Batterey Charger

All summer long Grandpa has been fussing and fuming over his missing battery charger at the beach (one of his grand kids borrowed it) because he wants to charge the batteries for the electric motor and he wants someone to use the motor to go fishing.

He's done a lot of talking about what a great sport fishing is and he laments mightily than none of his grandchildren appear to agree with him! After regaling us with some of his best fishing stories he decided he will take out the metal rowboat with the electric motor and fish one more time just for fun.

Last weekend he was done waiting for the battery charger to be returned; so a new one was purchased! You know what was the best part of his new toy? It took him a full day of reading the directions just to figure out the new-fangled fancy thing and then the better part of the next day to make sure he figured it out right.

It has been the best "project" he's worked on all summer - it took lots of time, he could do most of it sitting down and it brought complete satisfaction when the batteries charged! Of course the test will be if they are still charged when we get back out there this weekend :)

More tales on this saga next week...and hopefully no pictures of Grandpa swimming in the sound as his boat motors away. Yikes!

Beach Bound Dogs

Lenny and Dakota just got back from the groomer and they are ready for all the end-of-summer trips to the beach we have planned.

Lenny shaved like a Lab.

Dakota brushed out, bathed and pink-bowed. Why would they do that?

They are turning into some awesome beach dogs. OK. Maybe awesome is too strong of a word but they sure are happy and comfortable out there!

At the Beach with Jody

The beach fun continues!
The highlight of last weekend was lots of time with Jody...and lots of time listening to Jody and Grandpa reminisce about growing up together, their parents, life out of the house, other family members and more. Special times. Special times indeed.

Yes the clock really does say 8:15...and we are eating dinner!

We woke up to a bright foggy morning which transformed into an enjoyable 80' day.

We sang happy birthday to Papa...I think Jody is asking him if he feels old now :)

Lots of projects were going on...

Table repair project of Glenna's.
It is going to be so cool when she finishes because we will have a table that can seat 6-16 people with ease!

Plumbing on Saturday.
That's why it was successful!

Grandma and I saved the dock!
Well, maybe that is a bit dramatic but Ben's driftwood was bashing against a piling...so we saved the piling :)

A big dent was made in the fishing cabin repairs.

Grandpa and Papa cogitating on how to deal with the latest challenge that has been uncovered.

Saw Central

The two front rooms are done. Work now begins on the back room.

Installing new door. Way easier than replacing the bug infested wood and repairing some other person's repair job. 

Backyard Bleakness

We have dogs. Because of that, improving the backyard gets put on the back burner. It really is a lovely space...well, potentially lovely space...but for the moment it is a barren puppy play yard. I'm okay with barren but I'm not okay with ugly. Right now the grass and fences are ugly.

The grass is full of pot holes, weeds and dead brown scruff -- which is probably how it will stay as long as we have dogs running side to side at full speed, chasing each other in circles and of course using it as the inevitable potty-place.

The fence boards are cracked, scratched, peeling and falling off. Fence posts are rotted and broken. Support boards are definitely not supporting.

We share our 28-year old fence line with 4 neighbors. Everyone is interested in replacing the rotting fences. We even have multiple bids to choose from. So tell me, why aren't they replaced? The holdup is due to one neighbor that needs to get an additional bid for replacing the fences that belong to him. We keep asking how that project is going. "Oh ya, I'll get right on that!" is what we hear.

Papa has done multiple repairs to the fence we share with this neighbor (let's call him Lazy Butt). The last time the fence we share with Lazy Butt broke, Papa left it alone hoping this would encourage some forward motion. But alas, weeks later the fence is still broken and Lazy Butt is still "going to get right on it".

Leaping Looney Lenny loves to chase the squirrels that run along this fence. I am thinking it will take one, maybe two more leaps at the fence to knock it into Lazy Butt's backyard. Maybe when Lenny and Dakota are at their backdoor looking for a handout, forward motion will occur :)  

BD Weekend Continues

Papa's plan was to golf on his Birthday weekend and he wanted me to ride along but last week he ended up golfing on Monday, Thursday and Friday; and next week he already has three golf days scheduled...so he decided to take the weekend off. That boy loves his golf!

Now what is a birthday boy to do with this free eightyseven degree Sunday? Plan a family-work-together-in-the-yard day of course - and after that go shopping for a shed (more about shed shopping in a minute).

Groan. At least that was how Daniel and I felt - but we don't handle heat well. We handle heat so poorly that we even toyed with the idea of pooling our money and hiring someone to take our places...but that just didn't seem right...after all, this is what he wanted for his birthday. Groan again.

The yard was desperately in need of attention so I can't fault him for wanting to spruce things up. After the 4 of us spent a few hours weeding, raking, pruning, planting and mowing it did look much improved - we didn't, but the yard did :}

I forgot to take "before" pictures. I blame my heat stroke addled brain for that oversight. Below are some pics from just before we finished. I'm again blaming the heat for the fact there are no actual "after" pictures or interesting shots of the hard working hot gardeners...you can take that any way you want :) but do take my word for it - the place looks great!

As promised, shed shopping explained...

East of the house is a huge wasted desolate space that was designed for RV parking. We block it off so the dogs don't walk the fence line and bark at every passerby - it's been an effective solution. We've decided to put the space to better use and build a large shed for storage. We think it is safe to assume we won't miss having a space to park an RV :)

We found a shed we like at a price we can live with (jeesh these things are expensive). Now I get to get it approved by our HOA - hoping that task is a piece of cake.

This new shed will hold James' stuff, Shannon's stuff, our stuff, beach stuff, garden supplies, tools and/or large equipment. You are probably thinking, "What the heck! How big is this thing going to be?" It is going to be big - but not big enough to house everything in that list. We haven't decided exactly what items will be stored in the shed but once we assign a spot for everything we will be able to reclaim our garage (yeah!) and get rid of the storage unit we are paying way too much for each month. We should have done this a year ago but who knew James was staying and Shannon was going!

You know, I always swore I would never pay for storage. If I had so much junk that I needed to rent a storage unit then I would get rid of some of my junk. That's what I said. And I meant what I said. Don't you just hate it when reality smacks you in the face and you eat your words? :)

BD Party Fun

Today was Papa's birthday. Happy birthday Papa we love you!

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. G&G and Jody put together a delicious dinner of BBQ'd steak, fresh corn on the cob and crisp green salad. Along the way we told stories, swapped lies, planned our next beach trip and had a lot of fun.

Grandpa, Papa and Daniel waiting for the okay from Grandma and Jody to put the steaks on the grill

The three amigos (aka Jody, Grandma and Grandpa) supervising the grill chef

James and Grandma in the garden.
Oh, I wish I had a digital picture of James in Grandma's garden eating dirt when he was about 18 months old. He looked about the same - just a lot smaller :)

No 'kids table' at this party. We were a small group so we all sat together. 

Delicious homemade apple pie for dessert. Thanks Grandma!

The party planners relaxing at the end of a good party

John brought his new driver - as in golf driver - to the party (he keeps threatening to bring her to bed too). After dessert Papa gave Grandpa his driver to try out. Grandpa quietly slipped to the side yard to take some practice swings with John's new "girlfriend". After a bit John joined him. I'm not sure who had more fun but I know they both enjoyed the moment immensely.

The Beat Goes On...

...and the beat goes on, drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain...la de da de de, la de da de da. Can you name that tune? It seems like a good theme song for the beach this summer :)

Here is what the repair work looks like so far.

Yes, I said "so far". There is more to go. But before we talk about that - let's review and celebrate the successes to date!

1.

JohnMarth Inc. doing demo work.
In the end all but about 1/2 sheet of plywood was replaced. I love that he had a viewing gallery for the project!

2.

  New fascia in place and all joists replaced or sistered to new 2x6's.
BTW...no worries about Grandpa heading up the ladder; he was advising and helping from down below :)

3.

That is Kellen just finishing with the roofing shingles.  

4.

As soon as Kellen was packed up and on the road, we began the job of replacing the rotten wall and floor in the corner. But alas, what should we discover upon opening up this hole? Why extensive wood damage of course!

5.

With the discovery of the wood ravaging Powder Post Beetle we called in the professionals. Glenna, John and I packed up and emptied all 3 rooms before Bugman Gordon arrived. He sprayed every inch of wood - including all the wood furniture and wood handled tools we left inside.

It does not penetrate painted surfaces well - which is why you see it puddled up on the pink chair. But the flip side is the beetle doesn't like painted wood either.
Oh, I know WAY too much about Powder Post Beetles!

6.

Once the bug spray is dry, work on the wall and floor resumes.
I am standing in the (previously) rotten corner.
Notice anything missing in this picture?

7.

And what's missing in this picture?
Hint...I'm standing in the doorway to the back room.

8.

This was our 2nd trip to the dump...this weekend!
Daniel already made 2 trips a couple weeks ago. No one can accuse us of looking like the squatlies - Grandma will be happy!

And here are three pics of why at the top of this post I said the wall and floor repair is complete "so far". One side done...turns out there are a couple more to go!

After the repairs are complete all the new wood needs to be treated for bugs and then the whole place has to be painted inside and out to keep it standing for 50 more years! I sure hope we get this done before the rains start - yikes!

This is the back bedroom (the shelving unit is gone now) and you can see the far-reaching rot. The wall to the left of the door looks worse.

The outside landing is rotten all over...the plywood on the ground...the 2x4 framework and the 2x3 studs (ya, they really used 2x3's all over the place). John is surveying his options.

Just another angle of the landing. Take note of the 2x4 support in the bottom left corner of the pic...that is no longer supporting :/ At the top of the pic the 2x3's to the right of the door don't look like that anymore...John tapped them with a hammer to see how solid they were; they crumbled to pieces!

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Driftwood Update
Papa moved Ben's driftwood a little further out (I'll post pics next time - silly me forgot to get one!). It doesn't appear to float :) but it is getting water logged and that should help it break apart easier in the coming weeks.

Viewing Pics

Did you know that you can click on a picture and see it full sized? Or you can right click and choose open link.

The detail is so much better that way! Give it a try...

Quite by accident this pic captured memorabilia of mine - can you name the three items?

Another Beach Weekend Coming Up

Another beach weekend starts tomorrow with the 7:05 AM ferry. No, that is not a typo. Papa and I really are catching the 7:05 AM ferry to meet the bug-man (major groan) . After he is gone, papa will finish patching the hole and then replace any other boards or plywood the bug-man recommends. It will be just the two of us. This project is truly a one-man show and I am a most excellent go-fer :)

Fauntleroy ferry dock at sunset - but I expect sunrise to be just as pretty!

Aunt Jody arrives Friday afternoon; Daniel will pick her up and take her to G8G's. They plan to stay home and let Jody relax.

Daniel on a hike July 2011
Thought I better label this pic in case you didn't recognize him!

I think Glenna is going to go to Whidbey for some cleaning, cooking and sprucing. The annual Island County Fair is the following weekend and she is preparing for the Diefendorf clan to come for the festivities. Sounds like some more excellent Whidbey memories will be made!

The Palace
(aka Dief's Whidbey house)

The dogs are going to stay home in James capable care. They love being out there but it is too hard to watch them and be available for whatever John needs. Plus they would have to stay tied up until all the bug spray dried - that doesn't sound like much fun!

July 2009 on the way home from the beach. OMGosh - they both look so young and this picture is only 2 years old (14 in dog years!).