Record-Setting Saturday

Today Leslie started work at 8:00 AM and didn't finish until about 5:45, taking time off only for lunch. I think that's a record for her. She finished up staining the old garage door, which she also worked on last night after getting in from work. After she finished the garage door, she set her sights on the back porch. She was able to get the interior side stained, and needs now only to stain the outside. The angle of picture I took shows you only the completed side.

Meanwhile I worked on putting up a couple of 2X4's in the new garage, for hanging up yard implements. I screwed in the wood, then nailed in 2 1/2 inch stainless steel nails and hung up as many rakes and brooms and picks, etc., as I had energy for.

The following pictures can be enlarged.

The unfinished yard fabric

Back porch steps

Garage doors

Energy for? I have been sick all week. Over a week ago on Thursday I developed a nagging dry cough that wouldn't go away. By Sunday I was continuously coughing and as a result my throat was on fire. It didn't help that we had company on Sunday--Carroll Rich, my major professor from NTSU, who was passing through on his way to Traverse City, Michigan. On Monday I went to see my allergist for an annual "well-child" checkup, and he diagnosed my problem as acute bronchitis. He prescribed codeine cough medicine and told me to take Mucinex.

Within a couple of days I was feeling well, so I got back outside and pulled probably over 1,000 weeds in the gravel of the backyard, prior to laying down yard fabric [see picture]. Then by Friday I was back into having a relapse. Friday night I slept on the sofa, I was coughing so hard. This morning I got Dr. Straub's answering service, who got hold of him for me. He prescribed an antibiotic this time and I started on it. After lying in bed nearly till noon today, I got up and dressed and went outside to start work on the garage tool-hanging project. I hope I have a better night tonight.

By the way, Leslie had been sick with bronchitis the two weeks before I came down with it. Ever since we returned on June 1, there has been illness in the house.

The three pictures above should give you an idea of the work done the past two days. I also bought 100 2X2X8 bricks and 20 2X4X8 bricks for paving with. I replaced the mismatched bricks around the backyard fountain, and I will use the narrower bricks for edging the new front sidewalk, once I get enough energy and cool morning weather to work in.

Once the remaining bare ground is covered in the back, we will bring in sand and pavers for the "patio" area and sand and crushed gravel for the remainder of the yard. There's still a lot of work to be done, and that doesn't even count the 11 remaining 2nd-floor windows that need to be painted.