Nothing is complete in this house. Nothing is finished. Not one thing. That’s okay; we’ll finish it, Lord willing. We don’t know much about the former homeowner, the late Mr. Larry. I found his obituary online, so we know some basic information. But I think his house tells more of the story. He didn’t plan on leaving this world quite so soon. We can never know the number of our days. So we just do the best we can, make our plans and carry on. When the Lord calls us home we might leave some unfinished business behind, too. I’d rather my house be unfinished than my salvation. I hope that I will have completed some of the tasks our heavenly Father wants me to do rather than worry about temporary things. You never know so be ready always. Rejoice in the knowledge & peace that we, as believers have. But I am going to try to finish a few things before I start some new ones…
Now back to the tasks at hand. I like to paint, or at least I used to like to paint. So I happily started in the living room. It has paneling. No big deal, I’ve painted paneling before, just some primer, then on to the real thing. This paneling was a bear. It had some nice flat parts, separated by wicked tiny grooves that looked like they were made with rows of needles. It took days when I wanted it to take hours. But that is the pattern we’ve discovered. Everything takes 4 times longer & cost about 10 times more than it should.
The painting was done before we took out the pink carpet that was secured by large roofing nails in the tack strips and about a zillion staples of various sizes. There are hardwood floors underneath. And a trap door made of scrap wood and a metal plate in one corner.
I have a good friend that I joke with about having a fear of ‘completeness’. This house is an illustration of that theory. The trim doesn’t reach the end of the porch. The porch doesn’t reach the end of the house.
There are squares of sheetrock missing. Outlet holes without outlets. Outlets without electricity. Holes cut in walls and doors whose purpose will remain a mystery. Wires that lead to nothing. Floors just end. Tile is laid but only partially grouted. The furnace was just setting in the kitchen, without ducting, blowing all the air through a hole cut in the wall to the living room. The hot tub is in its own addition, but the exterior is left unfinished with insulation exposed. And you have to go out the back door and across the deck to the door of the hot tub room. We have no idea if the thing works or not, and frankly we’re a little scared by the size of the thing. It is not too high on the list of things to get running right now.
Oh, there was a 6 inch cast iron pipe sticking up out of the master bedroom floor about 4 inches. It was stuffed with newspapers and the carpet was laid around it. It took about a dozen sawsall blades and several days with both Jim and the HVAC guy taking turns to get it cut out.
The ceiling in the living room is made from plywood cut into squares nailed with about 6 nails into the sheetrock, then stained dark brown. Except where there’s something else nailed to the sheetrock.
Every window was nailed shut. Some are nailed and caulked shut. Were they keeping something in or keeping something out? Since there is no air conditioner, well there actually is an ancient swamp box mounted in a living room window, but there’s no telling what would come blowing out of it, if it would blow at all. Open windows are a necessary thing even in Wyoming’s mild summer. That window is nailed and duct taped shut. We do the best we can to keep breezes blowing through.
The list goes on and on. We are still discovering strange wiring & plumbing. It took 6 different screwdrivers to get the front gate apart. I told Jim these could be some of the happiest days of his life, fussing and messing, tearing down and building up. Working side by side after so much time spent apart. Tying up loose ends and finishing some unfinished business.
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