Mr. Skellie learns how to fix a deck....

Bill has been working odd jobs in between working on his shop addition so that he has enough to finish everything. One of these jobs was fixing the lady's deck next door. It looked like it was in pretty bad shape, but after pressure washing, it was able to be saved! The top rails of the deck were pretty rotted, so Bill and Mr. Skellie removed them and cut new pieces.

Before Bill could trim the end, Mr. Skellie had a "Titanic moment".

Then it was all screwed in place

and Mr. Skellie checked the pickets to see which ones would need replacing....this one for sure.

He helped Bill drill pilot holes in the pickets for the screws first so there will be less chance of splitting.

Then they were screwed in place....with Mr. Skellie's help of course.

This is the color of the stain the neighbor chose...looks great, doesn't it? Mr. Skellie was thirsty after all that work and made sure no one made off with the water. After working in the heat, he gets bone dry...

They packed up all the tools and put everything away back in the shop. The next time, their plans are to add strips to the roof rafters so that more insulation will fit up there. Have a great day!

Disturbing mail....and a gift!

It all started with a pretty colored envelope I received in the mail. I thought it might be an invitation to something fun or maybe a card from someone. This is what was inside.

It seems that once you reach "a certain age", delightful things like this show up in your mailbox. I said, "My hearing's just fine, thank-you very much!" as I ran it all through the shredder. So I got to thinking, I do like to work in my little shop, but that requires a lot of sitting and there's a little more to me than I would like if you know what I mean. My birthday had come and gone, but I thought what a great present to myself a bicycle would be. Not a racing bike with the 1 inch wide seat but a beach cruiser that I could tool around the neighborhood on. I found a pretty one I liked on the Walmart website of course and also on sale.....of course.

My Dear Hubby put it together for me and made lots of adjustments so it would be comfortable and safe. I even ordered a helmet....a very cool one of course.

We took it out in the backyard and with a helpful push from my husband, I was off circling the yard. I had so forgotten the feeling of cycling and I was overcome with emotion. When I stopped, I was crying with joy....it had been almost 50 years since I had ridden a bicycle. As I straddled the bike, I hugged my husband and he backed away so I could get off. "Get off"...sounds so easy doesn't it? Well, my mind went blank as to how to dismount! Finally, I bent my right knee and tried putting it over the front bar. Well, somehow I got tangled up and fell to the ground with the bike landing on top of me. I felt so stupid, I just laid on the ground and laughed! Later on, I realized that the bike had hurt my leg and my ankle. I took these pictures today, the bike beat me up almost 2 weeks ago.

So after ice packs and Arnica cream and being careful of it, it's a little better now. But now the ragweed is in full bloom so I guess I have to wait until after the frost! It's okay if you want to laugh, I have to laugh at this myself! So while I heal, I've been thinking more about moving my shop to the second bedroom which is quite a bit bigger. I picked up some boxes at Lowes the other day and am going to start packing up my current shop. Then there will flooring and painting and all kinds of fun. Have a great day!

Mr. Skellie is back!

I heard a roar in the driveway and when I looked out, there was Mr. Skellie slinging gravel and coming to a stop.

I ran out to greet him and noticed he had made a few changes. "Nice shades!" I said. He told me there was a whole story behind those and when he came in and washed away the road grime, he would sit and tell me all about it. I told Marlene he was back and helped her with her chair so she could listen to all of Mr. Skellie's stories too. He toweled off and came and sat down.

The trip out there had been uneventful except when large trucks went by. He spun out of control the first time and got away with just a few scuffs. Marlene sighed over the scars he now had. After that, he just pulled way over to the right or just went faster than all of them. The police cars couldn't catch him as he just pulled in and drove along underneath them. "What have I raised..." I thought. He pulled out his camera and we downloaded the pictures of Sturgis. When he arrived, he was amazed at how many bikes there were. This was the downtown.

He enjoyed walking around and looking at all the different bikes.

This one was his favorite.

He saw some seat covers that he just had to have,

but...how to pay for them. It wasn't long before he was spotted by an ad man and he talked to Mr. Skellie about his trip and would he be interested in an idea he had for a great sunglasses ad. Mr. Skellie still had those cool seat covers on his mind so agreed to have a look at some of the ideas. After a hardy lunch at the Broken Spoke saloon, they went out to film the commercial.

Mr. Skellie was paid on the spot so went right back to see if he could get some furry seat covers of his own.

While he waited, he met a few friends

and of course had to chat with the ladies.

He had a fantastic time and wants to go back next year for the 78th bike week. He said he was glad to be home and wanted to get going on his next Young Living presentation. Once Marlene was back in the shop he confided that Marilyn's afghan came in really handy as it got a little chilly at night out there. He made reservations at a hotel for next year...roughing it was a little hard on the old bones. Then he snapped his fingers and said he had a gift for me in his saddlebag. I tried it on and he smiled and said now I could be his "babe on the back" next time he goes out riding.

After hanging out with all those bikers in Sturgis, his language had become a bit more colorful, so I changed the word he really used to "babe"....He went outside to see how Bill was coming along on the shed and was amazed at all he had accomplished on the outside since he had left.

Mr. Skellie's pictures are a little small, but so is his camera so I hope you can see them alright. I didn't tell him about the next big adventure that's going to happen around here.....see you next time and have a great day!

A Postcard from Mr. Skellie!

How do you spend your days when your favorite little skeleton is away on vacation? My garden has kept me busy with all the tomatoes and corn that seem to all ripen all at once. Blanching and freezing corn and wondering what to do with all the tomatoes...The summer squash is long past and the last ones have been in the freezer for awhile now. There is one large watermelon I'm keeping my eye on that somehow got itself mixed in with the corn and I'm still looking for blooms on the sweet potato vines. When I checked the mail box, what was in there was a postcard from "Skull Cracker" aka Mr. Skellie.

He wrote that he is having a great time meeting new people and has been approached to be in an ad campaign of some sort. He said he'd fill me in when he gets home....this weekend! He wanted to be modest in the picture so he wouldn't offend any of my readers...now where have I seen that pose before....Also said he has a surprise for me and treated his bike to new seat covers too. Can't wait to see him! Have a great day!

It's a Miracle! and....Sturgis?

 I was getting ready to go pick up Mr. Skellie from the hospital after his operation when I heard a low rumble outside. Here comes Mr. Skellie riding up on a Harley!

"Where, what, how?" I sputtered. Turns out Dr. Bonebreaker has some interesting methods. He remembers something about being on a stretcher and being raised up high where the roof opened and there was lightning...after that everything went dark.  Hmmm, sounds vaguely familiar....Somehow, Mr. Skellie's arm is as good as new and the Dr. told him he could do anything he wanted; so what he wanted was a motorcycle! He went by the Harley dealer in the city and they had this one on sale for a very small price. He had just enough from his Young Living business. There was more. He wants to go out to bike week in Sturgis, South Dakota. "But, but you've never been away from home before..." I stammered. But if there's anything I've learned is when one of your kids, or skellies, wants to try something and it is something within your power to help with, go for it. Okay, what do we need to do? To start with, he wants more bling on his Harley. Some running lights were a good start,

then we added a new side mirror

and a cross on the back.

I had picked up this license plate once as I figured this day would come. After all that was done, he said, "Now do me!" I started by making him a doo rag.

It was fabric from Marlene so he really liked that part. When he put his arms down, I noticed the tattoos.

Where did those come from; they look like they've been drawn on with marker. Mr. Skellie admitted that they were only because the tattoo artist was not schooled on how to tattoo on bone. He told him they would be fine as long as he doesn't go out in the rain...I didn't say anything. So, "Skull Cracker" as he now wants to be called, also wanted a chain too. "Skull Cracker?" I asked. "Yes, that's my new cool biker name" he said. It took some finagling with my needle nose pliers and some chain and a couple of jump rings, but I managed it.

So here he is, all ready for his new adventure.

He rolled up Marilyn's afghan for a bedroll and raided the pantry for snacks. Then with a quick kiss good-bye, he was off for Sturgis!

"Drive careful" I hollered. I was kind of mopey after that and wandered out to the shop to help Bill with the second window. He can always cheer me up and soon we were working on getting the window done and in place. Now it's just a matter of primer and paint and the outside will be done!

Have a great day!

Mr. Skellie helps make a window....

Since the rain seems to be holding off, Dear Hubby went out to the shop to start the other two windows. Mr. Skellie made sure he had something to drink and they both went to work. Mr. Skellie was wondering how Bill was going to make a window out of a solid wall.

"Watch out Mr. Skellie!" said Bill as he used his small circular saw to cut out the opening. "So that's how it's done"...said Mr. Skellie. He helped Bill measure the opening

and they began to cut the first piece to length on the sliding compound miter saw.

Bill's friend Edwardo suggested that Mr. Skellie have an accident with this saw but Mr. Skellie is too smart for that. When he heard Edwardo's idea, Mr. Skellie used some colorful language that's not appropriate for this blog...shame on you Mr. Skellie, Edwardo was just being silly. The next step was to cut each end of the piece to make a sill.

Here it is in place.

They both lifted it back out and proceeded to make the whole frame so it can just slide in and be nailed in place.

Mr. Skellie wanted to do some of the nailing, but Bill said with his arm still healing, he could keep an eye on the nail and make sure it stays straight.

While nailing it together, one of the nails went in a little crookedy and came out where it wasn't supposed to.

Bill made short work of fixing it and slipped it into the window opening. It wasn't quite level,

but a shim or two will take care of that. Well, I thought Mr. Skellie was working that arm a little too hard and sure enough, it came off again.

Before I brought him inside to fix it, he wanted to know if he could freak Bill out with it. "Hey Bill, do you need a hand?" he said.

I was laughing so hard, I couldn't talk. After Bill calmed down, he cut the wood pieces for the window stops and nailed those in place. Then Bill, our neighbor, and Mr. Skellie propped up the glass and nailed in the inside stop pieces.

We all finished up just as the first sprinkles started to fall.

I think Mr. Skellie is going to need more than just epoxy this time. He had to be airlifted to the hospital where Dr. Bonebreaker was waiting to perform immediate surgery. He's a close relative of Officer Bonebreaker that we met on our trip last summer. (check out my Twice Across America blog) Hope Mr. Skellie's not afraid of flying....Have a great day!