A Passing

The picture above is of my always-smiling mother-in-law and her husband of 10 years, Ken. Ken has been in a nursing home for the last 2 months and his body began a deterioration in earnest this last week. His heart was tired and he was called Home to be with the Lord he loved so much at 4:30pm June 29th.

Ken and Madalen married when they were 84 and 76 respectively. Quite a feat, wouldn't you say? They had giggled that maybe they'd have "five good years" together, but the Lord blessed them and doubled that time and gave them 10 years instead. Quite remarkable, indeed. They have both devoted their lives to the Lord's work and now heaven is that much the richer for having Ken as its newest resident.

Well done, you good and faithful servant. Well done, Ken.
Debbie

Now You Know Why We're Remodeling the Bathroom

Ok, so, check this out. This is an example of the plumbing that was pulled from the underside of our Tin Can Cabin. Joel says it has 5 different kinds of pipe including PVC, CPVC, galvanized & gray pipe......all in a 16" span! Kinda like a Tinkertoy, wouldn't you say? No wonder there were leaks. Now he wants to frame it in a shadowbox to hang on the wall. I'll have to think about that for a while.

When we arrived at the Tin Can Friday night, the holes in the floor were covered with plastic that was tacked in place, but how long had it been tacked that way? Joel went to bed and was almost asleep when I decided to join him. Big surprise! There in the "tucked under the pillow" portion of the new quilt I just made were acorns. Some were eaten, some were whole but the point is that some little critter had decided that this would be a cozy spot to put some food. Yikes! Needless to say, Joel jumped up and we cleaned up the mess.

Then we couldn't sleep because we had no idea if the perpetrator was still in the Tin Can with us. Several times over the next hours I jumped up and thought I heard something moving around. I finally went to sleep with a MagLite flashlight in my right hand. Early the next morning I found Billy, our handyman guy who is doing the lion's share of our remodeling and explained once again that "Mama don't do no critters.". The remaining plumbing was completed and the holes completely covered up with plywood by dinner time that night. Whew!

By the time we left Sunday, we had installed flooring and made all the final decisions regarding getting the bathroom put back together again. So tomorrow I'm going back up there to prime and paint the drywall that was installed today so the toilet can be installed. Peeing in a cup at 3am was funny once, but I don't need to repeat that process ever again and I'm ready for some fixtures to be installed. Here's one last look at the old bathroom elements ready to be hauled off to the dump. Bye-bye bathroom.

Critter leary,

Debbie

Flippies

I just wanted to wish all of you Happy National Flip Flop Day. Flip flops, or as I like to call them, flippies, are my footwear of choice about 90% of the time. And who can resist all the gorgeous bright colors they come in? Some have "high heels", some are as thin as a pancake. Some are made of gooshie foam that is so soft to walk on, and some are more rubbery. I've hardly met a flippie I don't like!

Hard core south Florida beachheads wear Havaianas. Well heeled (no pun intended) upper crust girls wear SwitchFlops with the changeable ribbon strap made possible with Velcro. Flippies pair well with jeans, long pants, capris, skirts, casual dresses and bathing suits. And, they're cool. No, not hip.....well, I guess they could be called "hip". What I mean by cool is that they keep your feet cool.......and for hot-flash women that's essential for keeping the rest of you cool.

The only thing flippies are not good for is snow, but I don't think I'll have to worry about that here. So, pick up a cute new pair for the summer and start your own flippies tan lines on your feet.

Don't forget to get a pretty pedicure,

Debbie

Bye-Bye Bathroom

I have to admit that the walls in our shower up at the river are most definitely unique, but that doesn't mean we have to keep them that way. So, bye-bye bathroom. Bye-bye to the fiberglass tub that has a crack in it and has a "squishy" feeling underneath when you're in it(probably because the floor under it is rotted away! Yikes!). Bye-bye to the ugly, itty bitty commode. Bye-bye to the tiniest cabinet and sink I've ever seen and the hot water side of the faucet that doesn't work.

The floor will require new plywood and more support underneath to make certain everything is level, secure and will bear the weight of the new shower. Everything has been chosen at our favorite home improvement store and sits in the living room waiting to be installed. Joel and I are anxious to get up there in a week and put down the flooring, install the toilet and cabinet. Then it'll be time to hook up the sink plumbing and build the base for the shower. The following weekend we can start putting tile in the shower and we'll be in the home stretch.

Will I miss the old bathroom? Not on your life! But I will remember the roofing material shower walls with some fondness. You've got to admit that was a pretty creative use of materials.

Deb

The End of the Beginning

The Beginning: our first attempt at gardening here at the new house has been fairly successful

I just love the little tendrils that the cucumber plant wraps around anything within it's reach.

It's so much fun lifting up the huge leaves and finding a baby cucumber growing there.

The End: The summer heat and humidity is upon us so we'll be digging up most of the garden this next week. I still have garlic and onions growing, so, we'll watch them as well as the herbs that are still doing well. Our raspberry bushes are growing like crazy and hopefully they will fruit for us next year. For now, I'll put the garden to rest until October when our fall crop can be planted.

Remembering Mr. Green Jeans from Captain Kangaroo,
Debbie

Another day, another year

Yup, Tuesday was just another day. But it marked another year in our marriage........it's hard for me to believe but Joel and I celebrated our 24th anniversary June 1st. I never thought I'd live long enough to celebrate wedding anniversaries that had numbers greater than the teens. Gosh, next year is the biggie!

We spent the Memorial Day weekend up at the river doing odds and ends, cooking out on the grill, and sleeping in. I think we've been burning the candle at both ends for months now and needed some "down time" to catch up on our rest. I could have stayed for another week, but duty calls, so we returned home. Our next project up there will be the bathroom. It's torn down to the studs and we've picked out the cabinet, toilet and counter. Hopefully we will be able to start putting it back together on our next trip up there.
In the meantime, I finally remembered to take a picture of the river quilt I made this spring for our bed up there. Can you see the "S" design of each block? The colors in the quilt remind me of the green river, blue sky, wildflowers and all the foliage on the river banks. The headboard is a thrifty consignment find. It was "blonde" furniture from the 60's and I drybrushed brown paint over it to mimic the antique pine dresser opposite the bed. Pretty fun to see what you can pull together on a shoestring budget. Next time we go up I'll take pics of the bathroom remodel to show you.

Have a great summer,
Deb