Well, 3 days back from vacation and I've finally found some downtime here at
work to get back to the blog.  Vacation was very good and I was glad for the
time to be away from work.  Starting with a week ago Friday, Mom and I slipped
off to go fishing down at the Hideaway Campgrounds near Guttenburg to fish off
the Mississippi River.  Best day of fishing, hauled in lots of bluegill and
sheephead.  That evening, the folks, my sister and her kids, and myself went
down to Farley to watch my brother race for the final points race of the
season.  If my brother could place 4 places or better of just one competitor,
then he would take the points championship title for the season at the track
for his class.  Well, as luck would have it, my brother's class would race
last.  Due to my brother's placing in the heat race, he would start on the
pole position with the competitor only a couple places behind.  Due to poor
conditions of the track by the late race along with several new guys to the
track, there were 3 cautions on the starting lap.  There were a couple more
during the race, which kept adding to our aggitation and aggravation.  Each
time my brother built a lead, someone would wreck out and force them to stop
and restart.  However, my bro. drove a great race and ended up taking first
place for the race and ensured that he was track champion.  Family gathered
afterwards for a group picture.

Saturday and Sunday had me out working on blocking out the wood I hauled out
of the timber earlier in the year.  It was still too warm and vegetation too
dense to start back on bringing more wood out of the timber.  Saturday night,
Dad decided he wanted to go to Dyersville for church and a supper out at the
local Pizza Hut.  As fate would have it, church there was sponsoring a guest
priest and I got to hear of a man that had it all and then gave it all up to
be a priest.  It was quite inspirational and has given me something to reflect
upon.

On Monday, folks and I went fishing down at Guttenburg for Labor Day.  Another
good day of fishing, some bluegill and sheephead, as well as the whopper of
the year as Mom hauled in a 30 in. Northern Pike.  On Tuesday, we travelled to
Cedar Rapids to begin the reason for my vacation.  It was time to work on
updating some items in my house.  Mainly, sanding and varnishing of the wood
floors in my house as well as repainting my bathroom.  I rented a sander from
Home Depot and invested in paint, polyurethane, and supplies.  Dad ran the
sander while Mom prepped the bathroom for painting while I moved all of my
furniture into the back bedroom after its floors were sanded.  We laid the
first coat of polyurethane and paint and departed.  On Wednesday, we did one
last fishing trip to Guttenburg, but the fish weren't biting in spite of a
beautiful day.  

On Thursday, we returned to my house to find that the polyurethane had not
really dried very well in the humid weather we had.  So, I turned on the air
conditioning and then we set about painting the bathroom for a second coat. 
After a couple of hours, the floors were dry enough to put the second
polyurethane coat down.  Friday was a rainy day, so I ended up working on the
wood some more out in the field.  Saturday, folks and I came down to start
putting wax down on the two finished floors.  We started taking down all of
the windows in the house so Mom could wash each out on the deck.  Meanwhile,
Dad worked on putting cement patch around sidewalk and landing that had pulled
away from the house.  On Sunday, we took down a china cabinet and my
collection of opalescent glassware that I had been collecting since I was a
kid.  We moved it into my living room as well as the rest of the furniture out
my spare bedroom into their respective places.  I put down the 1st coat of
polyurethane in the spare bedroom and then tore off to work to use the free
internet.  

All in all, we got a lot accomplished on my house.  The floors are much nicer
looking now.  Not a professional finish, as there are trapped bubbles and
marks in the finish, but I don't care.  It is much better than it was.  And I
like the new color in the bathroom.  The lighter color works much better than
the purple that was there previously.  All this for about 300 bucks, and a few
meals provided to the folks.  Once I get the free futon moved in and get that
attic better insulated, I'll be done with the house stuff for the year.  In
fact, I'll be ready to have guests come over now.

So, that's what I've been up to.  I've enjoyed lots of little things with the
folks and hope I can recall them all when I'm aged.  Anyways, yesterday I had
lunch with an old friend for lunch.  Remember my previous post about this
lunch meeting, well it was just about making connections for her job as a
financial planner as well as catching up.  Nothing more sinister than that.  

Well, time to head out for yoga class.  Picked up a couple pounds due to good
eatings from Mom and lack of exercise several nights.  Oh well.  Tonight's
blog entry brought to you by "Domino Dancing" Pet Shop Boys.