May 18, 2010

Slept until almost 8:30 and yep, still in a lot of pain! But, now it's time to get the chore list in order for the day! It's gonna be a short one!

The back deck has all the things back in place. We decided to clean up the "left for us" patio set and put it under the cabin. Less is more! And of course the darker pieces blend in more than that white stuff!

It nice to have all the leaves cleared from everywhere - it looks so clean and fresh!

We decided that today we would make a flower bed next to the stairs since this had the potential of being a "morning only" project - then there would be no more work; at least for this visit.

We built the box and fixed the messed up paver path and while Carlo went for soil, I cleared out the leaves and weeds from the other flower bed and from the Lilies of the Valley flower bed. In the new bed we planted four cinnamon ferns and some more gladiola bulbs. I also put some bulbs in the flower box we built a couple of years ago.

The rest of the bulbs were "planted" in a hollowed tree trunk - it will become my experiment! I planted some "baby pumpkin" pumpkin seeds under the trellis and Carlo hung a new water hose, fixed a broken water pipe, and fed all the new (and old) plants. He re-filled the bird feeders and we are finished...time for soaps and lunch!

I enjoyed a short nap and then we had a visit to see Paul and Betty. I loaded up the car so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning since I'll need to leave. After dinner we had a fire to clear up the mess that accumulated in the fire pit.

It sure has been a busy few days and although I am really "pooped", I couldn't be happier with the way everything turned out! Can't wait to get back to enjoy it!

May 17, 2010

So far this entire visit has been all work - and the work has all been staining.

Until today!

When I arrived, I was surprised to see the amount of leaves on the trees (and on the ground) and how high the grass had grown. Even my newly formed flower beds were overgrown.

I was also surprised at the amount of dandelions that seemed to pop up everywhere. Not a fan of weeds, but it is ground cover and the bright yellow is actually pretty nice!

We did a little cleaning up in preparation to seal the back deck since it was clean and we wanted to seal it before the moss got to it...so I found that some critters were living under the cover that was on the patio table and they tore it up and made a mess and ultimately trashed an otherwise quite nice table cloth!

Carlo has been filling the bird feeders, but outside of hearing them, we haven't really seen any. The only wildlife helping themselves to the morsels have been chipmunks - and quite possibly a lone chipmunk! Even the shepherd hooks didn't keep this frisky fella from getting to the feeders; and he has been fun to watch as he romped all over the back deck.

Time for breakfast so the staining can commence - AGAIN!

Still another busy day, but I did find time to snap a bunch of photos.

We sealed the back deck and it took four and a half gallons of waterproofing. We went with the Cabots - clear. The sealing took several hours and we gave it two coats. We actually ran out of this as well...but managed to cover the parts that would be most affected by the weather.

I then worked at clearing out the flower bed and rake a ton of leaves. A ton? Well, it sure could have been a ton and if it weren't a ton, then there were a gazzillion leaves. Yep, a gazzillion!

While I raked a gazzillion leaves, Carlo moved the grass and by 7:30 pm we had really spruced things up.

Some minor set backs of the day - not limited to but including the following:

* The excitement of getting a chance to watch my soaps...plural, yes. Now I also watch OLTL (One Life to Live). This was thwarted by the loud boom noise. I asked Carlo what happened and he told me the "storybook" tree not only snapped and fell, but it took out the power line. He said there was some arcing and the pole also bent a bit followed by a loud "pop" of the transformer. Now, the funny thing about this event is that this occurred at 1:10 pm and at 2:05 the tree was off the lines and the power was restored. And I was comfortably tuning in to GH. Now that's what I call service! Too bad the tree is now another chore on our list along with all the other trees that have recently fallen.

* While Carlo was cutting the grass, one of the blades to the tractor broke and of course the part is out of stock. He was able to cut the front, the immediate back and some by the river. In between, the jungle lives on! But due to the broken blade, he was cutting with a 24" sweep rather than a 48".

Don't think we weren't tired, but Carlo managed to get in a little one-person kickball! Hey! Get back to work!!!

May 16, 2010

Another early morning and time to get back to the front porch. I was a bit too busy to take a lot of photos, but did manage to snap out a couple!

After using almost all of the three gallons of stain, Carlo went for two more while I got back to the rails with the mere pint of stain that was left over from yesterday. Today we put in about six hours of staining and we are STILL not finished. We decided to wait on finishing the floor portion of the porch since all the work is not quite finished.

Here is the new door to the area that will soon be screened!

And if you're sitting in the screened porch at night, we have two of these lovely lights so you're not in the dark!

Another day of being very sore and extremely tired, but we stopped at a reasonable time and of course, there is even more work waiting for us to tackle tomorrow!

May 15, 2010

We were u p bright and early and made our first stop at Norm's. What's a meal out if not breakfast at Norm's?! Then we were off to Do-It-Best for deck stain. We chose Chestnut Brown.

This color is darker than I normally would be drawn to, but it matches the existing brown coloring already on the cabin and it certainly allows for the cabin to blend into its surroundings, rather than stick out like a sore thumb. We bought three gallons and a sprayer. Once back and with the work underway, we worked for nearly eight hours - with breaks for lunch, re-hydrating and a couple of short neighbor visits.

Carlo reaching the high stuff!

The porch - this will be screened in and we have a rug for the floor.

The three gallons posing above the artwork!

Half way done!

We were only half way finished with the rails when we stopped for the night. We grilled burgers at 8:30 pm and I would like to add that as tired as we were, we weren't too tired to eat them - and they were d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!

Time for a good night of rest so there is energy to finish staining the deck in the morning!

May 14, 2010

Wow, I can hardly believe it's been "over" an entire month since I've been able to visit O'Wich.

We traveled separately since Carlo's vacation was including a trip to the U.P. for fishing. I got a head start - new route (thanks to construction) and a needed stop for groceries and actually saved time in the end! We didn't do much once we had both arrived, it was just nice to get away from the confusion of real life; if only for a couple of days...and considering the amount of work that was laid before us - is it really considered relaxation? The answer: YES!