The ugly stages of construction

These pictures are from the 27th. I am a few days behind (the granite countertops actually went in yesterday)

Luis surveys the texture that is going onto the wall:
Divert your eyes from the disaster in the background and feast your eyes on the new blue.
OOps!
Utter destruction
Dad's back is obviously feeling much better, but he is still taking it easy
The tile removal was so difficult, we just took off the drywall entirely - we're down to the studs
Winter is sawing the drywall flush for the new install - and happy to finally have a job where she can help

The 'Rents

Had a busy Saturday:

Luis and I set up all the cabinet drawers/doors in the basement of mom's office building in a storage unit and got the primer sprayed.

Back at home, the ladies made a mess of the living room...

...and set up an air curtain around the kitchen to keep the primer fumes out of the house.

When Luis and I finished up with the primer on the doors, we headed back to the house and started spraying the cabinets. (Note the fan system that blows air out of the curtained-off kitchen to create a negative air pressure situation - it worked great and there were NO paint fumes problems in the house....although the neighborhood had a bit of a stink going on)






This is the "second" curtain inside the kitchen to keep the blue paint overspray (from the island) from settling on the freshly painted white cabinets. Yeah, things were getting kinda cramped in there. Maybe we should have painted the blue color first and then just covered the island...
After spraying the house, Luis and I headed back to mom's office building to spray the final coat on the cabinets (the stools and the cabinets for the "island" are getting a steely blue color)

My Beans Runneth Over

I just sent this email out to the Ashurst family:

Well, we are scheduled to fly out on December 30th. It will (I'm sure) be major fiasco with a huge load of luggage and three unruly kids. Last time we flew, each seat back had it's own entertainment package with video games, movies, TV shows etc. That was much better than the standard "movie" that they used to show. The kids all sat around and watched whatever they wanted and it really helped to keep them off our backs. I hope this flight will be equally equipped - it is a long ride.

I asked my wife about the Der/Die situation and she reports that the country is simply referred to in the singular as "Nederland." So, I guess that solves the controversy. They speak "Dutch" and I have already picked up quite a bit of it, but I have a very long way to go yet. We have "Rosetta Stone" and the kids all work on it regularly. I need to get started. The bad news (if you can call it that) is that I will be attending school in English and virtually everyone there speaks English and prefers to simply speak English than to listen to me bumbling with my poor dutch. What that translates to is that I have a hard time finding people to practice on. I'm sure living there will help though and I expect to improve my skills greatly.

I'll be attending the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University (to get an MBA degree - sorry Jim - I know you hate all those moron MBAs :) and while we have not yet signed a contract on a place to live, it looks like we'll be living in Zoetermeer. That will put me at about 30 minutes commute on bicycle or 1 hour by public transportation to the school. Zoetermeer is where quite a few of Jessica's family live and it is much more "suburban" than Rotterdam so we think it will be better for the family there.

I do not plan to work and I do not have any work lined up. The program I am in is only one year long and due to the short time frame, the curriculum is reported to be extremely rigorous. I don't anticipate having enough time to work at all. Jessica may try to get a job or part time job, but since she is a Dutch citizen, there will be no problem with any paperwork. We'll mostly be living on our savings. Once I graduate, we will be looking for a job wherever that may take us and we may end up staying in Holland; at which point I would have to go through some sort of authorization process. I don't think that it will be too difficult with Jessica being a citizen. On the other hand, if we do want to stay in Holland and work there, I will really need to kick in the afterburners on learning the language because that will (of course) be a crucial skill.

We are very sad to be leaving the ranch. It is actually already sold and we have, as of the last couple of weeks, been imposing ourselves on the hospitality of my parents. They don't really have room for 5 more, but they have been extremely generous in letting us stay with them during the transition phase. This week they were visiting my sister in DC so we "paid a bit of rent" by getting them a new Bosch dishwasher and had it installed for when they arrived last night. We're actually hoping to save a little by living here with them and not paying rent, but at the same time, we do realize that we are a major imposition on them.

As a part of the moving process, we actually sold the vast majority of our possessions and it was surprisingly liberating. A couple of things that did pull on the heart strings though: I sold my truck, gave away my dog and a huge pile of steel stock from my shop and I sold all my cattle. Those are the things that really hurt (for me anyway.) We will, of course miss our place in the country a lot - we had a lot of good times out there - but we are excited to be moving on to the next step. The show must go on.

Honestly, yes, selling the ranch is a bit of a relief as well. There is a lot of work involved in maintaining that place and we didn't really even maintain it all that well. Things have been CRAZY busy over the last couple of months as we have tried to decide what few things to store while we are gone, what will come with us and what to sell. Then, of course, we had to implement those plans. We are just now getting settled down (I sold my truck on Saturday and my utility trailer today.) All that is left is to sell my tractor and one more car and then we should be set for the next few months before the next big transition (to Holland.)

I actually just informed my boss that we would be leaving in three months, so keep your fingers crossed that he doesn't get trigger happy and start filling out that pink slip prematurely. It would not be the end of the world, but it certainly would hurt a bit to lose our paycheck for the last few months.

Anyway, since I want their money, I'd better get back to work.

Bookends

I never thought I would have been able to say this. In fact, if you told me ten years ago (or even just five) that I would be able to say this, I would have said you were crazy. Yet, here I am and forevermore I can claim that I sold my cattle to help fund my education.

Speaking of real funding though, our house "closed" today. Supposing we wake up tomorrow with some funds in our bank account (as we expect to do) the chapter of our lives entitled Country Life In Texas will have come to an abrupt ending. We're pleased with the sale and we are pleased with the new direction of our lives. We will, however, (and despite the heat, chiggers and poison ivy) forever have fond memories of this place. It has been great. Great for us, and great for the kids.

This new chapter in our lives is called "Terrorizing and otherwise disrupting the peaceful life of my parents in the city." Hopefully they (my parents) can make it through the next few months - it will certainly be a trial for them.

El Gato Prieto

Summer left suddenly and I did not mourn it today. This morning 10 yards of dirt/sand mix were delivered by a friend of mine to back fill around our foundation (a lender-required repair) and Luis and I spent hour after hour hauling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt. It was hot and sweaty, but at 80 or 90 degrees, it was so very much more pleasant than the work we were doing out there in the 107 degree heat just a few days earlier.

The second best part of the day (aside from the cooler weather) was that the guy who sold/delivered the dirt was interested in all our garage sale leftovers so I offered them all to him (along with the trampoline.) In return, he offered to bring over his "gato prieto" for me to use for a few hours. Behold the gato prieto in all its glory!

And...the glory shot!

So anyway, check one off the bucket list. I have now operated a bobcat (or as Luis calls it, the black cat or the gato prieto.)

The bad news is that there is still a yard or two of dirt in the front yard, the bobcat is gone, the job is done, and now I have a problem.

Mystery Cat

A couple of weeks ago upon our return from a trip to San Antonio, we noticed that our black/white cat was missing. It wasn't unexpected since we seem to go through cats fairly regularly around here. What was interesting though was that the disappearance of the cat seemed to coincide with an atrocious smell emanating from the general area of the chicken coop. We searched all around the chicken coop to no avail and I had pretty much decided that whatever was dead and decaying must have been under it.

While working out there today to replace some siding on the coop (as required by the bank?) we found the source of the odiferocity (yes, I realize that is not a real word.) But before we go there, let's take a step back.

I love Ginger. She is 4 years old now and is a real precious little angel. She loves to go out and play with the animals on the back porch, search around the bushes for eggs, catch crickets, watch spiders, etc. Here's a few of her other endearing traits/habits:

• Whenever she is playing around me, she uses her highly sophisticated play voice and calls me "Joe"
• She dances to church music (in church) and pretty much to any other music available
• She loves her "widow wanky" (translation: little blanky) more than life itself. In fact, she often refers to it as an individual (imagine her searching through the house calling out, "where are you widow wanky?) Still though, she loves me so much, she offers, "do you want to smell my widow wanky." (apparently, this is a great honor and privilege)
• She almost always just says, "ouch" and shakes it off - even when she really gets hurt
• She went through a phase where she was always talking about her "vampire eyes" and affirmed to all her ability to use them to see in the dark.
• She used to sit next to me in my office with a "computer" (made from a piece of paper), an old mouse, and an old cellphone to imitate me while I worked - some of the conversations she had on that phone were priceless
• Overall, she is super soft and affectionate (more than any of our other kids have been) yyet she is as tough as a hardened criminal. I think that's a good combination

So I mentioned how Ginger likes to play with the animals (mostly the cats) on the back porch. I've seen her put them in cages, tie ropes around their necks for leashes, etc. Normally the cats are pretty cool with it and it seems like they enjoy the arrangement. Well, I guess one day (right before we went to San Antonio) she must have tied a rope onto that black/white cat and for some reason, she left it on him. Cause today we found that cat out about 10' away from the chicken coop with the rope caught in the bushes. I guess he probably died of thirst. Poor little kitty. I probably won't ever tell Ginger what she has done.

Finito

Back when we were certifying as foster parents, our "qualification" paperwork required a lot of responses regarding any "losses" that we may have felt over the years. The concept of a "loss" was new to me at the time and though I feel a bit lame saying it, I really had to stretch to think of any loss that I had experienced in my life that had left sufficient impression to warrant documentation (I guess I am lucky.) In fact, thinking back at what I must have listed, the only item I can actually recall at this particular moment is the passing of two of my grandparents.

I feel compelled to return from an inadvertent blog hiatus today to record an old and atrophied, seldom-used and mostly forgotten feeling that has gradually settled on me in the way a silent cloud of ash first dusts, then coats, then covers. It is loss.

A faithful friend of 3 years is gone. Gone forever I'd guess. Justin, the livestock guard dog and the best dog we've ever had (by a long shot) went today to a new home with some lady who promised him a good home in the country East of Dallas. Now, I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is. At least that is what they say. What do I say? I loved that dog. Today, this ranch/house is no longer our home. That's all I have to say about that.

In other news, I have to give props to Jessica. As I walk around this house (which is rapidly becoming more and more empty as each and every day progresses) I realize how much work this woman has been doing. I mean, this move (which was feared by me to be the worst of any move thus far in our short lives) is rapidly becoming a 2-3 hour job. Over the last month or so, she has worked tirelessly to sell/donate/clean/organize/consolidate and pack our things to a uber-condensed version of our former clutter. It really is amazing - this girl is a worker, and I do love her - even more than the dog....like a lot more...it's hard to describe....I am gonna stop now.