One year ago today was my last day of federal service. I just have to stop and let that soak in for a bit. We haven't slowed down one bit. I had a mani/pedi a few days ago. The lady asked me if was coming from work. I said no, actually I was retired. Then she asked how long and I said almost a year. Then she asked "Are you bored yet?" I almost laughed -- Not even close!
Our house is coming along and today we had another reason to celebrate. We finally got all the vinyl up! We went to Chaudoir's Dock for a celebratory beverage. We met Readd when I spilled my drink all over the table. (Is that alcohol abuse?) He is a young kid with construction skills. He's tending bar at Chaudoir's and has agreed to work with Justin to get more of our tasks complete. When his shift was complete we walked back to our house together and developed a plan for the kitchen sink and the mirror in the bathroom. More to come!
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Wednesday, 28 June; Brussels
Today was our four year anniversary. Four years ago today, Justin and I met in Chicago. What a ride! We are planning to go back next year -- back to the scene of the crime, so to speak.
I got up early and taped off the countertop and started scraping up adhesive. Yes, we are STILL working on that. It seems that where the adhesive was first poured it is stuck with the intent that it will be there forever. Most of the rest chips up with a substantial amount of elbow grease.
Strawberry season is alive and well in Wisconsin and while we are passing on the opportunity to go and pick our own at any of the local farms, we did buy some AND we have some growing in our own yard.
Went into town for a break and to celebrate our anniversary.
We went to a 9:30pm showing of Wonder Woman. Great escape for a few hours.
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| The old range is outside and listed on Craig's list as "free to a good home" |
After brunch at April's we scraped and we and scraped. Sexy? Not sexy? This is not sexy.
For a break I wrapped up the vinyl that we'd thrown out the back door. Sitting out there with the sink, the range, etc... we don't need to really look like trailer trash. All bundled up it is now ready for the trash on Monday.
Strawberry season is alive and well in Wisconsin and while we are passing on the opportunity to go and pick our own at any of the local farms, we did buy some AND we have some growing in our own yard. We went to a 9:30pm showing of Wonder Woman. Great escape for a few hours.
Tuesday, 27 June: Little Suamico
Sailboat races are held each Tuesday night during the summer at Wind Jammers Sailing Club. Justin volunteered for both of us to work on the committee boat. The committee boat is responsible for setting the course, monitoring the race and marking finish times. Justin's hope was that if he was around, he'd get picked up to sub on one of the racing boats. Kim and Pat were the other two guys on the committee boat. At first it was nice just to be out on the water and, truth be told, it was a welcome break from the work at home.
We didn't go last week since Erich and Holly were in town visiting. Justin asked Dave Gay to sub for us on the committee boat. After that experience, Dave said he'd never go again. An error was made with regard to the starting sequence for the three fleets and, apparently, it got ugly. There is no money and precious little glory attached to these races, but emotions run high especially when the committee boat makes an unpopular judgment call or an error. Thankfully, we are on the water and the skies are clear.
Terry cooks dinner each week for these 60 or so racers. Her menu includes burgers, brats, sometimes, chicken breasts or pulled pork and sometimes sandwiches from cold cuts. She's taken on a huge responsibility. I've already decided that next year I will not be on the committee boat and although I won't volunteer to help Terry each week, I'd probably rather hang out with her in the club house from time to time.Monday, 26 June 2106: 1429 N Bayshore Road
In preparation to paint the countertop, we pulled out the kitchen sink. The Epoxy King got to work on repairing the broken laminate. We also pulled out the range and vent-a-hood.
We will be eating out for the next few days as the range is not scheduled to be delivered until next Thursday.
We continued pulling vinyl -- today in the front room and kitchen. This is a beast of a chore! No easy one step removal here. Since the product separates, step one is to pull up the vinyl and then step two is to remove the residual adhesive. You can almost see where large pools of adhesive were poured for installation back in 1978. Justin worked like a Trojan and at times the vinyl seemed to be winning. We worked with razor blades, scapers, and chisels. Lots of elbow grease and more than a few colorful expletives later we had to call it a day. We headed to bed about 1am with the promise/threat that tomorrow there will be no more vinyl in the kitchen.Thursday, August 31, 2017
Tuesday, 20 June 2017: 1429 N Bayshore Road
Erich came to visit with Lilly and Brody. They are our first overnight guests. We sure aren't ready for prime time so they brought their sleeping bags. Cousins Jonas and Caleb came to play. In true form, the kids found their own form of fun. Last time Lilly and Brody were here, they were content to wade out in the cold, cold water and throw chunks of ice at each other. This time they enjoyed swinging and a bit of tether ball.
Saturday, 24 June 2017: 1429 N Bayshore Road
Cabinet maker! Traveling handyman! Electrician! Come One, Come All. The stars must have been aligned since Jason, Carl and Jim all came to our house today. We tracked down a lead on Carl since we thought our trailer needed to be leveled. Carl, traveling handyman, who lives at Chadouirs Dock year round, had been recommended. Carl is quite the character; he is a recovering alcoholic who rides a Harley as much as he can on the weekends. We liked him right away since, as it turns out, we don't need to be releveled at all. Thank goodness! Like in the door frame in the bathroom that had gotten wet and swollen scratching all the paint off the door when opening and closing, the door frame of our front door has swollen and the door won't shut at all. Carl and Justin talked about a stop-gap solution, but the remedy is a new door. Well, we can't do the exterior door without also getting a new storm and new locks. And we can't do the front door without doing the back door. So, looks like we will be getting new doors! Carl and Justin also talked about plumbing and blowing out the lines in preparation for winter, switching out the sinks in both the bathroom and in the kitchen and a few other projects.
As nice and pleasant as Carl and Jason were, Jim was a curmudgeon. We'd just painted the first coat of Sandal colored deck paint on the living room floor and we were all in socks or barefoot. Carl and Jason had complied with my request to remove shoes, but a Jim did not. He said he had a sprained ankle and couldn't remove his shoes. I said ok, but... then he started trashing our trailer... all kinds of comments about the safety, or lack thereof.... about how he hated to work on them... how he sure as ever wouldn't go underneath one... how they get blown away in a good gust, etc. Now I can't say that anything he said was untrue. He was out of line and I probably would have showed him to the door within three minutes. Justin, kind man that he is, continued to work with him and to try to engage him in decent conversation as they walked through the list we had ready for an electrician ( the lights outside, the light in the gazebo, lights above the bar, connectivity for the new range and microwave, and a few other specific concerns). Jim left with the plan to return at the end of next week. He left his flashlight so he might be back sooner.
Despite Jim being a grouch, we did make significant strides on the house. After everyone left, we carried on with the endless chores before getting ready to go to dinner at The Lorelei in Green Bay. The restaurant was Jim Brice's choice since he is visiting from San Francisco. I met Jim when he visited us in Germany. Dave and Terry Gay are also part of this clan that were running buds back in college. Ed and Joan Rousseau were also at dinner this evening. Ric and Sherry Larson were also part of the group back in the day; I hope someone told Sherry they Jim was in town. Ric and Carolyn had planned to be at dinner but they didn't show. German has never been my favorite choice for dinner so I didn't have high expectations. I wasn't disappointed.
Before Carl left, Jason arrived. Justin and I have decided that we want to adopt Jason. He is just the bees knees; he is fitting us in on evenings and weekends. He is very knowledgeable, he is prompt and responsive and he is kind. Jason is building our bar, the wall under the bar and the shelf above the bar. We are using reclaimed wood from a fence that was taken down at Windjammers. Later, he will rework the cabinet above the stove to include a microwave.
For now, we are selecting the pieces of wood for the wall. After being at our house for about an hour, he took twenty or so pieces back to his shop to plane them and bring them back so we'd have a better idea of how they would look. The selection process was long, but really fun. Jason set up his sliding miter-saw on our poach. The character of the wood began to be apparent as we determined which pieces would go where within our wall.
Jason was almost ready to start packing up his tools and the wood when Jim, the electrician called to see if he could come by.
As nice and pleasant as Carl and Jason were, Jim was a curmudgeon. We'd just painted the first coat of Sandal colored deck paint on the living room floor and we were all in socks or barefoot. Carl and Jason had complied with my request to remove shoes, but a Jim did not. He said he had a sprained ankle and couldn't remove his shoes. I said ok, but... then he started trashing our trailer... all kinds of comments about the safety, or lack thereof.... about how he hated to work on them... how he sure as ever wouldn't go underneath one... how they get blown away in a good gust, etc. Now I can't say that anything he said was untrue. He was out of line and I probably would have showed him to the door within three minutes. Justin, kind man that he is, continued to work with him and to try to engage him in decent conversation as they walked through the list we had ready for an electrician ( the lights outside, the light in the gazebo, lights above the bar, connectivity for the new range and microwave, and a few other specific concerns). Jim left with the plan to return at the end of next week. He left his flashlight so he might be back sooner.
Despite Jim being a grouch, we did make significant strides on the house. After everyone left, we carried on with the endless chores before getting ready to go to dinner at The Lorelei in Green Bay. The restaurant was Jim Brice's choice since he is visiting from San Francisco. I met Jim when he visited us in Germany. Dave and Terry Gay are also part of this clan that were running buds back in college. Ed and Joan Rousseau were also at dinner this evening. Ric and Sherry Larson were also part of the group back in the day; I hope someone told Sherry they Jim was in town. Ric and Carolyn had planned to be at dinner but they didn't show. German has never been my favorite choice for dinner so I didn't have high expectations. I wasn't disappointed.
Justin was a bit melancholy after the evening. My assessment was that sometimes when you meet with old friends, you find, sadly, that you've grown apart.
Friday, 16 June 2017: 1429 N Bayshore Road
All the ceilings are painted. All the walls are painted. The insides of all the cabinets are painted as are the insides of all the closets. All the nasty orange shag carpeting is gone.
What is more sexy than a man vacuuming in the nude? A man pulling up carpeting. Now that is sexy. And what is even better is when it is all bundled outside and ready to go to the trash. The flip side is that there are two holes in the floor in the bedroom and the front door will not close.
We keep at it...
What is more sexy than a man vacuuming in the nude? A man pulling up carpeting. Now that is sexy. And what is even better is when it is all bundled outside and ready to go to the trash. The flip side is that there are two holes in the floor in the bedroom and the front door will not close.
We keep at it...
Saturday, 10 June 2017: Brussels
I had a few "firsts" this week:
- my first Craig's list sale. We sold two patio table and chair sets
- my first Craig's list purchase. We found a trundle bed we will set up in the guest room. Justin and I are sold on the idea of a Murphy bed but for now, we are going with a trundle bed.
- my first rhubarb crumble. We never had rhubarb when I was growing up and I've never had the chance to cook with it either. I found a recipe that turned out to be quite scrumptious.
- my first pre-K and Kinder graduations. Yes, really. Caleb "graduated" from pre-K and Jonas "graduated" from Kindergarten. Both groups of students wore mortar boards with tassels and one group even entered to Pomp and Circumstance. I am all about celebrating the end of the school year and accomplishments, but I sure am happier with "stepping up" ceremonies or "moving on" celebrations or something similar and saving "graduation" for a later time.
- my first Craig's list sale. We sold two patio table and chair sets
- my first Craig's list purchase. We found a trundle bed we will set up in the guest room. Justin and I are sold on the idea of a Murphy bed but for now, we are going with a trundle bed.
- my first rhubarb crumble. We never had rhubarb when I was growing up and I've never had the chance to cook with it either. I found a recipe that turned out to be quite scrumptious.
- my first pre-K and Kinder graduations. Yes, really. Caleb "graduated" from pre-K and Jonas "graduated" from Kindergarten. Both groups of students wore mortar boards with tassels and one group even entered to Pomp and Circumstance. I am all about celebrating the end of the school year and accomplishments, but I sure am happier with "stepping up" ceremonies or "moving on" celebrations or something similar and saving "graduation" for a later time.
Friday, 9 June 2017: Brussels
With fires on multiple fronts we split our days between North Bayshore, Hartung, the sailing club in Suamico and the storage unit. Chores such as buying supplies, running errands, and tending the yard on Hartung pull us away when we'd both rather stay at home where there are three things to do in every direction. We do try to be home for sunset and when we are, we stop. We breathe. We take in the moment. Usually with beverage in hand, we take a few minutes to express our pleasure and our gratitude. Each vista is different and amazing! We are watching the sunsets creep farther north and will mark the spot on summer solstice. Maybe we can ask Jordan to come mark the spot on winter solstice because we sure don't plan to be here.
We celebrated Caleb's birthday recently. Justin gave him an ukulele. He is quite the kid at five; he is almost as big as Jonas who is a year older. He is very verbal and very competitive. It will be interesting to watch these three kids as they mature.
Saturday, 4 June 2017: Green Bay
Catastrophe. Calamity. Chaos. Crap.
The first time we visited 1429 North Bayshore Road, I backed into a tree as we were leaving. Was that an omen? If I believed in such things, I might be concerned. When we got back here in the spring, the garage door opener got out of whack when Justin was working on removing all the measures the previous owner put in place to prevent damage from snow drifts etc. Many, many items of clothing got paint on them when we put a new coat of paint on the mirror in the guest bedroom. These and other mishaps pale in comparison to watching my husband pick up pieces of wood from a piece of furniture that flew off a truck in the middle of a rainstorm in the dark. Yes, when we were moving goods from the storage unit, the weather man was, for once correct. We loaded the oak buffet, the waterfall chest and two of the three pieces of a Japanese tansu into the back of the truck and headed north. Before we even got out of Green Bay the wind picked up and the bottom fell out of the sky. Not too long after we were on the highway a significant just of wind knocked one of the sections of the tansu out of the middle of the truck! After stopping, Justin and I walked down the highway and were miraculously able to retrieve all the pieces of the now dubbed "flying tansu." Not too much farther down the road, the tailgate of the truck failed and when it opened, the waterfall chest fell out. We pulled over immediately to assess. Justin then made the loop and went back to pick up all the pieces from the highway. Watching him, in the dark, in the torrential rain, picking up pieces of wood from the highway was awful and not an experience I look forward to repeating.
The first time we visited 1429 North Bayshore Road, I backed into a tree as we were leaving. Was that an omen? If I believed in such things, I might be concerned. When we got back here in the spring, the garage door opener got out of whack when Justin was working on removing all the measures the previous owner put in place to prevent damage from snow drifts etc. Many, many items of clothing got paint on them when we put a new coat of paint on the mirror in the guest bedroom. These and other mishaps pale in comparison to watching my husband pick up pieces of wood from a piece of furniture that flew off a truck in the middle of a rainstorm in the dark. Yes, when we were moving goods from the storage unit, the weather man was, for once correct. We loaded the oak buffet, the waterfall chest and two of the three pieces of a Japanese tansu into the back of the truck and headed north. Before we even got out of Green Bay the wind picked up and the bottom fell out of the sky. Not too long after we were on the highway a significant just of wind knocked one of the sections of the tansu out of the middle of the truck! After stopping, Justin and I walked down the highway and were miraculously able to retrieve all the pieces of the now dubbed "flying tansu." Not too much farther down the road, the tailgate of the truck failed and when it opened, the waterfall chest fell out. We pulled over immediately to assess. Justin then made the loop and went back to pick up all the pieces from the highway. Watching him, in the dark, in the torrential rain, picking up pieces of wood from the highway was awful and not an experience I look forward to repeating.
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