On The Road Again

 Our time at the family farm had finally come to an end, we spent just over a week hanging out with family and working on the homestead farmhouse. We didn't come to do a lot of work, but we did get a few things accomplished and were able to spruce the place up alittle. After our time was up we headed back to OKC and the Tinker AFB FamCamp. We did get some news while on the road, our daughters Oct wedding was put on indefinite hold while they work through a few issues (a good thing and very mature decision). So instead of having to stay in the OKC area until the first part of Nov, we will only be staying for a week, WooHoo!!!

 Of course only staying for a week does not mean everything went hunky Dory, Noooooo. Turned on the hot water the next day and it was down to a trickle.......hmmmm, Went thru several different troubleshooting scenarios and came to the conclusion of a broken water heater check valve. OK, that can't be to hard to change, until I really looked at it......darn, with-in my skill level, but would need to pull the water heater, by a new tool (normally not a bad thing) high dollar and only one use, more trips to home depot, because of course you can't just make one or even two when fixing anything and not to mention the aggravation and probably a couple of days without water.........time to call in the pros. Contacted our local Mobile RV guy and he was out the next day, couple hours later and hot running water again....nice. Yes it cost a few bucks, but was more than worth it (see previous.....lol) After that, it was just taking care of a few items and we were off and running.

 Well, off and running after a quick couple of maintenance items were taken care of. Radiator Flush and new coolant, and Transmission filters and fluid change. Ok, these two set the ole bank account back a little more than expected, but it feels good to know they were done and shouldn't need attention for a few years. Got to keep that big diesel happy you know!

So, we finally got out of OKC around 3:00pm and set our sights on Ft Chaffee Army Base in Ft Smith Arkansas, a short 3 hours away. We arrived right at 6:00pm and pulled into our reserved spot, got set up and settled in with a cold one.....ahhhhh. We will be here for 5 days, before heading to Village Creek State Park in eastern Arkansas. Since we have been here before and scene most of the sights, our time here will be used to decompress from the almost 6 months spent in OKC dealing with various issues.
That's a quick update and all the news that's fit to print. Internet has been pretty spotty and we actually have to go in search of it sometimes when we want to do some data intensive surfing (like doing the blog) so, updates are not as often as I would like, but hey, you get what you pay for.....lol Ok, see you fine folks right back here before long.

Birthday Safari and a Trip to Kansas

Last weekend we celebrated our granddaughter's 9th birthday at the OKC Zoo. The party was held in the Treehouse room and featured a private tour and special animals brought in for us. A great time for a special little girl.

Yesterday (Sunday) it was finally our turn to hit the road again. This time a trip into South West Kansas and Sheryl's old family homestead. We plan on being here for a week or so. Sheryl's brother and sister will be meeting us here later in the week to celebrate her birthday. Not a bad place to hang out and just get away. More to come later.......

Restoring the Ole Homestead

 Wow, what a whirlwind week. We took off for SW Kansas and the family farm on Wednesday, returning to OKC the following Tuesday. The plan was to help Sheryl's brother George work on the main house and get it somewhat weather tight. The old homestead was built by their Grandfather in the very early 1900s and has fallen into a sort of disrepair. The main issue being no one actually lives there to keep it up.
We parked out by the old barn and at least had 20amp power for the motorhome, however no water. We filled the water tank in town, so we were set for a few days of work.

 The white house on the far right was our project for this visit.

 George came up from Austin with building materials in tow.

 All the old siding was in pretty rough shape (though not bad for over 100 year old) but it all had to come down.

 Once it was all ripped off, we began nailing up OSB wood, to which the new siding would be attached.

 Surprisingly, the 1"x12"s under the old shingles were in pretty good shape, except for a few spots, but much better than we expected.

 By the time we had to leave, we had gotten most of the OSB wood up. not as much as we had wanted to do, but between a couple of day of rain and the always unexpected, we actually got a lot accomplished. While George and I worked on the outside, the girls Sheryl, Carol and Stephanie worked on the inside as well as painted all the new siding.

 Yours truly in working garb.

 Sheryl (left), with her sister Carol and brother George.

And of course Georges wife Stephanie, she tried to dodge the first shot but I got her in this one. We put in several good days work. We had to leave, but George and another relative stayed for a few more days. I understand they finished most all the siding on the house. We all may need to meet up there again to finish it up, but it is much better then when we started. The whole idea, is to get the homestead back to the way it was and to be able to go there and decompress from daily life when needed.
We are back in OKC now, Sheryl had a couple of doctor appointments, both turned out very well, with good news. We are taking off on Monday for a week in Eastern Oklahoma to spend time with Sheryl's son and maybe some other family members if they can make it.
That's it for now, just wanted to update everyone and show the progress we made on the farmhouse. So until next time.....................................................

Lending a Hand

This weekend I went out to Sheryl's family farm to lend her brother a hand fixing some damage. This is the farmhouse, it was hand built by her grandfather in the early 1900s. No one lives in the house now, but her brother keeps it up the best he can, however he's almost fighting a losing battle.

One of the bedroom ceilings fell in, so it was time to put up some new drywall. We are mostly do in the above shots as Curtis prepares to cut the last piece. We are not pros and money is tight, but we do the best we can.
We also got on the roof and replaced a torn off roof cap as well as knocked down a bunch of weeds that were trying to take the farmhouse area over. Looks like we may be fixing some shingles next, so we'll see how that goes.
So until next time.........................see ya then.