Still painting

Most of the inside of our house is painted, now we are working on the outside. We would like to get it done before the winter rains start again. I hear that we have until sometime in October before that happens again. The color will remain the same except for the front door and the shutters, they will be red. The siding on our house is T111, the old style. It's like a sheet of plywood with vertical grooves in it. Being the DIY people we are, we decided to paint it ourselves. We discovered that there is no roller that can penetrate into the grooves of old style T111. (The newer style has shallow grooves and wider surface areas, so a roller works just fine.) So we had 3 choices: let someone else paint it, spray it, or brush the grooves first and come back and roll it. Letting someone else do it it's not in the budget. Spraying still involves brushing as the paint may run in the grooves and you need windless days, otherwise you'll end up painting many things around your house-like cars. So brush the grooves and roll the paint it is. We are still working on it. I'll have to post a before and after pict when done.
We also have to refinish the deck before winter. We had a deck in California so we know what to expect doing that job.

 Old T111 drinking up my paint!

Trip back

A few weeks ago we made a trip back to California. The purpose of our trip was to visit people and pick up some more of our possessions that we left in Grass Valley. We had planned this trip weeks before and had no idea what the weather would be like. We knew it would be hot but wow, that was hot-100's plus every day. Good thing for air conditioning, swimming pools, and rivers to make things cooler.

Cooling off in the river

It was great to stay with my daughter and son in law in Grass Valley. We also visited my parents in Citrus Heights and went to Sanger to visit Mr. UAW's family, and went to Loomis to see my old horse, catch up with barn friends, and visit my previous workplace. It was great to catch up with people however we couldn't see everybody...just not enough time. My daughter that now lives close to me said that every time she makes the trip to California the same thing happens to her, not enough time.
My mother in law gave us a tub full of old pictures/letters that we left in Grass Valley for my daughter to go thru. That daughter is putting together a blog of family history and it was like a treasure hunt for her. There are many things to sort thru and she enjoys doing it.
We left 2 trucks and most of Mr. UAW's tools, mechanical and yard tools, in California. Now that we have a house, a yard, a garage and 2 sheds, he has been pinning to have his things. We ended up repacking most of our things into 1 truck and leaving at 5am in order to beat the heat as we drove to cooler weather in Oregon.

Sunrise on the way home

We ended up having Mr. UAW's '61 Chevy transported to Oregon. We thought we would drive it but then realized that it was sooo hot, the truck has no air conditioning, it's really loud, and if it broke down between places where would we find parts for it? Finding a transport company that would haul it was an experience. The first company didn't work out but the second company came thru.
So our trip back was great. Next time we will try and see people we didn't see this time.