Very productive day - Day 511 (Yr 2, Day 133)

Asheville, NC

Yesterday (Sunday) was finally a very productive day.  Although very cloudy, the rain stayed at bay, and Mitch told his boss he really needed the day off (he's now required to work 50 hrs/week plus 5 hrs on Sundays).

We got up at 8:00.  By end of day, I had done 4 loads of wash (I do a load every week, but got caught up with towels, sheets and assorted "back burner" stuff).  We started out with me making a very fancy omelet while Mitch did a major bathroom/toilet cleaning.  Around the bottom of the bowl and under the plastic covering was getting extremely disgusting (Mitch calls it "boy stuff" -- you can use your imagination).  It was so bad that the bathroom had a bad odor and it's not something the mop could get at.  It required his getting down on his hands and knees and cleaning it with a sponge.  Nice and fresh now!

The next project was getting rid of those box elder bugs and putting up screening so nothing can get into the vent areas again.  We took a trip to Lowes and bought a spray bottle and fine mesh screening.  Some folks suggested that a solution of Dawn dish soap and water would work on killing those bugs without the fear of spraying flammable insecticide into an area heated with propane.  Oddly enough, it worked wonders!!!  We had a huge pile of seemingly hundreds of dead bugs immediately after spraying.  Mitch then spent some time cutting down the mesh and affixing it to the inside of all the open vents where bugs could creep in.  Well, not all -- still need to do the refrigerator vents (which requires a ladder) and go up on the roof where I'm sure there are tons in the a/c vents.

The next big project was cleaning out and organizing the truck.  For our friends and family who remember what our garage in the sticks & bricks house looked like -- well, that's pretty much what the truck had become, with all Mitch's tools and junk strewn all over the place.  It was really time to clean it up and reorganize stuff.  I think we can finally find a place for someone to sit in the back again!  (If the previous owner ever saw this, he'd have major conniptions!)  In addition to cleaning the inside, the truck has gone thru a few mud baths and we haven't had the chance to bring it to a truck wash, so Mitch tried to clean it by hand.  He got 1/4 (back door) done.

There were still a few other projects I wanted to accomplish, but by now it was getting late and we were both exhausted, so we called it quits.  We treated ourselves to some nice cocktails and got a little drunk (one of us, no names mentioned but of the male gender, much more than the other).

Today was yet another rainy day and the river is almost at the top of the bank again.

Regarding Mitch's work, I already mentioned that he has to work a mandatory 10 hour/day Mon-Fri plus about 5 hrs on Sunday.  This is because there is a legal requirement that gas lines be inspected within a certain amount of time, otherwise the company will face major fines.  It must be accomplished by the end of the year, which is why they're revving up the hours.  All the rain hasn't helped at all either.  At least we know there's an end in sight.  We will most likely be moving by the end of the year.  To where is anyone's guess at this point.  When we started this lifestyle, it was with the plans that the work would follow us.  It is quite the opposite now -- we have to go where the work is.  But we are extremely grateful and blessed that there is work.  In 2 years we'll be able to collect from our 401K plans, so we just need to be patient.