Mostly what I know about deep frying turkey involves horrible YouTube videos of the process being done incorrectly. And usually there’s a bonfire near the end of these videos. So this was pretty exciting to watch.
On Friday, Bob and Julie headed in to Chicago to help us work on the basement. With the powerwashing complete, our next step was to skim sections of the basement walls that needed some concrete/repair. Here, Liz and Bob are checking out the requirements for each bag (1.25 gallons of water per bag).
The apple pie was delicious, as always. Final count: 22 (which interestingly enough was the same count from 2014).
New day, new power washer. Bob was kind enough to pick this guy up on his way over today.
We spent a good deal of the day getting prepped for work. But unfortunately, when all was said and done… the powerwasher had some issues. There was water coming through, but there was a leak somewhere that Bob couldn’t fix without taking the engine apart.
Today, Julie and Bob stopped over to help us with the house. Outside, Julie and Liz were at work on the parkway. Inside, Bob was taking measurements and making plans while I was in the basement, continuing to work on removing bricks from the chimney.
It’s been a long two days of work, and a remarkable four days of change. Considering how things looked Thursday, it’s hard to believe. I think we’re lucky to have this bench, because for the foreseeable future… every time I get back here, I’m going to be blown away. And will need to sit down, to marvel at it all.
A lot of the tables were taken up (blame it on a nice Saturday evening), so Bob and I grabbed some stools at the bar. It’s always neat coming here with Bob, as this was a bar he frequented many years ago, when he was working on the South Side.
We brought a box over to the house, and found that Bob decided to add a little bit of… commentary? A warning? Perhaps both. Completing the sentence, really.
On Sunday, Bob and Julie came over to help us work on the house. Here they are with Liz, down in the basement going over future plans.
We arrived around 3PM, and spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening just hanging out with Bob and Julie. We had some drinks, opened some gifts, and whiled away the time until dinner. After traveling from Chicago to Atlanta to Chicago to Frankfort to Indianapolis and back to Frankfort… we were ready for a bit of a break.
After work, I headed down to Frankfort to help Bob move a few things. Originally, I was to help him deliver a custom advent display he created for Saint Elizabeth Seton Church – but by the time I arrived, he had already gotten someone to help transport the display inside.
On Saturday, Liz and I met up with Julie and Bob at the University of Chicago, inside the Center for Care and Discovery building. Bob was scheduled to undergo a surgical procedure (something I really haven’t mentioned on here, before now). Without going into details, suffice it to say it was a serious procedure and we’ll leave it at that.
Liz would fill the mixer with 1.5 gallons of water. Then I’d dump in an 80 pound bag of cement. We’d mix that for a few seconds, and then I’d dump in another bag. That got mixed for about 4-5 minutes, and then poured into the ground. As Bob scooped the cement in to the hole, we repeated the process all over again.
It was great to see Bob working in Autocad, laying out a rough plan for where things should go. With the bulk of our work focused on cleaning and demo, it was exhilarating to think about future stuff – to think on the creating the new, instead of removing the old. I know that Liz in particular was very excited/happy afterwards.