Once the sale for the house was completed the hard work of turning an old mobil house into a home began. It was all hands on deck. The first week we all toured the house, inside and out and decided what was to be done before I could move in. The first thing was to get that fuse box changed out and to this end I found Brian with RJF Company. He answered my call and come right away to change out the fuse box and I asked him to do two other jobs at the same time. 1 put in an electric line to the outside cubby where the new water heater would be installed. The gas line needed to capped and electric line installed and 2 the Wall unit AC at present ran on an extension cord that ran along the floor in the hall. I felt that was a tripping hazard for me so I wanted an outlet there in the hall for the AC. I called him on Friday and he was there on Monday and did all I asked for: Replace existing breaker panel, install dedicated circuit for window AC. He sent the bill and again I was so pleased as this bill was lower than either Lori or I had paid for the change out of the panel before in Florida.

With my electric all taken care of and working I could call James at English River Plumbing to come and put in my new water heater. The old one that was leaking so badly was taken out and a new electric one installed. This presented a problem as the only access to the heater was from the outside. I was not surprised as in Florida that is the way they always are. Not here in Iowa, here the temperature can go as low as 30 below zero and at that temperature the pipes would freeze unless there was a way to heat the cubby that contained the heater. James said he could install the water tank but he was not a carpenter and that was what I needed to take out a wall in the bed room and install a door to access the heater. He gave me the name of someone that could do this for me. Joe thought he had a better solution and he took care of keeping the area warm enough. So he got a jacket for the heater and insulated the cubby.

Here is my beautiful new heater, Joe got the insulated jacket for it and insulated the pipes and closed up the cubby.

The only project I could help much on was the planting I wanted done. I found this on line and had ordered it back when I first started talking about the house so it was already here waiting to be put up. Joe and Luke put it up near the front of the house. I also had fencing waiting to install so when there was time the fence would go on either side of this arbor and down the side lawn and tie into the shed so the dog could go out without a leach

As soon as Joe and Luke put the arbor up, Patty and I planted a grape vine on either side of the arbor to grow up it in the future and help to hold it in place.

There were already hosts growing along the side of the deck so we just enlarged this garden area and planted spring bulbs all along there, around the tree a little and in the two other garden area. I should have a beautiful array of spring flowers come spring

Here you can see some of the garden area we planted. Around the tree there on the right I didn’t put in many bulbs as I have Lilly of the Valley and a bleeding heart coming in the spring to go in there. The area is waiting for the fence to stand on either side. This gives a way into the back yard from the front so you don’t have to go up onto the deck and down the ramp to get to the back yard and the shed.

Then Joe and Holly began inside. Holly painted my bedroom a lighter color and changed out those awful black curtains for some very nice white one. Remember the awful green and black in that room? We’ll look at it now.

This is the same corner I showed you before that is my closet to the left. I will tell you about the register on the wall in a minute and that cubby on the other wall I’ll also explain at that time. It may be tomorrow for that as it is getting rather long now.

While Holly worked on this Joe put in a new ceiling in the kitchen. Remember I showed you a small mess over the refrigerator and a worse one over the door. Well this is what that ceiling looks like now.

Everyone who sees it thinks this is a tin ceiling and wonders how a mobil home can support a tin ceiling. Well it is really a foam ceiling and they always have to touch it to believe it. Holly found them for me on Amazon. Isn’t it beautiful?

This is the living room with its black curtains and sagging ceiling. Holly took care of the windows and Joe fixed the ceiling.

No more sagging ceiling. Note the dark left hand corner there are live wires hanging out of that hole. But no more, Joe took care of that too.

He found just the right light for this corner and now I have light over my desk when I wish to use it. Later after I moved in Joe put up all y pictures that I had made back in Spanish Lakes. Those are my feet you see in the foreground. I can sit in my recliner and watch everyone else work now.

Then Holly cleaned the whole place for me. It had looked clean but deep down it wasn’t, now it is. Holly scrubbed the shower so it looks brand new. Now it is up to me to keep it that way. She scrubbed in side and out of all the cabinets and closets. It will never get a scrubbing like that again I am sure. But it was nice moving in knowing everything was so clean now.

While they worked inside Luke worked outside.

From the front it didn’t look as if it needed a power wash but you can see here in the back it sure did. Also note the shirting. you can see how crappy that is and there were several big holes in it so some animal is living under my house. I will tell you that story on a later post also.

When all this work was done Joe and Holly had to make a trip to OK to get my furniture that was in storage there and Joe and I moved in. Once we moved I there were other things that we found needed correcting but that will be the subject of the next blog. Before we leave here lets take a look at the ramp Joe and Luke built for me and the fence they put up.

It is a very sturdy well built ramp. It is not as long as is needed for a wheel chair ramp but I have no intention of going down any ramp in a wheel chair. This one is that long because he needed to anchor it onto the pavers that were there. This whole park is built on sand and on sand things settle just as the house was doing and that is another project that needed tending to.

All stained and ready to use but as the snow and ice began to arrive treads were needed to keep from slipping. Then I had Joe stew slats on top of the tread so Otis could grab hold going back up when it was wet or frosty and I could go from slat to slat and no slip. Joe could not have made it only longer without blocking my built in planter there at the foot I have already planted peonies and daffodils in there. Also look back at the deck. On the front side there is an opening to go down five steps to get to the drive way and Otis can go down but can’t come up without being carried so there was a gate in the kitchen to keep their dogs out of the bedrooms. Joe took that out and put it there so I can let Otis out on the porch and he can’t run away from me. You can also see I need to do some lawn care come spring also.

From here you can see the fence they put up for me. There is another gate in the back so I can get outside the gate to work on the gardens when I need to. In the back it is anchored to the shed.

This was taken before the fence went up. Now the fence butts up to the shed just in front to the. tree and a short fence on the other side so Otis and Holly don’t go out that way. This front part of this building is a workshop and the back half is full of Holly’s boxes from her moves. Going from a large house like Melrose into a Mobil home requires a lot of storage room to save all the things you don’t have room for.

I am not going to proof read this right now as I am very tired and you must be too. Have a wonderful day. God Bless you all.