June 21, 2011

We got up with the alarm which also reminded us it was our day to go home.

Carlo got the post hole digger from its storage and then he inflated the tires to the yard cart - along with all of his other departure day chores. I completed my departure chore list and we got on the road a bit later than usual.


How did he get in there???

We stopped for a quick bite and while pulling through the drive-thru of BK, we saw something we thought to be 'udderly' amusing...a family - including their dog - posing with the cow statue outside a cheese store!



We decided to summarize our weekend with a list of words - it started with the question; "what four words, starting with the letter "S", best summarizes the weekend?" We far surpassed those four words and here's what we came up with (in no particular order): sweated, stained, slept, shit, sealed, showered, shivered, sang songs, snapped, sneered, snored, sprayed, slaved, socialized, supervised, snickered, simple-greened, smiled (barely), shopped, spent, swore, sawed, story-told, set a fire, snacked, setup screen porch, squeegeed, shouted, sketched, swatted, slumbered, stormed, and snoozed. Then we added stale saltines, some silliness, sling-shot, sob stories, smell of smoke, sweltering, stolen statue, step stool, single-handedly, socket set, soaked socks, summer solstice, and sub-compact speeding SUV. We had no salami, salamander, squid, salmon, sake, squirrels, sirens or snow. And we still do not have the new septic or sink in the bathroom!

June 20, 2011

For some crazy reason, Carlo cannot sleep past 5 am. and then he wants to wake me up...great, now we're both up, he's complaining how tired he is and I certainly could have slept much later!
We decided to snack on a scoop of ice cream - ah, just like eating McDonalds as an appetizer!
Shortly after our snack we decided to work on a craft project. It was an attempt to salvage a broken wind chime that a nightly visiting raccoon seems to have broken. This raccoon has broken two bulbs on the deck lighting and a hummingbird feeder. Well anyway, this craft project did not go well, but we did save the butterfly and chucked the chimes. The butterfly has found a new home on the new porch!



We needed to go to Menards and stopped at the Log Cabin Restaurant for breakfast. It was a nice change and very tasty.
Our trip to Menards was to check on the fan for the porch - not in - (still on back order) and to pick up the tile to finish the bathroom and the kitchen.



We also picked up new handles for the bathroom and utility room doors and I am excited about them because they will match the faucet!



When Carlo pulled the old knob off the door, he found an acorn between the knobs. Now we're wondering how did that get in there...person or critter??? If critter, how did they do this???!!!!





Once everything was cleaned up - including our returned gnome - I took a last minute picture of the porch and the gnome placed in his new home. Let's hope any future floods do not affect the chance of him missing again!!!




At 3:30 we visited with Betty before going to Tractor Supply for a yard cart and some decor for the porch.





Bud's cooked us a great pizza for dinner and then it was back for a fire and putting the yard cart together.



Carlo: "It's like building a plane in a basement." Cindy: "or a ship in a bottle." How are we gonna get this thing out of here?!!!

June 19, 2011

I am so excited that the screen porch is finished, especially since it's Father's Day and it was my Dad that had suggested we do this - Happy Father's Day!!!




My Dad June 2007

I woke up by 7:00, thinking it was 9 and was informed that I slept through one hell of a storm. Carlo said the weather radio sounded twice and there was quite a bit of thunder and lightning. I was wiped out and never heard a peep! The only indication of storms that I noticed was the large amount of water in the low spots of the driveway - and there were many. It was raining pretty hard when I got up and the porch was dry!!! My goal for the day changed a bit due to the weather - but I hope to get some staining done and clean the furniture.

On our way to Norm's we spotted a deer in the field. Sometimes you get lucky and they want to pose!



Norm's was packed and some people waited 45 minutes for their orders. From there we went to Do-It Best for a couple of things and we were back by 10:30. Garry stopped by to pick up a few things and after he left we entered the Labor Zone. Carlo sealed the outside of the A/C while I stained. He needed to get the highest peak for me since ladders and I seem to have issues. There was more to stain than originally thought and as I continued to stain, Carlo framed the inside of the A/C. When he was done with that, he pulled out the patio set and power washed it since we last seen it soaking in the flood waters - and I continued to stain! Before we knew it the time was almost 6:00 pm, the back deck was clean, the screen porch was set up and we were getting ready to go to LaTolteca!




We thought there might be a mariachi band but all we found were these singing peppers!!! This place has the most colorful decor - this is the back of a chair and there are not many duplicates...and they have a lot of chairs!


At 10:00 pm our night was over and we were off to bed. We were happy to have accomplished so much and I am happier that Carlo tackled my To-Do list when he was done with his!!!

June 18, 2011

Prior to our leaving, we loaded up the air conditioner, porch rug and bathroom counter top. After our exit we stopped for gas, milk and creamer and then went for lunch! Tamarack is a great place to get a burger!!!

The mosquitoes greeted our arrival - well it was more like they were having a picnic and we showed up on the menu!

The porch was finished when we got in. The lighting was on and it looked amazing. We have a little touch up to do and hopefully that will be tomorrow.



We decided to bring the A/C unit from home for several reasons...it wasn't being used; it's newer; it looks better; it's quieter and it's more energy efficient. I had measured both the old and the new units and came up with the same measurements every time. Unfortunately, once the old unit came out of the wall, the new one did not fit. Someone measured wrong! So with some circular saw action, a little chiseling, a lot of sweat and lots of muscle, Carlo got the case installed - slid the unit in and turned it on...Viola! Instant cooling gratification! So the challenges of the day were:
a. struggled with the A/C
b. struggled with the A/C and
c. struggled with the A/C


Out with the old and in with the new!!!
I was reminded of all the heavy lifting I assisted with while I reminded the real heavy lifter of all his cranium contributions! (sarcastic!)

We skipped dinner except for several attempts that involved empty jars and stale crackers. We were happy to hit the hay by 9:00 pm...and we were cool!!!

June 13, 2011

Vacation Summary:

* Vacation is over

* My To-Do List is TOTALLY incomplete - I didn't finish one project that I had planned and it was all because I was otherwise interrupted but only by jobs that would be on tomorrows To-Do List!
* Carlo - as always - did way more than me in one third of the time that I was at O'Wich for. He 1. stained 2. cut grass 3. trimmed grass 4. put up a light fixture 5. removed the red fireplace 6. removed the z-brick walls 7. removed the slate base 8. vacuumed after the removal 9. bagged up the debris 10. put the fireplace at the side of the road 11. stained some more 12. planted two pine saplings 13. fixed the dead bolt lock 14. fixed the satellite 15. fixed the line trimmer 16. fogged 17. fed the birds 18. cleaned the gutters 19. repaired the siding 20. temp fix on the back gutter 21. washed the deck 22. met with the propane guy 23. met with the septic sucker guy 24. took the time to run this list down for me 25. and there's a chance I may have forgotten something...if so...there may be an amendment to this post!

Hey, but who's counting???!!!

June 12, 2011

This is the end of my vacation and I slept in until 9:00. This was the first day I was able to sleep in during my entire vacation…it was great! Carlo decided to stain some of the higher parts of the porch. Here he is playing the role of the King of the Stain!!! I was actually the Queen of the Stain but the servants weren't around to capture all of my hard work!

He even took a stain break to clear out the gutters which were loaded with mud and leaves and who knows what else. As for the staining, he finished up what I could not reach and I helped with the reachable pieces. Now all wood of the chestnut color should be done. Bernie is supposed to do the rest of the Milkweed, but we won’t know for sure until next Saturday.

To end our work afternoon we planted two pine tree saplings that Jackie brought us last week. Happy O’Wich Arbor Day! Thanks Jackie!


In between the start and end of our day, we did a lot of cleaning and gathered a lot of trash to take home. The rest of the trash went into the fire pit for another load of crap to burn!


By 3:30 we were done working and even prepped a couple of snacks for our guests, Steve and Kathy, who were coming for a visit and a game of Apples to Apples! Their visit lasted until after 10:00 and we had a lot of fun!!!

June 11, 2011

We ended up having a very productive day that started with fogging, staining all the screen trim and removing the red capsule wood burner that we called a fireplace.


We put the fireplace at the edge of the road with a “FREE” sign on it and within 15 minutes our neighbor’s “JUNK-DAR” was honing in on it. Up he pulls with his 4-wheeler and trailer in tow just as I was setting out the fireplace tools to go with it. It was like Christmas morning and he was beside himself to be the proud owner of a re-purposed piece of crap that we would have had to pay to unload at the dump! Carlo helped him since it took two of us to get it out of the cabin and he didn’t want this old guy to get hurt while he was on our property! Then the neighbor complained that one of the tools was broken – Seriously? Screw it back on, the flipping thing was FREE!

Carlo set up a “gutter joke” for when the guys return…I hope they realize it is a joke!

This set up actually did a great job diverting water from the deck during the rain storm! Tomorrow we have a mess to clean – old base and walls and plan to take it home. Wonder how many minutes it will be in the alley before a “JUNK-DAR” activates!

The living room looks huge with the corner cleared out and now another chore has been bumped up on the never ending TO-DO List! Stoning the wall!




We tried a new restaurant for dinner – Club 23. It was recommended to us several years ago but we never found it because we went the wrong way and then after 45 minutes we gave up. We found it today barely 20 minutes from O’Wich and right down 23 of The Cove. Who knew?! It was good and another place has been added to our keeper list! A couple of naps while watching TV and the night was officially over!

June 10, 2011

I woke up with alarm this morning at 6:30. Unbeknownst to me, it rained quite a bit last night – at least that’s what the rain filled ground ruts are indicting! The sky is cloudy and gloomy and I hope the sun decides to come out…it’s a little too chilly for me for 1/3 of the way into the month of June!

I took a shower and enjoyed a relaxing cup of coffee before I fogged for the mosquitoes. Work didn’t start until 9:00 and from the looks of the stuff being unloaded, it looks like Garry and Bernie started their morning off at Home Depot! Up on the roof they went and pulled out the chimney so they could shingle the roof properly.

Now to get the propane shut off and this space capsule out of here!

The screen door is here and its new hardware, the roof edging is on, and the construction continues…”No, it’s not for evidentiary purposes, it’s a chronicle of events. Just don't fall off the roof!”


I am not glad to see that the electrical problem lives on…the ceiling fan box and it’s wiring went up without any problems (because it isn’t connected to anything – just yet).

Then down comes the some of the siding, the discovery of different colored wires and the words “hot wire” being spoken way too many times!


If this was a drinking game we’d all be tanked!!! There is a lot of prying of the siding noises taking place in an effort to fix the electrical wiring. So many that I am not even going to attempt to peek at what’s going on. From the sounds of it, I don’t want to see it!!! Another unwanted phrase being heard (to add to the list) is; “I don’t know about this, I am not an electrician.” Pour me another – I think I can almost see the North Pole from my porch!!! The funny thing about peeking at things you really do not want to see is that once you peek you cannot take it back. I should not have peeked – all the siding was down to get to a hole to feed the wire to a switch. Maybe my faith has returned now that there are high fives flying, a little laughter and the phrase; “I think you’ve got it.” (sigh of relief)

So the new lights were installed by both back doors and the replacements surely beat the old Titanic lights, which are soon to be garbage! I'm sure you can tell...but the old lights are the gold ones!!!

Carlo showed up with lunch and after we ate, Garry and Bernie ripped down the screen moulding prior to calling it a day. And just to think of it…I get to stain it all!!!