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October 23, 2007
vacation
how sweet it is... how long has it been since we've taken a break away from all our obligations? a break from everything, no matter how much enjoyment we get from it?
I cannot remember the last time we took a vacation. But Friday evening we put away the tools, turned off the heat, packed the car and headed south. South? But we're in the UP. How does that work?
We spent the night Friday in Kenosha, WI after driving an hour and a half through torrential rains getting out of Michigan, then construction and Chicago traffic. Let me tell you this: even at midnight in Chicago the roads are not clear. Saturday morning we headed north through Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and Green Bay. We stopped to stretch our legs in Port Washington and were talking about getting a cup of coffee, but thought we'd have a better story if we sat in a cafe in Belgium, which was just up the road! But naught a cafe to be found in Belgium. Sad day. Sorry Melinda, my sweet, but your homeland has let us down... ok, not really...
Saturday was a day of waterfalls and peak colors. After such a dry summer we didn't expect many waterfalls to be flowing heavily, but we weren't disappointed by what we saw. Perhaps ignorance is bliss... We thought the colors would be past by this time, too, but in middle Wisconsin and then even yesterday in Copper Harpor, there were stunning displays of reds, oranges, and yellows. The sky was blue, the sun was warm, and it was a great day for a drive. We arrived late Saturday in South Range, Michigan.
Sunday we spent a couple hours looking for a hiking trail to a reservoir in the national forest. We didn't find the reservoir and we didn't find a trail, but we did find loads of mud and moisture and we did find the map again after we lost it once. Then we turned around and went back to the car and drove over to a trailhead down to O-Kun-De-Kun Falls. This trail also had loads of mud and moisture, but a much clearer trail and a known distance to go... so even in spite of me wearing just sneakers the trail was much easier for me to handle. When we reached the parking lot again after exploring down around the falls and avoiding most of the mud, there was a family just setting out. Mom and one of the daughters were wearing bright white sneakers and the son was wearing crocs. We cautioned them but they went on anyway - guess they didn't believe us! After the falls we came home and changed into dry shoes and went into town for pizza at the Ambassador. Martha, was that place around when you were here? Love the booths in there, And the paintings on the cieling!
Monday we went up in to Houghton to Down Wind Sports to buy me some boots so I could better enjoy the muddy trails. Then we went for a drive on up to Calumet and Copper Harbor, and checked out a few more sights along the way, including muddy trails and waterfalls. We drove down a little-traveled forest service road and then hiked a mile or so to Horseshoe Bay and climbed the rocks and took some pictures. I don't feel like putting those up just yet, so you'll just have to read the musings for now.
Today we spent a couple hours helping Matt and Vic at the mine, closing it up for the year and doing some inventory. Then we came home and made our legendary Pasta Coma, by special request.
Henry is a blast, even though he does have hip displaysia and gets tired out faster than even me!
We are alive, we are well, and we are enoying being "out of reach". We are thankful that there's only occassional, spotty coverage on the cell phones...
your host for this episode : carrie; 09:53 PM | Comments (2)
the patio is Done!
well, almost.
The last brick went into place at 10pm last Monday night, after just about 4 quick hours of work with the help of our friend Massi. It would surely have taken twice that without the extra hands and know-how. Here's some pics of the final night. Now we just have to wait for a couple of days dry enough to dry out the sand we have to sweep across the top to secure them all in place.
I would like you to notice that there are holes in 8 of the 10 fingers on my gloves.
your host for this episode : carrie; 07:27 PM | Comments (1)
October 07, 2007
Patio
So anyone who has looked at this site in the last few months has wondered “what happened to Dan and Carrie?” No we have not fallen off the face of the earth, been abducted by aliens, marooned on a deserted island, lost in the desert, or off on some amazing adventure. No, we have been in the back yard, or the remains of the back yard…
We got this hair-brained idea this spring to build a patio in the back yard, and then it turned into building the backyard into a patio. Yes we decided to pave the entire back yard… no more mowing for me! Ok, only the front yard, and side hill to be mowed in the future.
Well the Patio quickly became an outdoor kitchen, complete with a built in BBQ and a Brick oven, a sink and a cook top.
Funny how things get out of hand quickly.
Well, we got a good start on things, and then we made a mistake… we tried to have a life. We tried to still hang out with friends, to go do fun things on the weekends, and build this outdoor kitchen. Let me tell anyone who thinks that this is possible that it is NOT.
It started with building the base and stand for the brick oven, which will be the last part of the project to get completed. Massi came over and lent his experience at blocksetting the morning of Erik and Heather's wedding.
For more information on Brick Ovens check out this site.
First we had days and days of digging. Removing the grass (weeds) “top soil” (black sand) hauling all of it away. Hauling lots of extra dirt (sand) away to any place that we could find to take it. Funny how that works, I know that someday in the future I will want dirt, and then we will have to pay someone for it. But now I was trying to give it away.
Then I removed the existing sidewalk and steps, hauled them away. The existing steps were only two feet wide, which proved a challenge to carry anything up them without going sideways. We built new steps (four feet wide), and at the same time poured the hearth stand for the brick oven.
It was about a month ago that we decided that the stump from that cursed plant called a mulberry tree, or more accurately, bush, needed to go. So I called my friend Aaron, who has a cool toy.
We ripped the hill up pretty good getting the stump out, but it is gone! Loaded into my little itty-bitty truck and taken to the yard waste dump. The next day was John and Faith's wedding, and in the afternoon we put the hill back together with Rolland's help and planted a DWARF apricot tree.
The next week we had the stone dust delivered, then the real fun could begin.
Holly and Massi came over and we stayed up late leveling and compacting the stone dust. That Saturday I borrowed my friend Dave’s big truck to buy the remaining brick. Most of our brick we got used from a guy on Craig’s List (www.craigslist.org).
That afternoon we laid almost a quarter of the total brick.
A few days later our friend Heather came over and helped us in the evening and we reached the halfway point! Can't say we're excited that Erik's job makes him travel during the week, but we were sure glad for Heather's help.
Unfortunatley that is where it remains. Hopefully it will be done soon, and then we can start on the oven! Or the bathroom. . .
your host for this episode : dan; 10:40 AM | Comments (4)