Last night we made a tentative plan of what we wanted to get done this morning. We decided that we would haul the old windows from the garage renovation along with quite a few cans of old paint to the landfill. The hours of operation on Saturdays are 8 to 12. We were just finishing up breakfast and getting ready to load the pickup when Matt and Hanna arrived to look at our tile layout and checkout our new sink and counter-top.

After looking over our tile pattern, Matt pointed out a few problems with the layout. We then spent the next hour measuring and trying different ideas. It was decided the six inch square tiles would not work and needed to be returned to Home Depot. They would be replaced by three by six inch tiles and another decorative row. This new design eliminates a lot of tile cutting and works better around the outlets and switches on the back splash area. By the time Matt and Hanna left, it was almost 11:30. So much for going to the landfill--Matt also wanted the old windows, so the main reason for going to the landfill no longer existed.

The tile work is going to commence on Monday morning and we needed to have all the new sized tile here by then. John and I headed off to Bemidji, stopped at BK for a quick lunch, and then headed to the Home Depot. After digging around the shelves of tile, we found two full cases of the size and color we needed for our project. Then it was back home and laying out the new tiles. We think we have finally found what looks good and will work without having to do a lot of cutting.

Our garden is overrun with cucumbers, so this evening we made our first batch of bread and butter pickles. Since we have a glass top stove, we used the burner on our out door grill to process the pickles. It worked out real slick and we didn't have to heat up the house.


We have been watching the progress of Irene as we have friends who live on an island off the New Jersey coast and John's sister lives right outside Philadelphia in South Jersey. He talked to his sister last night and she said they have set a record for rainfall in August and is concerned about the rains and wind coming their way--they have many big trees in their lower yard and the ground is saturated. John learned from his sister that the Jersey shore has been evacuated, so we're sure our friends are safe with their son way inland from the ocean. Hopefully we'll be able to contact them in a few days and see if their house survived the storm.