A Work Day in the Middle of Vacation, Surprising Bonus

The Ridge

On Monday, Aug. 10^th, I woke up just after Bill. He was actually just coming out of the bathroom around 7 when I decided that I wasn’t going to walk today. This turned out to be a good decision as will be evident later. Instead, I enjoyed relaxing a bit. Bill had received a call from Mike, his boss, last night telling him that he wasn’t needed today. It had to do with waiting for a permit before starting a garage build.

Lack of pictures means you get to see what I did this morning
The bottom left corner still needs work

So, he was going to have an easier day of doing things for himself. There were a few things on his list but a few required us picking up some wood. We decided on making a trip to Hanover this afternoon. I had informed Mitch, my boss, that I needed another 4 days off for LadyFest but offered to work today for 3 or 4 hours. I had my tea with Bill and we sat at our laptops catching up on our blogger friends.

By this time, I was getting pretty comfortable with it

At a few minutes before 9, I drove around the corner. Mitch was ready for me and taught me a new procedure. When this stuff will ever come in handy AFTER I’m done there is likely ‘never’ but it is fun learning and earning some cash while I’m at it. Today, I hooked up the hand sander to the air compressor and worked on the 1996 (?) Chev pick up that was dropped off last Thursday. This truck doesn’t need major work, just sanding and repainting.

Again here, the dark blue needs to be sanded

I make it sound small but for 3 ½ hours I sanded the fiberglass tonneau cover, the top edges of the box and down the sides to the lower panels. It took me about half hour to get the hang of it, as Mitch said it would, but controlling the ‘trigger’ switch was not easy for me. It would be easier if there was a button like on my hand beater. You ladies know what I mean. Anyway, I worked with it and Mitch came over often to check on the progress.

He couldn’t say it enough or often enough that I was doing ‘great, perfect, you’re doing fine’ so that sure helps when you are doing a job for the first time. He is a great confidence booster. By 11:30 I was feeling peckish so had a peanut bar from the car and carried on. With tomorrow being LadyFest, I didn’t want to go home for lunch and return. I had things of my own to do yet but I did want to get as much done as I could for him.

First, I laid in the hammock and let the breezes cool me down

By 12:30, I had finished the areas he gave me to work on and then I said “Mit\ch, I’m going home. I’m completely bushed and will start screwing up if I continue.” Of course, he had to tease me about quitting on him but then when I was writing my time on the calendar, he surprised the heck out of me. He told me that when I return on the 17^th, he was giving me a 1$ raise! Wha? When he told me that I was a good worker, he could count on me and that the work I did was good, I left with a bounce in my step. Not even 2 months and he is increasing my pay. Nice!

Back home, I had some lunch as Bill had already eaten at noon and after my much-needed shower, we drove to Hanover.  I was literally covered in blue/gray dust from face to feet. I had a list of groceries to pick up at Walmart, including a few things for Bill this week on his own, and we stopped at Home Hardware and then Rona for his wood pieces etc.

By the time we returned home, it was hot again and humid. The thermometer was reading 29C/88F feeling much hotter.  Bill puttered around outside on one of his projects (you’ll see when he next posts) and inside, I began putting a few things away in the cupboards preparing for Wednesday. Bill is taking the Suite in to Hometown Tire in Walkerton. Yes, new tires and grease job.

And then there were two

When we'd each finished I pulled the hammock into the shade and stretched out. There had to be a bit of weight distribution between us but we finally settled and rested in the cool of this afternoon’s breeze. It was lovely and eventually time to move back inside to start supper. Thanks to one of my blogger friends for the idea, we had pork stir fry. To onions, peppers and green onions from the garden 😊, the pork loin, a bit of dressing and chop from last night, I added sweet and sour sauce.

This was delicious! I need leftover pork more often.

With a small serving of rice each, this was a wonderful meal. All that was missing was some pineapple and as we were eating, I remembered that I have some in the cupboard. LOL After dishes, Bill moved outside to finish working and because it was very warm in there, I moved out to a chair in the shade to finish writing. There are more words than photos today, sorry, I guess other things took priority over picture-taking.

Good night everyone!

This was a good day and now I’m back on vacation. I loaded the bag of clothes for exchange in Ptooties and went through a few things I’d set out for my suitcase. We don’t need as many clothing changes this year as we’re not completely sure how many times we’ll be out and about. Stay tuned to see what us girls get up to!

Thank you for stopping by! Always, always, always feel free to comment.