Country Time

This afternoon we were invited to Missy's farm so Tom could fish a little and I could see the cattle and enjoy the country. The weather was perfect. Clear and warm but not too hot. You could walk all over and not raise a sweat. We had a lovely afternoon. The farm has more or less 100 acres. I love the fact that all over the South you find these idyllic spots tucked just off the road.

This is one of the lakes at Missy's. The front lake. There is also a back lake AND a middle lake. The other two are not as big, but the back lake, so we've been told, has some 6+ lb. bass in it. But maybe that is a fish tale...









Here is part of the cattle herd Missy and her husband have. These is the moms and tots group.











These little guys are twins! The white one is 6 minutes older than the chocolate one.












And this little one was born yesterday. He had to be helped into this world because he is so big. His momma was a little bit up the path and keeping watch as we took a photo. We were riding in a 'mule' so we didn't disturb them too much.






And these are two of the dogs on the place. They are house dogs. The black one is a rat terrier-Boston Terrier cross. I'm not sure of the tan and white one. Both were with us in the mule as we rode around. The black one, Bogey, is old and spoiled rotten. He will bring a piece of his food to DeWitt, Missy's husband, who then holds it in his hand while he eats it!

Raising the roof

My son told me last night that I need to update this blog more often. I guess there just isn't that much to say right now. The house continues to poke along. At least it seems slow to one who is ready to move in today. The weather is supposed to be rainy this weekend, but the forecast is for sun during the next week. Our builder figures we should be under roof by the end of next week - if the weather holds...if the workers work...if the supplies show up...
Here is the front view with a few rooflines discernible. As you can tell, the 'walls' are begun too. The boards of a darker color in the foreground are for the back deck. They were put there to 'dry out some'... hmmm


This view is taken from the back corner. The garage is apparent to the right, the master bath is right ahead. I'm not sure what this board is for in the center of the photo. Reminds of the walkways onto the pinisi boats at Sunda Kelapa harbor in Jakarta. Men would walk down planks about this wide with what looked like 50 lb. bags of flour on their shoulders.


This is the left front corner, the garage again visible. The right side is the guest bedrooms. All of you who plan to come visit can watch the progress of 'your' space.

A Little More Progress

We've had a few days of good weather for work to be done. But today and tomorrow the forecast is for rain. Hopefully, with a few more good days, the house can be under roof and it won't matter what the weather is outside; work can continue inside. Windows are ordered and I look forward to seeing it sheetrocked so you can more clearly see the rooms.

This is from the left front corner of the house. The back section is the master bathroom, then the laundry room and garage. The tan area through the trees on the extreme left of the photo is the golf course.



Here is the front of the house. The garage area to the left, then the computer room, front door and on the right is the one of the guest bedrooms.


This is looking from the right front corner of the house. This side contains the 2 guest bedrooms with a bathroom in between them. To the right is the back deck. The 14th green is through the trees behind the deck.

Decks and Walls

The decking is begun for the main areas of the house. The section in the left of the photo will be the outside deck where the barbecue grill will sit. All of the house will be under roof, including the outside deck. That way Tom won't have to worry about being in the rain when he cooks outside.

Now it begins to get exciting! Walls! This is the front of the house. The area to the left which is lower than the rest is the garage. The next area to the right is the office/computer area, then the front entry (there will be steps when all is finished) and the last area to the right is a bedroom.

The weather is expected to be rainy and cold tonight and tomorrow (Friday 13 Jan). So will probably not be a lot of progress in the next few days.

Back in the USA

We arrived in Knoxville 23 July and spent the night with our daughter and her husband. We picked up our car and headed south to McComb, MS, where we will live with my parents until our house is ready in Hattiesburg. McComb is about 70 miles from Hattiesburg. Our furniture will be in storage in Houston, TX, until we are ready to move in. The builders we had been in contact with previously were too busy so we feared we would have to buy a house and sell our lot without building on it. But the real estate agent put us in contact with a builder who could take on our project. We signed a contract 16 August and sent our plans to the designer for final polishing and to get construction drawings ready to submit to City Hall for a permit.

Then Katrina came.

Then Rita came.

Then everyone was very busy with repairing and rebuilding. Again, we were concerned with getting our project underway. But "there is a time for every purpose under heaven" and God's timing is best. This will be a progress log for our friends and family to watch with us as our dream becomes reality.


Date: 21 September 2005. The lot has been cleared and we are waiting for final plans, permits, and permissions.


Date: 4 November 2005. After seeing the effects of the storms with so many homes and power lines damaged by falling trees, we take out all the older, larger, heavier trees with plans to plant younger, smaller ones after construction is finished.


Date: 17 November 2005. The forms are being set up for the "footprint" of the house. Within this framework the footers for the walls will be poured.


Date: 21 November 2005. The concrete footers are poured and ready for the foundation. We are building a raised foundation home, one with a crawl space underneath.


Date: 28 November 2005. The foundation is made with concrete blocks. Progress is being made.


Date: 6 December 2005. This is another view of the foundation work. Not a lot of progress, but the holiday season is here and the weather has turned disagreeable.


Date: 16 December 2005. The foundation blocks are complete and the wood for the floor joists and sub-floor has been delivered. We found out from our builder that the framing crew was hired away by FEMA. They were offered a very high wage. This appears to be the way FEMA works in storm damaged areas. So our guys left our project in the lurch. Our tax dollars at work...


Date: 29 December 2005. A shot of the floor joist installation to date. The replacement workers left to go deer hunting New Year's weekend. Evidently in Mississippi, everything else comes in second to deer hunting.

Leaving Madrid

When Tom retired after 30 years in the oil and chemical industry at the end of July 2005, we left Madrid. We had a wonderful time living overseas, both in Madrid, Spain, for 2.5 years and before that in Jakarta, Indonesia, for 5 years. We made many good friends, both expatriates and nationals. But the time had come to move home to the USA and the packing out began. Having moved often in the US, we knew what to expect as well as the upheaval and fatigue that are involved in the process.

One of the rooms of boxes ready to go. After boxing everything up it was time to load it in the container for overseas shipping. In Europe the elevators are very small. Many of them are crowded with only 2 people inside. So it is a challenge moving furniture in or out. The answer is a hydraulic lift!




This is the lift set up and ready to go. We lived on the first floor. That is using the non-US method of counting where the ground floor is "0" and the next one above it is "1". It was the same in Jakarta. The elevator in our building used a "B" for "planta baja" or "lower floor" and I would often, in a hurry, forget and think "basement". It took us some time to get used to that method of numbering.


A load of our stuff is coming down to be put in the blue container. The man in the blue shirt is operating the lift. It really worked quite well and saved a lot of time, not to mention the workers' backs! Some of the pieces that were too large or too awkward (like the sofa) had to be carried down the stairs but that was better than having to carry it ALL down.