Greetings!  

Yes, it's been awhile since my thoughts have graced this page.  I'm really here because a very dear friend of mine recently told me I kind of left everyone in the lurch with our Mullan 'adventure'.  I guess I never had a proper ending to the story. :) Well, recently the ending, such as it is, turned into another chapter. To make a long story short, after living in our Mullan, Idaho home 'Camp Dunmovin' (Not!) for 4 years, we decided to sell our home and make our permanent residence the small, quirky town of Ajo, Arizona.  

What was to be a short visit to see friends, who themselves had moved from Coeur d'Alene to Ajo several years ago, turned into an instant love affair with this little gem of a town in the middle of the beautiful Sonoran desert.  Neither of us would have ever considered ourselves 'desert people' before our first trip down there but the desert has a way of drawing you in. A large part of its beauty lies in its mystery. The view is endless and never the same. You are constantly surrounded by life, some of it visible, most of it not. The night skies are coal black, with the only 'visible' companions being the stars, which you can see in abundance.  It's the ones that aren't quite as visible that can give you the most pause for thought! 

Actually, I don't think the desert is a place for the faint of heart. :/ 

While we have been working on this new chapter for 2 years, we just sold our home here in Mullan in July.  Because the house itself was not the norm, we, and even our realtor, thought it would take a while to sell.  It didn't . . . and we were totally unprepared to have to move so quickly.  You know how it goes, the best laid plans . . .

When we designed and built our home, we wanted something for 'us'. We weren't worried about who would like it and whether we would be able to sell it in the future.  We thought that wouldn't be our problem. :)  We also wanted a house we would be comfortable leaving in the winter knowing the snow would be piling up all around it. There was no name for our type of house at the time we built it.  It was just a Pole Building finished off as a house.  Now, (as of July) there is an actual category in the Realtors Multiple Listings Guide called Shouse's.  Who wudda thunk it!

I'm just going to end here today with the photos of our 'Shouse' that our Realtor, Denise Lundy of Fortus Realty, had professionally taken for the listing.  After 4 years, this is how our 'Camp Dunmovin' evolved . . .

 

House, garage and our RV.  

(The house/garage actually fronts 3 streets)

The RV is our current 'home' until we get down to Ajo in November.

Living room looking into bedroom and office/studio space

Living room looking towards dining area and kitchen

Kitchen Island

Kitchen work area

Master bedroom (actually, the only bedroom!) with the bed made from recycled Barn doors

Master Bath

Next Blog I'll show you the start 

of our adventures at 

Camp Dunmovin 'South'  :)

LET'S ROCK AND ROLL !!

Well . . . Rock anyway.  :)  And we literally have tons of them! You might remember,  I mentioned that this area is called Boulder Canyon . . .

So . . . I thought, if you can't fight them, use them.  There are soooo many that I just figured I might as well make my own Riverbed which, when done, will 'flow' across the front of the house and all the way down one side.  This is the start of it here.  As late in the season as it is, I was lucky to be able to still get a few plants in so it didn't look completely naked.  Next Spring the plan is to get more plants and ground cover in.  Our Sidewalks, (below) are on the City's schedule to be replaced in the next year or so ...  :)

There is so much that has gone on this last month that I'm not sure where to start.  I really need to write more often so each Blog is not a book in itself.  :/  Reminder to self:  Procrastination ALWAYS catches up to you.

How's this for a Step ladder!  That's a 14' ladder.  I 'might' get up on it but I'd probably never get down! :/  The Electric is in!  A few trials and tribulations, (like not hearing before a weekend if the inspection passed the previous Tuesday, so we could move forward with the insulation. You are not allowed to cover ANY of the wiring before an o.k. on the inspection).  In the scheme of things though, that becomes minor compared to some of the other shenanigans we've had to deal with.  The electricians will be back to hang the lights and finish the rest off once the ceiling and walls are in.

That's my son, John, making some temporary steps for me to get up and down to the RV.  Could have really used them at the beginning of the season but we've learned, you take the help whenever you can get it! 

The Kitchen Island is in!  Sides to be finished with Beadboard ~ but, how do you like the Top?  That's the top from our 'Solid Oak' Dining room table.   (Don't cringe ... it turns out o.k.)  We actually have two tables, this one, and a Beautiful Round table made of Parawood. (Also called Rubberwood.  Parawood is from Southeast Asia and these trees are where latex and natural rubber come from :).  Both tables have had various uses in various rooms around our home.  Since we are downsizing we had to make the decision as to which one stayed.  We decided to keep the round table because, without its leaves, it takes up less space.  So, yup, decided to take the top from our Oak table and turn it into the top for the island.   My girlfriend and I found this table in an Antique store in Cashmere, Washington.  (They have the best Antique stores there.)  The tag said the table was Oak.  The top was Oak, the legs were Oak, and the underneath was Oak.  It was Oak.  It was Oak UNTIL we cut out the hole for the sink.  Then we found out that it was just a veneer over press-board on the top AND a veneer underneath.  Who would have thought there would be a veneer on the underside?  Well, it certainly made it look like it was solid Oak.  :/  Needless to say, we didn't feel nearly as guilty cutting in to our tabletop once we realized it wasn't the solid oak we thought it was!  But, it still looks pretty!  :)

Plumbing is in!

Gas Fireplace installed!  Gas Water heater installed!  

BUT THEN, YOU KNEW IT ALL WOULDN'T BE THAT EASY . . .  

The gas company came, dug up the street, ran gas to our house, patched up the street, put the gas meter in, and then they lock it until the State Inspector says all is o.k.   Meanwhile, the Heating Company came and installed our inside gas lines so we would be able to use our gas fireplace, gas hot water heater, gas stove, gas barbque, etc., etc.  Then they called for the Inspection so the meter could be unlocked.  

What we didn't know was that the State Gas Inspector was also the State Plumbing Inspector.

When I came a few days after the inspection was suppose to have taken place the meter was still locked.  AND, ... the plumbing (?) was Red Tagged.  Where did the plumbing guy come from??  I called the Heating Company who told me they didn't know why the meter was still locked ~ they passed inspection, and they didn't know anything about the Plumbing (even though they would have had to let this person in because they had the key.  How does that work?)  But, I was told they would check and call me back in  a few minutes.  No call back.  Called again.  No call back.  Its now after 5 on a Friday night.  I called their personal number (What can I say. . . it's that New York thing again  :/  )  Still no resolution though.  Would have to get back to me.  Glen calls the personal number the next day (See... he's learning!) and is now told that the State Heating Inspector is also the State Plumbing Inspector and, of course, while he was there inspecting the gas lines, he also inspected the Plumbing.

He didn't like the Plumbing.  His Red Tag comments were not very nice. :(  They led us to believe that we were going to have to tear up our concrete flooring and concrete patio and redo all the lines. All we could envision was money and time flying away laughing as they went.  Glen was not able to get a hold of him until Monday.  The weekend, to say the least, was complete Stress.  The phone conversation on Monday did not go much better.  (You know, some people should just not talk on the phone.  It is not their friend.  This person is one of them.)  He would be up Tuesday and go over everything in person.  Glen had to take that night off from work so he would be there in the a.m.  

Tuesday morning did not go as bad as expected.  Much better one on one.  No, we wouldn't have to tear up the concrete.  He could make us but he wasn't going to. : /  But, we would have to dig up across the whole backyard and partially down the driveway.  Forty-two inches deep  (the city of Mullan Water District only requires 36 inches ?)  There goes the two truckloads of gravel we paid to have hauled in so we wouldn't have all mud out there this winter :(  But, water line is now changed and comes in through the bathroom floor instead of the kitchen floor. A few other minor 'violations' on the inside, easily correctable are scheduled to be worked on next weekend.  What the heck, it's just time and money.  

 So . . . back comes Scott and his backhoe and the digging begins.

  

Of course it rained and everything turned to mud and required 3 changes of clothes for the day.

But, we got the 42" and that part passed inspection.

I did get a few more Boulders for the 'River' out of the deal though . . . 

(these can only be moved with a backhoe so not quite sure how this is going to work . . .  :/  )

  

Oh yes, the lock on the gas meter . . .   Seems that won't get unlocked until after ALL of the insulation is done, ALL of the sheetrock is up, and AT LEAST one coat of paint is on the walls.  Evidently the state doesn't allow the gas to be on while you are working on the place.  (No one we've talked to seems to have heard of that rule before . . .)  So the heat we thought we would have while we worked on the place is isn't going to exist. (29 degrees last night)  When we questioned the reasoning behind that we were just told to get an electric heater. :/  Now, call me silly, but I would think that a company that installs gas lines, gas furnaces, gas water heaters, gas fireplaces (need I go on?) in new and existing construction, would have known that.  And, call me even sillier, but I would have thought that they just might have mentioned that to us before we went to all the time and expense to install these items at this point in time when we probably won't be able to use them for several months.  Just thinkin' out-loud here mind you.

You know, even when it rains, water or otherwise, there is still a beauty to life that can't be ignored.

til next time . . .

Charleen

WHO WERE WE KIDDING . . . ?

Ourselves of course. 

At some point we thought we just might have our new house 'somewhat livable'  by the end of October.  Well, tomorrow, October will be saying Good Morning to us and we are not even close to where we had hoped to be. The antics of the Construction Company (and a few others) literally put us two months behind where we thought we would be by now.  I guess this isn't all that uncommon when building your own home and you have to rely on others for a major portion of the work.   I still find it sad though that when People give their word it is not quite what it used to be.

But  . . . first things things first!  As soon as the patio was in my 2 Blue Strawberry pots came out of the clutter in the yard and onto the patio.  A little sad looking right now but at least they have a home and will look lots better next Spring!

The electricians arrived 2 weeks ago and installed the electrical panel.  But . . . we are still on temporary power.  :/  That means all lights, tools, garage light, and the lights, etc. in the RV are all running off an extension cord (or two!).  Not what you would call an ideal situation.  Definitely no toaster and microwave at the same time!  Actually, it doesn't even take that at times to lose power.  We have these mystery power-outs in the RV, usually when it's dark, and then Glen has to make these treks across the yard over piles of rocks, lumber and mounds of dirt with just a flashlight to find that somehow the cord has worked itself loose from the temporary panel on the temporary pole . . .  Good news is that the electrician called today and said they will be there either tomorrow or Thursday.  Fingers are crossed.  We can't go any further with the walls until the wiring is done.   

Finally found a different Plumbing/Heating Co. who came (expediently) and gave us a bid to install the gas pipes for our Fireplace, Stove and Furnace (and water tank and BBQ . . . :) AND . . . as of yesterday all the pipes have been installed, Inspector came today, and now we are all ready to be hooked up.  One of my neighbors (Flossie, my 90 year old neighbor!)  called me and said that the Utility  Co. was there today tearing up the street and sidewalk :/ to run the natural gas to our house.  We are actually making real progress!

  

Interior walls are now all studded in. The lumber on the floor is in the kitchen.  Behind the orange chair is the bedroom  :)

That's our granddaughter Katie taking a break up in what is to be the attic.

And here are the boys  ~ not quite sure what they are all doing here!  :)

The floor in the Attic space is now in.  It's a small area over the two bathrooms which will have 8' walls.  The rest of the house will have  12' walls and open ceilings.

When done, we are aiming for a 'Rustic~Industrial feel to the house.  This is an Old door (one of several) we resurrected from a yard sale.  As you can see it needs a little TLC but we do have plans for its use.  :)  You can barely see it, but there is a line across the bottom 6" or so that it is about to be cut off.  We will definitely show you the finished results.  :)

Pull down stairs to the attic installed!  'Our Supervisor' (Ernie) had several real good suggestions helping with installation.  Every job should have an Ernie.  Besides being a great help to Glen he is a wealth of information on the history of the area.  Just one of the many nice people we have met since making the decision to move here.  When we mentioned to the owner of the Heating Co. that we have met so many nice people since being up in this area, he said 'Get used to it'.  That's just how they are here'.  

How can you not smile about that . . .

til next time

Charleen

YOU KNOW THAT WE COULDN'T MAKE THIS ALL UP . . . DON'T YOU . . .?

It is now to the point where our neighbors just shake their heads.  What can you say?  I am sure to the outside world this has had to be pretty funny.  In fact, just yesterday in our travels (more on that further on down) I saw a sign in a little shop that said  "Our family is Gods favorite sitcom."  I'm afraid I'm going to have to beg to differ.  I think his favorite sitcom is right here in Mullan, Idaho and we are living it.  What else could this be?!  I will have to say . . . both of us have had to maintain a sense of humor about all of this (OK, some days thats been darn near impossible BUT we have persevered!)  

So, the leak got fixed.  That was a major worry but Glen was at it first thing the following weekend and it is now as it should be.  

Last we left, the fellows were here working and the promise was that their part would be done by the end of that week.  Phone calls were being returned, we were being kept in the loop, and the fellows were here busy bee-ing it away.  As you can see from the photo below, they did accomplish quite a bit.  But remember, this is just the shell.  It's a 2 week job (supposedly).  Photo below is 8 weeks into the job.  So . . . was the job completed by the end of the week . . .

NOT.   It's a little hard to see in this photo but there is a rough, unfinished edge on the left hand side of the roof.  They ran out of roofing with just inches to go. Yup.  See the seam at the very top of the roof?  That is suppose to have a felt like sealer up underneath it to prevent wind from whipping water back up under neath the seam.  We saw the rolls of felt laying on the pile of building supplies for weeks but 'somehow' it disappeared  (not on to our roof) when the job was done.  Seems like whoever was responsible for putting it on, forgot it.  Then, so we might not notice, evidently took it home with him.  Guess they didn't count on Glen climbing up on the roof to check things out.  : /   What you also can't see is that 2 of the 3 doors are hung crooked.   And on the right hand corner of the house (Behind the huge pile of garbage they are (still) suppose to come remove, the whole corner trim is missing.  

So they worked for 3 days straight (I think that's a record) and then we sat (again) for a week and a half.  Meanwhile, the inside looked like this so we were at least able to start framing the inside walls (well . . . they are the inside outside walls if you get what I mean . . .

Raising a wall . . .

That's Ernie, our neighbor helping Glen raise one of the walls (bathroom to be exact).  That's usually my job but I deferred to Ernie this time.  :)  We affectionately call him the Supervisor because he usually comes over to check things out when there is any action going on.   We have another neighbor, Richard, who calls himself the 'Wanna be Supervisor'  :)  Quite honestly, if both of these guys weren't retired and were on the job, the house probably would have been up weeks ago!

We also continued with projects on the outside.  The property came with an old patio and sidewalk ~ remains of the once used to be home that was there.  The patio got more than it's fair share of use this summer with all of our company but we knew it was going to have to go.  It was just in the wrong place for our new home.  We weren't going to tackle removing it until next year but, because we had to dig out so much to get the ground level for the house, we decided to take it out now before winter came and it becomes a big issue next Spring with Snow melt, etc.  (You can see the unfinished edge on the house in this photo)

Back came Scott with his excavator and there went the patio . . .

(it's close to the house, but not as close as it looks ~ the perspective is off. :)  

And the sidewalk . . .  

All in one piece!  

He operates this equipment like my Grandmother picked up a teacup.  Delicately and with such precision it is amazing.

He broke the patio up into smaller pieces (still big, but smaller . . . :) and hopefully you should see how we will be using those pieces later on in the Blog).  But . . . since we have no front stoop we decided to re-use the walk for that purpose.  So he took the walk around the block to the front of the house . . .

This is my husbands sense of humor. : /  As you can see, the ground isn't even level (and it's worse than it even looks!)  The walk is just haphazardly sitting on a pile of rocks and dirt at the moment.  But . . . we have a front stoop!  (Heaven help me please . . .)

Speaking of rocks . . . this was dug up from the Driveway.  Again, a reminder as to why this area is called Boulder Canyon.

Look at the excavator and this will give you an idea of the size of this thing.  It will become part of the landscaping when we are all done.  That's mostly because we don't know what else to do with it!

The Tuesday after Labor Day we were told (again) that the crew would be showing up to tie up all the loose ends and FINISH THEIR PART OF THE JOB.  The cement Crew was also going to show up to put in the Patio thus finishing THEIR PART OF THE JOB.  The Electrician was to show up to connect us to 'real' electricity and get us off 'temporary power'.  The Rock company was going to 'try' and show up to deliver a load of gravel. The plumber was to show up to give us an estimate on hooking us up to the natural gas lines.  The 'Garbage Crew' was to show up and remove all the metal scraps, wood, plastic, etc. etc. left over from the job.  The City Inspector was suppose to show up to sign off on the outer part of the house.

Tuesday was going to be a busy day!

So let's see . . . 

No work crew showed up.

No plumber showed up.

No Rock Company showed up.

No Garbage crew showed up.

The Electrician showed up but he just showed up.  Work re-scheduled for the following week.

The Cement Truck showed up but the cement crew was off on another job (they forgot all about us) so the cement couldn't be poured.  The cement truck left. Someone got to eat 5 1/2 yds of cement and guaranteed it's not going to be us!)

The City Inspector showed up!!

(I told you . . . we couldn't make this up if we tried. )

The rock delivery showed up the next day.

The plumber still hasn't shown up so needless to say he's out of the picture and two new companies are re-scheduled.

The garbage crew still hasn't shown up.

The electrician was to show up today and when I went to check earlier there was a ladder set up inside.  Just the ladder.  ?

The work 'crew' was whittled down to one (1) fellow.  He came out Wednesday night at 5:00 after he finished working on another job.  He was sent alone because he is a Dallas Cowboys fan and the rest of the crew are Seattle Seahawk fans and there was a Seattle game on they wanted to watch.  He got to tie up all the loose ends himself  (Up on the roof, adding the felt trim in the dark, etc)  Three hours to finish what it took them a week and a half to get someone here to do.  I think they may have a time management issue here.

The Cement Crew AND the cement truck all showed up together yesterday (a week later).  The patio is now in and it looks great!  Despite the fact that they forgot us last week I would recommend their work anytime.  They really do a great job.  We've already gotten many compliments on the interior floor they did.

Besides . . . what's one week when the rest of the two-week project is already 9 weeks behind?

We decided to take a much needed break and we gave ourselves two days off from Glens 7 day 'vacation'.  We decided that at this point we are so far behind where we hoped to be that 2 days wasn't going to make much of a difference.  We left Friday morning and headed up to Whitefish, Montana.  We started to go there a year ago for a weeks vacation but our RV brakes went out on us and since it was Labor Day weekend no one was open and available to fix them.  We cancelled our vacation and hobbled home. (Truth)  I have never been there and have always wanted to see the area.  It was a lot of driving for 2 days but it was a great break.  Absolutely beautiful country!  

The Cabinet Mountains

A little action on the tracks in Plains, Montana

The absolute best Pizza we have both had in years at the Glacier Grill and Pizza Restaurant in Coram, Montana.  Hands down.

Thompson Pass, Idaho

Someones long ago dreams

A little basement creativity in Ant Flats, Montana

It looks like a blob of cement but it's actually a smoothly formed rock probably from one of the many Glaciers that came through this area

Home again and full moon over the campfire.  :)

Next weekend it's back to the Lumberyard for more wood so we can start framing the interior interior walls!  :)

See you soon!

Charleen