The Quiet Man

By the time he arrived at Elijah's... aw shit, Patricia's house, he was very upbeat and excited. He had taken a few minutes to once again survey the old house site and was sure he could clean it out and convert the basement very easily and cheaply.

When Patricia heard Tom walk onto her porch she turned to greet him. She had been setting a table on the porch for their breakfast. She was surprised and somewhat impressed with the expression on his face. Instead of the deep sorrow and exhaustion he displayed the night before she saw a bright, happy expression. Tom said, "Good morning, Patricia. How are you this beautiful morning?"

"I'm fine, Tom, but I'm not sure I'm as good as you seem to be. I'm surprised you seem so happy after what you found when you got home yesterday."

"Yeah, I was really down when I left here last night, but overnight I got some great sleep and this morning I woke up to another beautiful day. I slept in the clearing where the old stone house is and it called to me this morning. You know, it's still as solid as the day it was built. I looked it over before I came over here, and I think I can renovate it easily and cheaply and have a great little place to live. I'm going to price everything out anyway and see what the cost looks like. I even like the location better than your folks' old place."

"Wow, I never thought about something like that. Do you really think you can do that? Dad said my great grandfather had the place built when they came over from the old country. His father built the new place where you lived during the 1930's when he and Grandma got married. After Great-grandfather died they closed up the old rock house and Great-grandmother lived in the new house with my grandparents because it had electricity and running water. That would be so cool, as you young folks say. Now, sit down, breakfast is almost ready."

Tom and Patricia sat talking and eating for almost an hour before he said, "I'm sorry, Patricia, but I really need to go. I want to do some measuring and planning then, if I have time, I want to go to Chattanooga and buy some material to begin work. I also have to get the report from the fire marshal and contact my insurance company. I need to have the place livable before cold weather, ya know."

"Oh, thanks for reminding me. Wait right there for a minute. I have something for you." Patricia jumped up from her chair and hurried into the kitchen. She returned quickly holding a business card, which she handed to Tom. She said, "Here is the card the fire inspector left. You can call or write them at the number and address on the card for the report."

Tom stood and took the card from Patricia's hand. He glanced at it then put it in his shirt pocket. He smiled at Patricia and said, "Thanks for the wonderful breakfast and the card. Now I have to run. I'll see you again soon I'm sure. If you're interested, feel free to come down and check out the place from time to time."

Tom never made it to town that day. He found it took a lot more time to get his measurements for the windows and the door than he expected. Then he had to decide where he wanted his plumbing and electricity placed, and figure how much material he needed. At least the electricity was part-way to his new location. He planned to use the old well and pipe the water down to the new house. He had to decide how much wire and pipe he needed to get power and water from the current location to the old rock house. First, however, he had to know if he needed primary wire which the electric company would supply when they put in the line, or if he had to terminate service at the old house and use a meter loop to take the power the rest of the way.

Since it was so late when he finished his measurements and parts list, Tom spent the rest of the day cleaning the trash out of the old rock house. Luckily, his old tractor started fairly easily, even if he did have to use jumper cables because the battery was discharged. He used the front-end loader on it to haul the trash away from what was to become his new house. He didn't begin cleaning up around the burned house because he was sure the insurance adjuster would want to see that before he bothered the site. Besides, it was lower priority than getting his new home completed.

Tom went down to the river with his soap and a towel to bathe, then returned to his camp for a quick supper and some beer. He needed to go to town the next day for food and ice, as well as the materials. As soon as he got power to the old house he would purchase a stove and refrigerator so he could keep and prepare his food easier.

The first thing he did the next morning was make his phone calls. He called and requested the fire inspectors report, then called his insurance company. He had to explain why he was just then reporting the fire, almost six months after it occurred. They told him he would have to present proof he was out of the country when he filed for the policy reimbursement.

His last phone call was to the electric company. They told him he would have to run primary line part way from the existing meter to the cabin. They said the distance was too far from the cabin to the old house site for the meter loop to work efficiently, but that also meant he couldn't power the well from the cabin. The solution was to place the meter half-way between the two sites and run a meter loop from the meter pole to the well and from the meter pole to the cabin.

Tom spent rest of the day in town purchasing the materials he needed for the first part of his project. The wiring to get electricity from his old home site to the new one would be provided by the Rural Electric Co-op (he would have to pay for the meter loops, however). He also brought the conduit and wiring he would need for the interior of the house. He was not a qualified electrician by any means, but had helped his father and grandfather several times when they worked on wiring and construction, so knew how to do the work. Luckily, there were no county zoning regulations, so he didn't have to worry about licenses to do the work himself. The Lowes store from which he purchased the materials would deliver the remainder of the order the following day. Included in the order were his new appliances and plumbing, as well as the lumber he thought he would need. The windows and door he would have to frame out, because some of the window openings and the door opening weren't modern standard sizes. He wasn't pleased with the way that would look and work, but it was so much cheaper than custom sized and made windows that he chose that option.

He spent a week repairing the rafters and roof decking, then replacing the roofing. After that, he spent two more days wiring the interior of the cabin. When he was done, he had ten circuits in a breaker box and 200-amp service set up. He called the electric cooperative to send someone out to install the meter and the remainder of the primary wiring the next day. They would also bring and install the meter loops to hook the power to his well and new house.

Tom thought he was in heaven when the power came on two days later. He immediately plugged in his refrigerator to begin cooling. He had it and the cook stove sitting away from the walls, but plugged in so he could cook and keep food cold once again without ice. Now he could begin working on the house because he had power for his electric tools. Before he began finishing out the window holes and installing windows, however, he had to run the water line down from the old well. He also needed to get the plumbing installed in the floors so he could finish them. He intended to put a concrete floor in over the existing rough stone floor. He contacted a heating and air company to install his HVAC and ductwork. He splurged and purchased a central unit but planned to get the majority of his heat from a wood stove and his fireplace.

He used his old plow to dig the trench for his water line. It took a whole day to dig the trench using the plow and front-end loader but he got it done. There was a little shovel work, but not a lot. The next three days he installed his water lines in the house and from the well to the house. He didn't have the shower, sinks and toilets installed yet, so had to cap off some of the lines. He placed faucets on the others.

The next project was one he just could not do alone. He had to install drain lines, a septic tank and the drain field. He called the only person in the area that did that type of work and was told it would be three or four weeks before he could do the job. Tom remembered one of the men he was in the Guard with had a backhoe, and he called him. He had not returned to work full-time after his deployment and agreed to come help Tom finish the plumbing. It took them four more days to install the drains, septic system, tub and shower and bathroom sink. The kitchen sink was not installed because Tom didn't have cabinets yet. He couldn't do them until he had the new floor poured and installed.

By the time the rough-in plumbing and electrical was in, Tom was exhausted. After his buddy left, Tom decided to take a day off and just relax. He allowed himself to sleep in the next morning then sat outside in the shade enjoying his coffee. After the whole pot was drained he made a nice breakfast and ate it leisurely while he surveyed his accomplishments of the last several days. He was pleased with the progress, and truthfully, excited about the job. Even as tired and bone weary as he was from the accumulated stress of Afghanistan and his work after returning home, he was anxious to return to his project.

Just before noon, without thinking about it, Tom found himself beginning to work on framing out his first window. He snorted at himself when he realized his day off had not even lasted a whole morning, then he returned to work. He managed to get two window openings framed in that afternoon. Each window was a slightly different size, so he had to cut every board individually. To prevent having to paint or protect wood, he opted to purchase the plastic boards made from recycled plastics. He purchased a commercial sealer/caulk compound to fill in the crevices between the window frames and the slightly rough stone.

The next day Tom prepared his floor to take the concrete overlay. He ordered the concrete for delivery early the next morning and spent that day working the floor, getting it smooth and level. He collapsed onto the cot he purchased to sleep in before full dark that night and didn't wake until the sun hit him in the eyes the next morning.

Shortly after eight AM the next morning, his phone rang. The insurance adjuster wanted to come look at the burned-out house. Tom met him at the old house site almost two hours later. Tom was not happy with the adjuster's attitude when he arrived. The first thing out of his mouth after he introduced himself was, "Why did it take you six months to report this loss Mr. Porter? Were you hoping to let nature cover up evidence or something?"

Tom felt his anger rise and heroically held it in check. He had noticed a tendency toward rapid anger since his return home and didn't like that in himself. That was just another reason he thought he needed to retire when his length of service would allow it. His eyes flashed and jaw tightened before he answered, saying, "I thought I covered that with the lady I notified about the fire. I was in Afghanistan when the loss occurred. I reported it the day after I returned home so the length of time before the report was not of my choice."

Tom pulled some papers from his pocket and handed them to the man before he continued speaking. "Here is the documentation I was told you would need on the delay. There is a copy of my orders to active duty, a copy of the orders releasing me from active duty and a copy of the fire inspector's report. Now, do you need anything else?"

The adjustor took the papers and looked them over. He relaxed somewhat then asked, "Okay, that helps somewhat, but why didn't you report earlier? Are you trying to tell me no one told you your house burned until you returned home? I find that a little hard to believe."

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. I had my neighbors watching the place. They were in their mid-eighties. The man died in this yard the night of the fire from a heart attack. His wife didn't know how to contact me, even if she had been thinking clearly. She died several weeks after he did, so there was no one who could have told me about the fire."

"Humph. Okay. Well, I need to look around a while. Thanks."

Tom sat on a bucket in the shed while he watched the adjuster wander around the site. In about ten minutes the adjuster came up to Tom and said, "I've seen all I need to see. If I need anything else, I'll let you know. You should hear from the insurance company within a month or so."

A visibly upset Tom returned to his building. It took most of the rest of the day for him to calm down after the insinuation from the inspector. He did get three window openings completed that day, however. He only had one more window and the doors to frame out, then he could install them.

It took two days to install the windows and door, then Tom turned to the next phase of his project. He intended to leave the natural stone walls in the bathroom and kitchen, but had to seal them with a plastic-like sealer. After that was completed, he intended to build a frame inside the house and insulate the main part of the building slightly. Of course, he had to put in a couple interior walls, the ceiling and insulate the attic space, also. This took another ten days, but he now had R33 insulation in the attic and R6 in most of the walls. He covered the walls of the living area with an oak solid-wood paneling. Now it was time for the flooring, then installation of the cabinets and he would be done.

He had smoothed out the old stone floor with concrete after the plumbing had gone in, and now he wanted to lay flooring on it. The kitchen area got ceramic tile, as did the bathroom. The rest of the house got laminate flooring. Another week shot on the floors, but the job was nearly completed. He built in some oak bookcases and a desk in one corner of the living area, and built his own oak kitchen cabinets to match the paneling.

Mornings were somewhat brisk, as it was the first part of October. He still drank his morning coffee outside, but the time was coming when he would have to do it inside. He turned his attention to building a nice front porch on which to sit, then he had to guild a garage for his truck. He would delay enclosing the old basement until the spring, but he thought he could do the clean up on nice days during the fall and winter. Most of it could be done using his tractor.

When he received the insurance check on the burned house Tom was surprised. He had the structure insured for full replacement cost and there was 50% additional for contents. He received a check for almost $150,000. Hell, he made a profit on the fire! He had spent less than $45,000 on his new house and it wouldn't take nearly $10,000 to roof over the old basement and put garage doors on it. He would have over $90,000 to invest. With his saved salary from his year in Afghanistan, he had over $265,000 saved. If he received an average of 5% return on those funds he would make over $13,000 per year. He could retire when he got his twenty in with no problem if he continued growing a lot of his own food and didn't get sick. He could maybe find some part time work and do fine. Shit, the insurance check was more than he had paid for the land and house when he purchased it!

The next few months were unremarkable. Tom hated the holiday season with a passion. It was so lonely for him since he had no remaining family. He did make an effort to do a nice meal for the day, but hell, you can't cook a real holiday meal for one person. Well, you can, but there is a mountain of leftovers no matter how small an amount you prepare. No matter, Tom did it, then froze a lot of the prepared food. He always bought the smallest turkey he could find for Thanksgiving and had the store cut it in half so he could cook half for the holiday and half later in the year. He did up a nice ham for Christmas and had all the trimmings.

Guard was going well for him. To his surprise, when he returned, he was not reassigned out of the Battalion S-4 position. He wasn't sure if he liked that or not. He had really enjoyed being on the State S-4 staff, but a soldier does what he is ordered to do. He kept busy doing his job and made sure all his subordinate units had the best supply section possible. His time was winding down. He was down to slightly over a year until he could retire if he wanted to do so. His retirement year anniversary date was June 1. He would have a total of 19 years in on that date and be 36 years old. Where the hell had the time gone?

One of the problems with his new position was the decline in the number of days he could be gone on active duty orders. He had fewer units to supervise and less chance to pick up extra days. That not only affected his pay, it would affect his retirement when the time came. One beautiful day in early May, Tom was working in his garden (which he had expanded to almost twice the size as he had previously) when he heard an approaching buzzing, humming sound. He looked around and saw a black cloud heading his way rapidly.

Oh, shit, he thought. A swarm of bees. He took off at a run to get out of their pathway. As he was running, he thought how good fresh honey would taste. After he was out of the path, he turned and watched as they continued on their way. On a whim, he took off following them. They were headed toward his old house-site, so at least he could follow fairly easily as he could move down his driveway. When he got in sight of his well house he saw the bees landing on the house and milling around. Slowly, they began disappearing. He moved closer and watched as they entered a small hole in the outer wall. They appeared to have taken up residence in the walls of his well house. Perfect.

After watching the bees for a short time, Tom turned and headed for his barn and small shop therein. He spent the remainder of the afternoon working in the shop constructing a beehive. He was sure it wasn't the standard dimensions, but it would work for now. He wanted those bees and he darn sure didn't want them in his well house.

The next morning early, Tom jumped in his truck and headed for Chattanooga. When he got there, he hit his favorite little Bistro for a nice breakfast and coffee. While he waited on his meal, he surfed the net looking up bee supplies. He was shocked to see all the equipment he would need just for one or two hives if he wanted to do it right and not get stung. He almost backed out, but the thought of his own home-grown honey made him go ahead and make the purchases.

In addition to a helmet with screen mask that tied tightly to his shoulders, he purchased a smoker to calm the bees, a set of coveralls to help keep from getting stung and gloves. In addition, he let the man talk him into buying two hives and the frames for the bees to make the honey comb in. He bought wire to string the frames with and thin sections of comb to place in the frames on the wire so the bees would construct the comb neatly. He bought supers to extend the hives and frames for them, as well as tops for the hives, and even a couple of jars to mix sugar water in to feed the bees, if necessary. Crap, he could buy honey for the rest of his life for a lot less than this shit cost him. He even bought a couple of books on raising bees and the harvesting of honey.

When he got home, Tom looked around his place to decide where he wanted to put his hives. He only had one swarm, so the second hive he bought would be stored in his shop. He intended to use it for a pattern to make more hives if he ever decided to expand. He knew you could use honey for sweetener so he could stop purchasing sugar, but he wasn't sure he would do that. When he was taking the extra hive inside he looked at the mess he built the day before. He was disgusted at himself for wasting all that time. His effort at making a hive was awful. Hell, yesterday, he went off so half-cocked he hadn't even taken the time to look up standard dimensions on the internet! That was not like him at all. He was a planner, a thinker, yet yesterday he hadn't done either.