Getting Use to Sticks and Bricks

What is it with this weather? The East Coast is floating away with all the rain and Texas is burning up from lack of water. In watching the National News about the fires I hope things get better before we head south since our route takes us in some of those area's. Being stopped and told to turn around when your 84' long isn't the easiest thing to do, making a U turn takes a rather big U.

Well we've been staying at the house since last Saturday and there are a few things that will take some time getting use too.

One - going from a king size bed to a full size. As some of you know I prefer having 2-4 blankets on me, where Larry has just the sheet. With the king size I can arrange the blankets between us so they are easily available if needed. With the full size there isn't enough room between us and when I do use them they now partly cover Larry up, which wakes him up cause he gets so hot. I've suggested a duel control electric blanket but so far the reaction hasn't been favorable. He say's I wouldn't be happy with just the electric blanket, I'd want that plus all the others and he may have a point on that one.

The second "getting use to" is not being able to carry on a conversation with each other know matter where your standing. In the trailer I could continue talking whether I was in the bedroom putting clothes away, standing in the kitchen cooking or sitting in the living room. In the house they have these room dividers called walls and you actually have to walk to each of these rooms to be able to be heard. Actually now that I think about it I'm still getting the same response from Larry "sorry didn't hear you" and it doesn't matter if we're in the trailer or the house. I've always blamed this on his hearing but maybe I should re-think that excuse.

Number three "getting use to" is having to take so many steps while cooking a meal and cleaning up. In the trailer I can pretty much reach what I need with in two steps. Even tho the house kitchen isn't very big it always seems like I'm having to walk from one end to the other to get something out of the cupboards or put dishes away.

Number four "getting use to" would be the number of stairs. We have the steps going upstairs and the steps going down to the basement. In the trailer when I would mention to the kids about going upstairs they thought I was crazy, a trailer doesn't have a upstairs. Well I tell them yes it does, ours have two steps up to the bathroom and one more up to the bedroom, so actually if you think about it we not only have a upstairs we could say our bedroom is on the third level. But all I get my the kids is a "ya right". Now the house has 14 steps going upstairs and 14 steps going to the basement. Even tho we aren't using either of these places as a living space it seems like we're constantly having to either go up or down them. But they say climbing steps is good for the heart.

Number five "getting use to" is Mother Natures control. This would be when she decides that we haven't mowed the lawn for a few days so dumps just enough water on it to make it grow that 1/2 inch above the time that it needs to be mowrd length. She can't give us enough to make it look rich and green, nope only enough to make it grow and keep it a dull color. Oh and never enough to actually give the flowers and plants a good drink, noooo we still have to haul out the hose. Of course Larry's response to that is "don't plant any flowers or plants". And I take my response from our kids "ya right".

I'm sure there will be other "getting use to" events but one of the best things so far is when the last two nights it's gotten down in the 40's and the house has stayed at 69 without any heat turned on. I know there would be at least one space heater going in the trailer continuously.

Only have a few pictures to share. We worked on making some cafe curtains for the kitchen this week. Our darn sewing machine wasn't working right so I ended up having to use some of that iron on tape for the hem. It actually worked pretty good. We still need to make a valance and now that Larry has the sewing machine working we may get it done before we leave. If not, there's always next spring.

Here's our window treatment in the kitchen, valances to follow later

There are two other pictures I'd like to share. School started this week for our grand-kids and like their mother said she has two "S's". A second grader and a senior. Here's a picture of them all ready for their first day of the school year and for Anissa this will be her last "first" day of high school

Here's Darrius all smiles
And Anissa all ready to start her Senior Year

Guess that's it for now. Till next time.................................

Truck update- Nasty storm - Bedroom completed

Monday
Anissa (gr-daughter) and I had our summer lunch/shopping day. We normally do this around her birthday and she picks the place but this year she wanted to go to a restaurant that was open only for dinner so we took everyone. It's starting to get late with school starting so we needed to have "our" luncheon. Her pick was Cheddar's which is a nice place and I haven't been in there for several years. Before lunch we did some school shopping supplies and I wanted to check out some mattress places.

Once we were finished I called Larry and he headed for the KenWorth place to leave the truck there for it's appointment on Tuesday.

Tuesday
More shopping for a mattress and decided on one. This should be interesting. We're going from a King size to a full size bed. Larry got a call late in the afternoon that the truck would be ready first thing Wednesday. The guy wanted to keep it and do a test drive when it's cold.

Wednesday
Headed to the KW first thing and when we got there the truck wasn't even put back together. Seems the mechanic was called off ours to do another one. OK, it would take about a hour to put it together so I took off for the house as our mattress was to be delivered today. Pictures of bedroom set is on our webshots site.

Update on truck- Over head was done and found the injectors were way off. The good thing was they didn't have to replace any injectors. The not so good thing -it didn't solve the original problem. Back to good thing - the truck is running a lot better than it was. So I guess we're at a stand still. The mechanic is at a loss of what to do, all computer printouts show every things working great. He's been in - around- under- above -the whole truck and says everything looks good. We shall see if maybe driving it will help clear things up.

Thursday
Stint (SIL) and I went out to Frandor in East Lansing to a new store called HomeGoods. OMG - ladies in Retama - we could easily spend 8 hours in this store but my SIL is not a Retama lady shopper . I'm getting her there but it will take time, I figure if we can convert Jutta (love you Jutta) to a shopper anyone can change. It has everything from furniture to place mats for a home. Lots of neat gadgets and unbelievable prices. I've been wanting to make some cafe type curtains (ok I confess Larry will be doing the sewing) for the kitchen, when we're sitting at the table I feel like we're on display. I found the perfect colors in a table cloth so I'll (he'll) cut and sew (again he) a hem and hang them from a spring rod with clip on rings. See Larry and I have a great working relationship, I find what I like and he makes it for me and I stay out of his way. It's a win win situation.

Friday.
This morning around 5:30 the weatherman's prediction of 10% chance of rain opened up and all hell broke lose. The thunder and lighting would light up the trailer and rattle the windows. The rain was coming down so hard it sounded like a giant spigot was over head and opened full blast. Than the wind hit and it really did some rocking and rolling of the trailer. And we aren't parked out in the open, we are backed up to a huge cement block granary that helped to block some of the wind plus the KW is parked beside us. I'm not sure which direction the wind was coming (trees where whipping every which way) but I'm sure glad we had some cover around us. The storm didn't last long but brother Larry had a inch in his rain gauge from it. Not to mention several area's were without power.

Our poor happy hour pear tree pretty much got stripped of the pears. We've been picking up maybe 2-3 pears a day to either eat (yummy) or toss out in the field to keep the four legged critters away. But here's a picture I took this morning.

There's still some on the tree but not many.

Of course a little stormy weather wouldn't keep Stint and I away from a garage sale that was just down the road. So about 7:30 she picked me up and off we went. Luckily for the people they had their sale in a barn. But to be honest I don't think it would of hurt the stuff even if it was left out in the rain - maybe it would of helped it. They say one persons junk is another persons treasure - finding that "treasure person" in this case could be a tuffy.

Guess that's it for this week. Till next time........................................

A little this and that

Another week has pass and even tho there's not much to write about we seem to be busy every day. So this will probably be a short one even tho it's been a week since the last post.

First off a before/after picture of the garage.

Did a little flower planting this week.
Got some Black Eye Susan's from my SIL Stint and good old Walmart had mums on sale this week for .49 cents. Can't beat that price. Right now I'm just getting the plants in so when we start working on the back yard next summer I'll be able to move them into the planting bed.

Last Thursday was Darrius day. First he had to help gr-pa finish up a door for a cupboard in the bathroom. This is one of his favorite things to do, working with gr-pa's tools. Once that was done we got the paint out and he gave it a couple of coats. Gr-ma had to do a little touch up the next day but he did pretty good. But just not as much fun as using the tools that make noise.

Remember the little red wagon I told you about? Here's a picture of it.
Not bad for a $1.00

Saturday we went to a going away party for our great nephew Josh Moore who will be leaving in a few weeks for his second tour in Afghanistan. It was a perfect weather day for a outside party and I guess the younger group stayed around for a bomb fire. Be safe Josh and we'll miss you.

Today we got our bedroom set. My dear sister Nadene has been storing this since we went full timing back in 2005. This set is special to me as it's the one my parents had. I really owe my sister for keeping this for us as it's not just a dresser and bed frame. There's a man's dresser, woman's dresser w/mirror, make up table w/mirror, four poster bed frame and night table. So it's not something she could just stick in the back in a corner someplace. Like I said Thanks Sis. Oh did I mention it looks awesome in the bedroom. Pictures to follow.

That wraps up the week. Till next time..........................

Garage Windows - One last Egg party

Monday:
A quick/early trip to Menard's to picked up some more installation and two new windows for the garage. After the power wash and new garage done the two windows on the side really looked nasty. We hadn't planned on doing anything this year with the windows but everything else looked so good I just couldn't leave it for another year. Besides the Saturday before I stopped at a garage sale and they had two huge oriental grass plants for $10 each that I couldn't pass up and Larry planted them on each side of the garage windows.

Tuesday:
Larry worked on getting the windows painted in the morning and we went for our bike ride. That afternoon we took the truck in to Kenworth so they could start the next morning replacing the fuel line when the truck was cold.

Wednesday:
Finally decided it was time to try out my new oven so got the ingredients to make a pumpkin desert. But first I had to find the directions on how to use my gas oven. I'm happy to say it desert turned out good and the oven is nice and level. Since the last thing we need is a 9x13 desert sitting around we shared it with some of our family here.

Received a call from the Kenworth place that there was a little more to replacing the fuel line. In order to get to it they had to pull the heater box off and dismantle the air intake. K aching K aching

Thursday:
Went to pick the truck up and as Larry figured the original problem is still a problem. Since the guy that's been working on it was going to be on vacation next week we made a appointment for the following Tuesday to have them redo the over head. Gee sh

It was Darrius day so we didn't do a lot that day. Of course it wouldn't be a Thursday without hitting a garage sale. Remember the little red wagons we all use to have when we were little. Well I found one that was in really great shape. Had to pull it up and down the street a few times to make sure it worked good. The inside needs a little scraping and a new coat of paint but for $1.00 I can paint it. It will come in handy next year when we start doing some landscaping. Darrius made good use of it by using it to haul a bail of water to do my plants.

I finished scraping the paint off the garage windows and Larry installed them. Oh soooo much better. Have a couple of things I want to do before I share a before/after picture with you. So maybe next week.

Friday:
Pretty much stayed at the trailer that day. I've been wanting to start sorting things out and leave the things we won't be using down south. Got the extra sheets etc washed and will get some of those storage bags that you vacuum the air out to put them in.

Went up to Swedes for dinner with Larry and Stint. The guys got the fish special ($8) all you can eat with bake potato and soup/salad bar and Stint and I stayed with just the bar ($5.50). As I've mentioned before this place isn't much to look at, 2nd generation owner but it has the best food you'll ever get. They also do catering and we've had Rod (owner) catered several parties for us.

Saturday:
Had to run into Staple's for some ink. Why is it when you really want to print something the cartridge runs out. Since we were there we ran into Menard's so Larry could pick up a couple of hinges for the garage windows. He wants to be able to open them when it gets warm in there.

Family wanted to have another Egg in A Bag party so we made a quick last minute decision to have it on Sunday. Needed to stop at Walmart for a few things than on to the house. While Larry did the hinges I made a quick trip to yet another garage sale that we passed. I found the cutest adult bibs that I thought the kids would really get a kick out of at the picnic. So here's a picture of the nieces with my seventy five cent each bargain.
Sunday:
The Egg party was at 11am and everyone enjoyed it. Diane made some sticky buns to go with it along with fruit, hash brown patties and bread. I think there was only around 20 of us so we did the kids first and by the time the adults eggs were done the kids were finished and out playing. Good timing on that one. Did I mention little Lucie (youngest one in the picture) will now only eat eggs when they come out of a bag.

Guess that fills you in on this week. Till next time..................

Lunches with family friends - Kenworth Shop

Monday
We took the Kenworth to the dealer on Sunday afternoon so they could run some tests Monday when it was cold. Lately it's been puffing (girl talk) white smoke when it shifts. It was doing this on occasions last winter but the last month or so it seemed to be doing it a lot more. So we decided we'd better find out what's going on before we hit the road.

They put the computer on it but couldn't find anything wrong. Than they took it out for a test drive and nothing. The mechanic was puzzled as he said the truck is in really good shape. Same thing the place in Grand Rapids said last year when we had it over there. The only thing that it might be was when we had the overhead done two years ago they didn't do it right. Larry has thought this since it was done since the puffing started after that was done. But they did find a small fuel leak and we're having that fixed to see if just maybe that might be the cause. They said they'd do the cheaper fix first before doing another overhead. Friends out there that have these trucks understand that there is "nothing" cheap about having work done. Oh and of course the leak can't be in a "convenient" spot, noooo has to be the fuel line that goes up behind the head. To me that means nothing but you guys will understand. So the part is ordered and the truck goes back in next week.

Monday Evening:
As I said in our last blog it was our grand-daughters birthday so we took the family out for dinner. She always gets to pick the place and this year it was Carrabba's Italian Grill. It's a nice place but you have to watch what you order. I'd forgotten when we ordered that they have a small and regular size portions and our waitress didn't ask so naturally we all got the more expensive regular size. Way too much food and the only one who finished theirs was Darrius cause he ordered off the kids menu.

Tuesday:
Larry worked on putting installation up in the storage room off the upstairs bedroom. This is the section that we had a totally new roof put on. Once he's finished with that I can start moving some of the storage bins in that we had in the storage trailer. While he was doing that I got paint out and started doing the touch up spots.

Wednesday:
A special day as we headed down to IN to have lunch with our special friends Donna & Grant Zinnecker. We made plans to meet at the Blue Gate Restaurant in Shipshewana at 11AM. Of course we can't go down there without stopping at Larry's favorite RV Surplus place Bontragers in White Pigeon MI and he always seems to find something. I guess we should of communicated a little better with the Zinnecker's cause we just missed them at that place before meeting for lunch. Oh well we had a great time seeing them and even tho our lunch took longer than it should to come out and they over charged me (ordered soup & 1/2 sandwich & charged for full size) it was fun.

** note to self - time to start checking out these bills before paying them

Thursday:
Did a little running around than we had lunch with our son Alan.

Friday:
Darrius day was moved from Thursday to Friday as he had a Dr's appt for his collar bone. Dr. said it's healing good and he could go with out the sling unless he was outside playing and no horsing around. Ya right - that's not in that kids vocabulary. But he's a happy guy, especially when the Dr said he'd be able to play Tag Football this fall. For a celebration he and his folks went to Impression Five which is a great hands on place for kids.

Doesn't he look much better without the sling

That's it for this week. Guess this blog was a bit long but had lots to share. Oh I do have a before/after picture to show you. I finally got a picture of the new garage door.


Before After

OK, that's it for this week. Till next time.................................

Happy Birthday Anissa

You will all have to bear with me on this blog because today is our Grand Daughters 17th Birthday and this is for her.

Anissa you are the most precious thing to both of us. We were there the night you were born and the first thing we saw were those big beautiful eyes that said "look out world" here I come. We've watched you grow from this tiny little thing to a beautiful young woman. And yes the world has had to "look out" for you. You've given us pleasure, laughs and a few of these gray hairs come from you but we wouldn't trade anything.

Here's a few pictures to take us down memory lane

Happy Birthday sweetheart

Love
Grandpa and Grandma

River Boat launch & a Visual Effect

It's been a fairly quiet week around here. Not even sure what we did on Monday. They were predicting some pretty nasty storms but other than a few thunder boomers and some rain (1") during the night that was it. I did get a few groceries so we decided to have dinner at the house. First time I'd use my new gas range and I'm happy to say everything worked great. Now I really need to figure out how to use the oven.

Tuesday Larry and Stint (brother & SIL) came down to the house and we hung drapes in the living room. They did some major remodeling in their family room over the winter and kept the drapes and rods to see if we could use them. They really look great and talk about saving us a bundle. Thanks guys. Afterward we went over to Wendy's to grab a hamburg and a frosty.

Wednesday Larry worked on installing a back up sump pump and I put a couple of coats of paint on a small cabinet I found for the kitchen. I haven't decided if I want to leave it white or try another color. Time will tell.

Today was our grandson day and trust me we don't get too involved in any big projects when Darrius is around. There is a couple of things I have to share. While I was gone (garage sales) Larry asked Darrius to help him finish up the installation of the sump pump. Larry was doing something and when he turned around Darrius was gone. Soon he was coming back down in the basement with the First Aid Kit. Grandpa asked him why he got that and he told him he was just "helping him". Seems Darrius has learned early that Grandpa normally needs at least one band-aid during a project.

Oh, and yes I did find a couple of good bargains. A really neat oval end table and a brand new back pack perfect for the pot lucks in Texas. It has plates, silverware, wine glasses and a place to keep a bottle of wine.

Later this afternoon we went down by the River and took the River Path over to the Island. They are getting ready for the annual Island Art Fair or at least trying to. Up until Tuesday more than half of the Island was under water from the heavy rains. So they are only having a few of the vendors (suppose to be about 100 of them) on the Island and the rest will be set up in the parking lot.

Speaking of the River we were lucky enough yesterday to watch the crew of the J&K Riverboat back this huge thing down in the river. Of course in order to get down to the river they had to stop traffic on the main entrance of our town.

This was taken about half way down the hill he had to back down
One last check to make sure everything is lined up

Slow and easy

And in she goes

Rides are given during the Island Art Fair up and down the Grand River. I think probably the best time for these rides is in Oct when they have the Color Festival and all the trees are changing.

So back to our walk today. When going over to the Island you have to cross the bridge. Of course there are a ton of ducks and geese so we had to make a stop so Darrius could check them out. This is when I had to just step back and shake my head. I turned my back for a second and my grandson and his grandfather were having a spitting contest to see who could spit the farthest and how many ducks would chase after it. YUCK!!! Time to head for home.

With that visual effect I'll say goodnight until next time...........................