Saturday, June 28, 2014

Back to “Normal”!

Hooray!!  The motorhome returned home this past Thursday!!  The process of getting it backed into the driveway went without any incidents this time.  Investing in a driveway was a good thing to do.



We spent Thursday night in our “home” and then picked up Paige’s mom on Friday morning in Duluth and headed to Mpls.  Bob had another doctor appointment after which we headed to a Nomads project in Sartell to connect with friends from previous projects.  We had a great visit and pizza dinner with them.  We’ve met so many great friends working with Nomads!

Last week we took time to update the kitchen cabinets at the cabin.  They were last painted about 40 years ago so it was time!  We like the results!

Today we’re going to go to Dave’s and help pack in preparation for his move to a house in northeast Minneapolis.  LeJoy and Dave are going to be combining households now.  It’s a move we are all happy about!  Anna and Sophia are coming with to help – we are hoping to get much of the work done.

If we were at the cabin, this might be the view of the lake.  Unfortunately, we’ve not had a lot of nice, sunny days yet this summer, but this was one of them.  Hopefully, the weather will get nicer in the coming weeks.  We haven’t had the rain and flooding that other parts of the state have had.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Motorhome is NOT backYet!

First – the motorhome is STILL in for repairs – grrrrrr!!  We have to look at the photo on this blog to remember what it looks like.  After planning to go pick it up today, as they had not yet scheduled any repairs, we got a call that the fiberglass guy would be in today and ours is first on his list.  We’ll see! 

Last weekend was another rainy one.  The “weekenders” had their 3rd weekend in a row of wet weather.  We’re so lucky that we’ve been able to have some good weather during the week to enjoy!  On Sunday it was rainy and windy.  This caused some downed trees and an electrical outage from 4 p.m. Sunday that wasn’t resolved until 10:30 a.m. on Monday.  We were certainly thankful for all the conveniences when it came back on!

Last Friday we had a window of opportunity (good weather) so we rented a log splitter with our neighbors.  We spend all day splitting logs – a much easier task with this device!




On Monday morning, while we had no electricity, we stacked the wood and cleaned the yard.  What a feeling of accomplishment!



Paige beautified the entrance to the driveway by making another little rock flower area and hanging the new “Riewe” sign that Brett’s family gave us for Christmas.  Looking good here!



This week our new project involves updating the green antiqued kitchen cupboards to a light tan color with new hardware.  We certainly don’t rush into these projects (these cupboards were done about 40 years ago!).  Think we got our money’s worth!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

It is Done

We now have a proper driveway at the cabin.

After 3 truckloads of Class 5 and 2 more trees removed, we have an area that should be easier to enter and exit with the motorhome, as well as a level place to park.  Like most things, all it took was time and $$$.  Here are some photos:
      
Before: 


During:


                and


After


Now, all we need is to have the repaired motorhome back from the dealer.

There is something special about this driveway - We DON'T shovel snow from it!!


Sunday, June 8, 2014

A Couple of Rainy Days

Our last blog was just over a week ago.  Since that time we have had a few rainy days, but not as many as were forecast, and we didn’t receive as much rain as was forecasted either.  The forecasts were, however, scary enough that we got the motorhome out from the cabin and parked down the road a few lots, just to ensure that we didn’t get stuck again.  After the weekend, we took it to a Winnebago dealer in Duluth for a repair estimate.  It will have to sit there awhile, until seen by an insurance adjuster.  In the meantime, we have “moved” into the cabin.

We did go to Mpls overnight on Wednesday for doctor and finance meetings last Thursday.  We got to see Brett’s girls and got them off for their last day of school.  They’re looking forward to the summer!  We also had a chance to have dinner with Rob and KJ as we haven’t seen yet this summer.  Great to see them again!!

Our new driveway and parking area had been planned for this past week, but that was delayed slightly.  We expect it will be completed this coming week – hopefully.

The road out front, Cabin Circle Drive is a private road, and is not maintained by the county.  Our area association hired a different contractor to grade it and repair last winter’s damage.  They did a great job.

Our association also planned a litter pickup on Co Rd #4, but rains on the last 2 Saturday mornings have forced postponements.  We are not sure when that will be rescheduled.

In the meantime, we’re enjoying some quiet time at the cabin – reading, knitting, and  walking.  Pretty boring stuff.  We came into Duluth for church this morning and then went to Red Lobster for lunch with Mom.  We did a few tasks for Mom at her place.  While we were at her place, a big ship came in on Lake Superior.  She has a great view of the lake!