lifeisgoodintobinhill

Six Months into the NEW YEAR!

2010-06-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

It's been six months since I started to update the blog. Can we blame it on the grandchildren? Since we began this daunting project of restoring a 100 year old house in Tobin Hill, the house has truly become our home. The beautiful wood floors are more beautiful with baby grandchildren crawling on them, the door panel with stained glass is adorned with little Lily and Zoe fingerprints, and baby monitors keep us tuned in to little Zoe waking up in the pack n' play downstairs while we are upstairs with Lily who is now big enough to sleep in the Jenny Lind style bed that I slept in at my grand-dad's house in Tennessee when I was a little girl. We do love our babies!

Will post a picture with little Zoe in a day or two---Meanwhile, you can check out Buck and Katy's blog for the girls with the bows and beatia link. http://bowsandbeatia.blogspot.com/

We also love living in San Antonio close to Buck and Katy's family, and close enough to get to the airport and easily go see Andy and Bethany and Liam, or pick up Jay when he comes in from Puerto Rico. Going to take this opportunity to mention one of my favorite places to shop, Bless Your Heart Giftique in Bracken Village. Whenever someone compliments me on a cute shirt, shoes, or jewelry I have bought there, I love being able to tell them I got it at my daughter-in-law's store, Bless Your Heart!

Katy with nephew Liam and Bethany at Bless Your Heart

Boymom became boy-grandmom! Funny how that happens! This great shirt is from Bless Your Heart!

Catching up in the new year

2010-01-10T18:56:00.001-08:00

I feel like I am learning how to post all over again! This rusty old "tin man" needs a little oil to do this smoothly. Bo worked so hard and accomplished some huge jobs in 2009! He's telling folks that we are nearly in "maintenance mode" ! His biggest project last year was making 39, yes 39!, wooden window screens from "scratch". Besides improving the appearance of the house, they will help us stay cool next summer.

Stay tuned-more to come on this post.

It's Been a Long Time - 1Q 2009 Update

2009-03-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

No, we haven't fallen off the edge of the earth. The old house is still a "work in progress." Several of you have heard me say that it took me a few months to realize that this was not a project. It is a lifestyle.

How about those "Stars & Stripes" suspenders?

Much work has been done since the last blog update where we highlighted work on the house. Scraping, sanding, and painting don't sound too exciting in comparison to hosting guests, celebrating Christmas with family, and babysitting for your granddaughter each week. OSHA Babe has done a great job keeping you informed of the "people" highlights in our lives these days. I'll try to catch you up on the progress that continues to put the finishing touches on the place.

WARNING - You need a tetanus shot to even look at the picture of the small upstairs bathroom as we found it in September, 2006. The "Nasty Bathroom" we found in place -

Pictured below, that same bathroom as of February, 2009

Talk about an ugly mirror, light fixture, and electrical outlet-

Notice the custom made mirror that now covers that bathroom wall.

1. The small bathroom upstairs got some finishing touches recently. From the pictures above, you can see that we've come a long way from the "Nasty Bathroom" we found when we bought the place. (Just looking at the "before" picture nearly makes you want to get a tetanus shot.) Upgrading the mirror, scraping the window down to bare wood and painting it, adding the period specific trim over the top of the window, scraping and painting the closet doors, and cleaning up the messes that were made took over 2 weeks. Now, the OB has towel rods, a bathrobe hook, and no holes in the sheetrock around the electrical outlet and medicine cabinet. It's also nice that what OB calls my "private office" is well lit.

Don't the refinished floors look great in the downstairs Guest Bedroom?

The yellow walls in the distance in this picture are in the room where the computer is now located. .

2. The Back 2 Rooms have been completed and furnished and are being well used. You will notice the great job done on refinishing the floors. One of the two rooms is a guest bedroom. It is cozy and works out great for our guests who would rather not climb stairs.

The other room is now the computer room. We prewired both rooms for cable tv and internet access and finally got the computer moved from OB's upstairs office. (Virgie, you will be glad to know that we reset the door strike mechanism and now can lock that back door.) We are spending more time in this room than we imagined.

3. Windows and Doors continue to be necessary projects.

The neighborhood has changed since these burglar bars were common in the 80's.

Nasty screen and decades of dirt had to be dealt with

Much better, don't you think?

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Shutters in the dining room give a finished look and privacy from nearby neighbor's house

We are really proud of how the Dining Room looks with the shutters installed on the bay windows. They were installed a couple of days before Christmas and really finish off the room in a classy way. We like them so much that we plan on getting shutters for the Butler's Pantry windows.

Plywood outside in January 2009 is testimony that the work continues
Once again, the finished product is worth the trouble described below. Thanks, dear husband/contractor/handyman.

The picture above that shows the plywood covering an exterior window chronicles about a 3 week period when the bottom sash of the window was being repaired. A corner of that sash, having caught full afternoon sun for over a century, finally decided that it had had enough. Again, something that appear relatively simple required scheduling with the shop to rebuild the corner, priming and painting the sash, replacing the glass, glazing the pane into the sash, replacing the ropes that held the sash weights, fastening the ropes to the sash, scraping, sanding, painting 3 coats on the inside window trim, and installing the trim. It doesn't look like much but it does take time.
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Some would simply add one more layer of paint to existing surfaces, but Bo is patiently getting it all down to bare wood before painting with three layers of paint.

The most recent window adventure was in the TV Room upstairs. The three window frames had to be scraped, painted with three coats, have trim removed, scraped, sanded, painted (3 coats), installed, nail holes filled, shades installed, ..... You get the drift. It sure looks nice when it is done.

The overall count of scraping windows is -

Downstairs -- 21 done and 4 to go

Upstairs -- 8 done and 10 to go

Doors - This bead board center of closet door from upstairs bathroom had been covered with plywood.

Bead board door for upper area of pantry in kitchen-before (above) and after (below)
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Since we last reported, 5 doors have been refinished. Three of them were relatively small. The small upstairs bathroom had two beautiful bead board door that someone had decided to cover over with plain plywood. One of the doors had be taken off (probably during the mid 1990's) and left under the carport. Amazingly, it was in good shape structurally and really turned out nice with sanding, scraping, and 3 coats of paint. In the Kitchen, the storage space above the pantry now has a finished door. It too was recovered from under the carport.

Two full size doors have been refinished since our last report but only one of them has been rehung. I can not find the hinges for the door between the Kitchen and the Mud Room. But it sure looks nice and is ready to go when I find hinges that work.
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The overall count of scraping and refinishing doors is -

Downstairs -- 14 done and 1 (or possibly 2) to go

Upstairs -- 9 done and 1 to go.

I'm not sure if these numbers are a badge of honor or a symptom of lunacy. It might depend on who you ask.
(Note from OSHA Babe-I think it's love-see Days 1-40 of The Love Dare)

4. Outside
Even the palm trees have become better groomed since the first picture below (taken
September, 2006)
The palm trees got a haircut in early 2009, not an easy job without special equipment.

The orange crop for 2009 was abundant. We have enjoyed sharing with neighbors and friends.

Our young friend Deborah, the orange picker

5. Redecoration

Dee and Diane, from My Home at Last, with some of the tools of their trade

OSHA Babe arranged for dear friends Dee and Diane to work with her and put some incredible decorating touches into the house. She caught me while I was out of town for 3 days and they worked long, hard hours rearranging furniture, hanging pictures, moving area rugs, dusting, taking things out of the house, and a lot more. The place looks fabulous and is professionally and tastefully decorated. By the way, Dee and Diane have been in the interior decoration business for several years. If you know of anyone in the San Antonio area in need of their services, they have added us on the list of those who give them highest recommendations. We will feature their work in a separate blog listing.

5. Visitors

Brothers Byrl and Joe with Leo - on the porch in December, 2008

Our friend Anne's room is always ready whenever she comes to San Antonio. Her latest visit was early in January, 2009-Yes, the Christmas decorations are all down now.

We still love visitors. The nice, old house without friends is not nearly as valuable.

Monday is normally Lily's day to do "inner city mission work." She brightens up the place. We also enjoy Buck and Katy coming to pick her up.

Dennis and Vickie from Indianapolis surprised us with a visit in February. They were "in the neighborhood" (Dallas) for a business meeting and tacked on several days to cover I-35 from Oklahoma City to San Antonio visiting a son in college and friends. We were thrilled to come back from a morning coffee run and find them standing on our porch. We've known them from St. Louis church days in the 1980's and consider them to be dear, lifelong friends.

Speaking of lifelong friends, Loyd and Wilma came over from Houston and spent a couple of nights. They are also church friends from the 1970's in Houston. (There is a common theme, isn't there?) Loyd gets put to work when he is here. Every evening is "game time" that involves either cards or dominos. The girls won the card game on night 1 but the guys walloped them in dominos thereafter.

Bethany, Lupe, Deborah Artie and JR, Joseph, and Pedro

Guess the connection to the folks in the group picture? Yep, friends from church here in San Antonio. They are a special family that we have come to love. We had shared a meal with them to honor Pedro who left for his Navy Seal training. We wish him godspeed in this challenge and ask you to join us in praying for his safety and success in the coming months. This young man is special to us and God must have a very gracious hand on his shoulder. Hard to imagine he entered this world early as a barely two pound baby and now he is strong and courageous enough to attempt to join a very elite corps of brave individuals. It will be our privilege to keep you posted on his progress.

NEXT STEPS:

1. Finish doors and windows

2. Enclose a 20' x 16' section of the carport. This is planned for a storage area.

3. Begin constructing wooden window screens so we can lower the top sash and get some good ventilation through the house in the 6 weeks to 2 months before and after air conditioning season.

Four Generations, Family, Friends, and Forty Two-Our Full House!

2009-01-07T20:00:00.001-08:00

Pat's parents, Larry and Virgie, came to visit in early November and guess who was the star of the show? Lily acted like she knew they were special people in her life and they are! What a privilege it was to spend time together and Buck and Katy were so generous to drop her off for extra downtown days. Coffee on the porch was more fun than ever while they were here.

Pat's Uncle Doug and Aunt Gloria have very special friends who live in San Antonio, Ray and Lydia and they came over to meet Larry and Virgie. Their visit was timely! They not only recommended the best tamale places in town, they gifted us with a dozen which we later enjoyed with Christmas dinner.

In mid-November Buck and Katy participated in the Rock N' Roll San Antonio Marathon by running the half-marathon. We had fun moving to different places for Lily to cheer them on. We also enjoyed all the compliments about how cute she was.

Last year's Fiesta Fellowship elves, Danielle and Darian were joined by Fiesta friends Desi and Cielo. With their good help the tree was decorated and it was officially time to enjoy the coming of Christmas.Danielle and Darian with parents Daniel and MinnieDesi and Cielo with Mom Haydee, Grandma Hermila from Monterrey, Mexico and Dad MiguelMary Dean was back in town before flying to Mexico for Mark and Andi's wedding. We had our Chili's tradition time together. Miss Lily was the final decoration needed to make us ready for ChristmasOur entry way was full after Santa brought the presentsGran Shanna enjoys her special gifts under the tree

Beautiful Yates women-three sisters? Stacy and GrandDad on Christmas morningUncle Joe from Sabinal spent the week with us while daughter Nettie visited her daughter and grandchildren in Odessa. Joe and brother Byrl talk on the phone every day and had fun spending the week together.

Steven, GrandDad, and Uncle Joe
Shanna knew this special gift would fit right in this old house
Maddie opened baby sister-to-be's sweetie pie shirt. Next year this time there will be another new baby. YAY!Christmas dinner-how do you like our new shutters in the dining room? More gifts to open later on Christmas Day. Lily acted as big as her cousins.

Sean shared his new Viking helmet with Lily.Katy and Buck inspired us with their half marathon. Bo and I are working to participate in the Rock N'Roll half next April in Nashville.
The whole family got running shoes.

Bo saw a cedar shoe rack in the Johnston-Murphy catalog and used it as a guide for building his own as a gift for Buck and Andy. Andy asked if he had bought it or made it! The finishing touch was the flattened Alamo penny he attached as a medallion.

Bo thought this was a good time to begin gifting the boys with some memorabilia. He had saved all the caps he used coaching them in Little League baseball. Buck and Katy with Maddie and LilyGreat GrandDad Byrl with Shanna, Maddie, Lily, and Sean-Pretty special!!!!!Uncle Joe and Bo show off their suspenders

And now......let the Forty Two begin!

Let's throw in a little Candyland with Stacy and Sean

Family Picture with Byrl, Bo, Shanna, Steven, Michelle, Sean, and Maddie

A very special picture of Uncle Joe with great grandson Casey and Byrl

Life really is good in Tobin Hill! We are truly blessed and thankful for our wonderful family and all our friends. What a gift it is to have this old house full of those we love.

We wish everyone a very happy and blessed new year! Love and prayers for you and yours,

Bo and Pat

Next time they're in Texas there will be three!

2008-10-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

Andy and Bethany called from Michigan with the good news that another Brockman baby is on the way! Due date is end of May or first of June so if you do the math, you'll see that Baby Brockman may be able to claim some Texas heritage!
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A cousin for Lily Belle! Uncle Andy got some practice in during his summer stay in San Antonio.
Aunt Bethany will be a great mom!
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Proud parents to be and we are very proud grandparents to be as well!

Just in case you missed the round of phone calls and e-mails that went out with this news, we wanted to be sure you knew our happy news! You can keep up with Andy and Bethany and read their announcement at http://backinmichigan.blogspot.com/. We will have to re-do the budget and make a savings plan for frequent trips to Michigan. Being a grandparent is just too much fun to miss out on any opportunity to watch them grow and change!

The last six weeks have been fairly normal for our life here in Tobin Hill. We continue to have company and try to take care of details needed to finish rooms. The occasion of the "Two Years Anniversary" inspired us to work on getting all the "before" pictures organized so we can match up some good "after" shots of upstairs, downstairs, inside, and out. We just shake our heads to see how bad it was. Bo has been so steady and thorough and it is really paying off as we hang doors and transom windows and give attention to items that are really finishing touches. We even hung two of the shades last week that we bought 14 months ago! The wrought iron fence was installed this month and really makes the house look classy.
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I am going to post a few pictures of visitors and details just to let you know we have not been sitting around watching soap operas and eating bon bons rather than keeping up with the blog.
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Tune in soon for some of the before and after shots.

Bo's brother Robert and his family visited this month with Byrl and Virginia. Rob's fiancee, Kim, got an introduction to San Antonio.

Steven and Michelle visited and shared the news that their family of four will become five this spring! ..
The claw foot tub is a favorite spot for Lily and Maddie Bo made a shelf for the downstairs bathroom

Friends from church, John, Donna, Christopher, and Charles with Bo

Installation of the new fence

Here is how the front of the house looks now.

This is how it looked when we bought the house two years ago .

This is how it looked in the mid 80's

Window shades installed at the bottom of the stairway

You can see how much work it takes to get a door stripped down and stained. There were more than 30 in the house
The transom windows had been painted over so the glass as well as the wood needed stripping

Here is what it looked like before

What an improvement!

Bars are finally off the front window.

Two Years in Tobin Hill!

2008-09-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

Andy's new job in Texas did not work out but he had to spend the summer in San Antonio. Bethany visited the first week of SeptemberWe now have a new light fixture and mirror in the downstairs bathroom Andy and Bethany gave Bo a "biscuit joiner" and this frame for the mirror was his first project

Uncle Andy and Aunt Bethany with Katy, Buck, and Lily

Angie, Lindsey, and Andy were at Selvidge Jr. High together in St. Lous. They joined us for dinner and cards with Lindsey's husband, Kenny.

ACU friend Grace, Pat and Grace's friend Brianna

Lily liked cousin Sharon's soft, sweet voice

Chris and Linda from DallasFinally hauling off the water heaters and scrap metal
We visited the first Starbuck's at Pike Street Market in SeattleCool enough for jackets when we all went for a walk Pat finally got to meet her sister's grandchildren-Baby Owen, little Beau, with nephew Ben and his wife Amalea

This month marks our two year anniversary and you can see the visitors are still coming and the work is still going on. We took a break and went to Washington to visit Pat's family. The cool weather was a welcome relief. (More later-it's after midnight)

Already August!

2008-08-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

Katy and Lily host birthday celebration for Pat, Diane, Mary Dean, Dee, and Dani

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Andy removes transom window in den

Bo takes down transom window in Pat's office Pat does Young Lives camp in Williams, ArizonaFourteen teen moms, twelve babies, and six leaders with our supporting castSure was glad we memorized Psalm 121 when I did the ropes course (He will not let my foot slip!)Balcony door with hardware before cleaning
Balcony door gets polyurethane stain

Leo gets invited for coffee on the porch Leo needs coffee to go with his muffin
Circle of love and life-Wilma and Lily Belle. She took care of Buck when Andy was born and was there for us when Jay was born as well.

Andy helps clean windows

Loyd and Bo work on installing the mechanical doorbell Buck and Lily join us to finish the day with "hand and foot"

Coffee on the porch with Mary, Loyd, and Wilma

Summer is baseball season and Lily Belle is a St. Louis Cardinals fan like her dad

FOR THE WEEKS ENDING AUGUST 1, 2008

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Everyone made sure I had a happy birthday July 16. I had lunch with some very special friends and got to have cake and ice cream with Lily! Katy made a delicious Ghiradelli chocolate brownie cake and served it with caramel sauce and ice cream and even had Key Lime pie since I couldn't decide which of those were my favorite. She spoils me. So do my husband and sons. Bo had ordered a bath caddy for our cast iron bathtub and he, Andy, and Bethany had conspired to choose all kinds of bath soaking goodies to stock it with. Birthday week continued with a Friday night visit to The Melting Pot. It was my first time to do fondue and it was fun and very, very good.

2. Doors and windows have made up most of the last month's work around the house. Bo and Andy have continued to work on sanding and staining doors. The prettiest one yet is the door leading out to the upstairs balcony. I think this one took three or four times as long as the others with all the little grooves in the decorative border. But the result was worth it. All the transom windows have been taken down, the glass cleaned and replaced as needed, and the wood part scraped and sanded well enough to stain. It really adds to the beauty of the door to have the window frame stained rather than painted, but it is a lot more work to do that. Andy, Loyd, and Bo also worked hard to clean most of the windows around the house. What a difference! That old wavy glass looks better than ever.

3. I went to Young Lives camp at Lost Canyon Camp in Williams, Arizona for a week. More than 300 teen moms were there from all over the country with their little ones. Volunteer child care workers helped keep the children part of the day while the girls got a chance to have fun and learn about God's love. Getting away to such a beautiful setting and having some one on one opportunities made it possible to have conversations that could never happen in our weekly meetings after school. I appreciate all of those who prayed for me and the girls.

4.Our friends Loyd and Wilma came to visit and help and we were blessed by them as always. Our friendship goes back to 1979 when we moved to Houston when Bo first started with the telelphone company. They have spent about the last 10-12 years with Sojourners, a Christian group that travels in their RV's to help at camps, children's homes, schools, and churches. We are glad they keep us on their list.

5. Our good friend Mary spent a day here in San Antonio with us before returning home to South Padre Island after a trip to help get ready for son Mark's wedding in Seattle. She stocked up on mosquito repellent to take back since Hurricane Dolly had stirred up the mosquito population. We are glad their home received little damage.

Happy 4th of July from Texas!

2008-07-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

I'm working on the blog this morning after a wonderful 4th of July weekend with our dear, dear friends from California! Check later for a full report of the last 3 weeks-Topics include-

1. The Gabes visit for 4th of July weekend

2. Downstairs bedroom prepared-window and trim work

3. Rachel stops by with Asa

4. Lily stays with us at the house for the first time

From Mother's Day to Father's Day

2008-06-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Charlie the carpenter pondering a door frame

The moulding painting table & Finished Computer Room door to outside deck
Guest Bedroom closet door before trim

Guest Bedroom closet door after trim

Computer Room windows also have new trim

Andy and Bethany here on Mother's Day

Lily went shopping with Mom and Aunt Bethany

The yearbook picture from OSHA Babe's "Grandma Shower" and books for Lily (or are they for Grandma ?????)

Diaper "cake" from Lily's EY shower

Buck is ready to teach Lily the ways of the Force

Lily learning the ways of domino game "42" while wearing her "Itty Bitty Aggie" outfit

Master Bathroom is taking shape - and has water and the new fan in the Butler's Pantry

Visitors Jackie and Judy were passing through and stopped by

HIGHLIGHTS from May 16-June 16 - (Hence, "From Mother's Day to Father's Day")

1. The two back rooms are nearing completion. It's hot, hot, hot here in San Antonio but Bo has continued to work hard (with our finish carpenter Charley's help) on adding molding, trim, doors, and baseboard to finish off the two back downstairs rooms. He was able to use much material that was consistent with the character of our 100+ year old house. Bo, along with several neighbors, had deconstructed an old house across the street and was able to salvage over 200 linear feet of longleaf pine trim boards (1 x 10's and 1 x 6's) that otherwise would have been hauled off to the landfill.

Longleaf, smongleaf, strongleaf -- Why don't you just use shortleaf pine? What's the big deal? I'm glad that you asked. Check out the following excerpt from “Architectural Salvage – Ultimate Recycling – Materials fated for landfill get new life” San Antonio Express-News, Sunday, April 27, 2008, --

"Among the most coveted material salvaged from old buildings is the wood. Old-growth wood, so-called because it was taken from trees that had sometimes grown for hundreds of years, is harder, denser, more finely grained and more water-and humidity-resistant than new lumber.

Two of the most sought-after old-growth woods are cypress and longleaf pine. But by the late 1800s and early 1900s, old-growth cypress was gone, milled to build homes and businesses. Today, "sinker cypress," so called because the wood sank to the bottom of rivers, bayous or lakes after it was felled, is being pulled up and sold for use in homes and as furniture.

By about 1930, longleaf pine, common in early 1900s construction in Texas and across the South, had disappeared. Heart pine, which came from the center of the tree, doesn't warp, split or have knots. "It's absolutely nonexistent today," Lindsay said."

These days, you just can't buy the quality material used in these old houses. It makes for a lot of extra steps of cutting, sanding, priming, and painting but what a difference it is making in the finished project.

2. Son Andy and his bride, Bethany, are still in the process of moving to Texas. We took a few days off when Bethany came from Michigan to check out relocation possibilities for her and Andy in Harlingen and Raymondville. While she was here in San Antonio, we had a girls' day out shopping trip with Katy and Lily. I think it was Lily's first time to go to the mall.

Andy left for Georgia on May 31 to begin his scheduled 4 month training but returned this past week with a medical release. He and 7 of his classmates ended up hospitalized after an excessive physical training session. (Excuse me for calling the session "excessive" solely because 8 out of the 19 cadets ended up in the hospital.) He is OK now and back in Texas. When he gets a medical clearance, the wheels of progress will begin cranking again to reschedule another round of training in Georgia. Meanwhile, he and Bethany are trying to determine what impact all of this will have on their plans to move to Texas.

3. We were pleased to have Steven, Michelle, Sean and Maddie to visit over Memorial Day. It was their first time to meet little cousin Lily. Watching them reminds us how quickly these babies turn into toddlers!

4. Granddaughter Lily continues to set much of our agenda.

- Have you ever heard of a "Grandmother Shower?" If not, well now you have. Grandma Patty was showered by a large group of dear friends (mostly from SBC days in Mexico City) during a girlfriend getaway, aka a slumber party for 40 somethings (and up). Many of the girlfriends were in town for the wedding shower of one of the friend's daughter and they surprised GP with gifts for taking care of Lily as she visits This Old House. Lily, along with her Mom, Dad, and GrandDad were part of the surprise. Lily charmed the room magnificently by smiling, looking around, and being passed around without a whimper. We nearly had to set a timer to get some of the ladies to pass her on to the next in line. We are well equipped to babysit now with a pack n'play, booster chair, swing, bathtub, play mat, and wonderful books. Is this baby loved or what??!!

- Lily's Dad's work group also hosted a shower - but this one was for Lily. (Grandma and GrandDad did get to attend and are here to report that Lily once again worked the crowd like a pro. (No, we're not biased.) This baby shower had been scheduled for before her birth but had to be rearranged when Lily's Mom went on doctor mandated bedrest prior to her arrival. Contrary to what has been rumored, accountants can have fun when they get together. I did not hear a single one of them discuss the FASB's. Buck's friends, knowing of his fondness for all things Star Wars, made sure the festivities included momentos from the galaxy, far, far away.

-Many friends have shared our joy in Lily's arrival. In addition to the Grandma shower, and EY"S "Star Wars" shower, we were blessed by a "shower in a box" for when Lily comes to Grandma and GrandDad's house. Pat's Sisterchick friends in California sent a happy assortment of what a grandparent needs. If this little one and her parents are as graciously blessed by Christian friends as we have been, our prayers for her will be richly answered.

- Lily went to Fish Camp for Babies at TAMU, WHOOP, HOWDY!, and 42. If you don't understand this at all, you must not be from around here. We took an overnight trip to College Station, home of Great GrandDad and wife, Virginia, Great "Aunt Beavis", and Texas A&M University. Lily's Mom, Katy, is an A&M alumni and wanted to contine to "train up a child in the way she should go." (You faithful San Jose readers need to ask Chip what "TAMU", "WHOOP", and "HOWDY!" are. But don't call him a "T Sip") While there, we did manage to introduce Lily to "42", a domino game that is a family tradition on the scale of Thanksgiving and Christmas. And "Aunt Beavis" -- that is residue from a name that she gave herself decades ago when Lily's Dad and his rowdy brothers were just pesky, exuberant little boys.

5. A chapter that began more than a year ago came to a close with the installation of the sink and vanity in the master bathroom. Bo finished up the plumbing after the granite was installed and we now can brush our teeth at night in our own bathroom! Those of you who have been with us through this long saga might remember the carpenter who absconded with the sink and our money to build the vanity. We haven't seen him since-even the sheriff was looking, but at least we got the sink back by going to his place of business. It was the very same sink he claimed ended up in pieces on the interstate when he was on his way to our house to install the vanity! I guess that superglue is pretty good stuff. Can't complain too much though, the number of great, caring, and competent people we have met in working on this project make up for the one or two who were not dependable.

5. Another touch in the butler's pantry was completed when we got the fan and light installed. It looks great and feels even better on these hot days.

6. Our friends from St. Louis, Judy and Jackie, were in Texas to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary at South Padre Island and visit son Andrew and his wife Launi here in San Antonio. They encouraged us with praise for the progress they saw since they were here a year ago. It is still good to stop and realize how far we have come. It is also a blessing to spend time with good friends from our time in other places. Y'all come see us now, you hear?!

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There is more to life than this old house

2008-05-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

Four Generations of Brockmans - starring Lily

Mom and two sons on Mothers' Day

Lily in her first "church" clothes - also on Mothers' Day

Phase 2 Rooms - Green for Guest BR and Gold for Office

Phase 2 Room Windows sans trim

If you were a Gremlin under the house, would you mess with this guy?
Inspecting the tape and float job

Painting the Phase 2 Office

Dad and Virginia stayed with us

Uncle Cliff stopped by after being released from the hospital

Duane and Nancy visited and really liked the pocket doors

HIGHLIGHTS:

Has it really been nearly 5 weeks since we last blogged? That means that we have a lot to catch up on.

Contrary to some belief, we do have a life. (OK, now 'fess up. How many of you have had the thought that anyone who spends so much time with sheetrock, taping and floating, painting, crawling under the house, and cats really does need to get a life?) The last month has been full of other components of life along with continued progress on the house.

Let's start with the non-house things.

1. Our grandaughter, Lily, continues to be just perfect. She eats, sleeps, makes diapers, reads Chaucer, and then repeats. Next week she starts on mathematics and the Pentateuch. Needless to say, she has already brought love and joy into many of our lives. Proud parents Buck and Katy are getting the hang of this parenting thing. So far, Lily hasn't asked for money or to use the car. Those things will come soon enough. (For you blogaholics, you can keep up with Lily's progress at http://www.lilybelle-ofthevalley.blogspot.com/ . My, my, how the technology of having and being a baby has changed. If I had had a blog when I was a baby, I probably would have gotten a vaccination or out patient surgery.)

2. Our being in San Antonio has been a blessing for helping with relatives who come to SA for medical needs. May has been "Uncle Month." Recently, Uncle Joe (who you have seen several times on the blog) spent 2 days and a night in the hospital here with some heart issues. He got a stent in one of his arteries and has been feeling better ever since. The week after Uncle Joe was here, another uncle, Clifton, was in a serious auto accident in Del Rio. Another driver ran in to him from behind and totaled his car. After being cut out of his vehicle, Uncle Cliff was taken to the local hospital and subsequently flown to Brooks Army Medical Center in San Antonio. X-rays, sonograms, catscans did not indicate any permanent damage but he was in great pain from the accident. He sustained a significant case of whiplash that is requiring the use of a neck brace for the next few weeks. When we drove him back to Del Rio, it gave us the opportunity to visit other relatives. This week has been a slow week for hospitalizations of family members. But if needed, we are here. That is part of being in a good family.

3. We are thrilled because our middle son, Andy and his bride, Bethany, are moving to the Rio Grande Valley, aka South Texas for those of you who don't get choked up when the word "Alamo" is mentioned. Andy began 2 weeks of on-site training this week and is scheduled to go to Brunswick, GA for several months of training. Bethany is staying behind until the earlier of Andy finishing training in GA or their house selling. If you know of anyone looking for a good house in Pontiac, MI, let us know.

4. OSHA Babe enjoyed Mother's Day with two of her sons in town. She did get a phone call from Jay, our son in Puerto Rico. You can tell from the picture above that she still enjoys her role as Mom.

5. Dad and his wife, Virginia, spent a night with us this week. They thought that it was time to see the new great grand daughter. The first picture above is what we call a "4 Generation" picture. Lily joins 3rd cousins Sean and Maddie to make Dad the proud great grandfather of 3 little ones.

6. We have been cheering for the Spurs as the NBA playoffs continue. Not only are they the hometown favorites, but there is another reason to cheer them on to victory - FREE COFFEE. Valero gives free coffee from 6AM to 10AM after every Spurs playoff victory. OB and I are pumped for this but I'm not sure if it is more for the caffiene or for the Spurs. GO SPURS, GO!

7. Visitors keep coming and we love it. Duane and Nancy, friends from church, stopped by today and enjoyed seeing what has been done. Also pictured above are Dad and Virginia as well as Uncle Cliff.

So, what progress has been made on the house? Well --

1. The Phase 2 rooms have been rewired, sheetrocked, taped, floated, textured, primed and painted. (You will recall that the plan for those two rooms is for one to be a guest bedroom and the other to be the computer room/office.) Several of the pictures above show work on the rooms during various stages. I did make several trips under the house pulling cable TV wiring and rewiring the electrical circuits. The picture of me under the house with the headlamp on is actually more glamorous than that work really is.

2. We finally got the granite chosen for bathroom vanity. A man came by yesterday to measure and make a template. Hopefully, we will have the slab and backsplash installed within 2 weeks. It will be nice to finally have a lavatory in the master bathroom.

3. Andy helped put the handrail up for the stairs. It is nice to be able to work on small details like that.

4. The ceiling in the Butler's Pantry is finally complete. It is quite an improvement over the gaping hole that was there when we moved into the house.

NEXT STEPS:

1. In the Phase 2 rooms, we need to put up the baseboards, trim the windows and doors, and get the floors refinished. Hopefully, the carpenter who has been helping will be available after Memorial Day and we can get this done. I hope to have the trim scraped, sanded, primed and painted before he gets here so that the painting does not have to be done after the trim is up.

2. We continue to have several windows and doors that need to be scraped, sanded, and refinished. It is a lot of work but the finished product sure looks good.

3. A Storage Area out back is still on the drawing board but probably still over a month away from starting.

Grand Daughter Lily has arrived!

2008-04-27T19:36:00.001-07:00

Proud parents and Lily Belle
Grandma Patty and Grandma Dale were just outside of the door of the delivery room to hear her first cry

Proud grandparents

Can these pictures be worth a thousand words til we sit down and write about them? We are happy, thrilled, and proud to say the least. What a great week! We thank God for Lily's safe arrival.

It was not the work on the house that brought Aunt Shanna and friend Marilyn to San Antonio!

First time visit to the house by Shanna's friend, Marilyn

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2. Work is in progress on the Phase 2 rooms.

Window repair completedMoving stuff aroundCloset changeWiringSheetrockingNEXT STEPS:1. Tape, Float, Texture, Primer, Paint, window and door trim

Lily's room is ready and we're working on yours

2008-04-20T21:44:00.001-07:00

Everything is ready and waiting for Miss Lily Belle

We call the two back rooms "Phase Two" Transformation from construction/storage zone to office and guest room has begun
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The sheet rock work is not easy with floor and walls not quite plumb
The Final Four weekend brought visitors from Andy and Bethany's alma mater, Rochester College

Pat's Beth Moore Bible study group enjoyed lunch together in spite of the work in progress
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FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 20, 2008

1. Katy enters the hospital Monday morning and we are anxious to welcome little Lily Belle into our family. The last few weeks have found Katy resting at home to safeguard the pregnancy but her patience has been rewarded with good reports for mom and baby and tomorrow is the big day! Life really is good in Tobin Hill! We are so grateful to God for this blessing. Psalms 128 speaks of God's goodness in allowing us to see our children's children. We look forward to sharing our joy with all of you.

2. Bo and Charlie have been working hard on Phase Two-the back two rooms that were added on to the house 60 or 70 so years ago. They definitely did not have the quality workmanship of the rest of the house and sheetrocking has been a real challenge. Bo will give more details on all of that when he sits down to share our big news tomorrow.

3. We enjoyed a visit with guests from Rochester College who were in town for the Final Four weekend. Pat's Bible study group also had lunch together even though the dining room is adjacent to the work going on in the back two rooms. They managed to have a lively conversation even with the noise of the air compressor and nail gun and the work going on at the house next door.

March Madness is in the air

2008-03-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

Somehow Leo knows that Aunt Tres is a cat person

Life is good in Tobin Hill with Bill Miller Barbecue and Blue Bell

Trim work on the stairs made Frank, the floor man's, job complete

Frank, the Floor Man

Bo helped several neighbors with the demolition of a nearby house

Finish Carpenter, Charlie, has rebuilt 4 of the 8 windows in the "Phase 2" rooms .

.There is much window replacement to be done

.Adding chair rail trim in the Mud Room

.Sean and Leo say "good morning!"

Maddie is prettier than our new hall tree (that's her pretty mama Michelle in the mirror)

.Stacey brings the Austin music scene to Tobin Hill

Pat's ushering friend requested a picture in the clawfoot tub

Rachel, Mark, and Baby M take the tour

Leo and another of his many admirers, Danielle .

.Daniel, Darian, Minnie, and Danielle make the room brighter

Sabinal Cousin Nettie and her friend, Nell, were in San Antonio and stopped by
Katy and Buck with OSHA Gran at the presentation of the heirloom cradle that Buck's Great-Grandfather Johnson made for his arrival in 1976

For the week ending March 30, 2008

What can I say? It's March. The Spurs are on. We are down to the Final Four. My blogger has a lot on his plate. But this is a good start. More details and captions to come! We promise.

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Another significant milestone has been reached with the beginning of work in the "Phase 2" rooms. P2 is basically 2 rooms that were added on to the back of the original house that have had little done to them over the past year and a half. With so much needed in the original house, we decided to leave those rooms alone until the rest of the house was closer to being finished.

. When we began working on the windows in the P2 rooms, we found that 4 of the 8 window frames needed to be totally rebuilt due to water damage. Finish carpenter Charlie has done a meticulous job building new frames and has already installed 2 of the 4 new frames. You can see from some of the pictures above that this involved leaving gapping holes in the house between the time that the old windows are removed and the new ones installed.

. After the windows are installed, there is supplemental framing that needs to be done, electrical outlets to be reinstalled, cabling to be pulled for tv and internet access, sheetrock to be hung, tapped, floated, and textured, painting, floors refinished, trim installed, and furniture to be placed. Other than that, we're nearly done.

2. Speaking of trim work, it is already going on in other parts of the house. Although it doesn't seem like much, adding trim is the final touch that takes a room from being 95% complete to 100%. The picture of the trim at the back of each stair is a perfect example. My working on the chair rail in the Mud Room was just one of the other trim efforts recently completed. On your next visit, we will show you the trim around the pocket doors and the new baseboards (complete with quarter round) in the master closet. If that thrills you to no end, I have one small suggestion for you --- get a life!

3. Does Little Leo (the cat in the first 2 pictures above) look like he has a rough life? Despite evidence to the contrary, he is an outside cat. However, he does have a taste for Blue Bell ice cream and Bill Miller BBQ sandwiches. Leo got into Charlie the carpenter's truck recently and found the half sandwich that Charlie had not eaten and took care of it. He was noticeably disappointed the next day when all he got was dry cat food. But someone has to remind him that, contrary to his feline opinion, he really is a cat.

4. We love having visitors and apparently, they love coming. Since last blog entry, we have had -

- Nephew Stephen with wife Michelle and kids Sean and Maddie from Houston,

- Niece Stacey from Austin

- Friends Mark and Rachael along with their soon-to-be-born child

- One of Pat's ushering friends from the Majestic Theater

- Church friends Daniel, Minnie, Darian, and Danielle

- Cousin Nettie and her friend, Nell, from Sabinal

- Son and daughter-in-law, Buck and Katy, and their soon-to-be-born daughter, Lily

Who's next? Maybe you?

NEXT STEPS:

1. Speaking of Lily, that granddaughter should be here any day now. Mom-to-be, Katy, is hanging in there. I think that she is ready. They do have bags packed and waiting by the front door for the trip to the hospital.

2. There is much Finish work to be completed around transom windows, baseboards, windows and doors.

3. There is always painting and scraping to be done.

4. After all the windows are installed in the Phase 2 rooms there will be wiring, sheetrocking, painting, finish carpentry, and floors to be done.

5. I want to enclose part of the carport that is behind the house and use it as a workshop/storage area. So far, my efforts to find someone to build it on-site have come to nothing. We will keep looking and get there eventually.

No longer a Construction Zone

2008-03-09T20:48:00.001-07:00

It's Sunday night and I am trying to upload some pictures to show you that getting the floors finished really makes it finally look like a house, and not a construction zone. But Google is having some sort of server problem so the pictures will have to wait til morning. Maybe I can get Bo to sit down then as well and tell the story of the progress that has been made the last two weeks. For now, I will just thank him publicly for how hard and diligently he is working. The labor is so tedious and time consuming! He scrapes and sands and paints and stains hour after hour to turn this old house into a gem. Thank you, my love!

Floors, glorious floors!

2008-02-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Entry Way - with newly finished floors (the spots are from the lens of our new camera-not part of the floor)

The floor that did look like this ---

.....now looks like this! .

The Dining Room, Parlor, and Entry Way have the best wood - maple

The Butler's Pantry "Before" Floor

Butler's Pantry "After"

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Master Closet (below) in its previous condition did not win any awards

Didn't the new floor help?

.With new shelving installed, the Master Closet is fully functional

It is hard to work on the house in San Antonio when you are at Yosemite!

Speech Therapists Michelle, Tina, Linda, and Jenny were in San Antonio for a ...... c-c-c-c-convention

Nephew Steven, Niece Michelle, Great Nephew Sean, and Great Niece Maddie
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.Baby Girl has a name!

For the period ending February 24, 2008

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. The construction zone officially became a residence with the completion of the floor refinishing. Let's hear it for the Floors! Is there a "WOW!" factor? Frank and Lynda, the floor folks responsible for our refinished floors, were too modest to have their pictures taken but we hope they can be featured next time. But didn't they do a fantastic job? The pictures tell the story of their success! I believe that they are more proud of the finished product than we are. And that says a lot.

.....They truly went the extra mile several times in finishing the floors. While we were in California skiing, visiting friends, and going back to Yosemite National Park, Frank and Lynda were wrapping up here in San Antonio. A day before we were scheduled to return, Frank left me a voice mail giving status. There was a bit of drama (Red Flag!) included in the message. It was at the end of their work day. The final coat for finish has just been applied to the floor. The front door had been left ajar (Red Flag!). And who do you think makes a break for it and scampers across the damp floor? Yep, you guessed it - the one, the only, the outside cat, Little Leo (Red Flag!). (For the significance of the "Red Flag" designation and Little Leo's biography, see the previous blog entry.) Frank, using great restraint and a good sense of humor, refrained from eliminating all nine of Little Leo's lives and refinished the floor. The paw prints are gone. The floors are done.

2. Another important part of any residence is closet space. After Bo installed reclaimed longleaf pine flooring and Frank sanded, filled and finished the wood, we finally installed the shelving in the Master Closet. You can see that the floors by themselves look great. But leaving piles of clothes on the beautiful floors was not our definition of a closet. You can see from the appropriate pictures above that we've come a long way baby and are now ready to put some clothes in a longer term resting place than we have have for nearly nine months. OSHA BABE has been incredibly patient with this, and, like Frank with Little Leo, has not demanded all nine of my lives.

3. So, where did the picture of Yosemite Falls come from? (Yes, that is a current picture.) Dear friends from our three year stint in California, the Gabrielsons and Pools, invited us to join them over the Presidents' Birthday weekend in Groveland, CA. at a family cabin. It was great catching up with friends for life. We skiied at Kirkwood and Dodge Ridge, kept the fire going in the cabin, cleared a tree off the power line, walloped Danielle and Marne in Hearts (after they trounced us several times in Nertz), ate sumptously, drove into Yosemite to see how the Creator decorates during winter, and were blessed with a safe return. Bob, congratulations to you and Nancy on your wedding and thank you for the use of the cabin. Adelle and Gabe, thanks for being the brainchildren of the weekend. Gert, Cornelia, Marne, and Danielle, thank you for still including us in your hectic lives.

4. There were actually visitors at our house in San Antonio before we returned from California. Niece Michelle was in town for a Speech Therapists' convention and stayed at the B&B along with her friend Tina. Hubby Steven took a day off from school on Friday and drove over from Houston with Sean and Maddie. They have starred on the blog before and have quite a history. Sean wanted to feed the "jaguars" and Maddie, who was not quite walking the last time she visited, was plenty mobile and eager to keep up with big brother Sean.

.....Late Friday afternoon, the other speech therapists in the group, Linda and Jenny, came by for the tour and mandatory blog picture.

4. Last, but not least, Baby Girl has a name. We proudly prepare for and await the arrival of Lily Belle Brockman!

NEXT STEPS:

1. There is much carpentry work to complete. Much of that is trim work around the baseboards throughout the house. And we are getting close to starting "Phase 2" which consists of finishing out the 2 rooms that were added onto the original house probably in the 1920's. We'll keep you updated on that as it progresses.

2. One more door is refinished and hanging again. The door with sixteen windows that hangs between the Entry Way and the Hallway going to the Dining Room and Butler's Pantry is being scraped in preparation for sanding, staining, and finishing. The glass panes are making this one a tedious undertaking so we'll get plenty of opportunity to report on this one.

3. Now that the floors on the first floor are finished, we need to move the pieces of furniture that we had been storing in the Phase 2 rooms to their more permanent locations. That will really help make the construction zone more like a home.

Two Shades of Red - Pink for Baby Girl and Red Flag for baby cat

2008-01-27T16:39:00.000-08:00

Mom 2B Katy went shopping for the new Princess
Granny OSHA Babe never got to dress her sons this way

Remember Little Leo #1 - from November 2006

Would Yogi Berra say that this is "deja vu" all over again in January, 2008?

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Meet Little Leo #2 - or, as he prefers to be called, "Your Highness"

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Master Closet before transformation began
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Master Closet during transformation

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Master Closet after transformation

Leaded Glass for transom window downstairs

Francisco made this one for the transom window in the Guest Bedroom

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Uncle Joe working for his supper

For the period ending January 27, 2008

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Our grandchild who is on the way is a GIRL! For me, Baby Girl will be the first female to join this family by some way other than marriage. We couldn't have chosen better in the marriage category because our two married sons, along with their old Dad, married very well. But Baby Girl, whose scheduled arrival in late April will give both sides of her family their first grandchild, is coming in another way. I guess that storks still make it to San Antonio.

.....Mom 2B Katy (with help from Aunt Rachel and Glam Gran Dale) has already been shopping for Baby Girl. You can tell from the pictures above that Granny OSHA Babe is right in the middle. Katy, my only request is - can you find something pink for the newest princess?

.....No, Great Aunt Donna, we are not going to sponsor a "Name the Baby" Contest.

2. Now for the RED FLAG! FOR KITTY story. There is a new member of the neighbor hood. You're not going to believe this story. I have taken some literary liberties when it comes to direct quotes. They may not be exact but I bet that they are close.

Once upon a time in a land not very far from here -

. Chapter 1 - Dani, a dear friend from Mexico City days (and yes, Dani, still a dear friend even after this) goes to babysit for her grandchildren while son and daughter-in-law are out of town for the weekend.

. Chapter 2 - On Friday afternoon, Dani arrives at school to pick up Granddaughter. She notices that Granddaughter has an orange tabby kitten (RED FLAG!) with her.

. Granddaughter (who happens to be allergic to cats (RED FLAG!) probably says things like -
.....--"Isn't he cute and cuddly?" (RED FLAG!)
.....--"We can keep him outside." (RED FLAG!)
.....--"Can we take him home?" (RED FLAG!)
.....--"Pleeeeze. I'll be your best friend." (RED FLAG!)
. Granny Dani, who has several outside cats of her own (RED FLAG!) can resist neither the look in the sweet kitty's eyes (RED FLAG!) nor Granddaughter's request and loads up (RED FLAG!) Granddaughter and Kitty.

. Chapter 3 - Next day, the entourage is off to Pets' Mart (RED FLAG!) for health, food, and fashion reasons. (Did I say "Pets' Mart" or "Pet Smart"?) Multi-hundreds of $$'s later, Kitty makes out like a bandit and leaves the store nearly, but not quite, as well off as Baby Girl in item 1 above. Kitty is vaccinated, de-flea'd, wormed, collared, tagged, has a litter box (RED FLAG!), a big bag of kitty litter, a big bag of dried cat food, a case of Fancy Feast, a deluxe carrying cage, numerous kitty toys, two food bowls, two water bowls, a bag of kitty weed (aka Premium Catnip), and an appointment in early February to be "fixed." (Kitty, if you are reading the blog, this is a big RED FLAG! for you, Big Fella.) Kitty is thinking - "Is this a great country or what?!"

. Chapter 4 - Sunday, after saying goodbye to the grandchildren and Kitty, Dani returns to her own home. After Son and Daughter-in-Law return to find their daughter red-eyed (yes, the one who is allergic to cats), Son puts one and one together and calls Mom. He very graciously reflects on his love for his mother BUT (RED FLAG!) says that Kitty in their house is not a good decision and wants Mom to come get the cat (RED FLAG!). Mom (Dani) says "OK, I had planned to come back on Tuesday. I'll pick him up then" to which Son replies, "No, come get him tomorrow."

. Chapter 5 - Monday, Dani drives to Son's house to pick up Kitty before going to Bible study that OSHA Babe attends (RED FLAG!). Unsuspectingly, I'm busy working on the house. Shortly before noon, my phone rings. It's OSHA Babe. (Yes, that OB, the one who also is allergic to cats.) The conversation goes something like this OB-"Hello, darling." (RED FLAG!) "Are you home?" Bo -"Yes. Why do you ask?" OB - "Are you going to be home for the next few minutes?" Bo -"Yes. Why do you ask?" (BIGGER RED FLAG!) OB - "Dani wants to come by. She has something she wants to show you." Bo - "What is it?" OB - "Oh, you'll see when she gets there." (RED FLAG!)

. Chapter 6 - OB and Dani arrive holding Kitty. (RED FLAG!) OB - "Doesn't he look just like Little Leo? (RED FLAG!) I told Dani that you would love to have him." (RED FLAG!)

. Epilogue - Kitty is sweet, playful, litter box trained, and in the process of becoming an outside cat. He and the incumbents, resident feral girls Grey Girl and Bad Girl, are gradually adjusting to each other. At least, they haven't stalked him since Day 3 and he can walk near them without hissing and spitting. OB's eyes still get red when he gets too close but, hey, he's so cute and cuddly, we can keep him outside, can we keep him, and I'll be your best friend!!!! How could I resist (RED FLAG!)

3. Now that OB has come out of the closet as being a cat lover, let me tell you about some of the work we did around the house since last report. It does involve the Master Closet. Since our weather has been cold and wet here for the better part of two weeks, we have worked inside as much as possible. We put longleaf pine flooring down in the Master Closet. A company near San Marcos actually mills various cuts of lumber from old telephone poles, many of which were made of longleaf pine. You can see from the pictures that the flooring along with painting the window and door trim make a huge difference. OB went to the Container Store and bought Elfa shelving for most of the closets upstairs. When that gets installed, we will actually have permanent places to do minor things like hang clothes, store shoes, etc.

4. Did you notice the leaded glass panels in the pictures above? OB had the center designs from our time in Mexico and we took this opportunity to get Francisco to custom build rectangular leaded glass panels to fill in two of the transom windows that were missing their original frames. We think that these leaded glass panels will be a classy, unique touch to this old house.

5. My Uncle Joe was one of our visitors during the last two weeks. We really didn't make him work for his supper but he did pitch in and help paint the plate rack that OSHA Babe plans to hang in the kitchen.

NEXT STEPS:

1. Frank should start on the floors this coming week. We have 6 rooms left to do, including the Master Closet upstairs.

2. Hopefully, we'll get some warmer, drier weather and Charlie, the carpenter, will get back down here and we can trim out the corner where the downstairs AC unit is installed.

3. As always, there are doors to refinish and windows to scrape and paint.

Off and Running in 2008

2008-01-13T18:57:00.000-08:00

OSHA Babe in Dining Room Oct, 2006
OB in Dining Room in Jan, 2008. Notice any differences?

See the Poor Man's Sconce that is connected directly to electrical wiring? It is not quite as nice as ...
The new Sconce that actually matches the fixture in the entry way
This vanity stand has a story

Bethany - our overnight cowgirl visitor

As of January 13, 2008

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Four more doors rolled off the production line at Bo's Door Refinishing. The grain in the wood is showing through nicely and the doors look great! Three of the doors are to rooms off of the Landing Area at the top of the stairs. The fourth door is to the closet in the Master Bedroom. Before hanging the doors in their openings, I need to scrape, sand, and paint the door frames. It is tedious but will look so much better than the blue paint that is currently on the doors.
.....In narrative form, this is really pretty boring. So, we included "Before" and "After" (B&A)pictures of the pocket doors in the Dining Room. (Technically, you won't see any doors in the before picture because they had been taken down in the mid-1990's and were on the floor in a back room when we bought the place.) OSHA Babe expanded her resume by helping with the installation of the doors this past week. Seeing the difference between B&A gets me through the mundane message of "we got more doors finished."

2. You will also notice another set of B&A pictures that shows what a difference a light fixture makes. Although I had grown quite fond of the single bulb wire nutted on the end of a piece of romex electrical wiring, I must admit that the new sconce really looks nice. Check out our blog entry from December and you will notice that the sconce matches the new fixture that is in the Entry Way. Hmm - what a coincidence.

3. The piece of cabinetry pictured above is the vanity stand for the Master Bathroom. This is no ordinary vanity stand. This one has a story.
.....Once upon a time, OB saw a picture of this in a magazine and we decided that it would look good in our bathroom. Back in September, we received a proposal from "Cabinet Guy #1" (who had done a great job custom building our kitchen cabinets) and paid him $450 up front "for materials" to build this vanity stand and one other item. Guess who took the money and ran? Yep, you guessed it. (I do have a Small Claim complaint in process against him but am not particularly hopeful.)
.....There is more to this story but you will have to get the rest in person. As a post script, we did make arrangements with "Cabinet Guy #2" to build the vanity. After we get a granite top fabricated, the vanity painted, and the lavatory installed and connected to the plumbing, this story will have a happy ending and we will live happily ever after.

4. We had a western theme to our visitors this week. The cowgirl in the picture is our overnight guest, Bethany. As background, OB works with "Young Lives," a national program that reaches out to teenage mothers. Bethany's mom was asked to tell her story at the national meeting of Young Lives in Orlando, FL and needed places for her three children to stay. We were blessed to have Bethany stay with us. What a joy to have a precocious, happy, little girl stay with us. Incidentally, for the record, we need to include Bethany's Mom, Yvette, and her Young Lives mentor, Terry, as visitors also.
.....With Bethany, Emory, and Maddie having stayed with us within the last month, maybe God is getting this grumpy old man ready for a granddaughter. Did we tell you recently that our oldest, Buck, and his wife, Katy, are blessing both her family and ours with a first grandchild who is due in late April? They have a doctor's appointment this week for another sonogram to look for evidence (or not) of Baby being a boy or girl. At the December doctor's visit, Baby would only "moon" the camera. We're not sure if Baby is bashful or strong-willed. We will find out soon.
.....Saturday morning, we ended up with Frank the floor man, Andy the plumber, and Steve, Terri, and son Shea, friends from Mexico City days, all here at the same time. Andy and I were fixing a water leak out near the meter when Frank drove up with a sample of longleaf pine flooring that he found near San Marcos. Steve, Terri, and Shea stopped by to pick up a book and get the tour. You loyal blog followers have seen a picture of Terri before but this was Steve and Shea's first time. Guys, sorry we didn't get a picture so you also can star in the Tobin Hill Blog. You'll have to come back for the photo op.
.....Additionally, Phil and Joyce, church friends from here in San Antonio, came by on Saturday evening and took the tour before we went out for Italian food and the Art Garfunkel performance at the Majestic Theater.

NEXT STEPS:

1. Frank is buying about 130 square feet of long leaf pine for the Master Closet floor. (Did you know that longleaf pine was used to make telephone poles in the early part of the 20th century? The supplier of this flooring is actually milling the tongue and groove flooring out of old telephone poles.) Frank has run into some problems on the job in Austin and won't be able to start on the remaining floors in our house for another 10 days.

2. Charlie the carpenter is scheduled to be here on Tuesday. We need to finish some window and door trim and enclose the HVAC unit that is in the corner of the Dining Room. Charlie may end up helping get started on the two rooms that were added onto the original house. There are several windows that need sills replaced.

3. Did I mention that there are still doors to refinish? We still have eight doors that we know need to be refinished and still need to find four or five doors to hang up. Before you get too discouraged, remember that we have finished about fifteen doors already. We're getting there.

2007 - A Blessed Year - Our House Became a Home

2008-01-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2007 Family Dinner

Granny Sue would be proud

Bo's Christmas present painted by niece Shelley

This is what clawfoot tubs were made for
Fort Stockton cousins Paula and James -our first 42 game in the old house

Nicho happened to stop by to see the fireplace he rebuilt decorated for Christmas

Bo and Emory feed the cats

Fifty years ago, Pat was the little girl sleeping in this bed at Christmas time

California friends Chip, Susan, and Emory

A wonderful Christmas present-new front doors!

1. We went back through the blog and counted 168 visitors through the house in 2007. We had family and friends from Israel, England, California, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Mexico,Missouri, Washington, and all over Texas. Talk about counting your blessings! Sixty-three have signed our guest book since August. We hope your name will be among them soon.

2. Celebrating our first Christmas in this house made it finally seem like home.

OSHA Babe, aka Ms. Claus, decked the halls, made us some figgy pudding, jingled the bells, dreamed of a white Christmas, and harked the herald angels as she hosted the first Christmas in the Big House. The 9 foot tall tree (complete with remote controlled lights) decked the entry way. Her collection of Nativity scenes was displayed in the parlor. She prepared a feast that even the Grinch Who Stole Christmas would have enjoyed. She graciously hosted family and friends. Sunday night, December 23, we had nine people sleeping all over the house. Two nights later, we were blessed by a visit from Chip, Susan, and Emory, dear friends from California. Other than that OB hasn't been doing much. Isn't she amazing and wonderful?

We had lots of San Antonio fun with all our company. December is a beautiful time to visit the Riverwalk with 100,000 strings of lights adding to the always festive atmosphere. We heard three different tour guide versions of fun facts about the Riverwalk which should make us better hosts. Did you know there is a city ordinance that prohibits any building being built to such a height that it would cast a shadow on the Alamo?

Dallas relatives Uncle Don, Aunt Bonnah, and Cousin Laura were in town to visit other cousin Emily and came by just as Stacey and Shelley were arriving from Austin. It was a special opportunity to form a family circle and give Bo his Christmas present. Pat had commissioned Shelley to paint a portrait using a family photo from Christmas, 1982. The painting shows Bo's mother Evonne sitting in a rocking chair with Jay on her lap and Buck, Andy, Steven, Stacey, and Shelley all around her. Shelley "nailed it" reflecting the personality of each little child. The picture will be a treasured keepsake as we settle into our "grandma house" and since we have a grandchild on the way!

We had to share Shanna's family with the New Mexico relatives. They took off over the river and through the woods early Christmas Eve morning to drive to Albuquerque. Sean and Maddie were troopers for the long car trip. We stayed in town and started a new Christmas Eve tradition. In addition to the boat ride we had dinner with Buck and Katy at Paesano's. Forget the milk and cookies. Santa has a new favorite-the Shrimp Paesano appetizer! On Christmas Day we joined Katy's family for dinner and more gifts. Unfortunately we slept late and missed the Fashion Show. The meal was wonderful and it was fun to see how Dale had decorated. Pat was enchanted with the dolls and doll clothes made by Dale's grandmother. She may have to go back one day to "play".

We were honored that Chip, Susan, and Emory made a side trip to visit us. It was our first time to visit the San Antonio zoo in more than 20 years and Emory did a great job of using the map to help us find our way around. Campbell friends, you need to ask Chip to show you the tiger picture he took with Susan's new camera and ask Susan how she managed to get her name in the paper! We went to the Riverwalk, ate caldo and breakfast tacos, toured the missions, fed the cats, shelled pecans, and read books. What a wonderful privilege to have this special family in our lives! Chip and Susan, you are so generous to share your daughter with us. Thank you for coming to San Antonio to see us.

3. Part of our Christmas present to each other was a refinished Front Door. You can see in the pictures that the front of the house just lights up when you have a real front door with matching side panels instead of of piece of plywood and blue shutters. The door is the original one that was installed in 1905 and looks marvelous after the facelift.

4. Other doors make the list also. You will recall that the price tage of $300 each to have someone else refinish the doors along with the count of over 30 doors in the house inspired me to learn how to do that job. Well, in addition to the front door and 2 doors that we did have refinished by someone else, the list of doors that have rolled off the Brockman Door Refinishing assembly line includes 4 pocket doors in the parlor, 2 doors in the dining room, 1 bathroom door, 1 guest bedroom door, and 1 pantry door. They look great! We're currently working on 2 of the 8 remaining doors to upstair rooms. Downstairs, there are at least 6 more doors to do. (That is code for "We'll be working on doors for a long time.)

5. The carpenter is trimming out the windows and doors in the Master Closet. We're trying to match existing trim as closely as possible. I know that this doesn't sound like much but it's part of trying to make this look better than a "duct tape" remodel job.

6. The brick sidewalk in front of the house has become a museum. I have started collecting bricks from different kilns. At last count, I have bricks from 10 - 11 different companies. If you have any old bricks laying around that are stamped with the manufacturer, e.g., D'Hanis, L&L, Houston, Valdez Laredo, Groesbeck Red, Whitselle Corsicana, Houston, Alamo, etc., let me know. I would like to include them in the walk.

NEXT STEPS:
1. Floors

2. Closets

3. Doors

4. Windows

Decking the Halls!

2007-12-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

Shelves in the butler pantry

Boxes of Christmas stuff!
Santa's helpers, Darian, Danielle, and neighbor dog Pippi

The hole in the butler's pantry ceiling is now covered
The first set of pocket doors will go here

Damage from duplex wall repaired in entry way

Christmas in November with Pat's mom and dad

Lonnie helps Bo find bricks
Pat and Kathy on the home tour

Our friend Anne's family planned a special birthday celebration for her

Maddie is one!

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From November 23-December 16, 2007
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It's the blog before Christmas and things are a mess!
Restoring an old house can sure create stress.
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Frank, the floor man had scheduled an October date
When that changed to December we decided to wait.
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"The tree must be in place! I've been waiting all year!"
So OSHA Babe stubbornly moved into high gear.
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To the clutter of sanders, and paint cans, and tools
She added the boxes from storage marked "Yule".
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While Bo sanded and painted the dining room trim,
She set up the tree and adorned every limb.
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She recruited a great crew to help with the task
Fiesta elves Danielle and Darian were asked.
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Then Charlie the carpenter showed up to restore
The entry way's damage from the ex-duplex door.
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The bannister on the stairway now is complete-
Small touches like molding sure make it look neat.
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A once ugly hole in the butler pantry ceiling
Is now covered nicely with no tar paper peeling.
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Bo sanded and scraped the shelves in there too
When we get the doors fixed it will all look brand new.
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In spite of our list (seems the work never ends)
Several times we've packed up to visit family and friends.
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For Thanksgiving week we flew off to the west
Met Pat's mom and dad for a few days of rest.
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Selling jewelry in Dallas gave us reason to drive
To Salado, a quaint town, on I-35.
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While most girls would shop at some cute little store,
Our OSHA Babe found a great barn to explore!
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Lonnie's known in the town to have what you want
We found some bricks there for our sidewalk out front.
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In Dallas we managed to have fun and play
Pat and Kathy shopped famous flea market First Monday
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McKinney's old home tour-they enjoyed it a lot
It made Pat excited to realize what she's got!
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Golfing with David suited Bo just fine
Church with Uncle Don, Bonnah, and Laura rounded out our time.
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A trip to Austin was on the next weekend's plate.
Anne's family included us for her special birthday date.
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And tonight we've returned from one more birthday run,
Shanna is ?? and Maddie turned one!
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One more thing to report, we are greatly relieved
Historic designation was finally achieved!
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So you see why the blog's not received much attention.
Much more's going on than we can possibly mention!
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Thanks to our readers who don't mind when we're trite
And say that they miss us when we don't sit and write.
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Our progress is steady, though slow is the speed.
With persistence and patience we'll have what we need.
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Meanwhile we're thankful, our life's rich and great
It's the people that matter-this old house will wait.

Impeccable Timing - A/C Repair and Icemaker installed in November

2007-11-18T17:01:00.000-08:00

Blog Debut for visitor Hazel and hubby, Dennis (not pictured) who were in SAT for business, Spurs game, and visit to Brockman's B&B
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OSHA Babe likes the new ice maker

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Bo's Door Refinishing Assembly Line
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Before Refinishing

During Refinishing
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After Refinishing

Ask OSHA Babe for her crock pot recipe for Door Knobs. Don't know how they taste, but they look great

Can you tell which door plate is the "before" one?

FOR THE WEEK ENDING November 18. 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Who says we don't have this house restoration on a precise schedule? It's November and what else would be more timely than having the Air Conditioner repaired? Yep, that's right - about $1300 worth of coil replacement, 60 ft. of copper line replacement, new freon put in, and some cosmetic work to make the job look professional. Since moving in, we have had the upstairs unit serviced 3 times to replace freon that had leaked out. We decided to do it right this time and found a good contractor who had worked on our neighbor's house. He thoroughly isolated the leak to the coil and high pressure line and then replaced both. It's working great while the outside temperature is in the 70's. We'll see when it gets hot again.

2. Water Works is not only a property in the game of Monopoly but also a theme around here recently. A couple of weekends ago, I put on my plumber's hat and connected a water softener system. I did wait until we did not have overnight guests to take this project on because it does involve cutting into the main water supply line that feeds the entire house. If something were to have gone wrong, I wanted it to be only OSHA Babe and me who had to trek to the gas station to take care of business. (Have you been in a gas station restroom lately? Yuk!) Well, it went nearly flawlessly - PTL. If you plan to do some plumbing and haven't heard of "Shark Bite" connectors, call me.
.....OSHA Babe said, "And while you're at it, how about hooking up the ice maker? After all, it is November." Yep. We did that too. OSHA Babe is shown above getting a glass of crushed ice to cool things off.

3. We keep progressing on refinishing the doors. You can see "Before", "During", and "After" pictures of both doors and door hardware and see why we're excited about how this is working out. After getting one of the interior doors done for about $300, I came home and did a door inventory. We have nearly 30 doors in the house. Do the math (30 x $300) and that would be a lot of money to have all the doors done by someone else. So, I put on my door refinisher hat and began the process. From the pictures, I hope that you can tell that we're doing a very good job. A young man is helping and learning along with me. Right now, there are 5 doors in the Brockman Door Co. assembly line. Do the math.
.....The front door is still being worked on at Acme Lumber. They are turning the 100+ year old door into a showpiece. In addition to refinishing the door, we're paying to have them build a new frame, buy and install a new lockset, and install the entire assembly when it is all finished. Although I can refinish a door, I did not want to take on the other parts of getting this done.

4. The floors continue to be a dilemma. The floor guy, Frank, is taking care of some important family business and has not been able to get this job done. We really like Frank and the great job that he and wife, Lynn, did on the upstairs floors. Hopefully, things will be settled so that he can begin after Thanksgiving.

5. The Historic Designation process for our neighborhood (Tobin Hill) took another step forward recently. The San Antonio Zoning Commission voted unanimously in favor of the proposal to rezone Tobin Hill as "historic." The next, and hopefully final, step is a vote by the City Council. Our council person has indicated her support so we are anticipating passage of the proposal. However, I haven't heard the Fat Lady singing so, it ain't over yet.

6. We did have visitors. The first picture in this entry is our friend Hazel from Dallas. She and hubby, Dennis, are work and church friends from Houston, St. Louis, and San Antonio. (Guys, it's getting close to 30 years worth of friendship.) We were in their home in the Chicago area on September 11, 2001. They have visited us in Mexico City and San Jose, CA. Dennis is on my "Short List" of work heroes. He was instrumental in our getting the opportunity to work in Mexico City. Also, he positively affected my repatriation 7 years later when we moved from San Juan, PR back to San Antonio. Not only has Dennis been an inspiration to folks who have worked with him at AT&T/SBC, he is the human who inspired the Energizer Bunny. To this day, I don't know of anyone who keeps going and going and going like Dennis. When he dropped Hazel off for her Blog Debut, he was moving so fast that the camera shutter couldn't even catch him.
.....We did also have other friends and family come through town. Friend Mary Dean from New Braunfels came by and offered encouraging words about the progress that is being made. Uncle Joe and Cousin Nettie were in San Antonio for a doctor's visit and stopped by. While OB and Nettie went shopping, Uncle Joe and I played a round of golf at the Brackenridge Golf Course. I finally found someone who I can out drive on the golf course. Never mind that he is in his early 80's. We enjoyed the time together. Aunt Gene and hubby, Bill, were in town recently. She called when OB was out running around and the A/C repair guy was here. She suggested taking a rain check for their next trip to San Antonio. We will look forward to that.

NEXT STEPS:
1. We have lots of doors to refinish. All it takes is time or money. We will even try to get the door on the bathroom before your next visit.

2. Stay tuned on the floor refinishing. OB wants to have it done so the 9 ft. tall Christmas tree she bought last season will look good in the entry way.

3. There is always painting waiting. (That nearly rhymes, doesn't it?) Work on windows and trim is always lurking.

The Doors are Back - C'mon OSHA Babe Light My Fire

2007-11-04T18:46:00.001-08:00

Bethany and Andy with friends Lindsey, Kenny and Neta
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Rob supervising Dad and Uncle hanging light fixture in Entry Way
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Interior Door refinished!
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Pocket Doors that actually work! An amazing feat!
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Pocket Door Rollers that still work after 100+ years
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Son Andy participating in the "Guest Worker" program

FOR THE WEEK ENDING November 4, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Visitors keep coming and we love it. During son Andy and daughter-in-law Bethany's visit, we had friends from their elementary school era over for diner and reminiscing. Pictured above with Andy and Bethany are Lindsey and hubby, Kenny, along with Lindsey's Mom, Neta. Andy and Lindsey were in the same grade and did eight years of church activities together during our life in St. Louis. Nita and OSHA Babe caught up on some of the events of the past decade or so. It is amazing how good friendships last.

2. In the previous entry, you saw Brother Robert from Washington state under the watchful supervision of Nephew Rob hanging the light fixture in the entry way. It sure looks good. While Andy was here, we hung the companion fixture in the adjacent room. With the addition of a little furniture, the Parlor will be ready for sparking, just like in the old days.

3. The biggest progress this past week is with the DOORS. (No, Jim is not back from the dead.)

- The Front Door is at ACME Lumber being refinished. A new frame (that is actually square and plumb) will be made. After the refinished door is hung in the new frame, it will be installed and a new lockset will enable us to no longer have to use a pry bar to open the door. We'll be uptown.

- The Side Panels of the front door have been refinished. They look great. We still need to have the leaded glass panels mounted in the Panels. You faithful blog followers will surely be disappointed that the current blue louvered side panels are not in the long term picture.

- We did get one of the interior doors refinished to see if it was worth the expense. The answer is "Yes!" It came back looking like brand new.
- Last but not least, WE HAVE BOTH SETS OF POCKET DOORS HUNG AND WORKING! I wouldn't call it the miracle of all miracles, but it is pretty amazing. Carpenter Charlie and helper, Nat, spent about 18 hours over the period of several days and got all of the pocket doors working. The pictures above include one of the rollers that still works after 100+ years.
...We did run into a small "opportunity." Here is the math. Two sets of doors = Four individual doors = 8 rollers. Well, we only found seven of the threaded adjusting bolts that are needed to raise and lower the doors on their track. When I took the roller mechanism to ACE Bolt and Nut, they couldn't match the thread pattern because the bolt probably came from German origin in the late 1800's and the thread pattern is not available a hundred years later. Imagine that! But, Yankee ingenuity prevailed and we made it work. Come see it and marvel.
....When all the doors are up, you can't break on through to the other side.

4. We did some more painting and began stripping the pocket doors and the swinging door that is between the Dining Room and the Butler's Pantry. Andy took his turn in Bo's "Guest Worker" program. I did not check his papers but think that he is legal. There is still a lot more of that to do.

NEXT STEPS:

1. Frank the Floor Man is supposed to be here on Tuesday. Hopefully, he can get the floors on the first floor refinished and looking spectacular.

2. I need to make arrangements to get a bid on refinishing all the doors. It will be expensive. But doors are such an important part of the appearance of the house.

3. Water works are looming on the horizon. There is a Water Softener to be installed. Additionally, we need to get water to the Icemaker so we can stop buying bags of ice from the Valero gas station.

4. There is a Zoning Commission hearing this week regarding the proposed Historical Designation for Tobin Hill. The opposition has created an 11th hour smoke screen that may delay the final approval. OSHA Babe has been schmoozing with city politicians. We'll see if she is ready for Washington, D.C.

A Thousand Words.....

2007-10-29T04:42:00.001-07:00

Family get-together in College Station with Andy and Bethany and Washington state Brockmans

Bo's birthday lunch with Buck, Katy, Bill and Dale
Kayla joined the party
Byrl and Virginia - coffee on "The Porch"

Robert, Ellen, Rob and Scott - their Texas vacation included the Alamo and "The Porch"

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.A step long awaited-light fixture hung in entry way!
May we always need the high chair! Marshall takes his turn.
All the girls like to play in the jewelry when they come to Pat's house. Lauren was no exception.
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Mark, our roofing contractor, brought mom, Troyanne, and children to see the house

The Friedrich Memorial Mud Room now boasts a utility sink
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FOR THE WEEKS ENDING OCTOBER 21 and 28, 2007

It is early Monday morning and I am posting a few pictures from the last two weeks to let you know we are still happily busy with family and house. We are encouraged to be at the point where some of the projects we are working on are the details that are pulling things together. I know we will be able to proudly enjoy living in this old house, because we already are!

Those of you who know us understand that it is family and friends that mean the most to us. I will let Bo add the details of what has been accomplished as far as paint, plumbing, pooch with pearl collar, and politics (we are actively involved in trying to get the historical neighborhood designation) but I just want you to know we love being tour guides, having the opportunity to celebrate special occasions with our family, and having friends drop by!

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's House!

2007-10-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce......

Anne and Pat. Guess who is not ready for the day?
Bethany, Nicole, and Tiffany making chocolate chip cookies--fun times and yummy smells

Can OSHA Babe still pass as "one of the girls"?

(your YES, DEFINITELY comments are appreciated)

The old sidewalk

Making "curbs" for the new sidewalk
My amazing contractor and the finished sidewalk

For the Week Ending October 14, 2007

We are pleased to announce-Peanut! That's him/her riding in the little cart with Norman, Lupe, and Pickles. We have had these little figurines representing our grand-cat and grand-dogs out on the counter for all to admire since we moved into our apt. here in San Antonio. When Buck and Katy told us she was pregnant and showed us the ultrasound picture, the baby was just a little "peanut" shape, so Grandma Babe happily introduced Peanut to the fun to be had at Grandma's house. We are thrilled and proud for them and quite excited for ourselves and the other happy grandparents to be, Bill and Dale. The baby is due about May 1.

2. Nothing else seems quite as blog-worthy but we will try to stay focused and share recent progress. The main project accomplished this past week was a new sidewalk leading up to the house. I have an amazing contractor who came up with the idea to use some of the many old bricks under the shed in back to re-do our front walk. That's him with the broom and standing proudly by the finished walk. The folks who did our foundation work came back to make us a curb on each side of the existing walk and Bo brought in two loads of sand in the back of the pick up truck to fill in. He then placed the bricks in a well thought out design to show off the varying colors and brands. We are most proud of the two D'Hanis bricks from the factory near Uncle Joe in Sabinal. The finished sidewalk now looks like it has always been there which is what we were trying to achieve.

3. Our guests this week included long time friend Anne, back to check on the progress we have made since her last visit six months ago. She was graciously encouraging. We were also thrilled that Bethany, our young college friend from California, wanted to come for the weekend from Abilene with a couple of friends. Her folks, Steve and Sharon, had come down to visit us after getting her settled in August. We hope Bethany will consider this her Texas home away from home while she is in school. She and her friends, Tiffany and Nicole, blessed this old house by singing and laughing, baking cookies, and making the house smell good with all those girly girl smells of shampoo and hairspray. Tiffany is a ranch girl from Dalhart, Texas and it was fun to hear about her barrel racing, pig raising, horse breeding life on the ranch. Nicole and Bethany got to visit her family there a few weeks ago. I would have loved to watch the two California girls on their "snipe hunt"! Here in San Antonio we introduced them to breakfast tacos and the Riverwalk. I think they were more interested in shopping than the Alamo but we had a good time. Come back any time, girls. We loved having you.

NEXT STEPS:

1. Andy and Bethany are coming from Michigan! YAY! We hope to have the painting downstairs done and the floors finished so we can move furniture into those downstairs rooms. Bo has several father-son projects planned. Bethany and I will find ways to stay busy I'm sure-first stop is Shop Ole' where Katy and Rachel are setting up a Bless Your Heart booth for the Junior League show.

2. We need a new finish carpenter. Several projects are still on hold.

3. A door man is coming. Maybe we won't always have to use a crow bar to get in and out the front door.

Not the Full Monty - But a House Full of Monty's

2007-10-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

The first Monty this week - From California, Monty, Desiree, and Nita (Monty's Mom)

The second Monte this week - From Colorado - Cousin Monte and Mona enjoying morning coffee on the front balcony

Remember the Alamo!

The San Antonio River - a "must see" on OSHA Babe's official tour

Does this pedestal sink look like a bird bath to you?

FOR THE WEEK ENDING October 7, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. This past week we had a Monty and a Monte visit us in San Antonio.

.....In the first picture above, Monty, Desiree, Monty's Mom, Nita, and I are posed on the front porch. Monty, Desiree, and I worked together in San Jose, CA. They were in Texas on a well deserved vacation and thought that a side trip from Anita's home near Longview, TX to San Antonio was how they would like to spend part of their time. (Hey, I did mention to them that it's nearly 400 miles from Longview to San Antonio and they came anyway.) We thoroughly enjoyed the visit. They loved the old house. I was, however, disappointed that neither Monty nor Desiree brought their work clothes but we did enjoy several walks down Covadland memory lane.
.....OSHA Babe donned her tour guide hat and the four of them enjoyed the Alamo, Riverwalk, Mercado, and rest of downtown SAT on Wednesday. Come see us and you also can have your picture taken in front of the Alamo and on the San Antonio River. OSHA Babe has a long and storied history as a tour guide. She's good at it. But be prepared to go. She has no low gear when it comes to showing people around.
.....Covad is fortunate to have Monty and Desiree, along with their boss, Jess, working there. They sure made my job more enjoyable while I was there. Guys, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

- Thursday night, cousin Monte and Mona came in from Denver. They were on their way to Monte's 40th year High School Reunion in Del Rio. (I would make some cute remark about his age if I hadn't graduated from HS the same year.) After a good night's rest, we enjoyed a good cup of OSHA Babe's coffee on the front balcony. Does the second picture above look like they were enjoying it? Monte remembers with great fondness coming to SAT as a child to shop at Joske's, get eye examinations at TSO, and eat at Luby's Cafeteria.
.....I have enjoyed my cousin since our childhood days when we would play catch in the back yard and spend a week at each other's house during Vacation Bible School. Over the decades, we have stayed in touch, skied together, laughed and cried together. Cuz, I hope that we're blessed with more years of these and more memories yet to be made.

2. I was concerned that some of you more proper readers might raise your eyebrows about the use of the term "Full Monty." (I knew that others of you would genuinely appreciate it. Why don't you post a comment on the blog and let me know which category you fall into.)
To address your concerns, I did my journalistic background research on the term prior to publication.
.....Did you know that until the 1980's, "Full Monty" was an obscure British English slang expression meaning "the whole thing." For y'all who don't speak British, you may have used the phrases "the whole kit and kaboddle" or "the whole sheebang." Well, if you did speak British, you might as easily have said, the "Full Monty."
.....The origin of the expression, in all likelihood, comes from the tailoring business of Sir Montague Burton. A suit purchased from Sir Burton's shop was commonly known as a "Monty." A complete three-piece suit, i.e. one with a waistcoat, for a wedding etc, would be the "Full Monty." There is plausible hearsay evidence from staff who worked in Burton's shops who confirm that customers were familiar with the term and often asked for 'the full monty' by name. Burton opened his first shop in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in 1904. The business flourished and he began opening a chain of shops in 1906. This included premises in Sheffield. Burton's name was certainly well known. The business went on to become world's largest wholesale tailoring service.
.....So there you have it folks. Those of you who had your minds in the gutter, consider yourselves exposed to a piece of fashion history. Consider yourself more educated and cultured than you were before reading this. The Tobin Hill website delivers again.

3. Oh yeah, we did do work on the house this past week. The claw foot tubs are set in place. HOORAY!!! In the downstairs bathroom, there is a toilet (and it actually works) and a pedestal sink in addition to the claw foot tub. I don't know if the picture above gives you a good perspective but the sink is small. We did that on purpose because the room is only about 7' x 7'. When we were putting the pedestal sink in, the plumber said that it looked more like a bird bath than a lavatory. On your next visit, if you need to wash anything bigger than a bird, you will have to use the claw foot tub.

NEXT STEPS:

1. The cabinet guy who is doing some finish work that includes a vanity stand for the sink in the upstairs bathroom says that he will be here on Monday, October 8, to install it. He's been having some health problems but seems to be doing better now. We'll see if he gets this done.

2. We're going to put a brick sidewalk in the front between the porch and the street. Currently, there is a concrete sidewalk that has settled and actually slopes back toward the house. In addition to the brick sidewalk sloping away from the house, it will look a whole lot better that the cracked concrete one.

3. In advance of floor refinishing in the Entry, Parlor, Dining Room, and Butler's Pantry, I need to finish sanding the door, window, and stair trim, paint that trim, and paint the walls. If this goes well, I may try to hang the new light fixtures in those rooms. You're going to love the chandelier in the Entry Way.

Painting, Plumbing, and Lighting

2007-09-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

From this humble beginning, the reality of a finished bathroom is near
Here is how it looks now.
The trim work was tedious but the result was worth it

Tub is ready to go in the bathroom

Painting begins in the parlor
Not quite ready yet, but we can still have some fun decorating for Halloween
One of the orginal light fixtures which we hung in the upstairs landing area

Julia, Pat, and Judy

Diana and Marissa

FOR THE WEEKS ENDING September 23 and 30, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. We got some encouraging news about the possibility of our neighborhood becoming a designated historic area in San Antonio. The City's Historical and Preservation Committee met recently and approved (by unanimous vote) that the Zoning Commission and City Council designate Tobin Hill as a "Historical" area. The Zoning Commission and City Council process could take another 2 months. Stay tuned.

2. The bathrooms are trimmed, painted, and ready for fixtures to be set. The before and after pictures above show how far the downstairs bathroom has come. Can you tell by the picture of the clawfoot tub sitting on a furniture dolly in the dining room that we're anxious to get those tubs installed. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this week is the week because -------

3. We have had "Contractor Woes" over the past two weeks. The cabinet guy who is working on a plate rack, a stand for an original sink, mud room "lockers", and other things is having health problems related to diabetes medication. Consequently, he has more important priorities than our carpentry work. The plumber was going to try to be here last week but didn't make it. A job in Boerne took him longer than expected. Hence, the bath tub in the middle of the dining room floor. In spite of these delays, we weren't sitting around twiddling our thumbs because ---------

4. Painting became our focus. The Entry Way, Parlor, and Dining Room came under a paint brush and roller attack. All the rooms have two coats of ceiling paint. The Parlor and Dining Room have two coats of paint on the walls. We put the first coat of paint on the baseboards and door/window trim. The one picture above shows the fireplace in the Parlor with the adjacent strip painted. We plan to put at least one more coat of paint on the trim before removing the masking paper. Even with the paper still on the walls, it sure looks better.

5. There are three new light fixtures in boxes sitting on the floor of the Entry Way. One of them is a chandelier that we plan to put in the Entry Way. We hope that is makes an elegant first impression. Additionally, we installed one of the original fixtures in the landing at the top of the stairs. In addition to it being a good looking fixture, it's nice to use as much of the original material as possible.

6. We still keep having a good flow of visitors. Judy has been featured in the blog before when she came to work as a painter's helper. This time she brought her mother, Julia, and her friend, Pat who were graciously enthusiastic and complimentary about what we are doing. Thanks, ladies, we needed that. Sometimes it is easy to forget the "fun" in all of this. Marissa and Diana, our young Sunday dinner guests from last week, seemed to really enjoy the rocking chairs on the balcony porch. Diana suggested we put together a "porch and spa special" when we get the clawfoot tubs installed!

NEXT STEPS:

1. The Plumber is scheduled to be here at 8:30 tomorrow morning. The agenda includes not only the bathrooms where the claw foot tubs go, but also connecting the water supply lines and drain in the Mud Room. It will be nice to not have to clean brushes in the driveway any more.

2. There is still a lot of painting to do. The Entry Way still has some paint preparations before we start. Trim needs scraped, sanded and painted. Caulk needs to do its magic. The Parlor is close to being finished. The Dining Room still has a way to go. But the end for these rooms is in sight.

3. We do need to find additional contractors. There is some finish carpentry that needs to be done. Hopefully, by next report, the bathrooms will be completed and we'll be closer to the floor man will be scheduled.

Flowers Make Everything Better

2007-09-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

God planted these

OSHA Babe planted these

These were a gift from Daniel, Minnie, and the girls
Terri relaxing in the rocking chair

Daniel, Minnie, Darian, and Daniella
Light fixtures, not bare wires, in the Master Closet
Looks better than bare wires, doesn't it?

More beadboard for OSHA Beadboard Babe

Talk about high class! We no longer have to leave the roll of paper on the back of the toilet.

FOR THE WEEK ENDING September 16, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Not only will we leave the light on for you (see last week's blog entry) but there are flowers on the front porch making this look more and more like home. OSHA Babe is in charge of more than just safety around here. She's trying her hand at horticulture. God did His part as usual with the beautiful red lilies that came up again in the front yard. One of the first blog entries from September, 2006 was red lilies. Yep, that's right, it has been a year.

2. We hung light fixtures in the Master Closet and the Friedrich Memorial Mud Room. I can't tell you how much of an improvement that is compared to the electrical wire and "pig-tailed" single light bulbs that had been there. In addition to the fixtures that were hung, we got out the two original fixtures that we found. We do plan to use both of the original fixtures - one in the landing at the top of the stairs and the other at a location TBD. We are fortunate to still have some of the original fixtures to use throughout the house.

3. The end is in sight for the two largest bathrooms. We bought, cut, primed, and painted moulding for the top edge of the beadboard wainscoating. It was really a challenge trying to match up new moulding to existing moulding in the Master Bath. If you come visit, don't look too close. I made 3" wide base boards out of original material that we still had around. It's still good wood after 102 years.

I talked to the plumber to get on his schedule for installing the clawfoot tubs, toilets, and lavatories. Hopefully, that will happen by the end of this week. Also, the cabinet maker is building a vanity stand to hold a lavatory in the Master Bath. The lavatory is an original fixture as well. The vanity stand may be here this week.

4. The "Big 3" rooms are starting to get some attention. The wood trim around doors and windows in the Entry, Parlor, and Dining Room needs to be scraped, sanded, painted. Ceilings and walls need to be painted. Then the floors need to be refinished. It's good to be working on those rooms to convert them from being warehouses to neat living spaces. In the Dining Room, the cabinet maker is also working on an enclosure to conceal the HVAC unit that is unsightly. It's difficult to explain what he's doing. So rather than attempting a word picture, I'll wait until we have a digital one. Stay tuned.

5. We had 2 sets of visitors this past week. Terri, an AT&T friend from Mexico City days, stopped by for a visit. That's her pictured sitting in the rocking chair. The chair came from Pat's family in Tennessee and was built a lot lower to the ground than contemporary furniture. Terri said that it fit her just fine. Terri and husband Steve have relocated to San Antonio and are having a house built in a very nice neighborhood. Terri loved the finished floors in our house and has made arrangements for Frank the Floor Guy to finish some flooring details in their new house.

Sunday, we had Daniel, Minnie, Darian, and Daniella come for lunch after church. They are a wonderful young family who have started back attending church on a regular basis. It was fun to have Daniella laughing and playing in the house and her older sister, Darian, sitting in a rocking chair out on the balcony talking on her cell phone. Sunday's sermon was about raising godly children. It's refreshing to see young parents like Daniel and Minnie making a difference. You guys hang in there.

NEXT STEPS:

1. We need to schedule plumber for installing claw foot tubs. Hopefully, all the moulding will be up, nail holes caulked, and touch up paint done so the installation can happen late this week.

2. Paint preparation will continue in the Entry, Parlor, and Dining Room. After the door and window trim gets "Metabo-ed", everything needs to be sanded. And then it is paint the ceilings (2 coats), paint the trim (2 - 3 coats), paint the walls (2 coats), hang the light fixtures, and get on Frank the Floor Guy's schedule. I can't quite hear the fire crackling in the fireplace but OSHA Babe is imagining the 9 1/2 foot Christmas tree she bought last season adorning the Entry Way.

3. The Cabinet Guy needs to continue working on OSHA Babe's plate rack, the bathroom vanity, shelving for the small bathroom upstairs, a seating area in the Mud room, and the HVAC corner downstairs. It's a little expensive but worth it to put those details into the house.

We'll Leave the Light on for You

2007-09-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

Loyd and Wilma - Leaders of the "Work For Ribs" Program
Jan and Dave came over for Sunday dinner
New fan and light fixtures in the kitchen
Loyd and Bo working to satisfy OSHA Babe's fever for more beadboard
Master Bath - Before and ...

Master Bath - on the way to being finished
Downstairs Bath has come a long way - from this...
....to this

We'll leave the light on for you!

For the week ending September 9, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Although it has been a while since we reported construction progress, you loyal blogsters have noticed that we have been active. After last week's birthday party (see the blog entry from the previous week) with a whole housefull, we had a slow visitors week. Loyd and Wilma came from Houston this past Wednesday and worked on tile floors, painted, and played cards at night. Loyd had some tile work to do back home so he took the "Master Tiler" saw back with him. Wilma and OSHA Babe painted their hearts out in the Butler's Pantry, Master Bathroom, and Friedrich Memorial Mud Room. On Thursday night, OB cooked excellent ribs in the "magic pan" and upheld her end of the "Will Work For Ribs" program. We appreciated their help working with us and value greatly their friendship of more than 25 years.

Newer friends, Dave and Jan, came over after church for Sunday dinner. That seems to be a custom that has fallen by the wayside. Dave is retired from the Army and he, Jan, and their family have lived in many different locations. We look forward to getting to know them better.

2. We got some electrical work done since last report. By the title of this week's blog, you can see that we are particulary happy to have a new light on the porch. There is now an outlet in the wall for the washing machine. I'm really going to miss the extension cord that had been running across the floor. The kitchen now has a light fixture over the sink rather than a dangling electrical wire and a new ceiling fan with the smallest blades I've ever seen.

3. Bathroom floors have taken shape. Both the master bathroom upstairs and the downstairs bathroom now have tiled floors. Loyd was a big help in getting the downstairs one done much quicker than I could have done by myself. The floors look nice and will really add that "old time" feel when the claw foot tubs and fixtures get set in place.

4. Four additional rooms have been added to the "Painted" list. The Master Closet, Butler's Pantry, Mud Room, and Downstairs Bathroom all look better with the walls painted. There is still beadboard to be painted but we're getting there.

NEXT STEPS:

1. We're closing in on completing the bathrooms. The list of "to do's" is down from 20 items to a handfull - beadboard wainscoating, baseboards placed, tubs and fixtures set in place, doors refinished. It will be nice to have more than one functioning bathroom in the house for your next visit.

2. We have talked to the cabinet guy about some additional work that includes a plate rack in the kitchen, locker type seating and a utility sink in the Mud Room, a vanity stand for the Master Bath (that will hold one of the original sinks), and a nice enclosure to cover the ugly opening where the AC unit downstairs. This could be a slow process.

3. We've had no luck finding someone who can/will work on doors. There are several that need to be hung along with some that need to be adjusted. Also, we want to get the pocket doors worked on. This one doesn't look like it's going to be easy to wrangle up the help. But we'll keep after it.

4. We're down to doing some serious paint preparation on the three main rooms that are left. The Entry, Parlor, and Dining Room are large in size but don't have a lot of intricate work to do. After we get the trim sanded and painted as well as the walls and ceilings painted, we'll get on the floor folks' schedule. Stay tuned.

A little more playtime

2007-09-07T05:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Sean!

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Party in the pantry-one step closer to a dining room

This is what a kitchen sink is for!

Bo worked while Steven gave us a tour of the San Antonio missions

HIGHLIGHTS OF LABOR DAY WEEKEND

1. Bo's sister Shanna shared her children and grandchildren with us and we celebrated Sean's third birthday with a Thomas the Train party. Though the blinds weren't hung or a second bathroom finished, the guest room was ready to set up the porta crib and the rocking chairs on the porch were waiting to be filled. Maddie marked a milestone crawling for the first time across the area rug in our den to share Sean's birthday toys and got a bath in the kitchen sink. Those are the memories with which we are thrilled to be filling this old house. Aunt Stacey came over from Austin for the party and Buck and Katy joined us as well. Other guests included Steven's high school friend David and his family. Though most kids would prefer hot dogs or a happy meal, Sean chose fajitas for his birthday lunch.

2. OSHA Babe's tour guide agenda was expanded by history teacher Steven's suggestion to visit the San Antonio missions. There are four in a national park area just south of downtown. The grounds are beautiful. Request that they be added to your itinerary when you visit.

3. Bo worked on the bathroom floors in preparation for installing the lavatory next week when our cabinet builder returns for his second phase projects. This coming weekend's blog will include pictures of all the rooms he has been working on so hard-mudroom, downstairs bath, upstairs master bath, and master bedroom closet area (the old back porch upstairs). We also have new lighting fixtures and a fan that have been installed in the kitchen and a light above the front porch. We're making progress and are grateful for the family, fun, and friends along the way.

Playtime's Over!

2007-08-31T00:07:00.000-07:00

The guest room is NOT ready for guests

This is the area that had to be finished so we could hang up our clothes. The tub will go in the master bath-that is the "What's next"
Sharon and Steve, our good friends from San Jose, spent some time in San Antonio after dropping Bethany off at Abilene Christian
Shelley and Stacey in photo op with Uncle Bo and with Nathan

Pat's birthday continues with lunch on the porch

Highlights from August 19-August 30

1. Tomorrow is great-nephew Sean's birthday and we have the great privilege of hosting a Thomas the Train party this Saturday. Steve and Sharon left on Monday and we regretfully returned to the work that somehow didn't get done while we went to Gruene Hall, met good friend Dani at "Bless Your Heart", shopped for antiques, ate at the riverwalk, and watched "The Alamo" starring John Wayne. The guest room was piled high with all the clothes and stuff from the room that is our master bedroom closet/laundry room. Bo hung sheetrock, floated and taped the walls, and I helped prime and paint so we could get our clothes hung back up and have a place for Steven, Michelle, Sean, and Maddie to sleep. Tune in on the Monday after Labor Day to see the finished result and pictures of the birthday boy.

2. Last Saturday the ladies from Austin (our nieces, Shelley and Stacey) surprised us with a stop by visit when they came to San Antonio to pick up a car for their Uncle Frank. Stacey's friend Nathan accompanied them. It was their first time to see the house and unfortunately we didn't get any work out of them. The paint brush and paint can in the picture were only props for a Kodak moment but they have promised to return and lend a hand one day soon. Shelley would like to take advantage of a First Friday sales opportunity in the King William area with her art. She is doing some wonderful, fun creative work in a retablo style that is catching on in Austin. I will try to include a link to some of her art soon.

3. One of the best compliments we have had came this week when my friend Mary Dean came to pick me up for lunch. (I love that it is the end of August and I am still celebrating my birthday!) First she wanted to check on the progress we have made since she was here last spring. She went out on the porch to try out my new birthday rocking chair and looked so happy and comfortable, I asked her if she would like to just sit on the porch and have a sandwich instead of going out. She said she would really like that and I was thrilled! This is what we want our home to be-a comfortable, welcoming place for family and friends.

So, yes, the hard work is worth it. It really is hard work. Lots of it. That is why I am doing the blog this week. Bo has been doing the work of a whole crew. You'll see those pictures next week!

Since the 4th of July.....

2007-08-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Pat and Kathy work first, then are ready to play

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Dennis signed on for the "Will Work for Golf" package

Dennis and Donna came to claim their prize

OB goes back in time to when little boys and babies were part of her life .

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Mom got another rocking chair for her birthday
Uncle Doug and Aunt Gloria with OB

Pat with Aunt Martha and Billy Roy - the little bed was Aunt Martha's when she was a girl and OB slept on it when she went to Grandpa's house

Grandma Mattie's pantaloons as modeled by OSHA Babe
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See the Possum? Our latest addition to the list of critters

HIGHLIGHTS:

No, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth. But we have been to what seems to be its edges. The summer is winding down and a lot has been done. Some of it has been work on the old house. Let's try to summarize (or is it "summerize") and get back on the blog track.
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1. A 2+ week trip to California + a 1000 mile trip to Atlanta + stops to visit aunts, uncles, and dear friends in Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas, were sandwiched between two sets of visitors.
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In the days before we left for California on July 13, longtime Dallas friend, Kathy, ignored all warnings of "Visiting the Brockmans could result in Manual Labor" and came anyway. In between morning coffees on the balcony, a bit of shopping at Bless Your Heart and a tour of the historic Steves Mansion, Kathy and OSHA Babe sanded and painted the bead board in the Butler's Pantry. It looks great and is one step closer to being the breakfast nook.

On August 7, the day after returning from the Eastern road trip, OSHA Babe's sister and hubby, Donna and Dennis, arrived for a sample of San Antonio summer. (You may recognize them as the winners of the "Name that Song" contest. Yes, they did collect their margarita on the riverwalk while they were here.) Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the sisters shopped, primped, laughed, visited, poked around antique stores, spent the night (with their husbands) at a bed and breakfast in Comfort, TX, and generally had a good time. Dennis and I played golf twice, got the washer and dryer hooked up, and hung sheetrock in the little room between the kitchen and the back door. OB is ecstatic about not having to go to the laundramat. Dennis and I thought that after he gets through superintending in Washington state, we might start Dos Gringos Sheetrocking Company ----- NOT!!!!!!! That is hard work. We have ordered the Friedrich Memorial Mud Room plaque in honor of your hard work.

Later that week, Uncle Joe and Nettie stopped by after a doctors visit in San Antonio. We enjoy every one of those visits and look forward to more.

2. "So," you say, "tell us about your travels." (Thought you would never ask.) Hold on to you seats for this ride.

The trip to California was prompted by babies - one born in June and another scheduled to arrive in October. OSHA Babe exchanged her hard hat and safety glasses for a mother's helper apron during the trip to San Jose. Adelle and Gabe became parents for the second time with the arrival of Michael on June 25. Gabe's Mom had been there for the birth. We arrived as the second shift. Michael's days consisted of eating, sleeping, and digestive calesthenics. Needless to say, Adelle and Gabe are not getting as much sleep as they are used to. OSHA Babe helped out by changing diapers, doing laundry, and shuttling big brother Colin to swimming lessons and soccer. It took her back in time and she loved every minute of it.

We stayed in Gert and Cornelia's home during the time in California. They were all away when we arrived but had left a key for us. Cornelia returned after we had been there a week. Working around her work schedule and OB's exhaustive social calendar, we did get to catch up on our visiting with her. We missed Gert, Marne, and Danielle but look forward to seeing them in the future. Thanks for your gracious hospitality.

The weekend before we returned to Texas, Pat was part of a group that hosted a baby shower for Heather and Jeff's little one who is scheduled to be here in October. We attended their wedding during the summer of 2006 and are thrilled to see the home that they are creating.

In the nearly 20 days we were in San Jose, we enjoyed the cool evenings, pleasant days, and most of all, the opportunities to visit with church friends and former work associates. I believe that we had at least one meal each day with some of those friends. It was wonderful to hear what everyone is doing. Each of you is very special to us.

I did get my 2007 quota of golf in during the trip. On two different occassions, I joined church and work friends for "All You Can Eat--All You Can Play" at Coyote Creek. One of those days, Jess and I got in 45 holes of golf! In addition to the days at Coyote Creek, Charlie, my former boss both in Mexico and California, graciously hosted 3 of us at CordeValle (a stunning country club nestled in rolling hills just south of San Jose) for a round of golf. Pat and I joined him for dinner and caught up on how our families were doing. If you're going to lug your clubs with you, make the most of the opportunities.

Are you tired yet? Hang on to your hat because we were off again. After landing in San Antonio about 10 PM on July 31, we were on the road at 6 AM the following morning for a 1000+ mile drive to Atlanta, aka the "Eastern Roadtrip", for an Aug 2 closing on the sale of the condo we had bought while working there in 2001 - 2002. We spent 2 nights with Brian, Beth, Ashley, and Katie, dear friends from SBC-Mexico days, and also got to share a meal with Ken, Crystal, and daughter Amy, church friends from St. Louis days.

Then it was off to see relatives. From Atlanta, we drove to near Huntsville, AL to spend one night with Uncle Doug and Aunt Gloria. I guess that they consider Pat to be the prodigal cousin because they rustled up a couple of their daughters and killed the fatted catfish, and we all enjoyed an evening of reminiscing and catching up.

The following morning, they sent us off with a mess of okra to take to Martha and Billy Roy. They live on a beautiful 400+ acre farm in central Tennessee. Pat's Aunt Martha and her husband, Billy Roy, graciously passed on pieces of furniture, some of which have now been in the family for 4 generations. The marble topped dresser, washstand, rocking chair, and bed now grace the house in San Antonio. A quite interesting heirloom that we received is a pair of Pat's Great-Grandmother Mattie's pantaloons. You can tell from the picture above that they were built for comfort, not for style.

After loading the pickup, the San Antonio Clampetts, Rufus and Minnie, were on the move again. About 300 miles later, we stopped in central Arkansas to visit our dear friend, Tressie. She has been a mother to both Pat and me as well as a grandmother to our sons. We went to church with her on Sunday night and she got us out the door bright and early Monday morning for the 650 mile trip back to San Antonio. Boy, were we ever ready to be home for a while.
Then, company arrived. (See Item 1 above.)

3. The house was basically in order when we returned. I was devastated that no work had been done on the house while we were gone. I thought that this would be easy and automatic. But no, you actually have to be here to get work done. Oh, well. We'll keep plugging along.

The installation of the washer and dryer was HUGE! Thanks, Dennis, for the idea to move the dryer to the outside wall. It sure made the venting easier. In addition to the sheetrocking in the Friedrich Memorial Mud Room, I had a couple of guys start sheetrocking the two remaining bathrooms and master closet. There is still taping, floating, texturing, priming, painting, wainscoating, tile, fixture setting (including the clawfoot tubs). Does that sound like we're nearly done?

4. The cats survived our absence. Two neighbor boys (probably with help from their Mom and Dad) fed them while we were gone. Bad Girl and Grey Girl are back to eating and napping and think that life is good.

Speaking of cats, we did get an update on 3-legged Little Leo. You will recall that he was the first of the neighborhood cats to befriend us last October. At that time, he had four legs. Tragedy struck and he had to have a hind leg amputated. (I still subscribe to the theory that it was a covert terrorist attack that did him in.) Our tenderhearted neighbor, Mary Alice, and her family cared for Little Leo during his convalescence and now report that he is at home with her parents, their two other cats, and a couple of dogs. He is reported to be getting around fine when he's in the house and able to climb and run well when outside. He has figured out that if he jumps up in Mary Alice's Dad's lap, he can usually watch TV and get petted all at the same time. He thinks that is pretty cool.

We have added an opossum to the list of critters around here. This one was climbing around in our back shed one evening. Possums sure are ugly.

We dogsitted (sat?) this past weekend. The neighbors who fed the cats went to the coast for a weekend and needed someone to take care of Pippi, an older, female Chihuahua. It only took her 2 days to train us that she was a lap dog. How could I resist those big, soulful eyes? (And the dog was sweet, too.)

5. Did you notice the rocking chairs on the front balcony? Buck and Katy presented OB with an additional rocker for her mid July birthday. A matching one from OB's favorite contractor showed up at the same time. We now have 4 rocking chairs out on the balcony just waiting for company. One of them has your name on it (if your name is "Cracker Barrel".)

6. Did you hear anything about San Antonio and rain? Last week, Tropical Storm, Erin, came through and left 8 inches of rain in parts of town. We got no damage. The grass really needed it. God sure does a better job of irrigating than we can do.

7. There are 3 little green oranges on the tree that was so loaded last season. I had not noticed any blossoms on the tree and assumed that there would be no fruit this year. If these three oranges are all we have this year, we'll have to give them names.

NEXT STEPS:

1. More visitors are on the way. Steve and Sharon (from San Jose) dropped their daughter off at college in Abilene and have scheduled a few days in San Antonio. Stay tuned for their entry into the Tobin Hill visitors album.

We have a birthday celebration scheduled for Labor Day weekend. Sean, my sister's favorite grandson, is bringing his sister, Maddie, along with Mom, Dad, and Gran to San Antonio for the long weekend. A Thomas the Train cake is to be ordered for the party. Dad Steven is scouting a football game that Friday night and is letting me tag along. That takes me back to 1971 - 1976 when I did that for a living.

2. Bathrooms need to be completed.

3. Painting needs to be done after baseboards, door and window trim is sanded.

4. Door work needs to be done. We're awaiting a bid on that one.

5. Blinds have arrived and need to be put up.

6. We need to Throw away, throw away, throw away all - checks, financial records, etc. There may not be enough dumpsters in San Antonio to do it all in one week.

Happy 4th of July!

2007-07-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

Stars of the Schertz 4th of July parade (in a downpouring rain)

Sister Shanna and OSHA Babe painted the kitchen
Mary Ann visited from California
Kitchen bead board next to freshly painted wall
Stair trim painted

Would you believe that Hulk Hogan stopped by to help?

The "Metabo-ed" bead board

For the week ending July 8, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Let's lead with this week's visitors.

--Mary Ann, from Campbell, CA, was in town and worked us into her full schedule visits. She's a beloved elementary school teacher at the Campbell Christian School and church friend made during the 3 years we lived in San Jose. She is in the middle of her summer break and is visiting friends along the way from California to Texas and back. If you think that we are busy, you should check her agenda. She and her Toyota Corolla are covering thousands of miles and Mary Ann is visiting nearly that many friends.

--Sister Shanna came on a mission during the week of the 4th. She and the OSHA Babe attacked the kitchen with patriotic fervor and painted the walls a bold color. Big Sis has experience bringing houses back to life. She has even suggested bringing a crew of her cronies to help with painting the walls and trim in the entry, parlor, and dining room after the woodwork is prepped. Do you think that San Antonio is ready for her and her rowdy friends?

2. We did take time off to celebrate the 4th of July. The first picture above is of our patriotic daughter-in-law, Katy, and sister, Rachel, riding in their award-winning float during the Schertz community parade. The umbrellas were needed because of a steady rain that fell all morning. It is fun to be in a place where the 4th is still celebrated with 90+ parade entrants that included girl scouts, boy scouts, firetrucks, ambulances, businesses, local community politicians, little Miss San Antonio pageant participants, churches, tae kwon do teams, and umbrella-toting, rain-soaked spectators. God Bless America!

3. After a day off on the 4th, it was back to work. The kitchen painting was completed. That really put the pressure on me to finish trimming out the bead board around the granite and backsplash. It's amazing what new paint and caulked trim did for the appearance of the room.

4. We finished the painting of the trim around the stairs. You probably can't tell from the picture that there are 3 coats on it. It sure looks better than before.

5. OK, OK! That is not really Hulk Hogan helping out. (But don't you think that the moustache and goatee have a Hogan-like effect?) While OSHA Babe was out getting her hair cut (she looks maaaavelous, by the way), I was using the Metabo Paint Remover on the bead board in the butler's panty to prep the walls for painting. Paint chips were flying, I was sweating, and progress was slow. After the room was Metabo-ed, I hand scraped the beads in the bead board. There's nearly 10 hours of "love" invested so far with more to come. I'm starting to develop an attitude about the butler's pantry. (Egad! Maybe I have become the Butler but just don't realize it! This gives new meaning to the Clue storyline of "The Butler did it with the knife in the pantry.")

NEXT STEPS:

1. We need to get the Butler's Pantry painted. The bead board needs to be sanded before painting. The sheetrock walls need to be painted. The last small section of the ceiling needs to enclosed, sheetrocked, textured, and painted. The built-in cabinet in the Pantry needs to be sanded and painted. The doors need to be put on the built-in cabinet. The swinging door needs to be refinished. The floors need to be done. But other than these things, we're just about done.

2. More help is on the way! Kathy, a long time friend from Dallas, is coming to SA for a few days of labor and some visiting. (She and hubby, David, are accustomed to hard work. I believe that they have produced over half the Christmas plywood yard decorations, e.g., Santas, elves, sleighs, reindeer, etc., used in North Dallas since the 1980's.) Even after reading the disclaimer - "CAUTION! BEING A FRIEND OF THE BROCKMANS COULD BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR LEISURE TIME! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!" - Kathy is choosing to come for a couple of days.

3. Blogging will be sparse for the next month because the upcoming 4 weeks are heavy with travel. The travels will nearly take us from sea to shining sea. (No, Donna, this is not another "Name That Tune" contest.)

--A California trip is on tap to celebrate the birth of Michael Benjamin, visit with friends, and attend the baby shower for Jeff and Heather's arriving bambino.

--The morning after we return from CA, we plan to get in the truck for a thousand mile trip to Atlanta to close on the sale of our condominium. From Atlanta, we may stop in Alabama and Tennessee to visit OB's aunts and uncles. One of the aunts has offered OB some family furniture that will not only fit the time period of this old house but also bring back memories of childhood visits to her grandfather Johnson's house. "This Old House" is becoming "This Old Home."

--Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. The day after we return from the Atlanta, OB's sister and hubby are scheduled to arrive for a week in San Antonio. (Haven't you two read the Disclaimer?) Although the official word is that they that are coming for a visit, the real skinny is that they are are motivated by their margarita on the Riverwalk prize that was awarded after winning the Life is Good in Tobin Hill blog "Name That Tune" contest several months back. Seriously, we're looking forward to your visit -- and the 14 hour work days that are planned.

R & R for OSHA Babe

2007-07-02T05:14:00.001-07:00

Beth, Lenise, and Pat and the get-away car

Look out cats, here come Annie and Layla
This was the corner that needed attention
Do you think he will ever get a chance to use those golf shoes?

Benjamin's friend

Highlights for week ending July 1, 2007

1. OSHA Babe was picked up and whisked away for a little R & R with longtime friends Beth and Lenise. They were in the Marble Falls area for the record breaking 18 inches of rain in one night. Fortunately, they stayed high and dry and the Babe returned ready to rock and roll on the renovation. The timing was a blessing. Friendship is such a gift. Thanks to both of you.

2. Meanwhile back at the farm, good old Bo just kept on working. I returned to find the beadboard cut, primed and ready to finish out in the kitchen and nice sconce lighting on what had been dangling connections on the stairway. The kickboard and trim on the stairway was taped off, primed, and ready to paint. What a difference such details make!

3. The end of the month stirred the motivation to consolidate and move out of one of our two storage units. Hooray! Mission accomplished. It's difficult to unpack and put away with the downstairs unfinished but we are working at it. The boxes in the picture are mostly unpacked and will be on their way to North Carolina with Emma, Web, Megan, and Benjamin. We will miss them but are happy for the opportunity he has to accept a job there. Benjamin trusted me to let his little crab friend sleep over after their visit last week so I took him with me to the lake. I do thank God for all the children in my life!

Tobin Hill Work Camp

2007-06-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

Nasty Trash Pile!
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.Runner Up in the Wet T-Shirt Contest
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Do you have a license to drive that thing?
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This is what 10 cubic yards of construction waste looks like.
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Where did the trash pile go?

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Shhhhhh! - Cat hard at work - Sorry we roused you for the photo, Grey Girl

The inaugaral plug
Dani and Dennis - friends from SBC Mexico days
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Cousin Nettie and friends from Sabinal .

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We enjoyed scones and coffee on the balcony with Kathryn --
Web, Emma, Meagan, Benjamin
Can you hear the theme song from "Gone with the Wind" when you look at this picture?

HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEKS ENDING JUNE 17 AND JUNE 24, 2007

1. Whoever thought that moving a trash pile would be a highlight? If one considers "highlight" to be synonymous with "welcomed relief", then we have a highlight. In the first few pictures, you see "before, during and after" of the move. Even OSHA Babe pushed the wheel barrow. Did you ever hear it said that you need to get a good education or you would end up digging ditches? Well, both the Babe and I have college degrees and we're still hauling trash. What's wrong with this picture?
2. The picture of the air conditioner unit with Grey Girl napping on top shows that the cats have this thing figured out - Eat, sleep, stretch, repeat. We try to keep the noise level down while we're working so that we don't disturb their rest.
Incidentally, there have been no further raccoon sightings. However, there was some sort of midnight animal ruckus in the neighbor's front yard several nights ago. I suspect that Rocky Raccoon was defending himself against a dog or something. It sounded pretty scary.
3. The Zoysia King has resurfaced. The zoysia has taken hold splendidly and is spreading rapidly. It hasn't overtaken the neighbors' yards but is working on it. To help the spread, I bought a "sod plugger" and posed for the obligatory "Kodak Moment." The cats think that it was nice of me to improve their outdoor facilities. Nasty cats!
4. We do continue to work inside the house. There are actually clothes rods in the future master closet. Most of the clothes are out of the moving boxes and onto the rods. Knobs and drawer pulls are beginning to show up on the kitchen cabinets and there are plates on most of the light switches and outlets now. OSHA Babe bought an old dresser that fits the time period of the house. A jewelry case, bookshelves, and the entertainment unit have been brought upstairs and put in place. The Bose system is hooked up. We're catching up on rerun episodes of "24" that we missed. Life is getting better in Tobin Hill.
5. Visitors keep coming and we love it.
.....On May 31, we had a passel (whatever that is) of company.
..........Dani and Dennis, dear friends from SBC-Mexico days were in town for an anniversary lunch and stopped by. They had the choice of staying to work around the house or going on to celebrate their 30 somethingst anniversary. Needless to say, they chose wisely.
..........My cousin, Nettie, came from Sabinal with her dad, Uncle Joe, and two of her friends. (Ladies, I apologize for not remembering your names. This is a test to see if you're reading the blog. Send a comment back and I'll edit this entry to include your names.) One of Nettie's friends remembers that during her younger days, she dated a guy who lived a few houses down the street from us. Isn't it a small world?
.....Just recently, another guest was Kathryn. She is my sister's mother-in-law and was in San Antonio helping her daughter prepare for a move to another house. She particularly enjoyed coffee and scones on the balcony. What a delight.
.....Repeat visitors - Web, Emma, Meagan, and Benjamin - were here last Saturday. You loyal blogsters can see their pictures from previous visits. There is even a picture of Web shoveling dirt for the berm earlier this year. They may be moving soon. It was good to have them stop by for OSHA Babe's famous spaghetti.
6. What do you think of the exterior paint job? It is a real pleasure to drive up and see such a transformation. We need to keep looking at how much we have done and not get discouraged by how much there still is to do.

NEXT STEPS:
1. Finish putting on the knobs/pulls in the kitchen.
2. Begin building shelving and run a clothes dryer duct in the master closet.
3. Restart work on the remaining two bathrooms.
4. Watch the zoysia grow.

A Full House

2007-06-12T17:06:00.000-07:00

Home Sweet Home-it's official

Wood floors-even prettier Feeding the Jaguars

Cousin Rebecca-first official overnight guest

Michael, Jasmine, and Trudy visit the Alamo

Out of the apartment and into the house
Rocky Raccoon
Column painting in progress

Highlights for the Weeks of May 30 and June 3, 2007

We unloaded the U-Haul and took off to Missouri for a very special reunion of the James family. Three of Pat's mom's siblings were there and her dad's sister, plus cousins and in-laws. We also got to visit long time friend Ken Callis and meet his newest grandson, Graham born May 24. An unexpected guest greeted us when we returned home. The raccoon mentioned in the previous entry seemed to have claimed the front step as a dining table (the neighbor boys who fed the cats while we were gone were very generous with their portions). You can see from the picture why the cats leave him alone!

Bo's cousin Rebecca was our first official houseguest and wins the Good Sport Award for braving no airconditioning and no covering on the windows. The motion detector light outside her window was probably a night-long alarm clock since it seems to detect the slightest movement of leaves when there is a breeze. She was awake in plenty of time for her early morning flight to visit her son Bradley and his kids in Missouri. (P.S. A visit from the air conditioning repair guy next day revealed absolutely no freon in the upstairs unit. Freon for the air conditioner $350-a good night's sleep-priceless)

We took a break from our unpacking the week of June 3 to help get Katy and her sister Rachel move into their new Bless Your Heart quarters. They were remarkable orchestrators of a hardworking crew. What an achievement to move the wonderful, extravagant inventory of two stores, get everything set up, and be open on the 5th day! If enough of you request it, I will post a picture with Bo next week entitled, "Why a Man Needs a Pick Up Truck in Texas." It has to do with shoes, and lots of them!

Nephew Steven and his wife Michelle arrived with Sean and Maddie for a long weekend on the 7th. Aunt Pat got to choose the pictures for the blog this week....can you tell she's smitten?

I told their Gran (Shanna) that they were the only way our wood floors could be any prettier. What a beautiful way to furnish our guest room! Sean enjoyed feeding the cats which he called "jaguars" since he had just watched a Discovery program on jaguars.

We also had the honor of introducing Jasmine and Michael to Texas. They accompanied mom Trudy from San Jose, California and though their time in San Antonio was short they got to experience The Alamo, The Riverwalk, and Sonic! They are in Texas because Jasmine qualified for a national speech competition in Belton and will hopefully take home honors along with her pink cowboy hat (with tiara) purchased on the Riverwalk.

Yes, we did get a little work done on the house. Francisco and Daniel worked carefully and conscientiously to scrape the capitals and posts to get them ready to paint. The last picture shows one completely primed. Wait til next week when you see the finished job!

What's next-

1. Electric circuit for washing machine and inventive venting of dryer

2. Install transom windows upstairs.

3. Get window coverings

4. Unpack boxes (we need shelves and rods in the closets)

5. Ceiling fans

6. Cheer for the Spurs!

The Welcome Mat is Out

2007-05-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

The cats - as if nothing ever happened

Some of these boxes are from the move out of Mexico-1999 .
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View from master bedroom through upstairs hall into den

Balcony porch before and after

Zoysia -before and during-the pallet sure beats the St. Louis sprig by sprig method

Skirting is a big improvement
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Brady gets the tour

Sarah, Pat, Skye, and Scott

HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK ENDING MAY 19, 2007

The count down for moving in is on and we are keeping long hours getting ready to vacate the apartment and move into the house. A Memorial Day weekend family reunion that's been on the schedule since January has motivated us to get 'er done. With Bo wearing the hats of Zoysia King, tile finisher, floor man's helper, window checker, Home Depot runner, toilet placer, faucet fixer, tax appraisal challenger, and unloader at the storage unit, I am getting my head out of a box to write the blog this week. Thanks to all of you who said you miss it when it's not there on Monday morning!

1. Frank and Lynn have continued to work hard and spent several late nights helping us have the upstairs floors finished for the moving in on Wednesday, the 23rd. (Last night as they were wrapping up about 11 PM and taking a smoke on the front porch, they were joined by a raccoon who helped himself to the left over cat food. Sorry, we don't have pictures yet.) Back to the floors, "gorgeous", "like new", "spectacular" are just a few adjectives we could use to describe the outcome. The long leaf pine is restored to the beauty that God gave it at His creation. Over 90% of boards upstairs are full length, i.e., are a plank that runs the length of the room. That is amazing considering that today's wood floors might have some planks that are a little over 4 feet long.

We ended up with a "bonus room." Bo asked to borrow their edger to help get the balcony floor ready to paint. While he went to get some sanding discs, Frank and Lynn got out with their big machine and did a swipe or two. Who knew we could restore even that rugged, weather beaten wood? With their expertise and a little sealer we will have an amazing place to drink coffee, visit with friends and neighbors, catch a cool breeze, and enjoy Tobin Hill.

2. Francisco and Daniel finished up the exterior painting (we will do the columns and around the door later) and got the skirting up around the house. The cats will have to find a new place to stay out of the rain. I think they already have.....

3. Bo, aka Zoysia King, brought in a pallet of zoysia and got it placed with the help of a hard working young man who "just happened" to show up willing to help with whatever was needed. We are thankful that God has sent us such good people to help get this big job done. It has definitely been part of the adventure to work with conscientious, capable people. We appreciate and admire these new friends. We also appreciate the rain this week! The zoysia needed that!

4. Visitors this week included Brady Watson, our Farmer's Insurance agent. He has been helpful to all our family since we first lived in San Antonio in 2000. On Friday, Sarah gave me a ride home from Bible study and got the tour. Friends of Buck and Katy, Skye and Scott, who we know from Journey Fellowship happened to be in the neighborhood checking out a house for sale next door. They knocked on our door for details and were surprised to be greeted by someone they knew. It was fun to show them all we have been working on. When we get out the "before" pictures and consider how much there was to do when we bought it last September, it really is amazing that we can actually move in this month!

NEXT STEPS:

1. The U-Haul is lined up for Wednesday, the 23rd. Why did I unpack so much when we moved into the apartment?
2. Frank and Lynn will put the final coats on the kitchen, stairs, and upstairs floors.
3. We are getting some duct work done.
4. The zoysia needs to stay watered and there is some landscaping to do to keep water from draining too much around the foundation.
5. Appliances need to be placed in the kitchen and a circuit found for the microwave.
6. Change of address cards sent!!!!!!

Fabulous Floors! and Legend of the Zoysia King

2007-05-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

Kitchen Floor before sanding

Kitchen Floor after finish

Would you prefer this Guest Bedroom or .....

.....this Guest Bedroom?

Pretty nice restroom, eh?

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Restroom with new fixtures

Exterior Paint - in progress

Exterior Paint - after completion

Skirting around bottom of house

The Clampetts are on the move again

Visitors from South Carolina - Mike and Karla

For the Week ending May 13, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. The floors are coming out fabulous! You have already looked at the first four pictures above and can see for yourself. The folks who are doing the floors, Frank and Linda, are doing a great job. We still have about a week to go before completing this round which will include the kitchen and all the wood floors upstairs. The guest room is getting closer to completion. Schedule your reservation now before it fills up.
2. Wouldn't you agree that the small upstairs bathroom has come a long way. When you look at the "Before" picture, it makes the port-a-potty look not quite so nasty. We still have to connect the water supply lines and the sink drain before the test flush.

3. The exterior painting wrapped up this week. Pictured above is the east side of the house. Francisco and Daniel worked hard and did a careful job. It took them two weeks. Had I taken this on myself, the result would have been measured in months. This sure seems to have been money well spent. There is more exterior painting to come as I am treating the columns and capitals out front as a separate painting job.
4. Francisco and Daniel began putting "el faldon" around the house on Friday. (I think that they were really glad to be working on tierra firme. The picture above with the blue board at the bottom of the house shows the "skirting" that is intended to minimize the possibility of water running under the house. That skirting is to be covered with a wire mesh and then coated with concrete to make it more durable. There will also be 9 - 10 vents and two access doors for crawling under the house.

5. The Clampetts (the Texas cousins of the Beverly Hillbillies) are on the move again. OSHA Babe has directed the moving of boxes out of the garage at the apartments and a 10' x 10' storage unit that we have had since moving from San Antonio in 2000. Every day, we have loaded the car and pickup and moved stuff to a storage unit that is a half mile from the Tobin Hill house. The plan is to complete moving the small things this coming week and rent a UHaul for the bigger stuff, e.g., furniture, washer, dryer, etc. I have already tee'd up the idea with Francisco to round up a crew for that effort. Are any of you loyal readers going to be in San Antonio toward the end of May?
6. Work related travel brought Mike and Karla, church friends from St. Louis, to San Antonio. They came by the house on Tuesday for the general tour. We did manage to support fajita night at one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants and caught up on their two sons' and our three sons' lives. Karla came back on Wednesday to consult with Pat about color selection. She and Pat did manage a bit of shopping at "Bless Your Heart" and lunch at a girly tea room. Additionally, our neighbor's brother from Chicago was walking the dogs with his sister and stopped by for introductions and a chat. That led to an abbreviated tour. We do love having visitors.

NEXT STEPS:
1. Floor work will continue. I expect that Frank and Linda will be working on the floors upstairs most of next week.
2. I need to continue working on the upstairs bathroom. I noticed a gap in the grout on the shower wall. That needs to be filled. Also, I may need some help attaching the drain of the lavatory.

3. We are close to having the kitchen ready for the stove and refrigerator. This could be the week for moving them in.
4. The Zoysia King is on his way back! I have ordered a pallet of zoysia grass that is scheduled to be picked up on Tuesday. I have hired a young man to come over on Monday and help grade the front yard in preparation for sodding. If he shows up and works out, I'll have him help on Tuesday.

The Legend of the Zoysia King goes something like this. When last seen, the ZK was in his late 30's and living in St. Louis. His weekend mission was to plant zoysia plugs in his family's massive back yard. Sherwin Williams' "Cover the Earth" trademark was allegedly inspired by ZK's world vision for zoysia. His work clothes were tight, gold gym shorts (yes, the kind that were worn in the 60's and 70's) and a ragged old t-shirt. There was only one pair of gym shorts and, if I remember correctly, they were carry overs from college days. Since ZK had put on a few pounds since college days, (picture that, Batman) his appearance in the family's yard did bring hilarity and ridicule from the neighbors along with massive doses of embarrassment to and from his family. It did stop just short of obscenity. I hope that OSHA Babe hasn't thrown those shorts away. (Ed. note-The world has been spared a sighting of ZK in the gold shorts. Chris Farley's SNL Chippendale routine was inspired by ZK. The shorts are now designated historic and no longer available for public viewing).

4. Hopefully, the skirting will be finished this week.

30 Day Notice given at the Apartment: The Heat is On!

2007-05-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

Painters hard at work
Front Door started like this...

<--Front Door now looks like this!

.Gas Line got moved away from the driveway

Kitchen backsplash behind stove - Nice tile work
<--Small Bathroom floor got tiled and grouted

Wary Bad Girl on the way to Dr. Snip Snip

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. We're on schedule to move into the house at the end of May. We took a leap of faith (and hard work) and gave our 30 day notice to the apartment manager. Our expectations are - 1. the floors upstairs and in the kitchen completed. 2. The small upstairs bathroom is functional. 3. The kitchen is functional. 4. We will "camp out" in the upstairs and live there as we finish the rest. Who said I was still crazy after all these years -- Paul Simon?

2. OSHA Babe has expanded her role. If I want to stay married, I won't call her the Mayflower Mover Maid ("3M") too many times. (Editor's Note: The author just used up his allowance for calling me "3M".) We did rent 2 storage units about 1/2 mile from the new house and have begun moving contents from the garage here at the apartment. We hope to do a little each day and then hire help for the furniture and other heavy items later in the month. I think that Pat is planning a box burning party after this one is over.

3. We were pleasantly surprised on Wednesday when a crew from the gas and electric company, CPS, showed up to move the gas meter from the driveway side of the house to the east side. Several months ago, I had asked if this could be done for safety reasons, i.e., backing the car out of a narrow driveway that has a gas meter as one of the boundaries could prove to be unnecessarily dangerous. CPS had indicated that they would move the meter but not until we got a final inspection on both the gas and plumbing. We've had the final approval on the gas for several months but have not called for the final plumbing inspection. When CPS showed up and told me they were moving the meter, I didn't ask any questions. They finished on Thursday. Hopefully we have gas in the kitchen for the stove. I can smell the brisket already.
4. Exterior painting continues. As two of the pictures above show, it is making a HUGE difference in the appearance. Francisco and Daniel are working hard, doing a good job and making good progress in spite of the rains here in San Antonio. They need to finish up the front and then paint the east side. We're probably talking about at least another week.
5. The kitchen is ready for the floor people to start. I finished the backspash behind the stove and hung the microwave. The circuit to the microwave is not working so I placed a call to the electrician and hope to see him early next week. I have asked him to hang some ceiling fans when he comes.

6. The floor in the small upstairs bathroom is tiled and grouted. It really tidied up the appearance. Finishing this will be a big push for the next couple of weeks. Camping out in the upstairs does not include having to use the porta potty.

7. The cats don't love me much this week. We caught both Bad Girl and Grey Girl and took them to Dr. Snip Snip. With help from Ruth Ann, a lady from the San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition (SAFCC), we trapped Bad Girl for a Wednesday appointment and Grey Girl for her date on Thursday. CAT CONTEST - If one female cat has the 4 litters annually that she is capable of having and if each litter contains 2 female kittens who survive and they bear kittys at that same rate, how many cats will come from this one female in 7 years? The official answer is on a poster in Dr. Snip Snip's clinic in San Antonio. There will be no arguing over the answer.

8. We did have visitors this week. Susan, a friend of Pat from BSF came by for the tour. Additionally, our neighbors Rony, Anita, and their daughter, Karen (who is going to school in Israel) came through for the tour. I believe that Karen is the current leader in the "Traveled the Most Miles to Get Here" Contest. It is fun hearing from young folks who lived in the neighborhood and remember seeing homeless people staying in the house from time to time.

NEXT STEPS:
1. Floor refinishing begins on Monday. Frank and his wife have us slotted for ten work days. This round of flooring includes the kitchen and all the rooms upstairs. We have great expectations.
2. We will continue to move boxes to the newly rented storage units. We may rent a trailer one day so we can get more in one trip but we'll see. Sanding Patty is getting a reprieve from sanding to put on her 3M cape.
3. Exterior painting will continue. Hopefully, we'll get the east side of the house finished. Francisco is also going to put new drip cap and skirting around the house as the weather and time permit.
4. I've got to keep working on the small bathroom upstairs. Baseboards, moulding, and a final coat of paint are needed before setting the lavatory and the toilet. The end is in sight. And then there are only two other ones to do!

Most "This Old House" episodes end in 30 minutes. Where did we go wrong??

2007-05-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

Loyal friend Judy shows up to help paint

Vicki visited from California
Friends since Mexico City days, Sally and Steve

Exterior painting during and after

Domestication of Grey Girl continues

.The high cost of a free meal....

FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 29, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. The 2 person paint crew is making a HUGE difference. The contrast that you see in the "Before" and "After" pictures (above) of the back of the house is incredible. It is also an encouragement to realize that there really is a house in there somewhere. Although we do have several more commercial breaks in our living episode of "This Old House", we are making visible progress.
2. A lady from the SPCA brought a trap for us to use. The plan for Bad Girl and Grey Girl is to catch them and have them neutered and vaccinated. The oblivious Grey Girl thinks that eating inside the trap is cool but, as Elmer Fudd would call her, wary Bad Girl is not so sure. (It took OSHA Babe 4 times to get it. Did you do better?) This should be interesting.
3. Saturday and Sunday, we had visitors from out of town. Vicki, a former associate at Covad in San Jose, CA, was in town for an annual "girls weekend" with a group of friends. OSHA Babe and I met her for breakfast on Saturday and then took the tour of the house. (Vicki, how was the spa appointment?) On Sunday, Steve and Sally arrived in town from Plano, TX. We met them at "This Old House" for the tour and then shared an outstanding meal. Steve and Sally, along with their children, were work associates from SBC days in Mexico.
NEXT STEPS: Guest editor, OSHA Babe, here, finishing up for Best Blogger Bo (now you know where the B.B. Brockman comes from. The Spurs need his support in the playoffs this week which explains the late publishing. During the first week of May we hope to give our 30 day notice at the apartment, and work on the upstairs bathroom and kitchen. I can move in without a kitchen, but the bathroom is a must! The floor man said he will come "after the first of May" so we hope that is sooner than later. We'll get a storage unit for the downstairs furniture and go ahead and move everything in that goes upstairs when the floors are done. The paint upstairs looks wonderful and I am having fun deciding on new linens for the master and guest bedrooms. I much prefer shopping to painting!

If you build it, they will come

2007-04-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

Picnicing in Tobin Hills - Wednesday
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Cousins from Denver and Houston

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Sisters-in-Law

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. The headline is just a tease. We didn't build it. We are just renovating it. But, they did come. ("If you renovate it, they will come" just doesn't have the same Hollywood history.) We had FIFTEEN visitors this week and loved it! In order of appearance -
. Back in September, Pat offered to host the monthly lunch for friends from her Bible study group. She was anticipating a cozy luncheon in the restored dining room. Instead of that, she and her friends dined on self provided sandwiches and picnic foods in one of the "upper rooms." The group toured the house after lunch and offered many kind words of encouragement about the work in progress.
. On Wednesday night, Monte and Mona flew in from Denver, CO and spent the night with us at the apartment. Monte's sister, Sharon and her daughter, Layne, met us all at the house on Thursday. They were en route to their Mom's 80th birthday celebration in Del Rio. We loved showing off what we are doing. I think that they all have enough imagination to see where we're going with this renovation. At least they were kind enough to not tell me I was still crazy after all these years.
. Friday brought the final visitors of the week. Dad, his wife, Virginia, and my sister, Shanna, arrived from College Station. They got the guided tour. (I did give them the family discount.) Dad and I stayed at the house a little longer than the rest and worked on domestication of the cats.
. After a stay in San Antonio on Friday night, we all traveled to Del Rio for the birthday party. Monte, Mona, Sharon, and Layne did a stellar job honoring Aunt Gene at her party. Relatives and friends from Dallas, Houston, San Angelo, Ft. Stockton, Del Rio, Sabinal, and San Antonio thoroughly enjoyed the lunch and visiting. We even broke out dominos for the traditional "42" games. What a blessing it is to have good family and friends!
2. Oh yeah - we did do some work on the house last week. Interior painting continued. The upper room aforementioned got its 2nd coat of paint. OSHA Babe womanned the orbital sander in the landing area. The guest bedroom and the Mary E. room got its last coat of trim paint and was taped in preparation for wall paint.
. Work began on the exterior painting. A 2 man crew began scrapping on the back of the house. I made arrangements to have them scrape, prime, and paint the north and west side of the house. We'll see how that goes.
3. On Friday, the shower door was installed. We got nickel metal trim and a neat looking tapered glass in the door. The guys who did the work walked through the house and really liked the backsplash in the kitchen. One of them even asked if I was a tile man. I do pretty good work but could not make it professionally. If you hired me by the hour to do a tile job, you couldn't afford me. If you hired me by the job, I'd starve by the time I finished. (Some folks used to tell me to keep my day job. But since this is my day job, I don't know what words of wisdom my friends might have.)
4. Frank the Floor Man told me that he would begin after the first of May. That's OK because we still have some painting to complete upstairs.
5. I have both sadness and moral disgust to report on the cat news. On a sad note, Bad Girl does not seem to be nursing a kitten any longer. I crawled under the house looking for the newborn but was unable to find kitty. Bad Girl has just been hanging around the neighborhood like nothing ever happened.
. Do you know the origin of the phrase "...the morals of an alley cat"? After watching both Bad Girl and Grey Girl and three tomcats from the neighborhood act like alley cats, I think they have read the manual. (If you watch much TV, you probably think that some people have read that same manual.) We are formulating plans with a helper from the SPCA to have a neutering party. We'll see how interested the tom cats are after the party.

NEXT STEPS:
1. We need to keep painting. Upstairs we lack the guest bedroom, the Mary E. room, the landing at the top of the stairs. With all the paint that we have bought, Sherwin Williams may be considering a name change in our honor. Perhaps, they are just going to name the 2007 Customer Appreciation Sale after us.
2. In the upstairs bathroom, I need to finish the floor, set the lavatory and toilet, and put up molding. Once the fixtures are set, I'll be a big step closer to getting the plumbing inspection that is holding up the gas company from moving the meter from the driveway side of the house to the east side of the house.
3. There is still work to be completed in the kitchen. I need to finish tiling the wall where the microwave and stove will be. And then, I need to grout it all. There is still one door frame that needs to be sanded and painted.

Not Quite "Shrine" Status Yet -- But Getting There

2007-04-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Starting on the Backsplash
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Do you see God's monogram "B" in the stone?
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Two boards removed to access the plumbing and lower the kitchen drain line. Read on.

OSHA Babe got real good with the roller.

Dear friend, Anne, from church and SBC days

FOR THE WEEK ENDING April 15, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. What a difference a little stone on the backsplash makes in the kitchen! After devoting much of the week to painting, we worked in the kitchen Saturday setting the tumbled stone backsplash. The first two pictures above show how much it helps. Doesn't the faucet that OSHA Babe picked out look great?
...So what's the deal about "Shrine" status? In summary, the Maker of the granite has monogrammed the kitchen. As background, being the artistic tile setter that I am, I like to visually tie the granite slab and backsplash together by embedding a 2" x 2" square of the counter top granite into the design of the backsplash. While doing that on Saturday, the first piece of granite that I just happened to use had the letter "B" distinctly visible in the grain of the stone. (Can you see the "B" in the third and fourth pictures above?) At first, I thought it was a left over mark from the fabricators. However, after checking it out, the "B" is a naturally occurring design within the granite square. We're going to call it God's handiwork in the kitchen.
2. Sam the plumber and his helper, Andy, came by Thursday and decided that the existing drain in the kitchen wall was indeed higher than the discharge of the garbage disposal. After some discussion, the three of us also decided that water does not run uphill easily. Hence, the straightforward solution - lower the drain. But how? In the fifth picture above, that dark patch near the bottom of the house is the hole left after two sections of siding were removed from the exterior wall. Yep, we disassembled part of the house to add a lower drain line. Gulp! But the story had a good ending. First, the disposal, sink, and dishwasher can now drain. Additionally, the siding went back on the house so that it looks untouched. Whew!
..While they were there, the plumbers put the finishing touches on the rough in plumbing in the two bathrooms where the claw foot tubs will go. The water supply lines are now in place and ready for the sheetrock to go up. The tub drains are also now in place. We will be ready to set the tubs after the walls have been sheetrocked, bead board paneling placed, and the floors tiled. That's another plumber visit.
3. OSHA Babe was a painting champ this past week. She is pictured above in the TV room as we were getting started on Friday. Saturday afternoon, she led the charge in the master bedroom. The paint in there is a light blue. She already has her eye on the perfect bedspread and pillow cases. There is still a lot to do but we've got 2 rooms down.
4. Cat report - There is evidence that there is/are a new kitten(s) under the house. Bad Girl has been nursing and has a voracious appetite. We're not sure how many additions there are. We'll post pictures as they become available.
5. Our honored guest this week was Anne. You can tell from the picture that she really liked the granite. She and husband, Ken, have been friends from SBC days in Dallas in the early 80's. Ken and I carpooled in both Dallas and St. Louis. Their son and daughter, who babysat for our sons, now have children of their own. Anne just happened to have pictures of the grandchildren. You can tell the she and Ken take true delight in their family.

NEXT STEPS:
1. There is always painting to do. Before the floor guy arrives, we still have Pat's office, the guest bedroom, and the landing area at the top of the stairs to finish. Work, work, work.
2. In the small bathroom upstairs, we must get the tile grouted by Wednesday. The shower door is scheduled to be installed on Friday and the grouting must be done.
..The other bathrooms are ready for tile, sheetrock, and beadboard paneling. When that is all done, we'll be getting close to the time for claw foot tubs to be "footed" and moved into place. We're taking volunteers for helping to move the tubs.
3. We expect a large number of visitors this week. My Aunt Gene (whose picture you have seen on the blog more than once) is having a "special" birthday this coming week. Her children from Houston and the Denver area are hosting a celebration in Del Rio and have invited family members from all over to come. San Antonio just happens to be on the way for several. So, this week's visitors could include one Dad and his wife, one sister, two or three cousins, and possibly another uncle and aunt to come by. I hope they bring their work clothes.

How Did You Celebrate "Bathroom Improvement Week"?

2007-04-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Small Bathroom Upstairs -
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Downstairs Bathroom -
<---Before Downstairs Bathroom - Currently

Visitors - Art and Mary, dear friends from SBC days in Mexico City
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FOR THE WEEK ENDING April 8, 2007 - Easter Sunday

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Bathroom improvements were the most visible results of this week.
o In the small bathroom upstairs - we got the old fixtures removed, put bead board paneling on the walls, and put down the major part of the tile floor. It's starting to converge into a bathroom.
o In the Master bathroom upstairs - there is subfloor in place making the room ready for some tile work. The claw foot tub drain and water supply lines are still pending and will require some additional plumbing help.
o The downstairs bathroom probably changed in appearance the most. Pictures 3 and 4 above show before and current pictures of the room. You notice that there is now a floor in place and tiling is not far off. The back wall is firred out and ready for both the bath tub and lavatory water supply lines to be attached. Some sheetrock was hung in the room. It is coming along.

2. We're making a major effort to get the upstairs rooms painted in preparation for the finishing of the wood floors. OSHA Babe has become quite proficient in using the Metabo paint remover. You should have seen her "gettin 'er done" on Saturday. The trim in her office is ready to be sanded and painted. We got a first coat of paint on the trim in the guest bedroom. I think that the TV room is caulked and ready for its second coat of trim paint followed by its first coat of wall paints. The more we get done, the uglier the doors become. Their time will come.

3. We didn't totally overlook the kitchen. Two workers, Mario and son, Michael, got the 1/4" backerboard on the wall in preparation for putting in the tumbled stone backsplash. We had to rework a couple of electrical outlets with new boxes so the plugs will be flush with the finished wall. It's going to look great.

4. More foundation work is ahead. Robert, the foundation guy, stopped by on Thursday and surveyed some of the settling indications we have. He's going to have a crew come out and place five additional piers on a shaker beam that will help out. Who knows what a "shaker beam" is?

5. Dear friends from SBC days in Mexico City, Art and Mary, stopped by on Saturday. They moved back to South Padre Island last summer after 14 years in Mexico City. Art was a steadfast, wise friend to me during the 6 years we were there. Mary and Pat shared experiences as mothers of three sons and have stayed in touch since we left Mexico City in 1999. We continue to value their gracious friendship.
...The weather Saturday was cold and wet. OSHA Babe and I were looking for a good reason to go someplace warm. After giving Art and Mary the historical tour, we were off to the Blanco Cafe for caldo and the #3 special. If I can persuade him off his fishing boat on South Padre, Art may come back for some plumbing and painting. NOT!!!!!!!! So I guess that we'll just have to go visit them for some fishing and golf.
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NEXT STEPS:
1. I have made a Paint Vow. Monday and Tuesday will be dedicated to nothing other than paint preparation, e.g., sanding, caulking, painting, on the second floor. Take a deep breath and repeat after me, "Focus! Don't get distracted by the 973 other things that could be done."

2. In the small bathroom upstairs, I need to finish tiling the floor, put the 2nd coat of paint on the bead board paneling, grout the tile in the shower after putting in the shower neck and head and trim around the water control valve, and place the new toilet and lavatory.
Kitchen work will continue with the purchase of the tumbled stone tile and subsequent setting of it for the backspalsh. I do plan to work in several 2" x 2" pieces of granite that were cut from the same slab as the countertops.

3. Mario and Michael are scheduled to be back on Wednesday to begin working on putting up the skirt around the bottom of the house. That is needed to keep the crawl space under the house dry and, hopefully, minimize future shifting of the supporting piers.

4. I plan to call Sam the plumber to check his availability on getting the clawfoot tub drains and water supply lines done as well as determining what is needed to connect the garbage disposal to the drain in the kitchen. Stand by for that one.

5. Toward the end of the week, I'll be checking with Frank the floor guy to verify the specific date that he will start working on our floors.

The Floors are on a Schedule

2007-04-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

Do you like the kitchen window with plywood or with glass panes? -----I thought so.

Color selection went on in the Kitchen and Guest Bedroom

<--View from the Balcony looking toward the west

For the Week Ending April 1, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Exciting News! We made it onto the floor man's schedule -- for the 3rd or 4th week in April. Yep, he's booked up that far out. Frank, the floor guy, is highly recommended and appreciates bringing older floors back to life. He says that the wood floors in an old house are the most visible piece of furniture in the house and should be done right. Frank and his wife (who also runs the sanding machines) moved to San Antonio about 30 years ago when they finally got tired of Wisconsin winters. We plan to get the floors done in 2 stages. This first stage will include the kitchen floor (yes, the ugly one in the first picture) and all the upstairs floors.
2. Window replacement was a big part of last week's work. Things brightened up dramatically when windows were replaced in the kitchen, parlor, and dining room. The kitchen particularly sparkles with a new window in the back wall. Prior to this, the top sash was filled in with a piece of plywood that housed the stove vent. The first two pictures above show the "Plywood" vs. "Glass" view of the kitchen. Which do you like better?
On a sad note, I broke one of the new panes during the installation process. I nearly cried as I saw a $100 bill fly away as the glass cracked under an abnormal strain. Did you know that glass won't bend too much? However, all is not lost. Yes, we'll have to buy another pane. But, since only a corner broke, the remnant is large enough to use as a replacement for a window in the TV Room that currently uses plain, not "wavy" restoration glass.
3. This past week was filled with paint, paint, and more paint. "Three" was the magic number. It took 3 different color samples in both the kitchen and guest bedroom to get the "chosen one." The TV room has taken only 2 attempts while the Master BR was a first time pick. OSHA Babe is spending so much time at the Sherwin Williams store, I don't know if she is applying for a job or what. She does drive by a Starbuck's on the way from our house to the paint store. I'll have to give her random breathalizer tests if this pattern continues. Hmmm.

4. Speaking of Starbucks Texas style, you West Coast readers will appreciate this. Saturday, The Babe and I stopped at a nearby SB's on our way to Haby's Alsatian Bakery in Castroville. While I was putting the change in my pocket, I overheard the man behind us in line place his order. It went something like this.

Starbucks barista: May I get a drink started for you?"

Texan with a strong, strong accent: "Ah just want one of those house coffees."

Starbucks barista: What size would you like?"

Texan: "Ah don't know what you call it. Just give me one of those big ol' ones."

We met at the napkin and creamer stand and I commented to him that I had heard his order and also was challenged with the new vocabulary needed to order a coffee. This gentleman agreed and said that his wife had figured it out and always ordered her favorite....."...a drink with coffee, a lot of cream, and some other stuff in it." He said that before he went home, he probably needed to take her one. I bet that the ordering of that was interesting.
5. Work in the kitchen and bathrooms continued. The guys who put the windows in stayed on Friday and worked on bathrooms. They firred out a wall in the downstairs bathroom and will be putting in a new subfloor this coming week. The kitchen may have some plumbing issues. Hopefully, the drain line in the wall is lower than the discharge port in the garbage disposal. If not, someone will have to figure out how to get water to drain uphill.
6. Visitors this week included Uncle Joe and Cousin Nettie. They were in San Antonio on business and stopped by for a 30 minute visit. Their previous visit was the day the granite fabricator was on site making a template for the countertops. So, on this visit, they got to see the granite after it was installed. What a contrast!

NEXT STEPS:
1. We have 2 weeks to get the upstairs rooms painted before floor sanding begins. We've got to focus on that so any paint drips we make will be on the pre-finished floors, not the post-finished ones. Additionally, all the rooms upstairs are getting their final ceiling coat applied.
2. Bathroom work needs to continue. After the carpenters get the subfloor done in the downstairs bathroom, I'll have them move to the small bathroom upstairs to pull the fixtures, put the bead board paneling up, and put the backerboard subfloor down so we can install the tile, set the new fixtures, and nearly be ready. We do have to get a shower door bought/made. That could be a costly surprise.
3. I've got to test the drain between the disposal and the wall in the kitchen. Man, this one worries me because it could be ugly if the drain is higher than the disposal discharge. If the drain needs to be lowered, ..................
4. A couple of rooms are showing signs of the foundation settling just a bit. I need to call the folks who did our foundation work and get them out for a tune up.

Great Week for Granite and Tile

2007-03-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

Kitchen Cabinets before and after Granite

Can you see the spot where OSHA Babe licked the slab?

Upstairs shower looks much better with tile vs. without tile

"Sanding Patty" singing along with praise and worship songs on her ipod --get it?

FOR THE WEEK ENDING March 25, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. The Granite Has Landed! The installation went as scheduled on Wednesday. You can see what an improvement it was. The 3rd picture will give you an idea of both color and patterns in the slab. We think that it is beautiful. OSHA Babe is poring through what seems like hundreds of paint color combinations to find just the right one to bring cabinets, walls, counter tops and floor into perfect harmony. For some reason, she isn't too receptive to my suggestion of Boring Beige. And aren't we all glad?

2. The tiling of the shower in the small upstairs bathroom is essentially complete. Pictures 4 & 5 will show how far it has come over the last two weeks. What's lacking is grouting, special cuts in the tiles around the handle and neck, and a shower door. Then we're ready to shower up. Just a warning to those who plan to visit, this shower is 32 in. x 32 in. In a real estate ad, this would be called "cozy." When everything is done in the house, there will be two additional bathrooms with claw foot tubs.

3. This week, while tiling in the shower, I heard a form of music coming from another room in the house. Upon investigation, I came upon OSHA Babe, oblivious to the hearing world, with ipod ear plugs snuggly in place, singing along with her recorded praise and worship music, warbling loud enough to be heard over the roar of the Bosch sander she was using. Hence, we're adding another moniker, "Sanding Patty", to her impressive list of names. Isn't she something? By the way, she got the trim in a second room upstairs ready for paint and then began in the kitchen. What a woman!

4. I'm disappointed in our Feline Followers. You have let me go for nearly two months without an update. So, here it is. Due to the graphic nature of the following, reader discretion is advised. Previously on 24, i.e., "Feline Follies in Tobin Hill", the neighbor who had been feeding the local cat herd moved out. Little Leo had a leg amputated and, at last report, is still convalescing at Mary Alice's sister's house. Miss Blackie's inability to dodge speeding cars driven by suspected terrorists proved to be fatal. We're now down to two cats. Bad Girl and Grey Girl (previously, and mistakenly, known as "Bad Boy" and "Grey Boy", respectively) come bounding down the driveway to meet us in the mornings. Food will do that to a cat. Neither will let us pet them but they will get close if food is involved. Bad Girl appears to be "with kitten". (Sign up now for a free kitten if Bad Girl is actually in a motherly way. Operators are standing by.) Grey Girl was terribly sick about 3 weeks ago but seems to be on the mend. (We suspect that the terrorist who hit Miss Blackie came back and released a deadly cat virus.) A terrorist, disguised as our neighbor's fox/german shepherd mixed breed dog, chased Grey Girl up a tree one day last week. It took her nearly 4 hours to decide that the coast was clear and learn how to descend from about 20 feet up in a china berry tree. Can you tell that OSHA Babe and I have been watching too many reruns of "24"?

5. Visitors - We got shut out this week. However, we did hear from several loyal readers about the glitch of last week's pictures not showing up on the blog.

NEXT STEPS:

1. In the bathroom, we need to get the trim for around the shower controls, put bead board paneling up around the room, replace the toilet and lavatory, tile the floor, texture and paint the walls, put a door back on an opening that was a linen closet but now houses the HVAC unit for upstairs, install a medicine cabinet, replace the light fixture, and Voila! ("vwalla!" or "viola" for those of you in the less educated redneck category with the author), we're done.

2. We need to pick up the three window sashes that were being repaired/rebuilt. Then there is expensive glass to install followed by putting the sashes back in the rough openings. But it sure will look better than the plywood that is covering those windows now.

3. We still have window and door trim, along with baseboards, in the kitchen and two rooms upstairs to strip, sand, and get ready for painting. That work goes slowly but is coming along.

4. I did leave a message with the flooring person last week but have not heard back from him. Calling him again remains on the "To Do" list.

We're on a roll! -- with visitors

2007-03-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

Nephew Steven, Michelle, Sean, and Madeline
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Former owners - Danny and Melissa along with her brother

First time visitors Judy and Jackie from Missouri with San Antonian son, Andrew
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TV Room West window before (1st below) and after (2nd below) painting

For the Week ending March 18, 2007 (plus one day)

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. The visitors keep rolling in. Spring Break prompted our nephew, Steven, and his ever so lovely wife, Michelle, to get away from Houston and come see us in San Antonio. Their children, 2 yr old Sean and 3+ month old Madeline, brought lots of smiles to Aunt Pat and "Icle" Bo. Two sets of neighbors also came by. Danny and Melissa, along with her brother stopped by to check on the progress. They are the previous owners of the house and offered encouraging words about how far it had come. Another neighbor, Mariella (I think that is right) stopped by on Saturday. She and husband, Victor, have been living in the neighborhood for about 3 years and set the standard for holiday lighting. Our last group of visitors included Judy and Jackie from Missouri. They, along with their son Andrew (who lives in San Antonio) stopped by briefly. Andrew is moving up in the "Number of Visits" list. He was here in January when our son, Jay, was working with me. We do love to show off the place and want the flow of friends to continue even after we finish. Mi casa es su casa. Bienvenidos.
2. This week's work progress was a little slow -- and I was a bit lazy with the picture taking. The best I did this week was "Before" and "After" pictures of a window frame in the upstairs TV room. The picture doesn't show much so you'll have to trust that it is a good improvement. There is a lot more of that effort ahead of us. I doubt if I'll be nominated for the Pulitzer for this week's camera work.
3. How would you like to have seen a picture of the tile order we bought last week? (I didn't think so, either.) We did buy tile for 3 bathroom floors and the shower in the small upstairs bathroom. Today, I took the tile saw to the new place and began in the shower. Pictures will follow.
4. We did get window glass replaced in 2 windows downstairs. Restoration, i.e., "wavy" glass, is quite expensive. Ouch! The new sashes that are being constructed are not complete yet. I'm not encouraged that they will be done this week.
5. We do have BIG NEWS from the kitchen! Today, Monday the 19th, we got a call from the fabricator in Kerrville, TX. They informed us that they were planning to install on Wednesday. We hopped in the truck and made the 60 mile trek to "lay out" the slab. It should be cut and polished tomorrow and installed on Wednesday. (If I don't get this post completed in the next 30 minutes, the slab will get cut and polished today and installed on Wednesday.)

NEXT STEPS:
1. Did we mention that the granite counter tops are scheduled to be installed Wednesday, March 21? We're pumped!
2. I need to install the disposal under the sink on Tuesday before the granite gets installed on Wednesday.
3. Hopefully, I can complete the installation of tile in shower and begin on the floor this week.
4. We need to contact wood floor people to check their availability over the next 4 weeks. The kitchen should be ready for refinishing within a week. We hope to have the wood floors in the upstairs rooms ready for refinishing within the next 2 - 3 weeks. If we can get the kitchen, small upstairs bathroom, and upstairs wood floors finished, you may begin hearing us throw out a date for moving in. That's exciting! Stay tuned.

Will you join the "Work For Ribs" Program?

2007-03-10T20:17:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends, Loyd and Wilma, from Houston - Founders of the Work For Ribs program

Wilma in her OSHA Babe-approved gear - available at a boutique near you
Loyd and Bo "berming" not "bumming"

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Webb said he wanted to help. Did he expect this?

Mary Dean and OSHA Babe - Buds since Mexico City Days

Distance Award winner from England

FOR THE WEEK ENDING March 11, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. I can understand your questioning my sanity to make "This Old House" more than a TV program. But what do you think about Loyd and Wilma, founders of the Work For Ribs program? We met them at church during our Houston years (1979 - 1983) and they became like dear family, loving us like their own. Every mother of three little boys under the age of five needs a Wilma in her life. Since we left Houston, they have visited us in Dallas, St. Louis, Mexico City, San Jose, and San Antonio. In addition to being fun, delightful people, they don't like to just sit around when they come. Loyd helped put in a wood floor in San Jose and they both "Worked For Ribs" here in San Antonio. What did they do this time? Read on.

2. The small upstairs bathroom needs to be completed before we call the plumbing inspector back out. Loyd and I set a prefabricated shower base, connected the drain line, and got the shower walls ready for tiling. Loyd is meticulous by nature and understands that, when you're working with a 100+ year old house, sometimes you just have to make it work. We got it done and then moved into the kitchen.

3. The kitchen now has a dishwasher installed. Loyd's experience with creative carpentry was helpful to make it level, plumb, and fit into the opening. Power and water supply are available and cabled. We're just missing the drain. That will follow the installation of the granite counter top. We're scheduled to drive to Kerrville on March 20 to "lay out" the slab, i.e., pick out what part of the slab gets cut for which surface in the kitchen. After the slab is cut, polished, edged, and installed, it will be time for installing the garbage disposal, setting the faucets in place, and connecting the water supply lines. It's getting closer to brisket time!

4. Who knows what a "berm" is? Yes, it is a ridge of dirt that we built along the foundation line on the east side of the house yesterday. Another visitor, Webb, signed up for the Saturday detail and helped unload the dirt from the truck. Don't we have great friends?
..What we're trying to accomplish with the berm is channeling run off water from flowing under the house. The piers underneath the house shift when the moisture content in the surrounding soil changes. When the piers shift, the house moves slightly and can throw door openings off slightly. The timing of our berming was excellent. Rain is forecast for the next 2-3 days. Tomorrow morning, I'll see if we were successful bermers.

5. Are you bored with "Scrape, Sand, Paint, Repeat" yet? My apologies if you are but there is a lot more of that for the trim around windows, doors, and baseboards. Ugh!

6. The visitor record was shattered again this week.
.Lenise came by on Monday and offered encouraging words.
.Loyd and Wilma arrived on Tuesday and stayed with us until Sunday. After full days working, we enjoyed evening meals together (including ribs cooked by OSHA Babe in the Magic Pan), (note from editor-the ribs were in the pan, not OSHA Babe-the author has been disciplined) dominos, hand-and-foot card games, and great walks down memory lane. We thank God for the wonderful friends He has blessed us with along the way.
.Mary Dean, whose family was in Mexico City while we were there also, stopped by Thursday. She had seen the place back in October and was able to recognize the contrast between what it was and where it is now. Mary Dean, thanks for the kind words. It's getting better.
.Webb, a friend from church here in San Antonio, had mentioned several times about wanting to come by and help. He did on Saturday (see him in one of the pictures above unloading dirt from the truck). His wife and children left earlier this week for a visit to England so he said that he had some time on his hands. I hope the shovel didn't scare him off from a repeat visit.
..And speaking of England, we have a new Distance Award winner. A neighbor who lives down the street from us and his father who was visiting from England stopped by on Saturday. OSHA Babe gave them the guided tour.
..When are you coming? We really won't make you shovel dirt or install a shower ---- unless you want to.

NEXT STEPS:
1. In the small upstairs bathroom, we need to select the tiles for the shower and floor, get the walls prepped for beadboard paneling and paint, possibly install a medicine cabinet, tile the floor, and set the new lavatory and toilet. (Does "water closet" sound more sophisticated?)

2. Kitchen work will continue. The cabinet maker started putting the glass in the wall cabinet doors this past week. He did find 2 panes that were cut the wrong size by the glass company. He took them back to get them trimmed down. Hopefully, we'll have doors on the wall cabinets by the end of the week. As mentioned above, granite fabrication is scheduled to take place the week of March 20.

3. Window repair needs to continue. The contractor was away on other jobs this past week. I expect to have him back this week for a day or two.

4. We need to scrape, sand, and paint the trim upstairs. There's a bunch of it left to do. I did break down and buy a good Bosch random orbital sander. It works so much better than the small hand sanders we had been using. There is, however, a long way to go on this one.