Firm Evidence Of A Job Well Done!

This is a long post with lots of pictures. I sometimes hesitate to post with this amount of information for fear of boring you, but we do receive much positive feedback from posts like this. It also serves to help us document things we want to remember and easily retrieve information we may need in the future.

I hope you enjoy.

Thank You

Let me say "thank you" first. I will introduce and tell you more about the contributions these people made as we go further into the post. I want you to know and I want them to know that I appreciate their unselfish assistance on the house.

This project was not completed without sacrifice from several friends. It is a testimony to people who are selfless. I want to say a great big Thank You to every one of them.

Larry Landress is a missionary and businessman with several responsibilities he could not afford to put on hold. Yet he and Rosemary made at least an 1800 mile round trip pulling a trailer with tools and donated their skills, time and labor. 

They have been our friends for 28 years and it seems like we are always trying to catch up in repaying their continual friendship to us. Now we will never match their kindness. Thank you, friends.

Trevor Metheny is an Associate Pastor, school principle, contractor and family man. How in the world can he take time away for five days and come to Ohio to work? Bro. Trevor has been wanting to work on something on the house from day one. 

When I told him Bro. Landress was coming, he was immediately on board. Bro. Larry called him the Energizer Bunny because he was leaping and running to work on whatever needed to be done. And he did it well! He told Todd Thompson about the venture and was responsible for him coming too. Thank you, Trevor.

Todd Thompson has multiple businesses with more daily responsibilities than my little mind could ever juggle. I have no idea what all he had to set aside to spend five days away, but he did it. 

He was a welcome surprise addition to the team and proved invaluable. He also drove Trevor and Phelix over 1500 miles round trip to Ohio and back home to the Tulsa area. Thank you, friend.

David Butler took time away from his ongoing local jobs last week to donate labor and expertise to the concrete job. He also made all of his tools available, delivered rented equipment and offered endless encouragement to me personally. This is not the first time he has donated to this house and we appreciate his willingness to help very much. Thank you, friend.

Pastor Wade Hicks, Dan Bragg, Kelly Jo, Odie, Phelix, Dad, Mom, Rosemary, Lisa, Steve, Karen and probably others I have missed worked and worked and worked last week on the porches, drive, sidewalk and all the peripheral things that needed to be done to make it all a success. Thank you all very much.

The Porches, Driveway and Sidewalk

We probably should have poured the porches on the house several months ago, but we were using the resources we had on the inside of the house. I felt that was the best thing to do at the time. We were coming down to crunch time for the concrete and The Lord and our friends came through with amazing timing.

It started a few weeks ago when Bro. Larry Landress called to say he wanted to pour the remaining concrete that we needed. He knew we were going to be home working last week and he wanted to line up his schedule to be at the house the same week. On that phone call, we came up with a plan.

IF Bro. Larry was finishing the concrete by himself, we would pour the porches in three stages over three different days and that would finish out the week. IF he could get other experienced concrete guys to help, he would pour the porches in one day and then pour the sidewalk and driveway the next day.

Since the weather has been so wet in many states, almost no one could commit to being in Ohio on specific days, although a few guys really wanted to help. Everyone had been pushing their own jobs back on account of weather and had good paying customers clamoring for concrete on the sunny days.

We completely understood that and were content to wait and see how the plan worked out. Even though some that wanted to come could not come in the end, it did all work out. Praise the Lord. I believe that God will bless them for their sincere willingness to come and help.

Bro. Larry and Sis Rosemary arrived on Sunday night. Monday morning we started spreading fill and building forms. Our helpers that day were Pastor Wade Hicks and Bro. Dan Bragg. They have helped on several projects on the house and they jumped in and did what they could Monday.

It ended up being about 3/4 of a day because of persistent rain and mud making it almost impossible to get the forms to stay where Bro. Larry needed them. However, it was a productive day and they accomplished a lot.

There was a trip to Acapulco too.

Bro. Wade is trying to stay dry. 

The only picture of Bro. Brag was the first one above on his knees drilling holes in the existing slab for rebar. Odie was watching from the car most of the day because of the rain so her picture taking ability was limited.

Here is Bro. Bragg and Bro. Hicks the day they helped me on the shiplap ceiling last summer.

We knew Bro. Trevor Metheny from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma was coming in late Monday night. Bro. Trevor is a hard working man with boundless energy and a lot of skills. He has worked much in concrete, but does not consider himself a "finisher". He was invaluable to the completion of the whole job!

He also surprised us by bringing Todd Thompson from Oklahoma. Todd is also a long time friend and an experienced concrete finisher. His coming was also a much needed boost.

Tuesday the remaining forms were set, the rebar was prepared and we were ready for concrete. It was a long, muddy, wet day, but these guys persevered and worked very hard.

Wednesday morning the concrete arrived and so did another concrete finisher. Bro. David Bulter, a local friend that has already poured concrete on the house, brought a Georgia Buggy to carry the concrete around the house where the trucks could not reach. He took time away from his local jobs Wednesday and Thursday to help. He was a crucial part of the process too.

Phelix came from Broken Arrow too and we kept him busy fetching, running, cleaning and a few hundred other things. Thank you, Phelix!

Todd driving the Georgia Buggy.

It was misting rain and cold most of the day Wednesday and it was wonderful to see and feel some sunshine break through later in the day.

Thursday morning started bright and early forming the side walk and the driveway.

It was a much nicer day Thursday. 

Holes for rebar had to be drilled in the garage floor and along the face of the porch where the driveway and sidewalk could attach.

Let the concrete flow!

Our dear friend Todd with Odie.

Todd, Phelix, Trevor and Odie

Here it is Friday morning. All of Thursday's forms are still on at this point and the concrete has not been cut yet.

There was a lot of clean up going on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Even though we covered the siding with plastic, it was inevitable that some concrete ended up on the siding. It had to be removed. I am not sure who all was involved in that process but I believe that Kelly Jo, Odie, Trevor, Phelix, Dad, Mom, Rosemary and Lisa had a part in the cleaning.

Here is Kelly Jo working it over again on Friday.

We helped Bro. Larry mark the lines and then he cut the concrete in strategic places. This is done to guide inevitable cracking to the best places.

Then we swept all the dust from the surface, sprayed the porch ceilings and porches with the water hose to make sure the concrete dust was removed and then swept again.

Here is the finished job!

This will give Odie easy access into the house and allow her to enjoy three sides of the house without having to risk getting stuck in the yard. In the distant future we plan to build a deck across the back of the house too.

We will add two matching metal wrapped posts to the front porch and five more down the west side (Right side in the pictures below) of the porch.

If you made it all the way to the end of this post then you have seen firm evidence of a job well done! May God bless all that had a part in it!

Thank you for reading today.

Davy