Nov 7 - chipping away

Alex had helped me bring down several wheelbarrow loads yesterday to re-fill the outside woodbox. I want it full when we leave here on Monday, however, so I brought some more down this morning.

After that I changed the bottom-end oil in the Merc 40 on the Boston Whaler and then tackled the garage and barn. It's interesting that while the oil in the bottom end of the Merc 90 on the Bayliner was dark, the Merc oil was the same color as new Penzoil bottom end oil -- pale yellow. I think that I last had changed the Merc 90 a year earlier, before going down to Florida. As a result, it had many, many hours of use in Florida over the winter and then whatever we did this summer, which wasn't much. The Whaler Merc 40, on the other had, had some pretty regular driving morning and night as I went fishing. Neither had any water in the oil though, so they're in good shape.

With some maneuvering the Whaler is now in the barn, leaving room for the 3-wheeler and 4-wheeler & a car. I'll put the X5 in there when we're here at Christmas, I expect ... or not ... but I'm prepped if I want to. It will be tight, because the box trailer and Bayliner trailer are also in there.

I also reorganized stuff in the garage so that we can store Sandy's car. That didn't take much time but it's another chore off my mental checklist. That's one of those things that's impossible to forget because the car needs to go in ... so I didn't need a real checklist.

Alex helped move the patio furniture table under the deck before he left; Sandy had already stowed the chairs. All the other chairs and plant pots had been moved off long ago.

I still have to ...

-- clean the gutters
-- replace one shingle
-- run extension cords to the gutter & drain heaters
-- put away the minnow setup
-- wrap some presents that we've already purchased and will drop off at Stef's on the way south for later unwrapping
-- organize "normal" stuff to pack in the car
-- go to town shortly to pick up mail etc. before they close at 1pm on Saturday
-- go to Mass tomorrow morning
-- bring some more wood down to the woodbox
-- put away a few miscellaneous things in the yard
-- do some vacuuming downstairs and around the wood stove
-- whatever ...

I could probably get all this done this afternoon if we were really in a rush, but there's no point since we cannot pick up my glasses until Monday anyway. Since we'll be leaving from Oakville vs the cottage, we have reservations in a doggie friendly motel just north of Charlotte, rather than Beckley WV. That will make our trip on Wednesday much shorter, which is good.

It's 11:30 a.m. ...

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More ...

I just spend the last hour blowing leaves off the deck and vacuuming the main floor, dusting shelves while I was at it too. I started off doing the fireplace and got carried away :). I was supposed to go into town but when Sandy saw that I was doing the vacuuming, she volunteered. Ain't that sweet !

It's 12:30 p.m. ...

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Next up, clean the eves ... but wait, put away the shop vac first .... but wait, there's one project that I've been meaning to do all summer and never got to it ... vacuum the high beams. Oh all right, bring IN the ladder, get at those beams. That took a while, working my way around the great room vacuuming the two levels of beams ... done.

Next up, clean the eves ... yes, put away the shop vac first :). I cleaned the eves and even worked my way up the valleys between the great room and the bedroom wing to remove the piles of pine needles. I hate heights and I hate working in that area with 45 degree roofs. It always feels like I'm going to slip down.

While up there I fixed the shingle, turned out to be two shingles, in the valley between the great room and the kitchen. While up there, I used the fireplace brush to pull down all the pine needles that were piled up in that valley. I didn't have the nerve to actually climb that roof.

Next, since Bonnie had called to say that they weren't coming over because Jim was playing in Commada tonight, I decided to drop over there. Jim was outside at the time and invited me in. We chatted for a while; Bonnie was at the sewing machine. They are planning on going to Nashville for U.S. Thanksgiving. We won't see them at that point ... but will before Christmas when we come back up.

Back home ... now 4pm ... time for a snack and finish up Return of the King. I'm realizing as I watch it that I've never actually seen my own DVD. The "Extended Edition" has added scenes that I don't recognize.

It's 5:30 and dark out now. Remaining projects will wait until tomorrow. There's not much left at this point.

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It's morning again. We had the last of the crappie and bass in the freezer for dinner last night -- actually there is some leftover for my lunch today. The freezer is almost empty, other than fixed items like freezer gels for the cooler and the ice cream maker molds. I think that it could all be put into the freezer upstairs, but then of course we'd have to throw out some of the old paintbrushes that are in the bottom of the freezer and of doubtful use anyway ... but after Sandy defrosted the freezer she put them back. I think that the old paint gives our food an interesting taste !

As I said, it's only minor items today that will wait until I get back from church. The biggest thing is getting packed -- getting the car mostly packed so that I don't have to do so tomorrow in the predicted rain.

The sun is out. It's mirror calm on the lake. Yesterday was a beautiful day albeit a bit windy.

Jim saw a deer last night just as he left his driveway at the mouth of the path at Reddicks -- yes, where we went day after day -- he called Bonnie from his destination and Bonnie called me to say that I should get out there with my night vision goggles. Right. I called Alex and relayed the message that "our deer" had avoided us again and was thumbing its nose at us. Oh well.

Minnows, dock, wine, pack, dog food, extension cords, thermometer -- that's my list for today, in no particular order. Other than pack, I could do it in an hour. Somehow, however, I'll find things to do !

Onward ...