Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime?

Hola!

OK, I have to admit, I mostly post the "fun" stuff that we do, on this blog. It's more motivating and enjoyable for me to share, post pictures, and journal the fun memories that we have as a family or with friends.

But believe it or not, we also do tasks around our old house, many of which are long, boring, and tedious! They need to be done if we want to still HAVE a house.

GARAGE EEEEEEEWW. It has been hot and humid in New England this summer. We came back from our family reunion vacation in July to ...(drumroll)... MOLD in the garage. Fuzzy growth on tons of our camping gear, sports equipment, a big desk we have out there, etc., etc. Nasty.

Lest you have forgotten about our basement renovation (we try hard to, but haven't): our house has been a disaster since about March, because of flooding this past spring. The remodeling goes on. Then add to that: we have been emptying the garage piece by piece, recycling all cardboard boxes (mold grows easily in boxes and particle board) and putting our stuff in plastic bins.

We have been EMPTYING the garage, but hmmmm, surprise, it all has to GO somewhere. So all these new plastic bins? Have been relocated to other rooms in the house: bedrooms, the living room, the family room...you get the picture. We can barely walk through the house.

Yesterday, after weeks of working on this, we finally got to the "empty garage stage." (Here is a photo from 2 years ago, so you remember the general size of the garage.) We treated the walls, ceiling and floor in there with a non-toxic, mold-killing mixture. It was about a 7-hour procedure.

This whole process has taken...it has seemed like forever. The last 5 months have been slow and torturous.

FALLING TREE PROJECT. Then by late afternoon, Frank moved on to another project. He had to cut down our poor tree in the backyard, that has been leaning further and further to the ground.

He took it down with the chain saw and he found many inhabitants inside: 1) carpenter ants, 2) termites, AND 3) two kinds of beetles. No wonder it had started to fall down...this tree didn't have a chance!

Now we have a stump. It's a lot harder to eliminate a stump than I thought. The whole bottom of the tree is a huge knot, plus all those roots and all those bugs. Frank's entertainment last night was lighting a fire underneath it and trying to burn out the bugs.

IN OTHER NEWS. Meanwhile, David & Teresa have been mowing lawns for some extra cash this summer, and a little babysitting.

David went to a 2-day scout activity. They worked on merit badges that have been retired--you can't earn them today. It was a special thing for the 100-year anniversary of scouting. He earned 4: Pathfinding, Tracking, Signaling, and Carpentry.

Kara has a removable "boot" and she goes to physical therapy twice a week. They have her do exercises in the pool and she does other exercises here at the house each day, to strengthen muscles and increase flexibility. She goes to the doctor this week and she'll have more x-rays taken.

I'm having the kids figure out what they want to do in their waning weeks of summer! They only have 3 weeks before school starts.

Have a great week! Kari