A moment…
Rats… I knew we’d find evidence of rodents under the dishwasher. Knew it. After dad died and I started spending more time with mom on the Island there was evidence of rodents… Poop in the closet, pee stains on the wood floor, the vacuum cord chewed through, tho mom thought the vacuum just stopped working. […]
August 2022 Island Trip – Day 5
Today was all about the house. There were victories and struggles: The first order of business was to swap out the 40-year old dishwasher for the less than a decade old dishwasher. This was fraught with: The dishwasher being resistant leaving it’s spot, and when it did, Its water line breaking at the valve, which: […]
August 2022 Island Trip – Day 4
We did very little productive today, as it should be on one’s anniversary. A farmer’s breakfast, lots of lounging and reading… Our knife sharpening buddy stopped by to pick his latest assignment and looked at the big mower, which he can fix faster and for less money than the local repair shop. After hanging up […]
August 2022 Island Trip – Day 3
We had a short list of things to do before my DH boss and children arrived for a visit and early dinner. Nothing too onerous, and my favorite part was my DH discovering the self-propelled 22” lawn mower! He had so much fun with it that he mowed quite a bit more than just Stella’s […]
August 2022 Island Trip – Day 2
I’ve been waiting to clean Stella’s carpet for almost two years. I brought the carpet cleaner with me this trip, it being August and all (warm) and woke up to cool weather! After some breakfast, the decks were cleared and the swiftest carpet shampooing job of my life took place. Next up was to seal […]
August 2022 Island Trip – Day 1
I arrived to my roofer’s crew working on the awning/rehab for the pump room door. They also got the chimney cap on the house, the propane stove hooked up, and the scrap metal roofing from the lower barn loaded into their trailer. Progress! It seemed to take forever to unpack the very full truck, in […]
Scope of Work
This is a (short) tale of two properties. Each quite different from the other, yet both needy in the way old buildings tend to be. The volume of work that each place needs feels similar yet the demands of the work feel very different most of the time. The Island property needs things in broad […]
July 2022 Island Trip – Day 11 & Home
I managed to nail a spot on the 11AM ferry off the Island on Saturday. Fourth to the last vehicle on board. The last guy was a grocery truck. It looked like the back of his trailer was hanging off the back of the boat! The checklist went as fast as ever, even with some […]
July 2022 Island Trip – Day 10
Today was all about: Walking the property and pulling all the tansy ragwort I could see. Tansy kills livestock. While the property does not currently sport any livestock, one wants to control it (required by law in most counties) and it responds to being pulled. There will be less next year. You have to bag […]
July 2022 Island Trip – Day 9
The good: My AN stopped by today and we figured out that when the well contractor removed a stand pipe at the house a few years ago (it started leaking and the tenants came home to no water) they also separated the two well systems! This is fantastic, and I’m perplexed that they didn’t share […]
Dementia Dance - Travels with Mom 