When is the best time of day to get on the roof?

R needed to install a new drip edge on a shed dormer last Sunday. The temperature was in the 80's. The roof is a dark color. There was no shade. R was hot...very hot. All I know is I kept hearing muttering coming from the roof. I swear it sounded like this...."She just had to wait until it was hotter than hell"....."what the #$%^!"......"ouch"....."couldn't do this when it was 60 degrees out".

So rather than listen to him...I went into the barn to take a quick inventory of our wooden storm windows. Behind some race car stuff I found a window screen that appeared to be the correct size for the window in the shed dormer that R was working on. So I thought while he was up there he might as well install it....Right??

Well I forgot it would not fit through the window so R had to crawl across the hot roof, climb down the ladder, get the window screen, climb back up the ladder, crawl across the hot roof, and then install the screen. Screen looks good. R looked hot. So to make up for having to go up on the roof on an extremely hot day....we went to our fav restaurant...The Holly Hotel.

We have been dining club members for years. We had Barbara and Gavin's rehearsal dinner there. I thought I had dined in all the little nooks and crannies that they have but I guess not. This time we ate in a little area that seats approximately 4 couples.....the area was called the Dining Car.The walls are not that light, they are more of a maroon color. My flash distorted the color. R thinks they need to vibrate the floor and have a recording of the sound of the rail car moving along the tracks....thump thump.

As usual we had a great meal. R had Beef Wellington and I had Halibut Cheeks and lobster served with mashed plantains and coconut corn. Very very good.

R asked me "what are you having?"

I said "the Halibut cheeks."

R said..."what did you say about your butt cheeks? I didn't hear you."

Ladies....you can't have him....he's all mine.

Happy Birthday G.W. and tile at the Holly Hotel

Today R and I celebrated George's birthday by going to the Holly Hotel with my parents. We had a great luncheon and as always everything tasted great.

Soup

Virginia Peanut & Chestnut Soup

Entree
Virginia Ham with Apricot Sauce Peppered Bacon Colonial Hoe Cake Buttered Carrots Mt Vernon Brown Bread
Iced Root Beer, Coffee, Tea

Dessert
King Orchard Cherry Pie

The Holly Hotel first celebrated G.W. birthday on February 22, 1893 according to the information on the menu card. Originally known as Washington House and is said to be the oldest social club in Michigan. It is also the oldest George Washington Club in the world and possibly the only one left in existence.

The Holly Hotel is a Victorian era building and has extensive wood paneling, moldings, and a great tile floor in the foyer. I snapped a few photos discreetly. I wanted to share photos of the great arched pocket doors dividing the bar from the foyer but the crowd was mostly elderly and I didn't want the flash to startle anyone.The floor looks much better overall than the area I chose to photograph. From a distance it looks exactly like a rug. I'll try to get better photos of the floor and doors the next time I'm there, which is soon because I have a birthday voucher to use before the end of the month.

Installing cable Internet and going 'wireless'

Just to be perfectly clear.....I did work on the windows....a little bit. More on that later.

I'll be upfront. When it comes to computers, computing, and the Internet, I'm like Sgt. Schultz..."I know notttthiiiing!". Really nothing. I am computer illiterate. I was OK up to and through Windows 3.1. When everything went to Windows 98......I was lost. I said to my son, "I can't even find the little file cabinet!!" Click and drag.... yeah right. I can't figure out any of this. I'm astonished that I can even blog. So anyways when I decided to install cable Internet myself to save $39.99, it was not without a lot of trepidation. I asked everyone, "Is it hard to do?" Which was always answered with "Any dummy can do it." Well world....."Hi, my name is Dummy. Nice to meet you."

My son said, "Just follow the instructions. Don't jump ahead and plug it in. Do exactly as the instructions say." OK...take a deep breath and read. Do this.....I did that. Do that I did that. Now do this....I did that. Welcome to the Internet. Really??? Where??? I don't see anything. Nuttin. So I disconnected and tried again. This time lo and behold.....Comcast Internet.....yeah!!! I surfed around a little bit and then turned off the computer. I was feeling kinda proud.....that was the first mistake of many to come.

I worked on the window sashes for awhile then decided to install the wireless router. The week before I installed the wireless card at my son's house and under his direction. So I thought how hard can this be???? I fired up my laptop only to discover the Internet was gone. Vanished, no where to be found. I used the Comcast Wizard thing to diagnose the problem and it reconnected me. Just to make sure. I powered down again. Powered back up...no Internet. You have no idea how frustrating that is. Especially when you can't read the instructions because you don't understand the lingo. This went on for a whole day. Finally on Sunday night I must have accidentally done something right because I could now power down and power back up without losing the Internet. Our plans were to go out to dinner at the Holly Hotel, but I was so stressed out that we stayed home. All Monday was spent attempting to connect the wireless router. Of course that went about as well as the Internet hook up. I did exactly as it said. Step by step. Then it said it couldn't do something because it couldn't find the admin. Grrrrrrrr. R called Gavin to help me. He said he would call when he got back in town. We then went out to eat at the Holly Hotel.

R had Tournedos of Beef Tenderloin and cappillini. I had Crabeater something or another, couscous, and banana creme brulee for dessert. Oh and 3 glasses of wine. When I came home I installed the wireless router yet again. And I've been wireless since. Obviously the trick is the wine.

So now I can concentrate on the window sashes. The glazing points I purchased at Home Depot are slightly too big and stick out beyond the muntin bars. To remedy this R is grinding each and everyone before I install it. Currently I am re installing glass panes.

Time invested since last update 7 hours. Total time invested so far 22 hours.

Disclaimer...just to be clear. I am usually quite good at putting things together and taking things apart since that is in part what I do for a living. I've even taught myself how to repair mechanical watches. All I know is I would rather take apart an engine or re side my house before I install the Internet or a wireless router again. R's solution to the whole thing is to stay as far away from computers as possible.