Paint, Ponds, Pandemonium

This old girl is about to get some color.

 Such Madness!

Goodbye russet.  Hello navy.

Since leaving San Francisco on May 1 we've been in the blender!  First week we opened the Emma House for this year's long stay (May till December) and set about a dozen projects in motion:  repainting the dining room, a new garden plot, wrestling crabgrass out of the retaining wall garden, and...the biggie...preliminary plans for repainting the divine Miss Emma...quite a huge endeavor that involves a whole team of shrub-cutters, wood-repairers, and of course the painter.

We got a real bed for the sleeping porch upstairs and the most amazing part of the stay so far has been our nights under the stars.  Since the July humidity hasn't set in yet we can go to sleep watching the stars and wake up with the birds.  It's like living in a treehouse.

The "revised" sleeping porch.

We've been to Lexington twice to work on my rental house there.  Ryan and Holly needed a larger place and I was sorry to say goodbye to them, but Bethany is lined up for mid-July...all good.

This transition has pushed us (Kent and me) to do some major renovations on the house.  You're already heard too many puns (thanks, Kent and Matt) about my mucking out the pond on Mucker's Day and I won't go there again.

But this week Kent and I hit it hard, doing gutter and plaster work and replacing a large part of the aging deck.

Installing two new light fixtures was a bit of a challenge  with the old knob-and-spool and we got some professional help there. Turned out our chosen electrician also works for KU.  He does quite a bit of work in the hood and gave us a thumbs-up on the overall wiring...which felt good.

Liz's pond Lex

Ira's pond near Scottsville

Ira gave me some barley straw to put in the fishpond (he's in Allen County trying to clear up his own pond and getting ready to cut timber!) and between that and some chemical action the water in the little Lexington pond at least is reasonably clear.

I can follow Caliban as he glides around....he's about five inches long now.  I added three more dime store goldfish and so far they're surviving...giving sidelong glances to Caliban and definitely keeping their distance.

Tomorrow the floor refinishers arrive at the Richmond Ave house in the early am, and Ira and I will meet back in Clinton tomorrow night...a five hour drive for me and about three for him.  We'll celebrate Father's Day sans sons but it will be fun-- pizza at the Emma House with friends-- and (God willing) the painter will start scraping the house on Monday morning.  As you can see, this post doesn't resemble anything literate, creative, or witty....no time for refinement (in writing, speech, or attire) this week!