Repairing freezer ourselves

The other day I decided to defrost our freezer. Since we first purchased it several years ago it has always accumulated thick layers of frost on the coils.  I have had to defrost it every 4 months.  We had the repair man out two times when we first got it, but to no avail. So Gerry decided to do something about it.  We completely emptied it and re-caulked the seal.  It involved taking the door off and apart.






While the caulking dried Gerry managed to pack all the contents into the freezer part of a refrigerator.



The next day it all went back in the big freezer.  I am happy to report that the problem has been resolved.  It only took about six hours of work!

The Joy of reading

I am currently reading a Bill Bryson book, the lost continent .  This is one of those "laugh out loud" books.  Especially when he is writing about the Midwest where I grew up.  He may be writing about Iowa but it is very much like Minnesota.  The last book in this category (laugh out loud) was The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.  I saw the movie too, but the book was so much better.  I find this to be true many times as parts need to be cut to make it fit the time of the movie.

I just looked at my Google docs and found a file for books that have been recommend to me or that I learned about and thought I would like to read. It looks like there are about 40 on the list.  Recently a friend, who works at a library, told be about her list of books to read.  It was around 800.  I doubt if either of us will get through our list. 

Today G is going to a motorcycle show so that should give me time to read!  Note that I am passing on that opportunity (the show). 

Entertainment for the day

We received a call the other day from our electric company to inform us that our electric pole was "compromised".  They came to replace it.  Five trucks arrived (picture shows only two).  We watched in awe as them lowered the line, removed various attachments from the pole, then pulled it out and put a new one in.  Five men worked for about two hours.  The amazing thing to me was how each had a specific job and how smoothly it went.  By "compromised" it was that it was rotting in the ground.  Our electric company is very proactive in that they inspect poles and also remove tree branches that might fall on the lines in a storm.

The yard light on top of this pole lights automatically at dusk. That is fine except when we are sitting around the fire and trying to see the stars.  So a couple of years ago we asked a neighbor's son who is an electrician to install a switch so we could turn it off.  The supervisor of this work crew told us that this is illegal.  Gerry explained that his wife wanted to see the stars.  They were kind enough to put it back up.  Guess we are not going to jail for our illegal acts.

It is hard to see in the picture, but Gerry was out there watching the entire show.  

Thanksgiving week

Since most of read http://stylingwithreneemichelle.blogspot.com/  I will not repeat what she posted there.  I would add that she has great friends.  For hours they worked with us in removing insulation and without a murmur  of complaint.


 "before" pictures" 

 The day before we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at their apartment overlooking DC.  Well,  not actually the White House and monuments, but some of the city.   It was a treat.  All I brought were two pies: the required pumpkin and a cherry. And as usual there were leftovers.

On Sunday G and I drove back to Ohio.  This has to be the heaviest  traveled day for the whole year.  Traffic stopped or went extremely slow for hours. But we arrived home safely and are on with our life.  My big project for the coming months is to replace the flooring on all of the first floor except the bedroom.  That requires choosing counter tops for the kitchen, flooring for the kitchen and carpet for the living room/dining room.   Pleased be advised that this may be the topic for many future blogs. A friend advised that I enjoyed this,  do it with joy and have a good time doing it.  I will try to remember that  advice .

A gift of flower pots

Over the years I have had grandiose plans of having many houseplants as well as outdoor flowers in clay pots.  Or so it would seem when I looked at my stash in the garden shed.  I no longer have even one house plant and it is not a good idea to have flowers in clay pots outdoors when you are not home to water them daily in the summer.  So, thank goodness for "Freecycle".  I posted that I had them to give to a good home and two women are now very happy.  No, make that three, because I am happy that I gifted them to the two women.  They each got about 20.  Most I found at garage sales, so the "sunk" cost was not too much.


Freecycle is a group where one can get or give items free that can be reused and kept out of landfills.
I looked it up and there are 5,311 groups around the world.  If you are interested in finding one near you,  just look up freecycle.org.

I am stating to be more realistic about which projects or activities I actually will do.

The usual preparation for winter

This last week couple of weeks the weather has cooperated so that Gerry and I have been able to do the last minute preparation for winter.  He has put antifreeze in all of the water pipes in the camper.  It was a bit of a project in that he had not done it before and was worried that he would miss one, it would freeze and he would have a burst pipe and another project next spring. Thank goodness for Youtube.

He then winterized all the mowers, the shredder, tillers and who knows what else.  Winterizing them means turning them upside down, scraping off all the accumulated grass and dirt, then washing it with the power washer. He also drained the oil and filled it with new so it is ready to go next spring.

I pushed myself to get the deck and railings stained.  It seems this needs to be done every 2-3 years. I did hire someone to help this year, but it still took several days.

All I need to do yet is plant spring flower bulbs.  But that can be done any time that you can still dig in the ground.

Projects and recollections

It is October when G and I start thinking about what projects need to be completed before it is too cold.  Mine was to stain the deck again.  I looked back on the calendar and it looks like I did it two years ago.  There must be a better way, but this deck is what was here when we bought the house.  It was a two person job (not G and I).  Doing projects like that definitely is not his favorite thing to do. So I power washed it, and applied a brightener which is supposed to open the pores in the wood so the stain goes in better.  Next I hired a 20 year old Amish young man.  He has been doing a lot of yard work this summer.  He spent two days applying the stain on the floor.  I stained the railings for two days and am not finished.  Rain is here so it will have to wait.

G project was to put a sealer on the cracks and joints on the concrete apron in from of the shop.  This took him several days too.  We are bleary eyed but are happy to have done so much.  I did not think to take any pictures.

For G's birthday party I made a board with pictures from his life.  I thought I would include some here. This is him riding a motorcycle to classes at the University of Minnesota.  I can't believe he is smiling.

Another motorcycle pic.  He raced motocross in Oklahoma.  I never could get the red dirt stains out of his clothes.

Ok, this is the last motorcycle picture.  This was a couple years ago when he rode the Continental Divide Route.  Just wanted to show there is a theme here.