Remodeling The Farm

As soon as we got here on May 7 we resumed our rehabbing the farmhouse from where we left off last summer. See: '09 #1;     '09 #2;     '09 #3

The very first thing was to paint the living room a light cream color. As seen here getting rid of the dark paneling brightens it up emmensely. We also added the oval rug shown under the coffee table.

I found this antique spring driven pendlum schoolhouse clock on eBay and luckily, being the only bidder, snagged it for only $9.95 plus $14.00 shipping. We think it fits the living room feng shui perfectly.

EBay also rewarded me with this weight driven skeleton clock which we mounted in the dining room. I wasn't the only bidder but I still got it for less than $50.00 including shipping. It's a Chinese knockoff of the $400.00 German skeleton movement but so far seems to work well.

The dining room also received this much needed chandelier.

Moving on to the bedroom, Teddy had her heart set on this antique style iron bed. We had ordered it last fall before we left for the west. All we had to do was pick it up from the furnature store and set it up.

We also added a new ceiling fan/light fixture and the lamp in the corner so that we can read our Kindles & iPads in bed...

...and at a used furniture store in Traverse City we found this vanity.

There will be more coming in a subsiquent blog as we are now beginning an extensive kitchen remodel.

But Teddy will have to carry on by herself for a while as I am going into the hospital on June 1 for a total knee replacement on my long suffering left knee.

I had my right knee done three years ago and it was only a matter of time until the left also had to go.

Oh well...at least I still have all of my own teeth.  ;-)

Catching up

Teddy and I have been so busy for the past month that I have not been able to post. To bring things up to date we left Pahrump on April 26 for our annual trip back to Michigan to spent the summer months on "The Farm". We left a few days earlier than we ordinarily would have as we had to lay over in Sioux Falls for a couple of days to renew our drivers licenses. We obtained our DLs in 2005 when we started fulltiming and in South Dakota drivers licenses are good for five years and expire on your birthday. Fortunately for us both of our birthdays are in July so in our case, the family that expires together renews together. ;-)  Also in SD one has to stay overnight in a motel or campground and show a receipt in order to obtain a DL as they will not accept a mail-forwarding address on the application although they do put our mail-forwarding address on the actual license.  A lot of bureaucratic red tape nonsense but nevertheless rules be rules.
While we were in Sioux Falls we drove the truck up to Erwin, SD to visit Randy & Sandy Bratland, friends from Lake Havasu, AZ. They showed us around their farm and treated us to a wonderful dinner.
From Sioux Falls we continued on to our old hometown of Appleton, WI. In Appleton we dropped the RV at Appleton Camping for some needed repairs and settled into a motel for a week's stay.
Because "The Farm" in Michigan is approximately twenty miles from the nearest shopping center in Traverse City, we decided to purchase a small economy car to use during the summer months instead of driving the one ton dually Silverado.

I had previously spoken to Bill Kolosso at Kolosso Toyota in Appleton and purchased a 2009 Toyota Yaris over the phone on his recommendation, so our first order of business was to stop by Kolosso's to finalize the purchase and pick-up the car.

While in Appleton we visited our son Mike and his wife, Toni. We had dinner one evening with Ed & Karen Thomas, former neighbors who are now also RVing seven months of the year in a motor home. Another delightful evening was spent at the home of our good friends Dick & Jenny Orr. Another of our Appleton friends Tom & Carol Sykes also are fulltiming in an RV and Jenny Orr put together a dinner party including them and us as well as Wes Evans, Kate Ewing and Greg & Sue Madson. All members of our famous Monday martini club. It was fun catching up on each other's goings-on.

We each had doctors appointments for our annual physicals at our family Doctor in Appleton on May 5th, that done we continued on toward our summer home in Leelanau County, Michigan, but not before stopping overnight in Escanaba to see Dan & Pat Martenson. Pat as usual treated us to a great dinner and we stayed up late playing dominoes. The following day, Friday May 7,  with me driving the truck & RV and Teddy following in the Yaris we finally arrived here at our summer home in Cedar, MI. The Yaris performed superbly averaging 46.8 MPG for the trip from Appleton to Cedar; we are very happy with that result.

Now the next task that awaits us is to continue with the upgrading and remodeling of our summer home aka "The Farm"
Note: See our posts from last summer for details of our previous remodeling efforts.




Addendum Sunday 5/23

Oh...I almost forgot. While in Appleton I finally got to meet Marcy, a "Flickr" friend. Flickr is a photographic site that allows photo hobbyists to upload pictures to display for family & friends and to exchange critiques of photographs. A few years ago we became "Flickr Friends" probably originally because of our common Appleton connection. Marcy is an interpreter for the Deaf in the Appleton public school system. On previous visits to Appleton our attempts at meeting in person always fell through because of scheduling difficulties, however this time we were able to meet for lunch at a little bistro near her school. I found her to be a delightful young lady and we got along famously swapping war stories and catching up on each other's bios. Teddy couldn't come along as she was having lunch with one of her Appleton girlfriends that day but if we can schedule another lunch on a future Appleton visit she wants to meet Marcy too.