Jonah

On a typical day, for instance after I wake up in the late morning or early afternoon, I get dressed and stumble over to the house to put in some work. Unless I have some clear objective I find Greg, the builder, and ask him how I can be a blessing. He usually gives me a task or at least gives me a status update and I go from there to stay ahead of his crew with demolition or cleaning something up. This particular day I noticed a new crew member but had not yet welcomed him to the site and gave him the waiver. Greg says, “Well, you can give Chris a hand in the basement cleaning things up.” Contractors (plumbers, electricians, heating) were due in the coming days and I had been derelict in picking up down there over the last couple months. It was work I was not looking forward to doing. And, once I heard his name, I recognized him and not someone I was looking forward to working with.

The basement this summer.

I spent the better part of three hours in the belly of the whale with Chris. The majority of garbage in the basement was insulation that had fallen through various holes in the floor as well as plaster pieces and lath. There was some old copper wire and pipes. A few dozen paint cans, some metal shelves rusted beyond use, and dirt. Literally, dirt. One of the windows had broken at one point and dirt had fallen in. The window was long since repaired but the dirt remained. Everything had to come up a six foot step ladder and fit through the new doorway which was once just a simple closet. It was a two man job. But I did not want to do it, there was other more fun and exciting tasks that could have been done.

For a time one of Colt's (our oldest son) favorite books was a short, toddler version of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet that God had sent to Nineveh. Nineveh was a place he did not want to go. So Jonah got on a ship headed for somewhere he wanted to go and he ended up in the belly of a whale for three days. Then he got spit up and went to Nineveh and made a difference for God's kingdom. I have read this short book so many times I find myself calling places I don't want to go Nineveh.

For instance. A while back I was working and looking for a suspect that had an old address at our men's mission. I was checking the parking lot for his vehicle when I noticed that it was the time in the night when the majority of the men are out for one last smoke before their curfew forces them to be inside. In times past (and present) I will pull my cruiser right next to the and talk with them. Show them that I am just a guy and reinforce to me that these are all just men that made one or two mistakes that became insurmountable. But this shift something in me did not want to go talk to them, so when I got to the end of the lot, just where they were gathering, I backed up and acted like I was still checking for the vehicle I was looking for. Then I backed into a box truck. It made a lot of noise and drew attention to myself in a the exact manner I was trying to avoid. If I did not want the attention of 40 homeless guys before I had it now.

So Chris and I had some initial small talk and I went over what goes and what stays. After my first load to the dumpster I came back and he asked, “you still working for the city?” There it is. “Yup” I says and he replies with thankfulness to be getting work in the weeks before Christmas around Thanksgiving and he understands that I may be nervous to have him working in a “cop's house”. I gave him my “God's grace covers my sins and his equally” speech and we proceeded to talk the next several hours about the gospel, church, 70x7 ministry, Muslims, and what it means to work hard unto the Lord. By the close of the day we got things cleaned up though we spent a lot of time talking. He did not work as hard as I would have liked, he is skilled at broom leaning, but it was an afternoon well spent. 

He was back for one more day but I was not around until the end of that day and I noticed he spent his time sitting on a stack of plywood. He knows better. But that was his last day on our project.

The basement was one of the first projects I tackled inside the house. Two large fuel oil tanks sat under the main floor bathroom. The bathroom with flooring issues that needed to be addressed first (again we had intended to live in the house much sooner and needed a working bathroom). If you get bored do some google research on “removing fuel oil tanks”. You'll find everyone recommends hiring out a professional or risking an errant spark igniting some residual fumes and sending the man on the reciprocating saw to shake hands with Jesus.

Well I did my share of research and took careful note of the points of safety discussed according to each professional. The main points: drain the fuel, vent the tanks with fresh air, keep your blade cool. Only one of the tanks had any residual fuel oil in it, and not even enough to drain out. I took all the pipe fittings off the tops of the tanks and blew fresh air into the tanks using an air compressor. I then drilled a series of holes in the top, enough to get the blade of my sawzall through it. I used “torch” metal cutting blades. Six total. I kept the blade dipped in a bucket of water every few inches and ran water over the tank where I was cutting. Never a spark. Sort of.

As I was literally cutting the last inches of the last tank I was holding the Sawzall in such a way that I noticed the large, strong arching spark that goes on inside electric power tools. I laughed as I finished the cut. I was so concerned about the spark from the blade that I did not think of the spark from the inside of the tool. God is good. (He would still be good if I had blown up).

Water, electricity, fuse boxes.
Flammable gas, sparks, and a 130 year old tinderbox.
What could go wrong?

****************

2020 Update:

Wear masks and wash your hands.

This post apparently got stuck in the dregs of Blog drafts.  I’m on dayshift now which is better in some regards for the family.  The work is terrible but it pays the same.  And I only see builder Greg once in a while at church, and I try to make it a point not to talk shop at church.  By-in-large I miss our time together terribly.

Chris and I have updated our relationship status as well.  He stabbed a neighbor the other day and myself and the tactical team took him into custody after a bit of a standoff (Romans 3:23).  The last time I talked to his brother, the painter,  (another post) was when his step-son was barricaded in a closet trying to kill himself after doing other things that required us to talk to him. Shrugs emoji. These events are like a 4/10 when it comes to “interesting things for me to talk about” in the past 5 years.

The basement remains a thing of moisture but in good shape since it partially collapsed.  It's on the short term list of major projects.  In the meantime we set mouse traps every fall and winter and do our best to keep a "spider stick" close by to clean up spider webs wherever we walk down there. 

before and after :: mudroom

The first major project of 2019 is in the books...lockers for the mudroom! When we were renovating in 2016 we opted to hold on any built-in solution here because we were tired of making decisions. We found an old TV cabinet-turned-armoire at a second hand store for twenty bucks, hung some hooks and a shelf, and brought over the cubby/bench Ben had built at our old house. This suited our needs for nearly three years, but we were beyond ready to move on a permanent solution. Side note...It's hard to believe we've been living here for three years. It's also hard to look at our to-do list as there is so much we haven't gotten to. Because life/two jobs/three kids/four pets. But those kids and pets are loved, and those jobs are good, and we cannot complain.

finished!

before: dark, cluttered, nobody knew where anything was.

We went back and forth on the design of the lockers many times, but ultimately knew a few key things. 1) we did not want drawers on the bottom because we knew we would not take the time to open them to put shoes in and we would just end up with shoes all over the floor. still. 2) we did want some level of hidden space for seasonal storage. 3) we wanted lots of hooks. 4) we wanted the lockers to be wide enough so we could actually sit on the bench as needed to put shoes on.

Top picture is the end result. The bench is made from reclaimed 2x4s that we pulled from our house during demo. It so SO COOL...the woodgrain is awesome. Ben put a ton of effort into planing down those boards and piecing them together to create the bench. 

the unfinished living room serves as a wonderful work area! spilled paint? who cares?! true story. I spilled a bunch of paint in here.

The back of the lockers was designed to mimic the opposite wall in the mudroom, which is original to the house. This wall was the exterior before we put the addition on and we found these boards under many layers of siding. I loved them and had no desire to drywall over them.

A "someday" project is to use the rest of the wood from the lockers to fill in the west wall here so it appears to be seamless. Purely aesthetic, which we have little time for these days. 

The process of building and installing the lockers was interesting. Ben mainly built the system in the garage and installed bit by bit. The first part to go in was the overhead cabinets, which he only had me to help him with. We were able to use the old TV cabinet as leverage and somehow managed to hang it. Super stressful. The next piece to go in was the open locker part, which Ben happened to finish in the garage on New Years Eve, a few hours before we were having friends over. Conveniently, our friends agreed to help Ben install this and yes, it took five grown men. Ben does not under-build anything!

After this things got a little squirrely because Ben broke his right hand on January 2, 2019. This meant he could not work for two months, giving him plenty of time at home, but he still had a bum hand and lots of kids around thanks to Mother Nature and her many, many snow days. Regardless, he was able to finish and install the bench and get a few hooks hung so that we could start using the lockers. 

oh babe.

our street was a parking lot for the better part of two days. even a county snow plow got stuck for a while.

Ben, tired of digging people out, fashioned a warning sign. this still makes me laugh! looks like the plot of a horror film.

4th snow day in a row called for some creativity.

Ben went back to work in March and that month was a blur. March ended with Colter and Ellis being sick for an entire week, missing the last four days of school before Spring Break. But fortunately they were okay for our short trip to Kentucky. It was so good to get away as a family! 

that's Ellis pushing Clifford in the baby swing, if that wasn't clear.

When we got home from SB19 we got serious about finishing the lockers, which basically meant painting the doors Ben had already made, filling nail holes/sanding/final coat of paint on the lockers, and hanging the rest of the hooks. Once we powered through those less than fun tasks, the project was complete and we couldn't be happier. Feels like a breath of fresh air walking through there now with tools picked up and everyone's stuff organized. The biggest drama revolved around who got which locker. Colter and Ellis both wanted to be by Ben and Jameson. We finally convinced Colter that it wasn't the worst thing to be by me (yes, CONVINCED), and so the order goes Car, Colt, Jay, Ellis, Ben. Good thing mama bear has some thick skin.

genius spray paint set up by Ben allowed me to spray both sides of the doors at the same time. 

That's it from inside the Reuschel house for a while...I think...we try to keep spring and summer projects outside if we can! Sometimes they happen, sometimes they don't. We'll just see what the next months bring. We asked Colter and Ellis if they wanted to play baseball and t-ball this spring and they both said no. We high-fived when they weren't looking. We're all for experiences for our kids, but man...it's also nice to be home in the evenings. Maybe next year we'll push them a little harder :)

"hey dad, buildin' a barn, huh?"

I just realized that I only did one blog post in 2018. It completely got away from me. Two kids in school full time at different locations for this year means keeping track of two sets of schedules, bus routes, and activities. Both big boys played soccer this fall. Ben went to day shift in October which prompted me to change my hours for this school year to work five shorter days instead of four normal days. This allows us to fully manage before and after school care with just a little help here and there from a grandparent. It was tricky both changing schedules at the same time, but we sort of figured it out. In December we both got new vehicles within a few days of each other. We'd been putting off replacing the Fusion for a while but finally decided to just do it. We needed something that fit our family of five a little better. As I was signing the paperwork for a minivan (I'm a real mom now) on December 27, we got a death sentence for the Acadia. It needed far more work than we were willing to put into it. So our car guy, neighbor, and small group member Tony found Ben an old 4Runner with a ton of miles on it. It's perfect for him and he loves it almost as much as I love my Sienna (something I never thought I would say). So 2018 went out with a bang, and we're off to an interesting start to 2019 as Ben broke his hand on January 2 and hasn't worked since. Super Dad has instead been home to manage sick days (Jameson) and snow days (all). Works out great for me during year-end, but we are still ready for health and some less angry weather! Stay safe and warm out there, hopefully warmer than the 55 degrees we woke up to yesterday. Furnace vent issue which Ben took care of. We're back in business...

The first major snowfall of the year has me thinking about how the old corn crib we inherited with our property could collapse any day. It's being held up by a row of trees to the east, and the holes in the roof grow larger with each storm. 2019 might be the year we have to say goodbye to it. Which leads me to post about Ben's best year, 2018, the year he got a new barn. He would say better than the year he gained a wife. Emil is a close second if not actually the best thing that's ever happened to him. Kids are negotiable, depending on the day. I'm basing this ordering solely on the content of his camera roll. I still know he loves me the best sometimes.

the leaning corn crib of Fillmore

Back when we lived at our old house on Huizenga, Ben upgraded the 8x12 shed that came with it to a 12x16 barn. Our timing has always been a little 'off' and this was no different. We had a fall weekend camping trip scheduled at Triponds for the four (at the time) of us, but before we headed out Ben just HAD to get the cement poured for the barn floor. So instead of leisurely leaving for a weekend away on Friday afternoon, we had a house full of cops and family to help get the cement poured. I packed up by myself, and we finally arrived at Triponds around 7:00 PM after the flatwork was done. After we ate, unpacked, and explored a little, we tried to get the kids (2 and a half and almost 1) asleep. While Ben was laying with Colter, he out of the blue said "hey dad, buildin' a barn, huh?" like he was an adult making conversation with his best friend. So blasted cute...we still laugh about it.

September 2014

Well, dad went and built an even bigger barn this time. 30x40 with a 10 foot leanto off the back and a full loft. And we couldn't be more happy with how it turned out and the space it provides us to live more comfortably. After Ben built the dog kennels in the garage and started taking his work vehicle home every day, we quickly ran out of space. It was time to build a new barn to prepare for someday (read: any day) taking down the corn crib that was original to the Farmhouse. I'd like to point out that day will be really sad. It's a cool old thing and the romanticists in us considered rebuilding it rather than tearing it down, but it just wasn't feasible.

Anyways, Ben started drawing plans and getting quotes from builders back in January of 2018. We ended up going with B&E Builders based on a recommendation from my sister-in-law, Lena, and they broke ground in May. Before they could do that though, Ben had to take a tree down. This isn't anything new...he lives for this stuff. His brother-in-law Mike and my dad came over on a chilly Saturday in April and notched and knocked that thing down. As it was falling, Tim and Tiffany (my brother and sister-in-law) drove up to drop their kids off for the weekend so they could take off on a work trip. Have I said before that we have awesome timing with projects? Extra kids for the weekend of tree removal? So typical. Oh also, it was Spring Break and we had two extra K9s for the weekend. C R A Z Y.

Saro, Flynn and Emil

I digress. Tree came down, got cleared away, and B&E came to excavate in mid-May. We ended up with a 30x50 sandbox for a few weeks until they started building, which we all loved quite honestly. The kids played out there a lot, and Ben and I may have enjoyed a cocktail or two in our bathing suits pretending we were at a real beach. Embracing the here and now is what we call that. By June they were rolling on the building process and I was stressing out about siding color. I didn't sleep for two nights and I'm not kidding. Jason at Overisel Lumber, my dad, my mom, Ben, his mom, his dad, and probably some others can attest to my indecision. We wanted a red barn but not TOO red and not brown...and ultimately went with Autumn Red and we are quite happy with it. I must say though that the vinyl sample didn't do it justice. When choosing a high price, not going to return it, too expensive to replace item, trust your gut and then take some NyQuil and get some sleep. You're welcome for the PSA.

photo cred: Ellis

another view of the leaning wonder

funny story, the gray shed next to the corn crib is the original 8x12 shed from the Huizenga house. it lived at Mike's house for a while but came back to us when he built his barn. it will be my she shed someday, supposedly. 

taking the neighbor kids for a ride!

terrifying for their mom, I'm sure.

While B&E was building the structure, Ben was busy designing and building the cupola, the crown jewel of this barn. It turned out awesome, and he got some street cred from the builders when they saw it. Ben talked me into getting on the roof one Friday night to help him install it. Once I was up there it was kind of fun I guess, but also super scary and I literally didn't move for about 10 minutes. The next Monday they came back and said, "Do you have some craftsman experience?" He still beams when I repeat this, many months later.

Roof went on, siding went on, we left for our annual Big Star vacation in July, and when we came home it was done! So much fun to empty out the garage and corn crib and start filling up the barn. It got pretty full pretty quick, but Ben has plans to organize this year. First priority was getting the garage cleaned out so we could park in there again. Second was getting valuable items out of the leaky corn crib. Ben also spent the better part of September and October digging trenches and running electrical to the barn, and it's officially got power. The barn still needs a few things, like a garage door opener, insulation, shelving, poly on the loft floor, a railing for the stairs, exterior lights, garage door hardware, a good 'finished' picture, etc. But I'm calling it a wrap for blog purposes.