The process of getting our home ready for sale means that a few things have to happen before we can tackle some big items. One thing that needed to happen was moving into our garage/apartment and we can now check that off of our list. Well, sort of. Our bed is in place and so is Truly’s dog crate and Tripp and Tyler’s beds. A couch has yet to make it up although the cushions did, so we have been lounging on the floor which suites the dogs just fine. We have plates and cups but no silverware and no food. All of that is still in the house. The other night Don said he was going to the “big house” to forage for food. He came back with a bottle of wine in one hand and a saucepan with a can of soup in the other. That’s my guy! The mighty hunter!  Four days later and we have finally moved the computers. It’s a slow process but we are getting there. At least the dogs seem happy with the move.

Our first big project to tackle is the living room ceilings. The living room, kitchen and dining room all share the same 18ft ceiling and there are a few cracks that need to be repaired. Actually, “cracks” is the wrong word. When Don was drywalling the ceiling he was recovering from a burst L1 vertebrae. Instead of using the paper tape that he has traditionally used with new drywall, he used fiber tape. It was faster and got the job done except that it only takes a slight amount of movement (settling) that all new homes go through and it cracks the paint. Slowly he has gone through the house, room by room, and fixed this issue as it has popped up. The ceiling is the last area that needs attention. Having scaffolding in the living room once again brings back memories of the beginning of this project.

June 2004 saw us living in the garage, the house was framed and only lacked windows to be dried in. Things were going well. I was at my office when Don called and simply said “come home”.

“Why?”

“Just come home,” I immediately hit panic mode. Something was wrong. My van was having work done so someone at my office drove me home. We discovered Don laying on the floor in considerable pain. Evidently, he had been coming down from the loft when his ladder kicked out from under him, throwing him backward onto his back. He was the only person working on the house at that time so instead of calling for help, he crawled to the garage and up the stairs to his mom’s apartment over the garage. That’s when he called me. Don wouldn’t let me call an ambulance so we helped him down to my friends SUV and we drove him to the emergency room where we discovered that he had burst his L1 Vertebrae. The neurologist wanted to do surgery ASAP. Don said no, give me time to think. Thankfully we had a friend who was a surgeon who did us the favor of making a few phone calls and asking some questions. He was advised that if the burst was stable, to give it time to heal on its own. We were already incredibly lucky that Don was not permanently paralyzed after all of that moving around, now we were planning to put him in a turtle shell and let him be for several months. You can imagine that this did not make his doctor happy.

Don spent four nights in the hospital and was then sent home without surgery. He stayed in his bed for several days in the garage bedroom. Eventually, he felt well enough to make his way up the stairs to his mom’s apartment. He was on painkillers and in a turtle shell and our life was on hold. We had no idea if he would heal. There was still a chance that he could become paralyzed and to add to all of this stress the bank was giving us grief about our loan. When we took out our loan for the house, we owned our 8-1/2 acres and the garage with the apartment free and clear. We allowed the bank to hold all of this as collateral for our construction loan and now they were threatening to foreclose.  They were unhappy that our contractor/builder was laid up and that I was starting a new career in Real Estate. The loan officer felt that she had stuck her neck out too far and she was going to make sure that it wasn’t her that got burned.  Stress? Yeah, we know about stress.

I had also been competing with Tucker at that time, trying to get his first Utility leg. I had already been entered in a trial in Knoxville when this happened. Don encouraged me to go anyhow. He thought I needed to get out of this mess for a few hours. So at four in the morning, in the rain, I drove to Knoxville and over halfway there I started kicking myself. What the hell was I doing? What if I had a traffic accident? What would Don do? Stupid, stupid me! I continued on as by then it wasn’t that far away. I arrived just as our class was starting so I took Tucker out of the van, aired him and warmed him up. We went into the ring and nailed each exercise one at a time. Finally! It looked like we were getting that first leg! Finally, some good news! The last exercise was the go-out and directed retrieve. Tucker went out, sat, took the high jump as directed. My excitement was building. I sent him out again, he sat in the correct spot, I directed him over the bar jump and he….took the high jump. I quietly put his leash on him, went out to the van and started sobbing. All of the stress of the last few weeks came out. People walked by and saw me having a break down then walked away, whispering.  Eventually, I got myself together, went into the building and sat down next to my friend Michelle who was also crying. I said “Tucker blew the very last exercise. Why are you crying?”

“Titus finally got his utility title after dozens of tries”.

“Congratulations” sniff sniff “You worked hard for that title” sniff sniff. I gave her a hug, pulled myself together and drove home to take care of my husband and start the process of saving our property.

To be continued…………..