job

A WEEK later, the rain had stopped and the mud had dried enough to support equipment...so he worked yesterday and today!

Canned goods, etc. are still packed. :D

Hey, Marie! Are you guys doing okay? I missed my 'birthday call'.... :(

job

So, his new job isn't bad...except for the fact that they're trying to build a railroad spur in a mudhole (which pretty much describes this part of the Country this summer!). He worked 12 1/2 hours on Tues. and none since then. A little of that wouldn't be so bad, since they'd work 7-12s if the weather were fit, and the old man isn't really wired for hours like that! Meanwhile, I'm not unloading the little camper and the spare car just yet...cabinets and pantry are still empty and there's boxes piled around the edges of the living room!

Limbo

After 6 months of no work, we decided to pack up and go back to SD, where Keith has a job offer--for pitiful wages, but a job close to our un-finished shack. We've been sorting and packing--Keith even put a new head gasket on my Mom's old Dodge car so we could haul it out there to use! All the canned goods are boxed and loaded, the kitchen cabinets are emptied of food stuff....

This afternoon, the Union BA called with a job, about 20 miles from our IL home! AAAAAARRRRRGGGG! We weren't looking forward to living on non-union, slave wages, but were looking forward to having neighbors that we like and finishing the house..... There's a new crafters consignment store opening up near our house and I had my mini quilts and beadwork packed and loaded! Ah well, we must be where we're supposed to be--right?

I think I'll give it a few days before I start moving into the RV again! Good time to do some heavy housecleaning, I guess!

I hate housecleaning!

Home, home on the Hill!

Well, we left SD at 41 degrees and today it's 85 and steamy in IL. And the skeeters are the size of chickens!

The chimney came down and went to the dump (aka "Kadoka Walmart") and the truck came back with more stuff in it than it left with!






























We now have one of the few houses in town with numbers on the front and a fenced back yard! And brand new electricity, and running water (no indoor plumbing, yet). The purple bedroom is now sandalwood, the dark, paneled front porch is now a pale, cheery yellow with a new 1/2 moon door into the house and a new storm door. There's a real, honest to goodness breaker box in the basement (instead of 4 assorted old fuse boxes), the kitchen and bedroom are level again.... etc.

Finally, after nearly 5 weeks, we simply had to wrap it up and head East... So, here we are!

First thing I had to do was run to the podiatrist and have a sliver of porcelain dug out of a toe! A memento of the 'manly art of removing a bathtub from a tiny bathroom'.... But I get to sit around for a few days instead of emptying and cleaning the truck camper! :)

Here we are, still in beautiful downtown Kadoka--or near there. We have water of our very own! Now, granted, it's a garden hose attached to a faucet in the basement and run up the stairs and out the back door--but it's OURS! Today, we're hoping the electrician comes to give the final okee dokee so the power company will give us ELECTRICITY! :D

Today is also supposed to be the day the chimney comes down and the hole gets covered up! And with luck, I'll take time to upload pictures.....

The Kadoka Adventure

It has been been brought to my attention that this blog is sadly out of date, due to my own negligence, soooooo.....

We are in the great State of SD, Week 2, working on the Shack. The trip out was fairly uneventful, except for the top my favorite outdoor table, which went sailing off down the road because some dummy laid it across the load to get to something else and forgot to put it back before we took off again.

So far, the kitchen has been leveled!!!














The electricity wiring has passed initial inspection. Part of the bedroom foundation has been removed, since it wasn't holding up the bedroom, and the little old cement chipper is chipping away at the offending mortar so he can put in another section of foundation that actually holds something up! :)





Yesterday, however, Keith and his buddy next door, built chainlink fence around our back lot. Off to Menards tomorrow for another 10' gate and a bunch of 20' posts for said fence.

Brother Jim has been trying to help, but just like me, can't work for Keith! Fetching and carrying seem to be what our major function is!














As for INSIDE? Not so much. The house keeps moving around, due to the big, old gopher who keeps working on the outside of the house! Mud a crack and the next day there's another one.... *sigh* Old houses!!! What insanity!

I'm snapping pics as we go, so there will be more, eventually....

Almost gone!

It's not going to rain today! :D And in SD, it's not supposed to snow.... We might actually get on the ROAD!

We have a ratty (but working) riding mower, loaded into an ancient (but working) 91 Chevy truck, loaded onto the 20' flat trailer and the 93 one-ton has a fresh oil change and the slide in mostly packed for travel! I promise, I'll take pictures of this Clampet-like rig! :D Because, it gets worse! Keith has built a box on the front of his trailer to fill with tools and all the things he can find around here that can be used on the Shack! And then, there are conduit bundles, Rubbermaid boxes(filled with drywall tools and painting tools and more), cans of paint, my brother's bicycle, and many other "important" things yet to be loaded onto the trailer....!

My line-of-sight internet service goes on vacation Friday, my VCard is activated, I'm headed for the post office today to line up mail forwarding... and then to pick up the RXes, and do some last minute shopping at Chinamart.

The Union Hall hasn't called Keith about a job in a very long time, but the unemployment keeps coming, for now.... It'd be just our luck that we'll get out West with all this conglomeration of stuff and THEN they'll finally have a job for him! (Not that I expect it--no one, not even the "pets", is working in this mud!).

So, off to sort clothes....