It's Been Awhile
It's been a week since the 4th of July, but here is a neat picture Brian took of the fireworks we watched in Galva, IL on the 4th of July with Edgar, Laurie, Ella, and James. Ella (4) and James (3) were somewhat frightened by the very loud noises. On the way home, Ella remarked that the fireworks that we could see off in the distance were better. The evening of July 3 we watched fireworks with Brian's parents and friends from church, the Hamptons, who saved us a spot to park at the riverfront in Davenport.

Brian's parents were able to visit us for the 4th of July weekend, arriving Friday evening and leaving Tuesday morning. It was wonderful that they could come and that they could stay so many days as it is rare for Verlyn to be able to leave the farm for so long and for Linda to have that much time off of work. They are very busy people, so we were fortunate to have their help on some projects for a few days. One wall of the house needed insulation blown in and Sunday was the day for that. I didn't help much with that other than to point out that two of the holes in the siding where insulation was to be blown in were in a return air vent. From my grading vantage point on the couch, I could see outside light. It would have been bad news. The guys removed the siding before they drilled so now that the job is done, it looks clean and finished. The next project was the master bedroom. There was some more sanding to be done on the ceiling, a big hole to patch, and we decided to try stripping all of the painted trim so it could be restained to its former glory. So, all of the trim and nails were removed. Linda started stripping the wood Monday morning while I was teaching. After lunch we all stripped wood for the rest of the afternoon. We also stripped one side of a closet door and it was pretty impressive to see the wood underneath. Needlesss to say, the next day we were rethinking restoring the wood to its former glory as some of the wood needed further stripping; and, all of it needed sanding, staining, and sealing. Painting sounds easier. We're thinking about staining the doors, though. We'll see as it might look funny with painted trim and stained doors. Now that Brian is back in school, the project is on temporary hold and that will give us time to think...probably until the next visitors...my parents, come in a few weeks.

In other news...Ellen is going to pass through Davenport this weekend in her big move to Urbana-Champaign. Now that I've posted this blog she won't have to hold hostage the pants and khakis she offered to give me as a result of cleaning out her closets. =)