It’s Coming Together

Last week was fairly eventful with Tom being on vacation. He had hoped to get some more deer hunting in, but spent the week working on the bathroom remodel. He got the last piece of sub-floor pulled up Monday morning before we went to town.

I was supposed to ring the bell with a friend from church for the Salvation Army but she was sick, so Tom spent the hour with me in front of the Reasor’s grocery store. We saw and talked to several friends and had a pretty good time. Then, we went to Lowe’s to buy plumbing supplies for the bathroom and picked out the flooring we wanted but didn’t buy it quite yet.

That morning, I noticed that Yoda, my barrow was not feeling well. He slept all day and didn’t eat breakfast with the others. Yoda is the runt of the litter and doesn’t seem to be all there most of the time anyway. He sometimes has to be wakened to find out that it is meal time, but I could tell that he was not feeling well. The next day, he still was not eating, but did manage to get a drink of water while I was doing evening chores. Lee, a man from the church, came to work on the bathroom with Tom off and on throughout. Since the bathroom remodel has been kind of my project all along, I wanted to help, but I discovered that they were doing fine on their own and I had other things to do anyway. It was a little hard at first to step out of the way though.

One good thing about Tom being on vacation, he gets to see more of Kinzie’s basketball games. That evening, we watch the Bluejacket game. I’ve started a new YouTube channel, Kinzie Lackey Sports, to show Kinzie playing either basketball or softball in hopes of catching a college coach’s attention. Portions of the Copan game can be seen here.

The next day, Lee and Tom got the drains installed on the shower, lavatory and toilet and the two wall frames erected. I canned seven quarts of venison broth. Yoda is still struggling and I am worried.

On Thursday, Tom and I returned to Lowe’s and bought the last sub-floor piece, the vinyl flooring that we had picked out previously and, of course, more plumbing supplies. It drizzled most of the day and I found Yoda lying out in the rain, shivering. I moved the pig hut over him so he could be out of the rain and draped an old towel over him to help warm him up. I was not encouraged at his state of health. That evening, while doing chores, I looked for Yoda and only found something muddy and red in the paddock. I was alarmed until I realized that the towel I had thrown over him was red and the other pigs had dragged it off of him to play with it. Yoda was still in the pig hut, shivering and was now audibly moaning with each breath. It was heartbreaking. I rubbed on him and he begrudgingly got up and went to drink more water. After chores, Tom and I went to watch the Oaks basketball game. It can be seen here.

I also managed to record Episode 51: It’s Go Time on This Grandma’s Life Podcast, both on YouTube and audio only. It can be seen here.

Friday morning, I was elated to see Yoda up and actually eating! He was still weak and was easily pushed out of the way of the other pigs, but he managed to get a few bites in here and there. I was so grateful! Tom got the sub-floor in place and the edges sealed. I helped him get the vinyl flooring laid out so Tom could cut it to fit. The 12×16 sheet of vinyl was difficult to place in one piece, but we finally got it down. Friday was a remote learning day at school and that was probably a good thing because Kinzie was not feeling well at all. She did manage to rally enough to play in the Bluejacket game that evening and even began to feel pretty good after finally puking during half time. That game can be seen here.

All week, I had been stressing with the knowledge that more men from our church would be arriving on Saturday morning to get as much of the bathroom done as possible. I worked the Helping Hands clothing ministry that morning, then came home to make a huge pot of chili and had hot dogs cooked on the grill along with all fixings, including Fritos to feed the men. They worked all day and got a tremendous amount of work done. The shower is installed needing only the shower head and some trim to be finished. The flange to the toilet was installed. We need to install the wall panels behind the toilet, then the toilet itself can be installed. The lavatory and vanity are in place. The drain connection needs to be completed and the faucet installed. The sink needs to be secured in place too. The vinyl floor is glued down and some electrical work was done as we had moved one wall, and therefore, the electricity to it. The video for all this work needs to be edited greatly so it will not be available for a few days. We were all tired when everyone went home, but I am also very grateful to the work those men did and the tremendous progress made. It looks like I’m not going to have to go out to the barn to shower after my foot surgery after all! Wonderful!

Monday morning, I cleaned up more around the property and filled the dumpster up before it was emptied later that day. I also scythed some grass for my sow Daisy and for Roger, my rabbit. I also got the footage to the Chelsea basketball game edited and posted. It can be seen here.

That evening, Tom and I drove to Copan for the first game of the Copan Tournament, playing Copan. It ended up being a nail biter. This is the last game posted for this blog post. It can be seen here.

When I finally got all the game footage processed and posted, I was able to work on my vlog channel, Grandma’s Homestead. My Owl Deterrent Didn’t Work can be seen here.

Whew! A lot had happened in just over a week. I did finally remember to plant my garlic bed out today. It should have been done already but it was a beautiful day and I was glad to get outside to get it done. That video will come later.

I know that was a lot of basketball. I am looking forward to getting the footage done on the bathroom remodel so I can show it to you, too. See you next week!

Scroll to Top