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The Missouri Journal continued from page 44 by Mark Chenail |
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2007 Another nice morning, but I am still feeling a bit sick. Breathy and nauseous, so I had Dan take me into the clinic. Managed to get an appointment with a Dr. Dennis Hite, a fine old style GP like my own home doctor, George Savvas. Dr. Hite started med school in ’56 and we got on like a house afire. Talked about polio and my health problems. My BP was up a bit, but no fever and he agreed it was just tracheatis. Lungs were clear. He put me on 5 days of Zithromax. Spent the rest of the day running a few errands. Home to a quiet supper and early to bed. Chilly and a bad night with a bad stomach ache. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2007 Cold clear morning, but it warmed up. Felt better once I got up and moving, but still a bit puny. Worked on a wiring scheme for the big wing until the Cooper’s arrived. Forgot to mention that last night the Cooper’s brought us the new refrigerator, a full size GE in great shape. A real blessing. And Mr. Cooper got most of the fallen oak cut up. Johnny and Samantha started to clear the brush, so I can mow. Dan and Johnny put up siding on the gable and upstairs main façade. House is looking finished and BIG. We finished around dusk. Really chilly tonight so we lit a fire in the dining room. A quiet night reading and writing and early to bed. Hopefully I will sleep good tonight. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2007 Crisp and cold fall morning, but it warmed up nicely. Took a short walk and then headed to town to go to the library, do laundry and buy lumber. On the way down Highway 5, we stopped at a house that was selling wood-burners, or so the sign said. It was that nice brick house, just a few doors past O that is set off the road and sells Jack Russells and fresh veggies in the summer. A real fine place owned by a Mr. Lowell Douglas. The wood-burner was an outside furnace, but Mr. Douglas had an old Earth stove he would sell us at his rental house out on HH. He rode out there with us while we heard his life story. Mr. D. used to be a County Commissioner and he filled us in on Evergreen and the Empire Ranch and its owner, “ole Blaster.” According to Mr. D’s description, “Blaster” is an old style rapacious land baron turned corporate raider/leverage buyout czar. The kind of guy that would have been played on Old Time Radio by John Dehner or William Conrad. We got all the stories about Mr. D’s battles with the old curmudgeon and along the way he showed us ORLA, which does exist if you know where to look and RUSS and told us lots of local history. He even knows Jeff and Adrianna and most of our neighbors. Mr. D’s rental was a cozy place on 5 acres and the stove was a beauty. All heavy steel with stout squat legs, a fancy scalloped edge and a porcelain Earth plaque on the door. We bought it for $150. It weighs a ton so we will have to get Ken York to come with his truck and bring some strong young backs to move it. It ought to heat the whole house nicely and probably drive us out of the kitchen. Went on to town and did wash and Dan went to the library to finish his Fulbright essay and send it out. I had a long phone chat with Jon about the Champaign house and money situation and my plans. All well there. Got home and asked Dillon and Young Steve to help with the stove on Saturday. They also agreed to help with the high work on the roof and chimney. They were all Gung Ho to help out. Really good kids. Mint managed to literally chew and claw her way out of the spare room. Chewed almost through a window mounting in the French door and then chewed around the door frame, until she managed to dislodge the sheet of plywood we nailed over the door to the dining room to keep her inside. Mint and Duchess were sitting on the porch like a pair of Houdinis when we pulled in. I will have to come up with a fool proof way to keep her inside so she doesn’t go running next door and disappear like Wheeza. Pizza for supper and a quiet night of TV. I’m hoping we can get the trim up and the porch ceiling done tomorrow and the chimneys and stove done on Sunday. Will definitely concentrate on insulation, wiring and blocking up the last of the soffits and gables next week. I would like to be able to do dry wall and ceilings at the start of November and get the outside painted before it gets too much colder. Plenty to do tomorrow and so to bed. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2007 Another crisp clear morning. Had a hearty breakfast and Dan spent sometime chopping wood while I did housework and a lumber list. Drove into town and got more trim lumber at TH Rogers and priced stove piping. The price of triple wall pipe and fittings is sky high. Over $1000 estimate at Ivey’s (to code and top of the line). MFA can sell us a kit for about $115.00, but 4’ of triple pipe will be another $109 and has to be special ordered. Dan and I decided we can probably retrofit a safe chimney using some of the extra triple wall pipe from the living room fireplace and fabricate some fittings and a storm collar. Then we went to Grovespring to buy some cattle wire for a dog pen. Returned home to discover Mint had escaped again. We had locked her and Duchess in the library and nailed a sheet of OSB over the door. Mint found a small gay in the wall sheathing under the bay window and chewed a hole big enough to climb out. There she sat in the driveway, proud as the devil and old fat Duchess with her head sticking out the hole, looking disgusted.
Built a wire pen to keep the dogs in, but I’m betting it won’t work. Might have to resort to a dog cage for Mint. Mortared the hearth in the kitchen for the new stove. Goulash for supper and a quiet night doing accounts. We have spent $700 for materials and fixtures in the last month. With luck we can have the place buttoned up for under $2500. Then spend a bit more slowly and frugally while we do interior finish. I hope to get a lot done tomorrow and hopefully pick up and install the stove. Not so cold tonight and so to bed. (continued)
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