Another busy day at the Inn

      It’s hard to believe it is Wednesday already. The week has just been flying by. I spent a bit of time this morning trying to get from under my paper. Filing, sorting, pending, new files… yuck! Boring work but someone has got to do it. Paid a couple of bills and headed over to the Inn to work on the McGinnis.

      I had taped it off yesterday in preparation for today. So out came the paint brushes and I got to work.  I only painted the wall beneath the chair rail, so it when pretty fast. Two coats of honey-colored paint later, the afternoon had slipped away and the sun was starting to wane. I sealed my paint can, washed out my paint brushes, and placed them on the sink to dry. I did a quick run through the Inn, making sure the heat was turned down, the doors locked, and the lights off. It’s going to be a cold one tonight. The weatherman says it should drop into the 20’s with a chance of flurries.

      With that in mind, I took the leftover food from the dinner last night (oh, I didn’t tell you about that yet) to the little house and started a fire in the stove for the evening. It started without a hitch. I added a couple of medium sized logs to the firebox and opened the vent to get a nice air flow going. Grabbing my work gloves and my hat, I went outside with the dogs to finish the raking near the pond where RJ was unable to pick up the leaves with the tractor.  My goodness, the leaves were deep! Even with all the trees we took down earlier this year, there are still a ton of leaves to pick up. I was listening to NRP this afternoon and the garden guy on the radio reminded me to pick up the leaves so there will be no damage to the lawn after the snow falls. That was exactly what happened last fall when after 80 bags of leaves, the snow fell and that was it until spring. Unfortunately there were several piles that did not get picked up, which left a couple of large dead stops on the lawn. I’m not going to do that again. Therefore, I’m out there until the sun went down and beyond picking up wet, icky leaves and twigs. Now I can’t even see anything because it’s so dark. You have to remember, I am in the country. The moon is my light, when there is one. So I picked up about 5 bags, tied them up, and called it a night.

      Inside, the house smelled of manicotti, stuffed with 4 cheeses and homemade sauce. The garlic bread is begging to be warmed up. I pulled out the dogs’ bowls and measured cup after cup of kibble into their bowls. Add a little canned dog food and a bit of water and they are ready to go.  Cooper can barely wait until his bowl hits the ground before his face is into the bowl swallowing it whole.  Bentley, on the other hand, is a bit more patient. He is so tall, his head looks over the counter and watches as I mix his food and put it into his stand. 

      RJ comes in from putting the tractor away and announces he will be returning to the Inn to finish painting the trim for our carpenter.  The food smelled too good. We had dinner then he went back over to the Inn.

      Tomorrow it’s the vet for Cooper, the Springer, and Sam, the Maine Coon Cat.

      Oh, yea, I almost forgot about yesterday’s dinner.  RJ spoke at the Scottsville Rotary Club meeting that is held at the Genesee Country Inn. He spoke about his trip to California, where it helps with the wildfires in San Diego.  Since he retired in January, he drives a catastrophe van for Travelers. Pretty cool! His job is to get the mobile to the location of the disaster, set up the office, and get it back to its home base when the work is over.  He brought back some very disturbing pictures of homes and vehicles that were totally destroyed by the fires. I was so proud of him! Although he was gone for a month and I missed him terribly, someone had to take the time to help those in need. And I’m proud to say my husband was there to help.