March 2025 Island Trip – Day 8

Today was great. It felt like a whole lot got done, and my control freak ways were stroked along the way:

• The upper barn had been a scatter for a while. With the addition of some screws and brackets the floor is clear of all things that don’e belong on it. I wound up stainless wire that used to support raspberries (I think), and 1/2” irrigation hose, used painter’s tape to keep both items under control and popped them on the wall! The two line trimmers are also on the wall now. The sprayers are on a top shelf, landscape cloths on another shelf, the shelves are better organized, caulk is in the painter’s stash of stuff, antique wood sealer (it does have a shelf life) is set to take back to hazardous waste on the mainland. There’s a growing dump pile for Friday’s run. The floor was swept, spiders (big juicy ones!) evicted, and I helped my DH sort a box of miscellaneous hardware of my dad’s.
• What deserves a bullet point of it’s own (!!!) is that my DH installed a long-handled tool organizer for me. No longer are the tools in a big galvanized garbage can whose bottom is all but rusted out after 45-years of service. He attached it to the joist of the barn wall and I happily loaded it up. Tools will be so much easier to access, and the risk of being attacked by them has gone down to less than half of a percent 😂. We also found a spot for a tool organizer rescued from his mom’s, in pretty rough shape, that’s designed to sit in a corner. No corners to be had, so it’s housing the rakes against the wall.
• Another thing my DH got advanced is the new rose box for the climbing rose by the drier shed! The current box is all but rotted away. Weather depending (if a turkey had looked skyward at times today, it would have drowned) we’ll get it installed tomorrow.
• During an impressive rain squall, I took a dish brush, that is expressly for the purpose, and ran it over Stella’s trims, lights, and places where she grows algae this time of year. It’s best to do in the rain as our well water is so full of minerals that she’s be covered in calcium spots if this was done with a hose.
• I continued to touch up the red siding for the drier shed. I’m glad the general contractor agreed with me that ‘red is hard.’ You just can’t see what you’re missing despite being sure you’ve covered up that spot of primer! At this point I’ll wait to obsess over it until it’s installed and I have full on natural light to see it under with.