The last blog entry I shared my dreams and fanticies. Now reality has set in. Lesley and I spent two days shoveling 3-4 ft of snow off our roof. The forecast of and additional 1-2 ft of heavy, wet snow sparked us into action. The snow we shoveled off the garage then had to be reshoveled from the door, or our car would have been trapped until spring whenever that may come. Our roof is about 2300 sq ft. I doubt we will do that again! We did save about $500 by doing it ourselves vs hiring it out. Not sure the four days it took to recover (think aches, pains, sore muscles, etc), made the money saved worth it. We then spent a third day after shoveling the roof plowing the driveway and shoveling out the satellite dish and the air inlet/outlet pipes to the furnace.

Now we are busy getting some remodeling done that we have talked about for several years. New carpet was installed a few days ago. Wow, what an improvement. Of course everything had to be moved, all wires disconnected, etc. We did pay the carpet layers to move the heavy stuff, but I had to do all the wires to the tv's, stereo, etc. This time I did get a little smarter and labeled all wires as to where they hooked up to. It did make rehooking everything easier. We left the furniture away from the walls because I am going to install wainscoating along all the walls in the house except the laundry and bathrooms. It is wood paneling about 30" high and should look very nice. This time I got smart again, and am having the wood prefinished and cut to the exact length I need. The small cost increase was well worth it since I dislike and am not very good at sanding and finishing wood. That part is what has kept me from doing this project long ago, but now that I found a place in Duluth that cuts to any length and prefinishes it, I am happy to do the rest.

Did I mention that next week we are having a new bed delivered? Our present one is old and very lumpy, so out it goes. The new one also has the neat feature of raising the head area of the mattress to any angle desired. Now when Lesley serves me breakfast in bed I will be able to eat it in comfort! lol. I suspect she will enjoy the same convenience.

Some new shelving is also in the near future for a storage area in the basement. When we are not clearing snow here in winter all these other projects get done. Lesley has just found some wooden stakes from oak barrels that are made into hanging pot racks. So, when they come in I will be mounting them over the kitchen window along with the new light fixture she just ordered for the sink area of the kitchen. Fortunately, the pot racks are also cut to length and finished as well.

I can't wait for spring so I can rest. But wait! I forgot the list of modifications to the motorhome that are to be done, not to mention all the things that will be hung on the walls and be stored in the new garage the motorhome rests in, all of which need shelves, racks, hooks, etc.

Then we go to Milwaukee, WI to pick up our Alfa Romeo in May although I just found another one here in MN also for sale. We will look at both when they are out of winter storage, buy one, and then hopefully can find time to play with it along with driving the motorhome a few places. We also have at least two tent camping trips planned into the wilderness with our canoe. Fishing, I almost forgot I MUST get in some fishing this summer, and we have three relatives coming from the South in June wanting to catch lots of fish.

Lesley is already planning her garden, and trips with a girlfriend in the motorhome and new (to us) Alfa.

I can't wait until next winter so maybe I can get some rest and attack the pile of books I have partially finished.

The good news is that my coffe cup is empty and I don't have much else to do today......