At the store with the four sons
and our
grand
daughter
Danielle.
We removed the old oven, ripped out the area where a grill once sat and mangled the old AC vent wrestling it to the ground. Decisions had to be made about whether to reuse old cabinets or trash them.
Costs are of great concern as the first electric bill has arrived, payments on the store are relentless and the fuel bill for traveling to the store each month has exceeded the savings from the Rodeo payment Michael has assumed. The Rodeo sacrifice proves to be the easiest. It is the hairdresser every 6 weeks, occasional movie and eating out that are more difficult. Normal during each Fall includes looking for the perfect gift for family members. This year my wish list has these three items: toilet, sink, paint. My husband says his list looks surprisingly like mine.
More rat poison is set out. More sweeping, trash removal is getting to be more and more difficult as we haul trash home in our truck. Our Danielle sprays the outside of the building for poison ivy. She loves her Bepa who is still scratching a month and doctor visit later. The counter is pulled away from the wall to see how it would work as a buffet/deli food type counter.
Ceiling fans work but are covered in years of grease, the ceiling and walls have areas also grease covered and one area of rust. Numerous holes are cut into the walls interior and exterior. Even if we wanted to cover the walls or remove them to be replaced we are looking at a daunting task with heavy steel screws holding large steel sheets. Solutions that are cheap and easy seem to be what we are searching for.
We have an idea for opening the store onto FM 410 with a new porch but the wall crisis seems to be most important and will likely consume our dollars that changing the direction of the store front would have used.
The guys demo the restroom in a flash. The water heater is rusted through and a new one needs to be relocated into it's likely original position outside the restroom which is very small to begin with. It is about a 4' by 6 1/2' space. The walls are very bad condition made more evident when the fixtures are sitting in the store proper and the room is empty. Solutions to wall damage and fixtures that will not overwhelm this tiny area are needed. A scrap of the daisy contact paper Cathy had used to pretty it up is saved in the hope of having something sweet to remind her of the success she had here and the warm fuzzy feeling she left with the residents who consumed her burgers.
In the midst of all this deconstruction we get visitors. Lonnie Ham stops to say hello and introduce himself. He has a good bit of advise which summed up is something like...don't extend credit/you will have to extend credit and serve BarBQ or Fish. People need a place they can stop and get something to eat. It was fun talking to him and he was followed by the Bryant brothers to the past owner Gary. They also cautioned against extending credit. Friendly and excited we were going to open the store again it was refreshing to meet them. Mr Bryant said he would carry off some of the items we ripped out of the store because he makes bird houses. We suggest maybe we could sell them for him in the store and he nods but that is as far as the negotiations got probably because of the gaping empty of the store.
Jodie Pardue stops and leaves us some homemade bread. She is a welcome sight. With all the devastation going on we don't talk much. Our time is so limited with only weekends to get a lot done, visiting is out of the question but we will have long lazy summer days to talk once we are in the store. She recounts the two weeks with no electric power in 2004. We need some kind of heat other than electric she cautions. Listening carefully to the families who are living here is a way to be successful or at least we hope so.
That night when the guys left and we were in our trailer alone. We suddenly start noticing a good number of cars and trucks turning in front of the store. This heavy traffic lasts for hours. We are confused as to where they are going since the road they are turning on dead ends at the river several miles from here. We are optimistic at first thinking hmmmm future customers but as the night wore on and the traffic lasted into the wee hours of the night we questioned the wisdom of this plan. It is something to mull over as we continue the renovation we estimate to take between 3 and 5 years.
We end our work with an experimental brisket at Nanny and Popa's where we share what has been done. The guys all have a message for us.
You need a plumber.
