Back on the Air...

...well, sort of. We spent part of the day banging steel siding onto a shed that's seen better days. The original wood is old, dark and chewed-looking. But the siding makes the building a cheery bright red that matches the nearby barn. Husband and Brother did most of the banging, plus standing around-and-analyzing stuff. I picked up the wooden battens we'd torn off earlier (along with decades' worth of spiderwebs and fluffy who-knows-what), and tried to corral stray nails. At any rate, that siding is doing a great job of making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
   Uncle showed up to see how we'd been doing. It turns out he actually helped build the shed sometime between the ages of 8 and 11, using wood from another building nearby. Since he was born in 1924, that makes the shed constructed sometime between 1932-5. Wow.  The wood had looked older -- say, c.1900-1920. It was -- it just wasn't original to that building.

The Michigan sun has gone down, and every smart person is in bed. This doofus, however, is typing away at Cousin Phil's. We leave tomorrow for Colorado, and an 18-hour drive. (16 hours technically, because of the time change.) And I'm remembering the single lane to cross the Mississippi (construction closed the rest), as well as the lovely things that can happen anytime when you putz through Chicago.
     Oh joy.

In the meantime, you'll find these posts interesting --
*Plans for a no (or little)-buy Christmas
*A great way to get clearance items at Kohl's for even less! (But hurry)
*Knowing your stuff can help you make big bucks on your favorite interests
*What kind of financial advice would you give to an 18-year-old? 
(I found this of special interest, since our girlies are 24 and 22, respectively)

I still need to wash the dust off our working clothes, and finish packing. Had better get to it.