Our Work in Photo

Well, here is the result of our hard work. I told you that I would post a photo so what are your thoughts? As you can see, we can now sit outside and be in the shade. We are really enjoying the "fruits of our labors". It is wonderful to sit under our patio roof and enjoy the breeze and the atleast 10 degrees cooler temp. Also the thoughts of not having to shovel the steps this winter.

We joke about the possiblity of even parking the Miata under it. Hey we actually could. We look forward to you coming and sipping a cool beverage under the roof sometime...let us know when you can come!

Sarah's Elephant Ride

As Promised here is Sarah's photo from our trip to Natural Bridge to ride an elephant. At the last moment she decided Ne-Ne needed to ride with her. She was so excited. Sarah had so much fun that day at the Zoo. But the best part of the day was getting to ride and pet the elephant. She loves elephants. She has since she was a tiny baby. Not just the animated elephants but the real elephants.

Thought you might enjoy seeing her on the elephant. I will post more photos of her -trip with Ne-Ne & Pa-Paw soon.

Moving Right Along!

I promised a progress report. As of today, the gutters are back up on the main part of the house, & are complete on the new patio cover. The main wood beam across the legnth of the patio near the yard has been wrapped in aluminum and the outside of the patio "facing" is also complete with the exception of the finish moulding which we can not find anywhere! Apparently they don't manufacture aluminum outside corner moulding anymore. Roger will check with a distributor first before he has to hand make it himself from rolled aluminum. We installed the beginning rows of soffit last night (not an easy task) (after those rows I have been promised it will be a breeze) and hung the ceiling fan and light. It is finally beginning to look like I wanted it! Woopie!!!! Today we will put up J channel ... We are in hope to be almost 90% done by tomorrow night! Boy will we both be glad. It has been lots of work. But well worth it.

We have been working until way past dark each night. Last night we came inside and Roger went down to quickly check his work email. I flopped on the bed and when I woke up this morning there I was, still in the same position...you guessed it. In my clothes! Roger didn't even awaken me to get undressed. Good Grief! You will laugh, my biggest surprise was that I didn't even wake up to go to the bathroom all night. Very unusual for me!

Small Joys!

Isn't funny how little things bring joy? Well as I am posting there are 4 men above my head scraping my roof off. Yes, the time has come to replace the roof. For awhile now we have had a drip over our kitchen sink when it rains and the wind blows from a certain direction. We have known for awhile it was time to put on a new roof.

We wanted to put a permanent cover over the patio in the back of our house. We have put up several canopies over the years because Roger needs shade. He is so fair skinned and burns so easily. It gets very hot out there and he enjoys sitting out there. Each year the wind tears up the canopies and we say we should roof the patio. Well this year we decided to do something about it and Roger and Lee built one. It turned out great. Since we knew we were going to roof the house it was logical to do the patio cover and roof both at one time to match. So with the patio cover done we contracted the roofers.

We have been sitting out there even while we have been waiting for the roofing to get done and enjoying coffee in the mornings and in the evening and it is atleast 10 degrees cooler under the cover. The breeze is wonderful. I know we are going to enjoy it for years to come. We are now wondering why we have waited so long to do this. I can see us sitting out there for years to come. I am so excited about this.

Now the work is being done. and I am so excited that when I come home from work today we will have a new roof on both the house and the patio will be shingled. Then the work will begin on putting the last touches on the patio. We will put on the ceiling of the patio. We are going to put in electric and a ceiling fan & we are going to make it maintenance free by using vinyl so that we won't have to paint. I felt that we need to make it as easy to care for as possible as we age we don't want more work to keep it up.

Roger decided that he wants to even insulate the ceiling in case at some point we want to enclose it. What a smart husband I have thinking ahead. It may add a bit of expense now but if ever we or someone else does decide to enclose it, that much will be done and we or they won't have to tear down the ceiling down to do it.

So, as you can see we are having fun with our "little" addition to our back yard. I will keep you posted as to the progress.

Coming Soon!

Check back soon! There will be some photos of our latest adventures. I have had a jammed packed week. First, we are about finished with the patio cover, just contracted the roofer to re roof the whole house including the new patio cover (they say it is about a month out til they get to it). However they are our neighbor and may get to it sooner. We will see.

Then, Stephanie arrived from Boston, as I type Roger (bless his heart) is driving her back to Charlottesville airport (4:15AM) yes I said A.M. I am not going as Sarah is here visiting and for some crazy reason I did not want to wake her at that hour to take Stephanie to the airport. I don't want to have a tired 6 year old all day. Yesterday was a full day. We surprised Sarah who absolutely loves elephants, and took her to Natural Bridge, Virginia to the Zoo where she was able not only to ride an elephant but also pet the humongous elephant's ear afterwards. Talk about one excited child! We will be posting photos of her adventure. I was hoping she would ride the elephant by herself but at the last minute she decided she wanted, you guessed it....Ne-Ne to ride with her. Oh my goodness....I had to climb up on that elephant with her. Now you can imagine my delight at the thought. But you know grandma's they will do just about anything to please their grandchildren. So be watching for that photo! Tomorrow Pa-pa, Ne-Ne, and Sarah take off for Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For a long weekend full of more adventure. So stay tuned for "Sarah's Big Adventure."

Picture this!

You go to church and you look across the aisle and see this lady. She is rather "large". She is singing, with all her heart. She has this smile on her face. You think to yourself, she sure is a happy soul. Then you really look at her. You glance down and notice oh my. She has on a nice top, and a skirt, but then you see she is one of those older ladies with the support hoes that roll down her legs and funny looking shoes or perhaps sandles on. OH no, it is your relative (or friend) it is SUE!

Yes, but even funnier is picture this: Sue at home relaxing on her newly covered patio. In the privacy of her back yard. She has shorts on (only in her yard would she wear shorts these days) and compression knee highs and sandles. What a sight..now be honest you have to laugh. I do.

Hey, you do what you have to do. I was so afraid, that when I went back to the Dr.she would take me off the medication that is helping with the pain I have been having from my back. The Dr. walked in the examination room and I immediately said, "PLEASE don't take me off the Lyrica." The Dr.said, "why would I do that?". I stuck out my extreemly swollen feet from edema. The Dr's reaction was a loud "WOW". We discussed it and came to the conclusion that the benefits of the Lyrica were too great to stop taking it. The Dr. put me on a diuretic, and prescribed compression hose. I will have my potassium checked in two weeks as I had an issue with that the last time I was on a diuretic and then go back to the Dr. in a month. Whew...I was assured that we would keep watch and that I was in no danger. I got my "hose' and have been wearing them and they do wonders. I take them off and my feet aren't swollen. They are a nuisence to wear but they do the job along with the diuretic. So I am pleased about that. The Lyrica is amazing as far as the relief I am getting with my back....Life is good.

So if you see a hefty (it does add weight) women in Staunton, who is wearing a smile these day, with support hose rolling down her leggs...it may just be your relative (friend)...but hey she is up, going, and happy to be pain free these day! Praise the Lord!

What a busy beginning to the summer it has been!

Hi everyone! We have been so busy I haven't had time to blog lately. Let's catch everyone up. I am so happy to report that after almost a year I am finally getting relief with my back pain. The neurosurgeon handed me the papers for the surgery I was to have and I took one look at the list of "possible" risks and outcomes and told him I needed to think about it. He also said that there was no guarenttee it would help the pain. Ok? So why do it? I went home and prayed about it. My answer was I couldn't see going through this painful surgery and all the recovery time for something that there was a possibility of no relief and maybe even more pain or more surgery. I decided to go back to my family Dr and request we give some other medications a try that were not narcotics. She agreed with my decision and we started trying other medications. We FOUND one and it is Lyrica. It and physical therapy are doing the trick. I almost feel like my old self. I do have some side effects but hey I can live with them. I have trouble with finding words sometimes, and just recently my feet swell up like balloons, and one side effect is weight gain. But you know what, even that I can live with, the pain was so bad and I feel so good now, that I honestly don't care! Roger says, more to love!

Now let's see what has been going on. Bob came for a day to visit while Robin was in Charlottesville grading. Then we went to Charlottesville twice to spend time with Robin at family gatherings her employer gave for them for all their hard work. What a wonderful time we had and boy did they go all out for the graders! What perks they get! One night we took Trinity and she had so much fun!

Robin came to Staunton and we took her to Sydney's 4th birthday party. It was at Tara's mother and father's home and was to be a pool party. But alas it was rained out. We still managed to have a big time watching Sydney open all her gifts. We had delicious food too!

During all this, Sue was also helping out at the Gem Show at Expo Land. She worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday. She helped with a booth and had items for sale to benefit the church.

Roger and Lee started working on the patio cover. We have had several canopies we have put up over the years to provide shade but they eventually get damaged by the wind and rain. This year we are building a permant one. Progress is going along well.

Stephanie Dadiskos is coming for a visit on the 17th and will stay until the 23rd. Then We will leave on the 24th for a long weekend trip to the Dutch country in PA. We are looking forward to all the events.

Hope all of you are enjoying your summer. Sorry it has been so long since I have posted but as you can see ...it has been a very busy time.