Time for a Break

Great Grandma's lilac bushes were in bloom during my last visit!

July 21, 2018

My "Things to Do" list for the house in Mesa is still four pages long, typed (not even kidding), but we've accomplished so much since May 31st that I'm feeling pretty good about it. Finally, I feel that I can step away and give myself a break from the continuous stress (six trips to Mesa in eleven weeks), leaving the burden in Jacob's capable hands for a time.

I returned to Mesa last Thursday to help with the property cleanup for the second weekend in a row, and we made a lot of progress. Unfortunately, since we didn't have any "helping hands" come by on Saturday, I did have to extend the roll-off dumpster's stay for another week. However, we're close enough now that Jacob and Julien (my nephew, who is Jacob's new roommate) should be able to finish up the yard this Friday and Saturday. I won't be there this time, but I know they'd still welcome assistance from anyone who cares to drop by!

During this last visit, Jacob and I noticed that his Great-Grandma Helen's prized lilac bushes were in full bloom. It made us smile, thinking how happy she must be that one of her adored great-grandchildren has moved in and undertaken the transformation of her home to the well-maintained place it once was. As we peel away the layers of filth, we're really beginning to see the house and yard it used to be.

We tossed every damaged, nasty item we came across into the dumpster, including the ratty rattan screen that used to hang in front of the living room window (top photo). Now you can clearly see the half-cocked job they did to repair the busted window, using a too-small pane. The new window we ordered seven weeks ago is supposed to arrive this week. I hope it'll be installed in the next week or two. And Jacob will be buying a new window-cover soon, because when the afternoon sun hits that westward-facing window, the living room heats up, fast! It definitely needs a cover.

BEFORE: Jeff and Julien tackle the large "landfill" pile.

My brother Jeff and two of his children, Burke and Brinley, were at the house and ready to work at 7:45 a.m. on Friday. Due to other commitments, they had only two hours to give, but they made it count. I'd really thought we'd be able to finish everything in that time, but it turned out that the "landfill" pile was far more extensive than we'd imagined. It also turned out that it wasn't the only one in the yard.

AFTER: That disgusting pile of trash is gone!

I've been puzzling over the "why" of people turning their home into a dump. Literally, in this case. Then I remembered one of the former "tenants" telling me that they'd basically "camped" in the house for a couple of years because they couldn't afford to turn on the electric. The city offers all utilities as a bundle, including electric, water, sewer, and trash. This means that, during the no-electric period, they didn't have the weekly trash pick-up that most of us take for granted. Obviously, their solution was to simply pile all their trash in the backyard and ignore it.

Jeff, Burke, Julien, and Jacob spent most of their allotted two hours on removing that pile. Despite the other tasks that had to wait, getting that landfill removed was an enormous and satisfying feat. What a huge difference it made to have that area cleared! 

Sadly, Julien discovered a second landfill in the far corner of the yard. What we'd thought was just another pile of garbage was, in fact, merely junk piled on top of a hole these people had dug, filled with trash, and layered with dirt. I suspect this was their original landfill site, before it filled up and they started on the other. At least they'd tried to bury this one, but that just means more work for Jacob and Julien to unearth it all this weekend. Thus, the reason we needed the dumpster for another week.

Spills happen! Burke looks in dismay at the junk that spilled off the cart.

While the guys tackled the backyard, I asked Brinley to help me in the front. We'd mostly ignored it the previous week since the clutter there was minimal. This time, though, I wanted to be sure everything that needed to be hauled off was placed in the huge dumpster while we had it. I really didn't want to pay any more for future trips to an actual landfill. The dumpster itself has cost me a total of $560. That's quite enough, thank you!

So Brinley and I loaded it up with concrete blocks and garden borders that Jacob didn't want to keep, as well as the goofy garden gnomes, fairies, and cherubs we found under the lilacs. We removed a hose-caddy and a broken-down, rattan lounge chair, along with several cracked flower pots and smashed buckets. 

Brinley tackles the pottery-shard "creek" in the front yard.

And then there was the fake "creek" that "flowed" across the yard, lined by shards from broken pottery and tiles. I admit, I kind of liked it. In fact, I'd been thinking of doing something similar in my own yard for years, except mine would have been an actual creek during monsoon season, carrying water from the rain-spout to the ditch by the road, having been dug about a foot deep and lined with river rocks. (I like to dream big...)

I asked Brinley to remove only the loose shards laying on top of the ground, telling her that Jacob could dig up the rest later. Then I went to take care of a few other things, such as making an ice-run to Circle K (since I forgot to get some the night before). When I returned, I found Brinley hard at work with a shovel, digging out every last shard. I reminded her that she didn't need to do that, but she said she just couldn't start a project without finishing it. OCD remains alive and well in the Butler genes! (And now that faux-creek is a thing of the past!)

A peek into the patio while Jeff, Julien, and Burke work on the "landfill."

When it was time for Jeff and crew to leave, Dana and Callie stopped by to have a look at the progress before they all headed home. They had a lot to do, since they were leaving on a family trip to Texas in just five days.

Now it was just Jacob, Julien, and me for the rest of Friday and all of Saturday. Not that I provide an enormous amount of help (other than paying for everything, which is enormous enough!), but I did put in a lot more physical labor during this trip than I'd thought was possible. I ached for days afterward, but it felt good.

At one point, I turned away from Jacob and he exclaimed, "Mom! You have back-sweat!" As I've explained before, my sweat glands don't operate properly, leaving me prone to heat exhaustion, so this was a surprising observation. It was a small spot compared to the wringing-wet shirts everyone else was wearing, but I was very proud of that patch of back-sweat!

Jacob and Julien prepare to tackle the mess in the enclosed patio.

Later in the day, while hauling wheelbarrow loads back and forth, Jacob paused to tell me, "I didn't know there was a mobile home park behind Grandma's house." I was surprised, so I asked him, "In all those years, you never noticed the trailers on the other side of the fence?"

I suppose he was a lot shorter in those childhood days, too, but he offered another explanation. "Grandma had all those trees by the fence. You couldn't see the trailers through all the leaves." Yet another sad fact of the nearly six-year occupation by folks who were basically squatting on the property. When she died, Helen left behind a healthy pecan tree and a couple of citrus trees. Now there's only bare earth along the fence. Jacob looks forward to replanting some young citrus trees and watching them grow.

Jacob and Julien start in on emptying the refuse from the patio.

After the departure of Jeff and his family, Jacob and Julien were able to empty out the graffiti-covered shed and the illegally-enclosed patio on Friday. Seeing the patio empty was especially gratifying. Of all the trash and filth and damage left by the squatting "tenants," I think the desecration of the patio--where we'd enjoyed so many barbecues and birthday parties and other family get-togethers, which often included my own siblings' families and our parents--this was the thing that angered me the most.

Jacob hands trash up to Julien to be tossed into the dumpster.

It was about 10:00 when Jeff's family had to leave, and Julien had to report to his job three hours later, at 1:00, so that meant the two guys had only about an hour and a half to work on the shed and patio. They got both all cleared out, though. At around 11:30 they came in to shower and get cleaned up, and then I took them out to lunch at Subway. After several hours in the sweltering heat, they'd both decided that cold sandwiches sounded better than anything cooked!

BEFORE: Inside the enclosed patio before the guys cleared it out.

AFTER: Look at all the empty space in the old patio. 

Notice the silver vent in the bottom right corner of the above photo, and the black tubing diverting it to the plywood "wall." When Jacob's new washer and dryer were installed, he was told the dryer vent was "out of code." I couldn't figure out why, because I remembered that it was vented directly outside back in Helen's day. Now I see the problem. Grrr.

AFTER AFTER: This is how the patio looked on Saturday, after I worked on it.

After Julien went to work on Friday, Jacob and I relaxed awhile and discussed what we needed to do while I was there this time, in order to enjoy a six-to-eight week break from these Mesa trips, which I truly needed. Then we made another trip to Home Depot and Walmart to purchase everything Jacob will need to keep working on the house during my sabbatical, now that the yard was nearly free of rubbish.

Then, on Saturday, while the boys tackled the newly-discovered landfill at the far side of the house, I worked on removing all the things still on the shelves in the garage. Next, I got the electric drill and worked on taking down the bizarre things that had been screwed to the ceiling of the garage (possibly to hang things from?).

Another view of AFTER AFTER on the patio.

Once the garage was cleared, I went after the patio, electric drill still in hand. The heat inside the patio area was always oppressive and humid, even when I first walked through it back in early April. Obviously, they hadn't bothered to insulate the room. Add to that the east-facing sliding-glass doors that magnified the sunlight coming into the patio for several hours every morning.

So I removed every single screw I could find in the wood planks and plywood sheets surrounding the patio, hoping it would simply fall away. I was glad to find that very little of the wood was actually attached to the two main posts or the beams supporting the patio roof, but less glad to see that the structure was still held together by plenty of nails. Jacob and Julien will tackle those "walls" this weekend.

However, removing the screws was enough to free the sliding-glass door and the little window in the corner. As soon as I realized this, I enlisted Jacob's aid. We soon had the door and window pulled out of their slots, and the guys carried them to the dumpster. Literally, within thirty minutes, the temperature on the patio dropped fifteen degrees or more. It was once again a shady, outdoor refuge from the sizzling summer sun. It was also a good place to stash the doors and other supplies Jacob will be using to make repairs and improvements over the coming weeks.

These are the garage shelves I emptied while the guys worked outside.

At the end of this trip, I finally felt like we had a handle on the repair/replace/improve situation, so I knew it was time to give myself a break. My own home in the mountains had been pushed to the back burner for nearly four months, and it was time to turn my attention back to the needs of my little house. Jacob will take care of his place now, and it's all good.

I believe these shelves were built by Mark's grandpa, Lyle.