Second July Island Trip – Day 2

The day started at 6am after a fitful sleep. It was a delight to sit in bed and read for 30-minutes before taking a slow roll into reviewing the days tasks, heating water for tea on a hot plate, dressing, and enjoying, as it turned out, not enough breakfast. The day included:

• Constant triage on both barns. Sorting, moving items, assessing, cleaning the floor, nooks, and crannies, and even beginning to stage certain items in the upper barn.
• I picked up my DH from the mid-morning ferry, and put him to work!
• At noon a gal stopped by and bought mom and dad’s coffee table.
• I used Jane’t riding mower for the first time! This mower has a 42” cutting radius. Three and a half feet! I get it now… Why, mostly, guys are into their riding mowers. The job has to be done (for fire hazard mitigation if for no other reason on this property ~ nothing like 10-acres of four foot tall grass in the middle of summer…) It’s very in-the-moment. There’s nothing else I was able to do other than learn how this grass-slaying machine worked, and focus on keeping my torso loose and we bumped and jostled over the terrain. No, I didn’t get the whole place done. Not by a long shot, but what I got done was very satisfying!
• I weed whacked. There’s nothing like ethanol-free fuel and Stihl equipment to make your day easier. It fired up like it had been used yesterday instead of almost 2-years ago.
• I did the walk-through with my departing tenants. It was very bitter sweet. They are onto their next adventure, overseas, and we had developed a wee mutual adoration club. The house was there when they needed it, I was a very responsive landlord, and they were amazing tenants. When asked about my Island tenants I would reply, I love them! They can change a light bulb! It was more than that. They truly loved being at the house. They turned it into a home, which it hadn’t been in a long time. Mom and dad had struggled for SO many years before dad passed. While I know my folks didn’t see it this way, the property had turned into a space they couldn’t keep up with. Dad put blinders on, and mom couldn’t understand that it was out of her/their control. To walk into my parents home, and see a home was a priceless gift my tenants gave me.
• My friend who built the new deck on the house came by to identify what pieces of machinery belonged to him in the upper barn. He helped us get them tucked into a compact spot. He gifted the desk and table in the upper barn, also his, to the estate sale (spring) endeavor. He’s also going to install the baseboard in the house that I brought up.
• I cleaned and fired up a tiny fridge my dad used to keep film in. It works well, and I’ve offered it to Tim for the cabin. the fridge that was left by a prior occupant (cutest appliance I’ve ever seen) doesn’t work. It runs, but only makes white noise.
• Did I mention barn(s) triage and tasks? Oh, yeah.
• My DH did a dump run for me. It was a full, epic load. The Island is a very expensive place to get rid of trash. This load coast more than twice my average loads while working on the house.
• We had a lovely dinner with our neighbor. My DH got sushi takeout from the incredible raw bar, and we sat on her deck and visited. It was a sublime end to a very busy day.