Painters tape to the rescue..

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Every once in a while I have a good idea.

And every rarer once in a while my husband has to admit it.

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He’d been out front struggling with those silly balustrades popping in and out of the top rail for an hour on the second frustrating day when I said “Why don’t we just tape them in place until we get them lined up?”

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He grumbled and swore it wouldn’t work, but ya know what?

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It was the perfect solution.

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Time consuming, yes.

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But we lined those babies up and snapped that top rail on smooth as butter.

The hardest part was him admitting it was my idea.

🤣

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News you can’t use.

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Because it’s everywhere, it might as well be here.

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A bunch is too much for me.

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This headline flirts with crossing the line to useful news, but it’s still ridiculous…. so I’m including it.

And in case you’re wondering, it’s 5 minutes.

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This is funny.

But only if you don’t live close by and have to endure the cacophony at 4:00am.

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And just like that, I’m glad my gift subscription ran out again.

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Not good.

Not good at all.

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Ouch!

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So guess what was delivered today…

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You knew this was coming, right?

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Yes, my husband bought the horse drawn carriage/buckboard/grocery delivery van.

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Whatever you want to call it, it’s old, it’s big and it’s cumbersome.

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He wheeled it behind the shed…

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And realizing no one would see it there…

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Moved it out in front of the barn.

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It’s in remarkably good shape, though the leather seat is quite cracked.

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Fully functionally as it can be… without an actual horse.

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And my husband gets a huge kick out of the tiny tailgate.

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So, yeah.

We own an antique horse drawn vehicle now.

🥴

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Polyphemus.. day 3.

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Polly is almost fully cocooned.

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And it looks like we won’t be able to move that piece of stone siding anytime soon .

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Why it picked that particular spot I don’t know, but now I feel responsible and will have to make sure it’s safe.

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The metamorphosis is pretty spectacular.

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And with a six inch wing span, it’s one of the largest we have in Maine.

Though I can’t say I envy it…

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Mother Nature can be harsh.

🥺

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Another easy to install part of the project proves to be anything but…

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Since we have to wait for the custom made door to arrive (they said three weeks when we bought it, but now they’re saying five, which probably means six. Sigh.) the stone work had to be paused and we moved on to the oh so easy to install PVC railings and balustrades.

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If nothing else, we’re learning easy is a relative term.

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Numerous pieces and parts.

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Which my husband has the maddening habit of putting on our glass top stove. 😳

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The bottom rail was simple enough, but when it came time for the balustrades?

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Not so much.

Oh, they’re easy enough to seat in the bottom holes, but as soon as you line up a few on the top rail? The rest pop out. It’s not a one person job, so I helped.

Turns out it’s not a two person job either.

Which is when our contractor happened to be driving by and stopped in to say hello.

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Guess what?

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It’s not a three person job either.

No matter how many hands we had holding things in place, the damned things wouldn’t line up properly.

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We twisted, we turned, we finagled to no avail.

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And after an afternoon of frustration?

I’m wondering if we can’t just leave them like this…

🥴

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Let’s play.

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Because your brain needs a work out every now and then.

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I figure I would have lasted about an hour and a half, and only if I didn’t leave the cave.

I’m a lot of things, but a survivalist isn’t one of them.

I don’t camp. ( nowhere to plug in my blow dryer )

I can’t make fire. ( without a lighter )

I don’t fish and I don’t hunt. ( unless it’s down a grocery aisle )

Hell, I can’t even tell a good mushroom from a poisonous one. ( though in the late 70’s I discovered a different kind of good ‘shroom 😉 )

Yup, an hour and a half sounds about right.

How about you?

What’s your prehistoric survival time limit…

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No snarky comments necessary, I’m aware humans and dinosaurs didn’t co exist.

Or did they…?

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🤣