Hiking

Just a few things to mention before the hiking stories.

Our friends Terre and Frank were in New York when we took care of their dogs,  Julio and Juanita, mentioned in my earlier blog. They thanked us with a very cool woven basket they picked up while in New York. The whole family loves it!

Mike and I went to an Estate sale in our neighborhood this past weekend. Everything was way too expensive. The next day, everything was marked down 20% so I went again. Still too expensive. The third day was 50% off. I went again and decided to check out the back yard.  They had a patio table sitting there and Mike has been wanting a table to eat on while on the back porch.  I bought it, brought it home and started painting. Notice the cardboard is on the grass instead of the driveway this time.

Since I was painting the table, I needed to paint the chairs we have had for many years, to match the table.  Plus, blue chips of paint were sticking to people when they sat on the chairs.

We have really been enjoying sitting at an actual table on the patio. This is where I am right now!

Once again, you will notice that maybe I bought too much of the same color paint.

Hiking.....
Mike and I have decided to find  parks with trails to hike every weekend.  I didn't realize there were so many places to hike in Iowa. I made a list of parks, researched them, picked out 10 to go to, and then lost the list. 

Last weekend we went to a park 8 minutes drive time from our house. I have never heard of this park and had no idea it was so close.  The woods reminded us of our hikes in the Georgia mountains. We had to watch our footing because of the tree roots. These trails were also for mountain bikes and horses. What fun!

Bikers made ramps and fun hills to jump.  It was a great trail, but the next day I wondered what we would have done if a bike turned the corner on a sharp, fast, curve.  We would have been smashed.  I was almost smashed by jogger that turned into a hairpin curve towards us.   I would like to go back, but will make sure it is early on a Sunday morning, when everyone is still in bed or in Church.

Yesterday, we drove 1/2 hour to the Wapsi River Environmental Center near Dixon Iowa.  We were half way there when we realized we didn't have a phone or water. We need to make a list of things to make sure we have before heading out. The trails here were beautiful in places but the trails were not marked very well. We had two maps and we soon found out they were different, even though they were the same place.  The trails were wide and grassy.  In seconds, I had wet socks and shoes. We were the only people there.

The picture above is when the mosquitos attacked Mike.  I had to walk next to him fanning my map around him as we ran miserably  up the hill in our wet shoes. 

The trail took us by the Wapsipinicon River, bean fields, trees, flowers, and the St. Ambrose observatory, which I had no idea existed even though I work for St. Ambrose University.

Since we couldn't find the trail that would take us back to the car, we ended up walking the road to find the parking lot.

One last note.
Last week at work, we received an email stating where we would not be allowed to park on campus because they sold parking spaces for Ragbrai. This is an event where bicyclists ride from the west side of Iowa to the east side.  The cyclists park their cars in our lots, load their bikes into semi trucks, and then hop on buses to be taken the the other side of the state to meet up with their bikes.  It takes them a week to bike back to  Davenport, which is the end of the event, where they get back into their cars and head home.  I had the best time walking through the lots looking at the license plates to see where everyone was from.  I became very excited when I saw this car with a Clarke County plate!  I really wanted to know who it was and thought about leaving a note, but didn't. 

A Few Projects

I have been doing a few projects here and there, especially when Mike was gone for that month.
Before he left, I asked him to pressure wash these. I tried, but the water kept spraying back into my face.  Sherry had given me this project.

After they dried, I lined them up to paint later.  After I painted them, I lined them up again to dry. Sherry and Mary helped me carry these into the house and Sherry made them do the Domino thing, by accident.

Not all of the rust came off when we power washed, but I didn't care.  I even left the vintage labels on.

It took me awhile to get all of this painted.  I now have a blue driveway! I guess I didn't realize it was a windy day.

I wish I had taken a before photo when it was all together. I always forget to do that. But here is how it turned out.

I  just happened to pick up the legs at a garage sale in Wisconsin when Sherry gave me the rusty drawers project. They were mixed in with some other cool stuff, in a box for $1. So this project was under $5 with the legs and spray paint.  The flowers are my birthday flowers that I bought for myself.  They cost a $1 more than the rusty drawer project.  Speaking of $1, the yellow end tables were a great buy for $1 each that I picked up at a huge sale last year.

I haven't placed the dividers in yet, and probably won't for awhile. They were hard to get out.

Another project that I have been wanting to do for awhile, is paint the stairwell leading to the basement.  Twenty five years of Mom and Dad going down and up the steps made the walls a little dirty. Especially around the light switch. The problem would be the high walls and ceiling.  I have painted a stairwell before and it was a wobbly experience that I didn't really want to do again.  I came up with the idea of painting the lower part of the wall.

The first thing I did was draw pencil lines at the angle I wanted and then added the painters tape. I think this photo is a little crooked, not the taping. That is the steamer on the steps. There was a small strip of wallpaper along the bricks of the foundation and the drywall on the right to hide the large gab between the two.

I had heard that it helps to paint along the painters tape to stop the paint from bleeding through.  When I was done with this, I thought the walls were bleeding!

I thought it turned out pretty good. I need Mike to erase the pencil marks that are still showing.

This is what it looks like from the bottom of the steps.

Guess what happens when you buy too much of the same color paint?

I painted the door coming into the house from the garage but, not salmon.  I didn't think that was the best color to go along with tools.  This green REALLY brightened up the garage. I will have to take a photo of the garage when the cars are out, so everyone can see those before and after photos.

I am a little embarrassed sharing my next project with everyone.  Since I have started working, I don't feel much like keeping my clothes and shoes in order. I wanted to have this all fixed before Mike got home.

I hope that never happens again!

As I was organizing my hanging clothes, I thought about the retail store I worked in over 30 years ago. Everything was hung in certain color order on every rack.  I did the same to my closet those 30 years ago and still use that same system today, although you can't really tell from this.
White, beige, yellow, brown, green, blue, pink, red, purple, gray, black, prints were last.  Short sleeves then long sleeves.  I guess I am sharing this because I am amazed at myself for still doing this.

Anyway,  I hope to have more projects done in the near future. I cut out a dress weeks ago and it is still sitting here in the kitchen.

And now for some random things.

I found this hanging in a bag on my front door. It was really good. I have asked every neighbor if they brought it to me and the answers have been no. It is a mystery. I didn't even know what I was eating, until Mary told her husband about it and he said it was kohlrabi. It's yummy!

This was the temperature the other day.

It was so hot and humid in my office that my salt rock was melting. They eventually brought in a dehumidifier and that seems to help.

We took care of Julio and Juanita for four days.  Julio is around 17, maybe 18 years old.  They belong to our friends who used to live next door to us. My mom and dad used to take care of these dogs too. When I took them outside, the neighbors couldn't believe Julio was still around!

This past Saturday, we were able to spend an afternoon with Mike's side of the family. Something we couldn't do when we were in Georgia.

Birthweek 2018

I am now 57 years old. I had another birthday and I wanted to write about all the exciting things that have happened weeks leading up to my birthday.

Memorial day weekend was spent with my sisters. As  Mary and I  drove to visit Mom and Dad's graves, we saw the most beautiful tree!  It was in the middle of nowhere.

We got to Sherry's and had a cocktail.  Mary couldn't wait and jumped right in.

We attended the short Memorial tradition at the Church across the street from Sherry's house.

The next weekend Mary and I met Sherry and our cousin's Pat and Sandy for our quarterly cousin's lunch in Dyersville.  I had one thing on my bucket list and I was able to check it off on this trip. I have always wanted to lie down right under a windmill.   We found one that we could drive up to. I was so excited! The  ground was  gravel and muddy so  I stood right under it. They do make noise, and when I would watch one blade at a time, I became very dizzy.

After that weekend trip, my car blew up. Actually it was the radiator and I had to get a new one.  Mike was leaving town for a month and the blow up happened two days before he left.  I was able to get the car to the service station and after they put the radiator in, they discovered the radiator fan wasn't working. That is why I had a crack.  So they kept the car another day to put the fan assembly kit in.  Luckily, they let me have a loaner car.  The service station called when my car was ready but also had to tell me they backed into another car and I now had a dent. No problem though. They would fix it free and made an appointment for me at the body shop.  When I looked at the car, I didn't think it was a big deal, just a few small dents and scratches above the back tire, and a knick in the bumper.  I have been spray painting my bumper for a couple of years now anyway, from a previous person hitting me.
It was hard to get a photo because you could barely see it.

I dropped my car off at the body shop. I guess I am a little naive because I thought it would only take a couple of days. Little did I know, it would take a week. The service station let me keep the loaner all that time.  The weirdest thing about a loaner, besides the smell, is not knowing where the car is after coming out of a store.  It would take a second for me to realize I was not looking for my normal car, then panic set in because I would forget what car I am looking for. I then remember it is a white Jee (a Jeep with the P missing), and then panic again when I have no idea what a white Jeep looks like in a sea of white vehicles.   But now I have my car back with a beautiful shiny bumper that doesn't match the rest of my slightly faded car, or that could just be dirt.

So, back to fun times before my birthday...

Mary and I went to a wedding. I had forgotten that Mike would not be in town when I RSVP'd but Mary gladly went with me since she knows the family too.

A colleague brought in a cookie cake to work since there were two of us with birthdays in the same week. I thought of taking this photo after I cut the cookie and already had a piece. The cookie was gone by the end of the day. I had many, many pieces. Yum.

I had this great idea of having a sister slumber party since Mike was gone. I didn't want to be alone on my birthday!

Before Mary and Sherry arrived for the birthday weekend sister slumber party, I went to the farmer's market to have breakfast with my friend Kelly,  pick up some vegetables, and to take a look at the flooded Mississippi. Not too bad this year.

When my sister's arrived, we talked all afternoon and then headed downstairs for a game of pool.  I won. We then played a game of Scrabble. Mary won (she was the score keeper).  We then decided to play one more game before we went to bed, Bride's game.  Sherry made it down the aisle before anyone else. So we each won a game!

In the morning I decided to get out some of Mom's china for pancake day.  Can you tell which pancake is the birthday girl's cake?  Hint-I don't eat butter.

While getting out the china, Sherry had a little accident which turned out to be beautiful art.

We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon with more conversation and they helped with a few projects around the house. Before they left, they helped me hang some artwork.

I had a great time with my sisters! It was sad to have them go. I had one more week without Mike, which included July 4th, and it was lonely around here.  I did get a lot done around the house when he was away, especially on the 4th.  That will be my next blog.

Oh, where did Mike go? He drove to Palm Bay, Florida to hang out with Molly for a week, then to Pensacola for a week with a friend, to Athens, Georgia to see Maggie, to York, S.C to my sister Jo's house, and then back to Athens before heading home. A whole month.  I had to work.

This is what I missed, Tripp's baptism.




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