Let The Barn Raisin' Begin....

...and so it has. Preston has set the concrete blocks that will make up the basis for my storage shed. Picture, if you can, him holding a piece of pipe whilst I, in the fading daylight, use a small sledgehammer to pound it down through two concrete blocks to stabilize them. I can barely hit a nail on the head twice in a row on a GOOD day when I can actually see it. There were a couple of close calls, and Preston was fearing, if not for his life, at least for his fingers. But the day ended well, nobody lost any limbs or needed any stitches. So far, so good.
Also this week, it's the last week before the powwow and I am just swamped with work. I'm not complaining, mind you, I am thankful to have a job. I just wish there were some way I could prepare for this in January and February when I'm twiddling my thumbs.
Carol and I have entered HopArts, which happens in October. That's something to look forward to, also something for which we'll need to prepare and we should start now. For details, visit www.hoparts.org.

Chapter 81, In Which We Get Rid Of Stuff....

....yay!!! Here at "The Compound", as someone dubbed it the other day, we have two families' worth of stuff. My parents (and by that I mean my Dad, because my Mom doesn't have much stuff at all) have been accumulating stuff for going on 50 years. Preston and I have only been at it for 25, but that means there's cumulatively 75 years worth of stuff here. Sooner or later, no matter how much space you might have, you need to get rid of some stuff. This week my Dad got rid of a junk car, and I got rid of my camper, the only thing I have to store my fabric in. I know it SOUNDS like a bad idea, and it's making things really difficult to find because now all my stuff is crammed into Preston's old van, but it'll all be for the best. The camper leaked, smelled musty, and was infested with ants and mice and God only knows what else. So I'm getting my own shed. There are no words to describe how happy that makes me. My mom is also happy, yesterday she called me at work to give me the good news before the old car was even out of the yard. "There it goes!!!" she said. It was a good day for everyone.