Another weekend in Tuttle!

Friday evening after supper we left for Tuttle. We had a few projects we wanted to get started but have several things going on tomorrow (Sunday), so we came back home this evening. Our friend, Steve Adair, and his two kids, Ellie and Alan, joined us as they wanted to try out some fishing at Lake Josephine. Scott, Steve, Ellie and Emma went out fishing in the boat last night while Gage, Alan and I stayed at the house and played a few games of Sorry. After a few games, Alan made up his own game for him and Gage to play. I had my book with me so sat and read a little (and eavesdropped a little too!). It was funny listening to them play. Alan was making up the rules for the game, and changed them to his liking as they went along. Gage desperately wanted to go outside to play, but Alan wanted to continue with the new game that he was winning! :-) Finally Gage did talk Alan into going out, but by then it was getting darker and chillier outside, so they didn't stay out too long. When Scott and the gang got back after catching quite a few walleye, we roasted some marshmallows and made s'mores. I seem to end up the one in charge of holding onto everything. I need 6 more arms for that job! I ended up with sticky marshmallow goo all over my hands and face! They were delicious though!


Here's a picture of Steve and his big walleye. Emma had fun watching him club them between the eyes before filleting them. They also were introduced to fish eggs.

One of our projects was to paint the laundry room floor with epoxy paint (designed for concrete garage floors and basement floors). Hopefully the guy at Menards is right in telling us it would be okay to put down on wood subflooring! I guess it won't surprise me too much if it doesn't work and we end up with the paint peeling off there, just like on the siding outside! We took out the indoor/outdoor green felt-like carpeting that was on the entryway floor at the back door and put the paint down there as well. It really looks pretty good! MUCH MUCH better than it did, that's for sure!

Scott rolled the paint on and I sprinkled the paint chips over it after he was done with each little section. My sister, Kysa, put this stuff on her basement floor and it really looks good. Steve and Laura put some in their basement as well. It's really neat stuff! Scott got a little carried away with the paint chips as he grew impatient scattering them onto the floor, so he tried dumping them out of the bag. Not a good idea. He ended up with a great big clump of chips. Thankfully that spot will be hidden by the dryer. I quickly took over that job.

I forgot to take a "before" picture of the room, but here's a little glimpse of the after shot.

Our next project was to put Scott's sign out in the front yard. He had his Dad make him a sign and we brought it back at Christmas time. He borrowed a post hole auger from work to dig the holes. They have upgraded their auger, which was a nice thing! I remember when Scott borrowed it several years ago when we moved into our house here in Bismarck. We were putting up the fence in our backyard and Scott nearly ripped his arm completely off of his body at one point! That was quite scary!

Of course Scott didn't think to bring a level with us. I don't know who does this sort of project without a level? He devised his own little way of checking the posts as to whether they were level or not by hanging a string in the middle of the post and attaching a bolt to the end of it. I don't know that it worked too well, since the wind was blowing like crazy. Scott was pretty proud of himself though, so that's all that matters! :-)

Scott hard at work digging the second post hole. Believe it or not, he hit rock and had some troubles getting this hole dug. After he got most of the rock removed, he finally was able to get the hole dug deep enough.

Here's the completed project. Tuttle is located at the 100th Meridian, hence the name "100th Meridian Duck Shack" "Edge of the west, heart of the duck factory". He actually did a pretty good job and it was fairly level when I stood back to check it out! I wonder how many of the drunks leaving the bar will use it for target practice? I hope to do a little landscaping around the sign and rock, to put some finishing "girly" touches on the project.

I'm sure no one will get lost now, when trying to find Scott's hunting shack this fall! Apparently the plan is to hang the daily bag on the sign for pictures. Won't that be lovely?

The other project was to get the yard mowed. Unfortunately I worried more about getting sunscreen on the kids than myself (as usual) and fried my pearly white legs. I guess I should have been more careful since this was actually the first time I have spent any length of time outside this year with shorts on! I'm paying for it now I tell ya! My legs, from my knees up to where my shorts ended, are fire-engine red, along with the insides of my arms, from my wrists to the antecubital space of my elbows. I used my stupidity as a learning tool with Gage and Emma and told them, "This is why you should ALWAYS wear sunscreen!" They seemed to understand after they put their hands on it to feel the heat that my legs were generating! I'll surely wise up one day?!?