Sunday, November 25, 2007

NOW its taking SHAPE !!!

Here is where we started back in May and on through where we are right now.

(click on pictures to enlarge)
This is how it was when we departed the area last spring and headed up to Custer,SD. for the summer.

Now we are back in Oct. and discussing how we should do the Coach House.

A few days later....

Quite a few days later....

5 days later,,,,,,,

The next day!!!! Ceiling is an off white and the walls are Camel.......
Still a lot to do but we're gaining. Should have it looking good by the time we get ready to head West to Arizona in Jan....
Most of our help took a little Holiday vacation, which slows us down a bit. Doubtful we will get much done next week, but stay tuned.
Of course there are more pictures on the Web Album:
Go completely to the bottom of the album to see the most recent pictures.
See ya NEXT TIME!!!
Its a GREAT DAY !!!!!!
Mike

Sunday, November 18, 2007

More Progress



This is the Dry Wall we started with....................






We put some up !!



Put some more up!!





A little more!!!




FINALLY,,,,,,,,it's all gone!!!!!!








Doing the bathroom,,,it was last.




Now the MUD,,,,seams all taped & rounded corners installed. This young fellow did almost all of it himself. He could not speak ONE word of English!! He did a GREAT job and all in ONE day!!








That's the Bathroom on the left and the Utility Room on the right. You can see how the raised ceiling looks. It makes the room look a LOT larger!






This is looking out the French Doors onto the Patio...




You know what they say,,,,,,,"stop and smell the Roses". I just had to stop and take a picture of these Texas Roses that are in bloom right now(Nov.18) out by the side of our lot. Real pretty!!


Well, we got quite a bit done this week. Its drying now and will soon be ready to paint. Pat is picking out colors now. Maybe next week we'll have that done. Stop by and take a look!!

Click on the pictures to enlarge them

Take Care!!!

Its a GREAT DAY!!!!!!

Mike

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Work on our Coach House

Here another week has gone by and we continue to work on the inside of our Coach House. That's what they call the little 12x20' building on our lot here in Retama Village in Mission, TX.


Really its just a "shed", but we decided to make it so we could easily have our friends and kids come to visit and have a comfortable place to stay. Now, I had NO idea how much that would involve. But I do now!!!! WOW,,,,,,,work and MONEY. We must have made 50 trips to every building supply store within 20 miles!!! We've had lumber, dry wall and fixtures delivered to us and hauled 2 or 3 truck loads of "stuff" ourselves.





Right now I'm wondering if we shouldn't have just left it as a "shed" for storage. Sure would have been a lot simpler and of course CHEAPER!!!! However it will be GREAT when we get it finished and it is finally starting to take shape. I'll show you a few pictures as we started and the progress we have made. There are more pictures on my web albums, but these will give you a quick tour.....









OK, here we go!!! First thing is to cut out the ceiling joists!!! Yep, we decided on a "raised" ceiling. It will make the place look much larger. Here we remove the FIRST one.






Now the BOX for the raised ceiling is framed.






We thought we might need some POWER!!! This little guy and his helper are "pulling" wires from the pedestal. It will be 100amp service.









They delivered the Shower, the Stool and the bathroom sink










That's the bathroom on the left and the Utility room on the right. We're framing them now.





Lots of wires had to be strung. 600 ft of wire to all the switches and plugs, etc.






Now the Insulation is here and has to be installed. See what I mean, Work, Work, Work. I had no idea!!!! Now I know why I wasn't a carpenter!!!!






But with a lot of Blood, Sweat and tears, it went up. Did I tell you this ain't easy!!!









Doggone, now they deliver the Dry Wall.........and they tell me it shouldn't be left sitting outdoors. Its got to go right up!!!! ugh! Alright, how do we do this? Lets get it done!!!!






MAN,,,,,we got the Ceiling up in the Box!!! What a JOB!!!! I just "thought" I was retired.:)



Anyway, that brings you up to date on where we are. I'll show you more next week. Get ready Folks and Kids, it will soon be ready for you to come and stay in......Pats already shopping for a Ceiling fan and PAINT!!!!! I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever get over!!!

Can't wait to stand back and say "OK there she is, done"!!! That will be NEAT!!!





If you just CAN'T WAIT, you can go to our web albums and see ALL the pictures, but I warn you there is a bunch!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/wb4pdo/FinishingInsideOfCoachHouseOct2007





Thanks for dropping by!



Its a GREAT DAY!!!!

Try the new SHOUTBOX on the right hand side at the top of the page!!! Leave us a Msg.



Mike

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Back to our BLOG

HOWDY !!!!

Well its time to switch from our Travel Journal back to this Blog, since we will be stationary for a while. A lot has happened since our last post at the HDT rally in Wichita. We have traveled over 2000 miles and been in several States. We went directly to Sedalia, MO from Wichita for the Medium Duty truck Rally and at the same location worked the Hitchhiker Rally.

We gave Seminars at both rallies and had good attendance and sold a lot of PressurePro Tire monitoring Systems. So it was definitely a SUCCESSFUL venture. Most all are a "venture" but not all are Successful.....

From Missouri we went to Little Rock AR. to visit our long time "special" friends Louis and Janette Hughes. After a few GREAT days with these special people we had to continue our journey south towards Mission TX., which is about as FAR South as you can get in TEXAS. You can see our Travel Journal at : http://woodalls.mytripjournal.com/mikepatstravels to follow our trip.

Finally on Oct 20th we pulled into Retama Village in Mission, TX. Several of our other friends were already there and settled on their NEW RV lots that we have all purchased in this BRAND NEW over 55 gated RV community. Our lot had been completed over the summer and we weren't sure our rig would fit on it. After a lot of paper work and measurements we "thought" it would fit, but it did worry us a little.

As you can see, it fit just as we planned!!! A little tight, but we wanted this corner lot REAL bad, as it has a lot more patio area than most others and it was the LAST one!!! We're quite happy with the way it turned out!! There are 14 of our friends that have bought a lot here. We all feel it is a SUPER bargain for such a nice area. The prices of the lots have already went up a few thousand dollars and lots are selling like crazy. Good investment and an enjoyable place with great people to spend some time......

Now we are working on our little "house" officially called "COACH HOUSE". It will have a bathroom with shower and a sitting room with couch that makes into a bed. So our kids and friends can come visit and have a place to stay..........Can't wait to see you all!!!!


I'll include a few pictures of the place and our work on it here and give you a link to many many more.....










Here it is!!! You can see it was a close fit! However just as we planed. In the future we will no doubt "downsize" a little and our next rig will fit even better........But I'll show you the back and Patio area we have and you'll see why this was our favorite lot!!!












Only the corner lots have this "pie" shaped patio. Most of them are much narrower. We really like this area already.











Pat is standing in front of our "coach House" . I told her it was going to be my SHOP. I knew I was gonna lose that battle !!! She is already picking out the fixtures and ceramic tile, etc. Most of you know I hate that kind of stuff. However Pat likes it and she done the last house we had built. So guess who gets to do it????? Right!!! Wait till you see it, it should turn out neat!!












This is a view from the back of our Teton. All landscaping and grass mowing, weed eating, etc., is done by management. Its all underground automatic watering system.











Here is another picture from the front closer in.








Jack Mayer and Pat are talking about our plans for our Coach Houses.......Lots of decisions to make! As you can see, its plumbed for water and sewer and wire conduit is run. We have to pull the wire and do all the other stuff........





We have decided we want a "Raised", "Boxed" ceiling. So all this has to be removed. Some of the later pictures show us doing that....Its gonna be neat and make the room look a LOT bigger. The Coach Houses are all 12x20. All are "supposed" to be the same outside, but you can do anything you want inside..........Sky is the limit,,,,well,,,,,the roof is the limit! :-)





This picture is taken from the top of our Teton. It is looking directly across the street. There are 2 more big trucks at the end of that street, a red one and a white one......Mark's and Jim's.



This is our next door neighbors to the West, David and Ute Czetli. They are from Maryland. Cute little "Smart" car he has, isn't it? It fits crosswise on the back of his Volvo.....



This is our neighbors to the East. Dick and ???? Peers. They are from Eastern Iowa. This is our first time to meet them.

If you want to see more pictures of our lot and the construction we are doing click on this:

Beginning of the groundwork:

http://picasaweb.google.com/wb4pdo/RetamaVillageMissionTXLot32StartToFinish


Inside Construction:

http://picasaweb.google.com/wb4pdo/FinishingInsideOfCoachHouseOct2007

That's more pictures than you'll ever want to see, I'm sure.

To see where we are located, click here:http://map.datastormusers.com/user3.cfm?user=2972

See how close to Mexico we are? That dotted line at the bottom of the map is Mexico.....
Zoom in or out by pressing the + or -, or do the Google earth thing if you are so inclined and want to fly around the area a little....

Its a GREAT DAY!!!!!

Thanks for dropping by!

Mike