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Fall is here in suddenly dropping temperatures (over 20 degrees in one fell swoop in the space of a day) but the trees haven’t yet caught up. We’re a good two-three weeks behind changing colors that we normally would experience at this time. This is a beautiful park in Waupaca featuring playgrounds, skate park, hiking and biking trails, picnic areas surrounded by the Waupaca River and even a sled hill for winter. It’s all free of course but lacks the fall colors I was looking for on this day.
The Indian summer allowed us to get more done in the yard although not all that we had hoped as yet. Maybe as the changing leaves, the snow will also be delayed this year. Marc hauled in about six loads of mulch which he rototilled in, but we still need around four more loads to really complete the area as we want. I repainted all the white posts so they are pristine and waiting for the wire fencing. We’re still also hoping to get that gravel completed around the house and the spa moved and cleaned out.
I dug three nice holes for some planned birch and aspen trees and we had a road worker move our big rocks into place over his lunch hour for beer money, but I was too late in the season to snag good trees to purchase so I am letting it pass until next spring. I dug up some plants and repotted them to move inside the house but I’m not sure they’ll survive long since the opportunities for direct sunlight are limited given my four cats and where they play.
Sunday we’re due at the patriarch of Blenker’s, the founder father (Marc works for the son) for a preview of their new home and a Packer party. Marc and I don’t really enjoy football nor do we specifically follow it but it’s hard to live 90 miles from the home team and their absolutely hard core rabid fans and not be involved somewhat. Packer fever doesn’t even begin to describe what goes on in the fall in Wisconsin!
Sunday they take on the 49ers on their home turf. My son follows the 49ers as I was lucky enough in my work career back in the days of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, to obtain the entire team’s autographs all at one time (after their Super Bowl wins) which my son now has possession of. It’s such an incongruous story that it has to be true, right? I worked for Bank of Alex Brown in Sacramento and they had a branch in Rocklin which is where the 49er summer camp was held. When I heard that they would all be at the bank signing signature cards for their safety deposit boxes (where they kept their super bowl rings), I asked the bank secretary in charge if she would be kind enough to pass around a piece of paper they could all sign for my son. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Original signatures of all the 49ers in their glory days; hum, wonder what that could be worth? At the time I had no idea of the improbability of something like that being done; I’m only glad I thought to do it for my son, who now treasures it since he is such an ardent fan.
All good things must come to an end but as we move into autumn our summer seems to hang on. The trees here have barely begun to start changing colors given our warm temps of the past few weeks. We’ve been spending time trying to get the yard in order for its winter slumber. The recent main task for Marc is rewiring the control situation for the well from the shop to the house. Since this required a lot of trenching Marc rented a trencher Saturday and got most of the wiring completed and buried. Next will come the wiring and electrical boxes necessary in the basement to complete the job.
He recently purchased a rototiller and has started working the garden area soil and around the perimeter of the house. We are working the grade and will install black plastic and gravel to help mitigate weed growth and attempt to keep water flowing away from the basement. I found some perennials on sale and got a few more of those planted in an attempt to help cover up the basement window well; next up will be some trees if we can find large enough ones at a reasonable price but the bulk of our planting and ideas will wait until next spring to be completed.
I finally got the shed painting completed but the job will likely only last between two and three years given the snow that will sit against it for months at a time. We will need to ultimately replace the wood with vinyl siding if we hope to salvage it but Marc would really like to replace it with a much larger one.
Saturday dawned bright and cool and fall-like for the Waupaca Fall-o-rama, which showed off small town living to its best as families strolled and shopped the vendor booths. We had two booths representing the Waupaca Humane Society—the bake sale under one tent (with my 16 loaves of artesian bread) and our Pets Rock display of three puppies and a full grown dog drawing in folks like a petting zoo. Hopefully they will end up adopted as a result of their exposure because they sure are cute little guys!
The park itself is very well done; immaculately clean, quietly sitting lakeside and well equipped with picnic areas, a beach, restrooms, artwork and mature trees. It’s a real treasure to have right downtown. In winter, the lake supports ice fishing with little huts dotting its surface. This climate provides such a change in scene from summer to winter. It’s been a very good year!
Is apple time over? Nope, not yet. Marc even bought a dehydrator for us to try drying some as well as making apple butter and fruit leather. He’s taken bag after bag to the folks at work and I’ve taken bags to the shelter, where Monica, the director, is busy making pies for the Food Basket organization’s food for the poor. Our neighbors have helped themselves and I still wake up to have a pile like this every couple of days. However, my processing days this year are over; a couple of weeks ago I tripped and fell in the basement and hit the cement floor like a sack of potatoes. Besides gargantuan bruising and sore muscles I hurt my right wrist very badly and may have even broken one of the small bones. It sure feels like it and has limited what I’ve been able to do. A break didn’t show on x-rays but the entire hand was also very swollen at the time so was hard to read. Since they wouldn’t cast that type of break anyway, I’m just going about doing all I can with it.
With winding up all the details for the final loan on the house and signing all closing papers yesterday we finally put to bed the whole cantankerous process of building this beast. It took exactly a year of our lives almost to the day and will likely take at least another one to finalize all the finishing details, the basement, and the yard and garden as we want. Stressful, exhausting, trying, more expensive than we imagined—it still is all worth it when we stand here and marvel at what we accomplished physically at our ages. Marc doesn’t work nearly as quickly as he used to, but he still gets ‘er done!
There are a few tasks left for me to accomplish before the weather turns too cool; my main project at this point is completing the repainting of the shed. I’m also set to start baking up to 15 loaves of my peasant bread for the shelter’s bake sale on Sept. 19th where I will also be working the booth. This bread doesn’t require kneading nor does it use much yeast so it’s a two day process—putting it together one day then allowing it to rise until baking the next day. I use only one Dutch oven to bake it in; hence it’s a slow process to knock out 15 loaves!
Today is our 27th wedding anniversary and although we planned to take a break and go out and find a good Wisconsin fish fry this evening, Marc has been working such a hectic schedule that he has come down with a nasty cold. He asked for a rain check while he tries to recuperate this holiday weekend.
I think our sunroom is going to have to wait for the future as well; we are running out of a weather window this year and quite simply, Marc has pushed his body and his stamina just about as far as it can stretch this year. It’s time for him to slow down and enjoy what we do have for awhile. I try and rein my impatience at wanting everything done and instead concentrate on the fact of what we do have rather than what we don’t. My new home isn’t located in my ideal location (that would be the Oregon coast) but it’s where life has brought us and I’m eternally thankful we have what we do have, we have each other and as far as we know, we’re in relatively good health to enjoy it all. This chapter of our life may not have all the adventurous highs of yesteryear but it also is not so full of the angst that can go along with that constantly changing lifestyle. We’re coming into the contentment side of things.
It is said that the cost of the average sunroom is $22,000. That’s a lot of mul-lah; one we obviously couldn’t afford on our little ranch house if not for the fact that we pretty well designed one in by planning for such a large front porch so the roof trusses, roof itself, supports and decking are already there. To that end, we figure we may just have enough left of our construction loan to get us the windows and door we will need to enclose the space. We’re in the planning stages but it would sure make the deck and spa much more usable and enjoyable this winter. This would technically be a three season room since it would not have a heat source, but would sure make the other seasons more comfortable and wind and bug free.
This is what my mind envisions; something so comfortable and sumptuous you never want to leave there; peace and tranquility sipping tall, cool drinks; a good book in lap, and of course, the old iron bed to catch a later nap. The iron bed is a must; I have been on the lookout for an antique twin size for quite some time now. I will fill it with lovely patterned homemade pillows for lounging against. We’ve already decided we’d like opening transom windows to let out summer heat and likely bead board knee walls and Pergo floors for easy upkeep. Alas (sigh), we can't have the fireplace or lake view shown here!
I hope to fill it with plants and flowers, old wicker chairs and braided rugs. Ceiling fans will spin overhead on hot days. I found this 90 year old wicker rocker in excellent condition the other day as I was driving by a yard sale. For $41 I made it mine and its begging for some new cushions. I see these all the time on EBay for about $250 so figure I made a steal.
Things have been really busy around here; I can’t even begin to list all the things that have transpired since I last blogged. The gutter guys were out and completed our gutters. There are still things I am painting—most recently working on the back door jamb and frame and that was after completing the door casing. I’ve got more painting going on in the shop where I am working on some lumber which will be used in the basement. Marc got the back porch built and its look was greatly improved when he added the vinyl railing. At first I told him it looked like a cattle chute but as he explains it now, he will add some planter boxes along the tops of the railings which will sit to the outside all around, so I can fill them with flowers and herbs all summer. That will definitely help to add cottage appeal.
We finally were able to quit using the hobby room as a paint staging area so I was able to get it quasi set up. My treadmill takes up so much space there wasn’t much room left! We brought in the free armoire I got at last year’s rummage sale which is intended to hold many of my supplies. It needs another shelf inside which Marc needs to build but is already a huge help in getting things put away. He hung the small wicker shelf I got from this year’s rummage, free also, which I had painted a forest green. You can’t tell in these photos but the walls in this room are a very soft green and the accent colors I am using are darker greens and lilac. The other small three drawer chest I will be painting soon and may accent the drawers with fabric. That was another free find from the apartment dumpster, left behind by someone moving. The wicker chair I got for $20 from last season’s rummage; the pillows were found at Goodwill for a few bucks. The wonderful sewing table is a Pier 1 Craigslist find from 20 miles away that I bought for just $45. The room may be inexpensive but its a thousand dollar view from the work table out the window though!
Another rummage sale score just last week, was this fabulous iron and wicker magazine holder for $2. It will likely eventually go in the sunroom but for now holds some cookbooks in the kitchen. Marc usually doesn’t make too many comments on my scores but he absolutely loves this piece. He is however, happy at all the money I save by not buying retail!
Finally, what has been occupying me daily, is coring, peeling and slicing all the apples that our trees are producing! Here’s a photo of about how many fall in just a day; the cuttings leftover weighed in at 19 lbs. Very shortly however I will be finished, not because the apples are done (the trees STILL appear totally full) but because our freezer is just about full.
Oh yeah; the appraisal went well and we made above and beyond the value we needed for our loan so all is well on that front and it was a great relief to Marc, who now can chose when to finish up all the little details that still need doing. And we did enjoy beer and brats at the shelter volunteer dinner, where I am caught with a mouthful of brownie!
