Time to leave the bunkhouse

It was a better day today and late yesterday. Most everyone is gone (the workers) and having some peace and quiet has been very welcomed.

I stood back and took a picture of the front. It looks crooked but that was the person holding the camera...me.

You can't see it well here but the view from the inside is just beautiful both to the east and west and even the small mountain to the south.

Taping is still not finished and will have to wait until next year. Could be we will have to finish it ourselves but I'm trying not to think of it and all the disappointments we had this year.

It's over and time to go home.

The husband is on the way here. He needs to pump out the water in the water heater in the crawlspace because we have to shut off everything and leave it without heat. It's the first time leaving it after getting the plumbing inside.

He got stuck behind the road closures from the blizzard in South Dakota and Wyoming.

He spent a lot of the day waiting for the freeway to open in South Dakota.

He's just on the other side of the mountain and luckily that road has reopened. It always closes for the winter in a couple of weeks.

It has been so pretty yesterday and today, the sky is clear and crisp.

I got out the zoom lens and zoomed up on the mountains to the west.

A few neighbors stopped by today and said goodbye, they are so good about keeping an eye on the place for us.

Tomorrow will be one hectic day draining and winterizing the house and the trailer.

I packed as much as I could today and started to fill up the truck with stuff.

I have mixed feelings, sad to leave but glad this is over, it has been too long and too stressful. 

I think I have a lot more grey hair from this ordeal and next year will be better.

It has to be!!!

But I still can't understand why the carpenter doesn't get it!

I guess we will never know what he was thinking....or NOT thinking!

But I wanted to end on a happy note instead of all of this negative weird stuff that happened with pretty pictures and views of the mountains.

Most likely I won't post again until next year, if you want to see what I do with the rest of my time I have another blog called Wild Rose Vintage, you are welcome to stop by and visit anytime!

P.S. click on any image and you will get a much larger view.

Also, in case you were wondering, the ceiling beam did NOT go up. The carpenter started it at midnight Friday and it looked iffy to me, plus he was exhausted. He needed 3 men to do it but only had 1 helper, said he'd be back at 8 am the next day and didn't show up till 1:00 pm.

I cancelled out after waiting for 5 hours plus it was time to start packing to leave, he pushed it off for so long that now it was too late. I did not like how he was going about it Friday night and had no trust that it was going to stay in place. It was hokey and when I explained to my husband how he was going about it, my husband said no way! 

We will come up with something different next year and do it ourselves.

My bathroom vanity is not in because everything is so far behind.

Next year will be different.

Fresh Snow on the Mountain

A couple of days of cloudy weather and look what happens!

It cleared off last night, woke up to frost and 35 degrees and snow on the mountains this morning.

There was more snow earlier, quite a bit has already melted from the sun.

You can barely see it here way up on top, if you click on the picture to enlarge it it might show up better.

I have 2 big beams on the saw horses, they are supposed to go up at the peak of the vaulted ceiling...I have learned this year not to expect anything to be finished.

I just don't want them to sit on the porch for another year.

I have 1 coat of polyurethane on them and still need to do one more coat.

One person I can count on is myself!

Yes ME! I am using the Bobcat to move the dirt pile. It's hard to see here but I have moved away quite a lot of it. 

All sheet rock is done in the main room, the bathroom and a sort of hallway/storage place

You can see the peak where the beam will be...maybe...or will it become firewood?

The small room to the right will be a small kitchen and through the door on the left is the hallway/storage area which leads into the small bathroom. Off of the hallway/storage is another room that will be my storage room once it becomes my workshop. Until then it will be used as a bedroom.

He has very little sheet rock left to do.

He could have been finished a week ago but a few things came up and having to deal with the twisted wood has not helped.

That is why sheet rock should go up shortly after the house is built.

If not the wood tends to twist as it dries out. 

That was the plan but it didn't happen last winter or spring or summer...9 months to get it done.

I have also learned do not leave when they are here working...if I do, chances are they will be gone when I get back. Never leave a job and expect they will work while you are away!

He still plans to start the mud and taping today and if all goes well maybe the texture will get done. I am not holding my breath on any of it.

It has to all be finished by next Friday night including hanging the beam....it's anyone's guess if it will happen.

I'm betting it will not happen and we will have to texture the ceiling and walls next year.

THAT was supposed to be done 2 weeks ago.

I just want to come back next year and NOT have to count on anyone else.

We will just do the rest ourselves.

I have yelled and screamed and threatened, the husband has yelled and threatened, about every few days we have to kick up a fuss...why? I have no idea. It works a for a couple of days and then they slack off again.

I have never had so much trouble with anyone in my life. We built our house in Minnesota 25 years ago and we were the contractors. It's a whole house, 2 stories and a basement! We didn't have a fraction of the trouble with that as we have with this little bunkhouse.

Last year it all went so smoothly, this year it is the complete opposite and has been a total nightmare and we are working with the exact same people as last year...what happened???

And yes, we pay our bills on time so what's up?

Sad little house... maybe it will be finished next summer

I am not normally a depressed person and if you don't want to read any further then stop here.

(Where are the mountains? It's raining down here and snowing up there.)

I'm fed up! 

My husband had to go back home to get back to work, I'm stuck here trying to get work done....nothing is happening...I mean NOTHING!!!!

It's raining, dreary and cold in my old little trailer.

It's 46 degrees right now, it will be down to the low 30's the next 3 nights.

I was supposed to be able to move into the bunkhouse by now.

No, it does not have heat yet but with the good insulation and tight walls a couple of electric heaters would keep it toasty and warm easily.

I could be painting the walls.

But NO...I am sitting here in the cold trailer wondering what's going to get finished....or IF anything will get finished!

My husband asked the carpenter to come over and help the man doing the sheet rock for just a few hours so that he can get it done...he says he will but he doesn't do it.

The man doing the sheet rock spent yesterday in the hospital while his son had surgery on his knee from a recent football injury, I can accept that but he said he can't be here today either, I understand that too but why can't the carpenter step in and offer some help considering the circumstances.

The carpenter stopped by yesterday to pick up his drill. I asked him if he can really do the texture and spray prime before I leave (the first weekend in October) and he firmly said yes. BUT the sheet rock needs to be finished!!!

The carpenter says he can start on  Monday and that I should tell the sheet rocker that. 

Why me??? He's the contractor.

Am I near tears...YES!

All we have done since we got here 4 weeks ago is wait for people to do their job.

If the insulation had been  done by the person who was originally going to do it, it would have been done right and it would have been finished before we got here.

THAT is what put all of this behind!

IF he (the carpenter) had this sheet rocker set up to do the work before we left it would be done by now.

Instead we got a referral for a man that said yes, I can do it, but when we got here he decided he didn't want to do it so we had to waste a week looking for someone else.

This all should have been done by now!

Why can't they understand it from our side. We planned for 1 year to come out here for only 3 weeks. We set this all up 2 months before we got here with the promise that it would get done. It's 4 weeks now and I'm still sitting here in the cold trailer looking out the window at my sad little empty bunkhouse wondering WHY! 

Will it get finished in the next 9 days?

Or should I pack up and leave!

Could be that I'll have to come back earlier next year and finish the job myself.

Taping and texturing is NOT rocket science!

I can do it if I have to!

We could save a lot of money too.

Braces and Rock

The porch braces are up!

The braces really add to the bunkhouse and I am so happy they are up!

Love it!

It looks finished now!

Sheet rock is going up...

There's a lot more done, this is a picture from a couple of days ago.

The heating/air conditioning will be done of Friday.

I have my toilet!!!! A genuine flush toilet! No more outhouse!!!

Sheet rock and taping should be done the end of next week and then he'll do the texture and spray primer.

The husband had to go home to work so I'm here roughing it but do I mind?...not at all!

Some puffy clouds over the Big Horn Mountains

Morning sunrise over the bunkhouse

The moon tonight, couldn't decide which picture to post so I did both

I'm having too much fun! I was out moving a dirt pile with the Bobcat this evening.

I looked over my shoulder and there was the moon just coming up over the mountain.

The air is crisp and clean, we've had a lot of rain which is unusual for here. Almost an inch on Saturday plus it's rained almost every day but it's spotty so there is always some blue sky somewhere. The farmers are going to have a muddy time getting the sugar beets out.

It's getting chilly at night too!

More pics soon!

Things are gettin' done!

Things are much better here at the ranch!

Yesterday we took a day off work and drove to Cody. 

We stopped for lunch at Bubba's. Every year we are out here on my birthday and normally we come into town for my birthday, I love their pulled pork sandwich.

But because of the work we had to do it took us a week and a half to finally go to Cody.

Bubba's

I always like to take a walk through the Irma Hotel. It still has that feel of the olden days. All the original wood paneled walls, the original huge old bar in the restaurant, the big stone fireplace in the bar.

Then we went for a ride up Wapiti Valley for a short distance and past the Buffalo Bill Dam and reservoir.

This is at the end of the 'lake'. There is a bridge crossing the Shoshone River which flows out of Yellowstone. We were only 40 miles from the east entrance of Yellowstone Park when we turned around.

The view looking up the river towards Yellowstone Park.

The Reservoir heading east back to Cody

The sheet rock is going up with a minor glitch yesterday.

Still waiting for the plumber to deliver the toilet but he has stopped by late in the day in the past so maybe...just maybe...he will still come here.

The heating guy was here all day doing his custom work in his portable shop.

The husband is still working on the electricity.

It's starting to look like a real home.

More pictures tomorrow....

(Click on the pictures and you almost feel like you are there!)

Another cool thing, everyone and I mean EVERYONE has an American flag outside their home whether it be out here in the country next to their mailbox or in town because of 9/11. I have never seen a more patriotic area in my life!

We bought one today and hung it on the bunkhouse.

Bunkhouse...will it ever be finished???

Well, here we are again.

Attempting to work on the bunkhouse. We've been here for a while and haven't accomplished very much this time.

This is a view last night as the sun was getting low in the sky, looking north west at the Gallatin Range off in the distance, you can barely make them out in this picture.

The husband is working on the electric (he's a licensed electrician).

The plumber showed up this morning after being absent for 4 days without a word and driving us (me especially) crazy. Our little camping trailer's hot water heater sprung a leak last Monday night so we have been without hot water for 6 days and having to make a 10 mile round trip to get a shower...major frustration.

Hopefully he will not leave until everything is finished and I will finally be able to take a shower in the bunkhouse bathroom that has no interior doors which doesn't matter since the sheet rock isn't even in place!

Home Depot dropped our special order toilet and broke it!!!!

Sheet rock has been ordered and is supposed to be delivered this morning first thing...it's now almost 10 am and no sign of it. Our first man to do the work never showed up so we are expecting a new man to do the job. He worked on the building of the bunkhouse so he should be good.

Our insulation inside was half done when we got here.

I am staining the windows, that's all I can do since I can't prime and paint the walls that are not there.

One thing I am learning is not to be in a hurry for anything here.

We made an effort to set all of this up at least a month in advance, that didn't work.

We spent all year buying and preparing to do a lot on the inside this year and we even hauled out a Bobcat to move the dirt piles to fill in the floor in the barn, that's not going to happen this year.

All in all it's been a very frustrating 12 days so far and the majority of the work we planned to do this year will have to wait for one more year...next summer. 

I wouldn't be so disappointed if I didn't feel so old and that time is slipping away so fast, it puts us back one whole year!!!

This is us back in Minnesota, 2 trucks and 2 trailers full. The one in the distance has the Bobcat and this close one is PACKED full! Back when we had high hopes of getting tons of work done!

It was a long and slow haul through 100 degree weather (stressful for me towing of these trailers 900 miles for the first time especially down a 10% grade mountain to get here and I didn't even burn the brakes!). The husband ran over something sharp in the road at night, missed it with the truck but the Bobcat trailer hit it and gashed a tire. 

Maybe...IF the sheet rock ever shows up...I'll have some pictures of the inside to show you!

Now I guess I'll have to call the lumber yard and find out what happened to our 'first thing Monday morning" delivery...as I hear the plumber drive away....to be continued....

Continued....

1:00 and the plumber has not returned yet (he's been gone 3 hours...he was here for 2 hours and that's it so far!). The guy I talked to on the phone Friday at the lumber yard forgot to tell the guys they had a delivery of sheet rock first thing Monday morning, the truck just arrived.

The heating man was here but left, probably to get lunch somewhere.

The 'rocker' is here and so is our carpenter so sheet rock will go up today!!!!

But will I have a shower later today???

As my friend in the grocery store said when I went to buy food this morning...Welcome to Wyoming!!! She went through all of this when she and her husband built their home here years ago.

At least it will be entertaining for us to go back to my blog in years to come!

To be continued....

2:30 update...

All men are now accounted for!

We have a plumber and helper,

our carpenter and 2 helpers prepping for the sheet rock 

and a heating man!

also my husband the electrician

The sheet rock was delivered

That's so awesome!!!

I am inside the big trailer sanding and finishing an old $10 buffet that will be the bathroom vanity.

*****

Just for our own future reference...5:00 PM...we have water! No toilet or bathroom sink, no interior walls but we do have water!!!

The husband is hooking up the electricity to the water heater and will fill it. I'll finally have a real shower.

The vapor barrier is almost done on the walls, tools are here to sheet rock and the guys will all be back tomorrow to sheet rock the walls. The plumber will be back to finish a few things...whatever those may be I don't know.

The heating/air conditioning guy will be back Wednesday to finish his job.

I'm almost finished with my vanity, one more coat of Poly on the top and we can set the sink.

It's nice to see things finally happening!

*****

8:30...got my shower! How nice to finally have a REAL shower!

Warm water and lots of it! Could have been warmer but I didn't wait the entire time for the heater to fully warm it up. Nice that we have no neighbors since there are no shades over the windows and no interior walls or inside doors!!!

 I can't even imagine a flush toilet after 11 years of using an outhouse when we are here, that should be here Wednesday and hopefully the plumber will bring it out that same day!

Lets hope Home Depot doesn't drop this one!

Things are looking up tonight!

:-)