Settling In

The next time we came to the land, we had brought some little things to make the place feel more like home.

Gerald hung his deer skull and draped the antlers with his bola ties given to him from each year he sponsored the Prix de West art show.

We also brought up a mirror from home that we intended to use temporarily as a vanity mirror. Only I liked it so well, I think we might make it permanent.

Gerald's son, David, had sent him this paper napkin holder for his birthday. We thought it went well with our "Flying Red Horse" salt and pepper shakers.

You may not be able to see it, but the small print tells us that the napkin holder is oven and microwave safe. In case we ever want to warm up all our napkins at once.

We also went back to Prescott to pick up a braided rug we had seen for $10 at an antiques store. I regretted not having bought it once we discovered how difficult it is to find good-quality braided rugs at any price.

Finishing the Fireplace

We were happy to see that the high-gloss finishing sealer had the effect we were looking for. We thought it reflected the fire nicely. The only problem was that now the rest of the fireplace looked dull in comparison. So we decided to clean off the face and seal it with the high-gloss as well.

With the tiles sealed, it was time to finish grouting. I got frustrated with all the little angles and whatnot, so Gerald jumped in to help. Between the two of us, the work went quickly.

Here's how it looked when we were finished. Even though we had re-sealed the face with the high-gloss finish, it didn't have the same luster. We decided that perhaps we had put so many coats of seal on it that it just wouldn't penetrate.

Master Touches

The next day, we went to work on finishing the mouldings in the master bath. I painted them before installation so we wouldn't have the difficulty of trying to create a clean paint line.

Meanwhile, Gerald painted the facing surfaces of the window trim.

Since stars are part of the Ruger Ranch logo and a motif throughout our house, Gerald created corner mouldings using a star.

He installed those first.

Then added the moulding.

He also installed the moulding on the inside of the toilet room.

I followed Gerald around and spackled all the nail holes. Then Gerald caulked all the gaps.

The final step will be to touch up all the paint.

Brick by Brick...

With everything we had to do for inspection, we hadn't done any brickwork for a long time. And with so much else having been finished, the north wall just begged to be finished.

We worked until past 6 p.m., when Don and Valerie Burton came by. Meanwhile, the counter filled up with empty boxes of thin brick.

I would have loved to finish the wall, and we got pretty close.

Gerald also faced a couple of smaller unfinished surfaces in the kitchen.

Finishing the Floor

We saved our most anticipated and dreaded task for Monday: finishing the pine floor.

We wanted very much to get it done because then we could bring up some more substantial pieces of furniture, but we dreaded the work involved. Our plan was to work our way out of the house.

First, I vacuumed the whole floor with our wonderful, $4 senior center thrift store Hoover vacuum. Gerald followed with a portable shop vac to get into small spaces. Then we damp mopped with a mixture of 1 cup vinegar to 1 gallon of water.
We had sampled some commercial products, but in the end, Gerald decided to mix his own finish by tinting shellac.

Gerald had the idea that he could apply the finish with a garden sprayer, hoping that it would create a fine mist that would simply require a gentle wipe. He tested it in a spray bottle, which worked well. But the mist from the garden sprayer wasn't very fine. It made a mottled appearance that took more work to smooth out. Before long, we gave up on the sprayer idea and dipped terry towels directly into the shellac.

It was slow going. We started staining around 10:30 a.m. By lunchtime, we had made frustratingly little progress and we were starting to slow down.

We each developed our own technique. I liked to follow a board at a time, working along the grain. Gerald worked in circular motions, covering several boards at a time. It made little difference. In the end, you couldn't tell where I left off and Gerald picked up.

I can't tell you how excited we were to have rounded the corners and worked our way up this last stretch. Just before we did, Gerald had the inspiration to use grouting sponges, which made the work a lot easier and faster. Thank God.

Our arms, knees and backs were killing us by then. I had started working with my non-dominant hand because my dominant arm felt like it might fall off. We had started the whole process early, maybe 8 a.m. and hoped to be done in time to get lunch at the Ranch House. We didn't finish until after 2 p.m., but two happier people you never saw. Not just because it was done, but we were also very pleased with how it turned out.

New Construction

As we were driving into Ruger Ranch, we passed a cement truck. We figured it must be for Bjorn and Rachel's place, so we drove out to check it out.

We found their builder, Eric Winther, working with a helper. They had just poured the footings. It was good to see someone else building. Our house had been the only activity for at least three years.

They are going to have a heck of a view, no?

Once we got to the house, Gerald started cutting and dry laying tile to complete the fireplace.

Meanwhile, I fussed over our latest purchase, an 8 x 11 braided rug. We'd been looking for a large braided rug for a long time. A good size rug of this style in good condition turned out to be much harder to find than we thought. Gerald found this one at an antiques mall in Chandler for about $125.

That night, we went into Rumors for our final pizza. We were very sad that Siggy decided to close at the end of February. Here he is, standing near Gerald.

On Siggy's right is Ron from Yarnell Emporium, fellow property owners John, JT, Robert and Diane Hussen, and our neighbor Kathleen Stowe.

Back to the Land

Another (!!) storm was expected, so we spent the next day getting outside chores done.

Gerald wanted our culvert defined with rocks, so while he worked on the fireplace, I did that.

I also tweaked our "mini pond" so the water drained more reliably to our drain.

I also noticed a small patch where the water was cutting its own channel instead of flowing to our culvert. So I filled in that one and dug a new channel.

In the afternoon, Gerald decided he'd better cut up some more firewood from some downed oaks on our meadow. Unfortunately, the chainsaw kept malfunctioning. We only got a few pieces cut.

But we took some of the smaller pieces and cut them on the saw.

Finishing the Fireplace

Gerald's big project was to finish the fireplace.

On the first day, he laid the tiles in the floor.

After they had set up overnight, he added the upright pieces...

and the chair rail moulding.

Here's how it looked when he was finished. There were just two little pieces on each end where he ran out of chair moulding. We'd have to finish that next time.

On our last day, we sealed it with high gloss finish, which Gerald hoped would reflect the fire light. We'll see on the next trip.

The Tub Gets a "Dry" Run

Our little experiment using a kitchen sink fixture for the tub didn't work out because we couldn't get sufficient water pressure with it.

Gerald found an actual tub fixture on eBay for about the same price, and J.C. installed it when he came up on Saturday.

We had to make sure the pressure worked, that the water got hot...

And the jets worked. They did! Yay!

The tub was full of gunk that had apparently been sitting in the jets. I was glad I wasn't in the tub the first time I turned them on.

Vanities, Oh Vanities

Once the tub was finished and tested, J.C. got to work on installing one vanity...

and then the other.

Meanwhile, I worked on painting the door and moulding. Here's how it looked when it was done.

We still had a ways to go, with window moulding, mirrors, towel bars and other details still to come, but our master bath was now mostly functional. And with a few homey touches it was feeling downright nice to us.

Not to say that we didn't have some glitches. The hot water didn't work at first on the vanity on the right. It turned out to be air in the line, which eventually cleared itself.

The vanity on the left leaks just slightly when the water is turned on. It also makes a little knocking noise. These were mysteries that would have to be solved on another visit.

The Big One

It was supposed to rain all day Saturday, turning to snow after 11 p.m.

We heard all sorts of forecasts. Pat Bernard said he heard we were supposed to get as much as 18 inches. The NOAA forecast couldn't seem to decide. During the day the estimates varied from 3 to 11 inches.

When the rain didn't materialize until after dark, Gerald thought the forecast wrong. He had arranged for us to meet a group of friends in Prescott the next day and was confident we were going to make it.

I got up at 3 a.m. and looked outside. It was impressive. I told Gerald we got several inches. I think he thought I was joshing him until he got up and saw it for himself. It looked like more snow than we've ever seen, including during the storm that stranded us there between Christmas and New Years.

Here's another view from the front porch.

Pat Barnard had told us that the best snow guage was a straight-sided bucket.

Just as it started to rain, Gerald decided to put a large, chili can outside to use as a gauge. It would be the small bump in the snow to the right of the pole.

When Gerald went out to get it, he measured the depth of the snow in the ground in a couple of places. His measurements varied between 6 and 8 inches.

Not that we think this is accurate, but here's what we measured from the can.

The Big Thaw

I confess I was worried we'd never get out. But it was so warm that by afternoon the snowmelt was running off every surface.

And the driveway was mostly visible.

I was glad to see the new little channel I dug seemed to be carrying runoff to our culvert.

And our mini pond was also draining nicely.

What wasn't draining nicely was the east side of the house. This is the driveway just outside the garage. Water was just pooling there. We're still trying to figure it out.

Our strategy was to leave early the next morning, before the roads could thaw and get boggy. They were mostly clear. The big scary hill that always gives us such trouble was still covered in snow, but it didn't give us a bit of trouble and we sailed out without any problem.