No Handshake for Mr. O

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Dear Friend,
This is so funny. I laugh every time I watch it.
Jan

Out With the Old, In With the New and Improved

Dear Friend,

I finally have a few minutes to spare (Nikki introduced me to another mind-numbing game on Facebook) so I wanted to show you what we did last weekend-4th of July.

I begged, pleaded and bribed my wonderful sons-in-law to give me a weekend to rebuild my porch. This, by the way, is step 2 in the plan for retirement. Anyway, because of work schedules and other important things, Kelly & Lisa came up Friday night and while the adults went to town to buy (gasp) the lumber for the project on Saturday morning, Logann and Seth worked so very hard to tear down the old porch.

This was what was left of the old and that board was the only access to the trailer.


They unloaded the trailer and went to work. And they worked hard. I hope the kids realize how much help they were and we couldn't have done this without them.

Because I don't have the knack for balancing myself these days, I kept to the perimeter and tried to help or stay out of the way.

The porch is beginning to take on a life now, we added to the the deck by extending it in front of the trailer. This area will be an out-door kitchen where the grill and a big table can be set up leaving more deck space for the things we like to do-eat, play games, eat, play games and so on.New wider, safer stairs. I am ecstatic. Wait until you see the rest...


By Saturday night, we were able to get into the room and trailer and even able to set up the big table for some games. No Seth, you did not win Bananagrams!

The next morning ( I won't tell you what day of the week this was, but our ox was in the mire, as my dad would say) we went back to work. Please don't report us for child labor. He loved that he could help.

Logann, aka Rosie the Riveter, stopped for a pose or two but diligently got back to work.

Shawn, Nikki and boys arrived about 10 AM to help us finish. Shawn & Kelly got the railing up and I love, love, love it. The boys started sanding the rails because it was cheaper to buy the unfinished lengths and feed the boys.
The weather was perfect for the project-the rain held off until we completed the deck construction, put the saws and tools away and started to stain and seal. Then we got hit with a whopper-rain, hail, thunder and lightening.
I just want my family to know how much I love and appreciate them. The old porch (we figure it was about 20+ years old) was really getting bad and the front end was dangerously rotten.

When I sat on the new porch and took my shoes off, the new floor felt like silk on my bare feet.

Shawn and Nikki stayed until Tuesday to finish the staining and sealing. I can't wait to get back up to see it.

Oh, I almost forgot, while Lisa and Nikki helped with some of the construction, they also did a great job of keeping everyone fed, everything organized and the cleaning, because when we are all up there together, sometimes the feeding, organizing and cleaning is all you do!

If your in the neighborhood, stop and visit our new deck. You can even pull a chair up to the table and join us for whatever we are up to because there is lots of room now.

Oh, one more thing...

Actually, 2 more-this was the sky just before the storm and ...

this is the sunset as I was leaving Vernon.

I know this probably isn't the most important news for you, but it's my news and I am soooooooo happy.

Love to you all, Jan