This entry could be an award winning short story, but for brevity, it is a mediocre blog entry.
Some miracles are subtle, this one not so much. Josh' grandpa was a forester and in retirement, a "Hightree Trimmer". His bucket truck in Salmon, ID, was nearly 7 hours away and had not been driven since approximately 2014, so Able and Josh's mission for the weekend was to 1) drive to Salmon, 2) determine if the truck could be brought into a freeway worthy condition, 3) do needed maintenance, 4) drive the truck back to Garfield, and if possible 5) do a tree trimming job for Danielle. All of this they accomplished with Divine help. Yes Abel is awesome. Yes Josh's dad is ultra generous, adding to the "cash advance" on the truck purchase a roundtrip from Payette to Salmon to sign papers, two Stihl chainsaws, extra bars and chains, harnesses, rigging, and over 50 gallons of bar oil, motor oil, fuel additives, etc. and a wood stove (loaded in the dark as the first time using the boom). This sort of blessing opens so many doors that it boggles the mind, and that the effort succeeded was testament to God's goodness.
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"Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How bless is the man whose quiver is full of them...."
This 12 passenger quiver is a miracle and a gift from an earthly and a heavenly father. Josh's parents created a vehicle purchase fund for the family when we outgrew our 8 seater Caravan, but it took months to find the right vehicle. With people purchasing "bugout" vehicles, and with new vehicles being limited by supply chain issues, we saw prices for 15 passenger vans skyrocket all over the US. One unlikely afternoon, with four hours notice, we drove to Kamiah, the first of several people in line for The Quiver; Kyra responded first just 2 hours after its posting on Craigslist. The retired couple expressed grief at letting go of their 2007 vehicle of 14 years that they had used to travel between Louisiana and Kamiah, ID each year. At 95k, the mileage was low for an '07. The price was right at $8,700, about half the comparables, especially with the tow package, and other extras. The couple had tried to sell it two years ago and found no interest at $10k, so they reluctantly marked it down this year, not aware of the strange van shortage. Wondering if they had underpriced (with so much interest so quickly), they told us they were glad to sell it to a family that needed it. We picked blackberries and visited while doing paperwork and reinstalling all the seats. What a blessing, and just in time. With XC season starting, and Josh's brother coming, we needed the seats. Thank Dad and Moscow Auto Body Super Center! Just $350 plus materials and a $2000 shed was installed.
Occurred over the week of 10/27-11/2/19
Dad rented an excavator and for one busy week totally transformed the large (originally the stallion pasture) ground piece into a terraced and graveled place. Also, he leveled the front yard and behind the house and to the east of the house, over top of the septic tank. He also dug a sort of pond thing down at the bottom of the property. The top picture is a picture taken from the top of the road looking down, the house is to the right and unseen in the picture, the top right picture is a picture of the graveled drive way, the road is up on the left, the picture below this text is before the gravel and clearly shows some of the terracing, the picture to the right of it is a view from near the front door showing the front yard, and the big picture second to the bottom picture shows the east side, over top of the septic tank, and the very bottom is a view of the back of the house just before it was completely leveled. After three solid days of organizing, the utility trailer is fully organized by category: electrical, plumbing, woodworking, painting, mechanics, etc. This is the first time in two years of work demo'ing and constructing house and outbuildings that all the tools are in one place. Further, with about 40 drawers (two former display cabinets from Moscow Building Supply and two Craftsman toolchests), it is easier to access them than ever. Pictured below, Isaiah managed to sort through thousands of screws, bolts, etc. and sort by size/type into the two new little bolt holders. The inside of the house is still a mess, but at least I know where to find a hammer....
With three separate storm events causing delays in two weeks (in June...?) we managed to accomplish a major overhaul. Most noteworthy excavation efforts were: removal of the milk-house foundation (we'd hoped to leave it, but it is prime central garden area, and milking in the barn makes more sense); removal of old garage foundation and stinky gravel and rose bush growing over it; enlarging driveway/new house spot; pushing back the plum forest; and, for about 70% of the rental time, installation of a septic system.
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March 2023
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