Country Living Fair Columbus Ohio

We attended the Country Living Fair at the Ohio Fairgrounds on Friday. To say it was 'hot' would be an understatement. It was 93 degrees with wind gusts up to 40 mph.

I wish I could say it was a great fair but it was not. We had purchased our tickets as soon as they went on sale and for weeks had looked forward to attending.

We knew it would be hot and windy because the weather forecast had been predicting it for days. We planned ahead....too bad Country Living had not.Refreshments were expensive. I paid two dollars for a warm can of Diet Coke. It appeared that the only vendors with ice were the homemade lemonade vendors. I love homemade lemonade but it upsets my stomach.

I guess I should back track to the beginning........Parking for the Country Living Fair was quite a distance away due to the fact that they were not only laying asphalt on the road leading to the fairgrounds which caused lanes to be shut down but they were also laying asphalt on the parking lot closest to the entrance. Fair goers were required to park quite a distance away on a newly asphalted parking lot. Which begs me to ask....."Why didn't they repave the parking lot closest to the entrance first?"

Not only was it quite the walk but we had to breath the asphalt fumes on a very hot day. Once we arrived at the entrance there was a back up at the gate because of poor planning. Maps of the vendors booths were immediately stacked on a table directly behind the ticket taker. If they did not have extra personnel to hand out maps to each fair goer than the table should have been situated farther away from the gate. Just like at the grocery store, people were picking up the literature and then standing there reading it or discussing whether or not they needed one or two or none at all.

There was then quite a large open space where they were handing out free samples. I would have placed these areas through out the entire fair and used the open space for the vendor booths. The vendor booths were so close together and small that it was almost impossible to look at anything. This was quite a shame because from what I saw there was some really nice items.

My friend Carrie was FINALLY able to track us down a cold sandwich from a catering booth. They had 10 box lunches.....yes 10. We got the next to last one for 10 dollars. It consisted of a wrap sandwich, 5 cubes of cantaloupe, 3 large tablespoons of pasta salad, oh I almost forgot....and a small thin mint. I would have much rather paid $5.00 for just the wrap sandwich. Of course you could also have spent 20 dollars for a buffet. Yes.....20 dollars for a buffet at a fair. We were not the only ones having trouble finding food and drink as we were asked several times where we got our sandwich.

We left after 4 hours because of the heat and lack of adequate fluids available. We had water and diet coke in a cooler with ice back at the car because we came prepared. We knew what the weather forecast was predicting but due to the parking lot situation we were unable to readily go out to our vehicle.

Would I go again.....no. Not because of the weather either. Weather is not under their control but planning is and they failed miserably in that department. I feel for the elderly people that attended and there were plenty. I hope they were able to make it to their cars without mishap.

My suggestion to Country Living would be to make sure there is available cold fluids, ask that there not be any construction during the show, and forget about the 20 dollar buffet and have more vendors serving cold sandwiches on hot days. Yes, a nice sit down buffet is lovely but it is slow and really no one expects that at a fair.

Also when planning your lay out keep areas where vendors are cooking (HOT) away from vendors selling. I had to bypass several vendors because of smoke coming from the kettle corn people and smoke coming from vendors grilling.I love Country Living magazine but they really missed the mark on this fair. I was looking forward to seeing Taniya Nayak from HGTV's Designed to Sell but sadly I missed her appearance.

The day was not a total loss due to the fun brick swap with Mike in German Village. Read about it in my previous post.

German Village and My Brick Swap

This past weekend I ventured to Columbus, Ohio with a friend, for the Country Living Fair.......more on the fair in another post. While I was in the area I met up in German Village with a fellow vintage paver collector from Cincinnati to swap some bricks.

This is a photo of one of the many restored brick buildings in German Village. According to the brochure that I picked up, most of German Village was built during 1840 and 1918. At one time there were seven beer breweries in the area. German Village fell into decline after two World Wars (Germans did not fare well in either war) and prohibition (beer did not fare well in this either). The homes in German Village are all brick 2 and 3 story homes with the occasional clapboard house mingled in here and there and usually separated with just a 3 or 4 foot walkway. In addition to the buildings being all brick, the streets and sidewalks are also all brick. All structures are located close to the curb with stoops rather than porches and without a lawn to maintain (very appealing to one who mows almost 2 acres).

The area has large trees and most homes have flower pots or window boxes. When it came to paint color for the trim and window sashes the vast majority of homes stayed with a neutral or muted color palette. Some of the homes also had large gas lanterns on the front of their homes which added a great authentic touch.

In 1960 German Village started their revitalization. I would say a good 50% of the homes are fully restored and magnificent. Another 40% are in good condition with the remaining 10% still in need of work.

This area had everything I love...wrought iron, brick, and flowers.

German Village does not have a designated business district but instead you will find restaurants and other businesses located right in the residential area. We met up with Mike, from Cincinnati, at the local Max and Erma's in German Village. After a quick drink, I was so thirsty because I had been out in the sun and wind all day in 93 degree weather we swapped bricks.

We drove to beautiful Schiller Park in the center of German Village for the swap. Check out the large growth on this tree in the park. Mike collects mostly Ohio made bricks and I had some he didn't have so I was happy to swap some duplicates of the Ohio made bricks that I have in my meager collection.

After swapping bricks we drove one street over to Red Bud Alley to look at the pavers in the alley. This particular alley has the pavers laid with the name facing up rather than the traditional method of laying the paver on it's side.Here is a photo of the bricks I received from Mike in the swap. I love the color variations and the fact that the lettering on each block is a different size and font.
Mike is starting his new walk way soon. He will be laying his bricks face up so that the lettering is exposed. The first walkway he did in front of his home is laid the traditional way. I'll ask him if I can post a photo of his finished project.

As far as our project, we still need to clean the bricks we bought off of Craigslist. We will do that this winter and hopefully have the 'Yard of Bricks' completed in time for the Indy 500.

In other racing news.......G finished his first season with the SOD Series (Sprints on Dirt) in 6th place and took Rookie of the Year honors. Not too shabby for it basically being his first full year in a winged sprinter along with the fact that he did not buy a new tire all season. He supplied himself with used tires from other race teams who would rather race with new tires every week.

Congratulations G!!!!

Sun Room Exterior Work Continues

By mid afternoon the clouds had thinned and the sun finally came out. We continued where we had left off. Me.....stripping paint from the windows and trim AND R......patching damaged asphalt.

Here is a 'before' photo.Here is an 'in progress' photo.
You will notice that when this was built they did not use tar paper under the cedar shingles. We will correct that before we hang the new shingles.

Here is a photo of R's current asphalt patch 'in progress'. He first dug out all the broken asphalt and dirt. He then filled the crack with cold patch and allow that to set for several days to harden. He then partially filled the crack with a trowel able product that he will let set for several days to harden. When that is firm he will trowel on one more thin layer to make the patch level with the existing driveway. The wheel is placed there so no one will drive over it.
He is also working on the area where the porch walkway and asphalt meet. A portion of asphalt was missing creating a trip hazard. R used the same steps he used to fix the crack across the driveway.

You might be able to see masking tape on the side walk. He masked off the side walk so that it is protected from drips or splatters of the mixture he trowels on the asphalt. He will pull it off immediately after troweling the last layer.

In Between the Rain Showers

Let me relate a conversation I had with R yesterday.

R in a serious tone...."Do you know how to make a dishwasher into a snow plow?"

Me....No.

R...."Hand her a snow shovel."

The squirrel whisperer is now in the dog house.

Let's revisit the list....

Start removing the remaining old cedar shingles off the front of the house. We gave up on stripping because it was a slow process and in the end the shingles were still old and brittle. A significant portion of the front has already been replaced so it seemed logical to have all new shingles. Plus in the end....reshingling is easier and more pleasant than stripping paint off cedar shingles. NOT YET STARTED but now have all the shingles removed from the bottom half of the north end.

Continue with the fence painting. The weather has been so hot that the paint would dry before I could brush it out. COMPLETED FOR NOW just chain link left to paint.

Continue with the edging of the lilac border. COMPLETED

Continue with the brush removal along the fence line. COMPLETED

Sand the trim on the front of the house. NOT COMPLETED

Spray Round Up on vegetation along the back fence row. Scratch that...it's too windy. I used Round Up on the front and side yard, still need to do the back.

Finish mulching around the Catalpa tree. COMPLETED

R repaired two more damaged areas in the asphalt driveway yesterday while I used Round Up on the weeds in the lilac border. I also sprayed Weed Be Gone on the grass between the fence and the street. This area was a total disaster area when we purchased the house. We slowly have gotten it to the point where it is presentable. Nearly all the weeds are gone, the curb is edged, and the brush has been removed leaving just large trees and lilac bushes.

Today, in between the rain, I stripped old paint from around the sun room exterior doors and the two windows on the north side. I also stripped the door stop (3 pieces) that I removed when we removed the threshold. I am just about at the 50% point of paint removal in this part of the project.

R trimmed the threshold we removed where the new french doors will go and repaired a rotted area on one end. We also took some measurements and decided how we would make the opening 1 inch narrower to accommodate the doors that we bought. Tomorrow we will cut those pieces and trim the height of the new doors.

Maybe by tomorrow R will be out of the dog house but I doubt it. I called him to dinner tonight and before he sat down he took a Nexium. I told him it is never a good idea to let the cook see you take an antacid before you sit down.

We're making slow progress because...

We're making slow progress because it's always something. First it rains. We then ran out of the asphalt product you trowel on to fill large voids that are too small for cold patch. Then the squirrel died.

I guess I should back track a little. Sunday while we were working in the yard we heard a lot of squirrel chatter coming from the large black walnut tree. We didn't think much about it until the next day when I found a week old squirrel dead under the tree. I then found it's sibling crawling across the driveway.

I called R and he put on a pair of gloves and picked him (I have no idea whether it was a boy or girl) up. For some reason R determined he was cold and wrapped him up in the bottom portion of him t shirt and held him next to his stomach. He continued to do this while we picked up the tools. I wish I would have taken a photo of R walking around with what looked like a fanny pack with a 3 inch squirrel tail hanging out of it.

Throughout the evening the squirrel whisperer fed the baby squirrel warm milk with an eye dropper. To keep the little critter warm he put a heating pad in one of the kitty carriers along with an old towel. When we woke up this morning the squirrel was doing better, the cats were not. One look at the kitty carrier and they hid because they thought they were going to the vet.

R tried to find a rescue place but we were unable to find anywhere to take him. So the squirrel whisperer fed the squirrel again and then continued to fix the asphalt driveway out by the street. He soon ran out of the troweling product but before going and getting more the squirrel whisperer fed the squirrel again. We decided to go get a coney at The Hot Dog Stand since it was coney day and then go to Home Depot for some more driveway patch.

Long story short.....the squirrel died while we ate coneys and this is why we never get anything accomplished.

Both babies squirrels were laid to rest by the catalpa tree.

Let's review the list...

Start removing the remaining old cedar shingles off the front of the house. We gave up on stripping because it was a slow process and in the end the shingles were still old and brittle. A significant portion of the front has already been replaced so it seemed logical to have all new shingles. Plus in the end....reshingling is easier and more pleasant than stripping paint off cedar shingles. NOT YET STARTED but did start removing shingles from north end of house.

Continue with the fence painting. The weather has been so hot that the paint would dry before I could brush it out. COMPLETED FOR NOW

Continue with the edging of the lilac border. COMPLETED

Continue with the brush removal along the fence line. COMPLETED

Sand the trim on the front of the house. NOT COMPLETED

Spray Round Up on vegetation along the back fence row. Scratch that...it's too windy. NOT COMPLETED where is all this wind coming from? Don't say the sky, either.

Finish mulching around the Catalpa tree. COMPLETED

Bar anymore squirrel emergencies we hope to get back to removing shingles and installing the new doors in the sun room.

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

Yesterday R and I picked up our supplies for our next project. Since it was too late in the day to start anything we decided to stop at our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner.

After we finished eating, me cashew chicken & R sizzling Empress beef, we broke open our fortune cookies.We both thought truer words could not be spoken. So we promptly went home and took a nap.

Stay tuned to find out what is our next project. We started today. I'll post 'before' photos tomorrow.

Only in Michigan

Only in Michigan can the weather go from sunny, dry, and 93 degrees to cloudy, rainy, and 61 degrees all in four days. The weatherman is calling for a high of 61 degrees on Saturday. I think I will raise the B.S. flag to that prediction.

First of all, the weathermen are wrong more than 50% of the time so I think there is a good chance of weather warmer than 61 degrees on Saturday. But just in case, I think I'll plan a cool weather project for this weekend.

But first, lets look at that list and see what is done and what is not.

The list.....

Start removing the remaining old cedar shingles off the front of the house. We gave up on stripping because it was a slow process and in the end the shingles were still old and brittle. A significant portion of the front has already been replaced so it seemed logical to have all new shingles. Plus in the end....reshingling is easier and more pleasant than stripping paint off cedar shingles. NOT YET STARTED

Continue with the fence painting. The weather has been so hot that the paint would dry before I could brush it out. COMPLETED FOR NOW

Continue with the edging of the lilac border. 2/3 COMPLETED

Continue with the brush removal along the fence line. COMPLETED

Sand the trim on the front of the house. NOT COMPLETED

Spray Round Up on vegetation along the back fence row. Scratch that...it's too windy. NOT COMPLETED

Finish mulching around the Catalpa tree. COMPLETED

Sit and do nothing but look at my hostas. This is looking like a great idea but probably not the most productive and come winter I would be kicking myself. COMPLETED BUT COULD REPEAT

Remove rocks around roses and lay down landscaping fabric and put rocks back. This was R's idea and I would hate to ruin his fun so maybe I will let him enjoy this task. HAVE FABRIC

I see a couple of tasks that might fall under the heading of cool weather projects, specifically the sanding of trim and removing of shingles. I think I'll finish edging the lilac border tomorrow if it doesn't rain. I could also spray Round Up along the back fence row if it isn't windy.

That would leave me three days to remove the shingles from the end of the sun room and the front of the living room. Which reminds me that I need to find the two remaining Lowe's gift cards that I received with my Speedy Rewards from Speedway gas station. I'll also need to run to Lowe's for cedar shingles.

Speaking of gas stations......the price of regular gasoline jumped 20 cents just in time for the big holiday weekend. Yesterday regular gasoline was $2.59 a gallon and today it was $2.79 a gallon. Now I know this is still lower than last year and the year before but still it irks me when it jumps 20 cents over night.