What Did We Do With Gerry's Old Car?

Gerry bought his car for $300 in 1968 with the idea of restoring it.  He drove it down when he moved from WA to CA.

Thank goodness for good friends and a 20-foot trailer.

Loaded and ready to be moved

On the road.....

Safe and sound for the duration of the house remodel.

Demo Is In Full-Swing

Yesterday, the remaining roof shingles and half the stucco were removed.

This is the west wall outside the kitchen.

Today, the roof was removed except over the remaining bedroom and bathroom. 

Just our luck...it is raining and lightening north of here.

Keep up with tradition...add more plastic!



No More Plastic on the Roof.

Not only is the plastic off the roof, the roof shingles started coming down today in this terrible heat.  It's hard to see inthe picture, but Gerry put a fan on the roof to help Alfonso keep cool.

What a mess.  Gerry put black plastic all around the house so it will be somewhat easier to clean up the roof debris.

Inside the storage bedroom, Gerry covered our clothes racks with plastic and laid plastic on the floor in the attic above the bedroom for additional dust protection.

Timeline With A Few Bumps In The Road!

Sept 14 - Our first night in the trailer.  About 5 minutes after we got in bed, Gerry asks me, "Did I show you how to work the toilet?"  NO!  He gave me a quick demonstration.  Easy.


Sept 16 - I opened the refrigerator at 5:05 AM to get my morning yogurt and there was a strong smell of ammonia.  Gerry was still in bed so I woke him up.  Turns out  the refrigerator coils went out.  We temporarily moved the refrigerator from the house to the deck outside the trailer but it actually works out better this way.  We were going to store it in the garage and go back-and-forth with supplies but now we just step outside and it's as if it's in the next room.  Of course, we'll see how it goes when it rains.

Sept 17 - A low-boy dumpster full of concrete pieces from the side of the house, the front steps and planter, and the driveway was picked up ....

and a full-size dumpster was dropped off.  That's Alfonso, Gerry's helper.  He's a hard worker.

Sept 20 - Gerry's 50" flat-panel TV won't turn on....Oh No!  Luckily the friend we bought it from purchased a 4-year warranty.  Thank you, Bill!  The Geek Squad had to order the part but they are due out tomorrow to repair it.  He moved the bedroom TV to the living room and our smaller flat-panel that used to be in the kitchen was moved into the bedroom.  We're all set.


Sept 21- There's water in the cabinet under the kitchen sink were I just got all the tupperware-like stuff put away.  The gray water tank hold 40 gallons.  We were full and didn't know it.  The connection wasn't tight so when the water didn't drain into the tank, it backed up into the cabinet.  Luckily it wasn't too much and I caught it early.  Just another bump.  We discovered the tank monitor--right under our noses--yesterday.  Now I check it often.


Sept 25 - Man, it is HOT out today!  Luckily, the trailer has an air conditioner.  What?  It's not hooked up? 

Gerry tweaked his left knee this morning but doesn't know how or when.  It's painful but he's not letting it get the best of him--he's still working.

We're off to Joe & Corrie's house in Corona (where it was 104-degrees!) for his annual End of Summer BBQ.  Yum-yum satay "sticks."  As usual, we ate too much!

Excuse me?  You say you didn't get any?  So sorry.

Sept 26 - Gerry puts the air conditioner back together.  (Well...he took it apart.)  Hooray, it's working!

Sept 27 - We're still waiting for Edison to switch us over to the power pole.  We found out this morning, when Gerry went to the city at 7:00 AM, that the city inspector did not turn in our paperwork until a week after he was here.  We've only got one extension cord coming from the house to the trailer.  We were OK until this heat; between the fridge and the air condition, the power was off & on today.  Gerry ran a second extension cord out from the house for the fridge so we're good now.  Edison should be out tomorrow.

We Moved Into the Trailer 2 Weeks Ago

OK, so I'm behind in my postings...I've been a bit busy and my desktop computer is off-line so I have to use Gerry's laptop.

Let me give you a tour of the trailer space.  (For those that don't know, it's really a 5th-wheel.) 
It is 30-feet long by 8-feet.  There is a 14-foot long slide-out which makes it 11-feet wide in the living room and the dining area (Gerry's office).

The kitchen has the usual amenities: microwave, refrigerator, freezer, stove & oven but no dishwasher.  Gerry changed the small sink to a full-size, stainless steel sink which is nice.

Greg was our first visitor to "hang-out" in the living room.

The hallway to the bedroom is also the bathroom  The toilet and a separate shower stall are on the left side and the sink is on the right as well as a short closet and drawers.  Gerry took out the small plastic sink and installed a regular, full-size bath sink.

The hallway leads to the bedroom.  The are small closets on both sides of the bed and storage above.  They're empty now because we have the bedroom set up in the house with our clothes.

And of course, there is a small TV connected to a DVD player (can't live without my old movies for an entire year!) and cable.

We've Got to Have Cable TV and Internet.

Realizing we'd have to move into the trailer ASAP now that the kitchen was out-of-service , Gerry moved the cable TV and Internet cable to the trailer last night.  The wires currently cut across our backyard east-west so he used an extension ladder to cut the tie-wraps from the power line and re-routed the cables through the tree to the trailer.  Yes, that's Gerry the tree!

This morning, he was back in business in his new trailer office.  He's pretty much taken over the dining area.  Luckily, Bob & Pete came for lunch last week because that's the last we'll see of the table until we move into the new house.

 

He may look a little cramped for space, but don't feel too sorry for him; less than 10 steps away is his 50" flat screen TV. 

 

Pull the Pipes.

I left work at a decent hour yesterday only to find a house full of holes where Gerry had pulled the plumbing and gas pipes out from under the kitchen and small bathroom (the one I use to get ready for work).  Needless to say,  I couldn't wash dishes or cook...and I was going to make chocolate caramel bars!  I spent the evening moving stuff out of the full bath so I could move my stuff in.  My morning routine was off a bit this morning, but I got through it OK.

Stove & oven gas pipe:

Laundry room gas and water

Kitchen water:

The cement and brick walkway along the west side of the house was also gone.  Watch your step!  That's the door coming out of the laundry room just off the kitchen.

Thank Goodness We Have Joe's Trailer For the Move.

Joe has a great trailer for moving.  We borrowed it to move Paula into her mobile home a few years ago and now we're using it to move our stuff into the storage unit.

Thank you, Joe!  You've helped make our move-to-storage so much easier.

For those of you that used to work at Allied in bldg 1-5, that's where our storage units are located. Unit #2 is on the second floor just about where the actuator engineering department used to be located before we moved to Moog. The weird thing is, we actually drive into the building to access the unit!

Grandma's Bed Goes to Storage!

This bedroom set belonged to my dad's parents in South Carolina.  They bought it many, many years ago for $100.  My grandpa paid it off $1 at a time!  When I moved into my first apartment in 1977, I was fortunate to receive the bedroom set from my Aunt JoAnn.  It is my most precious possession. 

The bed frame was disassembled and it went to the storage unit.

The chest-of-drawers will stay in the "storage" bedroom.

And the vanity is being stored at my mom's.  I reminded Gerry several times to be very careful with the mirror while is was being disassembled, transported and reassembled!  Because our current bedrooms are so small, the vanity was in the "closet" bedroom surrounded by hanging clothes for several years. 

I found some great treasures when I was going through the drawers and packing.  There are some 8mm home movies my dad shot in the 60s & 70s and some super-8 movies, with sound, that I shot in high school.  I took them in to be converted to DVDs and should get them back in a few weeks!

Guess Who Came to Lunch Today?

Pete and Bob were our first guests to dine in the trailer. 

Bob brought cupcakes for dessert...yummy...from Torrance Bakery.

That's not me going for a cupcake!

Storage Unit #2

Unit #2 is for everything currently in the house that's being packed up during the remodel.  This includes the furniture we're keeping.

Like Unit #1, we installed shelves: across the back and along both sides.  These are heavy-duty, industrial shelves so we were able to add thick plywood across the top to create a mezzanine for additional storage.  We're not done packing, so luckily this unit still has room for more stuff!

Notice the refrigerator and dishwasher for the new kitchen.

Let's Visit the Storage Units! Unit #1

Yes, plural...we have two storage units.

We've had unit #1 (10'x15') for several years.  It contains all my valuable Christmas items as we'll as other holiday stuff, community-related projects, and a few things from here and there.  I look forward to going through all my treasures--and finding a "home" for them--once the remodel is done and we have storage at home.

When we first got this unit, we built shelves along both side walls and put two rolling racks down the center to maximize the space, organize the boxes and make it easy to find and remove/replace items.  A few years later, as my inventory grew, Gerry built two pull-out, rolling carts so I could load up the aisles.  I can pull out these carts to easily reach the center and side shelves.  This year, he added the last rolling cart which fits across the front.  It too, can be pulled out of the way so I can get to everything else inside.

View from the left side:

View from straight on:

It's just about full from floor to ceiling.  Yes, the ceiling is a wire mesh so I have things hanging from there too!

Washer & Dryer have been moved

Yesterday, the majority of the afternoon was spent moving the washer and dryer from the "service porch" to the bedroom where they will remain for the duration of the remodel.  The dryer wasn't too bad but the washer is pretty heavy. (And we did not move the bed out first!)

In the evening, I spent about 3 hours lining all the cabinets and drawers in the trailer's kitchen....

and bathroom/closet areas.  I still have to finish under the kitchen sink and the cabinet over the bed.

Gerry's New Detached Workshop

It will be located at the back of the property with access from the easement.

House Plans

My closet before:

My closet after: