Wow, the sun has power today and it is very humid and sticky. It would not have been my choice to have the handyman painting our garage roof of Onduline today. When Kenny showed up this noon, what can we do but make sure that we have our supplies ready and plenty of water or lemonade for him. We had five gallons of the black latex high gloss paint and I went back to the lumber yard before they closed at 5:30 p.m. for two more gallons. He is determined to finish it this evening and how sad if the project had to be closed down due to lack of paint. I will gladly return it if it is not needed. It is clouding over and it does seem cooler than the intense sun. We have seen so many buildings with crumbling Onduline on them. We are determined, as long as we can find a handyman to hire, to squeeze the last bit of value possible out of this roof.
Updates from July, 2015 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Noreen
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Noreen
Dennis and I are on top of the “to do” list on Stauffer. We have our handyman nailed down to put the new ridge cap on the back garage. He delivered what he needed from the lumberyard and will start work in the morning. In visiting with Kenny, he said he would also paint the Onduline roof on the front garage. Dennis and I made a trip to Mankato for the black high gloss paint needed to seal it for the next five to six years. We would have purchased it locally, but they only had one gallon on hand. When you have a handyman on site, the last thing one needs is to have him stall out for lack of materials. As soon as I am done with this update, I will be going online for the rebate of $5.00 per gallon of paint, which will pay for the trip to Mankato.
As we drove into the driveway from Mankato, there was a package with the new modem from Mediacom on the front steps. That has been successfully installed and all that needs to run off of it is working properly. Of course, it didn’t happen without a call for tech support. It is most likely an old lady thing working with modern technology. Dennis is already out to the UPS station with the old one boxed up. The warning was stated that there would be a $300 charge if Mediacom did not receive the old one within 5 to 7 business days. Have at it!
We just don’t know how our counter parts, people our age, can tell us they are bored.
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Noreen
I am almost afraid to say it for fear I will jinx it . . . another great July day to enjoy as we must be in between mosquitoes hatching with no humidity.
We did have company for lunch. My sister, decades ago, mentioned she thought it would be fun to jaunt around the country in a tricked out camper. At the age of 77, she and her husband are living her dream in an RV motor home. I am totally happy for her. They have been moving about the southwest portion of the state, checking out sites, making notes as to which would be worth while revisiting. They had had no problems until they got to St. James, population 4,800. After two phone calls, with my sister noting that she had not paid attention to the times she visited and we would shop the main street, our address was finally plugged into their GPS. They missed morning coffee time, so we enjoyed their company for noon lunch. All and all, it was just an outstanding day.
On a much different topic: just now, typing my blog, I couldn’t help but notice of a semi parked in front of our home. I could see the driver was checking out some written information. What interested me was what the semi trailer and tractor had on it for its logo: Tribal Express – A Native American Women Owned Business. Humph. After I finish here, I think I will Google this tidbit and read more.
You can never tell what will pique this white haired writer’s interest or imagination.
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Noreen
Just a perfect July day. Even perfect days do not mean that I will spend the entire day on the patios. As rare as it is, the gardens have been weeded, the yards are newly mowed and trimmed. It is kick-back time on the patios.
Several sessions in my sewing room needed to be fit into the day. The flurry of tying knots has begun on my scrappy quilt. Surgeon’s knots are preferred in the tying process, and my fingers need frequent breaks. Frequent breaks and hundreds of knots require me to be vigilant. Dennis is counting on this quilt, and what he considers weather cool enough to batten down can be sooner than most would think.
I have been working on reading a book for some time. Book in hand I found the best spot on the back patio. This afternoon in the shade of the giant Maple there were some pages turned. As the breeze beckoned my eyelids to close, I did have to re-read some paragraphs. As I said, this was just a perfect July day.
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Noreen
What a great day. I did sleep until eight and awoke to Dennis having cinnamon rolls and fresh coffee on the dining room table. Dennis had been up since six and had all of the livestock chores taken care of. Cats and kittens need fresh water and food bowls filled and the Koi snap up the food sticks as they hit the water.
I took a trip out to the far gardens as a test run to check for mosquitoes. Our lucky day, there were no biting bugs. I snapped in a freshly charged battery into the weed whip and began doing all the areas that Dennis can’t get to with the riding lawnmower. The trimming of the areas around the trees insures that the bark won’t get skinned with the mowers. It happens so easily and then all that you can do is smear the injured bark with grease.
As I used our push mower on the front yard and the area north of the house, my mind wandered. The wandering thing happens to me many times in a day, but today, on a great day such as this is, I sent up prayers of thanks to my Lord. Dennis and I enjoy taking care of our home and we enjoy doing it together . . . many of our friends can no longer stay in the home of their choosing, or they have to hire all of the exterior work. Oh, we get weary, but weary is doable.
Dennis knows what makes me just as happy as buying me jewelry, that is, if I wore it. One of my best birthday gifts was a brand new silage fork from Fleet and Farm to help with the gardens. This gardening season, I have 300′ of garden hose on the wind up hose reel Dennis picked out. All connections are secured and I can water and feed the gardens with a Miracle Grow hose adapter at will. This man knows how to keep his lady happy. As Dennis did the back part of the acre this morning, I had my area mowed and also had the gardens watered and fed, plus had the hose put up.
Yup, dirty as I was, I am one happy Stauffer Avenue gal. I thank the good Lord and Dennis for making my days happy.
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Noreen
Today may break the heat and humidity. Our county fair has been on, but with the heat, that would be the last place you would find Dennis and me. In the comfort and relatively quiet of our home . . . we had an exceptional day.
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Noreen
It ended up being a busy Friday that felt like a Saturday. The morning air was nice and it was a chance for us to tidy up the porch. The neighbor’s Cottonwood tree is done shedding and the screens needed a good vacuuming. A few birds did their business in midair and of course it lands on the patio doors. Just like any good project, one thing led to another and here we are with a porch that is tidy and feels good to rock away in. I love my rocking chair.
Snuggles has been pretty lucky snagging a bird now and then and, of course, he brings it into the porch for us to be proud of him. Dennis gets it into the garbage before Snuggles knows what has happened. His little nose goes crazy. Sorry Snuggles, there are no more little feathers floating around. Life on Stauffer is good, even in the heat and humidity.
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Noreen
I had a spurt of energy this morning hitting the porch with coffee in hand at 6:45. With the help of Butter Ball and Snuggles a few weeds were pulled before the alert went out to the mosquitoes that there was fresh meat out and about.
This evening for supper, I am going to have my first bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich on whole wheat toast of the season. I can hardly wait. While it was still cool out there were 2 lbs. of bacon being baked out in the oven. With restraint, that stash of bacon will serve us well for quite a few meals – whether bacon and eggs or for sandwiches. As I said, “restraint.” We have not had bacon for some time, and it sure smelled good as it was caramelizing in the oven.
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Noreen
Preparation is On!
No, this is not a photo of the previous winter’s snow bank. I have quilt batting sprawled out to take away the crunch factor of being jammed into a small plastic bag. The next step will be putting it into the clothes dryer with multiple damp bath towels to assist getting the wrinkles out. In the foreground is the washed and dried flannel for the back of the quilt. This is the prep for the layering of my scrappy quilt top to progress into being a hum-dinger of a warm quilt for the upcoming winter.
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Noreen
Today was a day to be thankful that severe weather didn’t reach our portion of the state. I stayed up last night past my bedtime and kept an eye to the west, not a single lightning strike was seen.
Dennis was on the highways this morning fetching supplies for nephew Brett’s concrete business. I, on the other hand, finally dressed for the day by 11:00 a.m. Oh, that’s right . . . I am retired. . . no need to get my undies in a bunch. Not to worry, nothing goes unattended or undone, I can pick and choose from yard work, house work or putz work in my sewing room.
I do have empathy for those who need to labor in the heat and humidity. In times past, I and my brothers may very well have been stacking hay bales in the haymow on a day such as this, hustling at that before the next hay rack came into the yard. Looking back, it was hard work and I know my parents appreciated every bit that us kids could contribute.
