My "Zay the Builder" :o)

In the garage half of our building I am loving our organization! When we were at the Lake we never could get the 2nd garage (we had 2 there) set up in a working order. One problem was the big garage was 200' from the trailer. It was so much work walking back and forth for me!

Because I have my very own Bob Zay the Builder. I bought him a work bench. It was very reasonable from Walmart. ($89.00) It has its own light too! One warning- it took Tom and Zay 4 hours to set up.

Isaiah took my stool and found a waste basket for it. :o) He's very practical.
But he's still working on picking up after himself.

He keeps the work bench neat and clean. But after he leaves a job he's done elsewhere, he often forgets to pick up his tools and bring them back. After hearing me remind him a few times he's getting better. :o)

He keeps his things together nicely when he does pick up. Tom went to the Hardware store since this picture and bought him some more peg hooks to hang more tools. We had a few because Tom bought them 7 years ago and they sat here in un-opened in the box. So I gave them to Zay.

                       Underneath the work bench, a nice big shelf. It also has 2 great tool drawers.

                          Zay hung some peg boards for miscellaneous tools by my "tool" corner.

 While I was painting I asked Isaiah to try to get the electric grill into the big trailer. I wanted to cook some chicken wings, but I was too tired to grill outside. Plus it was dark, I had painted till the sun set. The grill is built by Masterbuilt.
Masterbuilt is famous for their smokers. I bought this years ago and finally had a chance to use it.

I love it so much, I decided to see if I could get another for home. The bad part is it really must be used outside. The trailer got quite smoky! When I looked for another one online they were $238.00 to $300.00!!
Then I googled it I saw it was at a Hardware store 40 miles away for only $99.00!! We were in business!!
But then we had the van break down.............twice. We were worried the grill would sell before we got there! But it didn't. :o)

                                       My sweet young man getting his Math done as he burns.

Zay took these pictures of the sun rising on a very humid chilly morning. Later that day it was 87 degrees. We had a few very hot days for this time of year. I nearly got ill from painting in the heat. I know dumb.  The paint can be applied in as low as 35 degree temps! Love that! It's been 40 degrees here twice. Mainly its been 45 to 50.

 We had a "pit" in the ground outside the garage service door. Rain water filled up in it like a mini lake  and the dogs (and me) hated it. The dogs had to step in it as they came in and out of the garage. Tom decided this was the solution. Tom bought the wood and cut it. Zay put it together by himself. I wish it was a bit longer. You can see the "dip" under it on the right side. Its still an improvement. I might ask them to make 1 more to completely cover it. :o)

The Lord has blessed me with Zay the builder. :o) And my other 10 loves here too. (Samson,Faith, Lysa, Kitty, Noah, Moses, Jacob, Julius, Pauly & Mercy)

Home on the Range :o)

 Chores are so different in the woods. The garbage man up here lets us have only one big blue "can". Which we overflow just with diapers. :o( Tom takes the rest home weekly. So this year we started burning scrap wood and paper trash. Isaiah uses the small burning can daily.

Our new siding was so pretty, but it started to "grey" and weathered already. And Tom didn't put up the gutters yet. So we paint again. Good thing the paint was on sale over Labor Day! :o)

 Last year Tom said our little Ace Hardware (8 miles from us in the woods) store did not have a "barn" red. So he bought without getting my approval-  the paint on the RIGHT. It was called "heart of Rome"?? Uuuuuugly! :o( I hated it. On the left is my color choice- the new siding color. I had him go get paint charts in the big city where we live, Ace Hardware. Then we can get more at the little Ace. I picked this red.
I love the new color!

The siding was so pretty un-painted. This is our French patio doors. The screen doesn't fit it and the doors are dented. :o(  The builder ditched us. He was happy to get our $$. But no longer cares about fixing his errors. Young people. :o(

 Our garage is so streamlined. :o) We made room for a #1 only potty tent for the girls so they don't have to go outside at night. The go here into the attached garage.

My organization. It took 6 weeks last year and 10 weeks this year to get it the way we needed it! The large black boxes hold bedding, clothes,towels, kleenex, TP, paper towels.

 Lysa coming into the garage through the service door. My moose door knocker was on the lake bunk house door for years. Now its home here.

I paint as high as I can. Tom does the top on the front and back of the garage.

On one day I'll paint without the ladder. And then come back the next day to finish the side to the top. Tom paints the underside of the overhang. I can paint one side this way in only 3 hours. The problem is it can't be too hot out - (my neuro disease) or too sunny (my poor vision). And it has been both. So I usually get only one side done before the sun sets.

 On the left is 2 coats of paint. The right side is one coat of paint. We actually need to do 3 coats. I fell in love with the color on the 2nd coat. It looks like a "jewel tone" color in the sun. Like garnet. And then I remembered what it really looks like to me! (I'll tell you below!)

At home we have Tea Time. In the woods we have coffee! :o)

                              Lysa bringing out the coffee to SP and the 4 Teens in the Lodge.

 There! I finished one coat on one side! To the right the service door to the garage.

How funny that you can "see" the 2nd coat so well from this distance! We were trying to paint around the windows first to put the new shutters up. But that was when we thought it only needed 2 coats of paint.

See the red Maple tree! (If you click on this photo it enlarges)
It was the first tree here to turn this year.
Usually the birches turn yellow first.
The "red" on the Maple is the same color as our paint. I love it! The Lodge isn't barn red anymore. Now it's Fall Maple Tree Red!! Fall is our favorite Season up here!

The color you see along the roof is the old color from last year. Soon to be painted the beautiful new color! By then I think the Maple leaves will have blown off. But next year, Lord willing I can try another picture of the red leaves and the new red trim! :o)

Praise God! He cares for our every need. Even before we know we need it!

Hikes and power saws!

Years ago when we had a bit of money, I bought Tom a DR Trimmer to mow the lake lots and our acreage. He hated it. :o(  He never used it.

Now 15 years later Isaiah has spent two whole summers reading the guide's instructions. So I told him he could use it. He did our over grown path, about 300 ft long from our yard, straight back to the neighbors property. Above you can see he did a beautiful job!

Our neighbor's (Jerry's) deer stand. Our neighbor used to go through our path to get to the back of his 20 acres. His acreage is lower than ours and wetter.
He had a stroke last year and only goes back from our side for hunting now.

Always curious, Isaiah asked Tom to show him "the" swamp. We see Pelicans, Loons, Cranes, Eagles, Trumpeter Swans etc fly over us to this very close swamp all the time. It is in Jerry's 20 acres, and into our side neighbors yard. The side neighbors have 80 acres. They own most the swamp.

Tom climbed a tree (WHAT?? he's 63!!) to see how far it was. Lysa said "See mom and Dad aren't old, Dad's climbing a tree!"
Oh- Heaven help us!

It was closer than he'd thought. Here is where it starts.

 Isn't it beautiful!! We drive by wetland like this all the time. But this is private. We can go back here anytime to look!

 It is wetter than I imagined. But it would have to be to draw so much wild life. It looks like heaven to me! This is where our turtle in the yard came from!

                                                                       JOY! God is GOOD!

Kitty has a whistle necklace on. She got lost with Lysa sneaking into the woods once already. I bought these whistle necklaces a few years back and make them wear them. Thank goodness Faith heard them blow the whistle while she was going to the outhouse. We didn't know they snuck off. Faith got Dad and he found them. They are city kids. I had warned them.

 When I go back to see the wet lands on a sunny day, (its been raining) I hope to take my own pictures. I have loved this kind of wetlands since I was 3 yrs old. When my Dad and Mom bought our childhood lake property on a swampy end of the lake.

                                            Some of our woods. Ferns dying back in the Fall.

 The path coming out. Isaiah took the pictures with our camera. Tom took cell phone pictures??!!

I paid my Son in Love Dan to make me shutters for the Lodge.

We are painting the building's new siding a red that looks like red maple leaves in the Fall. Fall is our favorite season. Leaf color will peak here in September while we're here. (then we'll drive south to home and they'll peak in October) We have a red maple right now. I tried to take a picture tonight but the sun wasn't shining on the leaves, so it wasn't as pretty. :o(

The shutters Dan made were 2 1/2 inches too long. The pine cut out ended up being too high. So Isaiah and his best carpenter helper Lysa cut them for me. :o)

                     I had him cut one piece first to see how well he could stay on the lines he drew.

                                                      He really concentrated hard.
                                     No worries he did excellent. He was done in no time!

                                         There are 3 large windows and 2 smaller windows.

 The garage side windows are smaller. Isaiah checking how the re-cut shutter looks. perfect!

                                                          These are really heavy too!

                                             Lysa holding one up to the Lodge kitchen window.
                                                           She works very well with Isaiah.

I just love that beautiful smile! :o)

                                             My trusty woodworkers never let me down!

                           Our outdoor shower tent I wrote about last post. Very private and roomy!

Lysa set out my tin dish pan collection for me by the clothes line. It looks so pretty. :o)

                                    More trash pulled from the yard. :o( What was this? ugh!
                                               He found a piece of a car's seat too.

The bathroom (in the old trailer) with the toilet removed. I have a small stool in there to sit on when I  wash up the boys. The duct tape is there because the trailer's linoleum expanded/froze/and ripped every winter. :o( We never had a trailer have flooring do that till this one.

Tonight we paint the siding!