The end is near

The end of the roof project is just about here. Dan and I decided to get smarter and not work harder - we hired some Amish gentlemen to finish up the front of the house. For Dan this was the most daunting part of the project, and a little too much for Honyock Construction to handle.

Joe, Dave, and Jonas are doing a wonderful job so far. They work way faster than Dan and Nate do. Butch is having a hard time with the horse tied up to a tree, so he has been isolated to the dog run. Butch has a bit of "Little Man Syndrome" and all we need if for him to go after Joe's horse. Lord knows what would happen.


I would have taken a picture of the boys, but in their culture posing for pictures are not acceptable, and since they are doing work on our house, I didn't want to upset them. So, a picture through the door is the best I could do.

Is this what I sound like?

While I don't think I sound like this now, I know when the boys were younger they thought I sounded like this. I'm sure they would say that I still sound like this.

Roofing project- 1 week down

We are one week into the reroofing project. So far the garage is (almost) done and the back of the house will be done today. From here we move to the front of the house. As you can see from the dumpster there is a lot of debris. I had the privilege of hauling all that. Luckily we had some ramps (from the truck) which made getting the wheelbarrow into the dumpster much easier.


The back of the house is coming along nicely; the boys should be done with that part by dinner tonight.

At lunch Nate was telling us how much he has learned Some of his pearls of wisdom are as follows. All these have to do with reroofing mind you.

When I buy a house:
it won't have dormers.
it won't have a steep pitch
and
I'll make enough money to pay someone to reroof it for me.

Sunday morning golf

Yesterday when I was working out at the gym I was watching the British Open on TV. On either side of me were two men also watching it on TV. They thought it was a bit odd for a woman to be watching, and enjoying, watching golf.

Even though I don't generally golf, I find watching the sport on television quite relaxing. I have even gotten Dan and the boys hooked. I will say I thoroughly enjoyed watching Tom Watson. It brought back memories of when I was a kid, sitting there with my parents watching the match and eating potato chips.

I was tempted to call my dad, or Phil, or Allen, or Brian, on the 4th playoff hole - just to talk. But, I didn't.


This was the only picture of me that I had-let's just say it's old, and I look way better than that now.

Honyock Construction

Anytime we do a "do-it-yourself" project we say that we hired Honyock Construction. Well Honyock is here again this time tackling a HUGE project. Dan, along with his helper, Nate, are reroofing the house. Yesterday they did a tear off of one side, today we are getting the shingles delivered, and hopefully after the predicted rain, they will start actually roofing the house. I have all the confidence in the world that they can do this.

Dan has even taken Brian's advise and consulted UTube. He found a great site to help guide him along. If all goes well, instead of paying someone else, Dan figured he has just paid himself 30.00 an hour. I know what you're thinking, what about Nate. Yes, we are paying him for his time. But more importantly we are teaching him a life skill.


I'm sure some of you are wondering why Honyock Construction. Chick here to see a definition

What's Matt up to?

Matt has a very busy week planned.

Toured the Newspaper Museum yesterday. I didn't even know there was such a thing. He absolutely loved it!!

Today he is touring the State Department. He is very excited about this, since he would like to work for the State Department when he finishes school.

Later this week he visits the CIA building and has a tour of this facility.

Finally, he is going to the Hong Kong Embassey for a visit.


He sounds so excited when he calls home. His boss took him out to lunch last week- he thought that was a big deal. I think this has been a great expereince for Matt. He has learned a lot about white collar jobs, living in a big city, and working and taking classes at the same time. Pretty good for a country boy from Hillsdale Michigan.

4th of July

We had a very enjoyable 4th of July weekend. On Friday night we went to Coldwater Lake to watch the fireworks with Barb Misiolek and her family. It was so cold we had to sit in front of the fire with blankets on to keep warm.

On Saturday we went to Allen and Sarah's house. What a great time. Al and Sarah have the perfect set up for family parties. The food was good and the company even better. Dan was happy because he only had one special request for preparing food- and I think Bunny did that on purpose.

We ate, drank, took a boat ride, played lawn games and watched fireworks. There was a somewhat professional firework display, but we had more fun watching Bill (Sarah's Dad) light off the fireworks he had. I don't know what it is about men and fire.

Wile Nate was in DC hanging out with Matt, we did manage to mess with them a bit. When we were on the boat we kept texting them, telling them how many "cougars" were on the lake. We then told them "Ashley" was asking about them. Well, because it was so cold, there were no cougars, and there is no Ashley - just figments of our imagination. Boy will they be mad when they find out they're not all that.


This is just a great picture of Bennet and Paige.

I can't believe he's 22

In 1987, after Matt was born, people would say how fast time would fly. I didn't believe them. I was spending my days and nights taking care of a baby, and then two babies, and then two toddlers, and so on and so on.

Well 22 years has passed, and yes time does fly. My little boy, who loved playing with matchbox cars and guns in now a man. I can't believe that I an old enough to have a child who is that old. If this is how I feel, I can only imagine how my parents feel having a child who is 45.

We didn't get to spend the day with Matt, but Nate did fly out to DC today to spend the 4th of July weekend with him. When Matt was younger we always told him that the fireworks were for him. Well, he really will see a birthday display watching the fireworks show from the Mall (the grassy area between the Capitol Building and the Lincoln Memorial).