Winding Down from September 22

The weather has cooled down but some of the ‘guy’ neighbours wanted to learn how to make the beer can wind spinners so we had a ‘guy craft day’! Since we were busy, Norma and Barb got together so Norma could learn how to cross stitch, finish her crocheted wine bottle cover and make boxes from greeting cards. And, well the guys were not quite as productive! After a few beers and some Crown Royal, our progress slowed considerably. In fact, some would say it ground to a halt! I was supposed to be the instructor but that didn’t go to well either. Randy cut himself on the aluminum and couldn’t cut straight so he did not complete a spinner. Mike on the other hand made 1 1/2 spinners. It was a fun day of camaraderie regardless of the state of soberness.

Our friends John & Di were to come down with their trailer for a few days but due to health, they thought it best to stay close to home where he would be more comfortable. We went to their place for an overnight in case we did a usual wee hour Mexican Train marathon.  It has been a tradition that the score keeper (that would be me) would win more often than not but this evening, lady luck was not on my side but it was fun anyway.

On our way home, Barb & I did a little geocaching along the way. We chose 5 but only found 4 but had fun anyway. It’s a great sport/hobby that gives us feelings of elation when we find the caches and disappointment when we don’t.

 

 

The gaskets on our fridge are splitting and not sealing very good which causes icing etc on the inside. We bought a new gasket kit for our model and proceeded to make the repairs. The instructions said to remove the doors and lay flat for 48 hours. Being full timers, that is a difficult task without a spare fridge at hand. So we compromised and did everything except wait the 48 hours before re-installing the doors.

With the doors off, removing the old gasket and installing the new one was not too difficult. Instead of leaving the doors off, we planned what items we would need until the next morning and used our cooler to store them. I re-installed the doors with the plan that they would not be opened for at least 48 hours as we were going to Michigan to visit Dick & Marcia.

We arrived at Dick & Marcia’s to a warm reception of food, beverage and gab and it was so nice to see them again. The next day, we toured downtown Holland, sat at a sidewalk patio and taste tested a dozen samples of ‘Our Brewing Company’ beer. It may sound like a lot of beer but the samples are small. After I checked Dick’s lips, we passed the samples around and rated each beverage. This brewery does not serve lunch so we wandered down the main street (8th Street) to the 8th Street Grill and had an excellent meal, good service and of course, excellent company.

The next day, we had breakfast at one of Dick & Marcia’s favourite breakfast spot, the Sunrise Cafe. After big hugs, we said our farewells and started toward home, anxious to check the fridge repairs we made earlier. We open the door and viola, the gasket stayed on the fridge – not the door where it belongs – crap! Of course, we blame the double sided tape, not knowing how old it was when we received it, it had to be out dated and unfit to use. Knowing the tape was defective, it’s off to Home Depot to pick up another roll. We find one that is for out door carpet and concrete, this one will work great. Back home to re-install the tape and gaskets with the doors off again. The difficult part was getting all the ‘old’ tape off the door – what a pain.

While the fridge door was ‘curing’, I installed new stair nosing. After we finished the new bedroom floor and the stair nosing on the bedroom step, we decided that I had to match the other 2 steps. Barb has been working on a couple of her quilting projects, her summer block party with some gals from the Plantation and a Laura Nownes creation that utilizes various geometric blocks to build a quilt.

I know I am very far behind updating this blog and I hope you bear with us as we make it current and come back soon for another read. Hope all is good where ever you are….