But it was an eventful week to say the least... Several weeks ago, we ordered our building package through a lumber supply company... and, let's just say, when push came to shove, they wouldn't accept our Canadian cheque, so we had to go looking for another supplier... Jim made tons of calls during the week, found a supplier that was more than happy, and we finally put that issue to bed... Wood package is paid for!
The next problem was finding a saddle (Simpson strong tie) that was big enough to support our gluelam beam that we took down last week.. We looked online, and found that Home Depot was "supposed" to carry such items and Wednesday night, we go to our local store to buy two... Well, they don't stock these big boys, and we are told that they are $153.00 apiece, and there is $67.00 shipping, and it will take 6 days.. we needed them for the weekend... not gonna work. We need to weld them onto columns that anchor into the basement foundation.
Jim gets on line when we get home and gets a list of businesses that are "supposed" to carry this item and starts calling Thursday morning... Didn't have a whole lot of luck, until he called a little company in Lindon who said they custom make them to Simpson specifications. So, Jim gave them the dimensions, and they said that it should be done the next day. On his way home from work, Jim stopped by the shop to put a down payment on the pair, and when he walked in, they told him that they were already done and he could pick them up... amazing! Jim picks them up, they are $50.00 less apiece than Home Depot, AND.. no shipping and they were still warm from the welding... giggle..
Jim gets home and starts welding the saddle to the column so that we can be on the road on Saturday morning. It was quite a job, but Saturday morning, they were loaded in the truck, and we were on our way.
Jim is so proud of himself. The plan for the weekend was to deliver the column and saddles for the glulam, and do a little back fill digging around the house.
These suckers weigh about 150 lbs. a piece!
Our contractor said he is just about ready to start framing, so the back fill has to be done.
We get to the property, and Jim tells me that I need to get the 5 gallon gasoline can and take it down to the gas station and get him 5 gallons of gas for the backhoe, because he knows he's going to run out... I take the gas can, and start down the mountain... As soon as I make a turn onto the pavement, I realize there is something seriously wrong with the truck... it's bucking and I figure the emergency brake was left on or the transmission was going out or something... so, I call Jim and tell him that I'm pulled over to the side of the road, and there's something wrong... he tells me, that he forgot to take the truck out of four wheel drive.... uhuh... and I'm freaking thinking that I've done something wrong...
While we are talking, he tells me that I need to turn around and go into Panguitch (the other direction) and I need to go to the hardware store and pick up two 6 inch hose clamps before they close. It is now about 5:30 in the afternoon, and Panguitch is 18 miles away... I'm in a panic... I am driving crazy trying to make it and I'm calculating my speed to mileage as I'm going... not something I usually do... At 2 minutes to 6, I pull into the parking lot of the hardware store and race in... talk to the lady at the counter... she tells me where they are at.. they only have 2, thank goodness... I check out, and it's 3 minutes after 6... But, I made it... I had a couple of other stops in Panguitch (shopping of course), got those errands completed and headed back.
I am almost to the property and Jim calls - he ran out of gas... I get to the site, and show him that I got the hose clamps, so proud of myself thinking that I saved the day - that there must have been some major problem with the backhoe and that's what he needed the hose clamps for... This is what they were for:
Jim says you don't want to get dehydrated when you are operating heavy equipment.
So we got a little more digging done and we turned in for the night.. It's so nice having power to the RV... sure makes things easier...
We bought a queen sized bed for the RV a couple of weeks ago... the mattress we had before just wasn't cutting it.. But, the problem now is, we are used to sleeping on a KING sized bed, and that queen sized sure seems small.. Jim says that he sleeps really poorly in the RV because "somebody" keeps throwing off all the covers and he is pushed up to the wall all night AND he sweating to death with two quilts on... sorry baby.
We got up on Sunday morning, and did out best to get out of town to get back to Provo.. Brad and his family were coming over to dinner, so we had to get a wiggle on.. We found out this morning, that it takes 2 hours to close up the RV, the Conex, collect up the garbage, etc....
We usually see tons of deer when we are either going up to the cabin or coming down off the mountain, but this time, we only saw two.. But, we did see a little family of prong horn antelope when we were leaving, and of course, our Angus cows were there wishing our safe travels home.
It's getting exciting... I'm stressed out of my mind right now with all going on, but it's still, another amazing adventure.
Jim and Cheri
No comments:
Post a Comment