July recap and what have we gotten into?

Blessed with a wonderful summer this year we cannot complain about the weather and I spent lots of time outdoors working on beautifying the garden.  At the beginning of the month we took another trip across the border to Detroit. When we drove to Pittsburgh to purchase Benno’s milling machine last month we had received the wrong tooling and a new set was sent to a UPS store in Detroit for us to pick up. It was easier for the company to ship within the USA and not a problem for us to go and get it, all legal to bring back and we had the opportunity to stop by IKEA in Detroit across the UPS store to get a few items that were on our list to purchase. Our three grandkids with our son and daughter-in-law came visiting for a long weekend in July. That had been the only time our camper had been used other than our short winter getaway this year.  At least we made sure everything was working in it and our two grand daughters had been looking forward to sleeping in it with their daddy to keep them company. Our daughter-in-law we enjoyed having in the guest room together with our youngest grandkid. That was a busy weekend and great fun having all of them here. We should do that more often. It’s just too bad that it is such a long drive to visit each other.  Oh, and I should mention our two dachshunds had the most fun with the kids! Before I forget to mention, the Coast Guard boat I had written about in previous posts is sitting all finished up tied to the dock at the Hike Metal Company. The Coast Guard crew is there now and commission the boat. They will run it to Halifax via the Welland Canal and St. Lawrence Seaway where it will be transferred onto a freighter (Lift ship) and sent to Vancouver via the Panama Canal. And what have we got ourselves into? We live in a neighborhood part of Leamington, which is very close to Wheatley and the Lake Erie is just 400 feet away from our property. It used to be a cottage area for folks from Windsor or Detroit and now the area has slowly changed from seasonal occupation to 12 months a year occupation with a healthy mix of retirees, professionals and artists. Next to our property bordering our easterly fence is an 80 x 120 ft loot owned by some folks from Colorado and California who had inherited it from their family who used to live in Detroit . It is just land with no building on it and these people had been trying to sell this property for a long, long time as it was purchased some decades ago. Interest was there from a few would be buyers but nothing turned into a sale. The Detroit owner had paid the next neighbor, who has been living here for over 40 years, to cut the grass. Unknowingly he’d made the wolf to a Sheppard.  Over time a cloth line running through the middle of the property, cemented 4 feet deep into the ground, was added. A couple of truckloads of mulch had been dropped onto the grass, which is now so overgrown with weeds that it is rotten. A huge pile of rubbish, wood and garden debris is sitting at the end of the lot that will take weeks to clean up. And then there are many trees scattered about one third of the property that started their lives in large flowerpots but the roots found their way through them.  Then there are many items such as large metal things and a couple trailers etc. in the way of keeping the ground clean. But the biggest problem is that this neighbor has his garden junk encroaching 25 feet into this property. Needless to say, it is a problem lot. When we built our garage we had inquired to purchase this land or half of it in order to build a larger garage, but the owners wanted more money for the land than what we were willing to pay and thought it was worth.  After all this time we now have come to an acceptable agreement with the heirs and have relented in purchasing this property.  For the most part, we are just sick and tired of looking at it the way it has been for so long, so we are cleaning it up.  This process will take us a long time and perhaps a rental bin will be needed in addition to many trips with our trailer to dispose of yard refuse.  And that my friends, is where we have been spending our time, blood and sweat. Watch for progress reports.
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