Thursday, July 26, 2007

This is not my idea of fun!


In 1973 when we bought our property, where we live, we built Hubby a workshop. Two reasons, we were wanting to "test" the material we planned to use when we build our house and we needed a place to store some of our "stuff" when we moved from our other house to an apartment during construction of the "big house". Oh yes, there was a third reason, Hubby wanted a workshop and figured if we waited until after we build the big house we wouldn't be able to afford the workshop. So the workshop was built. We had NO clue what we were doing, but my Daddy gave us a book, "How to Build Your Dream House for $3,500". Guess when it was published! After the foundation was in place we would literally sit and read that book to figure out what we had to do next in building that structure. It took us months to just frame the thing mainly because we had to read the book FIRST and, we could only work on the weekends at that point in our lives. You understand we were young and we had to work.


Well the squirrels decided they needed a change of menu, so they started to EAT the siding off of the workshop! We are in the process of relocating squirrels, lots of them. They ate almost all the siding off the back and nibbled along the edges of both sides and front as high as they could ready, which was about three rows of siding. So, now we are having to replace the chewed pieces of siding. I don't know how I manage to get involved in Hubby's projects! I think because he says, "will you help me take off the old siding, I can't do this by myself?" Of course I'll help him, I'm in!


So, for the past three days we have been working on taking off the old siding and repairing rot and carpenter ant damage. We had never put in a proper door sill, so we have laboriously removed the old "sill" and installed a new one, a real door sill and threshold. THREE DAYS it has take us to do that one thing! Now the door won't close because after installing the threshold it's a bit too high with the little piece of rubber to keep out the rain, so NOW we have to remove the door and plane it down so we can close the door. I hope that's not going to "justify" another tool, like an electric planer. I suggested the belt sander would work very well, after all, it's a tool justified by another project that had to be done.


Just wait until we get that Hardiplank siding on the building! Just let those little devils, I mean squirrels, sink their little teeth into that concrete siding! They'll be on their way to the dentist, I'm sure.


I'm off to the workshop. We can't do this everyday, I'm getting too beat up. I have bruises all over my arms and hands and a blood blister on my thumb where I hit it with the hammer. OUCH!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

I know this is a bit late, but here are some photos taken at the 4th of July parade in a small town in south Georgia. Our dear friends, George and Charlene, live here and the parade has always started in front of their house. We had a wonderful day! We sat on the front porch, visited with friends and relatives and just enjoyed all the activities. Most of the people in the parade threw candy to all the people standing along the street. It was so much fun!


View of the porch.






View from the porch








The log cutting contest.










Every parade has a fire truck







Then there were the sack rack.






After the parade there were activities around the courthouse square. The weather was perfect! It was warm, but the humidity was low, which is EXTREMELY unusual for Georgia on the 4th of July and as you can see from the photos blue sky with light fluffy clouds.
In 1776 when the colonies declared independence from England, John Adams said every 4th of July all the towns should have a great celebration with parades, games and fireworks. My prayer for these great United States is we will be able to celebrate another 231 years of independence and freedom. We honor all the people that have fought so hard, even died, to give us that freedom today. GOD BLESS THE USA!