| May 2005 log |
Wednesday, June 1, 2005 Finished packing the truck, and headed out. Drove up 2 to 91, then across on the Mass Pike. I decided to go down across 87 I guess it was, but sure seemed slow. Not being in a hurry it was fine. I arrived at around 7:30 I think it was. Richard grilled some steak and Nancy had sweet potatoes and cole-slaw for supper. It was a nice time to hang out. They had a tree and a few limbs needing attention, but not having equipment to get rid of the brush, I decided not to tackle them. Not to mention that I wasn't feeling the best. Nothing major - just 'wore-out.' Thursday, June 2, 2005 Left Richard's at around 10:00, stopping at Lorain to find some ancestors' grave sites. Debbie got off work at noon, so she came out to help me find everyone. I was very thankful that she did, because it would have taken me a long time to find them all on my own. Once there, I headed out to Ft. Wayne area - taking back roads from Toledo. I think I arrived before supper. Friday, June 3, 2005 The plan for the day was to dig about 70 post holes, and install cedar posts for a fence for Bessie. Sounds easy enough... Andy and I drove in to town to get some things - sac crete, the Post Hole Digger, and a gate. We dug the corner posts easy enough and set them in concrete by lunch time. After lunch was a different story - we had a really tough time getting the 12" auger to break through the hard, dry clay ground, so we switched to the 9" that we had. I worked just as hard, even with Andy and me hanging on the thing. Finally we realized that we needed to dig out with a pick or bar every now and again to get through the clay. Once through the layer of clay, it dug beautifully. Obviously, getting to that point was the goal. I sharpened the bit a little, but it didn't help out enough. It was still a chore. Through the course of the day, the PHD still wasn't doing it's job real well. Andy decided to call a neighbor to see if they had a tractor with a post hole digger on the back, which they did. He came over to have a look-see, and decided that next morning they would start early (7:00) and go get it to try. I needed to cut some logs to get them out of the way - as Andy's saw wasn't really big enough to handle them. We watched The Lone Ranger over pizza for supper for 'family night.' Saturday, June 4, 2005 The morning started out tough, because for one thing, it started at 6:30. The neighbor came over to get some help picking up the PHD. They did and came back to start digging. Hmph - the hard clay didn't budge with this PHD either - it was even worse being an old, dull PHD. John and I went to town to pick up the 6" auger bit, and then I gave that a try. Even though the trip cost us an hour's work, it was well worth the time. Drilling a 6" hole is a lot easier than a 12", obviously, and was very productive. I was able to finish the rest of the post holes by early afternoon, leaving time to finish cutting up some 30"+ diameter logs. Trevor - it was oak and black walnut. Sunday, June 5, 2005 Not much done today - just went to church w/ Andy and family, took a nap and watched Left Behind II. Monday, June 6, 2005 Left Andy & Marie's place about 6:30, heading South on 5 to Grandma's house. It was a beautiful day for a drive, and I enjoyed it very much. Drove through Indianapolis this time instead of taking the bypass, and that was fine except for one accident that slowed things down. After Indianapolis, I took 67 down to 50 to IL1. It was about 2:30 - 3:00 when I arrived. With some extra time on our hands, We started in on the first project of the day - tearing down the old well house. This was accomplished before supper time. I didn't really want to work after supper, so instead I jumped Grandma's car to see if I could get it started. (To accomplish this, I had to make a hole in the wall to pass the jumper-cables through, as the car was face-first in the garage.) Once I poured a little gas down the carb, it started up rather nicely- so I drove it around for a while. I didn't feel to right in doing donuts with Grandma watching, so I only did a few. (We are going to trash the car, so there's no point in keeping it in the best shape!) Not sure why, but Dwight wasn't content with that amount of work, so, not able to convince him I wasn't feeling too well, we cut out some bushes that have long been overgrown. Three to be exact. I was cutting the bases and he drug them down to the burn pile. Uncle Doug stopped in from his trip home from Mt. Carmel, and we talked a bit. I showed him how to climb trees w/ my ropes and stuff, which was a good thing. Tuesday, June 7, 2005 Up early (6:45 or so) and we started tearing down the garage. The
plan was to put the block into the old well that isn't being used
anymore. First my job was to take out the windows. Dwight was to
cut the grass around the place so it's easier to clean up. (He ended
up cutting the whole yard, and I had some nice uninterrupted quality
time with the sledge hammer.) We wanted to make thins fall inside
as much as possible as it's easier to clean up that way. Also, if
things fell wrong, it would hit the house, which of course we wanted
to avoid. Dinner and back at it. It was about 90°F, full sun. I did spend a lot of time sitting in the kitchen downing glasses of Fresh Brewed Iced Tea. Philip and Nicholas was also over to help. They spent their time disposing of the rubble I was creating - all down the well that was not used anymore. Wednesday, June 8, 2005 We worked on the garage this morning, till about 9:00 (cleaning up the broken blocks.) Then a nice and needed thunderstorm came through. It was one of those just-sit-in-the-front-porch-swing type of storms - the kind you always dream about. I then took a nap for 2 hours, waking up for lunch. Yeah, life is rough. But after yesterday, it really seemed appropriate (not to mention necessary!) After lunch ("dinner") we headed out back again to clean up the garage still. Flat shovel, wheelbarrow, and gloves. This continued until about 3:00, when Terry's tractor finally arrived. Now we were able to finish the job in about a half-hour. Did I mention that once the well was full, we started in on filling the cistern. Next step was to tear up the broken concrete from the what-used-to-be driveway, to make way for some stone later. The old concrete was getting to be an eyesore, and hence the decision to 'break 'er up'. This was, mind you, Depression Concrete - not the strongest nor thickest concrete you've seen. After supper another front came through - a lot of wind but not much rain. Grandma's watching a Gene Kelly special, so I'm out on the front porch swing catching up on life here on the computer. Monday, June 13, 2005 We decided to go ahead and rip the shingles off the back of grandma's roof today - and get tar paper up on it for the night. At least half of the roof. This was a good thing because we wouldn't have had enough time to get the whole roof off and paper on it all before the day was out. There was a 50% chance of rain today, but thankfully it didn't. Dwight and I started working at about 7:30 am, Phillip and Nicholas
came in at about 10:00, and Josh was around 11:30 (who works second
shift.) By 2:30 pm, we were done with the half of the back. Wednesday, June 15, 2005 Continued on the roof today - but didn't finish. We'll leave that
for tomorrow. It was a beautiful day- low humidity, mid 80's. But the sun was very strong so I'm a little red today. Sunday, June 19, 2005 Drove from Browns, IL to Milwaukee, WI. An un-eventful trip. Monday, June 20, 2005 Worked for Colin for most of the week, helping Joe and replacing a lot of things on the Honda Trail 70's that he just bought. Tires, tubes, chains, points, oil, etc, etc. Make a little money to help with the new engine that I decided to get on Wednesday. Friday, June 24, 2005 The new engine came in today - sure glad to see that. We won't start on it till next week, because we need to get Joe moved to his new apartment this weekend. Tuesday, June 28, 2005 At about noon, I started on replacing the engine. Joe was busy working for Colin, so I was doing most of the work myself, which was ok, just takes longer. I forget when the engine came out and when the new one went in, but on Friday it was done - July 1. |
| July 2005 log |
