Scorching the World

Tom has bishopric meeting at the church at 9am, then online ward council at 10 am, for which he stayed at the church with the bishopric. They set up a plan for online sacrament meeting starting next week. It will have speakers but no sacrament. We will still do that on our own. We have set a precedent where Janna now expects to be part of our sacrament meeting and dinner. In the late morning she asked what time dinner and Sacrament meeting was so she could come in. We told her we would let her know when Knudsens got here. We both had other things we were trying to get done before they came. I managed to take a nap. That felt really good. They didn’t get her until after 2pm, and as soon as Janna heard them, she knocked on the door to come in and join us. I’m sure its lonely in her studio all day, but we never meant to have her be a guest at every Sunday dinner and all Sunday afternoon and evenings every week. Oh well. I’m pretty sure it counts as ministering so that’s good. Knudse...

W e didn’t rush too much getting ready – dressing, packing, having breakfast, and loading the car and still got out of the house around 10am. It seems like a really long drive, but we distracted ourselves talking, reading, and playing some fun games Carma had on her phone. In San Francisco, Tom dropped us off at Pier 39, or rather a few blocks from there, then went to park. Anne decided she needed her jacket from the car so I texted Tom to bring it, but I had forgotten that I had the key in my purse and once Tom locked the car, he couldn’t get back into it. He did, however, find a great deal on a cool jacket and bought it for Anne to use and us to keep. Brilliant. It was pretty cold and very windy in SF. We ducked into stores or tried to stick close to walls as much as possible, even with the coats. As soon as Tom got there, we went in a restaurant and had lunch. Delicious! Then we just wandered around and went in whatever store one of us was interested in. My favorite is the hat sto...

Today was the day we planned to go to Lindsey and Exeter and as it turned out Tom had work to do right there so that worked out great! So we drove down with Tom and I and Anne and Carma. First we went to my favorite taco wagon for lunch. We each chose what we wanted to eat and were all happy with what we got. Good food. We stopped at a few mobile home parks where Tom spent a couple of minutes talking to the park manager and was mostly successful in finding work he needed. Then we went to the Orange Works and had fresh squeezed orange juice ice cream. It was so delicious! We drove through Lindsey and looked at a few impressive murals, then went to Exeter to see the really impressive ones. Tom went to the Chamber of Commerce there and picked up a book that showed each mural (more than 20 of them) and explained about the picture, and some hints as to hidden pictures that they each have. It was interesting, but every time we opened the window of the car to see better, the heat was li...

Yesterday we (Anne, Carma, and I) decided we needed to go back to stores to get more supplies for painting, but this morning during breakfast (I made crepes), we decided we were ok with what we had – except for one thing I asked Tom to pick up for me at Lowe’s. So we were able to start painting earlier today than yesterday. We tried lots of different paint-pouring styles and some of the pictures came out really pretty. It was way fun to paint together and cheer each other on and then see fun results. We decided paint pouring is pretty complicated and we need to practice more, but then what do you do with all those lovely paintings? I made empanadas for lunch and they turned out pretty good. I was super happy and everyone liked them. We were tired after all that, so we sat around and did computer work and/or read for a while before getting into the pool around 5pm. The water was not very warm, so we didn’t stay in very long, but we sure had fun. We threw frisbees, and laughed a lo...

We had to get up early, which wasn’t easy after the very long travel day that Anne and Carma had yesterday. But we managed to get up, dressed, and out of the house by 7:15am to go to the vineyard and meet with Jaime Hansen. He runs the vineyard for the Church and I thought it would be nice to introduce my sisters to him and hear him talk a little about the blessings of the raisin farm. It was nice that it wasn’t too cold or hot to be standing out there while he talked to us. He showed us some of his many varieties of plants that he grows there – tomatoes, avocado and grapes – I think he gave us samples of 3 or 4 different varieties of the tomatoes and grapes that were all delicious. It was nice to be there and hear a little of the blessings of the vineyard. After we got home and had breakfast, I set out everything for paint pouring so we could assess what else we might need, then we took off to run errands. We needed to go to Hobby Lobby, the thrift store, and the 99 Cent store. We did...

T om and I were up in plenty of time to get all we needed done before leaving at 8am. We stopped in Los Banos for a wonderful burrito we shared. Cody and Sammy had picked up Anne and Carma from the airport and then they went to IHOP in Dublin for breakfast and visiting. We met up with them in Livermore after a few little re-adjustments of the meeting place. Tom got a business call just in time to need to stop in Tracy on the way home to contact a mobile home park manager. The timing was perfect; I was so glad it worked out! We spent the rest of the day talking and planning and watching paint-pouring videos and such. It was so fun to hang out! Carma and I jumped in the pool which was quite refreshing, but Anne was too tired to go to the trouble to change into her swim suit. So sad to be too tired to swim! And so the day went. Until bedtime we just worked on computer, Clean Queen, and stuff. SO FUN!

Things were coming together so well. Janna has moved into the apartment, I was getting the guest room set up, was getting the house cleaned, and went to get all the shopping done. I went to three stores and found almost everything I needed and wanted. When I got home, Janna met me at the door and asked if I was going to buy a shower curtain or should she. I told her we designed the shower so that ti wouldn’t need a shower curtain. She said she just took a shower and the water spilled out so much, it had run all the way out of the bathroom and across the whole floor to the outside door! That was terrible news, because water running through sheetrock is never a good idea, not to mention all her clothes and things that are there. I told Tom and he went in to look. He found that the plumbing under the shower had a leak and called Curtis to come back to fix it, then sent me back to the store to get a shower curtain. Curtis was planning to come today anyway but was planning to hook up ...

  We got so much done today, it is absolutely amazing. We had some distractions that we couldn’t avoid in the morning, but managed to get to the painting soon enough. Tom went about 6:30 am to Home Depot to try to find some Mexicans who might be able to help us with our yardwork. It is an absolute mess! He came back with a homeless lady who said she wanted to work, so he told her he would pay $10/hour. When he got here, he volunteered to give her breakfast, take a shower, and loan her some clothes while I washed hers. It took her about 1 ½ hours to do all that. Tom tried to have her do some weeding, but she was pretty ineffective, so I took her home after she had worked about an hour. Carlos Fernandez came quite early to finish the electrical now that the sheetrock is there and painted. It is so nice to have lights! Up till now we’ve had to work with just the light from the garage door opener, which wasn’t really that good of light. Also, it is on a motion sensor, so if we ...

  I got outside early before it warmed up and cleaned the back a little. Tom went to Home Depot to try to get some guys to do some day labor, but there wasn’t anybody there. Not sure if all had already found jobs, or if nobody needs jobs, or if everyone is afraid of Covid, but he will try again tomorrow. We spent the day getting as much done as we could as the sheetrockers did their work. It took until 3pm, but they got all the sheetrock taped and mudded and cleaned everything up (almost). By the time they finished cleaning up, the mud was dry enough to paint. Tom was still working in the office, but I got everything set up to paint and began at 4pm. Tom and I painted until we were about 1/3 done around 6pm when Janna got home and volunteered to help. We were almost out of paint, and I was super tired and ready to quit for the night but Janna volunteered to run to the store and get more paint! She was back quickly and we painted 2 more gallons-worth of paint, about 9pm when we ...

  We woke up early – too early, but decided to be productive, so at 4am, we grouted the vanity so the sink can be put in today. It is so pretty. It is ALMOST finished. Curtis came back today and got the shower and sink plumbing hooked up. They are ALMOST ready for use. Why is everything always ALMOST done I wonder? The sheetrock guys came back and ALMOST finished. They promised to be finished tomorrow. If it dries fast enough tomorrow, we can paint tomorrow night! Hooray!

The sheetrock guys worked a longer day and got ALMOST all the sheetrock taped and mudded. They ran out of tape in the afternoon and had to quit. I have to say, they sure are messy. There is mud splattered all over everything – not just the floors, but everything they touched and everything that was in the room. In the afternoon I took everything out so that nothing more would get splattered, and took all the messy tools and cleaned them – the hammer, power screwdriver, level, and a metal chair and a stool. I washed and scrubbed all those and put them outside so they will stay clean. And the dust gets tracked everywhere, so I try to sweep a lot to keep the spread to a minimum. But the garage is looking better and better! Curtis didn’t come today. He has serious health problems (especially for a runner who looks like he’s in great shape) and pushed himself too hard yesterday, so he needed a day to recuperate. Tom and I got the shower grouted and the tile set in for the vanity. It t...

It was only in the 80’s when we got up, so I decided to jump in the pool! The water was warmer than the air so it felt fabulous! I didn’t swim long, but it was the best way to start the day! Our guys finished all the sheetrock! It looks so much better! And Curtis came to tile the shower! Nice to have things getting done. The sheetrock is supposed to be all done by Thursday so we can paint Friday! This plan might come together after all! I had quite a bit of Clean Queen off and on. Also, Tom and I pulled the area rug out from under our bed (harder than it sounds) and I put it in the living room and vacuumed and shampooed it. It looks much better. We will put it in the studio apartment. In the afternoon I went to Walmart and bought a bunch of stuff for the studio. That’s way more fun than waiting for other people to finish things. I put all those things in the livingroom, too. In the evening Tom had to go to Visalia for a Synergy meeting. He came back happy about how it turned ou...

  It just sees so slow, but things take time. I keep reminding myself. We had the guy come today to work on the sheetrock. He did the walls instead of doing ceiling first, which is backwards according to You Tube, but who am I to question. They got almost all the walls covered and it is beginning to look like a room! They had said they would come Saturday and Sunday, but didn’t, so they are behind. (We asked them not to come on Sunday and to take the day to rest, but they said it was the ONLY day they could do the ceiling because the other helpers work every other day. Then they didn’t ever come, so that was fine with us.) I did some paint touch up in the bathroom. Curtis Flowe is going to do the tile in the shower, so he came for a couple of hours by to scope it out. He is also helping a neighbor, Rosie Smith, install a toilet, so he definitely stays busy for someone who would like to be retired and who has such health problems that he can’t physically do anything after 3pm. ...

  I had a couple of Kahoots to prepare for this coming week, so I started that right after cutting Tom’s hair and trimming up his beard. Tomorrow for FHE, Randy Haar is teaching a short lesson, but they wanted a Kahoot but nobody had ever done one except Tom and I, so I volunteered to prepare one. I also got volunteered to teach the sisters’ scripture study class on Tuesday night, so I decided to do the whole lesson in a Kahoot. That will be different – we’ll see how it works as a lesson on Gathering Israel. It was fun to work on those. Our Sunday School was at 11am and Tom and Janna joined me for the class. Afterwards, I got on a Zoom with Anne and Carma. That was super fun. I love talking with my sisters! Knudsens showed up while I was talking to them, so after everyone got to see and say hi to them, we hung up. Todd came a little later in his own car and when he got here, we did Sacrament meeting. It was nice to be all together again, and Janna was happy to join us. Afte...

I had a couple of Kahoots to prepare for this coming week, so I started that right after cutting Tom’s hair and trimming up his beard. Tomorrow for FHE, Randy Haar is teaching a short lesson, but they wanted a Kahoot but nobody had ever done one except Tom and I, so I volunteered to prepare one. I also got volunteered to teach the sisters’ scripture study class on Tuesday night, so I decided to do the whole lesson in a Kahoot. That will be different – we’ll see how it works as a lesson on Gathering Israel. It was fun to work on those. Our Sunday School was at 11am and Tom and Janna joined me for the class. Afterwards, I got on a Zoom with Anne and Carma. That was super fun. I love talking with my sisters! Knudsens showed up while I was talking to them, so after everyone got to see and say hi to them, we hung up. Todd came a little later in his own car and when he got here, we did Sacrament meeting. It was nice to be all together again, and Janna was happy to join us. After the ...

I really have nothing in my life to account for except garage construction. Kind of sad, but such is life during the COVID quarantine of 2020. We managed to get the vanity in place and actually screwed in. The next thing was to get the light and mirror put above it. The light was easy – for Tom. He got that and the other light that has a fan installed with no problems. Then, with a little help from our friend Curtis, he got the switch for the lights installed. Hooray for lights!!! It’s the first time we have any lights in the garage except for the garage door opener light since our electrician set up all the electrical out there. Every other light is waiting for sheetrock, tape, mud, and paint. But we actually have working lights in the bathroom, and the one over the vanity is so pretty! The hard part was putting up the mirror. It is one we got cheap off Craig’s list. It is Pottery Barn mirror, and I like it, but it is very heavy and there are no studs in the wall to anchor it to. ...

  The guy that Tom found to do our sheetrock seems to be able to do everything. He knows plumbing, electrical, tiling, and everything else having to do with construction. We might hire him to build our whole carport when we get to that point. We have a heat wave warning from the national weather service in effect until the 19 th , so I had no desire to be outside. There were things we needed to take care of in the garage early, so I helped Tom with that, then I hid myself in my wonderful air conditioning the rest of the day. Our sheetrock guy, Dan showed up about 9 and worked most of the day. He had to do mostly prep work, so there aren’t any big visible differences, but I guess progress is progress, even if you can’t see it. Hopefully tomorrow he will start the actual sheetrock. I had hoped that all sheetrock, tape, and mud would be finished by today. Heavy sigh. Janna got here before Dan left. She was off today and will be off Monday. Her job is very off and on. After Dan...

I felt great when I got up, so Tom and I went right to work in the garage. He still has framing he needs to do before the sheetrock guys come back. My focus is to get the bathroom done, so I primed and then painted the walls. We have a vanity that we got from Craig’s list that we’ve been trying to make work in there. It doesn’t seem like it should be hard, but we spent MOST of the day adjusting, fitting, managing, and trying to make it work. We finally decided the main problem with it is that the half-inch plywood on top is badly warped and had to be replaced. We thought we could make it do, but no. So Tom bought a new one which we will cut to fit tomorrow. That was a major project. I really want to get the vanity in, so we can put the mirror in, and then the light above it! There is no light in the bathroom, so it is hard to see what we are doing in the late afternoon. But it is SO slow-going. Things just take a lot of time! In the late afternoon my headache came back, so Tom work...

  Yesterday and this morning I sanded the mud on the sheetrock in the bathroom and by the time Jorge got here, I had the bathroom almost completely painted with the primer. I had started some of the real paint. He had thought he was coming today to finish sanding, so he decided to just leave. I asked if he couldn’t start the tile work, since I saved him a day of sanding, but he said he had another job he really needed to get to. Our other sheetrock guys promised they would be here “first thing”, which I am learning is code for “I have no idea, but I’ll be there when I get there.” They finally came about 10:00 am, but decided there was something they needed so they left and said they would be “right back”. They came back about 2 1/12 hours later and worked for 2 hours. They got the rest of the insulation in. We’re glad to have that done. It would have taken Tom and I a whole day and hard sweat and tears to do it, so we’re glad they did it. But then they left and said they would be...

We started early again to get things done to be ready for the sheetrock guys. Again, they never showed up. Again, Tom had so much to do that he only spent a little while in the garage, and again there is more to do tomorrow before they come, IF they come. I keep suggesting to Tom that it is time to find someone else, but he is sure they will come when they finish with their current job. In the mean time, we got 4 strips of insulation put in the ceiling (lots more to do), and Tom started framing out other things that need done before sheetrocking happens. The only difference today was that Jorge, the one doing the bathroom, came back and did the 2 nd coat of mud on the bathroom sheetrock. Hopefully he will finish tomorrow. Then he will work on tile. We hope. Tom had to go to Tulare today for work. He went in the afternoon and I got to peace out. My back up plan is that if the garage isn’t done before my sisters come, I will set up the office for them. So that gives me a little pea...

We’ve been so looking forward to today for a couple of weeks because the guys we contracted to do sheetrock were supposed to come today. We are at a point where we really can’t move forward until the sheetrock was done. Tom had a few things he needed to get done first, so we went out and cleaned the garage and organized and got it ready so they would have nothing in the way. Then we waited. But Tom had a few things I didn’t know about that needed done before they came, so I helped him work on that, and we worked quite a while with only interruptions for work. They were supposed to be here by 9:30 or 10am and we started about 7am to have everything ready. They never showed up. Tom finally talked to them in the early evening and they said they would be here first thing tomorrow. I was pretty upset that we did all that and they didn’t show up or tell us they wouldn’t make it today. Tom, on the other hand, was a little relieved because he still has things he needs to do before they...

Tom had ward council this morning at 9am, so he left about 8:30. It was an actual meeting in the church building with real people (wearing masks). He said it was so much better than talking on Zoom. So we all miss meeting in person, but at least Zoom allows us to carry on in a limping sort of way. I did computer type stuff until time for Sunday School, but got a text right before 10am saying Sunday School was canceled. So I texted my sisters to see if they were ready to chat, and within a short time we were talking. Zoom works pretty good for connecting with people faraway! We had planned to have our little Sacrament meeting with Janna before going to Tanya’s house but she went into her room and we didn’t know if she was asleep, so we left to go to Knudsens. Everyone there was just chilling out. We watched some videos and then Tanya pulled out a RackO Game. Tanya, Tom, Kaden, and I played quite a while. It seemed to get more fun as we went. Then Kaden went to take a bath and Cann...

I woke up soon after Tom came back to bed, around 6, and went out first thing to check on my Clean Queen team. They had two people call in sick, so they had only 3 to do 6 hours of work. That’s rough. But I helped Pamela, the team leader throughout the day, and she did great in spite of all kinds of obstacles that she hadn’t happened before for her. Tom and I spent most of the day working in the garage. There were no other workers today, and there were lots of things that Tom needed to get done before the sheetrock guys come on Monday morning. We got most of it done, so we are happy and excited for Monday. Once the sheetrock is in, it will look like we are getting somewhere. About 7pm we finally got in the pool and relaxed. It was fabulous! It was fun working with Tom all day. It’s fun working together and just being together.

Tom and I had things to do that kept us busy and out of the garage until late afternoon. There are quite a few things Tom needs to get done before our team comes to do all the sheetrock on Monday, so after we ran to the store for supplies, we finally got started. I helped a little while, but it was hot and miserable out there, so Tom excused me to get some air conditioning. Instead, happily I dressed and got in the pool. Tom joined me shortly after. The pool was WONDERFUL. It has been unseasonable cool for a couple of days so the water was cooler and very refreshing! Loved it!! We haven’t been in much lately, so it was very nice. Such a blessing!

Tom had to go to Visalia again today and was gone almost all day. Our friend, Jorge, worked on the bathroom sheetrock/tape and mud for some hours and got it all done. Tomorrow, if it is dry, he will sand and re-mud where needed. Then I can paint!!! Then he will start tiling the bathroom. I sat down and worked out a timeline for the work that needs done so we can get Janna moved in before my sisters arrive. It is such a crazy plan, it just might work. hahaha So I cleaned out my broom closet. It was out of control and way past due. I sure wish I had taken a before picture. It is a tiny closet and I expect a lot from it, but I think it’s better now. I had a lot of Clean Queen, a little at a time, spread out throughout the day even until almost 9pm – 10pm in Utah. After Tom got home, he did a little work and then a little outside in the yard. It was nice for him to have time for those things instead of working so hard in the garage.

Today we had Jorge and a friend here putting up the sheetrock in the bathroom. It only took a few hours and made such a difference!! It looks so nice (compared to the raw studs and mess of before). While he worked, I wasn’t needed in the garage at all. Tom went to several trips to Lowe’s and also did a bunch of his own work. Jorge does a really good job, so we are happy to pay what he asks, which is about half what anyone else would ask. So I had time to do some fun things. I used a fun color to spray paint the round metal table, and another color to paint the swinging bench on our back patio. I thought about painting the picnic table/bench unit, but it is so warped that Tom and I decided it wasn’t worth the cost of the paint and we would look for one at Lowe’s the next time we went. But when we went in the evening to get a couple of urgent things for tomorrow, they didn’t have anything similar. I guess it is too far in the season to buy picnic tables. About 2pm when Jorge finish...

I woke up this morning about 2am and just couldn’t go back to sleep. It was so frustrating. Tom got up around 4 and we both went back to bed about 6am and managed to sleep a little while but it left me feeling groggy and not great all day. Such is life. Tom has been putting out searches for people to help us with the sheetrock, and we think we’ve found a guy that is giving us a pretty good deal. Sadly, he can’t start for a week and says it will take a week. I really wanted EVERYTHING done by then and we will just be getting the sheetrock finished. Surprisingly, our friend Jorge called and said he had some time available if we needed him. Boy do we need him. Tom had gone to Visalia for work, and I had gone to run errands and buy groceries when Jorge said he would be over in about 20 minutes to look at the scope of work. I hurried home and was trying to get the popsicles in the freezer as he drove up the driveway. He looked at everything we need done and said he would send Tom an e...

I had errands I needed to run, and there were things we needed to buy in order to do what comes next in the garage. I was all ready to leave, and Tom wanted to go with me, but asked if I could wait until after he made a business call at 9am. At 9:30, I asked him if he was finished, and he said he got distracted and would do it right then. So I was ready to go when he finished shortly after that, but he had left messages for a couple of handymen to maybe give us a quote on doing the sheetrock and both of them scheduled to come around 10:00. While we waited, we painted the area around the new front window in the Garage that just got stucco last Saturday. It was supposed to dry for 2 weeks before painting, but with the heat Tom was sure it was dry enough. We had to paint before we could put in the window. The handymen came (one after another) while we were painting. After the handy men had come and gone, we were finally ready to go run errands. It was afternoon by then, and really hot...