The walls of Jericho- Not!

This past 10 days, Quentin has had to work a different job as a substitute teacher in Westwood ISD in Art. In the meantime, Keith McIntire has been working (REALLY hard) to keep the project moving along. He's been doing well. Maybe not as good as Quentin, but acceptable. He has gone from just mixing the mortar, to laying brick around the basement window pits, to laying the runs on the main wall. He has learned a lot on the job. The top of the wall looks really good. The last couple of days Chris "Peaches" has been working with Keith. He's young, but willing to learn. I'll start the roof on Monday- Labor Day.

Quinten- you're a brick.

Beruit in Palestine? The back of the building looks like a bomb went off. That is the beginning of the...middle? Oh well. Quentin and Keith are doing a great job at both demolition and reconstruction. We did have a little excitement last night/this morning when Quentin caught someone stealing bricks from the site. He got the license and the description. Told him to call the police. We'll see the results.

Within two weeks we should have a new, solid brick wall. I'll put a new roof on it as quickly as I can once school starts. After that, we can really begin moving on many things. We do have new sewer lines into the building so maybe soon we'll have toilets instead of having to cross the street to Kroger's for a pee. Progress indeed.
More much sooner this time, I promise.

I don't cotton to that idea either...

I have finally given up being able to do the major brick work on the building. It is a skill I need a lot more work on to be at that level. I will be hiring Quentin Cotton of Palestine to do the main work. He comes well recommended and I have seen some of his work. Hopefully he can start by the end of the month.

In other news, the alarm system has driven me over the edge! Over the last year, we have averaged about 2 false alarms per month...usually after I'm in bed. I have asked for a repair ticket (yet again), but I hold little hope. I'll probably go with an unmonitored system till we get moved in. That way we at least can get some sleep.

That really floored me...

Lots of work done since last time. Got the concrete floor in the belltower poured. Not the best concrete I've ever done, but it was a confined space. Oh well. Put up new walls on the concrete as a base for the floor we put in level with the "main hall". Then Jim and I pulled out the decaying doorway to the front and replaced it with a treated lumber and Hardipanel wall. This will be home to my new electrical meter and breaker box.

Other end- Kathy pulled the tiles in the NW corner basement room, getting it ready for a cement floor. I tore out the floor/ceiling of the NE basement. I've now replaced the joists and taken out the corroded plumbing. The tiles still have to come out of there, then we'll be ready to concrete the floors of the back three rooms. Progress!

Concrete ideas and abstract platts

What a day! Started out to concrete the floor of the belltower readying it for a new floor a level above. After buying materials, went to pay the water bill. Not a big deal, right? While I was there, I decided to check into the procedure for getting the city to close and legally abandon the unkept, unused dead-end road between my neighbor's property and mine. In theory, they're fine with it... just need owners of all abutting properties to sign off on the deal. Since my neighbor first suggested it, no problem. Au contrar, mon frer!

Turns out a wedge of property I was told belonged to the city, doesn't. It's an unusable postage stamp of land between me and the creek. It took me fully three hours to find the owner's name (both at the city and the county tax assessor) and to find out he's in Dallas. This isn't going to be fun.

Needless to say, no concrete today. Tomorrow, I'll pull up the dirt-mounted tile in the belltower and put up the forms. It's cool in the basement so I'll pour in the afternoon when it's too hot to work outside. "Plan? There ain't no plan!" - PigKiller from the last Mad Max movie Beyond the Thunderdome.

Just another brick in the wall...

For a few who have asked, this is the condition of the bricks in the back. As I said, apparently the repairs done 100 years ago after the fire were done inccorrectly, whether by design or by mistake. The hole is actually much bigger than that now. It must all be rebricked above and repointed below. Then the whole wall must be stuccoed to protect the friable bricks. BIG job! but I'm up to it.

Countdown to construction... 3...2...1...

Five more days until I can get started as the general contractor, plumber, electrician, carpenter, landscaper, decorator, and day laborer on the Nickel Church Project. We've come to start calling it "the Manor" so that people don't think I'm actually going to use it as a church. My plan is to commit to 30 hours per week as a minimum in order to get things moving. However, it's summer in Texas which means HOT. HOTTER! HOTTEST!! Afternoon tempuratures around here run from 97 degrees F (36.1 C) now to about 103 degrees F (39.5 C) by August. Early starts and a siesta in the afternoon. We mzungu can't take too much heat 'til we adjust halfway through the summer. Probably won't post anything else here until I've started again.