24th September 2019
Not much to write home about, as the weather was not good, but I went out with Nicola and Colin to get some shopping done.
Life is slow down here, not being close to a big town means there are no “man” shops to explore.
The most exciting thing that happens is there’s not enough milk in the coffee, or similar calamities.
However I get to see places I wouldn’t normally go, and they are good company, so we find things to laugh at.
When I got back I started to work on designs for the patio I want to build when I get back to the US. I had sent Kelli a rough plan and asked her to give me certain dimensions that I needed. Then with the help of the internet I was able to visit the sites of my two favourite DIY stores, Lowes and Menards.
I wanted the decking to last a long time, so I explored the recycled plastic route. The medium price range using this material was just over $3000 plus the cost of the structure.
This was the worse case without taking into account the wastage factor, so I reckon that could reduce the cost by $500, which to my mind is not that bad.
I did a similar exercise using paving stones and that came to just under $1800, and as I hate paving slabs that is not the direction I want to take.
I have learnt one thing about compromise, and that is not to do it. If I have the ability to do the work, good quality material can be justified, even if it means eating baked beans for a year.
Kelli has recently bought a push mower to replace the petrol one we had. She called me to ask how the cut could be adjusted. She sent me a picture of what she had, and I thought something was missing. I went on line to find out details of the mower, and found the instructions for the model she had, and sure enough the roller at the back was missing.
This is a bit of a drag, as we now have to find a replacement, or I will have to make something.
Another Lifetime to go 