August 2020 – Actually getting in reach of ALL of our summer goals!

August 2020 went by far too quickly for my liking which is always true. I’m a total summer person and August is my favorite month. I promised myself last month that I would kick my ass in gear and get some things done this month and, lo and behold, I actually did! Lodi started us off by taking it upon himself to do something that’s been on my list for the last two years. Remember that pile of dirt I had dropped off so I could use it to hand shovel in a very dangerous dried up well out in the barn? Also remember I didn’t use all of it so its just been a sitting eye sore ever since? Not anymore!

At first we were going to use the extra dirt to add to the driveway and even build up the grade of the house on the south side. It made sense to use it that way though neither thing was needed at all. We looked at each other one day in total laziness and said, “Why don’t we just spread it out?”

August 2020, we’re not lazy its just that we have enough work that actually NEEDS to be done!

So, Lodi spread it out one afternoon and what a sweet sight that was for me to come home to after work. It looks so much better! It’ll be gone to the lawn in a year or two too.

Lodi and I are both tackling the basement and what felt like an endless project is finally starting to take shape. Ceilings are done, floors are done, new lighting is done and the walls are complete too! (Don’t worry I will be posting about all of it later this year.)

Are there a MILLION other things to do? Of course!

The stairwell is an unfinished nightmare, the kitchen needs a backsplash, open shelves, to be painted out and finished, the bathroom needs to be sanded and covered in polycrylic, the bathroom cabinets ALSO need to be painted out – oh and the bathroom could also use a door and a toilet!

Not to mention so many other little details like closet storage shelves… HOWEVER, the main work will be done once we get the place trimmed out which will mean *drum roll* THE GARAGE IS ALMOST A GARAGE AGAIN AND NO LONGER A STORAGE SHED – I missed it SO much.

The expanded dog kennel/new privacy fence is not up yet – UGH – but its on the list before it freezes…

Dog Annie had dental surgery in early August 2020 and had two teeth removed.

You know those big teeth way up on the top jaw of a dog’s mouth right beneath either of their eyes? I’ve always thought of them as their “grinders” because every dog I’ve ever owned would shove a bone up in the side of their mouth and grind on it with those teeth.

She had to have them both surgically removed.

The vet told me she would be really nauseous, sleepy, dizzy and tired when I took her home so I was expecting a much different dog that night…

Annie wined and paced and zoomied and ran around and yelled at us ALL evening about how she missed breakfast AND had surgery AND, how the fact that we weren’t feeding her extra RIGHT NOW to make up for it, was TOTAL BULLSHIT!

Annie also got to enjoy pain killers for several days and let me tell you that dog has NEVER been so excited, crazy, zoomy, annoying and hungry.

We commented several times, “I want what she’s having…” It was pretty hilarious.

So the dog is fine.

Pellets for the winter are paid for and will be delivered at some point.

(Delivery will almost certainly be on a day when we are both at our most exhausted and the idea of moving 120 bags of pellets will make us both want to cry because that’s just the rules…)

Unlike most folks who have tiger lilies mine rarely bloom until August because they’re on the north side of the house. What an impressive sight they are though! With all of my Grandma’s perennials I transplanted it was always just on a wing and prayer.

These doing so well this August 2020 just makes my heart glad!

They’re SO bright in color they’re actually really hard to get decent pictures of lol my camera with them in the sunlight makes them look unreal and florescent. The better photos of the tigers I took a couple of days before right before we had a HUGE storm.

I finished a few things I mentioned in my July 2020 post that I couldn’t believe I had not accomplished yet.

One of them was the dozen or so old hay bales in the barn are officially hauled to (and spread over) the weediest part of the horse pasture. They needed to be gotten rid of and, ya never know, maybe they’ll sew in some new grass over all those weeds.

So with that I feel a bit better about the fact that its the end of August 2020.

Not because I want summer to end in any way!

But at least now I feel like I’ve actually gotten something done…

We still have Annie’s back doggie door area to tackle but that just keeps growing into a bigger monster for us… I blame myself… yes this was my idea…

What was first just replacing the door, the doggie door and giving the space a fresh coat of paint has become something else entirely.

I have my own workshop/room in the house, plus we have our guest bedroom, but Lodi really deserves a space of his own and our back “entry” is really just wasted space. August 2020 I made the decision that he absolutely deserved his own space!

The current plan will be replacing the exterior door which we don’t need (we already have FIVE exterior doors) with a window, moving Annie’s doggie door to a more protected/insulated location in my workshop (so it doesn’t let in so much cold air) and putting up a wall and door here to actually make this space a real room.

The space is only about 6 feet by 6 feet but it will be Lodi’s OWN space. (The truth is this house is my Grandma’s house and its almost painfully MINE no matter how much I try to make him feel at home here…)

He’s very excited about it!

Fortunately the majority of the work back there that needs to be done before winter really isn’t that much.

Making a new doggie door and putting it in my workshop and replacing the back door here with a window won’t take us long at all.

The inside work besides can all be done this winter.

Which is pretty true of where we are with almost everything right now! Besides expanding the dog kennel and getting those couple of things done in the back entry WE HAVE REACHED OUR SUMMER GOALS.

(And, to be honest, the expanded dog kennel can certainly wait for next year…)

I really thought I had already experienced what “when it rains it pours” means but wow how 2020 proved me wrong.

We’ve seen almost DOUBLE the amount of business at my day job (totally insanely unprecedented, we are so busy we can’t think straight and how does that make ANY sense during a pandemic…. ?????).

My mom’s cancer diagnosis remains such a heavy sad on me – (she’s a trooper and I’m terrified.)

We’re in the middle of a global pandemic and this two-years-single-very-introverted-gal-who-really-liked-her-life is now in a very serious relationship and living with someone… (I adore Lodi but any two people moving in together under the best of circumstances are going to experience growing pains and these are the worst of circumstances for me.)

ITS BEEN SO MUCH.

I can’t imagine what my mom is going through and I so wish I could take some of her burden. She and I talked about how badly we need a vacation but its a vacation from life, from reality – something that is unachievable.

I’ve never felt this thread bare before.

August 2020 reminded me where I always need to come back to when things get to be too much.

And, of course, its right here, working on this home. Accomplishing the things I have actual control over is a balm when there is so much right now totally out of my control.

UPDATE: After four months of chemotherapy, five weeks of radiation and countless appointments and driving thousands of miles, all starting at the first of this year, my Mom has come to the end of her cancer treatments.

On Thursday she underwent the last step: surgery.

We’ve been at the Mayo clinic in Rochester since the 25th and I am so relieved to type that the surgery went well. So far away from home, waiting alone for her for eleven hours, was just horrible.

Mom is recovering and I am so relieved to say we will be returning home soon. I’ll talk more about everything in my September post but, for right now, we are all ok.