Vacation?

 We feel like we are on vacation. No action is taking place on the 'Pool Hall'. It is Labor Day Weekend and every day feels like Sunday. It started yesterday because Russ took the day off and went to a Motorcycle Race and will not be back to work till Tuesday. Those guys have been putting in long hours and deserved to take it easy. It does feel different after the constant activity around here. 

Butch and I took a tour of the county, Greene County Iowa. This is something we do a few times every summer. It was very much a part of my childhood. My father loved to swim and so every night that I can remember through the summer months we would go to Spring Lake. We also rode around to get a breeze on hot summer nights because this was before AC in most homes. So our tour of Greene county always brings those memories to life for me.  For Butch, working for different power companies he always became acquainted with all areas where we lived because he frequented those roads in connection with his work. Often times at night and in the midst of storms all year round.

In our travels near Squirrel Hollow we come upon Jerry's Auto, a business neither of us knew existed. It is quite sizable too! Of course, there are also people who do not know Squirrel Hollow existed either.

This is the shelter house at Squirrel Hollow.

These next ones are all Spring Lake photos and this time I didn't take any of the water.  The "wood" part of Spring Lake Park fascinated me as much or more than the water. 

Almost forgot! I took a photo of the moon night before last and posted it on Facebook but forgot to put it on the blog. So here it is:

Guys are moving fast!

 Wednesday, Sept 2

Thursday Sept 3rd

Sherri's daycare

 My friend Sherri Clark runs a daycare and has for a very long time! Whenever I needed a baby fix I would stop by as she always had one to hold. She took this picture of her kids.

Butch being a lineman for many years I knew he would love this picture. They do seem to be fascinated.

Progress 9-1-2020

 Sometimes it is fast, sometimes it is slow and sometimes frustrating. This is a medium day. Butch and Russ are working on north side siding. By appearance, I would say half done but it is a side that takes a lot of fitting as they near the top. The sleeve for our heater/AC arrived today. It was just shipped yesterday! That was fast! 

In the meantime, I washed and scrubbed down the entry and steps on the east and west side of the house. They were both infected with a combination of dirt and mildew and have bothered me most of the summer. My mini-powerwasher is in the motorhome so I made do with bleach, water, and a broom. A more satisfactory solution and a coat of paint will have to wait for another day or perhaps for another year.

I am beginning to think there has been way too much crammed into this one.

Here are some interior photos. You cannot yet picture the concept of it all but it is safely in my vision.

I stood in the middle of the room and rotated. This is the future home of the bathroom and kitchen area.

This is the east-facing (streetside) door and south wall.

This is the east-side window, northeast corner and future resting place for the pool table.

This is the northwest corner, westside windows, and home of the future game table. Currently in the storage shed.

Leak fixed

 The leak in the plumbing has been fixed. The water from the leak did not appear on the surface because pea-rock had been used as fill, and therefore, served as a holding tank. The leak happened because of a split where a junction was made with the existing pipe. Blame was talked about but the phrase it didn't leak before but now it does was repeated. Our monthly water bill was always the same prior to the new plumbing so the leak is "new". It is mostly rectified. Accidents happen and there is no point in dwelling on it.😌

Progress Report-August 31 2020

 Butch has finished as much of the electrical as he can until the insulation is blown in and that can happen any time as far as we are concerned. But the guy who is doing it is stacked up a bit and so it will be a week or two until he can get to it. Butch asked him what happened to the company we hired to do our house because we could not locate them at all in our area and he said he ran them out of business. He is considerably less expensive than the last time we had this done so I am guessing he is correct. My job today will be covering the electrical boxes that are installed to keep them from getting filled with insulation. Butch will be working with Russ on the siding.

Russ installed the two entry doors and the three windows last week. The garage door is still a few weeks away. When we lined that part up they told us it would be 4 to 6 weeks. Not what we wanted to hear. We are ready for them too so we can be sealed off from the weather. Not much of a worry as the drought is hanging on severely. Every time we look at radar they are getting rain north of us and south of us but we are stuck in the middle with no rain. They said on the news that our area has had no rain for 69 days and the last rain we did have was meager at best and did not qualify as a drought breaker.

Whenever the first of September rolls around we start looking south, at least in our head. Still not sure what that means for us this year. I asked for a timeline on the RV repair and was told we would be notified when they had one. When we took it to them we told them it had never been winterized...hint, hint. It feels so strange to look through my "computer" window and not see the motorhome sitting there waiting for us. 

Also notice how 'airy' the trees look after the derecho. When golfing it is always said that trees are 90% air and this kind of attests to that.

And here we have progress pics taken from the usual spots.

Another airy tree.

Taken from the northeast corner of our property.

I will be adding interior shots very soon.