Summer of ’23

It has been a crazy long break since my last blog post! That last one was a wrap up of the Italy trip. Two months ago! I had not intended to take a long break, but it has been a good but busy summer, with many projects and activities. We have been quite occupied with home ownership projects, family, hobbies, and life in general. In this update, I will look back on a quick recap of the Summer of ’23 and then what’s ahead!

First of all, Pat and I and the family are all doing well and healthy. We have had a few get togethers, the most recent being a birthday celebration for Pat and our son Bryan. Plus we have been out exploring our region as well. It has been a very good summer!

Home Projects – the Work

We bought this ranch about three years ago and have had many update projects. Well, it’s not actually a ranch but a large rambling ranch style home – it just seems like a ranch sometimes. Plenty of space for all our hobbies and more. Plus a garage workshop. Our home was built in 1956 and is perfect for us. With that said, the house and the the grounds are a lot of work.

After selling our prior home and being able to travel full time in the RV was a real blessing. We got to see much of the country in an exciting way. And it has just recently dawned on me that another huge benefit of that time period was no house and lawn chores. Sure the 5th wheel trailer had some cleaning and maintenance, but it was tiny compared to a large home and yard.

Don’t misunderstand, I do enjoy having a home base and being back in a “sticks and bricks” home, but it just comes with much higher level of work than RV living. I suppose at some later point in life it will be time to outsource some of the work. My brother-in-law in Texas says that this summer’s heat has convinced him that it is time to hire most of the yard work to be done. We all have that time when the cost-benefit ratio makes sense.

Annual Work – When we return from Florida each spring the residence requires a good deep cleaning, dusting, window washing, gutter cleanout, skylight cleaning, and clean up the yard. And some trim painting, caulking, etc. You get the idea. About a month to six weeks.

Pat’s Library – This has been an on going work for a few weeks now. It was originally an old large family room/office with 1970’s wall paper. I removed the wall paper to find some poor drywall underneath. Fixed the drywall, primed the walls, then we painted the ceiling, walls, and the wood trim. Then installed in ceiling LED lights. Next is to refinish the hardwood floors and then it will be ready for some new furniture and her many bookcases.

Brick Work – The house has a crazy amount of brick sidewalks, patios, and brick retaining walls. They were all growing moss and a dark mold. I bought a pressure washer and have them all cleaned and shiny. Now to fill some of the missing grout!

RV Work – Next on the list was washing and waxing the RV. Remember that it is 41 feet long and 13 feet tall. That was an entire week project. In fact, the clear coat on the fiberglass started getting chalky, so I used a pre-wax oxidation remover on it as well. What a job! But it looks great now. The first few years it only required one waxing a year. Now it seems like two is required to keep a good shine. The Florida sun is particularly rough on it.

The Fun Stuff

Let’s see…Pat continues to read more books this year than ever before. She is at 90 books year to date compared to my maybe 20. Reading is her main hobby. Her quilting is on the future horizon plan. She reads mostly historical fiction and theological studies. I’ve read mostly fiction including the Gary Man book series and listened to all eight of the Harry Potter recorded books. The Potter series read by Jim Dale are excellent. Not just for the youngsters.

I brewed three batches of home brew beer this spring. Two of them are quite good. The other one, well…Then we attended the Wytheville dinner theater, went up to Mountain Lake for lunch, and had lunch in Paint Bank at the Swinging Bridge.

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We also like to attend the local summer festivals. They are always fun plus we get to meet some old friends. There was also a soprano singer that we listened to in Blacksburg.

Then we took a week vacation about 200 miles to the southwest of us at Sevierville, TN and the Smokey Mtns. It was a great little trip, but some of the days were too hot for hiking. So we took in some indoor shows, a movie, and a shooting range.

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Lastly, as regular followers may know, I have many hobbies. This year I have been having a blast with some portable ham radio operation and Parks on the Air. LINK I have now made contact with someone at 1,000 unique parks and I have been setting up my portable station at some of the parks. Love that hobby.

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Fall, Winter Plans

This fall we have some more regional areas to explore and we will be making another trip to Indiana to see family. There will also be a short surprise trip at the end of October.

Then we pack up and close the house for the winter stay in Florida. Our plans are to spend December at Anna Maria Island (south of Tampa on the Gulf) and January to March in New Port Richey Florida (north of Tampa on the Gulf).

That wraps up the major summer time activities from us. How was your summer? Any exciting new places visited and things done? Leave comments in the section below! Thanks for following along and God Bless.