Spinning in Circles

You ever feel like you're working really hard but getting nowhere?  Today was one of those days.

I actually ended up at the farm respectably early...at 9:30.  Ha!  Dad was already there, and we continued to take down the east side of the barn.  This area is just crazy.  I mean, it's absolutely nuts.  It's full of thousands of dollars worth of wood and screws and gates...but in no respectable fashion.  It's just a mess.

We had perfect weather for outside.  I just want that barn area cleaned up!!!  LESS IS MORE!!!

What we started with this morning.  Mom and I cleared a lot out...and a lot still remains!

But first!  We loaded up pig poo into the back of my truck.  The pigs have been doing their duty in designated areas, and today was the first time in five weeks that I have cleaned up the mess.  Dad wanted it for his tomato garden, and I was happy to donate.  I had a business meeting at 10:00...that was moved to 10:30...so while he dumped the load on his garden, I was bored online.

The ridiculous ways the wooden fence was held up.  Baling wire (surprise, surprise!) and chain ratchets.

But the meeting was quick...just 15 minutes...and so I started tackling the east side of the barn again.  I went after the large wooden gate initially.  Of course, it's held together with more than just screws.  It has the not-so-lovely nails bent over on the backside again.  Ugh.  These are so annoying.  There is literally nothing you can do with them.  I'll just sawz-all the whole gate.  It's such good wood to waste, but it's not worth the effort and time to bend all of the nails over.  There are simply too many of them.

This fence serves no purpose.  It's got to go!

An old pick-up bed was found in the area.  I will try to sell it for cheap.

The fence is down!  It's soooooo heavy!

It's hard to see the forest through the trees.  But this area was just full of old fence five weeks ago.  It's slowly getting there.  I just need hydraulics for the rest!!!

Dad came back and put the new voltage regulator on the mower.  It worked perfectly.  He said it was sending out a healthy 14.0 volts to the battery.  The other one was sending out zero!  So hopefully the mower is all dialed in now and will give me a couple to few years.  I had to put a little bit of money into it, but hopefully it's ready to last.

He mowed the area where the massive fence used to be.  That's when we saw a gas line sticking up out of the ground.  Actually, Mom showed it to me last night.  It's capped, so I assumed it was live.  Dad disagreed and said it would have simply been a line run from a propane tank to the grain bins 20 feet away.  He ended up being correct!  We decided to dig it up.

Of course, halfway through the labor-intense project, he said, "You know, most people would just cut it off at ground level and leave it in the ground."

I said, "I know.  But I can get $3 for this in scrap."  He chuckled.  (Moreso I just love doing a job right.  Knowing that it's gone for good).

This area hasn't been mowed in weeks due to a massive metal fence that was laying there.  Well, Mom and I moved that yesterday with lots of effort!  You can just barely make out the gas line sticking up out of the ground after the second fence post on the left.

A buried copper gas line used to connect a propane tank to a heater for the grain bins.  We dug it out.

Notice the long gas line in the upper left.  That's what we pulled out.  Little by little!

The long gas line.

Nothing to see here.

The rest of the day was spent trying to clean up the east side of the barn area.  It's so maddening.  The area is so full of junk that you work so hard and don't see much result.  We dismantled fences, worked hard on stubborn gates, took down obscene amounts of baling wire, and fought stubborn screws and bolts.  And yet the area STILL looks awful!

I spent a day dismantling fence...and still have a couple of days left!

The area is opening up.  But so much remains.  Look at all of those posts!!!

I don't like projects that don't have results!!!

Lots of dismantling today.

Less is more!  So much wood removed.

We set fire to the numerous rotted wooden fence posts, and that took off beautifully.  I had debated keeping them for down the road, but they were so rotted that it's just not worth it.  If I ever do build another fence, I will go new.  It felt good to just get rid of stuff.

Less is more!

I helped Dad plant a tomato garden this afternoon at his house, and I put a massive refrigerator back together from a rental property.  I hope to sell that for $400-500 and just get some money back from my $1700 purchase a couple of weeks ago.

Taking a break to enjoy Mom's beautiful lilac bush.  The smells are amazing.

The numerous metal we pulled away from the east side of the barn.

So much metal has been removed!  I will either scrap this or try to sell it on craigslist for a bit of money.

This homemade cattle chute remains.  I am going to try to sell it before I dismantle it.  Hopefully the buyer will do that for me!

I had a meeting with a contractor this evening at 5:00 P.M.  Dad had to leave around 4:30, so I just used the time to clean up metal from around the property.  I found several metal pipes in the fencing mess and then broke off a clothes rod post from the pasture.  It's all going to be scrapped.

I hope to sell this sliding cattle gate and swinging gate.  I simply have no use for them.

And then I eagerly waited for the contractor.  5:00...5:05...5:10...5:15...hmm.  5:20...5:25...5:30.  I texted him asking him if we are still on for 5:00.  No response.  I then called him.  No answer.  Ugh.  I left a voicemail.

I left the farm in frustration at yet another man not backing up his word.  On my drive home, he called me around 5:45.  He told me that he had forgotten about our meeting.  Well, I sure hadn't.  And then in typical human form, he tried to justify it.

"I have a project that I really need to get done tonight."

"I don't care what you are doing.  If you can't make a scheduled meeting, you call.  It's simple.  So please stop telling me why you didn't make it.  You just told me you forgot all about it anyway, so project or not, you weren't going to show up."

He was silent.  I told the contractor that I still want him to come out, but that I scheduled today because it's the only day that will work this week.  I told him I'm not available until at least next Wednesday now.  He was apologetic and again mentioned the project that he was working on was taking longer than expected.

Listen, man, I don't care about your stinking project.  If you can't make an appointment, then you call the person!!!  You don't leave them up in the air.  You wasted my time.  And you told me you never even wrote this meeting down.  You weren't going to show up project or not.

I am REALLY trying to figure out if I want this type of contractor to handle an $80,000 renovation project.  It is not sitting well with me currently.

I told him, "You need to understand that we are really starting off on a bad note here.  I still want you to come by as I have seen your work, but you MUST call someone if you can't make a meeting.  It's simply human decency.  I will call YOU next Wednesday to make sure you remember."  Even as I let the words come out of my mouth, I felt as if though I was babysitting an adult.

Sigh.

Tonight was so tough for me.  I was eagerly anticipating this meeting, hoping to meet a craftsman proud of his work.  Hoping to meet a man that would be a good match for the remodel.  Hoping to get some numbers and hope and inspiration!  But it was the exact opposite.

This home remodel is going to be the death of me not because of the project itself...but because of people.  Coupled with two more stories of people from today, I was just eager to get out of there!!!

Earlier today I contacted my appliance repair man that worked on a fridge for a rental unit a couple of weeks ago.  When it stopped working again after his repair (with the EXACT same symptoms), I contacted him because he offered a 30-day warranty on his work.  He asked for the Model and Serial number which I gave.  I never heard from him again.  That was two weeks ago.  To provide closure, I told him today that I was moving on because I had bought a new fridge.  Of course, he responded that he never received the message.  I sent him a screenshot of my messages to him.  His response?

"Sorry for the inconvenience."  It's more like "Sorry for the $1500 inconvenience."  But he had his money, never had to show back up to honor a warranty, and was out nothing.  I was out $1500.  Where can I find a man of integrity?

And then today my banker emails me about my failed loan to say that he is ready to "put this to rest."  I have asked for numerous answers such as why my loan never moved forward for over a month (with no answers given).  "Let's just put this to rest" is his response  In other words, you know why it didn't move forward, Andy.  Because I never did anything with it!  And when I did work on it, it was too late!

Or to put it another way, "Just accept the $18,000 in extra interest we are charging you.  We have moved on.  So should you."  Where can I find a man of integrity?

Today was tough.  I can handle broken screws, long days, hard labor, and hot temps.  It's the people that I am really having a hard time with on this farm remodel.

The area is still messy!  Little by little...