June/July 2023 Island Trip – Day 8

Despite last night’s heat, I slept well. Breakfast was two, of what we call, potato pucks from Trader Joe’s, with a homegrown over easy egg atop each one. Good fuel for the morning! Then I got up to:

• Weed whacking Stella’s slope in two sessions. This started with restringing the small line trimmer, which hasn’t been used in a while. I like that this piece of equipment is easy to start, and is light weight, but am not particularly happy that it likes to fuse it’s line together when it’s working hard. A YouTube video on ideal line winding is in order. Stella’s slope looks so much better. Not at all perfect, but you can see the steel flamingos and plants again. During my second thwacking session, I also trimmed around the exterior of dad’s garden, the south side of both barns, along a slope to the south of the upper barn, and started down the west driveway until I ran out of line, or it fused itself together 😏. All the thwacked grass was raked up and scattered in a thistle patch, not that the thistles will mind.
• I loaded the truck with my parents 1960’s Knoll Bertoia chairs. There are eight of them in various states of decay. These original chairs are coated in vinyl. Today’s chairs are powder coated. I called Knoll a few years ago to ask if refurbishing them via powder coating would diminish their value. The answer was, “No.” There are three powder coating outfits in our town. I’m going to collect bids. Refurbished, the chairs are very valuable. The daughter of one of mom’s authors asks me every year or so if I’d like her to sell these chairs for me. Particularly when her daughter is going to be in our area and can pick them up. Nope, nope, nope.
• All the metal my DH and I edited from the collection in the upper barn in also in the truck, save one piece I can’t pick up, along with the the small water heaters. The metal recycling place will take the water heaters (!), and even a microwave I can’t ethically sell. I have to assess if I can safely get the old (heavy) girl into the truck. The applicances are free to recycle. I’ll get a little bit of money for the metal.
• For giggles I checked the ferry reservation system mid-morning and scored a late morning boat! This assures my exit plan, but puts pressure on my timing. So, I’ve advanced everything possible in terms of closing up Stella and packing out. Dang, there’s a lotta laundry. 😂
• I chose which items, discovered while going through the (more than three) bins of things in longer term storage, that are coming to our mainland home, and which ones can stay here. In this, I also took a look at things I had stored in the lower barn for use here, and edited. It felt like a 3D square dance somehow. A huge pot from my childhood went to the estate sale. The trailer stove can’t handle it. I swiped a lid from a smaller pot already in the estate sale for a pot that I am keeping for the trailer, but is stored in the barn. A beautiful stainless tray on which my folks used to make oysters Rockefeller (such memories) won’t fit in the trailer oven, so it’s coming to our mainland home. Mom’s sushi platter will stay here. I have an abundance of platters on the mainland, and am equipped to make sushi here! Gotta have a lovely platter. I then cleaned countertops in the lower barn. 🤢 If there’s a place in purgatory for those who use too many paper towels, I will surely spend time for that offense. The washer isn’t hooked up, yet.
• After an eclectic salad on the deck, my tenants and I wandered to the lower barn where we discussed the bench project, and then took a look at Their boat. They think replacing the wheels and tires on the trailer would enhance its give-away-ability. The estate sale is the next marketing target. My absolute confidence that my dad would never keep a spare tire with the boat that didn’t fit its trailer, is absolutely incorrect! So, they can’t use that spare wheel as a ‘template’ to acquire replacements. And then there’s concerns about the axel. Not My Boat!!!
• This time last night it was in the high 70’s in Stella. Despite the high temps today, it’s currently 64º. I am happily closing windows (helps ready for leaving tomorrow), and enjoying my cool toes. The next two trips, band reunion aside, are going to be very focused in preparing, and then holding the estate sale. I’m looking forward to spending time here pursuing more artistic endeavors this fall.