Ok, I have to give in.

Ok, I have to give in.

Last week as I was weed whacking.. I finally had to realize, it is getting too much for me..  I got the weed whacking done.. but then there was the clean up..  the dry stuff after.

But I put it out of mind, as the rain came ..  for 5 days off and on.

But today… it is sunshine, just like yesterday..  The King was doing some stuff for our sister in law…  so I thought while he was gone… I would do some clean up.. where stuff fell from us working on the suffix.   Then I noticed how bad the weeds were.  The King had mowed the lawn.. with the riding lawn mower which leaves taller grass in corners.

So I got the whacker out. And started to go around the yard. Wore out one battery and was starting on the second one. String ran out.. (mental note” got to find one of those heads that you can put on, with one thru string). After doing the whole front and ¾ of the back, I had to take a break. My back and legs were killing me.  The ALEVE was leaving me.

Went in and got some flavored water.. and then saw the neighbor outside .. across the alley from me..  So I went over and sat on her deck and we talked.  Told her ( I needed a shadow.. (my words) I had to finally admit I am old and need help.  And I was wondering if her 13 year old daughter had a job yet.  Yep, she works two days a week.  But it turns out I could get her for one day. 

So we left each other, with a plan..  I need a shadow. Told her it wasn’t steady, as it depends on weather.. how fast the grass grows.. (it is going like gangbusters right now with the rain).  So probably once a week.  

After I got home.. I thought about how maybe she could help me with some weeding in the garden area as well. 

So there it is.. I am old.. finally admitted it, I can’t do it all myself.

Not liking this…  It is hard when you are use to be a doer.

 

Hello June…. Are you sure you aren’t April

Hello June…. Are you sure you aren’t April

Well here we are, just about to half way thru 2022 and nothing much is going on..  We are STILL working on the house.  We get a good rhyme going and then it RAINS..  SO we lose a day, or start in the am and loose another afternoon..  so back to it two days later, because it RAINED.. 

I THOUGHT IT WAS APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS!!

Got the suffix scrapped.  In case you don’t know what that is..  well, if you have a hang over roof.. the under part of that hang over is called a suffix…   I didn’t know either until last week.

So today..  we got the rest of the scrapping done.  Well, actually the King did it. I was the go for…  go for the hammer, go for the tarp … and etc.    Then it rained.  Then at 3 IT STOPPED.. so he went back out and got ¼ of the suffix painted.  Hope to do the rest tomorrow.  BUT at noon he has to go help our sister in law.. so guess that is ok too, as it will be dry by the time he gets home.  So he can see if there is any missing spots.. COME FRIDAY…..THE METAL will be started.. as our grandson is taking the day off to help.. And he knows how to do this..  we would be just guessing. BUT…the weather man says… it is going to RAIN!!!... please let it be in the early morning? 

 

BEST LAID PLANS… etc etc..

 

May 31, 2022

BEST LAID PLANS… etc etc..

So here we went into the 3 day weekend. 

And the weather did not co-operate…

Grandson came down with a cold/nasal infection…

So Friday.. the King took the day off..  A day that started out with sunshine…  so he went up in the hills to find mushrooms..  wild ones..  And lucky for me.. he knows the difference from the poison ones and the edibles. So he had a nice day with his friend.. walking the hills. He did go up further than they planned and was shocked to see one of their areas had 6 FEET of SNOW!!  And it was slim pickings below.   So they will try mid June to see if it is better. 

The weekend wasn’t a lost as he and I did get boards replaced where we had some dry rot.  Taking our time.. doing 6 hour days.    Also had a good friend who ended up in the hospital over night.. so went and got her and took her home and ran to the pharmacy and picked up her meds. She is doing ok now..  last report.  Nothing drastic, but not have any good stable answers either.

So today, being the last day of May, we will get some more boards up.. Then it is peeling time for the under part of the over hang of the roof..  That need peeling and then painting. And then we get to wrap it..  That will be wonderful…  as the next step after that is.. putting up the metal.. and we will feel like we are on the down hill side of this project.   But patience..  patience.. I keep telling myself. Hope you all had a great 3 days weekend.

A MEMORIAL DAY FOR SURE…

A MEMORIAL DAY FOR SURE…. 

I don’t take this day lightly.. We all should keep in mind our Vets… those who pass as well as those overseas now.

But for me.. 54 years ago, was a MEMORIAL DAY TO LAST ME A LIFE TIME..  I had twins.. at 9:45pm and 10:10pm .. I believe is the times…  the oldest never letting the youngest forget he is older. 

They joined 5 other siblings…  with another 2 years later.

Lucky for me they are not identical. One has brown hair and the other is a blonde..   One is high tech guy.. the other is a damn good mechanic for the near by (to his house) city, and has for years.  The youngest one … the tech retired from federal civil service 2 years ago and works for the state now.  So definitely two different men.  I am proud of both of them, as I am the others.

 

SO .. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SONS… LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK

 

Posting is going to be slim pickings…

Posting is going to be slim pickings…

We have come a long way. The house is shingle/shake less.

But we have ran into a slight problem.  At least our grandson who is a house contractor. say it is slight.  Or rather.. no problem Poppa…  So we will see.  We have dry rot.  In several places.. Luckily not in bad places.. It is in the covering part.  Plywood part.  So that will be taken care of next weekend. 

In the meantime.. We have a 2 foot over hang on our roof. The under part has one small section that has rot.. So the King has replaced that..  He said it was easy.. Next up is sanding down all the rest of it and paint it.  We also have some but not all trim to remove.  And then… and then we are ready .. for the METAL…yeah!!.

Oh, yea, our grandson came over with his family yesterday after we got done with the front.  He had his whole family with him..  His oldest son, asked why were they here and who were they going to go visit...  haha..   He did not recognize the house..   He said, why did you paint it black.. then he noticed it was paper..  Why did you put black paper on your house, Nana...   

see why he was confused.  ha ha

Maybe the preppers are right…

Maybe the preppers are right…

Preppers are the people that are ready for anything that might happen on this earth. They have basements full of food, ammo stored, ways to save items and etc.. 

With the talk of saving water, as the earth seems to be drying up… I thought of the rain barrels my folks had. It caught the rain that came off of the roof.  It actually was softer than out of the faucet. Mom used it for washing clothes.   So maybe we should be putting plastic 50 gallon barrels at the tip of our roofs.

Have enough to water your garden and maybe for your lawn.  And who knows if you can find a way to filter it.. for drinking. 

Also saw a picture of a garden for those who don’t have much of a back yard. 

Another thing is, with the baby formula shortage, I wondered why the mothers weren’t contacting their friends who raise goats or go to the health store and buy goats milk. Some are allergic to cows milk, but from what I have heard,no one is allergic to goat.   Now when my kids were babies, we mixed Pet can milk with water with a tablespoon of Karo syrup.  Don’t know why mothers aren’t doing that instead of going into a panic.   Of course the companies don’t want Mom giving goat’s milk and etc. After all Mom might figure it out that the goats milk is heather than the chemicals that formula have.

 

Just a peek of the work going on…

Just a peek of the work going on…

 

We have started with the peeling off the shingles/shakes.

We do have one whole side done. It is the smaller of the walls done..  So here you go, a peek.. the site seems to pick and chose which pictures go where, as they did not down load in line. 

Posting with be short and sweet as we go.

to the right of the building is the last side we will be doing. 

as you can see the top part is done.. we were checking to see what we were getting into, so did this short part first. 

this you can see the last line is where the shingles were starting to rot from the snow being there

This side is done..  as you can see...

This is a warning.. just in case…

This is a warning..  just in case…

We are starting to work on the outside of the house.

Meaning tearing off the shingles and then wrapping it and then putting up metal siding..  It also involves painting the eaves part of the roof.. 

So I might be too busy to post during that time. I figure it is going to take about 2 weeks…   Also on the 27^th of May we are having the internet people come out and take down our satellite and put it on a pole we are going to place next to the house.  Instead of having it on the house.  Like it is now

We talked to the tech guy today.. he seems to think that he can put it up on the pole and also reconnect it in the same time. If we have all the stuff ready… If not.. he will put it on the pole…. Disconnect and come back a day or two later and reconnect it.  That means no internet for about 4 days as that is the Memorial Day weekend.   No internet is a double edge sword for us..  As we have our firestick thru the internet..  so no internet.. no Netflix or Prime movies. 

Which is not all that bad, as we will be so flaming tired I don’t think we will be thinking of movies and etc.. 

 So if this blog has nothing for days.. that is what is going on and we should be back in the swing the end of the first week of June..    So figured I would give you all a heads up.

And no Facebook?  Well, that can’t be a bad thing.. (ha-ha).

How many of you remember root cellars?

How many of you remember root cellars?

A root cellar (American English) is a structure, usually underground or partially underground, used for storage of vegetables, fruits, nuts, or other foods. Its name reflects the traditional focus on root crops stored in an underground cellar, which is still often true.

 

They came in many shapes.. some stood by themselves. Meaning there was a hole in the ground and you open the doors and walked down stairs.. underground..  and there was a room there..  some were 10 feet by 10 feet.. and other larger. I heard that in the 1950’s a lot of them got turned into bomb shelters for a while and then turn back into root cellars in the 60’s.

 

 

Or if it was like my folks.. Ours was in our basement. It had a set of doors to outside… like these…

 

 

 

So you could go there from outside, or go down the stair from inside the house to the basement.   Ours look kind of like this one down there…

In my childhood times…  most mother’s had a root cellar full of canned goods.. Veggie, fruit.. even meat.   The summer was taken up growing food…  some called Victory Gardens in the 1940,s.  Then come fall, it was time to harvest the food and can it in Mason jars.  Even deer and some beef was done, don’t know about pork as we did not have that.

The King’s mother did venison (deer) … She still had hers when I met him. Theirs was in the basement.   Some of them were dated 1960 something..  and that was in 1999.

 

My mother’s newer house  (1960’s) had a root cellar of the kind that was dug in the ground.  The door to it was in the basement..  There was no outside door..  If I recalled right .. it was under the front porch.  Mom kept, potatoes, carrots, onions and etc. In there..  Also her attempt to make dandelion wine.   (it was NASTY!!!)

 With the way the world is going… maybe we should be doing them again. 

Happy Mother’s day … AND…

Happy Mother’s day … AND…

 

Don’t forget the others…  step Mom’s who step in to the spot, because other Mom’s passed away or in these days… some who because of drugs,  or for one reason or another...couldn’t… fathers who had to fill both shoes, no matter what the reason is.. .

And don’t forget your mother in law…  There are some great ones out there… some not so..but even those raised a son you decided is worth your life time with…