A VARIETY OF ACTIVITIES

This past month has been full of a variety of activities and we’ve finally been able to get out on the golf course.  We have been taking a power cart because of my knee, but that’s worked out well with the really hot weather.  Our tee times have been in the mid to late morning so it was very hot by the time we were finished (summertime golf takes just over 4 hours for a round).  The course is in great condition.

 We finally got the motorcycle out on the road and took our first ride yesterday.

At home, we’ve continued with some landscaping by moving bark mulch from around our deciduous trees and putting it on the area by the new fence.  We’re going to let the lawn grow up to the bases of the trees which will make it easier for mowing and edge trimming.  Of course, we had to add dirt after taking the bark mulch away and spent quite a few hours screening soil from an old dirt pile.  The soil is good and the screen (Stuart’s invention) filters out the bigger rocks.

The garden is not a full success this year—beets and swiss chard still very slow.  However, we had the best pea crop ever and already had our first tomato of the season.  The zucchinis are coming on strong now and finally the butternut and acorn squash plants are developing “fruit.”

The biggest event lately has been the purchase and replacement of our front door.  We ordered the door slab (didn’t need to get a new door frame) from a company in Kettle Falls, Washington.  They had the best selection of decorative glass as well as the best price in our area.  We picked it up on July 11 and had to do some work on it before installation.  The old door size was 36” by 80” and the new standard size in North America is 35.75” by 79” so Stuart had to add an inch to the bottom of the door.

OLD DOOR

 It is a fibreglass door so he cut a piece of wood to glue and screw to the bottom and after filling and sanding, you couldn’t see the addition plus the door sweep at the bottom covered most of it anyway.  I painted both sides of the door while it was in the shop.

On Wednesday, Stuart transferred the door hardware from the old door to the new one, took out the old door and set the new one in place.  It fit!!  He screwed in the hinges (had to add small spacer as the door was ¼” narrower) and moved the striker plates on the door frame over a bit for a better fit.  The glass insert is beautiful and it lets in so much more light.  We are very pleased with the result.

NEW DOOR