Chris and Heather headed back to Connecticut Sunday morning. After lunch I met my friend Susan at Deep Cut Park for a stroll around the grounds and a nice long chat sitting in the park. Before Chris and Heather left for CT, we discussed the possibility of me driving up to Connecticut to help them paint one of their bedrooms in preparation for the baby coming in February. The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that I should go, so after my chat with Susan, I jumped in my car and drove the three-hour drive north
By the time I got there which was around 7:30 or so, they had gotten supplies to get started on the project and Heather already had the trim painted. The decision was made to paint the ceiling that night so that it would dry overnight and be ready for wall primer and painting on Monday. Monday morning we noticed that the ceiling needed some touch-up / second coat work, so we did that first and then started in on primer. Heather and I did the trim while Chris did the roller. We finished the primer coat in time for lunch followed by a quick trip to The Home Depot to pick up more supplies.
Around 2:00 we painted with the wall paint. I had set 4:00 as my departure time to get back to NJ hoping that the Labor Day traffic wouldn't be a killer at that time of day. We completed the painting, and I was in my car heading back home by 4:30. Other than a small backup on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, it was clear going on the drive home. All the traffic appeared to be trying to go north over the Tappan zee Bridge. Fortunately, my drive took me in a southerly direction. I got lucky.
I got home at 7:30 or so, ate dinner, laid down on the couch, and slept for the rest of the evening there until Clark told me he was heading up to bed. I figured I'd better go too. Today, we got up and got going early to drop off Clark's car for some maintenance work and then head down to South Jersey to check out our bungalow down there. With temperatures in the 90s it was no day to be working outside, but that is just what we did most of the day. Clark decided that we needed to water seal the deck and the dock, so that is what we spent the majority of the blistering hot afternoon doing.
In addition to that major project I ended up cleaning the inside of the house. I don't know how they are getting in but every room had dead flies littering the floors. Since we are trying hard to rent the house, we don't want dead fly bodies scattered around. Fortunately Clark had thought to bring brooms and brushes with us, so I could clean up the house for a better impression to the next prospective tenant. After inside house cleaning, I joined Clark outside and together we finished the water seal project at 5:00 so we could head home.
From South Jersey we went straight to the Exxon where Clark's car sat ready for pickup, and then as soon as we got home, Clark emptied the car of the South Jersey clutter as I threw some food on the table. I was starved, and Clark had decided to attend / audit his old guitar class as today was Day 1 of the fall session. He got to see his friends and play a little guitar. I got to stay home and do three loads of wash and pack for our trip back to Illinois. If all goes as planned, we leave tomorrow to go back to the boat.
Once we get back to Ottawa, Illinois where the boat is waiting for us, Clark has some projects to complete before we head downstream. Most importantly he wants to do an oil change. We hope to pick up the oil tomorrow morning on our way out of the state. If our order doesn't arrive at the store tomorrow, that is the one thing that will delay our departure by another day.
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