Gina and Rocks Equals Fun

It has been a busy two days around here. I have continued working on finishing up the framing on Mom and Pop’s apartment. Pop has been busy outside getting the sewer and water lines ran out to the apartment. You can check out Mike and Pat's blog where he calls in the big dogs. www.mikepatstravels.blogspot.com He decided that since his yard was tore up he would add a few more parking areas along with redoing his driveway. The sewer and water lines were put in on Tuesday and the new parking areas was started yesterday. While we were working Gina has been collecting rocks from all of the digging going on. It has really been fascinating to watch her. She even got the track hoe operator stopping to give her time to get rocks as he was digging. She is doing what she enjoys, finding and decorating with rocks.

Gina waiting for that special rock to be uncovered


Rocks down the side of the barn


They even go behind the barn

This apartment has been very much a “design as we go” project. Just when I thought I was almost finished with the framing. Mom decided she wanted to make another change. She thought the kitchen was too small and that the refrigerator was squeezed in too much. So we are putting up two smaller walls so it can be hid and still be accessible. This will give her cooktop more space on each side. That's alright since I love building and doing this for you and Pop's. Here are few progress pictures of the apartment.

Designing as we build


Bathroom walls are up


View of the bedroom


View of the bathroom with the laundry room on the left


Kitchen, (tape on the floor indicates the location of cabinets except they will now continue on to the wall on the right)

We are on our way to Rapid City today to pick up our truck then pick up windows and pocket doors that we couldn’t pick up on Monday. We will also buy a little bit more lumber to finish up the framing.

After our hike yesterday, Mike and Leslie stopped by for a few minutes. We enjoyed seeing them again and hopefully we’ll get to spend a little more time with them. We are having so much fun up here in South Dakota and are looking forward to what each day brings.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Spent the Day in Rapid City

Good Morning to our blog followers. Gina and I want to thank all of you for reading our blog. We started this blog so our children would know what we are doing. However, it has become so much more to us knowing that all of you enjoy reading about our travels.

Yesterday was another beautiful morning as we went hiking through Custer State Park. Gina and I tell each other everyday how much we love this area. Not only is it beautiful but waking up to temperatures in the high 40's or low 50's during the middle of the summer is unbelievable.

The mountains around here are magnificent


Another view looking down on Stockade Lake

After we returned from our hike I called the Volvo dealer in Rapid City to see if our truck repairs were complete. The service manager said yes except for the mechanic hasn't done his test-drive yet. I said that was alright since we wouldn’t be there for another two hours. We all loaded up in Mom and Pop’s Honda heading for Rapid city to buy windows, two pocket doors and all of the electrical supplies. We stopped at the Volvo dealer to pick up our truck only to find out that the mechanic wasn’t finished flushing the cooling system. He said it would be another hour. We needed our truck to haul back the windows and pocket doors. So we hung out for a little while at Lowe’s until the mechanic called and said there was a problem. The turbo charger wasn’t working. I explained to him that it was working when I dropped it off. Regardless our truck wouldn’t be ready today. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal. However, this time it was. Gina tried to convince me this morning that we should take Mom and Pop’s half ton truck just in case something like this happened. I told her that it didn’t make sense to have two trucks in Rapid City. She reluctantly agreed with me. I should have listened to her but noooooo, I had to be the man and have things my way. I don’t know why I am that way but at least she didn’t rub it. She knew I felt bad because we didn’t have anyway to haul the windows or doors back to Custer for Mom and Pop's. We were able to buy all of the electrical supplies and I now have all of the rough opening measurements for the windows and doors. This will allow me to finish the framing today. For dinner I grilled some chicken breast while Gina baked some sweet potato wedges and mom made a salad.

After dinner Gina and I got online to catch up on reading blogs of our friends. We realized our friends Mike and Leslie were not only here in Custer but were just three miles down the road from us. I emailed them and will try to catch up with them later today or tomorrow.

Mike and Leslie last year when we met them

Gina wasn’t feeling to well this evening so we both decided to call it a night. The day may not have turned out the way we wanted it to. However, we know God’s timing is perfect. I’ll leave you with a quote that Gina and I reflect on when things don’t go the way we plan. “The secret to peace with God is to discover, accept and appreciate God’s perfect timing”.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

More Progress Followed by a Day of Rest

After a very successful first day we decided Saturday morning we would still get in a hike at Custer State Park. The mornings are so beautiful here in the Black Hills. Gina and I can understand why Mom and Pop’s enjoy hiking each morning. The air and scenery is so refreshing. Once we got back it was time to continue the construction. We hung just about all of the ceiling joists and worked on the interior walls.

Mom telling me how HAPPY she is


Ceiling Joist going up


Ceiling Joist are up over the bedroom


Pop's showing off


Closet wall going up


The wall between the kitchen and bathroom is up

This project is a design on the fly. I thought we were going with traditional doors then it was decided to use pocket doors. Being that I have never installed these before I couldn’t finish all of the walls. We had looked at windows last week and thought we had them picked out but after we laid them out Mom changed her mind on those sizes.

The Boss still on the phone

She spent a lot of time on the telephone Saturday getting information on pocket doors and windows. We believe we have them now. We are heading back to Rapid City Monday morning to pick them up along with electrical supplies.

Gina cooked a pot of red beans and sausage on Saturday for a potluck that would be held after the Sunday morning service at church. All of the food tasted excellent and like all potlucks I seem to always over eat. That was alright since Sunday is a day of rest and that is what I did. While I was trying to rest in the afternoon I was awakened from my sleep with loud bangs. It was hailing outside about the size of quarters. It didn’t last too long. However, Gina was sure worried. Gina was praying the whole time that no damage would be done and sure enough her prayers were answered. Our home was fine.

We had Mom and Pop’s over for dinner to enjoy the remaining red beans and sausage along with some homemade jambalaya. We had no longer finished eating when another storm was moving in. We said goodnight and they hurried back home before it started raining hard. Gina and I settled in for the night by watching Army Wives and then went to bed.

As a note we have created a folder on our online photo album that you can see all of the pictures of Mom & Pop’s apartment. Just click the link: Mom & Pop’s Apartment You can also check out Mike and Pat's blog at this link: MikePatstravels

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.