So here we go. I went to the farm Saturday to begin modifying the existing single bath For my Mother-in-law, make it more accessible, which required taking the 4 year old tub and surround out, and creating a custom shower stall and "low barrier" environment with railings. This is a first for me, so I have included my son and son-in law in the process, I have limited money and mobility and they have limited time, but as it is a "limited bathroom" this seems appropriate. (Bad Pun) They however have an idea what we should do, as they both have remodeling experience. This is my son in law Matt.
It is interesting to disassemble a manufactured home, as they are built on an assembly line in a factory some things are done in such a way as to make them a challenge to modify. The doorway is so small, (24") the tub shower had to be cut into 6 pieces to get it out. In the mean time I have found that the entire floor of the house is insulated and enclosed from underneath. What a great thing, this house is really well insulated and sealed. Though there are issues, like the 24" on center interior walls instead of 16" on center,
the outer walls are 16" on center and made of 2x6's well insulated and sealed from air migration, a real step up, from the1907 tract home I have been living in for the last 30 years (if the wind is blowing, don't even try to light a candle). The manufactured home is a great shell, the interior is made up of the cheapest materials possible, the trim is nicely designed but made of contact paper coated styrofoam or plastic, the carpet looks nice but is stretched out of shape in 4 years use. There is a lot to replace as it becomes financially possible, but everything is truly well designed and placed. It is all functional as provided, just don't stress it beyond the very minimum. I really expect a flood would be more than disastrous, it is mostly OSB , which I have seen swell to un-usability after a simple wetting by rain. But there are a great number of nice options, like when we were sawzalling the old perfectly good shower out I only had to walk down the hall and work a 1/4 turn valve to turn off the water to the entire house. Then Matt constructed the framing.
He even made some adjustments, as we found the interior wall between the Shower and the closet behind it, wasn't even a full 2x4 wide!
Allow for the parallax and stitching the picture together from three of them and it's a pretty nice shower with a seat and soon to have grab bars and an adjustable showerhead system.
the new floor is next then the tall toilet.
Here's the shower with the grab bars, the adjustable shower head, and the new bathroom floor, the toilet isn't in yet, just to make it easier to put in the trim.
Meanwhile, in the room across the hall, I pulled up the 4 year old carpet and replaced it with a laminate floor system. Neat stuff, easy to put together and looks nice, and seems to be nearly indestructible, but we'll see if the "craft girls" can wreck it.
After having a positive experience with the "craft room" floor, I felt wild and crazy enough to give the "Dinning Room floor a go. Chris picked out a "cherry flooring" she liked and wanted it in the Dinning area, where the only "true wear pattern" was obvious in the carpeting. You know the 4 year old carpeting that had nothing wrong with it, but had to be changed, not that I'm bitter or anything. Anyway, I went back to Lowe's and overloaded the Escort with the necessaries, to put a floor in the other side of the house. Hope to keep it balanced so it won't tip over when the floods come.
Didn't turn out too bad, the closet was a bit of a challenge, but my picture came out dark and out of focus, I'll add it later.
This is the view from the rear entryway. Toward the living room. I did the front entryway and the main closet as well. The Living room is getting new carpet. But this is what it looks like from that angle.
Darn, can't see the awful carpet for all the junk piled there, guess it doesn't matter anyhow. Soon to be pulled up and replaced.
So while I was getting this done I had a visitor. During a discussion with the previous owner, it came to light, that the little house. You know the one with the leaky roof, that we fixed before we bought the place? Well it turns out it has no septic system, in fact only a pipe into the field next door, now it has been this way for over 60 years and nobody cares, but that kind of bothers me. In fact it brings to mind a number of things I've heard over the years, and wondered about so I'd like to explain them for you city folk. One of the things I've heard said to explain a person being missing from an event, though rather crude, is "he went to s#!t, and the hogs ate him." Now I know some of you might not have heard this particular thing but remember I was in factories and the military and a large Fire Department for years, people dying and being maimed was a regular occurrence, and the language was not gentile, nor was it ever a problem, not a bunch of wimps where I grew up. Another thing I heard was that someone was "as happy as a pig in s#!t", Now lets get to the point, it has been long a standard operating principle on farms to run the sewers into the hog pen. City folks don't like to know this, and even get a little squeamish when confronted with the fact that "the other white meat" is often the result of recycling sewage through the innards of the pig and creating that great taste we all love of bacon and sausage. Never affected my taste for them, love them both, just don't think most people know this when they go to BoB Evans. Anyway I don't intend to have pigs, or chickens, (the incredible edible egg) who generally provide the same service, to clean up the field. So I have had to contract out for a septic system to be added, an additional unexpected expense, but I feel it will be worth while.
In the foreground you see the shingles, still piled where they were thrown while fixing the roof. This is one of the two test holes that have to be created to check the soil for drainage capacity, hey it's clay and terrible for this particular purpose, so I'll end up with a more mechanical system than I'd like, but it's better than clearing the end of the pipe (with a shovel) each spring, so the waste can flow into the open field. And you thought that smell was the cows didn't you?
In fact just to take it a step further, this is the view from my new front door. Here you see the modern procedure for getting rid of the happy little plops that happen when the cows are being milked.
At least with the modern milking machines there is less likely hood of any over spray or splatter ending up in the milk bucket, which was a "problem" when milked by hand into buckets placed under the cows, where other "things" were also situated.
The black spray from this little operation has a distinctive odor, notice the dark streaks in the field behind, natures perfect fertilizer, according to the neighbors, this operation will increase the growth in this field from two cuttings per year to five. Now in my experience, and I have spent some time in sewers in the city, and in fields with animals, and I am suspicious as to the purity of this material and it's total derivation being from farm animals. (Of course people are animals, in this sense.) But I don't want to push it too far at this point, not enough to get a sample anyway. I don't know what other cities do with their "effluent" . Akron claims to sanitize it, and sell it back to "the producers" as fertilizer, so I guess it could be the same operation, just on a larger scale. Starts to remind me of "Soilent Green". Now don't get me wrong, I'm loving this farm stuff. Just glad Chris wasn't here this week, she needs to have a summer of sunshine and the "pretty house" before all this "hits home" so to speak. I'm sure with a little adjustment time, she'll be comfortable with the trade offs, I'd rather have this to contend with, than the regular odors of acrylonitrile from the chemical ponds across the tracks at the chemical plant, I know that stuff causes cancer. And the additives the city puts in my water, without my permission, so I can share it with all the wonderful people in the big city, I know the chlorine causes prostate cancer, among other things. I think I'll take my chances with the well water, which seems to be nearly pure, and the spring water which is amazing, I may bottle it and sell it!
Well we are moving in, the special bathroom is done down to the clock on the wall. The floors all have thresholds and trim, and the kitchen has a new sink, faucets and a special "septic friendly" disposal. The only major catastrophe, was the spilling of a "purple die" pipe cleaner, on the vinyl flooring we are leaving in the kitchen for now, I'm going to try MEK just for kicks, but I don't think even that, will get the purple off of the vinyl.. Boy was I mad, all done and cleaning up and the lid wasn't seated right when the metal can fell out of my hands and splashed a bright purple pattern in front of the refrigerator. Fortunately, I don't see the area in front of the refrigerator very often, only about a hundred times a day! So I won't often be reminded of screwing up the floor forever!
We are adjusting to each other pretty well, Ruth has been going through the boxes we took with us, and sorting out what she wants to keep, the rest is coming back for a final day of sifting by her daughters. And Jim hasn't yet cleared out any area of the buildings for me to put my tools in, but he has been working at it. I'm taking the first trailer load down tomorrow and hope to use it's presence to spur him on....
I have finally decided on a crop for the place, I'm thinking Rice, the yard is so wet and there is so much water I think I could have rice paddies if I'm careful, or not, about the drainage! This is a night picture, as that's all the time I have to work on things now, ( like that ever changed.) 
Speaking of time, I finally got the Grandmother Clock working, it hasn't worked for over 9 years now, I didn't have anyplace steady and level enough to get it running let alone adjusted to be accurate, so now I can finally get it functioning as it once did, and repair all the damage storing it on Lake Street caused.
Going to try uploading these changes at the Library tomorrow, from my laptop, and see if I can keep the site going without an actual connection for a while. Should be interesting to say the least.
Anyway, the adventure continues.
I'm adding some pictures Chris has sent in emails, with her explanation.
Since the weather (cold and windy) has prevented me from taking outdoor excursions, I decided to take pictures through the kitchen window whenever the sky or terrain looked particularly charming or ominous. You can see the dates in the file names if you let the mouse hover over the picture.
The next two pictures are through the windows but are not of the farm down the road...which becomes quite obvious the moment you see them. Here a mother cat and her kittens played their way across the front yard...
And here are two cardinals in the side yard.
For those of you who haven't heard, Mom and I have been complaining that we haven't seen very much wildlife around here. A couple birds, the cats, cows, three horses in the neighbor's pasture, but no wildlife! Then, last week, as I was driving home from Akron, I spotted a deer! A large deer! Right on the side of the road. On the right side of the road. At least he was there for a few seconds. I hit the brakes, just in case, then of course, the deer, instead of running into the field which he'd been facing (I'm assuming it was a male), turned around and ran smack in front of me. I, naturally, ran smack into him! Ha! Wildlife, indeed! I shall now call it wilddead, which doesn't have the same ring to it, has more of a thump actually...Then I had to drive all the way home with little tufts of hair stuck in the hood, waving indignantly at me. Ray says there's a little dent in the hood, but he fixed it. So much for wild life...
Keep in touch!
Chris
FARM PAGE THREE
