November 20 through November 23, 2013

An unexpected, somewhat necessary sort of impulse buy, had Carlo travel to O'Wich for 4 days. He once again, while on his vacation, went to wait for an appliance delivery. Last time was in May of 2012 when he went to wait for Sears to deliver a much needed refrigerator and this year he went to wait for a new electric stove. We decided to replace the unit since the oven didn't work (unless you consider storage) and only one burner could be counted on. We opted for the standard 30" model since it was 1/3 of the cost of the 20" that we were replacing. Not that we go there to cook, but now we will actually be able to cook a meal in a real oven and can get ride of the toaster oven - that really didn't work well!

Carlo arrived on Wednesday after he picked up his version of cabin supplies. Home Depot's automated service left a message that the delivery could be expected on Thursday between 9:00 and 1:00. Sometime before the stove was delivered and obviously after he arrived, Carlo pulled the old stove out, moved the cabinet out, moved the fridge across the room and moved the microwave/light/candy jar/cup storage shelf . We are going to end up burning the cabinet but until then, it is where the fridge was - behind the door. Home Depot arrived around 12:30 and safety mounted the unit to avoid tipping...the story that Carlo was told was that a child climbed onto an open oven and it tipped onto the child (the outcome was not a good one).
Sounds a little crazy to me but our stove will not be the one tipping the next time the guy tells the story!

GOOD-BYE OLD STOVE!

CABINET BEHIND DOOR

 

FRIDGE AND SHELF MOVED

NEW STOVE!

Carlo stayed until Saturday and before he left he visited with the neighbors at 10:00 in the morning, when he was invited down for a beer. He stayed for a couple of hours. Or was it a couple of beers???
He said during his time at O'Wich he didn't have any visitors, except the ever intrusive, ever bothersome red squirrel, who may be living under our bedroom - or visiting other critters that may be living there...certainly something that needs to be investigated! He claims to have done nothing other than enjoy his few days of vacation relaxing, watching TV, bringing in fire wood and not sleeping well. (What else is there to do there? Oh, I know, plug the fridge into the outlet IN the kitchen!)
I am happy he moved the shelf and the fridge and from the pictures, I know I will like the new layout! Hopefully within the next couple of years the kitchen will be redone to get rid of the remaining cabinets. We will have to put something between the stove and the fridge temporarily - so I am off to design something functional!

November 8 through November 11, 2013

Friday November 8

Yep, yep...the blog is certainly back...two visits in a row - woot woot! We left on Friday at 9:30 am for our weekend. It was later than we planned, but we were well on our way. Since I-90 is still undergoing construction for the last 60 or so miles of Illinois, we continue to travel on I-88 - where the daytime construction is minimal. We actually didn't deal with much traffic and the ride seemed to go by rather quickly. We drove straight through to the Iron Skillet {slash} Petro WITH A truck stop and arrived there about 12:15. They reorganized their Halloween decor to a fall theme! I think they just took down the bats and scary witches!

  

Carlo mentioned that he could smell Subway...and sure enough, that's there too! Iron Skillet {slash} Petro WITH A truck stop {slash} Subway. I'd like to point out there is also a DQ in the building!!! Iron Skillet {slash} Petro WITH A truck stop {slash} Subway {slash} DQ - truly a one stop place to shop!



For lunch I had the breaded pork tenderloin and Carlo had the meat loaf. With our soups and salads, it was a yummy meal! After lunch I shopped at Walmart for things we needed for O'Wich and for a few things I needed for home. Carlo filled up the gas tank while he waited for me - he claims 50 minutes...but I didn't notice - it didn't seem long at all! We arrived to our leave covered O'Wich about 2:30 pm, unloaded the truck, started a fire and put everything away.

   

It was a good feeling to know that we were settled in for the rest of the day and didn't need to go back out. Now to scare the chill away! I vacuumed up some opossum playing flies before they could thaw out and take flight...because I really hate flies! I swept the leaves of the front porch and back deck and put out some more pumpkins and Carlo brought in some fire wood to keep the stove burning for the night.

  



Since we're back to blogging...gotta snap some pictures! We took a lot of them...we'll just go with this one!














By 6:00 pm I was nodding off - which I pretty much expected. Carlo was relegated to the recliner and sometime during the evening he suggested I go to bed - no telling me twice! I think he just wanted the couch back!!!



Saturday November 9

At 1:30 am I was up, wide awake and hungry. Missing meals is an O'Wich trend just as much as napping or sleeping is! I decided on a sandwich and watched TV. At 4:30 am the chill was once again on its way out, since Carlo was now awake and got the stove going. I just love this place! After the sun came up, Carlo spotted a deer in the front...I don't know how he spots these things...to me, they just blend in with everything else! If I were a hunter, these deer would be so safe with me!



After catching up with the news and some HGTV, I started breakfast while Carlo ran to pick up the eggs I forgot. We had sausage and waffles - I am so excited that I brought the waffle maker along.

  

After breakfast we hung the new bedroom blinds and replaced a broken switch plate cover, cleaned up the kitchen and got the crock pot of chili started.

 




Carlo blew the leaves from the driveway and now that the morning was over, Garry arrived and lunch was ready and served promptly at noon. After our tasty, mild, spice it up yourself chili, we visited with Garry and discussed our next project for the spring. So exciting! The only hint I will give you will be this one photo...

The windy afternoon kept us from working outside and the leaves were accumulating again on the back deck. Since the leaves were still falling and it was the leaves we were planning on cleaning up we decided to push this chore off until Sunday. We then opted for watching TV and napping, which we did without any problems until abut 7:00 pm when - believe it or not - it was time to eat! Salami sandwiches for everyone! Just more of nothing and TV until it was actually time to go to bed...although the naps were a nice addition to our restful afternoon.

Sunday November 10

After a lot of sleep during all of Saturday, I was up by 6:00 am - so far, no deer around...which doesn't mean they're not there, I just haven't seen any! We had a crazy busy morning that by 11:30 am was done. During the morning hours, we blew and swept at least three g-a-z-i-l-l-i-o-n leaves in over three hours. For you math officiados that equates to about one g-a-z-i-l-l-i-o-n leaves per hour. All this means to me it that we have too many trees! Once we were done with our chore, we sat outside and rested while warming up at the fire pit. 

This was a good day for this chore...the sun had come out - it was 45 degrees - the gusty winds stopped and the rain is not expected until evening. Carlo didn't show any interest in any more photos - although this was discussed at great length - so I had to take some without him. Again, there were lots of photos, but I'll just go with these - after a hard morning of labor and one of me looking cool with my protective eye wear!

 

After lunch, today it was hot dogs and chips, we took it easy until we left to visit with Betty since we didn't see her our last few trips. From there we drove to Culver's and picked up dinner. Our restful weekend was coming to an end. 

We didn't really do much (aside from moving the leaves) but since this weekend was suppose to be a Morgan, Rose, Val, JT, Carlo and Cindy weekend we were okay with just relaxing. Sadly, our guests couldn't visit and we truly missed spending time with them. Hopefully, good health will prevail for our next planned get-together - which I hope is not too far around the corner!

We hit the hay by 9:00 pm - those leaves kicked our butts and all I can wish for is that the winds stay away so the leaves stay away! But it sure did look nice when we were done!

  

Monday November 11

Another early morning - it rained during the night - snow is in the forecast but it looks like we are going to miss it. It's sort of disappointing because every year we have been at O'Wich for the first dusting of snow. Carlo said it was snowing, but it was just fluffy, colorless rain when it got down to my height! We decided to eat our medley of leftovers before hitting the road, which made for a lighter cooler and less to transport home. Time to go. Keeping my fingers crossed that we make it back before the end of the year for a final visit of 2013 - and maybe some, discussed at great length, pictures!!!

October 24, 2013

Again, we are not at O'Wich, but Garry advised they cut up some downed trees that were on the property for us, fixed the tractor and cut the grass. This time he only sent pictures of the broken bolts from the tractor. I'll have to wait until my visit in November to see the property in its spruced up glory!

 

October 20 through October 21, 2013

Karen made the overnight trip with me, wearing this bright red sweatshirt, to straighten up after the construction. We had a great ride and the traffic was excellent - but it was a Sunday morning and the sun wasn't even up! We drove through to the new 'old' Let's Eat - now it's called 'Cup O' Coffee' or something along those lines. Karen had a waffle and 5 mini cups of coffee - aka an entire pot of coffee...let's just say she WAS wired! I had the pancakes and we both enjoyed our meals. 

                                 
                                          And yes...we both love butter! 

From there we stopped at the Dollar Store. Karen got a giant container of Comet and acted like it was the best souvenir anyone could ever find! Then we went to Pierce for a couple of things and Karen wanted some ice...more on that later! We were finally done with errands and headed to O'Wich. The road was a mess in several other spots - pretty much anywhere that the neighboring property has an access gate. The driveway at O'Wich was covered with fallen leaves of a wide range of color and it actually looked very pretty. Because it had been raining and the ground was wet, I knew we wouldn't be blowing any leaves or cleaning out the flower beds - which was not a problem since the inside is what the trip was all about. 

After assessing the inside, we kicked up the heat and the flies came to life! It's was disgusting! But we swatted them...all of them! We got our game plan on and tag teamed the construction mess. We vacuumed - dusted - washed windows (there were lots of dead fly gunk on them!) Then we dusted some more, did the rest of the windows and re-vacuumed. Now that everything was clean it was time to put the bedroom back together. It looked great. Heck, the whole place looked great once everything was in its place. 

     

We work very well together. It helps having a couple of Listermann girls that are pretty anal and like to clean! We measured the new windows for blinds and possibly new curtains and before we knew it the time was later than we thought. It was 5:00 pm and we both sank into the furniture - pretty exhausted and a bit achy. All that was left was to straighten up the back deck and hit the laundry mat. We were so tired that we opted to just snack rather than go out for dinner - but we were DONE for the night! 

On Monday, after a great night of sleep, I didn't even want to get up. Because we didn't have dinner - seems to be a pattern at O'Wich with missing meals - we were starving. We ended up eating hot dogs and avocado salad for an early breakfast because I forgot to buy milk for the cereal...I was busy remembering to get ice - but more on that later. We mulled over our plans for the day and then I cleaned up the debris outside and by the fire pit. I moved all the de-struction parts and put them all together by the tree so they could be picked up within the next couple of weeks. Karen swept the front porch and I swept up the back. We tried to move the old doors but they were too heavy and the deck was too wet from all the rain - so they stayed. 

 

Now that it was close to 1:00 pm, we headed out for lunch at Culver's and then went to the laundry mat where things got more comical with each passing minute. 




From getting all the bedding into three machines - then being offered one gigantic machine, a 30 pounder for $5, a savings of close to $2 - to being explained how the machine works, which was a problem as the two of us just stared at the machine and wondered why it just wasn't working. Figures, my laundry card didn't have enough funds on it. Then some woman told us we "needed keepers". Obviously this woman was not "getting us"!!! Karen made friends with a young couple and their 9 month old daughter, Charli Ray and shared child rearing advice with them. I'm not sure the advice was welcomed! It'll just be my luck that I run into these people when I least expect it. But they were super nice as was the other clothes-washer-person who showed me how to work the dryer and showed me pictures of his son. Awkward...yep, just a bit awkward. Karen ducked from all the photo opportunities, although I think the 'zookeeper' really did want to be in a picture! I'm sorry I didn't get that shot! Seriously! Sorry! 

After a gas fill up, we stopped at Pierce to replenish the fridge of beverages and the candy jar of treats. We stopped at Tractor Supply and on my in I got suckered in to buying popcorn from a cute little Tiger Cub. When I asked him how much, he said, "I have popcorn for $50." I replied, "Find me something for $10 and you will have yourself a deal." Of course, I paid $10 for a very decorative tin of caramel corn! When we got back to O'Wich we carried in the stuff we bought…I told Karen, holding up the anti-freeze, “don’t confuse this” and holding up the milk, “for this”. Then thinking that was funny I told her, holding up the popcorn, “and don’t confuse this” and holding up the mouse bait, “for this”. Actually it was funny! She even laughed, mentioning any confusion of those items "would not be good!" I made the bed with my freshly laundered bedding, finished some last minute organizing, baited for mice, checked the fuel - still at 60% - and we rested for our departure. It was great to have been able to clean up before my next visit, spend time with Karen and drive her nuts with taking pictures. And there were many pictures taken! Here are the ones that turned out the best.

  

Oh, by the way, she never used any ice! 

I took an after shot of the front and back of the cabin from the outside before we packed it all up.

  

We headed out with our packed cooler of the groceries I needed for home, a loaded Tahoe, sore muscles and locked up cabin at about 6:00 pm. We drove to the Pine Cone for dinner and brought back cheesecake and brownies as well as our dinner left-overs. We hit so much roadwork on the way home it was scary. Our I88 East ramp was closed and we were driving into the abyss when luckily Karen spotted another ramp that took us back toward the I88 East ramp that we needed - yep, with her one good eye! Once on the right road things were fine except for the mega amounts of road work - but we pulled up to her house just minutes past 10:00 pm and we were right on schedule! 

I am looking forward to my next visit and the next time she can find time to join me!