It's Time to Quit at 3:00 PM - and a Canoe?

We are finally starting to feel better on the twelfth day of being ill. Not quite a 100% but I would say at least 85%. Maybe me closer to 90%. 

Since we were doing better, Steve said it was time to hop to it and finish up the rest of the patio. But we need to quit by 3pm.  He said that since he is retired, that 3pm is a good quitting time.

We picked up the last 12 blocks that we needed to complete the patio all of the way to the corner of the kitchen nook.

We hoisted the last 12 blocks with the dolly cart around to the backyard. It was time to put on our gloves and get to work. Speaking of gloves, we are both wearing the leather out handling these rough stones. Steve's gloves, which were already worn to begin with, have now sprouted holes. Time for him to get new gloves? It's his birthday later on this month, so I know what he's going to get!

We started out with the last 2 buckets of sand that we had on hand. It was enough to get another row done. We carefully get the underneath level and then the sand is tamped down firmly. We level it with a board and then finally we're ready to lay on the blocks... one at a time. Each block is levelled East West North and South and then we tap it down into place with the rubber hammer.

 Our supervisor made sure that we were doing a good job. She's quite the task master. She said we need to keep moving and there is no time to sit down in the lawn chairs and take a break. It was going to rain soon and the skies were threatening to open up. So she said there was no time to waste---

We did have to take a break and head out to get a couple more buckets from our daughter Heather and son in law Jesse's house. Gratefully, we have been able to rob sand from their yard to do the rest of this project. Thanks Heather and Jesse! 

Bit-by-bit and stone by stone,  we were able to finish the last 12 pieces.

TAH DAHHH! And there you have it. What a difference from the original broken and slanted slab that was there before.

We moved the little table and benches over into the corner. Later on, when it warms up, I will have the grandkids over to let them paint it with a fresh coat of red. Steve moved his grill into place on the other side. Now it's only a few steps inside the door, up to the kitchen, when he grills out to create his wonderful masterpieces. This makes so much more sense than having the grill way over on the other side of the she shed by the garage. 

One more thing we completed is this little cement square piece of chimney block. It is the perfect base for my big beautiful rain barrel. You can see the temporary winter piece of brown downspout directing the water away from the basement foundation. Once it gets nicer out, with no more danger of freezing, I will put the rain barrel into place on the cement rectangle. Then we can let the water run in from the downspout and have the overflow directed away from the foundation. Just thinking that it won't be long and it will be time to start planting tomatoes!

We buttoned everything up and put away all the tools. It was time to head on in and warm ourselves up. The weather was turning cold and damp as the rain drops were starting to splatter.

Hint of the next upcoming project is replacing the windows all around that little kitchen nook. They are rather rugged looking from the outside right now. Then we are adding a large window in the Master bedroom, to the left of that old basment door opening. Once we replace the windows, then we will replace all of the siding on that whole section as well.

We made the backyard fenced-in area little bit bigger by adding a few more panels and curving the fencing outwards in a big arc. We put 2 of our white reclining chairs within the fenced yard and the other 2 on the outside nearer to the fire pit. If company comes, we can just lift the chairs up over the fence in either direction to make a grouping of 4.

~~~~~~~

To finish up on the rest of the last blog I posted, Steve completed doing the brakes by adding the new brake fluid by using his little bleeding tool with the air compressor. It is good to draw all new fluid through the brake lines every year or two on a motorhome. With the long runs of brake lines and multiple fittings, it's very easy to get moisture intrusion over time. Swapping out with new brake fluid every year or so is a good idea.

Once he topped off the brakes and got all the bubbles out, he put the wheels back on. He tightened them up as tight as he can. This week he will get ahold of Nick at Oconto Truck Center to torque them to the proper specs. It's only a mile or so away from our home, so that's not too far to go.  Then he can put the pretty stainless trim rings back on.

In the afternoon come I went out into the motorhome to start filling out my list of things to replenish for the upcoming camping season.  There are a lot of things we leave in the rig year round, but other items we remove in the fall so they do not freeze. Even things like aerosol cans and cleaning supplies come out. Steve came out to help me make my lists and go through cabinets and drawers. He brought the dog along too because she was missing me. Soon it started drizzling outside, so what did we do? We curled up on the bed and took a nap! It was a good time to do a test run on the furnace, which kept us cozy warm. We took our afternoon nap out in our motorhome in our driveway--- lol!

~~~~~~~~

On my fiber front topic, I got all of the blocks sewn together on my quilt. I gave this main section (called a quilt top)  a good pressing with a little bit of starch. Now I need to add a few more strips of borders around the edges of various coordinating fabrics before I am ready to sandwich it together. I add the backing and the batting in the middle, as it's rolled onto my big frame where I do the free motion quilting. Once it's done on there, I unroll it and do binding around all of the edges to complete the quilt, along with a personalized tag. It will probably be for sale soon in my Etsy store.

 

Here is a close up of the pattern. The entire thing is made out of pieces of 2 half square triangles, or 4 little patches. You can see how it goes together and makes the big design. Pretty clever! The pattern is by Eleanor Burns and it is called the Jewel Box Quilt, a part of her Quilt In A Day series. It took me more than ONE day!

~~~~~~~

(this part was added right after dinner) 

My oh my, that Steveio is at it again. What did he spy tonight on Facebook Marketplace? Well... what do you know:

It was for sale by sweet 70 year old widow lady who had it hanging in her garage for years. Her son was helping her clear things out, and listed it for her on Facebook. It was all the way down in Chilton, the town we moved away from!!!  He held it till we drove the 70 miles to get there.  He was there to make sure she was safely meeting strangers at her house, and that nobody was going to take advantage of her.  We paid her asking price, and handed over the cash.  She was quite happy to hear that little grandkids would be going for rides in the canoe in the the future. 

It fits quite well on the roof of the Saturn, 

don't you think? 

 As we tow the Saturn behind the motorhome, 

it can ride along beautifully in place.

Ready for more adventures! 

We used to have a red one like this years ago, the same size. We always regretted selling it when we moved away from Oconto in 2012.  It's the perfect time to get one again. 

On the way home we stopped and bought new life jackets and cushions. It came with paddles and the car top carrying blocks. 

Well it's getting late here and it's time to get this blog posted.  If it keeps raining outside tonight, we are gonna need a canoe to get down the street? 

Birthday, Patio, JAIL?? and Farmhouse Projects

 Our darling grandson Clayton just happened to turn 9 years old yesterday! He's growing so fast and that big head of his is filling up with so many wonderful brains and smarts and intelligence that he needed a new helmet for his mini bike. Grandma and Grandpa found just the right one to fit that bigger noggin!  

Drive safe, Little Speed Demon! 

Sadly, we had to stay socially distanced while giving him his present. We stayed outdoors on the deck, while he opened his gift as we wore our masks. We only stayed for a few minutes and then left. We didn't want to risk anything. Why?

Last Tuesday both Steve and I started feeling sick! Although we are both fully vaccinated for Covid, we both started coming down with an awful head cold, sore throat, low grade fever/chills, and all over lethargy. Our sinuses were on crazy overload, even though we are both on prescription Flonaise year round. 

We called the doc and decided we would just wait it out with over-the-counter meds. Nothing was severe enough to require anything more. We went through quite a bit of Alka-Seltzer Plus Severe both Day and Night formulas. Lots of Chloraseptic sore throat spray, boxes of Kleenex, Ibuprofen and Tylenol. It is now eight days later and we are just starting to get a little bit of energy back and most of the symptoms have subsided.

Before we got sick, we did start a new project on last Monday and worked on at partially through Tuesday before we were so exhausted we had to quit. Here's what we had started with. Outside of the She Shed door that leads out to the fenced-in dog yard, there was this little concrete patio area. It was tilted and sloped and cracked and not in very good shape.

When we bought all of the 16 x 16 paving stones for the new sidewalk on the north side of the house, we purchased an additional 36 blocks to cover up this patio area here on the south side of the house.

We stacked them in bundles of six in the garage, up on wooden blocks so we could scoop underneath them with the dolly cart for transport. Each paving stone weighs 32 pounds, so that is almost 200 pounds in each stack!

Last Monday, the morning was beautiful weather and it was a good time to get started on the project. We had gotten some pressure treated planks to close in and define the area that would need filler sand for leveling and laying out the blocks.

Our younger daughter Heather had an above ground pool in her yard. They had had a large load of sand brought in to level out their land. We needed sand and we knew exactly where to get it! We dug up and hauled out six buckets at a time in the back of our Saturn. Two loads were enough to level off and pack down to cover up the broken cement patio.

We were ready to start making sure we were square and right with the world. (that is Steve's saying)  The first three stones looked awfully good. Compared to what was there before, this was a great start!

Working carefully and making sure each stone is laid so the patterns do not repeat themselves, as well as making sure everything is level and snug and square together. Once all the stones are in place, we will sweep in the special polymeric sand that becomes activated with water. That makes a nice concrete join that prevents weeds from growing through the joints.

As we dumped out the third bucket, we found this great big huge hitchhiker! He was still very groggy from being woken up from his winter sleep. We let him sun himself for a while to get warm, but then I carefully buried him in a little spot over in the woods and let him go back to sleep. We are still having cold weather at night, sometimes down in the low 20's. No time for a little guy like this to be out hopping around.

We got 20 of the stones laid down but we were really tiring out. This was on Monday so we didn't know we were really getting sick yet. That was as far as we got, then decided to take a break for the night.

Tuesday morning we got up and went to it again and got another 12 stones laid. But we were exhausted and decided that was enough and we weren't going to push ourselves any further.  We did set the picnic table and benches into place, and then I went inside. 

I thought we were done for the day. As I got inside and put my feet up, I noticed Steve go zooming by the window and I saw him dragging something. I snapped a picture just as he went around the corner:

Sure enough,

 he had put his new grill out on the patio! 

What a guy.

That is as far as we got. Then we were sick.  We are going to pick up 12 more stones to finish the last area from there over to the corner of the building by the kitchen nook. (yellow marks) We totally ran out of steam. For now that is good enough.

~~~~~~

We didn't do too much more for the rest of the week. We were pretty much down and out. Family celebrations were called off, an Easter visit with Steve's elderly father was delayed, and we just stayed home, curled up, alternating between dozing and eating and sleeping and feeling lousy!

Lots of chicken soup, hot apple juice with spices, some beefy chili and frozen fruit bars. 8 days went by in blur...  We did binge watch 4 seasons of Edge of Alaska! 

We started to get a little bit more energy back now this week. Steve decided we could finally add the little brackets to the screen door and get that mounted on the north entrance to the She Shed.

Before screwing the brackets into place, we ran a thin bead of caulking along edgess so daylight would not show through the cracks where it was attached to the door frame. I like that neat and finished appearance.  I held while he caulked.

Steve carefully pre-drilled and screwed in the brackets while I held them into place as level as I could, with added stacks of magazines underneath to keep it at the proper distance and centered on the door frame. I was also hoping no caulking would squeeze out and get down onto the black fiberglass screen material.  The magazines helped prevent that too.

Steve also pre-drilled and mounted the hinges right away to the door. I love these type of hinges, they are spring-loaded and make the door give a delightful "springy" twang sound as it's opened, and door can give a resounding "thwap" back into place.  The Sound of Summer. 

It didn't take long and we had the screen door mounted into place. This is the door on the north side of the She Shed by the pergola that leads to the garage. It matches the two other screen doors on the house, one in the front and one over on the south side. How cute is that?  Once the ivy and clematis vines start growing on the pergola, it will be a sweet little secluded entrance.

From within the She Shed we can have a door open on each side for air circulation moving through the room, as well as the three open windows along the west side.

This screen door looks out over the new patio 

and the fenced-in dog exercise area

This is the new one that we just put in by the entryway into the She Shed from the garage. This is also Binney's favorite spot to hang out on the ottoman to watch for the deer at night.

~~~~~~~

I made another cute little project and Steve was finally able to gather up enough energy to go out and mount it onto a tree for me. This is my repurposing of an old teapot. I painted it, and Steve made a little wooden circular plaque with a smaller entry hole, good for the size of a birdhouse. This wooden plaque can be popped back out to clean the teapot at the end of the season. He drilled two holes in the base and screwed it right into the trunk of a tree. I used a hot glue gun to attach the lid upwards on an angle, resting on the handle, as kind of a little awning over the perch area.

Yesterday I gathered up just enough energy to take one of my green striped chaise lounge cushions and recover it in some cute red and white printed fabric. One done, three to go.

Ohhhhhh I almost forgot!   

On Easter Sunday I got myself into trouble! Facebook trouble! All I did was post my cute little photo called Happy Keester with little babies butts painted like Easter eggs. I've been posting that picture every Easter since I started on Facebook back in 2009? I guess they consider that child pornography and I got thrown in FACEBOOK JAIL for 3 days!

I get to go back on tomorrow morning. 

Now it is Tuesday, and we are finally feeling a little bit better, but not quite back up to snuff. Steve had ordered some parts for the motorhome and decided it was time to get started. He will work on it a little at a time as his energy level increases. I wonder what he's up to?

I guess you'll have to find out in my next blog.

Uff Dah -Are We Getting Too Old For This Kind Of Stuff??

 Sorry--- It's been a tough time last month, since losing Finnegan, and I took a break from blogging.... 

I am back now that we are doing some National Folk Farmhouse Projects! 

~~~~~~~

As I said in my title, "UFF DAH"  ...  We are both feeling a tad bit achy this evening.  Why? Hmmmmmm  because Mr. Steveio had a new project in mind. Of course, as his sidekick, I had to hop to it and help him with whatever he comes up with.  

He even bought me a NEW pair of leather work gloves... Good to be suspicious when your loving husband gives you WORK gloves?  

(They are very nice gloves, I must admit) 

Sooo what was this stinker up to?  The snow has mostly melted this week, but the frost is still in the ground.  Things have been getting a bit mushy on the sunshiney days, and we are getting some mud tracked in from the yard.

We know since building the little pergola between the garage and the house, the walkway is pretty good and our feet stay clean when coming from the garage.  But if we come through the yard on the grass portion between the garage and the She Shed, the mud will get tracked in as soon as Spring arrives.   

Right now it is lawn... 

but soon to be mud.

There is also a 6x12 patio area near the back door to the fenced in dog yard that is cracked and in need of replacement or repair.  Again, that will track in the mud as well.

Well, that Steveio had pondered getting concrete walkways and a cement patio poured this Spring.  He made a few phone calls and got a few estimates. It was a tad bit more than our retirement budget can handle.  Sooooo  He took a good long look at his other options.  Off to the local Big Box store we went, (Menards) to the outdoor garden center.  

We put those work gloves to good use! 

Each block weighs 32 pounds....  

and are very rough on the hands.

We loaded up 30 blocks, and then we strapped a flat piece of OSB board over the top to keep them from possibly bouncing or sliding around.  Just this load was 1,000 pounds, and we didn't want to overload our little trailer.  Instead,  we took three round trips of 44 miles each. 

The stones we picked out are 16x16 cast cement slabs, that match what the previous owner had already put in the front yard for a sidewalk.  Instead of pouring concrete, in three different areas around our yard, we decided to just create another walkway and a  patio to match what is already here! 

(this is the front sidewalk made by the previous owners)

Fortunately, Mr. Bargain Hunter Stevieo found that these blocks were on sale this week, up until Saturday. So it was important to haul them as soon as we could, and not be in a crowded store on Saturday with the weekend shoppers.

We unloaded the first 30 blocks and set them right into place on the frozen ground.  As the frost goes out, they will sink down some.  If we need to, we can dig up some of the turf underneath them later this spring.  Once they are firmly in place, we will sweep in the special polymer sand that creates a cement type bond between the stones and prevents the weeds from growing up in between them.  They are SO heavy, they don't shift around at all, even when they are just set on the grass. 

While we worked, we had our "Supervisor"  who made sure we did a good job.  Since Finnegan passed away, she clings to us, and doesn't leave our sides.  This is about as far away as she ever gets.  Keeping a close eye on us, she won't let us leave or even turn away for a minute. I went into the garage for a rake, and she followed me just to make sure I wasn't leaving her behind.  She is adjusting to the loss of Finnegan, as we all are.  Sigh.  

After the first 30 blocks we laid, we got back in the Saturn and headed up for batch number 2....  again, strapping things down securely and making sure that the load wouldn't shift around or fall off.  I see too many crazy people who load things haphazardly on trailers or in the back of pickup trucks.  I hate following them on the highway, and don't trust them at all.  An extra strap or two is worth the time to keep other people safe as well. 

Right after lunch, we got the second batch unloaded.  We set the last few blocks to get around the corner and now out to the edge of the driveway.  We will take a shovel to the gravel later to level out the last two blocks and ease any tripping hazards. 

Once they are done settling, we can add a bit of gravel here and there underneath certain blocks until they are all level.  I can just see Steve now, crawling around on the sidewalk, with his lazer level, making sure each one is perfectly aligned.  LOL  

We went back to the store for the third and final load.  This one stayed on the trailer tonight,  while we just backed it right into the garage.  We will unload the rest of those tomorrow, or maybe the next day, depending on our aching backs!  

Those remaining stones will go for the 6x12 patio area, but first we have to prep that surface and get more packing gravel and sand to make it level before we lay those stones.  We can do that a few at a time, and not as zoom zoom zoom as we did this first part. I hope?

Are we getting too old for this stuff?  Not sure, but we can see where people at our ages start opting to get handymen to do this type of stuff. 

Steve would like the patio area out the side door by the dog yard, because he has treated himself to a NEW GRILL!   His other little one in the motorhome has seen better days, so he will move the table top Weber Q out to the motorhome now.  He has been just carrying it out and back into the garage each time we grill out at home.  Now he will get a regular grill set up outside on the patio and we will order a nice cover for it.  The extra bonus is that it is much closer to the kitchen, and he won't be traipsing back and forth through the entire She Shed to cook out near the garage. 

(this is the new grill in a temp position near the pergola)

It even has a bottle opener 

and bottle cap receptacle 

built onto the grill! 

This looks like a happy grilling man!  I don't mind him wanting a bigger grill, plus he helps with half of the cooking tasks anyhow.  Might as well enjoy it, right?  

Notice the ivy plants?  I left them out all winter in the frozen north sub zero temps.  They are soft and pliable and greening up!  Amazing, I never knew common garden center ivy plants would make it through a Wisconsin winter? 

Speaking of Wisconsin Winter, since we have upgraded the attic insulation last fall, as well as replacing the windows on most of the house.  Our heating bills are 30-40% less than last year.  Plus our "heating degree days" are even colder than last year.   It was a worthwhile investment to change out the windows and replace all of the insulation with better R value and more evenly covered attic spaces. 

We have been trying to keep busy during the last month or so. I was working on this latest quilt.  I call it the Coffee Break Quilt. 

 It is a queen size, and all finished up and ready for sale on my Etsy site:

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/595688245/coffee-break-homemade-quilt-queen-size

Here is a closeup of the quilt... it has cute coffee motifs in the center of each block surrounded by "log cabin" style construction of the quilt pattern. Then there are swirls of my own free motion stitching that resembles the brewing steam emanating from the mugs of coffee.  

Stay tuned for the next batch of upcoming projects in our old Farmhouse.  I think it might be replacing these windows in the kitchen nook.  We have the large window configuration for the right side windows already in the garage, waiting to get installed.  The left window is on order, and due to arrive next week!   We hope. 

I hope we can handle the next project. For how much my back is aching tonight, I sometimes have my doubts.  For now, I am going to relax in my tub and pop a few ibuprofen.  I think Steve is going to do the same. 

Little Binney worked hard as a Supervisor.

She has the right idea. 

I hope to write more regularly,

now that we are facing Springtime:

More Camping

More House Projects

More Family Time

and 

Less Covid!!