This evening on the way down the driveway I got the truck stuck partially in the ditch leading to the creek by the pond when I hit a slick spot on our still-mostly-impassable driveway. Cabol wisely suggested I call our insurance, since we have roadside assistance on our policy. They said they would send someone out. Shortly later the phone rang to inform us of an estimated ETA of 1½ hours.

That’s right. We live a half hour or so away from the largest city in this part of Virginia (Roanoke). A half hour from Christiansburg. Fifteen minutes from Floyd. But they sent someone from Fort Chiswell, 68.3 miles away. Gosh, you think the bill will be more than the $50 the insurance covers?

I called back, told them to cancel it. The woman on the phone increduously said ’70 miles?!?’ twice. I asked her if we could use Bell’s in Floyd, and she said that was fine and set it up. He was here in a half hour or so. He got stuck in the driveway on the way up. Eventually he made it. I waited for him by the hay shack. He pulled up. He said, ‘Oh, I didn’t know it was THIS place.’ Perhaps there is a reason the insurance company could only find someone 70 miles away.

But he was able to winch the truck back onto the driveway. Now it’s stuck on the driveway, but the snow should mostly melt tomorrow. And it’s better than in a ditch.

And I was apparently in such a foul mood after getting stuck that when I approached Sydney (who had escaped from his fence), he meekly turned to the side and let me guide him back to his pen with little fighting

This morning we were sitting on the floor, staring at the newly laid bathroom floor. Cabol pointed out that thinset had filled in between about 3/4 of the spaces between the penny tiles. Everything I read says this isn’t really good, since, you know, that’s where the grout is supposed to live.

So, this morning I guess we take a trip over to Home Depot and see what they recommend to remove it in a timely fashion. I can sit there with a sharpened nutcracker or nail set and scrape it all out by hand, but I read you can use a dremel tool. All our dremel tool attachments, however, are a little too wide, so maybe I can find something smaller at the store. Or I’ll have a long week ahead of me.

Cabol was also nice enough to point out that even though I tried to be as anal as possible about putting the sheets down in the right position, I managed to flip one of them 180°. So the little black tiles have a 1′ square section where they are all wonky.

In the middle of the floor.

I had ordered a NAS that was to be delivered on Monday by Fed Ex. But this morning (Saturday), they showed up instead. As someone who ships things at work sometimes, I know Saturday delivery is an extra charge. I expressed my surprise to the Fed Ex lady, and she said Fedex Home Delivery doesn’t deliver on Mondays(!) but does on Saturdays.

I wonder if that is a benefit of living in the boonies – things only get delivered on certain days, but they are days when you are actually home!

Things have been slow on the bathroom front. Partially because being sick threw me all off, and partially because I’m a lazy bum. Last weekend, I put the rest of the wainscoating up on the walls, and painted it. I also cut the Wonderboard™ and set it on the floor so we wouldn’t keep stepping on sticky wood. I also repaired the floor around the drain.

Tonight I mixed up a bucket of thinset and set the Wonderboard™ on the plywood floor and screwed it in. Tomorrow I should get the tile laid, and maybe by Sunday night we’ll have a toilet again. And the door needs to be shaved down, or we’ll be without one and you’ll be able to watch people pee.

On a slightly related note, when I was back in NY awhile back cleaning out my dad’s place, my Uncle David took me over to my grandfather’s place to see if there was anything I wanted to take back with me. While entertaining me with stories behind various tools, he would also say things like ‘Do you have one of these? No? You really should. You’ll need it.’ I politely nodded and agreed, wondering when I would.

The nice wood chisels? Used at least a dozen times.

The extra jig saw? Awfully handy when I wanted one in the shop and one in the bathroom.

But the 1/2″ drill I thought I’d rarely use since I have a whole cabinet of drills? When I had to mix a pail full of thinset and my ‘heavy duty’ Delta drill started to smoke, it was priceless.

(I have, however, yet to find a use for the giant pipe wrench. Yet.)

A few weeks ago I put wainscoating up on one of the bathroom walls (the one that didn’t involve things like the vanity and toilet). This weekend, since I have 3 days, it seemed a good idea to try and finish the bulk of the bathroom. This involves:

• Removing the vanity and toilet
• Removing the stuck on linoleum squares
• Adding shutoff valves to the plumbing
• Installing Wonderboard™ on the floor
• Installing the tile
• Adding trim
• Install new vanity and toilet
• Hang trim around mirror we glued to the wall
• Party

Steps one and three have been completed. Step two is going slowly. Step two has also revealed the rotted flooring around the toilet and back to the wall. This was not entirely unexpected – both Cabol’s dad and I had both noticed the toilet wobbling. That doesn’t make it any more enjoyable.

This inserts another step tomorrow – going to home depot to purchase some plywood (unless I happen to have the right thickness in the workshop). Cutting out the rotten pieces, including around the toilet drain. What I’m not sure about is how far it may extend behind the wall (shared with the kitchen). The drywall seems fine. I can stick a putty knife under it and hit the stud, and the stud is solid. The plywood the stud is sitting on, however, may not be. Cabol says we should open up the wall. By we, she means me. It would probably be the best option, and since we’ll be putting wainscoating over it, we wouldn’t have to bother mudding any drywall we replace.

Yesterday we purchased a share in a dairy cow herd in our area (well, a half hour away). See, raw milk is illegal to sell in most of the states here in the US, but in some states you can purchase a share of a cow herd and pick up milk every week, because it is ok to drink unpasteurized milk from your own animals. That’s the legal argument, anyways. We visited the farm and the animals seemed well taken care of and everything seemed clean and well run.

I’ve been drinking the unhomogenized raw milk you can buy at the store for awhile, and it’s not much different from that – a little stronger tasting, and obviously a lot fresher since it the cow was milked that day or the day before.

The government, of course, knows better than I do what to put in my body, and I am taking my life into my own hands, and that is why it is illegal most places. I probably should stick to things like bagged lettuce from California, or tomatoes from (somewhere) to keep myself healthy…