March 2023 Island Trip – Day 3

The day started with my tenant returning our salad bowl, a couple of knives they want sharpened, and a cup of hot water and two tea bags. These two personify consideration and kindness. I chose the jasmine green tea. 😏

Stella got a cleaning this morning. Dusting and wiping down surfaces takes far more time than vacuuming. I kind of like cleaning her because she’s such a small space. You can get seriously detailed in 45-minutes. While cleaning I discovered something that made me laugh. When we were last here in frigid December, and dealing with frozen water and sewer lines as we were trying to leave, we inadvertently left a stack of dishes in the sink. The sink has a Corian cover for each side. It wasn’t until this morning, when I wanted to wipe down the sink covers, that I discovered the unwashed dishes. We have extensive checklists for both trailers, including things like, “wash up and put away dishes.” Leaving a frozen trailer was stressful. I gave us a heaping helping of grace, and a bunch of giggles.

I was delighted to run into Island Lock and Key on my way into the hardware store. I boldly asked for advise re the upper barn door lock set (probably mid-90’s vintage). I had to use extremely bad language to get it to open Wednesday. This, after treating the lock to a silicone spa treatment in December! My DH and I decided yesterday the best (easiest and least expensive) thing to do was replace the lock. The locksmith agreed wholeheartedly, and told me which brand to buy, which I did.

Upon returning home, having some lunch, and finishing Stella’s spa treatment with the vacuum (love the battery vac 💕), I woke up the mower. I was right! the mower easily takes care of the winter wilted tall grasses. I worked in the NW corner of the property (NW of Stella’s meadow). I’m amazing at how good it looks (pics to follow), and what a difference it makes to take the mowing line up to another couple of medium sized firs. After mowing, I returned to the firs with my 6” hand saw and removed all the lower dead branches. It’s a magical spot. My DH will carry the orchard ladder up to these trees for me so I can remove more dead wood. And he’ll carry the branches to a pile I started, which can stay in place for habitat.

The best part of the day was my DH’s arrival! I showed him the space under the firs I mowed up to pretty much before he was able to take in being here. We’ve had a relaxed afternoon/evening while planning all his heavy lifting 😏.

We had fun completing a micro-puzzle before dinner. As capacious as Stella feels to us, one cannot do a 1000-piece puzzle in an Airstream. This one is 150-pieces and is very, very small.