Fall always sneaks up here in Texas and when it does arrive, it usually lasts only a couple of weeks. Blink and you miss the the leaves falling off. The relative cold of a southern winter begins. I love that I can live in a place that boasts 50 degrees as being 'cold'. During January when we get our annual week of low thirties and high twenties, we just bear it knowing that it wont last long and that in a few months we will all be complaining of how damn hot it is outside.
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| finding the right lengths for each section, blech! |
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| it's no palace but it's much better than seeing into the bathroom. |
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| and besides, Ellen is now able to crawl around safely |
We have been making our weekly trips to the property and making pretty good progress on the trailer. We put up some bead-board over where the walls had been torn out because of the water damage, we replaced a toilet, we started putting the skirt back up on the house, and we made a couple of connecting trails through the woods exploring the property. There is still so very much to do but each weekend brings a little more progress and a little more creature comfort to the place.
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| temporary new counter. (much better than washing dishes in the tub) |
There is a constant struggle going on in my head about the place. Our plan has been to make this place just habitable so we are able to move in early this next year after baby number two arrives. The long term plan is to build a more substantial and more efficient home on another location within the property As we go about making this place livable, we continually come across new questions as to how far we should go and how much money we should spend to make this place 'habitable'. Every dollar we spend on this 20 year old trailer making it comfortable is a dollar not saved for the construction of the new place. I will give a prime example: The water lines in this trailer need to be replaced. We are on borrowed time with the ones we have and I don't want to replace wall board, carpet and insulation just to have them burst again and be back to square one. In replacing the water lines, the options are quite varied in price. Ten feet of pvc is $1.45 where-as ten feet of copper is $15.00. Ideally you really should use copper for plumbing, besides, who wants the plastic in your water but the difference in price is ridiculous. I hate doing things half-assed but this may be a time where it is warranted. We can always use a whole house water filter right? When I am faced with these decisions I am usually paralyzed to inaction for a while until I figure out a solution. I am also going to be rushed to get all the new insulation in soon after the pipes go in before our annual hard freeze in January. Oh, the joys of new-old home ownership.
Outside of the construction challenges, we have been enjoying the land immensely. I am continually both glad we didn't wait to do this till it was much easier financially and also sad that I didn't do this ten years ago when I was younger and more physically resilient. I feel this work is both feeding my soul and tearing my body down at the same time. It's ok, I need the exercise anyway.
Fall always sneaks up here in Texas and when it does arrive, it usually lasts only a couple of weeks. Blink and you miss the the leaves falling off. The relative cold of a southern winter begins. I love that I can live in a place that boasts 50 degrees as being 'cold'. During January when we get our annual week of low thirties and high twenties, we just bear it knowing that it wont last long and that in a few months we will all be complaining of how damn hot it is outside.
