Counting Down

Things have been particularly busy around here because Marc drew the line in the sand for the appraiser’s visit on August 10^th. We’re woefully lacking on time to finish I feel, but he has made progress since my last update. The siding is finished; save for a couple pieces short on the front end gable which he hopes to procure without having to order an entire box. He’s also been working on the tedious job of installing the tongue and groove wood ceiling on the porch, which is really a two person job. He’s also in the middle of staining the door casings and interior doors—another job making slow progress. 

One sunny day before the fascia was installed and he could still drill holes where he needed, he prepped the roof for our “antenna farm”. With my heart in my throat I watched my aging, now less than agile husband “walk the line” so far above the ground. The job got done and now looks like we’re trying to communicate with aliens but hey; it’s free TV and radio! Our cell phone booster is also up there as our property sits in a dead zone for towers.

I’ve been doing lots of yard work but only to see my efforts to grow a nice carpet of lawn totally taken over by weeds and crabgrass. I threw in the towel and just started mowing it as though it is part of the rest of our lawn. I did get the magnificent and large copper pop planted with some perennials and annuals and it will have a permanent home on our front porch. One of our apple trees is just loaded with apples this year even though we totally ignored them all and didn’t have time to prune or spray. They are small but are good for baking since they are very aromatic and tartly flavorful. You can smell their freshness just walking by the tree!

Mostly though, I’ve been working at the rummage sale for the shelter which just wrapped up this past Sunday. That occupied my time for the better part of two weeks but was a rousing success and we increased our profit by 25% over what we took in last year. I served as co-director and was in charge of researching pricing and setting up the “collectibles” area, a first for us to try. The sale was well attended even though we had some particularly hot and humid days and we got lots of nice compliments on how well organized it all was. Of course, I myself walked out with a few goodies, one of which is the cutest small vintage birdcage already painted the perfect blue for my bedroom.

It’s hard to believe we may be on the downhill slide into home base, but we’ve locked our loan and need to close by late August or no later than the first days in September. The race is on and it’s taking our every waking moment. Summer’s been nice though and we’ve missed a lot of the brutal weather other parts of the Midwest and south are getting. We have yet to see a 90 degree day this year but one may be coming Saturday. Temps primarily in the 70’s and 80’s have been the perfect summer we think.