Category: Blog

Today’s Notes
General: Get a quote on the land from a realtor and cable two sides of a tree together.
Theme: Survive another day with the bugs and keep a good attitude.
Narrative: We spent so much time at grandpa’s yesterday that we didn’t get to the grocery store for breakfast fixings, we decided to eat out this morning at “Grandma’s Kitchen” which was good by the way.

We returned to the farm and I started work on the tree next to the house that has a major crack in it.  (I can put two fingers side-by-side into the crack.)

After about two hours of just making things up as I went I was pretty proud of the result.

It’s hard to see but there’s a 3/8″ cable that runs to both ends of the 4,000Lb come-a-long. The pulleys and hooks double the overall strength of the setup giving us a theoretical 8,000Lb capacity. The second piece of artwork is applying 4,000Lb of pull reserving the 8,000Lb capacity for temporary loads like a windy day. If you hadn’t noticed I have to add more cable clamps, I didn’t read the directions until after I got them home. They suggest THREE clamps to secure the cable ends. There was a little more lateral tension on the come-a-long face than I would have liked.  The strap on the opposing limb actually cuts into the bark between the pulleys, (I should have used a longer strap.)  The one end of the cable that connects to the strap on the left side should really have a hook to spread out the stress a little better on the nylon strap.  The great thing about using a come-a-long is that it can be loosened and retensioned pretty quickly.

We packed up our dirty clothes and drove to grandpa’s farm where I started assembling the new desk I bought at Staples.  The desk was complete when I left except for the four drawers.  Mom, Wife and I drove back to the farm where we sorted through things she wanted out of her bedroom.  We completed in about an hour and came out with three small boxes of stuff to transport to grandpa’s farm.

Auntie did all of our laundry and folded it while we were sorting things here.  She also put all the drawers for the desk together.  Thanks!

I was looking around the kitchen (since the bug number seems to be rising) on things I could do to knock them down a little (Since we’re trying to live here.)  The wood under the sink and the cabinet doors are covered in roach poo.  It would be a MAJOR undertaking to remove this material from the porous wood in the kitchen.

I guess the healthy thing to do is NOT use the kitchen for food preparation.  We can probably use the sink to wash our hands and refridgerator to store some food items.  I’ve established an “Safe Island” in the living room that basically is a single legged table that has been sprayed to prevent the roaches from climbing up it.  We are using that table to eat food we’ve brought home or taken from refridgerator.

Eating prepared food will significantly increase the cost of being down here, roughly $30-60 / day.  Breakfast yesterday was $23.

Injuries: I have picked up a muscle problem where I am in constant pain in my upper right arm and shoulder and I cannot do simple things like throw a stick without yelling out in pain.  (I threw a rope over the tree limb and screamed out in pain for about 2 minutes.)  It doesn’t seem to be affecting my legs and to quite a lesser degree my left arm either.  It also doesn’t affect the use of the limb even for carrying heavy objects.  Rapid movement or stretching my arm out cause considerable wrenching pain for just a minute or so.

Tomorrow: Repair hitch on box trailer and start repairs on the wiring.
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering:

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To

Today’s Notes
General: Move the ISP connection and install a desk with a network on it. There are squirrels in the attic and I just don’t have time to deal with them. I didn’t even get my To Do List posted in my page yesterday. Have to buy feed for the cows today!
Theme: Forgiveness and Grace.
Narrative: We are on our eighth day away from our home, we’ve had to spend a great deal of that time dealing with the poor condition of the furniture and the home. We’ve probably spent more than half our time dealing with the German roach infestation. I spent hours just after midnight this morning cleaning the desk where the roaches were crawling on my hands and the kitchen floor where the roach infested hutch was sitting.

I spent an hour or so configuring a Fortigate Firewall appliance to dial my home in Atlanta from inside Ricky’s LAN using her ISP modem. I need to configure something like Time to create traffic of interest to make it dial the first time. Went back to bed for a couple hours.

Woke up, had some coffee and fed the cows two bales of hay, I didn’t have a whole lot of feed for them. The grass has gotten awful thin and they have started fighting over the food when they’re being fed grain. Which is weird because I have been putting an abundance of hay. (Now I agree that the hay is not very good.) I need to get a good roll of hay out there and see if the attitude changes when I feed them. I also think it is about time to lock them into the lower pasture. We currently cannot store rolled hay with the cows able to roam the farm. I also cannot set the security alarm features of the cameras because they keep setting them off by walking under them.

Sis wanted a ton of information about the tractor and the implements, that took a good part of the morning today.

The box trailer needs a new hitch which I bought at Tractor Supply on my way to Grandpa’s. The hitch is held in place by two eye bolts which also serve as emergency chain attachment points. I was unable to mount the hitch because of other priorities. I also did not repair the tail lights as intended.

I purchased $200 in supplies to reinforce the tree next to the house to prevent it from falling onto it. I was unable to install them today because of other priorities.

Auntie didn’t install the battery backup I brought from Atlanta on the Dish “Hopper” yet. I asked her whether I should take it home and she responded she’s not had the time to install it. The receiver in her bedroom is key, if it looses power all access to Dish programming drops off including over the Internet. The “Joeys” depend on the “Hopper” and cannot operate on their own.

The lighting at Grandpa’s is abysmal as are most homes until desk lighting is installed. I am thinking that several floor mounted lamps for Nancy’s bedroom are needed. (One of them battery powered and has a remote switch.) The Home depot has holiday light switches that can provide mom with excellent control of her lights from her bed.

The new desk arrived at Grandpa’s and it’s about 30% assembled. It needs a backup power source, a laptop computer, the printer we have already purchased and some kind of lighting. One problem that may have to be addressed is the heat lamp for the chick makes the room uncomfortably warm. The phone wires for the Internet need to be moved into that room so that all the networking is outside Auntie’s bedroom.

Auntie is leaving the outside light (175W Mercury Vapor) on all the time because she forgets to turn it off. I may have to mount a separate dusk to dawn photocell on the side of the house. 8x175x30x.12= $5/Month in electricity in the Winter. (Twice that in the summer)

I really intended to have mom come over to her old home and sort out one room a day. (All she has to do is identify items she wants to keep/bring to Grandpa’s.) That didn’t happen today.

I fed the cows around 9PM tonight since I fed them around lunch today. I used the solar powered lamps that worked as intended.

“Dish Anywhere” works as advertised and we are able to watch TV over the Internet without reactivating mom’s old receivers. We actually managed to connect it to the TV in mom’s old bedroom last night. 🙂

To Do List (And it’s growing)
the starter in the PU truck is failing. (I almost didn’t get it started this morning.)
The hitch on the box trailer is broken, needs new.
The wiring on the box trailer needs a new truck connector.
Ask the sisters about Drug Insurance this week, I think Auntie has gone with Mutual of Omaha (They were the best rated in Fl.)
Transport the Blue golf cart as soon as the box trailer can be used to haul it.
Register the flatbed trailer and bring it to Grandpa’s farm.
Old generator (Move, sell or keep)
Bring horse buggy and harness to grandpa’s on box trailer.
Bring Wayne’s golf cart to Grandpa’s (Move, sell or keep)
There is a upright freezer in the house (Move, sell or keep)
there are two freezers in the Bumpkin (Move, sell or keep)
There is a fridge in the house (Move, sell or keep)
There is a microwave in the house (Move, sell or keep)
Nona’s bedroom set is in the house and has been offered to Merritt
Guns and gun safe are still in the air.
There are two computers broken printer and a number of hard drives that need to get moved to grandpa’s
Gasoline Pole trimmer needs to be moved.
Large compressor needs to be moved.
Wayne’s tools needs to be moved.
Manure spreader for golf cart needs to be moved
Dump truck trailer for golf cart needs to be moved
Several rolls of wire fence needs to be moved
Several fence poles needs to be moved.
Welder (MOVE sell or keep)
Lawnmower (Needs pull cord.) Move, sell or keep
Antique organ (Move or give away.) Move, sell or keep
Move the red golf cart.
Buy hay for the cows, the grain is about half gone.
Grandpa’s Computer desk lamp.
Grandpa’s Chair Lamp.
Grandpa’s Bed lamp.
Grandpa’s Dust under the refrigerator with boric acid.
Grandpa’s Buy shades for all lamps going to grandpa’s farm. Thinking 4 of them? (Bedroom Em light, living room Em light, two gear lamps maybe?)
Grandpa’s sanitize, clean and move the four emergency power supplies from Mom’s farm. (Maybe, it is a little risky.)
Grandpa’s Buy TV stand or end table for Mom’s bedroom TV.
Grandpa’s buy curtain for Mom’s south bedroom window
Grandpa’s repair photocell for yard light over the house
Grandpa’s repair/install fire/smoke/CO alarm
Grandpa’s repair house patio door
Grandpa’s repair house windows
Grandpa’s repair wall outlet/receptacles in Ricky’s bedroom
Grandpa’s erect fences for the dogs
Grandpa’s clean grandpa’s shed
Grandpa’s repair grandpa’s shed roof
Grandpa’s replace property gate
Grandpa’s repair Auntie’s bedroom Air Conditioner Vent
Grandpa’s move the phone and Internet from Auntie’s bedroom into the third bedroom
Grandpa’s Construct a desk from two file cabinets and a door.
Grandpa’s Install emergency (battery backed up) lighting
Grandpa’s Install battery backup on Dish receiver (Maybe move it to living room)
Grandpa’s purchase / repair printer that has died.
Grandpa’s purchase a new computer
Grandpa’s Install a firewall and wireless router.
Grandpa’s Establish a VPN between grandpa’s Fortigate and Atlanta for remote camera adjustment / repair.
Mom’s Clean pile of bugs and trash from kitchen floor
Mom’s Turn camera over the dog runs to point toward the stalls.
Mom’s Set timers for mom’s house lights
Mom’s Lengthen the timer so that the camera over the runs, runs more of the day.
Mom’s Change the Wayne’s shed timer so that it comes on earlier in the morning
Mom’s Set mouse traps or bait in the trailer.
Atlanta Card for the drama department.
Atlanta take computer desk lamps that I bought for mom’s house to Atlanta.

Tomorrow:
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering:

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To

Today’s Notes
General: Wife and I were pretty stressed out yesterday, we took some time out for ourselves and went to lunch at Chili’s.
Theme of the day: Forgiveness and Grace! Engage saving the tree or let it fall. we’ve only got 6 days of medicine?
Narrative: Had my coffee, this is going to be a long day… Fed the cows and checked the tree. No change, (Which is good) Trimmed the tree limbs over the house back considerably to reduce the weight on the branches. (I can’t climb on the branches that are about to break off.) I think the tree is stable and we will work toward firming it up “As We Go” versus dropping everything and fixing it. Tractor supply has a good selection of straps, come-a-longs and cables to firm up the tree. The tree closed up about 1/2″ after removing the limbs over the house, also the measuring sticks showed a slight distance retraction. (Not as much as I had expected given the much larger change in the base of the tree.)

Wife and I worked on extending our stay to make sure we’ve got the resources. (Mostly our prescriptions.) We had to call our son to send us a box of one item, but he was happy to do it. (And I got to test my burglar alarm system.) One thing we are struggling with being here a week is this house is FILTHY Dirty. The only rooms that are reasonably clean is our bedroom and to a somewhat lesser extent bathroom/living room. To Auntie’s credit our bedroom is live able. The hard part to deal with is the desk (Where I am typing) and the kitchen. I still have roaches crawl onto my hands at this desk. We are cleaning and removing furniture in an effort to improve the bug situation. But it’s so severe we’re not making much of a dent in them. That said, the pheromone smell is a LOT better! We didn’t realize just how bad it smelled until we put the furniture out and it got wet. We had to push it out another 10 feet to keep the smell out of the house! I put on a mask tonight and cleaned the kitchen floor that was under the hutch. I ended up tearing the baseboards away from the wall to clean up the mess.

Auntie has got to change the phone situation at Grandpa’s. Mom won’t use her new phone and Ricky insisted on keeping her current cordless phone which has to be in her bedroom to charge. (Keeping Auntie in charge of all Mom’s communication.) I’ve tried twice to change it and Auntie won’t budge.

I installed a wireless doorbell for the Meals on Wheels (And others) that I installed at Grandpa’s today. The button is mounted to the fence until I can make a sign that supports that function. We tested it and I think we’re good.

The trailer needs a hitch and a connector for the truck. (Which should be the only vehicle pulling it.) I had to go to the store and look at hitches to get an idea of what I am looking for. The hitch is a 4″ channel and a 2″ ball connection, I’ll get that on Wednesday.

I hooked up the printer and the directions say to install the cartridges that came with the printer, of course that’s INSTA INK as we found out with the old one. I printed documents and will be taking the printer back to Grandpa’s on Wednesday. (Hopefully when the desk arrives.) I’ll pull their “Insta Ink” back out of the printer and install the standard cartridges while I am over there.

Broke out the firewall I plan on installing at Auntie’s house and connected it to the network at mom’s for configuration and testing.

Wife and I played a game of Scrabble before turning in for the evening.

Tomorrow:
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering:

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To

Today’s Notes
General: Work on lighting at Grandpa’s,the living conditions at the farm have greatly improved since removing all the Ethan Allen furniture.
Theme: Keep it simple!
Narrative:
11:30 Took table, folding table and chairs to Grandpa’s. She called the pharmacy and they refilled the prescription for the eye drops over the phone. She wants a cage for the cat so we came back to load up again. We finally found the purse, it was in a drawer…
12:30 OK on our way back to Grandpa’s, mom is waiting on her meals on wheels. We assembled the floor Torchiere lamp and put it in the fireplace room.

18:30 Status.. We’ve picked up the golf cart tires and the repairs were free of charge. (Two good tires) We picked up a LED yard light, a Mercury Vapor bulb and a wireless doorbell that I hope will work on Grandpa’s gate. I put the new bulb in the yard light and it came on, but it appears that the photocell is broken. (It stays on.) That light is WAAY up in the air! The pole was moving quite a bit up there. I’ll mount the tire on the red golf cart tomorrow, the mosquito’s are terrible tonight.

Engineering: The tree alongside the house is splitting in half. I don’t know how fast, but the crack seemed MUCH smaller this morning so I may only have a day or two to prevent it from failing. He mentioned putting a cable between the halves of the tree to prevent it from failing. (I am thinking a chain, but I don’t have anything long enough to stretch between the branches of a tree.) Northern tool has stuff like this, I’ll head down there tomorrow. According to the video’s I’ve watched they drill 3 foot holes through the branch (Saving most of the bark). I don’t have a climbing harness, rope, cable, bolts, drill or drill bit to pull off such an adventure. There is no insurance. The weird thing is that we are not affected by the loss of a tree or the damage to the building directly. (Since we’re selling at the land value.) I’ve looked, other than cabling around the branch there’s not much I can do. To call an arborist will cost US money we’re not going to get back. Not to mention I am running terribly short of time.

Mom is stressing out over the phones at Ricky’s.
M

To Do List (And it’s growing)
the starter in the PU truck is failing. (I almost didn’t get it started this morning.)
The hitch on the box trailer is broken, needs new.
The wiring on the box trailer needs a new truck connector.
Ask the sisters about Drug Insurance this week, I think Auntie has gone with Mutual of Omaha (They were the best rated in Fl.)
Transport the Blue golf cart as soon as the box trailer can be used to haul it.
Register the flatbed trailer and bring it to Grandpa’s farm.
Old generator (Move, sell or keep)
Bring horse buggy and harness to grandpa’s on box trailer.
Bring Wayne’s golf cart to Grandpa’s (Move, sell or keep)
There is a upright freezer in the house (Move, sell or keep)
there are two freezers in the Bumpkin (Move, sell or keep)
There is a fridge in the house (Move, sell or keep)
There is a microwave in the house (Move, sell or keep)
Nona’s bedroom set is in the house and has been offered to Merritt
Guns and gun safe are still in the air.
There are two computers broken printer and a number of hard drives that need to get moved to grandpa’s
Gasoline Pole trimmer needs to be moved.
Large compressor needs to be moved.
Wayne’s tools needs to be moved.
Manure spreader for golf cart needs to be moved
Dump truck trailer for golf cart needs to be moved
Several rolls of wire fence needs to be moved
Several fence poles needs to be moved.
Welder (MOVE sell or keep)
Lawnmower (Needs pull cord.) Move, sell or keep
Antique organ (Move or give away.) Move, sell or keep
Move the red golf cart.
Take pictures of the tractor and tractor attachments/implements.
Bring large wire cage from Bunpkin for the cat tomorrow morning.
Buy hay for the cows, the grain is about half gone.
Grandpa’s Computer desk lamp.
Grandpa’s Chair Lamp.
Grandpa’s Bed lamp.
Grandpa’s Dust under the refrigerator with boric acid.
Grandpa’s Buy shades for all lamps going to grandpa’s farm. Thinking 4 of them? (Bedroom Em light, living room Em light, two gear lamps maybe?)
Grandpa’s sanitize, clean and move the four emergency power supplies from Mom’s farm. (Maybe, it is a little risky.)
Grandpa’s Buy TV stand or end table for Mom’s bedroom TV.
Grandpa’s buy curtain for Mom’s south bedroom window
Grandpa’s repair yard light over the house
Grandpa’s repair/install fire/smoke/CO alarm
Grandpa’s repair house patio door
Grandpa’s repair house windows
Grandpa’s repair wall outlet/receptacles in Ricky’s bedroom
Grandpa’s erect fences for the dogs
Grandpa’s clean grandpa’s shed
Grandpa’s repair grandpa’s shed roof
Grandpa’s replace property gate
Grandpa’s repair Auntie’s bedroom Air Conditioner Vent
Grandpa’s move the phone and Internet from Auntie’s bedroom into the third bedroom
Grandpa’s Construct a desk from two file cabinets and a door.
Grandpa’s Install emergency (battery backed up) lighting
Grandpa’s Install battery backup on Dish receiver (Maybe move it to living room)
Grandpa’s purchase / repair printer that has died.
Grandpa’s purchase a new computer
Grandpa’s Install a firewall and wireless router.
Grandpa’s Establish a VPN between grandpa’s Fortigate and Atlanta for remote camera adjustment / repair.
Mom’s Clean pile of bugs and trash from kitchen floor
Mom’s Turn camera over the dog runs to point toward the stalls.
Mom’s Set timers for mom’s house lights
Mom’s Lengthen the timer so that the camera over the runs, runs more of the day.
Mom’s Change the Wayne’s shed timer so that it comes on earlier in the morning
Mom’s Set mouse traps or bait in the trailer.
Atlanta Card for the drama department.
Atlanta take computer desk lamps that I bought for mom’s house to Atlanta.

Tomorrow:
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering:

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To

Today’s Notes
General: Focus on lighting, check roof vent, Computer desk, Internet, phone.
Theme:Maintain as little furniture as possible in grandpa’s house, need should drive what furniture is purchased.

The sugar bin, hexagon table and end table under the TV are still in the house. (We just never got to that conversation.)

Narrative: Had cereal and a hard boiled egg for breakfast along with some Dominican Coffee. Loaded a several baskets of clothes, mom’s bear bathroom items and the extension ladder into the pickup truck and drove to Grandpa’s farm.

We unloaded the stuff out of the pickup truck and I headed onto the roof. The roof looks like it’s on it’s last leg. The gravel is more than half gone and there are several pieces of asphalt roofing missing. Removed the cover to the dryer vent and cleaned more than a handful of twigs (Maybe a birds nest) and other materials from the end of the pipe. It felt like a large amount of air was traveling up the pipe, so that’s great! I noticed that the flashing around the plumbing roof vents was missing the rubber boot so I bought flashing materials from Lowes and placed it over the current flashing. It’s not perfect, but it will certainly leak a lot less having a 7″ cover over the sides of the pipe. I also raked the leaves from the roof to prevent the moisture from destroying the wood. We will have to replace the roof within a couple years and we can expect some damage to the wood to occur until then.

We went to Staples to purchase a couple filing cabinets. They had a 30% off sale going on with this “Black Friday” theme and purchasing a desk was actually cheaper than buying two filing cabinets. We bought a really nice grey colored desk (Matches the floor) that is 30″ deep (Rare these days) with filing drawers on each side for about $160.00. We also bought a new printer for Grandpa’s house since the printer at Nancy’s has failed and would cost more to fix than to replace. (We also bought ink, paper and a two year warranty!)

We bought a NICE touchier lamp with a reading light for WAY cheap at Lowes. I though we’d let Mom and Auntie try that one and adjust we buy next.
Auntie prepared a beef stew of sorts and we went to the farm for a nap while we sorted out what we’re going to do with the Ethan Allen furniture.

When we arrived at the farm the pheromone smell was overwhelming and the hutch was on the outside of the house. (Apparently it gets worse when wet.) We ended up moving the hutch way out in the yard to reduce the smell in the house!

Auntie showed up with mom and Tinker in tow to capture the cat. We heard the cat several times from inside the house but could never find her. Turns out she was locked in the closet when I put the mattress up against the door. (I looked several times for the cat in that closet.) Mom and Auntie left back for Grandpa’s house with the cat and Tinker in crates. Sheesh. At least we’re able to close mom’s bedroom window for a change. It was awfully cold this morning with the heat being blown out the window.

Asked mom to change the address on the bug service to grandpa’s address. (I’ll remind her again tomorrow morning.) Also tomorrow will be the first day that Meals on Wheels delivers to Grandpa’s house. (Wife thinks they will still deliver here.)

Mom wants to pick through the boxes of stuff that came out of the drawers of her furniture for things she needs, good plan. Maybe tomorrow?

Mom will get the delivery information about the computer desk from Staples for Grandpa’s on her tablet.
I think I finally finished with all the animal food now that the cat food is gathered up from mom’s room for the cat.

One final annotation, grandson and parents were with mom all day today, even tonight at 8:30PM they were still there.

To Do List (And it’s growing)
Take pictures of the tractor and tractor attachments/implements.
Bring large wire cage from Bunpkin for the cat tomorrow morning.
Buy hay for the cows, the grain is about half gone.
Grandpa’s Computer desk lamp.
Grandpa’s Chair Lamp.
Grandpa’s Bed lamp.
Grandpa’s Dust under the refrigerator with boric acid.
Grandpa’s Buy shades for all lamps going to grandpa’s farm. Thinking 4 of them? (Bedroom Em light, living room Em light, two gear lamps maybe?)
Grandpa’s sanitize, clean and move the four emergency power supplies from Mom’s farm. (Maybe, it is a little risky.)
Grandpa’s Buy TV stand or end table for Mom’s bedroom TV.
Grandpa’s buy curtain for Mom’s south bedroom window
Grandpa’s repair yard light over the house
Grandpa’s repair/install fire/smoke/CO alarm
Grandpa’s repair house patio door
Grandpa’s repair house windows
Grandpa’s repair wall outlet/receptacles in Ricky’s bedroom
Grandpa’s erect fences for the dogs
Grandpa’s clean grandpa’s shed
Grandpa’s repair grandpa’s shed roof
Grandpa’s replace property gate
Grandpa’s repair Auntie’s bedroom Air Conditioner Vent
Grandpa’s move the phone and Internet from Auntie’s bedroom into the third bedroom
Grandpa’s Construct a desk from two file cabinets and a door.
Grandpa’s Install emergency (battery backed up) lighting
Grandpa’s Install battery backup on Dish receiver (Maybe move it to living room)
Grandpa’s purchase / repair printer that has died.
Grandpa’s purchase a new computer
Grandpa’s Install a firewall and wireless router.
Grandpa’s Establish a VPN between grandpa’s Fortigate and Atlanta for remote camera adjustment / repair.
Mom’s Clean pile of bugs and trash from kitchen floor
Mom’s Turn camera over the dog runs to point toward the stalls.
Mom’s Set timers for mom’s house lights
Mom’s Lengthen the timer so that the camera over the runs, runs more of the day.
Mom’s Change the Wayne’s shed timer so that it comes on earlier in the morning
Mom’s Set mouse traps or bait in the trailer.
Atlanta Card for the drama department.
Atlanta take computer desk lamps that I bought for mom’s house to Atlanta.
Engineering: Remote bell for the gate.

Tomorrow: Floor lamps, Remote bell for gate, emergency lighting and backup power for TV.
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases:

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To

Today’s Notes
General: We had a frozen croissant and coffee for breakfast. Attached the horse trailer to Wayne’s truck and headed to Grandpa’s about 10 with an orange crate full of emergency lanterns and the power supply for mom’s bed. Disconnected the trailer and setup the dryer in Aunties garage. The vent goes straight up and into a roof vent. There was some stuff in the end of the vent that needed to be dealt with. Also I need to get onto the roof and check the flashing before it rains. The dryer does appear to be working and the washer needs 4×4’s to push it up just a little for my Aunt. (She’s pretty short.) Drove home to get laundry and returned with the one chick all it’s container components. We spent a good minute cleaning and resetting the chick’s cage in the third bedroom. We moved the wood furniture out of the house and into the wood pile temporally. At least until I can get help loading it all into the horse trailer and bringing it back to mom’s farm. I like the larger TV and it being on a stand in front of the window so that the window’s light is not on the screen. (It’s a good fit, we just will need a TV for the living room. (Mom wanted a bigger TV anyway.) She’s learning all the features of the “Hopper” and one of them may allow the wife to watch her two favorite shows. Mom and sis seem to have worked out the 9 dogs, although it sounds like a lot of work for me. The dogs are taking a toll on the doors though.

Auntie tested the cordless phone and it reaches the far buildings so we’ve brought mom’s cordless back for our use. Our siblings are making progress on Grandpa’s shed I’ll try and get pictures of that tomorrow. We’re back at the farm and had ice cream cones before working on the Cat.

Mom has enjoyed the grandchild for a couple days, they have been in Grandpa’s house almost all day today and a pretty good while yesterday. It is likely that the grandchild will be there again tomorrow as they work on Grandpa’s shed. We all had pizza together for lunch today at grandpa’s house.

The cat is an outside cat that comes and goes as it pleases through an open window.  Mom has enjoyed the cat joining her in the evenings and all she had to do was leave some food out.  For us it’s a problem because the window screen has a hole for the cat and the mosquito’s like to enter as well.  Now that mom is gone the cat has appeared the first night and partook in the food left out for her.  Mom wants to come over and wait for the cat which then leaves all 9 dogs in Aunties care for the duration.  There is no Dish TV anymore to watch so she would probably want us to be here with her.  We are hoping to catch the cat with a couple pieces of bacon tonight.  If I can cover the window before the cat can get out of it we’ll have the cat in the bedroom for mom to catch.  That all depends on the cat arriving and not getting spooked.  We should have had Nancy catch the cat on the first day!

The pile of bug feces on the kitchen floor has to be dealt with, but we need some masks before attempting to clean it. THD has good masks we hope to get in a couple days. We’ve set roach traps out to knock the roaches down a little. Mom has also requested an 80.00 inside and outside service on Monday morning we will have to pay for when they get here out of Nancy’s account. That is a large portion of her disposable income. I may have to move another $500 from Atlanta with the Florida Blue also being taken from her personal account this month.

Tomorrow: Anchor the washer and get a desk setup in the third bedroom. Maybe start working emergency power and lighting.
Engineering: Create a doorbell at the gate that’s a good 200′ from the house.
Engineering: Mom cannot simply change batteries in her sisters landline if they’re dead, the battery is wired in her phone. (No need for an AAA charger.)
Purchases: Need to buy an end table for mom’s bed, a small table with a drawer and a floor lamp next to her big chair at Grandpa’s.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments:
To Do List (And it’s growing)
get all the dog/cat food out of mom’s house.
Buy hay for the cows.
Grandpa’s Buy shades for all lamps going to grandpa’s farm. Thinking 4 of them? (Bedroom Em light, living room Em light, two gear lamps maybe?)
Grandpa’s move two new desk lamps on the desk at Mom’s to grandpa’s farm.
Grandpa’s sanitize, clean and move the four emergency power supplies from Mom’s farm.
Grandpa’s Buy TV cart for Mom’s bedroom.
Grandpa’s buy curtain for Mom’s south bedroom window
Grandpa’s repair yard light over the house
Grandpa’s repair/install fire/smoke/CO alarm
Grandpa’s repair house patio door
Grandpa’s repair house windows
Grandpa’s repair wall outlet/receptacles in Ricky’s bedroom
Grandpa’s erect fences for the dogs
Grandpa’s clean grandpa’s shed
Grandpa’s repair grandpa’s shed roof
Grandpa’s replace property gate
Grandpa’s repair Auntie’s bedroom Air Conditioner Vent
Grandpa’s move the phone and Internet from Auntie’s bedroom into the third bedroom
Grandpa’s Construct a desk from two file cabinets and a door.
Grandpa’s Install emergency (battery backed up) lighting
Grandpa’s Install battery backup on Dish receiver (Maybe move it to living room)
Grandpa’s purchase / repair printer that has died.
Grandpa’s purchase a new computer
Grandpa’s Install a firewall and wireless router.
Grandpa’s Establish a VPN between grandpa’s Fortigate and Atlanta for remote camera adjustment / repair.
Mom’s Clean pile of bugs and trash from kitchen floor
Mom’s Turn camera over the dog runs to point toward the stalls.
Mom’s Set timers for mom’s house lights
Mom’s Lengthen the timer so that the camera over the runs, runs more of the day.
Mom’s Change the Wayne’s shed timer so that it comes on earlier in the morning
Mom’s Set mouse traps or bait in the trailer.
Atlanta Card for the drama department.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To

Today’s Notes
General: 2nd Day of moving mom. Had some coffee, no breakfast yet. Fed the cows. We’re still separating the stuff ON the furniture and the drawers inside. The hutch and dresser are so dirty I think our only option is to hose them down. Even then, there is a good layer of “Grime” that needs to be scrubbed off this stuff. Doug is coming some time this morning, I need him to separate the hutch and mom’s big dresser. We’re working from the back of the house to the front so that we carry dirty through dirty. (Which means mom’s room is first.) I’ve been unable to capture the cat, we might have to bring mom over here to catch her. I’ve laid roach hotels throughout the house and I’m getting rid of all the loose/open food I can find. I have gotten requests for items for mom’s dogs, if the item is worn out or cannot be cleaned I think it’s best to replace it. It’s going to start costing mom cash money to keep all four dogs, I don’t see any other way at this point. One thing we need to have a “Sit Down” about is all these memento’s. There is some justification to “Let them go” now before moving them to grandpa’s just to let them go later. The only place to store these items if we move them is rent a storage room. There’s not enough storage in the house for this stuff and grandpa’s shed will destroy them anyway. The good news is that the furniture seems to endure being washed and hand dried so far. mom’s large kennel is working really good as a washing stand since it’s basically a sturdy wire cage. We did get mom’s dresser and mirror cleaned, it’s at grandpa’s. The top part of the hutch was fairly clean, so that wasn’t too difficult either. The bottom of the hutch is miserably filthy and is still here. I meant to get the dryer working but, worked all day on the two large pieces. (Because I had paid help to move them.) My sister and I are both worried that we won’t be able to clean the wood sufficiently given it’s poor condition and we’ll end up with an infestation at grandpa’s. Google Foo also reinforces that conclusion. https://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/german.htm The current thought is to remove all the wood furniture from grandpa’s house and just buy exactly what she needs, nothing more or it will end up not being cleaned like this house. I have an idea to catch the cat, I’ve pulled the shade down over the entire window. The shade will let her into the room but she won’t be able to leap from the floor and clear the shade to go back outside. If successful the cat will be in the bedroom tomorrow morning unable to leave. I had an OH WOW! moment, the bottom of the hutch we could not clean is on the porch. It has four closed walls no ventilation. I went in there just a minute ago and the pheromone sent from this one piece of furniture is overwhelming!!! I am really glad that I didn’t move it!! Since I did clean this piece we now know that water and cloth is insufficient to get the scent (and probably feces) from wood furniture.

Tomorrow: Install the dryer.

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To

Today’s Notes
General: We are up, had breakfast and our coffee. Put collars on the three little dogs that can run fast enough to get away from us. We’re not taking the cat. Dryer is disconnected, but I can’t get to the hoses on the washer until the dryer is moved. I’ve done about as much as I can without having Doug here and they are more than 40 minutes late. Well, Nancy has a bed, TV and Dresser at Grandpa’s. We’re working cleaning drawers and furniture at Nancy’s before moving them. The washer is hooked up and running, but the dryer vent needs some engineering. (The vent pipe was totally clogged up for several feet.) I thing the next trip should be to get safety equipment installed in Nancy’s new bathroom. (From her old one.) The threat of rain pushed us into using our Ford Focus instead of the pickup truck so our third trip was quite a bit smaller than we had planned. We did bring the drawers for her chest of drawers, the rails for the commode and her safe. Found out after we had departed they wanted a roll of rubber matting and the large dog crate in the kitchen on wheels. I told them we’d have to bring them tomorrow. We went to Zaxby’s and got three chicken salads and returned to grandpa’s house to eat them with mom. I asked mom if she really wanted the hutch in the kitchen and the large dresser that was just full of memento stuff. (No clothes.) She didn’t say no, so I assume she was just waiting for me to say she couldn’t have it. 🙁 We struck a deal with Doug again tomorrow to help with Nancy’s large dresser / mirror and the hutch from the kitchen. Ricky wanted the hutch, I just don’t think mom needs the dresser. Both of them are FILTHY, full of bug droppings and their eggs. One thing both of us noticed about mom’s new bedroom. It’s VERY clean! My wife and I are both feeling the effects of breathing the dust from the dirty furniture. We’re donning gloves and masks tomorrow to stave off any serious ailments. (It can’t be good for two elderly people to be breathing this stuff.) We headed back to the farm and I fed the cattle when I got here. One good piece of information is that the neighbor seems to have worked out all the numbers and is planning on presenting a paper offer when his banker gets back from a trip. (We still need to have a lawyer look it over.) My wife and I looked at each other tonight and shared a feeling of just how difficult it is for each of us to be down here and live in a house infested with German roaches. FYI, they routinely crawl onto my hand while I am holding the mouse at this computer! We have to wash our hands and not touch anything. Even the refrigerator handles require us to rewash our hands as the refrigerator seals are a frequented place for them and their babies. I found bug wings in my drink today (after I had drank most of it) that probably came from the ice dispenser on the fridge. Nancy wanted her tub of dog food and I got all the way to the car before realizing the bugs had infested the wheel wells and were crawling on me. It’s going to be a miracle if we don’t bring a few bugs to Ricky’s. (It would have been terribly difficult to clean the inside of the washer / dryer that is now in Ricky’s garage.) The only idea I had was to spray the wooden platforms with RAID to kill them if they left the two machines. I did decide to try and use a high pressure air nozzle to clean the wooden furniture. (Still have to find one, or buy one tomorrow morning.) It started to bother me today that (in the 6 months we’ve been planning to move) none of this was cleaned beforehand. 🙁 I’ve not worked the networks at either farm or their cameras/lights yet. The well was fixed today, Ricky asked for cash to pay them which was a little awkward. The pickup truck ran well today, no issues. The trailer has a burnt out light, but otherwise did what we needed it to.

Tomorrow: Move the rest of the big furniture.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering:

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To

Today’s Notes
General: I found out yesterday grandpa’s well filter is clogged with sand. She can’t remove it and she’s cracked the pipes in the well house and they are leaking. Also she said today that she cannot find new filters to replace it. If we leave the well problems to the neighbor, building a fence for the little dogs is a priority. Sis put the gates together from the Bumpkin but they have a 4-8″ gap on the bottom that I fear the little dogs will just crawl underneath them. Talked to mom a good while about not bringing anything they are not willing to keep clean. The furniture here is full of bugs/cobwebs/disgusting dust from not being cleaned for many years. I tried my best to brush out one of them in a feeble attempt to clean it. After an hour trying I fell back to we’ll have to blow them down with an high pressure air hose before moving them. We scouted out the equipment and about the only thing of value is the tractor and it’s implements. (Bush hog, Post hole digger and blade) Like the tractor they’ve also been neglected and let rust. I sawed some more limbs from the tree limb that had fallen to help it fall from the trunk of the tree, hasn’t moved yet. Drove to grandpa’s house where Sis and I worked for over an hour trying our best to clean up some of grandpa’s shed. It’s a really bad mess of lots of tires, metal pieces of boats, cars and motorcycles, 20 gallons of used oil, and a large amount of trash. I think the game plan is to get a $200 dumpster and fill it. We hung curtains and rods in mom’s new room. We also scoped out the Internet/Phone connection that has to be moved out of sis’s bedroom into the third bedroom. The oven is in miserable shape but there is a newer one on the front porch if I can figure out how to replace one. (Only if it’s electric.) Late yesterday we also found out that Sis’s dryer and washer are in need of replacement and mom wants to bring hers to grandpa’s. I guess we’ll try and move them tomorrow along with the bed and one chest of drawers. (It’s the only thing clean.) We’ve got to move mom out of that bedroom so we can take it apart, clean each piece and move some of them. (I’m not really for moving all of it unless mom (Yes, Mom, not her sister.) is going to keep it clean. She’s been living out of a laundry basket and not the dresser for years.) I was delighted to learn today that one of the windows does open giving mom an escape route in case of fire. I didn’t see a fire alarm today, I’ll move the one from mom’s farm if I have to. late entry, a Eastern Rat Snake managed to get into a tub where mom’s two chicks were and was eating one when I found them. He regurgitated the half eaten chick and started racing across the tub to where we were threatened by it. By the time we got a shovel it had gotten under/in something we couldn’t get to. We barricaded the doors to keep it out of the house and we’re retiring for the evening.

Tomorrow: Move mom to Grandpa’s and start working on getting the rest of her belongings over there. I think we’re going to let sis take mom to grandpa’s with the four little dogs while we pack the first load into the trailer.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Engineering:
https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647

To Do List (And it’s growing)
Buy hay for the cows.
Grandpa’s repair/install fire/smoke/CO alarm
Grandpa’s repair house patio door
Grandpa’s repair house windows
Grandpa’s repair well and filter
Grandpa’s repair wall outlet/receptacles in Ricky’s bedroom
Grandpa’s erect fences for the dogs
Grandpa’s clean grandpa’s shed
Grandpa’s repair grandpa’s shed roof
Grandpa’s replace property gate
Grandpa’s repair Ricky’s bedroom vent
Grandpa’s move the phone and Internet from Rickey’s bedroom
Grandpa’s move Nancy’s bed frame into grandpa’s house
Grandpa’s remove/install TV on Nancy’s bedroom wall
Grandpa’s Install emergency (battery backed up) lighting
Grandpa’s Install battery backup on Dish receiver (Maybe move it to living room)
Grandpa’s purchase / repair printer that has died.
Grandpa’s purchase a new computer
Grandpa’s Install a firewall and wireless router.
Grandpa’s Establish a VPN between Ricky’s Fortigate and Atlanta for remote camera adjustment / repair.
Mom’s Turn camera over the dog runs to point toward the stalls.
Mom’s Set timers for Nancy’s house lights
Mom’s Lengthen the timer so that the camera over the runs, runs more of the day.
Mom’s Change the Wayne’s shed timer so that it comes on earlier in the morning
Mom’s Set mouse traps or bait in the trailer.
Atlanta Card for the drama department.
Mom’s Build a list of what is going with the farm and what payment is expected, Talk to the neighbor about his offer.
Atlanta Lighting support for the Christmas play which is the 9th of December.
Build two long run UPS units that have external connections for a solar panel charge.
Atlanta Get two teeth pulled and one post put in.
Atlanta replace two of my outside cameras, there are eight cameras on Mom’s farm.
Atlanta Need referral for surgery on Jan 3rd at 8:30.
Atlanta Call the doctor about the anti inflammatory that I seem to be allergic to.
Mom’s Call Fl Blue, Lisa Rhodes 352-854-2100 about part D.
Mom’s Call Mutual of Omaha (Ricky’s Insurance)
Mom’s Find out about Dental coverage for Mom, Medicare “G”?
Mom’s Find out about Eye coverage for mom.

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes Bought her almond milk at DG.
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes The cow’s water trough.
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes grandpa’s shed.
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To

Today’s Notes
General: Got up around 08:00 and we showered then ate breakfast at the hotel. Packed up the car and had a beautiful drive to Citra. We picked up a Sun Pass at the Florida welcome center that still needs to get activated. Things are still in motion, but the plans are to move mom on Thursday. I am going to do some manly housekeeping on the farm. Namely work on the network, cameras and repair a broken water line. We had Subway for lunch and fried chicken for dinner. The traveling UPS is setup short two batteries because there was no room to carry them. Should be okay though since the new power supplies are so efficient our needs dropped to six batteries for two nights sleep. We bought water, paper plates and utensils for our stay since we’ll be at mom’s farm except this weekend when we go to visit my son in Tampa. Mom and her sister are both engaged on making the move happen this week. There’s no TV (It’s at Grandpa’s) so we are reading the news on paper. There are a number of German roaches that have greeted me today. I’ve not seen them in the bedroom or we’ll not be sleeping here tomorrow. The little dog food and water are still out on the floor. (Mom’s choice) I don’t think roach bait houses are going to work if better food is available. The major difficulty is the amount of clutter in this home. The roaches are everywhere and mom seems ok with them. (We tented the house to kill them 4 months ago.) The dogs are still not going potty outside, pads are offered to let them pee inside. Which doesn’t seem to work since there were pee stains on the floor. The living room floor was not cleaned before we arrived on this trip for some reason which prevented us from unloading the car. Mom and sis cleaned it after I told them I couldn’t unload the car. I am gaining a determination that we should not move anything into grandpa’s home that the two of them are unwilling to clean. (Keep the clutter to an absolute minimum.) Sis and I loaded the horse trailer with “Gates” from the pens outside the Bumpkin, we took them over to Grandpa’s today to hold mom’s little dogs when they have to go potty. (I don’t believe that they will go through all that trouble for a minute.) Found out today that sis knew that the sliding glass door at Grandpa’s was broken and cannot be used to let the dogs out! (Another thing we have to fix)

Tomorrow: Repair the water line, cut some more of the tree down, adjust the camera over the dog runs to see the pasture, adjust the timers for the winter.
Arguments: We had a slight disagreement on the communication method of asking for help unloading the car tonight which got resolved.
Engineering: Mom asked about emergency lighting today, I was wondering when they would ask. They (The two of them) have to agree on what/where/how things are illuminated at night and during a power outage. I have a lot of resources and experience, but this time they will have to ask and agree on the solution.
Travel: Drove to Citra Florida from Tifton Ga.
Feeling words: Angry, Annoyed, Alarmed, Aggravated, Agreeable, Bothered, Cooperative, Considerate, Caring, Careful, Concerned, Charitable, Determined, Disappointed, Exhausted, Frustrated, Fatigued, Grouchy, Generous, Grateful, Hurt, Irritated, Irked, Loving, Misunderstood, Needy, Puzzled, Rattled, Reassured, Sensitive, Sympathetic, Skeptical, Thankful, Tired, Uncomfortable, Unhappy, Worried.
Injuries: I have somehow injured my right armpit, there is a pinch of pain underneath.

To Do
Establish a VPN between Ricky’s Fortigate and home.
Turn camera over the dog runs to point toward the stalls.
Set timers for Nancy’s house lights
Lengthen the timer so that the camera over the runs, runs more of the day.
Change the Wayne’s shed timer so that it comes on earlier in the morning
Set mouse traps or bait in the trailer.
Card for the drama department.
Talk to the neighbor about his offer.
Lighting support for the Christmas play.
Build two long run UPS units that have external connections for a solar panel charge.
Get two teeth pulled and one post put in.
replace two of my outside cameras.
Need referral for surgery on Jan 3rd at 8:30.
Call the doctor about the anti inflammatory that I seem to be allergic to.
Call Fl Blue, Lisa Rhodes 352-854-2100 about part D.
Call Mutual of Omaha (Ricky’s Insurance)
Find out about Dental coverage for Mom, Medicare “G”?
Find out about Eye coverage for mom.

Exercise: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases:

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes I apologized and asked her opinion
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes Bought lunch and dinner out.
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes put a temporary repair on a water line
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes Cleaned out the cow water trough that was full of scum.
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Did My Best To