June 8, 2007
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Busy, Busy Couple of Days
It’s been a hectic couple of days here. I’m trying to clean up some of the mess here in the house from dirt and grass clippings tracked in by the Beast plus clean the trailer up for our friends to use this weekend. It’s been closed up and ignored for almost a year so I went in with the idea of REALLY cleaning it. That meant wipe down walls, ceilings, cabinets (inside and out), the appliances and the bathroom. We also had a blind we needed to repair or replace since we do intend to use it ourselves later this summer.
So…..I got all my stuff together and figured I could do this all in one day. It’s only a 25 foot trailer after all. HA! HA! HA!
What I didn’t take into account was that the weather was not going to be mild and pleasant. Instead, it was 95 degrees and the wind was coming out of the wrong direction to air out the trailer. I almost fainted twice and had to come into the air conditioned house to cool down and rehydrate myself. I also decided to go at it a little slower and take two or three days if I needed. We started on Wednesday morning. The Beast was going to concentrate on getting the pontoon boat cleaned up. He started out telling me it wasn’t in bad shape. Then he started cleaning it up. I knew he changed his mind when I heard his *Oh SHIT*. I just smiled.
He had swept up the deck and then realized the seats were slightly mildewed. So he got some hot, soapy water with some bleach in it and started by taking the seats off the couch area. Underneath it, in the storage area, some of the things we had stored under there were in dire shape and it was a mess. Needless-to-say, it was NOT an easy clean.
To make matters worse, we have a changing room on it. It actually folds down and is cushioned on the outside. It has a canvas curtain that zips up and down. It also doubles as our bathroom for the ladies since the men just turn their backs and take care of business. Its not so simple for us gals.
Well, when he pulled up the changing room, scads of wasps flew out. So there’s the Beast, armed with his trusty hose, combating the wasps with high powered water spray and stomping on the ones not lucky enough to get away. It seems we had acquired about 10 wasp nests of varying sizes, none of them big, thank goodness, inside the changing room. He spent an hour spraying and crushing, spraying and crushing. When he finally had finished up battling the wasps and destroying the nests, he was able to clean everything up. He also had to make a couple minor repairs that he hadn’t noticed until he started the cleaning.
*I* am finished now for an hour or so but he is still outside, finishing up his cleaning on the deck. But it will be done and we will be ready to take out the boat on Sunday. He had already finished up his maintenance on the motor and the trailer before he started his cleaning so we are really and truly set.
My girlfriend told me not to make up the bed since she will bring her own sheets, linens and pillows. I used some of that new odor eliminator stuff on everything made of fabric and some Fabreeze (the spelling looks wrong but I’ll be darned if I will get up and go look at it so….you at least know what I mean). That way I know everything smells as clean as I know it is right down to the holding tank that I put deodorizer into that’s specially made for that.
I made sure the dishes, silverware, pots and pans were all unpacked and in place as well as the toaster, can opener, utensils, glasses, storage bowls and the coffee pot. I kept making notes for myself (I told you my memory sucks at times) so that they would only have to buy food for themselves. Our propane tanks are both filled, as well as the tires are at the proper inflation. They (the tires) are all brand new…well, we put them on last year but they are still under warranty. We didn’t want to have to worry about a flat after we bought it used so the Beast bit the bullet and put new ones on it.
We repaired the blind that had broken (it was just a string that came loose) and I cleaned the windows and dusted the blinds. I put all the curtains back up (I had stored them after cleaning them when we got the trailer ready to store at the back of our property. The beast had it elevated and level so that the tires were off the ground so we wouldn’t get flat spots on them. It isn’t easy having a lot of *toys* that require care and maintenance as my hubby said to me today. I think he is getting tired of always working on something or another.
Right now I am just trying to finish up getting the house ready for our company. They won’t be staying with us but will be just a couple miles away at the campground of one of our state parks. We stayed there last summer while we waited to close on our house here and it was very nice and peaceful. My girlfriend, a psychiatrist, is badly in need of some of that since she hasn’t had a real getaway in almost two years. I really hope they enjoy it.
Well, I am going to finish up my house and then sit and work on the afghan for my daughter and son-in-law. It has to be extra long since my son-in-law is 6’5″ tall and has never had an afghan or even seen one that is long enough for him to be comfortable using. I will surprise him with this one. I only have two weeks to finish it before we make the trip up for my family reunion. We are stopping in Louisville for our daughter and I will present the afghan to them when we get there. Our daughter has a friend in the same town that I will be staying with my ex-sister-in-law so we will drop her off and her friend will drop her at the reunion a couple days later.
I just found out that I may be making the ride home with just my daughter until I drop her off but she lives only 5-6 hours away from our Alabama house so I won’t have far to ride alone. My hubby’s brother has rented a cabin in Northern Minnesota and plans on spending a week or two (I’m not really sure which) up there fishing. My hubby hasn’t been up there since he was a kid and was invited to come along. I was invited too but I have a garden to tend and I am not a fishing fanatic like the hubby and his brother. So….he will ride along with them and then fly home later.
What it means is……I will FINALLY get some alone time. <
> Ya’ll have a great day now, ya hear? <
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