This was a very productive weekend for us, as it was raining buckets on Saturday and we tackled some of the things on our "honey-do" list. I had been waiting not always so patiently for hubby to change a few curtain rods for the really cool curtains that have been sitting in the closet for weeks on end. After making a mad dash to the garage for the step ladder, the work began in earnest. Hubby was up on the ladder, taking down the old curtain rods, muttering about how stupid it is that one screw in each end was phillips, and one was a straight screw, which necessitated the changing of the bit in the cordless drill, my thoughts were "big damn deal, it involved turning the friggin bit around". Hubby is most happy bitching about the things that other people do. His views are that it is some kind of conspiracy against him in all things that don't go right the very first time. He managed to knock the drill off the shelf on the ladder no less than 4 times, and swore like a sailor each and every time it happened. How the curtain rods got changed out, is way beyond my comprehension.
Sunday we woke up to beautiful sunny skies and more work, only this time of the outside variety. We have this horribly messy apple tree on one side of the driveway, intertwined with some other kind of tree that bears some kind of red berries. We had both had just about enough of the mess, one time backing the viper up the driveway, I had an apple fall and damn near knocked me out, thankfully it landed in the front of my shirt, as opposed to my head. Rodney got out the chainsaw and went to town. I was helping pick up the branches and loading them into the cart behind the wheeler. After dumping the cart in the woods and coming back for another load, he is trying to back the trailer up to where we were working, and getting seriously hurt in the process. It took him no less than 10 tries, and progressively cussing worse with each attempt. I wasn't very smart in pointing out to him after he finally got the thing where it needed to be, that he gets angry when Ryan throws a hissy fit over foolish things, and that he is where Ryan got his lesson on proper fit-throwing. I got a look and figured it would be a good idea for me to let that one go, before a fight ensued.
Anyway, lots of progress on all the things that we would like to take care of before the snow flies, we still have a bunch left. Hopefully, mother nature will cooperate with our plans.

After reading Sheri's blog and viewing the pics, I have to thank her for the creepy, crawling feeling that I now have, and in all likelyhood, remain with me for the rest of the day. Regardless of the vast amounts of shower gel, scruffy and SOS pads that I will employ to try and rid myself of the feeling.
I have to say that decorating a house like that is just wrong, and the stuff nightmares are made of. It's true, anyone who has known me for any length of time knows of my outright terror of spiders. I have been known to break the land speed record when one is in close proximity or if one is about to land on me. They are sneaky and have some kind of internal radar that when someone such as myself is close by, they send out signals to others of their species and gleefully converge. I am further convinced that they lie in wait for others who dont have the rational fear that I do, and hide themselves until others are out of sight, but still within earshot to come out of hiding and silently scream "AHA!".
Having been married since dirt was new, Rodney is well aware of what that blood curdling scream from me means, and usually comes to my rescue if he can find me several blocks from the scene. He always has to decide that said arachnid is either tiny, small or not really that big, to the occasional "wow, that's a big one". Well, no shit.....if you can see the mother, in my book, its big. End of story. I can't imagine how he would feel if I were to label certain parts of his anatomy with the same casual comments, unless of course it involved the "wow" part.
With winter coming in short order, all manner of creatures are lining up in droves to winter in our casa. We have gotten huge amounts of spray to hopefully prevent as much of this happening as possible. I really dislike bugs of any sort, with the exception of ladybugs and they are coming into the house faster than I can catch them and shoo them out the door. While I can see why the bugs want to winter with us, seeing as we are way cool to hang out with, there is only room for one of us, that being me.

This week has pretty much been busy as usual, except the man picked up his newest toy on Monday. Yep, he's spoiled and I have enabled him. Last Friday, the weather was beautiful, and a wonderful day to take the viper out for a spin. Since Rodney had the day off and still hadn't found the four wheeler he was going to buy, a trip to Rumford was called for. We donned our long sleeve shirts and hit the open road. You giggle with glee with the feel of the wind in your hair and all the thumbs-up and necks snapping as you speed by. I have to admit, all the attention is addicting, and oh so much fun.
Anyway, we stopped at Rodney's old office, to show off the car and see how the guys were doing since we hadn't talked to them in awhile, and we used to be friends. The guys made the proper ohs and ahs and caught us up on news of the families.
Next was stop at Rowe Rumford, who carry cars, trucks, snowmachines and four wheelers. A ride on a used wheeler and a new one, with lots of hemming a hawing, he finally decided on the new one. Arrangement for a set of handwarmers and a plow were made, as well as for us to pick it up on Monday. I have to say it's nice. Black with a two-up seat, in case we want to ride together, windshield, oh shit handles and shiny chrome wheels it is a nice ride. We also had to get some ramps to get the beast into and out of the back of the truck. I took one look at those narrow, aluminum ramps and said to myself there was no way in hell I would ever ride anything up or down those things. Men are not so discerning. The more danger and adventure, the better, and they wonder why women live longer than men. Most women know enough that it is a recipe for possible diaster and can forsee us upside down with a ton of weight landing on us, smooshing us to smithereens. Not my choice of a way to go, personally.

This weekend is the last "official" weekend of camping. We have had a wonderful summer full of campfires, friends, fishing and get togethers with our group of friends. The social part of the camping experience makes us looking forward to every weekend. Two weeks ago was a pig roast, with Gary doing the honors of cooking. The pig, known as Pauline, was cooked to perfection, and we had a huge assortment of side dishes. Rodney and I had the slush puppy machine going with mudslides and pina coladas. It was a great day, and we have plans to do it again next year.
This weekend is the continuation of getting things ready for the winter. Taking down all of our decorations and washing of the camper. Thankfully we don't have to move this year again. What a job that is. Gary and Sheri have decided to move to a site right next door to us, as well as getting a new camper provided they sell the one that they have. I know that they will have no trouble selling the one that they have, and they will love the new space that they will have in the new one.
Rodney is doing a new job at work. He is now the project manager, a job that used to be done by
Ricky. Ricky is now doing the service manager job. Rodney's new job entails visits to job sites and meeting with the crews, reading blue prints, working up job bids and managing the install crew. He has some things to learn, but with his drive to do things exceptionally well, I know that he will excel with his new position and help the company do jobs that actually turn a profit.