Never a Dull Moment

 

Friday night, Terry finished the door to the basement closet.

Here he is hanging the slider for the door.

 

This is the door we got for $20 at the salvage yard.

Terry sanded it down, and painted it white.

 

And finally, this closet/pantry is no longer an eyesore.

 

*

 

Time for a road trip...

 

On Saturday we went to a couple of estate sales on Grosse Ile,

and on the back we decided to take the scenic route.

We drove down Jefferson Avenue,

all the way from Grosse Ile to downtown detroit.

 

Turns out, it was not very "scenic".

 

Piles of "PetCoke".

 

Strange gated industrial areas.

 

Power plants.

 

Alleys to nowhere.

 

Boarded up shells of once beautiful buildings.

 

Giant industries behind barbed wire fences.

 

Historic Fort Wayne... crumbling.

 

We did speak with a lovely young lady

 who sat in the guard booth at Fort Wayne,

and she gave us a little info about what's going on there.

 

It is number one on our list this spring,

to go for a visit here.

 

Can't even remember what this empty old building is...

 

Coming up to the Ambassador Bridge...

 

Hard to see through all of this crap.

 

There she is through the rearview...

 

We spent a few minutes on reflections and reminiscences,

of fun trips to Canada...

 

and then reminded ourselves

 that we can't even go over that bridge to Canada anymore,

unless we go through the pricey new process

of "driver's license enhancement". 

 

Pretty church.

Terry was driving too fast to get the name.

Why can't he read my mind?

 

 

What is this?

The old train station, or police station, or whatever...

 

Some rich person bought it,

and has no immediate plans for it,

 so to appease complaints about the condition of the building,

 they put 50 million "cheapass" windows in it.

 

It looks ridiculous.

 

 

Coming into the heart of downtown Detroit.

 

Casino? Nope, not today, not ever.

I might as well throw my money out the car window.

 

The two iconic coney islands in Detroit need professional security now...

Sad.

 

Coming up to Ford Field and Comerica Park.

 

There it is. Tiger Stadium.

Always gives me hope for summer.

 

Coming down Woodward Avenue.

What a mess!

The lightrail project (stupid),

They might as well bring back the horse and carriage while they're at it.

 

Another cool church,

but Terry refused to block traffic so I could get a good look at it.

What's wrong with him?

 

Finally, the end of our journey...

Eight mile and Woodward.

 

There is the "State Fair Apartments",

where my Grandma used to live,

and we visited every weekend.

 

Looks empty, but I'm not sure.

 

This road trip was fun, sad, enlightening;

surely not dull.

Fun to not take the freeway for a change... 

Sad that miles and miles of riverfront are off limits...

Enlightening to the challenges that the city of Detroit faces...

 

and never a dull moment with my sweetie pie.

 

Houses

 

Another dreary evening working in the basement.

 

Terry is finishing up the closet,

when wait a minute...

 

Nick shows up with a new car...

 

and his new puppy Milo.

 

That kid keeps busy,

 and the new Husky puppy is ADORABLE.

Back to the basement.

Terry has finished the wall,

now he's working on the sliding door.

 

We picked up an old louvered door at the salvage yard downtown,

and it needs alot of work.

So now we're in the bathroom downstairs.

 

Painting the ceiling black,

 and Terry is now adding a drop down ceiling over the sink,

 with a light in it.

Just can't get enough cedar in this basement.

Love it.

Painting a basement ceiling

 is probably the stupidest idea I've ever come up with...

but Terry's project is coming along nicely.

 

I got sick of painting,

and worked on the doll house for a while.

 

*

 

Saturday afternoon, we went to some estate sales in Detroit.

 

One was dangerously close to Brightmoor...

So we finally mustered up the courage

 to go by the old house that my mother grew up in.

 

I was speechless at the sight of it.

 

The grand house I had visited every weekend

 as a child has been reduced to a hollowed out shell.

 

The home that my Grandfather so lovingly cared for

 and kept looking pristine, sat looking like a casualty of war.

 

Bright Red, with White awnings.

Manicured lawn, and flowers, and grapevines on the fence.

 

Thank goodness, I have my visual memories of this house.

 

That is all that is left. 

 

Back at home, Terry finished the drop down

 over the sink in the basement bathroom,

 and I still have to finish the painting of the ceiling. Argh.

 

I don't like that big painting thing,

so back to the dollhouse,

 where I did an awesome tiny paint job in one of the rooms,

 

and then I cut the carpeting wrong,

that I paid twenty dollars for.

 

OMG, I was mad.

 

But I love houses.

Big houses, little doll houses,

 old houses, and memories of houses.

What Happened to December?

 

Oh my gosh, I seem to be posting less and less.

December completely got away from me...

 

Not having much time to work on the doll house project either.

 

I am working on some tiny wainscoated walls in one of the bedrooms. 

 

I ran out of the wood slats,

and had to wait a while until we could get back to the dollhouse store.

 

It's almost done, just need some chair rail trim...

 

What's this?

 

It's a new treadmill track.

The old one was pretty worn out, so we got a replacement tread.

 

OMG, It took us all evening to take it all apart and put it back together.

Won't do that EVER again.

Terry's brother finally got on Social Security,

 so we rented him an apartment right by our house.

 

This is a bunch of household goods

 I've been getting together for him.

I didn't realize how hard it would be to start from square one,

 with a person who has lost everything.

 

Meanwhile, Christmas came and went,

 and I felt very thankful for everything I have.

 

Even made "Mom's Fudge Recipe".

 

Taking the brother to the grocery store,

that's a fun excursion.

 

He did sleep on the floor for a couple of weeks,

but I got him a mattress.

 

A little at a time, we'll get him set up.

He needs a dining room table of some sort, and a couch or chair.

For now, he's just happy to not be homeless anymore. 

 

We did take a day trip in the week between Christmas and New Years,

and we went to Standish, Michigan, to the Sauganing Casino.

(I think that's how you spell it).

 

Crappy casino, but always a good time with Bob & Peg.

 

OOH, last weekend, epic estate sale find.

A whole box of old doll house furniture.

Yes!

 

 

Look at that adorable vanity.

 

Terry is now working on a project I've been waiting for a while now.

enclosing the pantry/closet in the basement.

I'm very excited to get this one done.

 

That's all for now.