Visitors & We have a Porch

Wow what a great week. First our friends David & Linda Cypcar arrived on Wednesday afternoon just in time for Happy Hour. For those who don’t know our friends they had a lot in our park down in Texas up until a couple years ago when they purchased a home not far from there. They were the first couple that we meant after buying the lot and we just hit it off from the start. They made a side trip to our place after visiting their daughter in St Louis and left this morning for son’s in Ohio. We did find out that our kids are only 45 minutes apart in Ohio so possible another get together this summer if they come back there.

Thursday morning we took them to the Michigan Historical Museum which was really interesting. Dave/Linda retired out of the U.P. so they have history here in MI. Then that night we meant Larry/Stint/ Nadene at Finleys for dinner so they could meet some of my siblings. Bob/Diane are up to their place in Houghton Lake with family so they weren’t able to make it. After dinner we went to Nadene’s for strawberry pie, which was sooooo good.

Friday we meant up with Retama Neighbors Lon and Pat Garvey for lunch in a little place in Ionia and got caught up with all their news since leaving Texas, which happened to be watching the helicopter during the OK tornado not only on TV but from their hotel window. Talk about scary.  Then over to Lon/Pat’s for desert. Can you see a pattern here of Lots of Food. We decided that dinner that night was going to be a easy and a light one. Had a great evening sitting together through a very extended Happy Hour and just visiting. But good things always come to a end and they left this morning.

So the other news this week is our contractor showed up early Monday morning and started on our front porch. Between the rain, cold and inspector he and crew were able to get all but a little done on the porch by Friday. Larry and I will do the finishing which I call the “pretty part” once we figure out what we want.

Well of course there’s pictures

Before

After

Like I said we need to do the finishing touches and get the shrubs and flowers out front but that will come.And it sure would be nice if it would warm up so we could sit on our new porch longer then 10 minutes.

So that’s our week.  Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend and drive safe out there if your on the road.

Till next time……………………………….

Basement work, yard work, muscles yelling–stop

I know, I’m really really behind on getting this out. But it’s been a busy week and weekend.

First our basement guys came the first of the week and started right in on saw cutting concrete and jack hammering. And the dust, OMG the sweeper and dust cloth have been pretty much glued to my side for a week. But after two days they finished everything up and were out of here. Now Larry wants to see about seven inches of rain again to make sure it works.

One of the things these guys did was bring in a load of dirt and built up on the side of the house and along the back. Since I had to dig up my plants so they could do this I wanted to get them right back in. OK, that done but then decided we needed to get mulch down before it rains. But if we were going to do that we might as well do the other side of the house,except that had to be built up with dirt first. And since we needed to remove dirt & stones away from the side of the garage we might as well use that. Hand digging isn’t high on our “like” list.  Do you see a pattern here.

Wednesday morning off to our local landscape supply place (3 miles from here) for 1.5 yards of red mulch. Thank goodness for the truck. Several hours later and some muscles used that haven’t been in a long time, it was done. (click on picture to enlarge)

     Before                                 After

Oh and as long as we were doing the side we had to do something with the front corner. So the next day we got a yard of dirt for there and more mulch.

     Before                                After

Since the second load of mulch turned out to be another two yards ( we just kept going and going and going.

 

Oh I forgot to mention that we not only transplanted plants but flowers too. I’m enjoying all this, Larry – not so much (did I mention he does a lot of the moving/shoveling). But he has been a good sport.

We had Darrius’s last soccer game Saturday morning and it seems ever game we missed one they lost, so we “had” to make this one. Afterwards he came home with us to spend the night. Of course Pepper was in her glory to have her best friend here.

And best friends stick together no matter what

Now this week looks to be another busy one. Our friends David/Linda will arrive here Wednesday afternoon to spend a few days with us. Can’t wait to see them.

This morning our construction guys showed up bright and early. First he scooped up all the stones between the house and garage with the skid loader and brought it to the front of the house. Then the jack hammer started breaking  up the cement porch.Good morning neighbors!!!!! We are having a 8x24 covered porch put on across the front of the house. Sooo excited and hoping they will be able to have it done so we can have a happy hour on it with David/Linda. But two things – 1) I’m bonding again with my sweeper and dust cloth & 2) I never thought about my lawn being torn up from the construction. I guess next week will be a fix and repair week.

We were watching all the storms on the weather channel last night. Friends have homes or are traveling in those area’s and luckily with Facebook we have heard they are safe. But this was always my biggest worry when we were on the road in the spring time. Always had a CB on but doesn’t do much good when they call for a warning and give the Counties when you have know idea what county your driving in. We may be in for some of this rough weather here later today hopefully not as bad. Stay safe out there and for those who are in trailers head for the sticks/bricks buildings – don’t be brave – be chicken and safe.

Hopefully next weekend I’ll be able to show you the new porch. It won’t be completely done as we are going to install the railings but need to figure out what I want first.

Till next time…………

A trip to Ohio–It’s a go on the new porch

A little late on getting this posted. No excuse, just laziness this weekend. Well laziness on doing the post but busy doing other things.

First we got the quotes for the porch and basement and are going to have both done. The basement guys are coming Tuesday and the guy said it would take two days. I’m sure with the breaking up of concrete it’s going to be dusty in here. I’m hoping they have some kind of vacuum and I’m looking for a duct cleaning company to come in the first of next week. They are also going to put a window well on the west side of the house and bring in some fill dirt and build that up and around the back.

The porch guy said he’d be here mid week and that should only take a couple of days. He’s not putting the railing on, we’ll do that after we decide what we want. Like Larry said we’ll do all the pretty stuff and let the younger guys do the hard work. We’re also going to have him scoop up all the stones in the back between the garage and house and seed it to grass. I hate trying to walk on those stones. Hopefully next week I’ll have pictures to share.

Tuesday we took off and went down to Renee’ and Brian’s in Ohio. They are trying to get their house ready to put on the market as they will be closing on the new one this week. But it’s hard when they are working every day. So mom volunteered to go down and help out and of course that also included dad’s help. I can’t believe it but in two days we got the living room. kitchen and three bathrooms all painted (two rooms had to have two coats). The miracle is we both were able to move after those two days, even tho a little slower.

Our grandson Dar-Relle had his Senior Prom last night so have to share a picture of him with his date. Cute couple even tho he says they’re just friends.

 

Another picture I want to share with you is of Pepper and Finn who is Renee’ & Brian’s dog. This one is Pepper trying to explain to Finn how to play tug of war.

It didn’t take long and Finn figured it out. Then Pepper had her hands or should I say paws full on trying to keep her ground

That’s it for this week. Till next time……………….

Festival in GL, Garage Sale, 2 vehicle household

Now this is what I wanted to see when we came back to Michigan so early.  Grass greening to a rich deep color, tulips & daffodils opening up to all sorts of colors, trees starting to bud out with a soft green color while others just pop with pink and yellow blossoms. And all of this within a matter of days. Yes there really isn’t anything like Michigan in the spring.

There is a festival going on in our little town this weekend called Victorian Days. We’re going to try and walk down there this afternoon but I wanted to share some pictures from last year.

Reenactments of the Civil War. Even the kids got involved. 

Even the car washers got into it

High Tea at the Opera House

Can’t forget a ride in the Horse Drawn Carriage

Larry took the car over to get a oil change this week and we ended up being a 2 vehicle household again.

As much as I didn’t want to have two vehicles again we really needed to have this pickup. Between our many many trips to Menards that we seem to do I was getting tired of trying to use our car as a pickup.

We are getting some quotes on different things that need to be done around here. Yes there are some things that my talented husband just doesn’t want to tackle (he says he’s getting to old for some of this). One is having a new porch built across the front of the house and the other is having a drain put in the basement to take care of water problems from run off coming from the neighbors. It’s the pits being the lowest one around. So depending on what those things come back at we may only do one & that would be the basement and the other will have to wait until next year. Will keep you posted.

My dear sister Nadene just texted me that she was out looking at flowers in the garden dept and there were tons of them. Thanks sis, rub it in that I can’t plant anything until we figure out what we’ll be doing around the house. Brat.

Oh yes can’t forget to tell you about my garage sale hopping with my SIL Diane on Friday. I just love it when I find items that are not even out of the box and cheap. And of course I had to leave a voice message for my other SIL Stint that she should have joined us, we found lots of bargains.  I’ve been wanting a electric fry pan and found one (in box) for $8, then a grill thingy (in box) that I can put a whole chicken on with potatoes for $3.

Another place I found these bathroom fixture items, toilet paper holder and a towel holder. The other one is a plate rack holder that I may use in there to hang towels. Not sure how it will look.

Larry just shakes his head and keeps his mouth shut when I take off on Fridays with the SIL’s and our plan of attack for these sales. Isn’t he a smart husband.

OK, guess that’s it for today. The sun is out, the temperatures are warming up and Larry’s been outside for a hour so it’s time for me to get busy.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Till next time..