So we had a chance to play in the water before canoeing.... and when we got to Dawt Mill, we could load the canoes and leave. I wasn't sure how Baby Alex would fare, but he did fine. Everyone had a good time. The kids traded riding in canoes. Sometimes with Miranda and I. Sometimes with Tom, Kera, or Andy.
We were only on the river about 1.5 hours plus maybe a half hour more at each end. I got more sunburned and more bug-bitten than I'd gotten on the whole pioneer trek. And my right canoe paddling arm was incredibly sore and painful. Wow! If my legs had hurt like that on the trek the song would have gone: "Pioneer children cried as they walked and walked and walked..." I put bunches of oils on it and it mitigated the pain somewhat. It made me realize how blessed I was. I'd never walked more than 1.6 miles in a day. And I went nearly 20 in three days with almost no muscle pain.
Tuesday Miranda and Andy and families went to the lake. The kids had a great time. I stayed home and worked. We celebrated Tom's birthday with cherry chocolate cake and Jonathan's enchiladas.
Either Tuesday or Wednesday Tom took some of the kids and put them to work. They demolished the brick freestanding wood stove backing and removed some of the drop ceiling in kitchen and laundry room at the 1603 house.
Wednesday Kera left to go to visit her dad. Andy and family stayed part of the day, then left to go and visit Chandra's mom... and then on to Jonathan's. We did some quick cleaning and bed changing. In the evening, Miranda and Dan's friends the Merrills arrived with their 4 children aged 9-18 months. We had happy pandemonium once again. The Merrill girls were very helpful with the chickens. They mostly had a great time playing with toys together. The adults enjoyed card games each night.... except Tom and I. We were pretty tired and went to bed early.
Thursday Tom and I went out to the 1603 house. Tom replaced the dropped ceiling in the laundry room. It looked better than what was underneath. I took out the dropped ceiling in the bathroom and stripped the wall paper there. I also removed some of the carpet tack strip from the family room. Ray and his handyman had been in earlier and re-did the ducting for the HVAC. They had been stretched too tightly and improperly attached. There were 4 ducts at the main HVAC unit that had come off. Some of the insulation was stripped from some of the runs leaving just plastic tubing. And 5 were disconnected from vents at the floor. No wonder they had high heating bills!
They also put in a beam to support the sagging floor. The floor didn't appreciate it. They got about 2/3rds of the sag out. Then the old floor joists just bit into the support beam. Still, the floor won't sag any more.
In the evening, Tom Merrill made dinner-- baked fish and wild rice-- which was delicious. Friday they went thrift shopping and to the beach. Tom worked at the house.
Saturday Tom mowed lawns. It was a very hot day. And it was our annual pioneer day picnic. The picnic was in the afternoon. We were blessed with shade, a breeze and some overcast sky. They had a family pioneer trek game, tug of war, arm wrestling, sack races, and a nail pounding competition. They also had good food. It was so fun to see Alex eat the watermelon. He put his whole body into it.
Sunday the Merrills left about 8:20 and Miranda and Dan were gone by 8:30. Sigh. The house is quiet again. We had the mission president and his wife come and speak to us. Excellent talks. When we know what we know, keeping quiet is a sin. We need to share with others--- and give them the freedom to accept or not.
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