The "Purge" has begun

No, It's not what you're thinking.  If you're here for more ranting and railing against the BS orders of overpaid, under-educated, but impressively degree'd, gummint bureaucrats, you're going to be disappointed.  I'm trying to avoid getting my blood pressure any higher than the bastiges already make it.

Nope, not going there.

However, I'm not a good enough story teller/writer to come up with a ripping tale of WWII in the European (or any other) theater like someone else we know.  So, given the state of my activities (or lack thereof) during this so called "plague", I'm forced to bring you up to speed on "The Project".

Off we go.....

Had a discussion with the Construction Supervisor late this week and asked him what was still on the "to do" list.  Well....the appliances are in, the trim guys are coming back to finish the floor and other trim.

T

Yes, The Vent trim needs to be installed.

he paint guys are coming back to finish the paint (places where the wall got dinged when something else was being added as well as a couple of places they missed (top of the fireplace) and such).

The blue tape marks touch up spots.  Notice the band around the top of the fireplace.

But other than that, he's going to start scheduling final inspections.

I then asked him if I could schedule the road work.

The road is about 2300' long from the county road to the garage.  It's currently a mix of ground caliche and gravel which, with the rain we had in May, has hardened into a pretty good base.  The problem with it is, since both our vehicles are dark colored, the light caliche dust turns them a sickly bluish grey color.  We knew this would be a factor and so wanted the road to be paved.

We also have a wash on our property that flood occasionally making travel to and fro, well....problematic.  It generally recedes within a few hours or at most a day.  However the bottom erodes away leaving a muddy, bumpy, sometimes impassable mess.

This was taken about 4 hours after the latest incident.  Water was up to the washed out area in the center of the picture.  The "Wash" is passable now at about a foot deep, but very soft and muddy.

Which isn't good if you've got a guest house on property and guests are in it.

So, we're also going to put down concrete in those two water crossings.  It will take about 5 days for the concrete to set, so we'll be going cross country through our pasture for a bit.  This all will take place Mid-August, so we're hoping the weather, especially rain, won't be a factor.

The concrete won't help us to cross when the wash is in full flood, but once it begins to recede, we should be able to pass through without getting stuck in mud.  At the very least, we hope to not have to rebuild that section of the road every couple of years.

Once the crossings are built, the paver will come in and chip seal the road.  Except for the low crossings, our existing road, put in about 15 years ago is still pretty passable, so that method should suffice.

With those two actions complete and assuming the inspections don't find anything, we should be ready to close.  We're expecting that to happen the first part of September.

Hence...The "Purge" has begun. 

Purge rules:
1) If it's broken or obsolete and valueless, throw it out.
2) If it's in OK shape and usable, but you haven't used, seen, our thought of it in quite a while, donate
3) If it's family history, keep it, but move it into the plastic boxes (Mrs J has an ongoing project to go through pictures and stuff, sorting them into appropriate boxes to hand off to friends/children who might be interested).
4) When in doubt, throw it out. Then check with Mrs J.  (She's like the Supreme Court on granting clemency or ordering the execution.
5) Don't compare any of the above rules to the execution policy of Mrs J.  Her rules don't apply to me.

So...Given the ROE, I have commenced a ruthless action on my spaces (or wherever Mrs J points me). While I've thrown away a lot of true Junk (I mean who really needs to keep the dozen CD's that Sql Server 2008 came on?  Who's got a CD player that will read them? Surely, Not I!), I have rediscovered some actual treasures and applied Rule 3.  Last week's discovery of my Aunt and Uncle's WWII ration cards was one.

Had another this week.  In 2012, the Juvat Clan flew to Italy in late October, spent a few days in Cinque Terre. Then trained back down to Rome and got on a cruise ship and cruised the eastern Med.
But in both those posts, I neglected to mention that on our first day after arrival in Rome, we visited the Vatican.

Very interesting place with an awful lot of things to see, and having only one day there, couldn't possibly see and do all of them.  Still...So I'm wandering through the gift shop, I thought of my best friend in the School District, a lovely Lady about my age, she was the first person I met in the district.  Literally.  She was the High School Principal's assistant and I met her when I showed up to be interviewed for a job.  We became great friends and still are. 

Well, I'm wandering around the shop and happen to see a Rosary.  Since, my friend is Catholic, I thought a Rosary from the Vatican would be a great present for her next Birthday (in July, the 27th to be precise). So I bought it, packed it away in the suitcase and when we returned home in mid-November, put it in a safe place to give to her the following July.

July comes round and my Steel Trap mind had apparently rusted shut. (It happens...more and more frequently nowadays.)  I couldn't remember where I put it and try as I might, the searches came up empty handed.

Well...Fast forward to this past week.  I am working my way through my office area.  (3 black garbage bags of throw away,  two cardboard boxes of donations, if you must know and still more to follow.)

The Eagles STAY as does the guy shooting his watch.  The coffee cup is teetering between rules 1 &2. Could go either way.  The picture frame is a no brainer, it stays, as does the zippered document bag with my Dad's paper's in it.  The unsent Cards will go in the file cabinet for future use.  I'm researching the package of electrical adapters to see if we still have whatever they plug in to.  However, the paper stuck behind the shelf?   Dead Meat!  See how ruthless I am?

I'm emptying off my storage shelf by my desk and behind a stack of books I see a small bag, with a rosary inside.

And...Since this is published on Her Birthday, I'd say this was pre-ordained.  I'm hoping to sneak in to her office this morning before she arrives and leave it and a Card on her desk.  I think she'll like it.

So, maybe a purge every once in a while is a good thing. Now if we could just do the same with politicians.