Malden Updates - August 2011

Here we are with retirement fast approaching Norm & Jules go out and get "the" retirement property. Retirement, doesn't that mean kicking back, taking it easy? HA! There is more work to be done here than anywhere I have gone with those two!

Why is it that "southern" decorating/insulating usually involves lots of tape, cardboard and plastic? Do you see that porch? Like its hermetically sealed in plastic! Every window in the house had plastic taped and stapled over BOTH the inside & outside! Yeah, that's gotta go.

There wasn't a window in the place that could be opened without a knife and scraper! The things used by previous people living there amazes me still! A Kansas license plate covering a heater vent hole in the living room floor or how about the piece of a cardboard vacuum cleaner box with contact paper to "fix" a hole two feet wide in the panelling, now that is creative recycling. Newsflash - - - You're not in Kansas anymore.

We have received a great welcome from our new neighbors and many have stopped by to comment on how nice it is to see the changes that we are making to Ilean. That is what Jules has named the newest addition to the aluminum collection that Jules & Norm have. Notice how the mobile home LEANS to the right?

One of the first things we wanted to do was to air out the new digs. That meant opening ALL of the windows and unsealing the porch.



Hurry up and take the shot, my bottom is burning



Don't worry, its all old wood, like a giant campfire, its just that there was so much of it. I learned that old panelling burns REALLY HOT & REALLY FAST!





As I mentioned, the past residents sealed nearly every possible opening in the mobile home with plastic. The one thing that they forgot to seal were the openings where pipes and electrical cables came in. Once the people moved out, mice moved in.

Norm figured out where mouse headquarters was, the water heater room. The outside access door was, you guessed it, hermetically sealed with plastic, tape and styrofoam. 

However, since easy access was still needed to the water heater why not just cut a doorway through the bedroom wall? The ingenuity left us speechless! Who actually does that? The main highway from under the house to the inside was established with that move.

Something else that I learned from watching Norm's reactions, when dealing with mice they don't negotiate! It is their way or the highway. After the negotiations broke down Norm said no more Mr. Nice Guy. I didn't want to say it out loud but Mr. Nice Guy has never been Norm's strong point.

They may be small, but those little varmints have a noble and admirable spirit and they really didn't want to move out. Norm used some strange things to persuade them to move though that I still don't understand. Moth balls and dryer sheets, you know fabric softener sheets for the dryer! Norm says he doesn't know why they work either, but mice don't like either one, so he used both.

Norm thought he was being devious and ended up getting burned for being mean. While moving a big pile of plastic siding, that was piled up next to the house by the water heater door (creating a giant mouse condo) Norm met a snake in the yard.

Norm paid the snake to spy on the mouse headquarters from the rear and to scare them. The snake agreed and went UNDER the house. I think he is supposed to report back daily but I haven't seen the snake since. (But I'm not complaining!)

Norm's out a few bucks and mad now at the snake. He is such a chucklehead... Everyone knows you can't trust a snake in the grass.

I really like the porch now that it is opened up. I think it will be an especially nice place to sit on a warm rainy evening.

Jules did a lot of hard work after the porch was opened up.

She pulled all the weeds from the garden and made it look real nice.

I got to hang out with Jack for a few hours too. Unfortunately, while Jack and I were horsing around he tripped and fell. He is having surgery to put his ear back on but I didn't get hurt.

Of course since the Malden property is called Aluminum Acres it has to have a place for Bob and Walter and any other campers that stop by. Bob is where we stayed while we were there working on getting Ilean habitable.

I'm liking this place more and more with every visit. I just hope that we get all the work done soon so we can sit back and enjoy like retired people are said to do.

Until next time,

Travis