The Uplands

 Today did not go as planned but we still got almost everything done. We started with the walk. When we reached Joan's house Joan was busy throwing away her old trampoline as Rodney gave her his.

Ruth asked if she could have the old one for her chickens. Joan explained there was a rip on the side so was not good for bouncing but Ruth replied, "my chickens won't be using it for bouncing." Of course we ALL laughed. She loaded up the top, the net and the frame.

Later she sent the picture below of the repurposed trampoline.

It is now an movable grazing pen so they can be free range. The chickens can't be let loose right now as they have just planted their garden but this works perfectly.

A bit later we reached Rachel's and had to really admire the repurposing David did with the pilings he brought home from Gulf Shores. 

They put them above their retaining wall with the rope, then the stairs and finally the dock. That really looks great. Spark came by looking for some tools to borrow from Mike to work on the Kubota shed. He was asking Diane when she leaned into his car and asked why the car smelled good. 

As you can see Diane started laughing when she realized the smell was coming from the dumpster and not Spark's car. Yes that set us laughing again. 

After the walk and after breakfast I went to finish the barn as we had a family coming at 10:30 am to check it out for their family event for next year.  Once that was all cleaned up Mark wanted to hook up the aluminum trailer, back it into the barn and load the floor scrubber and the floor sweeper on that for our trip this afternoon to the Uplands in Norris, IL. That did not go as planned. It was backed into position and only then did Mark see we had a flat. No problem he took the golf cart over to the other barn, got his air compressor but it just wouldn't fill. 

The stem was split and the air was leaking out faster than we could fill it. The trailer assist was used to get the tire off so we could run that to Zanes for repair.

About that time the family arrived to see the barn. They loved the barn but wanted to look at the other 3 airbnb's also. When we got to Diane's Waterview Walkout the door was open and there was a bird flying around the kitchen. The younger lady just reached out and grabbed it.

She let it go outside. After the family left we came inside to have some lunch. We kept noticing the song of a Baltimore Oriole and finally saw it sitting on the power line.

Zanes just didn't get to the tire. I called Beth to let her know we were going to be late, she and Greg were at Sam's so were going to come here to help lift that 300 pound machine onto the truck so we could still get the job done today. The good news from that was Beth told us the floor had been swept and we would not need the sweeper, just the scrubber. We went over to the barn to unhook the trailer when Mike arrived with the Kubota. He told us that he had a trailer that would work. We took the truck over hooked it up and brought it back to the barn. It works the same as Mark's it tilts down for loading.

It took Mark, Mike and me to get it on the trailer as Mike's is much taller.

It was pulled up to the front so Mike and Mark could strap it down.

We pulled in at the Uplands just a little later than the 2:00 pm target. 

Beth and Greg were there to show us where to park. Justin was there to help unload. Justin helped get the scrubber into the event barn and brought in some buckets of hot water. Once the machine was put back together Mark went to work.

Willow and Bradley arrived to drop off Willow's cart for her wedding reception.

They are getting married on Saturday, the very first event for the Uplands.

Beth gave me a tour of the event building and the lodge while Mark was working.

To see those pictures click HERE. After Beth and Greg left I got the mop to clean up the parts Mark's machine couldn't hit. A big storm moved in with sheets of rain, lightning and thunder. Just then a semi truck arrived with the last load of sand for the beach. Below is a video of that getting dumped and Mark working.

By the time we finished the rain had slowed to a sprinkle. Justin came over to help load the machine back. The ride back was uneventful. The trailer backed and the machine unloaded then the trailer returned to Mike and Diane's. Dinner was after we got home and dried off. I needed to make something quick so just pulled out some egg rolls and fish fillets then added a salad. 

The rain started back up this evening and we got just over a half an inch in a short period of time. The rain gauge was dumped as I thought the rain was over but now it started back up again. Tomorrow Fedi and I are leaving early to take two campers to Maroa, IL to get the recall fixed so will have an early night tonight.