Making Progress

When we started

Harlingen House

After the front was cleared (mostly)

full house

What!!?? That was a porch?

I hated that porch, it was like walking into a tunnel . . . or to your death. Really, the thing was a bit scary.

The entire roof should be done in about a week and that’s actually one of the bigger jobs to be done on this house. The main house (the right half) actually had a fire in the attic at some point and most of the rafters got burned up pretty good. That last owner decided to kinda just throw more wood at the issue than actually fix it. We are fixing it.

Probably the other big projects are going to be electrical and plumbing but this really gets us a good ways down the road. Now we can start working the inside as well.

Oh, I forget, new windows coming as well!!

RAIN… finally!!

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted on our blog. Oh, awesome and fun things have happened since my last post Rain at Reba Bass Lakeand I want to write about them so my memories stay true. But today we’re finally getting some rain along with rolling thunder! We haven’t had enough rain since we moved here to keep our “rain water” lake with water, so it’s just been laying there waiting to serve it’s purpose… just saying.Jeep mud to the doors

The RGV has been getting plenty of rain, but our bit of paradise seems to have blue sky’s – mostly. I hope this storm cell brings our area the much need moisture we need and fills our Reba Bass Lake full of water!

Buried The Jeep in Texas Mud

Jeep mud to the doors

So, I FINALLY talked Vivian into it. I’ve got this Bad-Ass Jeep set up for the South Texas Mud . .  . and we happen to have a full lake of it in our backyard currently. The lake behind our place is “dry” for the first time in recent memory (I’m talking like that last 50 years or so), so I wanted to take and do some mudding with it. Makes sense right?

As I said, finally after asking I don’t know how many times, Viv said “okay” and jumped in with me.

We drove down to the lake, and started driving around, cool. For about 45 seconds that is. And then stuck. Yeah, seems like the mud runs VERY deep around here. I literally buried the jeep to the doors . . . no getting out.

Chevy Pulling Jeep

But, that’s why you keep a Chevy around right? 🙂 We has to hook up two straps to reach but the Truck pulled the Jeep out easy. But do you want to see what 50 plus years of lake mud looks like?

Fully mudded Jeep

That stuff was like black glue! But hey, I was looking to have an experience and an experience we had!

Another Three Loads Gone

So, Vivian walks around in a fairly steady disgust. No, we’re doing fine, thanks. The disgust is leveled in the direction of the two brothers who lived here before us. Apparently they just had real issues throwing anything away.

After multiple dump runs, a couple of giveaways, more dump runs, we are finally making our way into the trees. Here is a picture of our THIRD dump run from items in the trees. (UPDATE: We took more than three tons of crap to the landfill.)

Third Load Out

After taking down the, hmm, third I think, yes, third chicken coop, we found this HUGE dead tree. Look at Viv, doesn’t she look like she’s having a fun time?

Huge Dead Tree

Yep, that’s right, we are still finding new trees. We have actually yet to be over the entire property, it’s just too over grown. However, we did find two more citrus trees today! Woo-hoo!!

Having Fun Now!

Having fun now

So, after a couple of hard physical days, pulling a muscle in my back and just all of the other crap that goes on around here, my wonderful wife says to me “Having fun now, aren’t we”? As I gave a low volume “heh” and kept walking, I thought to my self, “hell yeah!”.

It’s pretty amazing how our lives can take such turns. I would never had though us in this type living conditions or situations. But it’s awesome! Not easy, awesome.

I had gotten to feel like I was on autopilot, pretty much the same thing day in day out. I wasn’t a bad same thing, just the same. You become complacent like that. If there is one thing that moving to Harlingen has done for me (and I hope Vivian as well), it’s given us purpose. We are moving toward something, building something. That’s pretty darn cool.

So are we having fun now brother?! Hell yeah!

Another Milestone!

Finally, we got a “vehicle” registered in Texas. One bought in Texas and one bough in Colorado. The trailer was bought in Colorado because we knew we’d need one (and man ever have we needed it), and the Jeep was bought here for the beach!

Jeep and Trailer

One of the many wonderful things about South Texas is the driving on the beach, AWESOME! The problem is that the salt can really take a toll on a vehicle. Well the Jeep should fix that. Salt, have your way!

Interesting thing about the trailer is that we had to pay what I am calling the “Welcome To Texas” tax. Thanks Texas!