August 23 through August 26, 2014

Saturday:

Surprisingly, we were in the truck and on our way before 9:00 - not much before, but before! Carlo was coming off of a 12-hour shift and me an 8 so I was the one the got to drive while he tried to rest along the way, There were no stops until we got to Tamarack, which was just after noon. We had breaded mushrooms, burgers and fries. It was delish! After lunch, Carlo dropped me off at the grocery store. We decided to skip the Taste of Portage this year due to the heat, humidity and the fact that we were exhausted. We got to O'Wich with our groceries and other crap we brought from home. We were happy our rockers were still there and that everything looked normal. Once unloaded and inside, Carlo killed off a very populated wasp nest and I started cooking.

 

First on my chore list was potato salad.



I actually remembered my camera this trip with all intent of using it - but so far, things are off to a slow photo start. By the time the salad was done, it was 4:00 and well past my bedtime. I ended up calling it a day. Zzz!


Sunday:

I was up at 1:00 am and having missed dinner, I had some pasta that I brought from home.



Then it was time to get back to my cooking chore list. I got the sloppy joe's started in the crock pot and made a banana cream pie - having forgotten the mixer and or the whisk, I had to shake the pudding pie filling in the red bowl. What a workout! Now this is seriously roughing it!!! The crust is full of bananas and the cream is banana and vanilla pudding pie fill mixed together - with  milk, of course. Right before we eat it, I will add the whipped cream and some slivered almonds. Move over Pioneer Woman - the O'Wich Chef is in the house! (pronounced howwwwse).

 

Once Carlo was up, mainly because I made too much noise, we had egg sandwiches for breakfast. We certainly have different opinions of an egg sandwich...mine with onions and his with mayo :/

 


I dusted up the floors while Carlo ran to the store for gas, iced tea and bird seed.

Our guests arrived at 12:45 and we enjoyed a nice bottle of Peach Moscato while we visited on the porch - until lunch was ready.

 

We enjoyed my Famous 8th grade Home-Ec Sloppy Joe's - which Carlo says "are not famous but they are delightful." He is such a pain in the ass! We had the homemade potato salad - no celery - and store bought coleslaw. Dessert followed and I served up my famous...yes famous banana cream pie. I used real whipped cream and added almonds. Next time, I'll stick to the original famous recipe and use cool whip! It was good but the whipped cream deflated in the humidity.



Bernie and Stella stayed until about 5:15 and after cleaning up the kitchen I was pretty tired. I fell asleep in the recliner while Carlo watched TV until 11:00 and then I was wide awake and he was tired!

I found, we actually saw...I didn't go out on to the porch, a bat playing possum...or dead. I think dead. He may have been struck by the ceiling fan and may have been rendered unconscious...but I am still going with dead. The porch was full of moths and I think the moths may have been laughing at the bat. All I know it that I will wait until morning to see if the bat moved...if not...DEAD!

Monday:

We were up about 6:00 due to a power outage. This was on the early side since I didn't go to bed until 2:00. The weather warning were arriving and just as I finished reading one that came to my phone the storms hit us hard! The trees were swaying from side to side and crackling with each gust. The rain came down in buckets and the thunder was pretty close. 

Two hours later it was still raining, although more soothing. The thunder and lightning continued in the distance and it still was pretty dark. 

Unable to cook breakfast due to the stove not working - it's electric too - I opted for a pretty tasty morning snack as I enjoyed sitting on the back porch watching and listening to the storm. 

And by the way - the bat was DEAD. I swept him out of the porch onto the deck. 

It's suppose to be 91 degrees, hot and humid so we are crossing our fingers that this outage is short lived.

I was able to get the after photos of the under addition job that was done last week. We had the insulation replaced and wood placed over it so the critters stay out. 

Here's the before and after:

 

 

                                                                                  

GRID DOWN - GRID DOWN - GRID DOWN!!!

We are now over 4 hours without power. The generator is now running, after evicting the mouse house from all the nooks and crannies of the engine, for a fan and the fridge and for the pump, when the need arises! This has been quite the weekend of roughing it for sure! Ha ha!

  

At least when I called the power company, the third time, I was able to actually speak to someone - who basically said, yes - she knows the power is out and no - she doesn't know when it will come back on! Tick-tock. 

Looks like scrambled eggs are off the menu and our wood moving chore is off the list. About 11:30 a power company drove by. Hopefully they will check on  us before they drive by again...tick-tock.

At 12:30 we aren't sure where the truck went to but we are still roughing it.

Third gas refill to the generator and now it's GIRL DOWN! I pulled something in my right shoulder and heard a snap and the pain is up to my ear. That damn generator also has MAN DOWN...as Carlo hurt himself! Still no power!

At 2:15 the power was back on...yea!!!! Too bad we now are hurting from our injuries. The rest of the day was pretty lazy and we ended up with hot dogs for dinner and watched TV until midnight. I guess we depend more on electricity that one would think!

Tuesday:

It was another early morning awake for me due to the shoulder pain and not being able to get comfortable, let alone sleep. I started getting things ready for the ride home. We decided to leave at 5:30 in the morning to see if we could get home earlier since Carlo had to start work at 6:00 in the evening. We hit some drizzle along the way and a lot of clouds. The ride felt long since Carlo was not feeling well and he tried to sleep and couldn't find a way to rest comfortably. But we made it and are looking forward to our next trip!!!