…Jonny was very busy.
He completely surprised me by sanding down the heart pine floors in our living room and refinishing them.
Years ago, we pulled up carpet, expecting to find pine flooring badly damaged by termites. To our surprise the planks were in great shape. Jonny rented a sander, sanded off the old paint and other gunk, and then in a moment of honestly, I don’t know what, we, painted them. And then a few years later, we painted them again.
I called around for estimates on having them sanded down again and refinished about a year ago and was quoted about four thousand dollars. So I gave up on that idea. We thought that sanding through all that paint would be too hard to do ourselves, and that it would be impossible to live through such a project with our kids.
I had no idea that Jonny was even considering doing this, but I am so glad he did. All for a grand total of about two hundred dollars (and a lot of sweat and hard work.) The boys helped out by riding around on the sander to help it really dig into all that paint, and they also sanded down the trim around our slate entrance by themselves. So needless to say, I was pretty happy with my surprise, even if I am still cleaning the dust off of everything!
Jonny also picked up some schoolhouse green chalkboard paint, and painted the wall next to my desk. It was covered with fingerprints, and now I can write myself notes and reminders there.
There was also a lot going on in the garden. The last of my seeds arrived while I was gone and I will be planting our warm weather seeds in a week or two.
Our English peas are blossoming.
Potato leaves are poking through the straw.
Jonny got half of our tomato plants in the ground.
The blackberries are covered in flowers, and I am looking forward to making peach blackberry jam in a couple of months.
Broody hen number two faithfully sat on her two eggs all week(the two that were abandoned by Mama Hen) and yesterday one of them hatched. Unfortunately, she has already abandoned the second egg, and we don’t know that we can do much to save it.
My sister requested Trudy pictures, but I can hardly get her to sit still.
She definitely grew while I was away, and is looking more labrador in build than pit bull, with the exception of those ears and the shape of her head.
And sadly, on Friday Maggie took off across the street to see our neighbor who had just arrived home from work (she originally lived with him when she first showed up as a stray, and we have had a hard time keeping her from dashing over there every now and then.) She was hit by a passing truck and killed instantly. Jonny and the boys buried her next to Okee, and made little crosses for each of them. Maggie was a great dog, but in light of my stepmom’s death, I can’t say that I am upset. And don’t worry, Trudy will be well trained and her crossing the street like that will never be an issue. Maggie was middle aged when she came to us and there were aspects of her that we just couldn’t change. So anyway, we are a one dog family again.
And I am really going to try to start perking up. Yesterday I tried to grocery shop, but kept crying and had to give up and come home. Today I tried again and succeeded. One day at a time I guess. My kids are definitely ready to have their mama back. So far, I haven’t been doing such a great job. I am tired and sad and seem to have left my patience somewhere. Maybe it missed the plane along with my luggage when I had to make the mad dash in Atlanta to catch my connecting flight home.
Tisha says
What kind of finish did he use on the floors?
Thanks!
Ginny says
basic oil-based poly. 🙂