Stiff and Sore in Burt, Michigan

Been a busy few days, and by the time we quit and eat dinner, blogging is that last thing on our minds. Not to mention the joys of a "56K" dial-up (more like 36K on a good day; talk about the biggest false advertising scam of the last 20 years...). Anyway, the 30 yard dumpster was delivered on Friday. At first glance, we decided that everything we needed to get rid of would fit without any problem. Now the dumpster is nearly 1/3 full and we've just managed to dig down to the floors and walls so we can start the actual work (taking down old paneling/drywall/insulation that has gotten wet from leaks) that we got the dumpster for. We should still be OK, but there will definitely be a lot less margin that we originally thought.

At least the scavengers are doing their part. Every day, we line the side of the road with stuff, and by morning, most of it is gone. I'd forgotten about the "garbage picking" phenomenon. Although, I just peeked out the window and it doesn't look like anything was taken last night. Maybe we've saturated the local market for "used" household items.

Today is the last of the "killer" days for hauling stuff out of the basement. We have both pieces of the old water softener (one of which is full to the top with salt that has hardened into a solid chunk), and the old hot water heater. That's it for big/bulky/heavy stuff for a day or two. Once we have those out of the basement, we will start tearing down the old paneling so we can start assessing water damage from the broken windows and water leaks. And we are going to get all that done by Thursday night. Woohoo!

We should find out today about another job lead in Birmingham, Alabama. We may be doing a one-day down-and-back depending on what Debbie finds out today. If we get really, really lucky, the timing will be perfect that we will be doing that during the 24-hour drying time for the basement floor so we won't be losing a work day. This one sounds promising, but so have several of the others. I'm just assuming that it will fall through like all the rest and we will just be $1,000 poorer after air fare and car rental. (Aside: in a day when I can literally do anything online from watch movies to pay bills to sell a used car, what is the deal with companies that insist on a face-to-face interview so early in the process?)

Well, that's pretty much it for us. Not much else to report on our end. We'll try to post updates when we can.