Randall's tidbits

I am going to fill in some of the things that Ann did not talk about. We were fortunate to set up our base of operation close to where the houses we are working on are. We were originally supposed to be in an old trailer court across the road from the feed lot, which would have been very aromatic. As it is we are about three miles away and still get a strong whiff when the wind blows the right direction. Speaking of the wind, there is a wind farm four miles south of us that runs along the east/west road for over ten miles!

Arial view of the Feed Lot

This shows the feed lot from where we are.

 I have to tell you that taking a shower in an RV is an experience that everyone should try. Since there are only 6 gals of hot water, we try to use as little as possible so that we can both shower. With the overhead exhaust fan on it sucks the shower curtain into your body shrinking the already tiny tub causing you to hit your elbows on both sides. I have knocked the hooks off that Ann put on the side of the tub a hundred times.  

 We have been here for over a month working our butts off compared to what we were doing back home and I am still not getting into any better shape. Growing old sucks. These houses were built in the sixties. They used 1xs for all of the sub sheeting and didn’t have a clue what 16” on center means. All the 2xs are 1 5/8” thick instead of our current 1 ½” and 2x10s are 9 ½” wide instead of our barely 9 ¼”. All this makes mixing new lumber in with old a real challenge.

We were tasked with setting up RV hooks ups for the two other couples that are coming in October. We found the septic tank but could not find the stand pipe for it. We got the previous farm manager to come but he could not remember where it was either, but he said he could ‘witch’ it. I cut up a metal hanger into two right angle pieces and he proceed to walk back and forth across the area and found it. I would not have believed if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Then he talked some us into trying it. Danged if it didn’t work. In fact we later ‘witched’ the location of a septic tank

Randall Witching

we could not find for one of the houses that needed to be pumped. I think it works here because there aren’t any rocks in the soil to speak of. I am going to try it back home anyway.