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!