Best Life

 World Turtle Day.  I love these prehistoric creatures that cannot be rushed and thrive by moving at a leisurely pace.  This guy was at Mystic Aquarium.  We were lucky enough to see many while sailing including a very large (his head was the size of a basketball) guy floating in the Gulf Stream.  Super cool!  My bucket list includes watching hatchlings hatch and head for the ocean.   Today's word of the day - expedite.  Cause to happen faster.  Totally appropriate since Scott arrived last night (really early this morning) to help with the garage build.   Cutting the panels to tuck around the windows and the garage door - tedious. And the front is complete!  Having an additional ladder and another pair of hands (that can measure and cut and think like a carpenter) definitely accelerated the process. While they worked the front wall, I spray painted some of the remaining beams, worked on smoothing the surrounding landscape a...

  Today - very bright and sunny and COLD!  We awoke to find frost on the car and grass.  A low of 30 meant an extra quilt on the bed and a fire in the wood stove.  Thankfully the wind was minimal so by mid afternoon with temps in the low 60s, the sun actually felt warm enough for shorts.  (Very short time!)                                                  The man door is in place though not secure since we need shims (Scott is arriving tonight with them).  But the trim is all in place.                                  The garage door has been trimmed after  painfully leveling everything. Paul carefully cut all the metal trim pieces since ther are no spares.  Measure twice, three times maybe four before cutting! ...

 Happy Birthday Isis!  Love your smile.  Love that you have us eating tofu.  Love your patience with our comings and goings.  Love that you make Kevin happy.  So glad you have become a part of the family! Today's weather cooler (low 30s this morning) but sunny with little wind and no precipitation.  After painting for a few hours until we ran out of paint (again) Paul began tackling the window installation.  Of course nothing was level and took some manipulation to rectify.  But they look good! Poor Fenway wound up with little attention today.  But we found his tennis ball and we tired him out before dinner.                                                                 He is asleep under there! Word of the day - kafkaesque.  Meaning absurdly co...

  The trees are finally blooming up here!  We made a quick trip to Farmington this morning for more spray paint and fresh veggies. I managed to paint two additional steel posts before the wind decided to kick up and send more paint onto me then the post.   Paul finally changed out the regular tires and the snow tires are stored for another year.  Laundry dried fast in the warm "breeze".   With the high winds we did not even attempt to hang more panels.  They are unwieldy without wind so we will wait.  The windows are open and hopefully can stay open all night again.  On this date in 2015:  Maddy on her mom's memorial bench at Sand Hill Cove. On this date 2022:  Lisa and I are hanging out in Hudson, Florida enjoying the sun and the water! Word of the day - crepuscule.  Meaning the soft light or time just after sunset or before sunrise. The Chesapeake Bay in October 2021 demonstrated a very peaceful crepuscule.

  As the sun sets tonight there is a sense of accomplishment along with fatigue.  After stacking another half cord of wood, I became Paul's helper.  The goal - hang wall panels without too many mistakes.  Start with the back wall where our mistakes won't be so noticeable. After hanging the second panel Paul realized there was a discrepancy in the height.  The cause - the lowest beam was twisted.  The fix - undo the two straps, insert a board to push it into correct position, reattach the straps and secure the panels. First the foot trim is secured, insulation strips taped along the top and foot then followed by hanging the panels.  The foot trim installation - troublesome because the edge of the concrete pad was not straight.  The insulation sticky enough that when not applied correctly was very difficult to remove and reattach.  But we developed a system and each application seemed  to be a little easier. The bottom of the panels need t...

Last night's brilliant sunset on Mooselookmeguntic Lake.   Today's forecast - 60s with some clouds, no wind and no precipitation.  So we set out to paint the steel beams.  We were just starting when the drizzle began.  By the second beam - real rain.  Ugh! After a three hour rain delay - we restarted. We persevered through the wind and the puddles.  We managed to complete 4 1/2 beams before we ran out of paint.                                                                                    Loving the ladder!                                                  ...