The Craftiest Workshop

Monday morning we drove to Fort McMurray to spend some time on house repairs and visit our two sons living there.

The plan was to empty one of the bedrooms that needed some drywall repairs then paint. It had been almost a year and a half since we had been back. There was an abundance of large Amazon boxes and styrofoam that needed to be taken to the recycling center and the rest dumped. We took two truckloads of cardboard and many bags of packing materials away. There was also some bags of yard waste to dispose of. The last thing was bottles and cans to be taken to the bottle depot. It is hard for someone who has no car and doesn’t drive to take things like that anywhere.

After all that was accomplished there was room to start moving furniture around. One of our sons, Matthew, has recently moved in with his girlfriend so we boxed up any of his stuff that he had not taken. We moved out two double beds and their mattresses. Now we only have one queen bed downstairs and another in the master upstairs.

By weeks end, he living room area in the basement suite once again looks like it should with just a couch, lamp and small refrigerator.

We got the bedroom dry walled, sanded and painted then put all of Matthew’s stored items in there. Jonathan opted for the other basement bedroom as it is cooler for sleeping in the summer. He may move upstairs for the winter months.

All of this done in preparation for potentially trying to sell that house in the next year. There are still other fix it jobs there left to do but that will have to be for another visit.

The eight hour drive both ways was fairly uneventful aside from strong winds.

There were a few fires in the last couple days. One burned the administration buildings at the Ukrainian Cultural Village just east of Edmonton. Many artifacts were destroyed. Yesterday, the town of Hines Creek, an hour north of us, had a big fire at its sawmill. Grass fires seem to be popping up daily but so far none have gotten far enough out of hand to threaten homes or lives.

We arrived back home to the sound of croaking frogs. This morning I opened the door to hear robins singing. I knew they would be back before we returned. I was driving home from Easter Sunday service and had this huge gorgeous sky in front of me. It all shouts “new life” to me on the blessed Easter Day. Happy Easter everyone!