Renovation Almost Complete

We are pleased to say that our renovation is almost complete.  The contracted part of it is and now we just have to do some painting and flooring and moving all the freezers and building some storage shelves.  Our contractor, Larry and his helper Glen, did a good job getting it done in jig time.  I originally decided to ask him if he could do the job last Tuesday and he started the job on Wednesday about noon.  That is fast.  They cleaned up the work site and I paid them and off they went this Tuesday.  That was quick!!!  Good job guys.

 This renovation will give us a lot more room to work in the main food and ice cream area as well as a little area for a desk and some chairs for those rainy days when we are taking a break.  Of course Grace got to set up her toys first because we need to get some flooring in there before we start moving freezers and building shelves.

Because we won't be using the shack in the winter so insulation is not a factor, I felt that some skylights will make the area nice and light in the summer and we won't need lights to see in there.  As you can see the skylights are working well and there is ample sunlight coming through.

Our contractor doesn't drive a fancy rig, but it gets the job done.

Last weekend was the Town of Rivers town wide yard sale.  The local Chamber of Commerce organizes maps of all the sales and it attracts people from outside of town.  It is a great opportunity to get rid of lots of stuff and thats what we did.  When we sold our house a few years ago, we felt the necessity to keep a lot of things that we "may" use later.  Well 4 years later we have not used any of it so it is time for it to go.  Kaitlyn and Greg, and Stacey and Gord, and Elaine joined in of the sale.  It was held at Kaitlyn's house in town.

This was not all our stuff.  The kids had lots to sell too!!

Susan had to leave to open up CJ's before lunch so she made us all lunch and Stacey and Gord picked it up and brought it back to town.  Susan is such a pretty cook with her fashion Chef wear!!

The kids always enjoy Gramma's shack food.  Nicole and Abby, Silas and Emma joined us as well.

Grace, Silas, Emma and Nicole

I love how creative people can get when they find a bargain.  This lady just had to have this little table and guess what?  It fits right there on top of the kid carrier!!

Susan has decided to employ a young lady to help out in the busy times on the weekends.  So this week we welcomed Trista to CJ's family.  Trista is 14 years old and is still in school until the end of June.  She will work 4 hours Friday and Saturdays to start with and maybe a few more shifts when we get busier in the summer.  We hope she will enjoy working with us, and we will certainly enjoy having her help.  Welcome Trista!!

Although she is only 14, Trista comes with some talents.  She is very artistic and has done some signs for us.  She pays a lot of attention to detail.  One of the perks of this job is the ice cream.  I made her a banana split at the end of her shift.

I had a couple projects that I worked on this week as well.  The first was to re-paint the "Free Game" sign on hole 18.  At least now people know what hole to aim for to get a free game.

All taped off ready for paint

The finished product

The other project was to make moving ice cream pails easier.  When these pails are full they weigh about 20 pounds and there is not much to grab when you have to lift a bottom pail to the top.  Because we have about 24 flavours of ice cream you have to keep moving pails from the bottom to the top to find the flavour you are scooping.  Your fingers are cold and the lip of the pail digs into them and they really start to hurt after a while.  Susan especially feels it and now that we have Trista, she struggles a bit with the heavy pails.   

So what could I do?  While I was thinking, I noticed a pair of tongs on the grill!!  What about a little modification?  Hmmmmmm!!

So out came the hammer and some pliers.

Some precise bending and fitting and look what I came up with?   Maybe I should patent it??

It even passed inspection and trial by the ice cream lady!!!!  No more sore fingers!  I hope it makes life easier for them.

Our boat rentals have been slow to start but the weather has been so so on the weekends.  Whether we rent them or not, they have to get cleaned up once in a while, and that is my job.

And Grace and I had to make sure the rescue boat still runs.  It did fine.

Some of you may question why there are so many pictures of our grand daughter Grace and not as may of our other grandkids.  That is because she lives a couple miles from us so she has the opportunity to be here lots.  The other grandchildren are not as close and only get to visit us on occasion.  Oh and here is a picture down the lane by the Ponderosa and yes that is Grace riding her bike.

And Grace getting a drink of water from a tap.  It was fun to teach her how to run the water down her cheek and into her mouth.  Do you remember drinking water like this as a kid?  I sure do.

Oh yes, and Grace at the spider tree!!

That is what happened around here this week.  The leaves and grass have been really getting green and it is looking more like summer every day.  Lots of Dandelions right now.  This is the view out our window again this week!!