Crash Weekend

Like the tasmanian devil, we attacked our turnaround weekend with enthusiasm.  We travelled to the island Saturday morning, catching the 7:00 AM boat.  Think about what time we had to get up in Marion to make that boat!

Classic to our trips, we were loaded down with plants, linoleum, cedar shingles, and paint.  I left Barry at the ferry terminal in Vineyard Haven to go get the truck in long-term parking.  When I got to the truck, I could not get into it.  Usually, we lock the key inside and use the keyless entry.  Well, the keyless entry would not work.  I hopped back on the bus and we ended up loading all of our stuff into a taxi to the house.  Got to the house and our key would not unlock the front door!  Someone had turned the deadbolt to the setting that doesn't allow the key to work.  After prying open a small window just enough to crawl through, I was in!

Time to hit the floor running!  The back of the house has been powerwashed and looking great.  I sanded and primed the trim around the back door.  Next, I climbed the tall ladder to sand and prime the trim of the "doghouse" window on the purple side.  Barry put preservative on the sill under the house and primer on some of the "soft" shingles that had been powerwashed.

We managed to cram a full day's work into half a day.  Time to treat ourselves.  We took showers, not that this would get all the paint out of my hair or off my hands.   The MV Chowder House has been on our list of "gotta eat there" for a long time, well tonight was the night!  We had a great time sitting at the bar, watching the Preakness Race, eating chowder, mussels and fries.  The atmosphere was just what we needed.

Sunday morning was another drive to get a day's work done in half the time.  I potted all of my plants (window box, 2 hangers and planter).  They look great!  We both painted the trim around the back door.  Barry continued putting coats of Tamale Red on the backscreen door.  I also put 2 coats of Silverscreen under the eaves of the doghouse and the first coat of the blue trim around the window.  Clean the house and we are out the door!  Not bad for 30 hours!

A Visit From the Family Hoosier

Wendy's sister, Lorena Lapp, is visiting Massachusetts from Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Today she joined Barry and Wendy on a trip to Martha's Vineyard.  After barely making the ferry (we power walked from the parking lot to the terminal, nearly killing Lorena in the process), we enjoyed our ferry ride across Vineyard Sound.  The weather was tremendous but a bit cool.  We retrieved the truck from the park-n-ride and headed to Oak Bluffs.  We did a quick stop by the East Chop Lighthouse.

Lorena loved the cottage and thought it was great.  We spent some time walking around OB and then had lunch on the porch!  Lorena got a chance to try Cape Cod Chips!  After lunch, we headed to Edgartown and then to Vineyard Haven.  A fantastic ferry ride home sitting in the sun on the stern brought us back to Falmouth.  A yummy dinner at the Flying Bridge completed a perfect day.

Opening the House for 2013 Season!

Every year during April school vacation, we begin our pilgrimage to Martha's Vineyard to open our little gingerbread.  It has become a tradition to invite our three grandchildren, Ryan, Gabby and Grace,

to join us with Liz coming over mid-week.  This year, when we arrived we were met with no water, it had not been turned on yet.  Barry made a quick call and within an hour the plumber arrived and got our water running.  Whew!  We celebrated in style....dinner at Sharky's.  Ryan and Gabby even tried guacamole.

The week flew by quickly.  Despite Wendy working a couple of days, we were able to get the house clean, make beds, vacuum, and wash all surfaces.  The sticks and leaves around the house were raked and bagged.  The kids had a fantastic time scooting around the Tabernacle, playing games and reading.  Of course, there were visits to Ryan Amusements, Flying Horses, Back Door Dounuts and Ben and Bill's ice cream.   We will always remember Ryan's jokes, playing Uno and being silly.

We were able to do alittle work on the house.  Barry installed a section of angle iron under the house and straighten up one section of house.  Wendy sanded and primed a section under the roof (eves) and section of one of the dog houses.  Not sure you can tell from the picture.  Sometime in the future, we will paint these sections their final colors.

After 1 week together!

An April vacation tradition is to celebrate Liz's birthday at Sharky's (yes we went there twice this week)  It was tons of fun.  We even shared a chocolate chip cookie pie covered with whipped cream and chocolate.

Our new season begins.  We are looking forward to a wonderful summer filled with loads of laughs.

Painting in Our Basement

We have been working on our Gingerbread house this winter from the basement of our Marion house.  Five bundles of cedar shingles were delivered to our off-island home.  In the basement, we primed each shingle on all sides.  That was followed by two coats of the C2 Shaker paint, again on all sides.  Allowing them to dry completely between coats before finally packing them up in boxes for travel to the Vineyard.  They are destined to be nailed to the sides of the house.  Hopefully, it will save time and they will last a long time on the island home.  Now we only need to prime and paint another 15 bundles!  Ugh.....

A New Season Begins

Spring is in the air and thoughts of returning to our little gingerbread consume us!  Despite being away for the winter, we have been working on this year's home improvements.  How you might ask?

One project that started back in the Fall was to hire Mike Mitchell to repair the shingles on the rear of the house.  We have no idea when the chimney on the back of the house was taken down, but it has looked like this for at least 20 years, long strip of tar paper running up the back of the house.  First Mike had to remove the tar paper, exposing numerous surprises underneath including some resident bugs.  After repairing, he wove fire-retardant shingles in the blank area to complete the shingles on the back.  The new shingles were not square, so Mike had to cut each shingle to fit.

This spring, we will power wash the entire back of the house and then stain it the C2 Shaker (tan) color.  The screen door will be painted our wonderful Tamale (red) with the Halifax (blue) trim.  We will need to repaint the trim around the second floor window the Halifax color to match.  Currently, it is the Shaker color.  Add a new porch light, it will look like a new house from behind!

Annual Tech Director's Meeting on MV

Once again this June, Dave Crawford and the West Tisbury School hosted the regional technology directors' meeting. After gathering in Falmouth at 7:30 AM to catch the 8:15 ferry, Steve Kawalski from Apple bought us a cab to get to the school. This year, Dave shared his iPad deployment experience! It was very informative.

We then moved our meeting to 23 Trinity Park for some lunch. Only four of the twelve individuals saw the cottage last year and could appreciate all the changes, but they did! The weather was a bit cool so we stayed indoors. After lunch, we all walked into town for a few minutes and then caught the 1:15 ferry out of Oak Bluffs back home. Of course, the ferry rides to and from MV were spent sharing ideas, apps, and experiences with one another.

It was a fun, informative day. Thanks Dave for hosting and Steve for supporting it. Steve took the picture with his iPhone for the blog!

Good-bye Purple Bedroom

Despite being next door to the Purple Angel, we were not too thrilled with the bedroom at the back of the house that was painted purple. After painting all the rooms on the first floor, the first room upstairs to get a fresh coat of paint was going to be that purple room!

We bought a power painter, hoping it would spray paint inbetween the ceiling slats upstairs. It is a pain to tape and cover everything, but necessary to protect from the overspray. Barry dressed in his hazmat suit, attacked the room. The first coat on the entire room was with a special paint called Gripper. It is supposed to attach to everything. We did a second coat of eggshell ceiling paint that gives it a lovely, reflective sheen. The walls got the ever-present, white down and the trim the brilliant decorator's white. It looks so much brighter. We LOVE it!