably what it's for. So Friday I tried calling the cable company and I got a whole lot of answers I didn't like such as "we may be burying lines, but if you don't have cable we don't have to tell you" and "we don't have to notify you that we're going to be using your property for our use if you are not a cable customer." All this did was irritate me even more, so I went into the local store and talked to a receptionist. Actually I kind of yelled and bitched a little bit at a receptionist. She took it well, and apologized, then took my name and number and a supervisor will be calling me Monday. I can't wait. If they don't fix what they did and compensate for it somehow, I will be contacting some one with a little more authority to find out what to do. Hopefully it's all resolved tomorrow.

Snow Pictures

We have a ton of snow here in Southern Indiana, but thankfully we're far enough north that we didn't get the 3" of ice that every one to our south got. We just have a foot of snow. We still have power and the highways are clear now.

I couldn't go to my class today though because of this...
It doesn't really look that bad from this picture, but that is a Mustang (which sits low to the ground) and that is a two foot wall of snow in the background from the plows going down the highway. James four wheel drive made it, but there is no hope for my car moving today.

This is our backyard today. And this is after the melting that happened yesterday.

James tried to move his mom's car yesterday to the part of their driveway that had been plowed. That is about 12" of solid snow and ice sitting on the hood. He didn't make it far.

This was what happened yesterday when I let Sox out. He fell through the snow (which was taller than him), made it under the truck and sat down. I don't think he liked it.

James has to shovel the driveway when he gets home today so I can get out tomorrow. That sucks for him. And the news said we're going to get another inch or so tonight. Great.

If I actually make it outside today I'll probably post more pictures later today.

Ummm...

I left hubby alone with a chainsaw and this is what I came home to: (yes, that is him making a rare appearane in a picture)And there it is being hauled away. It is now sitting by the barn. And we are going to plant a new tree there in the spring, James just hated the cedar tree so much he decided it needed to go.

We are looking into having it cut into rough planks because I really don't want to waste all that cedar. I say rough planks because this past weekend I found out that we have use of a planer and band saw! They're not ours, they actually belong to James brother, but they're brand new still in the boxes and we have full permission to use them! If we can get find some place to rough cut them then we can plane them ourselves and save a lot of money.

Well, it's starting to get a little cooler here so things are getting ready to start back up on the house. It's still blistering hot during the middle of the day, but morning, evening and nights are cooler. We've mainly been working on the yard some. The other day James parents gave us a bunch of pretty concrete edgers so we'll be doing some landscaping soon. And I'm still loving the weedeater. But that's really all we've been doing here. Nothing worth posting any pictures about yet. There's other news though...

We have a coal mine under us now...or beside us...I'm really not exactly sure which, but I was told yesterday that it's here and that's what all the soil samples and drilling in the field next to us and down the road.

A hot air balloon went down in the field behind us yesterday! We were talking to the neighbor and heard something so we looked around our garage and there was a hot air balloon flying kind of low, so we started watching it and it went down in the bean field behind our house. I ran in to get my camera while James and the neighbor were trying to figure out what to do (call the balloon company, 911, or walk back and see what was going on) and by the time I got back out it was just about out of sight and thats when the balloon company van went by our house. There is a company here that does hot air balloon rides and tours, so seeing one around here wasn't a big deal, but seeing one go down is.

That about covers it for now...more to come on the house soon!

Loving Black & Decker, and taking a break

We got a new weedeater! It's a Black & Decker cordless battery operated 18 volt weedeater and it's awesome! It's super light and doesn't vibrate, and has a built in edger. It won't tear through the thick stuff like a gas powered one will, but it works great on everything else and the battery lasts a pretty long time. It works just like we thought it would, which is great. I definitely recommend it to any one. We checked out several others but went with this one because of the weight and the reviews. I have weight restrictions and this one weighs 6.5 pounds compared to the 10 or more of the others. And the battery is interchangeable with all other Black & Decker 18 volt tools which is a plus.

But I have some sad news too...due to the unbearable heat here in southern Indiana we will not be doing any work on the house until we get a break from it. It's been around 100 degrees with 100% humidity and a "real feel" around 115! I don't see how all you southerners do it...it's so hot out that you can' breathe and everything sticks to you. most of the things we need to do involve stain and paint and I'm afraid if I try it the stain will just boil instead of drying like it's supposed too. And we are also having that problem that goes with owning an old house...no a/c! We have two little window units that are working overtime to keep the inside of our house around 80 degrees. And it gets even worse when I cook anything. And even worse when Cledus turns the digital a/c unit off. It was 85 in here today when I got home! We don't know how, but some how he's turning it off. OK...I'm done complaining now. Just wanted to share that there won't be much for updates for awhile.

Some little projects

We have actually completed some small projects here in the last few weeks. I don't know why I haven't posted about them. So here they are...
A little improvement that makes life a lot easier. I wish I had a before picture of this. This is in the laundry room/back porch. Before, this corner had a pile of brooms and mops and pet food that kept overflowing right into the doorway to the house (in the right corner). Now, as you can see, it has some order. I installed the rack in about 2 minutes and it holds all the brooms and mops, and since they are off the floor now there is actually the perfect amount of room for the food to set on the floor and out of the way.

The freshly scrubbed floors! Aren't they beautiful! Trust me, this is a HUGE improvement over what they looked like before.
The kennel has been expanded. It used to be 10'x10' and is now something like 36'x12'. I could be off there...actually, I probably am, but its huge now. Before there was only enough room for the doghouse, feeder, water trough, Clementine, and the puppy with a little room left over. Now there is room for 2 doghouses, 2 feeders, the water trough, the two dogs, and plenty of room to run. I mean seriously they run up and down it. It's so long that it had to be supported with t-posts so the sides wouldn't fall down. The doghouse sitting outside of it belongs to the dog that ran away. We are still keeping it in hopes that she may come back.

The reason for the jungle like setting of our yard is that the lawn mower is broken :(

Randomness

The iris's finally bloomed! Of course the time they finally bloomed is about the same time Cledus decided to tear them up. He had already completely cleared them out under then window. Oh, and ignore the cable coming out of the window...that's just until we get the antenna properly wired into the house. I hate it, but I just keep telling myself it's only temporary so its ok.
Remember the absolutely adorable puppies we had? Well, this is the only one that has not found a home yet. See how big she is? At 6 months old she is huge! And has a mouth on her...she found her "big dog voice" recently and barks at everything. She's absolutely sweet and lovable, and every bit of a puppy still. We are still trying to find her a new home though.
And this makes me sad. James has finally decided that he's tired of his truck and its now for sale. It was listed on Craigslist this past weekend. I love this truck. It might be one of the most loaded trucks I have ever seen (including Bose & remote start)I will give him some credit though...he's owned and driven it for 3 years now, which is a record for him. When we first started dating, and even well before that, he averaged at least 2 vehicles a year. Just because he gets bored with them and wants something different. He's now decided that he needs a diesel.

We are getting ready to enter the next phase of the dining room. I'm just not sure if the next step should be stripping or plaster repair. I'm not sure which would be better to do first. I'm thinking maybe plaster so I don't have to worry about ruining woodwork that has just been freshly restored.

If it's not a boat its not for sale!

We have a boat for sale. We live on a highway and it sits in the front yard with a for sale sign on it. Apparently because we have a boat for sale people assume that everything we own is for sale. I've had offers for the boat, Jeep, Firebird, S10, and our house! I am seriously getting pissed about it. Its like people think that we're a freakin car lot because we own lots of cars. Today some one added a new one to the list. Look at this picture...do you see the car trailer?
You can see a little of it between the cars. It sits in our backyard and is barely visible from the highway. I just had some one stop and ask if it's for sale. No, that's why there's no sign on it and it's in the backyard! I told him the boat was for sale and he said he saw that and thought he's stop and see if the trailer was for sale too. WTF??? No, I tell him...that's why it's in the backyard with no for sale sign on it!

Maybe I just don't get the total lack of respect people have around here. Or maybe they're just curious because the cars are outside and not in the garage. Either way, I don't like it. We don't stop at random houses and ask if their stuff is for sale when it's clearly not, and as for the cars not being in the garage...well, it's our property and if we don't want them in the garage they don't have to be. Maybe I just don't understand people. I don't know. We have lots of cars because James likes them. He likes to fix them up, play with them and then sell them. But for the love of God, until one of them sits in the front yard with a "for sale" sign on it I just wish people would only stop if they're interested in the boat. Which is the only thing for sale right now.

Flowers

Last weekend James mom bought us a bunch of flowers for the flower bed in front of the house. I tried to tell her not to because I will just end up killing them. She got them anyway.
So here is the photographic proof that I planted the flowers. Now I'm wondering how long it'll be till they die. I have no idea what any of them are because they didn't say and I don't know anything about flowers, but they are pretty. And she said they're shade flowers so lack of sunlight shouldn't kill them. The remaining plants on the porch are tomato's and peppers. As soon as James tills the place for the garden I'll be planting those too. I don't do the tiller though...if I tried it would probably send me to the hospital.

I am now going to go take a nice long hot shower, a muscle relaxer, and a pain killer. I did a whole lot of things today that I'm not supposed to do, and now I'm paying for it in a really bad way.

Progress on the yard

So yesterday I got James thinking about a tree stump in our yard. What brought it up was a post at One Project Closer about tree stump removal. While I was making dinner (spaghetti and my special breadsticks) he said he was going to go out and fill in some holes in the yard with the tractor. Well, when I went out to tell him dinner was ready I was this:
He some how got the stump out with the tractor. I have no idea how, but he did. This was not planned in any way. I thought we were going to burn it this summer. Oh, well...at least it's gone. I asked him where it went and he told me it was back by the barn. So I looked over and saw this:

I guess after he put it back there he decided to start working on our little field. He got it a little over half done. So in the about hour and a half that I was cooking he filled in some holes, put a pile of dirt over where the outhouse was (couldn't level it because the tractor started sinking), removed a tree stump, and took down over half the field. I'd call that a pretty productive hour and a half!

The field is far from done though. After he gets it all knocked down he has to disc it, then level it, and then we can put down grass seed. After we get all that done we are putting up a fence around our property. Nothing fancy, just a wire fence so Clementine has a place to run.

A New Mystery

We have had so much water (snow and ice melting) that the sump pump has been working overtime. And its causing erosion around the sidewalk...which is where we found these. We're not sure, but it looks like a patio, a path, or possibly a really old foundation. The bricks are laid in rows and run under the sidewalk and were under about 6" of dirt. You can't tell but there are more in the top part of the picture too. I'm taking this as a sign. For the last few months I have said I want to build a brick patio using the bricks laying in the basement and crawlspace. I just wasn't sure where to put it, or if it would even look right. Now that I found these I can't wait to get started. With help, of course...I can probably lay the bricks, but I can't physically level the ground or dig these up. I have to do a little research though before digging these up to make sure they don't have a historic significance.

The weird part it that I had been on James for weeks to move the tubing for the sump pump because the ground was eroding and I have been freaking out about the foundation holding up to losing all the soil. However, if he had moved it like I wanted him to we would have never found these. Oh, and the pipe in the picture is the exhast pipe off my Kia. It fell off this past summer and James used it to redirect some of the water...must be a guy thing cause I would have never thought of that! I think that might qualify as more redneck DIY.