Day 19 - Tons of Rain But No Leaks

Yayyyyy! We are very pleased to report that Steve's attempt at taking care of the roof leak over the little porch area was entirely successful. We have had blasting amounts of pouring rain and high wind yesterday from suppertime continuing on throughout the night. The river in town has exceeded flood stage and we have huge ponds and puddles everywhere this morning.

Everything in the dining room was bone dry and perfect. I think he successfully took care of the leaks that were up there. Once the weather warms up, he is going to cover the entire metal roof of the front porch with a special bonded fibered aluminum paint meant specifically for metal roofs. Not only will it seal up any more potential leaking areas, but it would also look much nicer too.

We woke up to some ponding in the backyard, but not nearly as bad as it was while the snow was melting. We only have a little bit of snow left in the yard where it's actually on the surface of the water. Now all of the grassy areas along side of our woods and throughout the back meadow are clear. Just the middle icy patch over the standing water.

We do have a bit of a puddle along side of the driveway and garage. Good thing the motorhome is on a very firm gravel pad with multiple layers going down deep into the ground. The people that we bought the house from put in quite a few layers of various sized rocks to create a firm parking pad for their motorhome.

That was one of the criteria when we were looking to buy a house. Specifically that we would have sufficient room for a motorhome parking pad. This one had it already done and in place. How fortunate was that?

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I finished up a few of my quilted hot pad orders the other day. I posted a picture on Facebook. Then I got orders for three more pairs of HotPads! What fun is that?

I really enjoy making these little hot pads because it's a good way to use up scraps. There are a lot of fun to work on and I feel successful pumping out one after another.

My hot pads are larger than most. They measure between 10 and 11 inches across. That way not only can they be used as a hot pad, but even when I take things out of the microwave or the oven, I kinda flip the pad underneath and it becomes a trivet to protect the countertop or cutting board from the heat. My hot pads have a layer of cotton batting, and also a layer of a special product called insulbrite. It's an aluminum fiber infused padding that helps with heat deflection.

Speaking of baking, yesterday our kids dropped off another care package of groceries to our house. They replenished some necessities, as well as a few bags of munchie chips for Steve's evening tv watching and snacking.  I had added brown sugar to my shopping list because I was out!  Again, we carefully unbagged and santized everything out in the garage, one item at a time.  Nothing is being brought into the house until it undergoes thorough cleaning, and staying out in the garage for a days.  The cleaned brown sugar bag was opened with a scissors and dumped directly into my canister while the bag was discarded. It may seem like overkill to some.... but OVERKILL is better than BEING KILLED, right?

Once I got the brown sugar into the house,  I was able to bake up a nice triple batch of my most favorite white chocolate chip cookies. I got the recipe from my friend Hillary a long time ago. They come out perfect every single time.

I mix up the dough without any chips in it.  Then I add a sufficient amount of chips to each dough ball as I form them and put them on the cookie sheets. About two-thirds of the way through of making the dough balls, I ran out of the white chocolate chips. So the last batch became semi sweet chocolate chips. Those are Steve's favorite.

I like baking with parchment sheets. No more stuck cookies to the cookie sheets. It's also a lot easier for cleanup.  My oven also has three baking racks, so I can get a lot baked at one time.

While the cookies were baking, I was working on decorating these boxes for the grandkids. We miss being with them and sending over a few little goodies is a nice way to keep in touch.

After the cookies were cooled, we packed up both boxes with a couple layers of cookies, and we went about delivering them. We did not even leave the car at daughter Heather's house. Instead we just popped our trunk button and had her come out and grab the appropriate box. At daughter Erin's house we set the box quickly in the back hallway and left before the children could see that we were there. Otherwise they would be crying and wanting to come out and hug us or have us come in and spend time.

So far it's day 19 with no physical contact with anybody. We've only left the house twice, and both times we were fully protected and safe. But it feels good to be back home in our "virus free zone".  So far, there has only been one reported case in our county.  But who knows how many cases there are that are not even being tested yet. Things around the country are getting scarier and scarier.

We are pleading with our elderly parents to not leave their homes.

Steve's Dad up in Sister Bay is very secluded out in his rural home. The volunteer fire department is helping with delivering prescriptions and necessities from town. The local grocery store is doing deliveries to their homes as well. He was low on postage stamps, so I was able to order a roll and have it shipped to his address from usps.com. How nice is that?

My parents live down in Florida. They are also in a small rural setting just southeast of Gainesville. Today they are going to settle down on their porch swing, with their smartphone between them, at 11 a.m. to watch their little church's live stream service on You Tube. It's the first time they are trying it. I hope it works for them. My stepdad Lyle is a very antsy energetic guy and gets restless. It's hard to keep him in one place.  Mom said this morning he is out sorting through stuff in his storage shed and working on some projects. Good for him!

Today is our middle grandson's 8th birthday. Happy birthday Mason! It sure is hard for children to have birthday celebrations during this time of quarantine. It's hard to believe he is 8 years old already.

Seems like yesterday we were holding him in our arms at the hospital....  sigh.

Breakfast is done here, the rain has let up some, and I think it's time to get back to some sewing.  Steve is measuring and planning and figuring on some new projects.  Stay tuned to see what he is going to work on next!

Please 
Stay in.
Stay healthy. 

Stay safe