Thursday, May 3rd, 2018…… Rylee howled and woke me up this morning
about 3:30. I took her out to pee and put her back in her crate. She finally quieted down but woke us up again
at 6:00am. She has been really good about peeing and pooping outside but we
still won’t let her out there alone. We heard a neighbor got a video of a
cougar on one of his security cameras.
They only live about ½ mile from us so we need to be careful. We got up
and ready for the day. Plans were to go to Walmart and pick up a few things,
and get some cash, then go to breakfast.
We like Shirley Mae’s, but she only takes cash. After we got back, we
owed monster puppy some serious playtime.
Around noon I got the string trimmer out and wacked some of the areas I
can’t reach with either of the mowers.
Then I got the tractor out and started in on the lawn. This time I also mowed the back field. We
have sort of divided up the property – the lawn, which is on the west
side of the driveway plus all around the house, the back field, which
starts on the other side of the lawn (past the French drain) and goes to the
back of the property, and then the ‘west forty’, which is the field
behind the shop that runs out to South Main to the west. I still plan to hire out
the west forty. I mow the lawn each time and will probably only do the field
every third or fourth time. I took a few
breaks in between and went out once to let Quincy out for a few minutes and
once to get gas for the tractor. Up here
(in smaller more rural towns only) they are allowed to sell what they locally refer
to as ‘farm gas’, which is non-ethanol. It’s recommended for my tractor. Regular
gas is right at $3.00 a gallon now that spring is here. Non-ethanol is $4.25 so it’s not cheap but that’s
what I need. I got back and finished the job which ended up taking the better
part of my day! I didn’t feel it at the time, but when I took my shower, I
found my knees and arms were sunburned.
Guess I’ll have to put some sunscreen in the cup holder on the tractor
for next time!
Tim & Dana
(and Chuck) made some pretty good progress today. They got all of the trusses up and secured. It’s looking better and better each day. I’m visualizing the motorhome inside already!
End of day 24….
Lydia brought Rylee out to the construction zone after they were done working and it wasn’t so noisy. She is getting more secure in the yard and shop and is curious and wants to explore everything! Rylee found the lumber tie straps!
After dinner
and tv later, Lydia went to bed and after taking Rylee out for the last time, I
followed about 10 minutes later. I made
the decision to leave her out of the crate, with full access to the house. Risky but I needed to see what would
happen. I took full responsibility and
promised to do any clean up required.
Friday, May 4th, 2018…… I
woke up about 3:00am and went to the bathroom, then decided to sneak in to see
what the little butthead was up to. She heard
me in the bathroom and was awake. I let
her out not knowing if she had already gone in the house. I would check that
tomorrow. We all went back to sleep and when I woke up (about 6:30am) I let her
out again and then surveyed the damage. Absolutely nothing was amiss! Oh, happy days! We’ll try it again tonight and we fully expect
accidents but it sure is nice to be able to sleep without the whining. Today I went off to try to find an attachment
for the tractor that will allow me to run it over the grass to pick up the clippings,
which are really thick and don’t fall back in the grass for mulch. Tim says he has one that he uses for grass and
leaves and that it has brushes in it that sweep everything into the bin. Even if I can just get most of the big stuff picked
up it will be worth it! I didn’t find one yet but still have a few places to
check. I did get my blower out and managed to blow most of the smaller piles of
grass back down into the thatch. The big clumps are too wet still and too heavy
and won’t break up. Also went today to
pick up the motorhome. The de-winterizing
was done at no charge but I paid ($55.) to have the slideout topper on the
biggest slideout tightened up. These are canvas awnings that come out with the
slides and protect the top. I had
replaced the stitching on this particular awning over a year ago and when I put
it back on I didn’t get it as tight as I should have. So, it was easier to have
them do it while in the shop anyway. Lydia and Rylee dropped me off and I got
everything paid for and brought the coach back and parked it. Boy, is it dirty. It’s never been this bad before but we have
not used it plus it sat through the fall and winter and saw dust and rain and
even a little snow. Plus, I haven’t
cleaned the tires yet after I drove it into the planned parking spot which turned
out to be way too wet and gooshy and I sunk the tires in it.
Again, the guys
made a lot of progress on the rv barn. They got the front and back sub-sided and
then got some of the plywood up on the roof.
Tim has to leave part of the front part open until the inspector, who is
coming tomorrow, can see that the shear strength requirements are met. Tim says requirements mean he has to install
sub-siding on inside and outside and must nail front and back walls every three
inches and he also needs to see the strongbacks and the gussets that Tim
installed from the concrete to the stud walls and to the top plates. That
building isn’t going anywhere soon!
End of day 25….
We spent the
afternoon split between kicking back and doing odd jobs in and around the house
and shop. I still have to get my string trimmer out and go around the
grapevines and blueberry and apple trees to knock down the foot-tall grass out there.
Maybe that will wait until next week.
Dinner time
kind of snuck up on us with us being busy and all, so we decided to go out and
eat. We went to Skyline Inn. Lydia wanted the salad bar and we both wanted clam
chowder soup. I chose a ham, bacon,
turkey and swiss sandwich. It was really
good!
We got back
just as the crew was finishing up. We
walked super pooper and came in to rest and watch tv until bedtime.
test4
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