Got up this morning and hit the gym at 5:30am so by 6:20am I had all my circles closed. Came back home and fell asleep until 9:30, when Sandy got home from her running around it was on and we hit the paint. Today I ran the roller and got all 4 walls done and, considering the work done Sunday, we’ve only got one wall to put the second coat on tomorrow and it should be done.

I wasn’t too keen on painting today, we seem to do everything half-assed, liked we should have completely cleaned out the room, patched, sanded, taped, painted, touched up and base boards and then everything back. But we didn’t.

At least it’s coming to a conclusion.

I got a little more finalization work done on the bricks today. Also moved furnature in the master bedroom so painting can commence, the painting will happen tomorrow so I’m not sure where we’re sleeping tonight.

Did the annual cleaning of the AC compressor too, should be good to go for the summer.

I also got the truck washed and waxed and I forget just how big that truck is. I’ve been meaning to do that as we haven’t detailed the truck since we went on the epic western adventure. And we did minor trips since then. So the outside and undercarriage are done, still need to do the glass and the inside and that’s probably another day of work. Also need to do the Xterra and it’s in need of some TLC considering it’s 151k miles old. The tires were all 10PSI low for some reason. As previously mentioned, the TPMS is out and I’m not paying the $260 to replace at this time.

Bit the bullet and got the rest of the bricks mostly knocked out. I’ve proved that I don’t have much of a career in landscaping and that I mostly don’t know what I’m doing but I’m happy with it.

As we move into real springtime here in TX, we’re due for some wonderful weather in the form of tornado’s, heavy winds, rain, and hail. To that end it’s good to be able to hanger (garage) anything you can and hope for the best when the bad weather outbreaks hit. So I spent the day organizing the shed so I could store all the stuff in the garage so I could park another vehicle in the garage.

Oddly enough it’s the Ram that has to contend with the outside even though you’d think that the Xterra was due for it. But the truth is the Xterra isn’t covered for anything more than limited liability. The truck is fully covered, ergo a hail storm would be a $500 deductible to fix the Ram, and everything out of pocket for the Xterra.

It was a banner day for spring project completion at the house. Another 105 sq ft of pavers were laid and the alley to the backyard is bricked. and the eastern front yard bed has been raked and trimmed thanks to Sandy’s efforts. I also cleaned up the east side by the HVAC unit.

We hit Red Lobster for dinner since Sandy is Boston-bound tomorrow. Her mom’s birthday is on Saturday. We were going to drive up but couldn’t find a campground at all in MA. I guess they’re closed until at least 4/1. Just as well. it looked like diesel alone would have been $1.5k. It’s amazing to be able to travel like that but cheap it ain’t.

Still more to be done around the house but super happy about the progress to date.

I’m not sure how it happened but I got Sandy involved with yardwork and we took it to the Nth degree but we got an amazing amount done. I got some cleaning done behind the shed, more dirt moved, leaves picked up and bushes trimmed. We had a ridiculous amount of bags out at the curb. But it’s all done and looks fantastic.

Finished all this by late lunch and headed to Bronco’s for cheap burgers.

Although no bricks were laid, I did make some progress with the excavation of the dirt and relocated it to the ramp to the shed which was never to my liking. There’s a lot of dirt that needs to be removed. Well, it’s not a lot but with the tools I have (shovel and wheelbarrow), it’s a lot. A skid steer would have had it done in about 20 minutes. I should look into that.

We picked up a pork loin and carved 1-inch pork steaks out of it. Tenderized and friend and that’s good eats. Tomorrow is a carbon copy of today so we’ll be, hopefully, finishing up the brickwork.

Also, we got the part from Lectric so Sandy’s bike is operational once again. Damn mailman finally delivered it at 5:27 pm. Lazy bastard. I had already pulled the old display so it only took 10 minutes to put the new one on and we were off and riding.

Finally, the garage fridge one has been decommissioned. While it still works great, there’s no need to have that many refrigerators for two people.

The crate is put together. As far as crates go, it seems like a very nice one. Although now that it’s been built, the damn thing looks huge. Admittedly, if turned on its end, you can put the bike in with relative ease. But the extra weight of the crate, means that once the bike has been placed in the crate, it’s going to take two people to get that crate onto the truck. I’ll have to do some measuring and checking but I think it’s something we can work with. It doesn’t look like there will be much room for anything else. Once the bikes are crated and in the bed. Although if the generator is moved to the back of the RV, the only thing that will carry in the bed is gas and the bikes and a cooler. It should work.

I paused the outdoor activities today because it didn’t get over 50 and it was gale-like winds. I didn’t get a bunch done today but I did get some cuts done for the crate to transport/store the eBikes. Naturally, I didn’t take any pictures but I’ll get some tomorrow when I get the prototype put together.

The home improvement project is moving along, slowly but surely. Today I started moving dirt and decided to clean up and brick the west side of the barn. That area has always been a no man’s land because there isn’t enough room to do anything and it just kind of grows over. I put 4 X 16 + 3 and it looks nice.

Unfortunately, I caught the smell of death when I was cleaning out the alley and managed to pull the carcass of a possum and a cat from under the barn. I think that does it for me and I’m going to close off access to the underside of the barn. As much as I don’t care if an animal makes a home under there, I don’t want it to turn into a mortuary, dead animals smell…