Long Weekend

Woo Hoo, Labor Day weekend. More time to get stuff done.

Divide and conquer. That's the plan for the weekend. Dave is going to get the belt on the tractor so he can mow the yard and get other yard work done. I'm going to get the kitchen cleaned out if it's the last thing I do! Kyle brought a friend and they pretty much did whatever we asked them, which turned into a lot of garbage hauling.

Saturday bright and early, boys still asleep, we have to make the trek to the grocery store and hardware store. Thirty minutes later we arrive at the closest city with a walmart so we can stock the food, get toiletries and other what nots. The hardware store recommended for the tractor supplies is just a couple blocks away.

We get everything we need and head back. It's a gorgeous day, perfect blue sky, Lake Huron is so clear and blue it looks Caribbean. Then we pull up to the clutter shack which we lovingly and tongue in cheek call "Shangri La". Time to work.

I dig into the kitchen and Dave heads outside. A few minutes later he comes in looking for bug spray. The mosquitos are trying to drain him dry. Finds some, big shock, with all this stuff there was bound to be some, heads back out. I'm finding boxes of gun shells, some empty, some full and some partially empty - in the kitchen. Hmmm, wonder what's in this drawer.....used bread ties. Huh, NO I WILL NOT ASK WHY!! Empty that drawer, move on. Bags and bags of old icky food later the boys are hungry. Well it is dinner time.

Call Dave in, get the grill going and dinner on. As we're cooking dinner Dave fills me in on the tractor situation. He got the blades changed on the mowing deck, they were pathetic rusty little stubs. He still cannot get the belt on, swears it must be the wrong size. Ok, it's starting to get dark now, time to shower, read a little and fall asleep.

Sunday. Back to the grind. Dave asks me to come out with him so he can take a piece of string and wrap it around all the pullies to make sure we have the right size belt. Huh.....we have the right size I go back in and leave him to it. I have found so many old and repetitive spices that I'm still shaking my head. Remember, he was just one man, all this wasted food is just sad. There was so much that he must have forgot what he had and just kept buying. Working in a food pantry makes the waste so much worse to me.

What's that I hear? Dave is mowing the yard. WOO HOO. Uh oh, what's that I hear? He keeps running over stuff because of course, there is stuff EVERYWHERE. Peanut keeps running in front of him and dropping her ball so he'll play with her. She doesn't quite get that it's not play time all the time. Yard looks soooo much better mowed. We're starting to see what a gem it really is and not just what we imagine it can be.

I finished the kitchen and we decided to go get pizza. We worked our tails off so it was treat time. We really enjoyed ourselves at the Woodwinds Restaurant in Onaway. Pizza was excellent and everyone was really friendly. We also took the boys to Ocqueoc Falls and walked around a little bit. So beautiful, and almost in our back yard. Ok, time to hit the sack. We have a long drive tomorrow.

Dave and I get up early and think, "Hey, why don't we get a little more done and then hit the road?" So, Dave heads back outside and I decide to tackle the bathroom. SIX garbage bags later I have a clean bathroom. If you look at the pictures you'll see a weird window on the one wall. Believe it or not that window is between the bathroom and the master bedroom. Why? Oops, forgot, we don't ask why because there are no answers. Eventually that window will be gone, but for now, no one wants to sleep in the master bedroom because of the possibility of stinkiness! Dave got a few more things done outside.

Quick showers and time to hit the road. Oh man, we will never leave that late again. I-75 is crazy heading south after a holiday weekend. Whew. Seven hour drive took nine but it was uneventful. Kyle's friend even said he would like to go with us again. Suprisingly the state of the place didn't scare him off. Of course taking the quad and letting them ride on the property probably didn't hurt.

I'm going to post links to photo's on the side of the page. Take a look. You won't believe what we're up against. Yet, we love it there and can't wait to head back. It'll be a few weeks until there is more to post because we have vacation taking up the next two weekends.