You Just Can't Go Home Again

Sigh.  You really can't go home again.  No siree.

We were up in Oconto this past weekend, at our grandchildren's birthday parties (will write another blog about that once I get all the pics done)

We drove past our old house.  Oh my.....

It's been four years now since we sold the house.  I can honestly say it was in pretty darn near pristine condition when we sold it, both inside and out.  We worked hard to make the best appearance both on the inside and the exterior.

Imagine our dismay when we drove past it on Saturday.  

I snapped a few pics as we went slowly past.  

The front yard is filled with some planting frames and fences of some kind.. perhaps grapes or vines or whatever.  The mound system for the septic is left growing wild and not mowed.  But I am not talking about that, I am talking about the log exterior of the home.  ACK!

The log exterior is all faded, black and appears moldy!  It looks like there isn't any finish left or sealant on the logs, and they are weathered and graying.  The pine knots are all drying out which means they fall out or get loose, and will let water intrude.

This house was built in 1995 as a framed in unfinished shell, 

we bought it in 1997 and finished it up ourselves and added the garage.

The garage seems to be in a little better shape, 

but still lacking sealant or stain on those knots. 

Here are pictures of the exterior when we sold it in 2012.  It's a far cry from the shape it is now after four years of neglect. 

Located on an acre of waterfront land on the Oconto River.

Yup.. this is how the front yard looked in 2012. 

We thought we did a really good job of preparing the home for market,

de-cluttering the excess, and fixing anything that needed to be done.

It sold in 30 days --- cash! 

I felt it had such a welcoming exterior and we kept the wood in great condition, staining and sealing it every other year to make sure it was in tip top shape. 

The three stories overlooked the river to the rear of the property.  It was so pleasant and peaceful there.

We spent a lot of evenings on the wraparound decks and under this little gazebo.... watching ducks and deer and turkeys and a big ole groundhog that lived on the banks of the river.  Oh, and of course, the coons that came up on the deck every night and robbed the birdfeeders!

The inside was all gleaming gold lovely wood as much as the outside. Here are the interior pics from our sales brochure: 

The woodburning fireplace helped with the heat bills,

but I am sure glad we have a gas log fireplace now.

(no more hauling ashes, splitting wood or searching for newspaper to light the fire!)

But we were cozy.... and warm! 

 The kitchen we designed ourselves had hickory cabinets

and plenty of countertops and cupboards to do all my baking, canning and cooking.

You have to realize that we completely finished the interior ourselves from bare studs and plywood floors.  We nailed every nail, laid every floor tile, did all the plumbing, electrical, plus stain and trim.

 Our master bedroom loft was like sleeping in a wooden tent! 

This is the view we woke up to every morning, 

facing over the river

I adored our large bathroom, 

with washer and dryer hidden behind the mirrored doors.

I spent a lot of time relaxing in that big whirlpool tub, for sure.

These were my silly rustic bronco doors leading to the walk-in closet 

from the master bath.

I wonder if they are still there? 

It's the same pine tree motif we put on the outside shutters too.

The lower walkout level had another bedroom, a full bath,

and all the extra room for my studio which could be used as a family room... 

or put back into two more bedrooms again.

Before we put it on the market, we installed all new fresh carpeting,

in case the new owners didn't want a home that had dogs in it. 

The huge livingroom was 24x16

I don't even want to imagine what the inside looks like now.  After seeing the outside, that is enough.

Don't get me wrong, I don't miss it.  We could never afford to continue to own this home in our retirement as the ever-increasing taxes in Oconto County were a challenge to our budget. As well as the fact that the upkeep of log homes combined with us gradually becoming old people--- doesn't blend too well.  The maintenance would have been rough in our senior years.  We only bought it to raise our kids in a nicer small town school system, out of the big city.  We knew it was an investment to buy it, finish it, and then sell it later, which we did.

It just hurts to see something we worked so hard on, put our hearts and souls into, now falling into disrepair. Sigh.

Nope, you can never go home again. It's not the same.

Camphosting at High Cliff State Park, Sherwood, WI

This a rerun of a blog I wrote three years ago... 

It is about our campground hosting at High Cliff State Park.

Since this post, Steve and I became the Camphost Coordinators 

to assist with training, information and scheduling of the camphosts. 

Last spring, we signed up for a full month of hosting, filled out a contract and application, and then got assigned the month of August. (we had a choice of two different months, but chose August)

Once we were approved, we got to move out to the site on Aug 1 after the last hosts vacated.  Our site has the electricity furnished, but no water or sewer hookups.  (neither do the other sites)   So after about 2 weeks, we will have to drive over to the dump station and empty our tanks and take on new water.

We got training manuals, a tote of supplies, including a weather radio, keys and wonderful little Cub Cadet to run around the park in.   We get to wear vests with namebadges, identifying that we are hosts.

Our position here at the state park has duties of campfire pit cleaning, picnic area grill cleaning, and most important, being here on the site to answer questions and hand out literature for questions from the campers in the park.  We are to put in 20 hours a week. There are no wages.

Some hosting positions in other places entail bathroom cleaning, dealing with unruly campers, or collecting fees.  We don't have to do any of that.   It's a pretty posh position!   In return, we get a free campsite, worth $868.00 for the month.

8 a.m.
Since Steveio also works in the park, I usually drive him over in the morning to his maintenance building office.  With a kiss and a sip of coffee, he is off doing his normal 8 hour day.

I come back to the motorhome and either work on a blog, catch up on emails or do some routine housework about the rig.

9 a.m.
I don't like to start cleaning campfire pits too early because of the noise level of banging cans and shovels as I work my way around the campground.   I have a master list of who left, who is leaving and who is staying.   The campground has 112 campsites to clean, and also 8 group sites each capable of holding 40 people or so.

It seems I clean about 10-15 sites a day.  That takes me about an hour or so.   I shovel out the firepit, pick up any litter and write down any damages or repairs needed or dead trees I see.

My little Cub Cadet holds 2 large ash cans, 4 smaller buckets, a garbage can and a recycling can.  I have various rakes, shovels, and trash picking tools.  AND NICE LEATHER GLOVES!  (a necessity!~)

Little Duke sure likes riding along with me.  I know I put this pic in the other day, but it's so cute I put it in again!   He likes getting little pets from the kids, and he hops out and "helps" me clean the pits.  Mostly he is searching the ground for any tidbits left behind!  (and yes, I have him on a leash at all times)

After I get a full load of ashes, it's time to get them dumped.  We have a large dumpster up by the maintenance building specifically for campfire ashes.  That way if there are any glowing coals or embers, they are contained in a large open area.

I back it up carefully to the ledge, but Steve comes over and unloads my big cans for me. 

(I am on a 20 pound lifting limit from the docs) 

Sometimes I am making two or three trips to get rid of ashes from all the cans and buckets. 

11 a.m.

Once that is done, I log the hours on my paperwork and head back to my campsite.  Remember the big storm I said we had in my last blog post?  Well, the roadways were covered with leaves and twigs.   Marlin, a volunteer at the park here, drove through with a tractor and a big blower device.  It cleaned up the roads fast and makes them look good again in no time!   This unit is also used in the fall for clearing the leaves. 

12 p.m.
Our site is located in the middle of the campground.  There is a sign in front of our site, inviting people to come into our site to ask questions.  We have a full file box of information about everything in the area and lists of things we can use to answer questions.

The sign was a bit of a problem because trees have grown up since it had been placed near the driveway of the site.  Kinda blocks it from view until you are right in front of the site.  So Steve decided it should be moved!   He wanted it closer to the nice walkway of lined white rocks (that I painted) to better align it for greeting people into our campsite.

 here is where it was

But this is what Steveio showed up in at our campsite to take care of moving the sign!!!!

What a Big Boy Sandbox Toy!!!!

He carefully hooked a chain to the top loop over the sign post, and lifted it off the ground!   The base was poured into a large concrete square that was really above the ground, but grown into the dirt and moss.

He carried it over about 30 feet to the better position near the nice walkway entrance to our campsite. 

Much nicer than having people entering at the drive around our cars and maintenance vehicles.

1 p.m. 
After lunch, I headed on down to the picnic area.  I had cleaned all the grills well last week, every single one in the park (I think there are about 60?)  But over the weekend some had been used.  So I wanted them all clean again for the upcoming picnickers this weekend.  Within an hour, I had them all done and picked up some trash around the park along the way.

2 p.m. 
I stopped at the main office building to turn in some paperwork, and what did I see????  Hmmmm a cute workman's butt?   I am the only one who can say that without accruing sexual harassment charges!~   Tee heee..... Steveio was working on some light fixtures over the kiosk at the main entrance lot.

3 p.m.
I came back to the motorhome now to catch up on some internet, emails and facebook.  I gathered the laundry because we were heading back to our house for the evening to do some projects and cut the grass and catch up the laundry.  We do have a washer/dryer in the motorhome, but since we don't have a water hookup, it would be using up 12 gallons of our water supply with each load.  We only have 100 gallons of water on board and want to make that last for 2 weeks.    We do have a portable water bladder and pumping device if we do run short, and can haul water that way to put into our motorhome if needed.

4 p.m.
Steve is done with his work for the day, and so am I.  We hop in the car with Dukie Palooki and head on home to Chilton, only 14 miles away.  I got the laundry going while Steve was cutting lawn.  Soon I watered all my flowers and bushes, and Duke made the rounds of his yard sniffing duties to see what has been in our yard during the week.  I cooked up a supper with odds and ends left in the fridge and freezer.  Most of our food is at the campground.

5 p.m. 
Steve started up the saw and air compressor to put up the rest of the trim in the bathroom while we were waiting for the last load of the dryer to finish up.   I will do a blog post about our bathroom remodel later on with all the pics in one post.   We hopped in the shower too while at home, to enjoy a longer one without limiting the water usage.

I loaded up my sockknitting machine to take back to the park and work on some orders....  and we picked up a few groceries to replenish for the weekend at the motorhome.

8 p.m. 
We are back in our campsite, and sitting in our lawn chairs enjoying the darkening woods and listening to a bit of rowdy kids making the rounds and definitely using their "outdoor voices"  ....   by 9 p.m. I shined a flashlight on them as they passed our site, and nicely, but firmly said "it's time to turn down the volume now kids"    and they did.

We answered a few questions from passing campers:
Why are the dumpsters located so far from the campground sites?
--- to keep the smells away and the nighttime raiding varmints and critters out of the campsites.

Why are only some sites electric and not others?
--- state law about ratio of electric (improved) sites to the total amount of sites overall.

Where can my dog swim?
---  there is an area down by the marina specific for doggies to enjoy the water, as well as a separate picnic area set aside for the use of picnickers with doggies. 

The night was pleasant, and we sat out in our chairs.  I think we had 9 or 10 different folks stop by our site. We touched base with the ranger on duty and then turned in for the night by 10 p.m.

.....and that is a day in the life of a Campground Host at High Cliff State Park! 

Changing of the Guard - Rainbarrels - and the Cutest Little Barn

Last night we hit the local Kohl's store while getting some birthday presents for the grand kids.  While there,  I suggested we just "look" at what kettles might be on sale?

In December, we did buy a pretty set of ceramic lined copper colored kettles for Christmas as a present for each other. But they are thinner aluminum metal and the bottoms flex when heated.  Not bad if you have a gas stove with iron rack type burners.  But on our smooth glass top stove they dome upwards and spin around on a center bump when you try to stir.  Also they do not make full contact with the glass top then, and don't heat evenly.

We need some flatter thicker kettles with ceramic coating.  We are trying to get away from teflon or silverstone linings.

Mind you, I am not a shopper person. I don't hang out in malls or pass time browsing the sales catalogs or website shopping deals.  Soooo if I happen to see something at a good price at a store, I will check it out quick online on my phone and maybe decide to buy it.

Which is what we did!  LOL

We found some nice ceramic lined Cuisinart kettles that had all the sizes we wanted.  They have thicker metal sides and bottoms that lay flat for glass top stoves like ours,  or even for using on induction stoves in case we update at a later time down the road.

This set has a taller stock pot instead of the dutch oven. A deeper fry/saute pan with a lid.  Larger saucepans of 1.5 and 2.5 qt instead of 1 and 2.  10 pcs set means ten actual pieces of kettles, fry pans and lids..... and not extra flippers or spoons called "pieces"... haha   What was really nice is that all the lids fit on the fry pans too so it was more versatile.

Okay, I liked them.  But now the price.  They originally were $299.00 on sale for $229.00, (everything at Kohl's always seems to be on sale)  then another $100 off weekend sale brought them down to $129.00.  Next, my handy dandy cellphone coupon got us another 20% off so that brought them down to $103.00.  

Although I didn't go shopping for kettles, we came home with them.  LOL  This morning Mr. Steveio Chef Man washed them all up and cooked us breakfast !!!  They met his approval and do not flex or dome, they heat evenly and nothing sticks. Winner!

I moved the other coppper colored ones out to the motorhome.  

They are so pretty and I like them a lot,
and they will cook just fine

even if they do flex a bit

on the cast iron grid of the propane stove. 

After breakfast, I started on my next project.  I have a few folks who want rainbarrels made up for them after seeing the ones I made for the Critter Sitters Dog Grooming and Daycare  and the other for the Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue auction in June.

We got ahold of two food grade quality barrels last week. 

Steve cut the tops off and I started to clean them up today. 

A good scrubbing with degreaser and a stiff brush.

The labels have to come off too. 

This product is the BEST stuff for removing stickers. It's called UnDu.  Works so much better than acetone, Goo Gone or lighter fluid etc. We used to use it at the hardware store to remove price tags. It doesn't damage the surface underneath like other harsher chemicals do, but the sticky stuff comes right off with ease. 

Once the barrels were cleaned up (and I broke the garden hose sprayer nozzle today too)  I was able to start painting.  This customer wanted something prettier and lacier designs like my own barrels instead of the dog bones and puppy paws.  These colors will match her house.

Then it's Steve's part to do the next task... he uses a hole saw and drills out a hole up high enough to fit a watering can under, but low enough to get most of the water from the barrel.   I recommend putting the barrels up on a couple cement blocks, or a stand, to hold the barrel up higher to the downspout, This will get clearance for filling watering cans underneath the spigot.

We buy the next two parts at the local hardware store. 

A plastic spigot type faucet so it don't get rusty or corrode.

Then a three part grommet set with a rubber gasket to 

attach both inside and outside of the barrel. 

We screw the spigot to the grommet with a round or two of plumbers tape.

If one wishes, they can add a top pipe elbow and fitting and hunk of garden hose to channel overflow water away from the barrel.  One of my barrels has one of these, but I really don't see a need for it, because I use up so much of the water it rarely gets to the top.  I don't even have one on my other barrel.  I do see in the this pic my water is getting a bit green.  Just a little dollop of chlorine bleach takes care of that.

I am waiting for the other lady to let me know what colors she wants painted on hers... and hopefully I can get it done tomorrow.  My price is $50 and they sure look better than a big old blue barrel in the yard.

On edit:   Mary Jane asked for multicolored bones and puppy paws for her barrel. here they are all finished last night.  Tonight Steve will drill the holes to put in the rubber washer, grommet and tap the spigot.

Now my friend Lisa said she has located another 

TEN barrels for me to paint!  Whee heeee!!!!

This evening we took a ride out to an elderly gentleman's farm.  He was selling some table saw parts on Craigslist that Steve wanted to look at.   So while they were jaw jacking in his neat as a pin shop.... I was admiring this wonderful barn! 

Look at these glass block windows... 

just shining and gleaming in the evening light.

These dormer windows are so unique! 

The shape and patterning of the shingles is like none I have ever seen! 

 The rest of his yard and gardens were neat as a pin. 

PS he is also selling the donkey and little mexican boy statues

He chatted with us about apples (he sells at the farmer's markets) 

and his barn, which was built when he was only 16 years old. 

What a beautiful piece of Wisconsin Heritage,

 built back in the day of craftsmanship 

and pride of a job well done.