On Friday morning I got my post up and a load in the dishwasher. My helper friend arrived at 8AM and had several chores inside to do. I asked him to shift some of the 50 lb bags in the Tonka garage so I could get the Fall Mix out for the old MacIntosh apple tree. I did that while he worked inside.
Tom and my #3 intern arrived at 9:30AM and the intern and I went out to the Small garden. I was planning on cleaning it out. He helped get all the plants out and then I set him up to wash the cold frame covers. I went back and started picking out all the acorns and downed branches.
We had found a perfect white pumpkin I somehow had missed, so he wanted to take it home. He also wanted to save some of the marigolds and picked a bouquet of them. Later he added some of the red zinnias from the front of the house.
I also sent Tom home with a quart of sauerkraut to try. My #3 intern took one of the wonky white pumpkins for his friend that had helped get the wood in the shed.
He got the covers done and set to dry.
My helper friend moved onto decanting all the sauerkraut and getting it into the fridge. I’m putting off making more as long as I can so I will have it later into the winter.
With one thing and another, I only managed to get about 16’ on one strip cleaned out by noon.
Everyone was gone by 12:30PM and I got to sit down to rest. I was getting caught up on the videos put out by Greenhorn Grove. It’s a homesteader channel that I like to watch.
The contractor arrived at 3PM. The plan was to fix the weatherstrip on the back door, hot glue a flower for the swag (I can’t find my glue gun to save my life), finish the broken bookcase shelf, and start the front porch repairs.
We got started on the front porch first. He had noticed it was rotting badly last December, even though it was only 4years old. Apparently my husband hadn’t sealed the seams and water got in. So we had sealed the seams then until he could work on it in better weather.
The front where the right side railing attached was the worst. Even the 2” x 4” under the top board had rotted and would have to be replaced.
We took the front side board off and that had rotted through the plywood. So all that came off.
Next we tackled the base of the post on the right. The west side was bad, the north side not so bad, and the south and east sides needed to be done.
As we started to lose light after 5PM, we sealed the areas back up until he could come back. We’re expecting rain on Wednesday so better safe than sorry.
We’d made quite the mess on the porch. I got that cleaned up and we moved inside. He did the flower and the weatherstripping then moved into the office.
He did an excellent job matching the color; you’d never know it wasn’t original. He left just before 7PM and I got supper made then stayed up late watching Robert Redford’s ‘A Walk in the Woods’. I finally got to bed around 9:30PM.
On Saturday I have to clean up the kitchen, empty the trash shed, and get the Small garden cleaned out. My brother will be home midday to go to the dump and the library. Tom will be here early on Sunday to clean out the garden shed to put the cold frame covers away. Then he’s going to help me get the tarps on the Small garden. The rest of the morning he’s going to clean out and repair birdhouses for next year.
So another busy day…