I am a retired 44-year veteran of the Real Estate Assessment field. As with real estate assessing and how it applies to real estate taxes, one can make many acquaintances, but not many real friends. It was a great career choice.
It has been nearly 10 years since I reclaimed my home and my real passions within my home. I enjoy it more each day and tip my hat to those who I left behind.
Each day I try to stretch myself with the use of my computer as it relates to this site and using it to print out labels for quilts for trying to incorporate photos into my sewing. Life is so full and I know that I have room for more.
A gray day of mist. It can’t decide if it is going to rain or not. The Tiger Eyes Sumac glows this time of the year with or without sunshine. No way can the weather hold this beauty down. It does lighten my heart to look to the backyard and push the gray day far, far away.
My Time. Our home. There is peace here on Stauffer Ave that does come at a bit of a price sometimes with worry, anticipation and wonderment. At the end of this perfect Sunday, the peace and thankfulness is more than I could have ever thought I deserved. Our back yard beauty puts a stamp on family and God . . . the peace that passes all understanding.
Lawn mowed for the last time in 2016: check! Flowerbed adjacent to the east side of the house free of perennial weeds and volunteer trees: check! Kitchen floor thoroughly cleaned: check! A quart can of Roof Tar has been purchased: check! Temperature forecast for tomorrow will most likely see that can be used.
Amazingly the outdoors was shared with mosquitoes, Box Elder bugs and Asian beetles. As we have not had a killing frost as yet, the next week brings the need to cut back the Hostas. It was a joy to get things done outside, pop open a can of Root Beer to share and enjoy a bit of time sitting on the patio.
Now, as one of Dennis’ special oven hotdishs is in the oven, the close of a great Saturday is approaching.
Just a bit stiff in the joints today. When Kevin was taking down the house chimney on Sunday he commented on the area that our house has a flat roof, there would be just enough room for two lawn chairs. I thought of that yesterday as I was in the attic, stretching to get at the far corners of the knee-walls. Yes, inside also, there is an area about the size that two lawn chairs would take where a person can stand upright. I do not remember how many times I hit my head forgetting to stay stooped over. As I get older, I am making sure to have the items that we stored corralled at least three feet from those “far” corners. A longer wand on the vacuum cleaner helps the back and shoulders to reach the “far” corners.
Today has been a quiet day for Dennis and I as we listen to the winds outside swirling corn chaff and even some dried corn leaves that have managed to find their way into town.
While I was hiding in the attic yesterday, Dennis got his horse tank ready in the Lincoln car garage. The city water needs to dissipate the chlorine and within several days it will be ready to house the Koi over winter. I think we have nine fish to net for the winter. Our hope is that we can hold off until November first. There are forecasts that the next week will bring temps back into the 70s. Time will tell.
“Now thank we all our God, 
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom this world rejoices;
who from our mothers’ arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.”
Nothing says “thanks to God” like finishing up the last of the work from replacing our house chimney over the weekend. It is finished. Kevin needed to get into the area over the kitchen via the attic to get the job done right. Today was the day I had picked, and . . . today was the day to get the job done right! I kept Dennis busy at the bottom of the attic steps, either handing things up or taking things down. Believe me, there was more taking down than up. I went through every box and tidied up using totes rather than cardboard. It is wonderful dry storage, complete with a west facing window.
The best part of the day . . . I found a straw hat for Kersten. Kevin had his straw hat on when the sun was at it’s best while on the house roof. Kersten; aka, right hand helper, will be helping in style.
I do thank my God many times over. A day such a this: a mess that needed cleaning and I had the God given spirit to tackle it head on. That renewed spirit of will takes me far many days when I think I may want to slack up on my responsibilities here on Stauffer Avenue. I am a caregiver to my 80-year-young cowboy. I honor the days when he is not up to par. I can be the one that takes the lead to work, with his input, until such time that he may feel better. I have been blessed upon my way with Dennis and I have countless gifts of love to make our lives the best it can be. Believe me . . . it is very special and we are so grateful for all we have. Now thank we all our God.
Hmm, I had forgotten what cold fingers felt like when doing some last minutes chores outside. We have had the same two house plants out next to the Koi pond for years. Each summer we cut them back so when the fall season hits and we need to harbor them in the porch over the winter, they are of a doable size. Today was the day to pick out all the leaves that had blown into the plant branches and pots and find just the right spot in the porch. Now . . . it will be interesting to see if the cats have gotten one more year older and will leave the dirt in the pots alone. Last year it was a matter of adding all sorts of items around the base of the plants that no dirt could be accessed.
The kitchen window was the last to be cleaned and locked for the season of winter that is just around the corner. We have no other items to take care of outside. As I mentioned earlier, my fingers felt the cold as I was getting the plants ready even though the sun was in full shinny mode. I will be enjoying my sewing studio from here on in . . . OOPS! I forgot that I still need to get up to the attic and clean what may have filtered in from the chimney project of this last weekend. Tomorrow I will have Dennis bring in the shop vac and take care of it. No point in putting it off and thus no guilty feelings of being in the sewing studio with many cups of rich coffee going forward.
All good things must come to an end. One cactus was pretty, two cactus were okay. A huge tangled mess of cactus was on it’s way out. The kicker was the day Dennis washed off the west side of the house and the garden hose was pulled along the right side of the cactus bed. Yup, the garden hose was full of the very fine hair-like prickles.
“Work, for the night is coming,
Work through the morning hours;
Work while the dew is sparkling,
Work ’mid springing flowers;
Work when the day grows brighter,
Work in the glowing sun;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man’s work is done.”
I love this hymn of Ann Coghill’s. Today it just spoke to us as we hit the sunshine with a bit of tick list. The south side of our garage is a mere three feet from a gravel alley with a few potholes. Splish, splash goes the mud on the white siding. As of today . . . no more. The garage and potting shed got a soapy bath, complete with personalized scrubbing. The city did put some crushed asphalt down and the petroleum product mixed with the mud needed some TLC. Dennis was the one to wash the porch off. The screens held enough dirt that I could have transplanted one or two of these cactus in pots. After the hands and arms have recovered, I will go on to wash the patio doors before too long. It is more enjoyable to be in our rocking chairs in the porch when we can see through the patio doors’ windows.
Once we got the cactus dug out . . . where to go with them. We decided that the tarp was going to be pulled off to the side until such time that they would dry out and perhaps be burned. As careful as we were, I did snag some of the fine prickles. In the bright sunlight I could see the little devils almost glowing in their brilliance. Just because I could see them was not necessarily meaning I could get at them to pull them out.
The older ones on Stauffer have had another great day. The night is coming and we are done with our work . . . for now. My main objective is to keep an eye on the weather, least we have rain. That means I will beat feet up into the attic to get the window closed. These last several day of brisk breezes surely must be helping to dry out the bit of insulation around the area where the chimney was. I know both Dennis and I will sleep very well tonight.
Look Mom, no more chimney. Not too many would get excited about a roof. Well, the Stauffer Ave. older ones do after we had realized we had a huge wet problem with a chimney that was pecking away at the infrastructure. The finishing touch for me was getting my skylight cleaned and polished. The kitchen would be so very dark without it.
It would be very difficult for the average person to pin point where the original shingles stop and the new ones begin. I know, I know. Just like me when I quilt . . . I know what and where the intricate details are that the project took. This was a success.
This was a Sunday that would be spent taking down our chimney from our home. Kevin was the contractor. Who knew looking from the driveway that the chimney was that tall!
Twelve hours later, the project was completed. No chimney and the roof looks as if there never was a chimney. There was a lot of repair needed to the roof around the chimney. With all the rain and winds; a project always ends up a lot more than first anticipated. Kersten and Kevin made a good team with lots of trips up and down the ladder. Hats off and now the older ones on Stauffer will have a dry interior.
This has been a huge day. Lots of errands. Lots of kitchen time. By all accounts this was a typical Saturday by Lena standards. The best part is, tomorrow will come and Stauffer Avenue will take it in and know that Sunday is the day the Lord has been made and it is up to me and mine to make the most of it.