Insert explicative bleep

I have had great joy in the home improvement projects until yesterday. The entire house has beautiful hardwood floors. The previous owner had the hot water heater burst and destroyed the flooring in the bathroom. I was led to believe that the old lady that used to live in the house installed carpet and linoleum over the wood floors because of maintenance issues and the bursting of hot water heater. However the rest of the wood flooring is in great shape, then I tore the linoleum out of the kitchen...f$%#! This is S.O.P. for laying linoleum on top of wood floors. First thing to go down is tar paper as a moisture blocker, then another plywood backing, and then finally the ghastly linoleum. This shit does NOT want to come off of the hard wood floor.

Any suggestions other than recovering the floor or tearing out the original flooring is a last resort, is this what Papa Roach meant by Last Resort and Broken Home? Posers.

And speaking of pictures of the cat

I snapped the picture just as he looked up from sleeping in this position. If he isn't sleeping in funny positions/places he is like 'flies on shit' with our clean clothes.

Stealth Wall Heater

I have been taking pictures of the house as it gets remodeled. I was going to make a joke about having a 'stealth wall heater,' but the picture of the cat was WAY funnier.

West Texas Sky

These are some pictures of a cold front that came through a little over a week ago. The front moved through in about 30-45 minutes and then the sky was crystal clear later that day. Belinda called me from the gas plant 4 miles North, I would have missed it because I was gutting the bathroom.The clouds left just as fast as they came.

Just a list of crap that I have been working on.

For starters, there was a failure of disclosure on the house. The washing machine CAN NOT! be removed from the bathroom. The washing machine was installed during the bathroom being remodeled; door width 24 inches, washing machine width 27 inches. Other than the previous owners wanting $500 for their 'vintage' stove (I told them were to take the stove), the free washing machine has been the only problem I have had with the home thus far. The Dryer and Stove are gas, so there are no 240 Volt receptacles in entire home.

So far:
Replace bathroom door and move stud back 4 inches to accommodate washer and dryer
Replace door locks and add dead bolt
Policies change for mail, so new mail box and post
Install reverse osmosis unit
Add waterproof drywall and remove hideous plastic paneling in bathroom
Removed carpet and found water damaged in baseboards (decided to gut bathroom)
Removed cabinetry in bathroom to make room for dryer
Fixed water damaged by laying cement backerboard for future tile installation
Wired 240 Receptacle for electric dryer (hats off to electricians, attics are HOT HOT!)
Removed carpet in hallway and cleaned the wood flooring underneath (no damage)
Cut dryer vent because old dryer was in the garage

Don't get me wrong, I am REALLY enjoying the house. The house IS dated, however the plumbing is brand new (hence the water damage), along with the air conditioner and hot water heater. The yard has concrete flower beds and plenty of foliage including rose bushes, pecan trees, irises, and large shrubs, but that is a Spring time project.

So for now, its back to carpentry.

The Day Before the Move

The day before I was supposed to move I noticed that the rear axle (GM 10 Bolt) was leaking gear oil. Turns out that the wheel seal went bad some time after I had driven the truck back to Hobbs from Weatherford. The picture of the wheel seal was taken before I tore anything else up. I didn't have a slide hammer so I tore the seal out with a GIANT pair of pliers. Time was a factor, so this winter I will take my time and repair the seal and probably some bad bearings in my new kickass two car (truck) garage.

The Internet is back and he lost his keys.

The internet was finally turned back on today. The best part was the technician lost his keys to his van shortly after he arrived. Coming shortly will be ghastly photos of remodeling, weather, and my reserve application for DRAGON SLAYER'S CONQUEST, Torrent of FIRE!.