Day 4

Day 4 was just a clean up day for me. Ron and Spencer had to go back to Marshfield to finish a job they worked on Monday. How is I get stuck with all the clean up stuff?? I spent most of the day trying to remove soot and debris from the carpet with the big shop vac. Now I am going to cover the entire carpet with HEAVY plastic and tape it down with duct tape in hopes that we can protect it enough to not have to replace it. Plastic is cheaper than carpet! Sabina and the kids came for the afternoon and dinner. Spencer had his friend Jordan Gattis come over too. We had a nice time and I was exhausted again after they left. Getting old sure isn't what it's cracked up to be. I'm quite sure this is not how your"golden years" are supposed to be!

End of day 3

The day is finally over! I am exhausted to say the least! Tomorrow will at least start out semi-clean!

Beginning of day 3

This is the way our 3rd day began! After many hours of hauling blocks and debris outside I finally have made a dent in the clean-up!

Day 2

Sunday was another day of destruction! And I thought Sunday was supposed to be a day of "rest" !! Not in this house! I'm sure by now Spencer is wondering why he came to Nana and Papa's for Spring Break! Even though it doesn't appear that way, a lot was accomplished today. Ron discovered that the flu was cracked so it's a good thing we never used this fireplace. Our wonderful neighbor, Bill Elmer, who is a brick mason, has been advising us as we progressed deeper into this mess. Today he brought a jack hammer to help break apart the mortar. I think it is going to kill Ron's shoulders and back. Not sure how he is able to do this. What a wonderful man I married. Always willing to destruct!! I know that when he finishes we will have a beautiful living room once again. It will be much better than before, and it won't have the "water fall" feature. I never liked the rocks anyway, and am glad to see them go. They were dark and dreary looking to me. They will be used to make our water feature in the back yard (someday!) and there will be plenty of them when we are finished with the outside too.

end of day 1

This is how day one ended....lots of dirt, cement dust and debris! Never thought we'd have to deal with this kind of mess again, but here we are, back into destruction!

Our new project!

Our fireplace in the living room has been leaking since we moved here. Last week during the rain we tooka piece of molding off the side where the water was pouring in only to discover that the entire support system was rotten. As we got farther into it we found more rot and bigger problems. The fireplace had to come down! I tried to protect the carpet as best I could with plastic and sheets but am now realizing I was wasting my time. Ron and Spencer have done so much work. The rocks are huge and some have to be taken out with the dolly. We fill the trailer on the little tractor and Spencer takes it to the ravine and dumps it. Then it starts all over again. What a mess!

Friday

Spencer arrived this morning. We are so happy to have him here. However, it's not the same without Jordan and and Madison too. We miss them all so much. Hopefully this summer they can all come again.

We never thought our first day of Spring would start like this! It's 3 p.m. and 32 degrees! Hailing right now. YUCK! Sure glad we didn't plant anything besides potatoes!

This is where some of the garden began from seeds.

Banana cranberry bread