What's new 2006

 

November 19, 2006—Nearly Thanksgiving 

With the change in seasons, the Wing has been put away in the heated basement garage of the facility and it’s been full bore ahead on work on the project. Progress has been phenomenal since my last update and Marc is quite pleased; this has been the best running job he’s ever led and a record setter: he had the entire 90,000 s.f. building framed in six weeks. Paving has now been completed and siding has started on the back.

       

   

Unfortunately, Marc had a work accident at the beginning of October that has been a true setback. His right shoulder rotator cuff is badly torn and so far the doctors can’t agree on whether it is fixable with surgery. It certainly hampers use of his right arm and has caused severe pain on a daily basis. We hope to know more how things will go by mid-December when he will see one of the state’s top specialists in Madison; meanwhile Marc keeps up with some physical therapy to help increase the restricted movement he is capable of at this time. If surgery is in the cards, there will be a substantial recuperation period—maybe up to a year, so we’re not sure how that will affect our ability to get out and ride the motorcycle next spring. At least he is able to keep working, so that’s our main focus right now.  

The weather turned suddenly from our eye-candy fall into winter in the space of a two week period and we’ve had a few snowfalls, but nothing sticking to the ground for longer than three days so far. Primarily it’s just been very cold day after day, with gray skies. However the forecast for Thanksgiving does call for much warmer and nicer weather so we may be able to ride the Wing for the first time in two months if Marc’s arm holds up! As a side note, we have a young neighbor in the apartment complex next door and this picture shows his feelings on the matter. He “repaints” his pickup with spray paint to a different motif about every week. I guess its decorated for the holidays now!

   

I’m also working a bit myself, as the cleanup person on the jobsite, so I pick up outside litter and light debris and also do lots of sweeping in the building, which seems absolutely huge from the end of a broom. With up to 60 or 70 guys all working at a given time, it is a never-ending job picking up after them, but isn’t that always the way it is with guys? Here are some before and after photos of the mess.

       

We wish you all happy holidays and the best of the season with your friends and families!

 

September 4, 2006

It feels as though we have already turned the corner into fall here in Wisconsin. Nights have been very cool for two weeks and most days don’t make it out of the seventies. There is starting to be some slight color to the trees and we even experienced an entire day of fog on our last Northwood’s trip.

   

Our campground is due to close about mid-October and the company decided they didn’t want to give us the unit in the facility after all, so we are making plans to install some utility lines so we can have hookups on the job site where we will park the RV. Long time readers may recall we did this in both Minnesota and Iowa throughout a long winter and while not ideal, we can make it work thanks to all the auxiliary heat we have in the rig.
 

Marc’s job is making fairly steady progress and he has hopes to have it framed by Halloween. The sub-contractors in this area of are of a very high quality and are all hard workers so things go a lot smoother than what Marc is used to. The big push is on to secure the building before the really bad weather. Framing should go quicker because they will be using a factory panelized wall system rather than stick framing on site. Here’s the way it looks now with the foundation nearly completed.

   

 

June 26, 2006—Project Off to a Slow Start

We have been enjoying our time in Wisconsin but things are moving slowly on the project front. The city is taking lots of time to hook up utilities to Marc’s job trailer and also to issue permits, so there has been no actual groundbreaking as yet. This picture shows the future job site with the trailer in the left field. Much of this grassy field will become 80 new units attached to the existing units shown in the picture.

We spend off hours exploring the area, primarily by motorcycle and we even purchased a bike trailer so we could extend our range. This will allow us to carry camping gear so we don’t have to turn back late in the day on Saturdays to make it home before dark. No, we won’t turn into pumpkins but the deer are such a problem in this state it is foolhardy to ride a motorcycle after dark. Dozens are hit every night. If the new bike hitch and tent arrive by the weekend we hope to make our first foray with it over the holiday weekend so check back to see what new sights we may discover!

 

June 1, 2006 

We have arrived safely in Wisconsin and have gotten set up in a lovely riverside seasonal campground within the past week. We are already busy exploring our new area and really enjoying our time here so far. We have many new updates to both the Journal and Wingin’ It Rides so take time to read about all the details to see what we’ve been up to and the chronicle of our trip east.

 

May 1, 2006 

Surprise, we’re not in Tulsa! In fact, we’re at company headquarters in Salem, Oregon awaiting start of a newly assigned project which will be in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, with the delay it looks as though we will have to endure the dreaded Wisconsin winter, where the company has indicated it will put us up in one of the units once the RV parks there close for the season. I never thought I’d be in for a stay in an assisted living facility and certainly not at our age!  

No, we’re not bored here in Salem but instead are having the time of our lives riding the Wing every little chance we get. To see the story on that, tune in to the recent entry in the Fulltime Journal and to see all the escapades visit our new category “Wingin’ It”.

 

March 23, 2006

Show Low in the Rear View Mirror 

Now that we are about to move on we won’t keep it secret that Marc has not been overly fond of his employer, this project or this area. For Marc to quit in the middle of a project is something new for him, but after ten months, framing is still not completed and the job is easily four months behind schedule. Early in the year I had sent his resume to a company that was advertising out of Salem, OR. A week ago they called to talk to Marc and things progressed to the point of wanting to fly him back to Oregon for a formal interview.  

Saying that his resume stood head and shoulders above others they had received, the formal interview went well and Marc accepted a position as Construction Superintendent with them. The new company appears to be very well funded and professional. They build, own &/or remodel assisted living facilities throughout the entire nation so this position will give us much more opportunity to travel than we currently have. Feeling that we were up for a change of smaller and quicker jobs, Marc requested a remodel project and the one they have next available is in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, which is a suburb of Tulsa. He will add a new wing to an existing facility. Start date: April 17th. 

We’re really looking forward to exploring an area that is new to both of us; I have never been to Oklahoma and Marc has only driven through when he was driving big truck. We expect the project to last about four to five months and then we will be sent elsewhere.  

Given a new area to explore and expecting to get out much more than we have here in Show Low, I expect to update our website more frequently so plan to check back by May. The Duskes are even thinking of a new way to tour; we may have a surprise for you soon!

 

March 7, 2006

We’re Still in Show Low

I figured it’s been long enough without word of what we’ve been up to so thought I would do a small post. The reason for a small post is that we really haven’t done much beyond working.

In February I was able to go to work at Marc’s job site at what he euphemistically refers to as his “pickup bitch”. Yeah, how far I have fallen…There was a reason beyond the madness of asking for this type of work—it is melting off the pounds I seemed to gain from sitting around so much since we left Yuma. Actually, there is something cathartic about good, hard physical work and I actually enjoy being out in the fresh air, doing mindless work that leaves me a good tired. I am able to make my own hours and days so it’s not as onerous as it sounds. At most I do about 15-18 hours/week.  

In addition to working hard on the job, Marc has also worked hard at doing a little more refurbishing to our trailer. I ordered and received beautiful faux wood blinds from www.selectblinds.com which Marc installed in February. Not only do they match our cabinetry perfectly, they work very well and best of all they have a lifetime guarantee, so as they break I will just get a free replacement. I was very pleased with the prompt service of Select Blinds and can recommend them to others.

Over the course of a couple weekends, Marc then tackled replacement of the kitchen and bath vinyl with laminate flooring. It was a little tedious with all the angle cuts he had to make, but we really love the finished product. It makes it seem so much more home like in here plus I find it is vastly easier to keep up! We are still debating also doing the entry steps and figure we will as Marc gets in the mood, since it will be the toughest portion.

          

Next we plan to replace all the countertops and as we can get to a professional dealer or service center, the carpeting. Once we have totally new colors in here I will then also purchase two new recliners to match. That should take care of the interior for another ten years at least!  

Not many summer residents have returned yet to Juniper Ridge, where we are staying. We are still out in the “south 40” by ourselves but I suspect we will see rigs start pouring in next month. We had a very mild winter storm-wise, with no rain or snow for nearly 140 days. Now that spring should be arriving it has decided to turn nasty and cold. See the Fulltime Journal for the story on the storm of a decade.

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