Kit and Jerry Bertelsen
Welcome to the Bertelsen Web Site
Our Goal is to keep this site very simple.
We hope you visit it often and enjoy our journey.
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.
~Dwight Eisenhower,
address to Republican National Committee,
31 January 1958,
also sometimes attributed to Mark Twain
(unverified)
from quotegarden.com
Last Update:
Friday, February 03, 2012
Click Here To: Check out Information on Gate Guarding in Texas
Send snail Mail to:
144 Rainbow Dr. #4412, ,
Livingston, TX 77399-1044
Send email to:
Jerry's email:
jerry.bertelsen@hotmail.com
Kit's email
bertelsenk@gmail.com
Where In The World are
Kit and Jerry:
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Recent Posts:
01/31 Lousy Colds
01/30 Chili Fun!
01/29 Easy Sunday
01/28 Luncheon for the Ladies
01/27 New Skin Order
01/26 Uvalde for Blood
01/25 Wind and Rain
01/24 "Beam us UP!"
01/23 Back to the Build
01/22 An Afternoon Ride
01/21 Laying Low Today
01/20 Another Wall, Another Beam
01/19 Building a Beam
01/18 Building More Walls
01/17 Another Wall
01/16 Waiting for the Sun to Shine
01/15 Cloudy, Cool and a Little Drizzle
01/14 Drilling Holes and Sanding Boards
01/13 Another Wall Up
01/12 Cold Weather Comes
01/11 First Wall
01/10 Better Day
01/09 Chilly and Windy
01/08 Sunday Drizzle
01/07 Late Day Delivery
01/06 Buying a House?
01/05 Still Moving Rocks
01/04 Spending a Day in Del Rio
01/03 Making Progress
01/02 Perfect Day for a Cookout
01/01 Happy New Year!
12/31 Breakfast with Friends and More
12/30 Electrical Work and Laundry
12/29 Back in Brackett
12/28 Tracking across Texas
12/27 On the Road&Rails again!
12/26 Tying Up Loose Ends and Saying "See You Later"
12/24 Christmas Eve with Family
12/23 Spending Time with Family
12/22 Making Time for Friends
12/21 Riding the Amtrak - Part 2
12/20 Riding the Amtrak - Part 1
12/19 Safe and Sound in Indiana
12/16 Almost Packed
12/15 Waterline is In
12/14 Thick as Pea Soup
12/13 Party
12/12 Drizzle, Mud and a Change in Party Plans
12/11 Christmas Tour of Homes
12/10 Cold Soggy Rain Today
12/09 Oh, My Aching Back
12/08 Gate Guard Visitors Come to the Fort
12/07 Still Cold
12/06 A Dentist Visit
12/05 It's Cold!
12/04 Change in the Weather
12/03 A Perfect Day . . . for a Yard Sale and a Christmas Parade
12/02 Shopping
12/01 It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .
Friday, February 3, 2012
Brackettville, TX
Shoulda, Coulda, but Didn't
We still have computer problems with Kit's HP laptop. We think it is a faulty hard drive. That's major for us since we do our blog on that PC. Two nights ago it just would not boot up. Jerry finally pulled out his older laptop, blew off the dust, and attempted to post our dilemma.
We knew we were living on borrowed time with Kit's computer, but we had hopes of stretching it until we could get all our material transferred over to the iMac. We've been busy building a house and didn't take the warnings we were getting seriously. Hence, here we are without a daily blog, and no time to get one up and running.
Be patient with us. Our priority right now is the house. In about 2-3 weeks, we'll be back at Gate Guarding and will have some down time to get the transfer made and the bugs worked out. (We're changing from Front Page on the PC to Dream Weaver on the iMac.)
Check back with us next Friday and we'll try to update our progress. Thanks to our blogging friends for your concerns, and sorry to all of you for the inconvenience. You can still reach us by email, as we have our iMacs up and running.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Computer problems tonight. More later.
Brackettville, TX
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune.
~Walt Whitman
From: www.quotegarden.com/attitude.html
Lousy Colds
We have both come down with the sniffles and have used more Kleenexes in the past couple of days than we have all month. Jerry just deals with it, but Kit can't stand to have a stopped up nose. She headed over to the Dollar General Store to find a cold remedy and came back with Alka-Seltzer something or other.
The morning was overcast, but with mild temps, we found things to do outside on the building of our house. We attached hurricane straps to the studs, top and bottom. Then, when the sun popped out in the afternoon, Kit set up her sanding station and Jerry added a couple of sections of OSB board.
Joe stopped by to check on our progress and was pleasantly pleased with what we had accomplished.
We are definitely dealing with sore muscles. We just can't decide if it is due to the colds, or the fact that we are out of our work comfort zone.
Tomorrow should prove to be a great day for sanding and siding. The weatherman says we should have sunny skies and mild temps.
Life is G☺☺D!
Brackettville, TX
Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time.
~Betty Smith
From: www.quotegarden.com/attitude.html
Chili Fun!
Cool temps, clouds, drizzle and finally rain filled our day. We worked outside this morning. Kit helped Jerry measure, cut, nail, pull nails, re-measure, and recut.
The drizzle began just as we were thinking of heading over to the RV Park pavilion for the Chili Cookoff. When we arrived just shortly after noon, the place was crowded. We bought our $6 tickets and stood in line for a bowl, spoon, and a drink. We're not sure how many entries were on the table, but at one point, Kit saw a number 18 in front of a crockpot.
All pictures found at the following link: Chili Cookoff
Patsy and Gerrie fill their chili bowls
The instructions were to take a sample of chili from as many pots as you wished and decide what you liked best, the vote. We immediately headed over to get chili from Fran. She was best of the show last year. We've had her chili before and we knew it would be good.
Shirley goes back to taste another one
Jerry makes his choice and drops his vote in the red can
Texans like their chili spicy. We're chili lovers, but with Hoosier taste buds that don't take kindly to hot and spicy. Kit tried a few, but stuck with Fran for the vote.
Brackettville Volunteer Fireman make "put out the fire" chili
Pavilion is packed with hungry chili lovers
Fran's fried hush puppies were a hit. Her chili pot is empty as well.
Five winners were announced. The money made today will go toward the restoration of the historic buildings here on the Fort grounds.
Winners of the 2012 Chili Cookoff
Firemen win People's Choice Award!
We stayed to help Fran and Joe clean up and then headed home as the rains came. The rest of the afternoon was inside the RV trying to stave off colds.
Life is G☺☺D!
Brackettville, TX
Two people can have a middling day, but one rounds up and the other rounds down.
~Robert Brault,
www.robertbrault.com
From: www.quotegarden.com/attitude.html
Easy Sunday
Today was a catch up day. After church we came home and did absolutely nothing in the way of exerting ourselves. We needed a day to just chill! It felt good!
We'll be back at it again tomorrow. Kit hopes to get some sanding done. She likes the new belt sander. Jerry has plans to get some additional OSB boards nailed into place. There's also a special event for Fort Clark Days to raise money. It's a chili cookoff. So, we have lunch planned.
Life is G☺☺D!
Brackettville, TX
If the sky falls, hold up your hands.
~Author Unknown
From: www.quotegarden.com/attitude.html
Luncheon for the Ladies
Kit attended the Methodist Church Ladies Workshop and Luncheon today. Activities started around 9:00 with several of the women toting their sewing machines, ironing boards, and irons into Slator Hall.
For the past month, the fellowship hall has had a makeover. Fran K. had repainted the walls and refurbished the windows. The new look put a fire in the rest of the church women and this day was set aside for making valances for five windows.
Kit found the material at Walmart in Eagle Pass when she and Fran were shopping a few weeks ago. Gerrie, an avid quilter, took the leadership role and worked out a simple pattern for the ladies at the machines. Fran organized the event as a final celebration for the completion of the hall.
Several of the women chose to help Francine with the meal. It was a great day of fellowship with good church friends.
Catherine, Gerrie, Allison, and Linda at the machines.
All pictures found at the following link: Methodist Women
Betty at the ironing station.
Fran prepares the tension rods for the window area.
Jean and Patsy share a moment.
Gerrie reviews the sewing procedures.
Fran gets the valance ruffles in place.
Francine prepared the delicious main dish.
Linda, Janice, and Johnna take a moment to relax.
In the meantime, Jerry worked on our building project. He added a few more OSB boards to the walls. He managed to get the belt sander out of the box and ready for Kit to use. He put in the last four bolts after drilling holes for them in the load bearing beam. Finally he filled the outside corners and headers with insulation.
It was a long day and both of us were ready for it to end. After getting tools put away, we moved inside the RV to get refreshed and watch a little TV.
Life is G☺☺D!
Brackettville, TX
I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.
~Winston Churchill
From: www.quotegarden.com/attitude.html
New Skin Order
Another cold morning with temps in the upper 30's greeted us today. We had the alarm set for an early wake-up call. Fran and Joe were picking us up at eight sharp for a trip in to Del Rio.
Our first stop was breakfast at IHOP. Gotta love that place! The next move was up Highway 90 to ROYAL, formally known as MetCo. by the locals. It was here that we made the order for the metal skin to cover our house. The structural steel is the same as we have on the roof of the RV port. Our materials should be at the shop yard in Del Rio in no more than ten days. We'll have to make a run to pick it up using a borrowed trailer from friends on the Fort. The metal sheets are ten feet long.
Once that transaction was finished, we visited HOME DEPOT. Jerry found the saw blades he will use for cutting metal. He picked up a belt sander for Kit to use to help get the tough spots on the rafters she is working on. Then we moved to the bath section to look at the various shower units. Even though we are not ready for one yet, we wanted to see our options.
Kit and Joe made the selection for engineered flooring that the NOMADS will install in the parsonage. That project begins February 18th. Since we couldn't get all the purchases and the flooring in the back of the Kossan's Jeep, Joe and Jerry made another run to pick up the NOMADS supplies later in the afternoon.
Our last stop was Walmart for a few essentials to get us through the next few days. We were back at the Fort by 2:30 to drop Kit and Fran off, pick up the trailer, and head back to get flooring supplies.
By the time Jerry returned, it was well into our happy hour. We made a quick visit to see Harlan and Betty, and then met the Unit 38 gang for dinner in town. We probably weren't good company for anyone, as we were just too drained.
Tomorrow, Kit has plans with the ladies at church. Jerry hopes to get something done in putting our house together!
Life is G☺☺D!
Brackettville, TX
We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy and doubt...
~Dorothy Day
From: www.quotegarden.com/attitude.html
Uvalde for Blood
Six weeks ago Jerry's blood test results revealed an elevated cholesterol number. The Doctor prescribed a regimented low fat diet and Lipitor tablets. Jerry returned to Uvalde early this morning to give the doc more blood for an update on his cholesterol numbers. We should hear tomorrow if giving up cheeseburgers paid off.
When we returned to the Fort, we changed into "builder's" clothes and worked on the house. Jerry managed to get all the anchor bolts into the concrete. He also caulked the base plates on all the walls. Doing this keeps the little Texas critters from entering our home from an opening in the concrete.
Kit continued sanding. The construction grade lumber is a challenge to work with. However, looking at the end result of the beams that have been stained and polyed kept her going. Some of the wood is really mangled. There is a limit to what she calls distressed wood!
Joe and Fran stopped in to see how we were progressing. Joe and Jerry made plans for a trip to Del Rio to order the metal for the house siding. We want it to match the existing roof material. After they left, we measured just how much we will need. (Good grief! We'll have to go back to work really soon. We just keep spending money!)
Kit and Fran will more than likely tag along on the trip to Del Rio. They don't want to miss a breakfast at IHOP.
All in all, it was a very productive day.
Life is G☺☺D!
Brackettville, TX
I wish I was a glow worm,
A glow worm's never glum. 'Cos how can you be grumpy
When the sun shines out your bum!
~Author Unknown
From: www.quotegarden.com/attitude.html
Wind and Rain
We had cold winds out of the North all day today. Last night, around midnight, we got a brief rain storm. The local rain gauge in Unit 38 reported almost a quarter inch.
We decided that today would be a good day to drive to Eagle Pass and visit Lowe's. Jerry wanted to pick up some insulation to use on the outside corners of the house frame before securing the OSB boards. We also picked up some nails for the hurricane straps, and a few other things on our "to get" list.
Kit spent her time in the window shades department. We purchased a couple of room darkening Levolor Cordless Blinds to replace the day/night shades in the RV bedroom. Several of our RV friends have them already. The shades are original to the RV and have seen better days. We either had to learn to restring them or get new ones.
The blinds were cut to the exact size we needed right there in the store. That was a convenience for us. At least we didn't have to special order them. Jerry was able to install them in about 15 minutes, once he figured out what to do.
Tomorrow we'll be back to sanding. Hopefully the winds will take a rest.
Life is G☺☺D!