Summer 2016 - July and August

July in Wisconsin turned out to be as warm as, if not warmer than, summer in Florida.  The United States had heat waves across the country, and our temperatures in the high 80s and mid-90s were made more unbearable by the high humidity.  Whenever we wanted to do something outside, we made sure that we watched the weather first, and that we completed our tasks usually in the early morning hours. This was a work plan we learned many years ago while working in Florida.

Rick adds paint to Lindsay's
house.

Chris and Lindsay chose some beige (Lindsay says "peanut-butter colored") paint for their house.  We helped them paint the front of the house, and Rick showed Chris how to use Bondo to make the knotholes in the old siding disappear.  The result is a much more attractive house.

Owen takes aim at the ball.

Owen tried his foot at soccer this year.  While we enjoy watching the Parkies try to teach a couple of dozen 3-4 year olds the basics of the game, we also discovered that we have had rain every Thursday for the past five weeks!

The old chandelier was showing
its age.

We compiled a list of 15 improvements that we wanted to make to this house this year.  Some were just scrubbing -- the gutter caps, the siding, the car floor mats, etc. -- while others are taking a little more effort.  We decided that one improvement we wanted to

The new chandelier updates the room.

make was to replace our old 1990's gold chandelier over the table with something that was easier to keep clean and was a little more modern.  We are pleased with our choice.

The completed swings took
a day and a half to build.

July's great building task was in Owen's back yard as we went over to help Chris assemble a new swing set for him.  He loves it, so I am sure that he will use it for many years to come.

This train took hours to piece together.

I have kept my sewing machine busy this summer, making both another picture for Owen's wall (that matches the train on his

Our little pirate will be
cute this Halloween.

quilt) and a Jake and the Neverland Pirate's costume for dress-up and for Halloween.

The butterfly is much prettier
to press than a boring old
door bell.

Our only trip so far in August was to visit Stephanie in Minnesota.  While there, we did numerous small (and not-so-small) tasks including the installation of the Michael Healey doorbell that we bought her for her birthday.

Later this month we will treat ourselves to a little Shakespeare in Spring Green while we also will visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin.  Our summer is far from over yet, so we still look forward to seeing new things, spending time with family, and completing our tasks around our Wisconsin home.