The Dog Days of Summer

 It appears that the “dog days” of summer 2020 are just about behind us. Today was a very nice day with a high in the low 80s but the humidity was fairly comfortable. The forecast for the next few weeks shows highs mostly in the mid to high 70s and lows in the high 50s ... so it appears we are heading towards fall here in Maine ... in spite of the leaves that will be falling come early October ... this is my favorite time of year.

Most of our home improvement projects are also now behind us. The new siding is on, the new seamless gutters are on, and the driveway sealcoating is done and is curing. Hopefully the new garage door will be delivered to the installer on Monday and we can get that accomplished next week.

In spite of all the disruption and the inevitable dealing with contractor issues ... we are very satisfied with how it has all turned out and we are looking forward to many years of enjoying the new low maintenance feel of our new home exterior. Color-wise it may look pretty much the same ... but I reckon that is because we liked the colors it has been for the last 40 years ... so why change? Besides ... with our advancing age we might not be able to find our way home if it were changed significantly!

I still have a few small maintenance items to take care of ... like painting the steel bulkhead doors leading to the basement ... but that is small potatoes so to speak.

As we finish off summer and move into fall of this crazy year we remain optimistic. The collective WE ... will figure out how to safely navigate this pandemic, restore saneness to our society in general, and will continue to prosper.

After all ... what other choice do we really have?

Summer Chores

Here we are ... August 2020 ... still here, still well, and still sorta isolating. I say “sorta” because we watched Taylor and Aiden for about 6 days. We survived quite well and so did they. And we hosted Brian, Nicky, Alyssa, and Emily up from NJ for a week ... and we all survived. And we continue to be doing well as we listen to the sounds of banging and clanging as the siding crew busily replaces the siding on our house. The new Cedar Impressions vinyl siding is looking good and we are looking forward to seeing the finished product!

I was hoping to have the siding work done a few weeks ago but the contractor was waiting for materials which arrived last week. With about 5 minutes notice we suddenly had a crew of guys in our front yard and the old cedar siding was being ripped off and walls were being prepped for the new stuff. The NJ Gang got a rude awakening for sure! Oh well ... I think that’s pretty expectable when dealing with construction type contractors. They show up when they have materials to work with, they work hard, and then they are on to the next job. I’m pretty impressed so far. They seem to know what they are doing, they work pretty steady all day long, and they do a pretty good job of cleaning up after themselves each day. I’m happy to be supporting the local economy ... but I’ll be happier when they are done and we can have our house back!

Once the siding work is completed and the new garage door is installed it will be time to complete my next house maintenance project ... seal coating our asphalt driveway! Another periodic chore I never look forward to! Mmmm ... perhaps another contractor I can look forward to working with! That job has to be completed soon ... certainly before all the local trees start dropping their leaves!

And then there will be motorhome maintenance to accomplish.

Sure glad I’m retired!