Disastrous Areas

Here's a picture of the disastrous area (our apartment).
And here's an outside picture of another disastrous area (our new house). It doesn't show any signs of destruction (ripping and stripping) inside.

Work (Stripping) in Progress

Good morning. Before I HAVE TO start packing here at our apartment, I thought I'd update some photos from the last two days.

Here's the kitchen floor underneath the two layers of lenoleum. I have to say they weren't as bad as you might think. Sadly the original wood floor beneath cannot be saved... so eventually we may want to tile (No! More work!) or something.

Joe completed ripping the large upstair bathroom. He described the orange carpeting as "Toby the Cat" and it's all gone. Again, we cannot reveal the floor underneath efficiently, so the final flooring for this room will have to be determined. (We're NOT tiling, are we? Maybe?) Meantime, this bare plywood floor beats the thick shag carpeting! And from there, Joe worked his way out in the small hallway and down the stairs, ripping the carpeting. Ambitious!!
Since we knew underneath the carpeting was the beautiful original wood floor in the dining room, Joe eagerly started ripping, skipping the living room. This floor will look very nice when finished, sanded and varnished. Our conclusion: Back in the 70s, they really didn't want to see wood, I mean real wood, in the house... unless it's FAKE wood. What were they thinking?? More stripping to be continued... yes, tonight after work.

P.S. We promise to take some pictures of the house outside soon.

Test, Test...

It was only yesterday that we called our internet provider for the new service at our new house. And this afternoon a technitian came to set our cable internet up. That was quick! So I'm now trying out our new connection with our blog posting.
Well, Joe is pounding his way up the stairs, taking off nasty wood strips with lots of small nails that were holding the carpeting in place. I better get started here too, back to ripping two layers of the kitchen linoleum. Fun!

Purple No More...

After only a few days of our home ownership, we've realized how exhausting it really is to own a house. There're lots to do and lots to think about, though it's fun and exciting at the same time. I (Kayo) had to work all weekend and only spent a couple of hours on Saturday evening at our new house. I peeled off all the sticky shelving paper from the kitchen cabinet for a starter. Joe on the other hand spent lots more time in our new house. He first ripped the thin blue carpeting in his toy room (downstairs), then finished ripping the PURPLE shag in our bedroom by the end of Saturday. You've got to see the purple room! Joe said it was like they killed Barney and put in the blender and smeared it all over.There's no other way to describe it, really. But that Barney purple carpet is all gone, except for a small chunk about a foot square for our keepsake! And Joe got rid of the ugly linoleum too, only revealing pine wood planks. Joe was very ambitious to even start ripping another big shagged room- the upstair bathroom, a big one. Not purple, but orange. You know I love orange, but not that much in shag, in bathroom. So, this week we continue ripping!!

Happy Anniversary!

Three years!! Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. It's amazing how quickly time passes, and at the same time how it feels like forever... like we've always been together. To make it a special 5th, we both had a day off from work and planned a day trip to Munising to see some waterfalls and to check on wild morel mushrooms in the area. We got to Munising, browsed a used book store and had ice cream... then our plans got changed, not for worse.
Earlier in the day we learned the fact that we will be home owners this Friday, only in three days!!! A house is our three-year anniversary present! We'd been anticipating the progress of our home buying for about a month now, but every step is a new and greater adventure for us. And quite frankly, everything's been going pretty fast!

Anyway, we had to turn around and drive back home (oh, about 45 minutes) to take care of an important matter. After all was done, we had our P.B.J. sandwich lunch at home and decided to go fishing Joe's usual stream. First, we found trout lilies and bloodroots (photo) in bloom. Then Joe spotted some suckers (carp like fish who swim upstream to spawn just like steelhead) in the water. When we got to Frowling Falls, we could see lots and lots of suckers in the deep pool, trying to swim up the falls in vain.

And look! Kayo caught a sucker!! Even though it wasn't a trout, catching a fish was very exciting. Joe released the fish, and Kayo was relieved because she doesn't like the sucker's toothless round mouth. It wasn't the only excitement. On our hike back we saw a steelhead couple getting ready to spawn. The female did her dance (photo) to dig the gravel; the male chased away small fish that hung around waiting to eat the fresh eggs. What a picture of their survival. Anyway, Joe casted a lure that resembled one of those small fish at the steelheads, hoping one of them would chase and bite it. Well, it instead spooked the male into his hiding spot... a smart guy. As for the female, despite everything Joe tried, she made very little notice. Even when a lure bounced right on her head, she just dodged and minded her own business. Joe just couldn't believe all this. Finally one last cast got her attention, and Joe felt her on. The next moment Kayo almost got snagged when Joe set the hook and the lure went zinging past Kayo's head because the fish spit out the lure(hook). A very smart fish. Indeed. To top our evening off we went to the Brownstone Inn for dinner. We were hoping to have ribs but our luck was holding true because they only serve ribs on the weekend. So we had burgers and beer for dinner. How romantic. But it was a very fitting end to our day. Joe is wondering how he is going to top a house as an anniversary gift next year.

Wild Things!

Yesterday we unexpectedly had a fresh fish to add for dinner (thanks to Joe's dad). Joe wanted to do it up right, so he even washed some wild leeks from the woods (a photo below). A wild trout with wild leeks certainly was a taste of spring!! As always Kayo enjoyed eating the fish to the bones, while Joe watched her eat and picked its cheek meat for him to savor. *The original dinner menu was Mexican pork stew (Posole) + Margarita!
And today we picked up Shark steak from the grocery store... Kayo got really lucky to have fish for dinner three days in a row: Friday she ran to Thill's (our local fish house) for a QUICK pick of the fish for dinner. Joe doesn't seem to mind eating Shark for some strange reason. He is in fact almost done grilling right now!!! Shark steak kabab and grilled mixed veggies over jasmine rice for dinner. Ummm... it's smelling goooood!

Fish in the Fridge!

I (Kayo) had to work for a few hours today, so Joe and his dad left before 8 a.m. for fishing their favorite Apple Creek. This being their first attempt this year, Joe had to clear the trail with his proud machete... he just loves swinging that thing like he were Indiana Jones in jungle (without his hat)!

Anyway, when I came home from work, he was gone to see a scary (not for Kayo) movie. In fact, I'm updating this fishing blog without him, wishing he would have taken some photos of actual fishermen in action. There was a note on the kitchen table telling me to look inside the fridge. There I found a nice 14" German Brown (one kind of trout) that Joe's dad had caught!! I guess that's a good enough proof of their fishing adventure... I wish I had been there... but then they might say I (Kayo) am the bad luck charm!