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OK, I can't believe how many people are reading this blog now. Like 7 of you.

Hi Sara, Sam, Gary, Diane, Chris, Dane, Hilch, Nancy and the rest.

Here's the progress report for the day:

They got the sand piles and sandbags out of the neighborhood today.

The park is looking more like a park. Still plenty of sand on the ground but now it is an inch or two deep, not a foot. Without the piles the stank is starting to abate a bit. This is good as it is getting hot and muggy and the stink was increasing especially when the wind was off the sandpiles.

Here is Sher's new washer!! They brought it as 9am. It is not sideways in real life. It's just late and I don't know how to turn the photo the right way up and I don't want to learn today.


The dryer and those drawers that raise them up to a reasonable height are coming soon. The old washer and dryer went away on the truck that brought the new one. That opened up alot of space.

A guy from a cleaning company came by to advise about the clean up.He stuck his moisture tester in the walls and floors. They are wet. Pretty wet. The oak floors are 10-20% wetter than they should be and with just household dehumidifiers, he does not think they are going to get better. Fred and Sher knew that. They will get an estimate from him on a commercial desicator (desicater?...it's like a dehydrator for your house) to get everything dry...floors, walls, everything. It costs. But not as much as remediating mold in a year or two.

Since the tile is still on the bathroom walls, those were the wettest. The tile needs to come off at least 2 feet up all around. Sher got some started and then got stuck. The shower bottom needs to come off too.

Sher didn't like that because she wanted them to use that shower. I don't think they will want to use it if that poowater eats the subfloor out and they fall to the basement.

On the plus side...the estimate for a new hardwood floor was lower than expected...though higher than is doable (the estimate was on the same floor they have 3/4" oak, tongue and groove, same company as the one in there). Sher wanted to know what the floor they are trying to save is worth so they can know how much time/effort/money to spend trying to save it. If they replaced, it would have to be lower quality. But that is a high quality floor so there is plenty of room in "lower quality" that is still a very nice floor.The kitchen will probably be a cork floor! That will be cool. Aunt Chris is looking into that for Sher.

I started clearing out the three-season porch so Fred and Sher will have a decent living area for the duration of demolition and construction. It stays reasonably cool (the AC is dead). Hopefully we can get that set up tomorrow so the weekend crew will have a nice lunch spot without the gnats that are invading the driveway dining area.

Fred continued to pull the ductwork. It has much mold in it so I'm sure they will be glad that is being cleaned and bleached. Hope to get that done tomorrow and on the weekend. The basement is pretty dry now and will probably end up being a work area just because it's so much cooler than the rest of the house. Though during the commercial dessication process, no one will want to be anywhere in the house. It could get up to 110 degrees in there (fahrenheit).

Thanks to Sara for the airconditioner she's bringing this weekend!! Sher is excited.

And to Sam for the Pizza Ranch food! That will be very cool. They just don't have time to cook major meals but working like that, they need to eat a major meal once a day. They have chips and soda and cookies coming out their ears and so far maindish and dessert donations are coming in apace.

On Friday we're all invited to the steak fry in Shell Rock, Iowa. Pam is real excited. Nothing like big slabs of red meat and the potential to run into the occassional ex-boyfriend to make for a festive event. Should be amusing for me. I've had all my ex-boyfriends "disposed of" so I don't have these issues.

OK, the last two photos are just for fun. For all my college friends who don't believe that there is a family named "Butzlaff" in Waverly...

SEE! And it is pronounced "butt's laugh".

And this you can't see so well, but it cracked me up.

This is a shoe repair shop in a converted garage in Sher's neighborhood.The box to the left of the door says "Shoe Drop Box". It's like the FedEx of shoe repair.You drop them in the box and magically they are fixed. I should drop my boots in there because they need new shoe-goo. They had arsenic, mercury and cadmium soaked in before I got here and now we've added bleach, sporicide, poowater, and god knows what. I was running around in sandals until I noticed that someone (not Sher) does not pick up the nails someone pulls out of the basement ceiling. Instead, someone strews them about the house and garage floor. Oh well. I suppose someone's attention is elsewhere.

Food report: we had left over venison stew with mashed potatoes and 3 kinds of fruit salad and 3 kinds of cake for lunch. For supper, left over spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, fruit, and 2 kinds of cake. I ate 4 pieces of cake, full meals, and a half a bag of chips today with a chaser of about 4 sodas...and still when I got on the wii-fit that Pam and Rob got (that is the BEST video game ever) I had lost weight. It was probably just all the sweat but still funny. I'm posting the "Flood Diet"...lots and lots and lots of food. And still you lose weight.

Is that it today? Must be. I didn't get to Sher's until 9:30 this morning so she had probably worked for about 3 hours before I arrived. That woman is a machine. OH! We also re-scrubbed the kitchen floor, basement steps, and some woodwork. There really is no end to the poowater. It is now an integral part of the house. They need to remove the solid wood built-in cupboards from the laundry room...OR remove the siding on the outside wall there (which is in the garage). Those cupboards are so well built and solid wood that the cleaning guy thought the siding might actually be the way to go.

All this does make me glad I live in places I don't really care about. I love my trailer. But if it blew up, I really wouldn't care. If my apartment was ruined, again, wouldn't really care. Fred and Sher's house is so nice and they planned on living in it to the end so this is pretty hard for them. It's also making me rethink several things about the home I hope to one day build...for starters...UPHILL is getting more important than easy access to water. Also, being able to do repair work myself and maybe avoiding builtin cabinets and features. Dyed cement floors also seem like a super idea, though tough on the legs.

Anyway, time to watch my new favorite show, Mobile Home Disaster. (sorry about the ad at the beginning...I couldn't find any clips without ads)