Levi’s Treasure Hunt

Clue 1:

Everybody like them. Their parents hide them. They are not there every day. We have to look after them every night, but nobody wants to. (Chicken Egg Box)

Clue 2:

Dad built it twice and had to remove it to move.  A bird made a nest here and a tasty treat for cat.  (Where the Shed used to be)

Clue 3:

Zoey’s favorite black treat!  (Black berries)

Clue 4:

Gobble it all up but some things we don’t like.  When we are done we deposit them here, the sight causing a fright. Rubbish to most but delicacy to one. Levi’s favorite place to dine after playing video games is done.  (Dish Washer)

Clue 5:

It smells like a skunk. But keeps the place neat.  Put your foot inside to protect your feet.  Off they come nowhere to be found.  If you put them here, they will always be around.  (Shoe Box)

Clue 6:

Good things are inside but are very hard to eat. A crystalline structure that looks really neat!  Put your hand in and it comes out all blue. Often hear dad say, “Get out of there you!” (Freezer)

Clue 7:

Eaten from hand, but despised on the ground.  Why wont they eat it even when no one is around.  Second to cat food so here it just sits.  Will nobody eat me?  This is the pits.  (chicken food bucket)

Clue 8:

My life is a mess, my casings do stink.  I am used all night tossing here and there.  Sometimes I feel like I am wrestling a bear.  When all settles down and the critter then sleeps, then comes the drool and I began to weep.  Why don’t you change me and make me all new?  The incentive is grand!  A new tag for you! (Levi’s Pillow Case)

Clue 9:

So close, you are more near then you think.  Have you checked under there?  Or where you get a drink?  Not there you fool you don’t drink from there!  You first need a cup, germs give us a scare!  (Cup Cabinet)

Clue 10:

This is the last clue and soon you will see what treasure awaits in one of the trees!  (Bird house)

Clue 11:

Ha, ha, ha! You thought you were done!  Look next to the boob tube where you watch Pokémon! (Cabinet next to TV)

Were In!

We finally closed on our house on Wednesday! I guess it is better late than never. We spend the days since our initial closing date (July 15th) looking for other options, but was unable to find anything better.  We did not waste any time getting to work.  Yesterday we loaded up the two minivans with boxes and headed down to our new/old house.  We unloaded the vans into the garage and began work on getting the house livable.

The house smelled old and dirty so we wanted to pull out all the carpet and old tile so we could start anew.  We also are planning to move a few walls around at some point and having no flooring makes this a bit easier.  Emma started on the carpets and Levi and I headed off to Lowes to pick up some supplies.  New toilets were a must.  The old ones did not flush very well and one of them constantly leaked.  We also wanted the low water usage ones and the old ones use about 5 gallons each flush.  2 Toilets… check.  We also wanted to build a garbage box so we would have a place to toss everything we were pulling out and thus picked up some .5” OSB as well.  We are planning to pull out all the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms and need some temporary replacements.  We are planning on just framing up some cabinets out of 2x4s and plywood so we picked up the necessary supplies and are gleaming craigslist for replacement sinks and fixtures.  It only took about 2 hours to get all our supplies when I get a call from Emma.  It is after 2 now and she has not had anything to eat so we rush over to Subway and fuel up on our way back to the house.  After a brief lunch break we get back to work.  We were able to get all the floors up and knocked out the upper cabinets in the kitchen before we cleaned up a bit and called it a night.  There was tile in both the back bedrooms, the kitchen, and Family room.  I know what you are thinking, why would they pull up perfectly good tile?  Well, it was not normal tile.  It was the stuff you used to see in old school buildings.  It appeared to be some soft of paper/clay tile and was glued down with some sort of black glue.  We suspect that it may be asbestos so we wore face masks and are going to wet it down and buff off the black glue with a floor sander.  Which is what we are planning for today.  I also tried to install a new digital thermostat, but was unable to decipher the Lenox wiring codes so I could hook it up.  I called Robert Knox, a friend of ours from church, who works on AC systems and ask him what I could do.  When he heard that it was a Lenox system, he said that I should just leave the old one on until I am ready to replace the entire system.  Lenox is pretty cryptic with their equipment and do not use conventional wiring schemes.  I reinstalled the old one and made sure it worked still and left the house to cool down over night. 

Levi helped us all day and he was a real champ!  He did a great job with the tile scraper and helped us fill the trash can and cleanup multiple times.  He tried to help me lift the wood at Lowes to put it on the cart, but was a little under powered for the task.  He was able to help he lift the first 3/4” piece of OSB on before one of the Lowes employees stepped in to help.  A few times Levi got a little frustrated, but was able to recover quickly and happily continue work.  It wasn’t until the very end where he finally ran out of gas.  I hope that he does as well tomorrow.  He is a great help.

Today we are planning to remove the rest of the cabinets and update the plumbing a bit.  The shutoff valve at the street is the old style instead of the 90 degree ball valve so I may try to have the city come out and change that for us so we can actually turn off the water to the house.  I will probably swing by the Re-Store and see if they have some sinks and fixtures that will work for us.  We are also going to rent a floor sander from Home Depot and clean the floors today.  Emma has also been emailing Trevor her older brother and we are hoping to have him down in about 5 weeks to help us extend the back of the house 10 feet.  We have a few things we need to do before he gets here like make sure we have the plans and permits needed to do the extension.  We don’t foresee any issues since we are not in the Kyle city limits, but need to have all the documentation in place just to make sure.

Well, I had better get back to it, I need to load up my van full of boxes and go and get my trailer from Tom Stevens house.  Emma should be back from getting Zoey and Taya’s physicals and then we can load up her van as well.  We plan on leaving the majority of the furniture in the current house until we can get it sold so that it shows better.

I am a bit sore from yesterday, but no better way to make that go away then to do more of the same thing that made you sore in the first place.