The joy of indoor plumbing!

Yep, I’ve been doing the “we’ve got water” dance all morning. We’re flushing again! We can brush our teeth in the sink! We have a laundry hook-up! (no washer or dryer yet, but a hook-up nonetheless.) Thank you, Ben Franklin Plumbing of Shreveport!

We won’t have hot water until Saturday, but I’m definitely NOT complaining ... they’re coming to pick up the port-a-jon today!

I have the distinct feeling this blog is going to be turning into a combination artist blog and This Old House restoration journal ...

And now, the next priority ... a new roof! Here are some pics of the leak catchers I have strewn all over the 2nd floor porch and adjoining upstairs bedroom. (I also have containers all over the attic – the first line of defense!)



As you can see, we haven't even started cleaning out the upstairs yet (it took me about 6 months of weekends last summer and fall to clean out the downstairs enough for us to be able to move in and have a little “apartment” of 3 rooms – kitchen, office, combo bed-and-living room – to live in while we work on the rest.) You can also see that the plaster from the ceiling has started falling down in the yellow bedroom. Paul has started getting estimates for the new roof (ah, the joys of being your own contractor), as well as grading and fixing the dirt driveway so work trucks can get in and out without getting stuck.

Oh, and the very first picture on this post is the back door knocker, with the name of the house barely visible: Edgewood!

Howdy, Neighbors!

Here are some of our across the road neighbors, greeting Trixie and me as we walk down the driveway heading out for our afternoon walk. I don't know why, but cows really crack me up. My favorites in this photo are “the twins” toward the middle of the crowd.

I know this pic was taken some time back, because I've been without the use of my camera ever since the first morning of my stay in Mexico, July 1! My big main camera battery went out that morning and I haven't got around to replacing it (maybe I'll do that today!) Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that I’ve become entirely too dependent on my camera when it comes to gathering references for my paintings. I've decided to start making more sketches and notes for reference the way I used to before digital.

Quite a few people have gotten after me for the down time on my blog ... these days have been pretty hectic. One of the things that's been going on is that because of the relentless rain – almost every day of July! – the plumbers have been slowed down and we still don’t have running water! I've been assured that by the end of the day we can call the port-a-jon company and tell them to come pick that baby up, because from now on we'll be using the bathroom inside the house. Wahoo!!

One of the reasons I have no new paintings to show is that when you don't have water running out of the tap on demand, cleanup is a really big deal. Hard to work up the gumption to paint when cleanup is going to be such a hassle. I never realized how many times a day I wash my hands! We've gone through cans and cans of those antibacterial wipes.

Our hopes are high that by tonight we'll be flushing once more. Can you feel the anticipation? You can almost cut it with a knife!

Ola!

The Joy of the Lord
approx. 5.5 x 3.5 • colored pencil on wood box, text added on print
© 2002 Karen Mathison Schmidt

Hello everyone! A short post to let you know I'm just back home from Mexico, where I was on a medical mission trip with a group from my church all last week. It's good to be home, and I'll have details about the trip in the next day or two, along with some pics.

I'm planning to get back on track with the daily posts this week ... thanks to everyone for checking in!

Hasta mañana!