It makes little sense to put carpeting in a house you rent

I'!! pm you.

Pace, do not get a place which is already fixed up. Get a solid house which has outdated finishes. You can slowly remodel the same. The big box stores carry flooring which can last 30 years and are remarkable in how easy they are to install. In regard to plumbing, you can put all new fixtures from the big box stores which can modernize any home, and with the shark bite plumbing compression connectors any child who plays with leggos can do plumbing. I was an old fashion guy which would argue only copper and soldered plumbing, but I have completely changed. As an example, the new water heater we got at a big box store had a faulty thermostat or heating element. The big box stores do not support what they sell, so you need to call the manufacturer of the water heater, which we did, and they said they had nobody in the panhandle who handles electric water heaters, which meant the box store had to send a new one out and we had to disconnect and connect the new one. It took one hour to remove and reattach. The new plumbing components make what used to be a four hundred dollar labor bill, and hour job to take out your old water heater and put in a new water heater.

We have done our own granite counter tops for years. We get granite from a shop on 98 between Navarre and Gulf Breeze. The hardest part is transporting it, but the cutting of granite for a counter top with a good saw and rock blade is amazing. You get scared because there is a lot of money in a piece of granite, but the right blade and saw it is like cutting a piece of plywood. For me these projects are a life saver. They force me to get up and bend, reach and work. I get an immediate thrill seeing the end result, and I know I have made my wife more secure after I pass. She might say....you know what seaoat......I would be just fine being a little less secure, because you are wearing me out.

2seaoat wrote:  I get an immediate thrill seeing the end result, and I know I have made my wife more secure after I pass.  She might say....you know what seaoat......I would be just fine being a little less secure, because you are wearing me out.

She might say that but more likely she is thinking job well done love.

Telstar wrote:She might say that but more likely she is thinking job well done love.

I hope you're right, Tel. Nice thought.

Certainly the short term projects and hard work keep both our minds off the obvious physical limitations which are growing monthly. Absent the illness, two people in their mid sixties doing these type of projects is very demanding. However, I feel like I am spending my time with the person I love the most in this world, and it is quality time where both of us feel good about the results. I would be lying that at times we question why we do not spend the day at the beach, but we have done that for forty years. We always took family vacations, but because of my risk taking, I have to wrap up some loose ends while I can still do the same and I think by April she should be very secure financially by my poor choices. In the same sense by my participation I can mask the growing limitations and pain, but she is pretty observant. This dying thing is quite easy, but seeing the pain of loved ones, not so much. So keeping busy is not avoidance of the reality, rather it is living life to the fullest and not feeling sorry for oneself and the cards that have been dealt. Honestly, with Neko, T, and now Bob going so fast, I feel guilty that I even complain about my health. I have been blessed with almost eight years where at any time I could be dead in three months.

Very nicely stated Seaoat.....still missing our favorite and special members. All three were a class act.