If you haven’t noticed, this is not a speedy transformation. A good chunk of that is because we are doing what we can ourselves. Some stuff like the stone work, the basement floor, and the garage was just beyond our skill level or means. Part of the trade off of doing much of the work ourselves is either
A – life is on hold for the projects – or
B – projects get put on hold for life.
We chose B. We both work, and while our sons are both adults, family time is important.

The point of this post is some of the life that happened while we took a hiatus from projects.

Our youngest (Brandon) had put in a year at UW Madison and discovered that the degree he was going for just wasn’t for him (this revelation came at the end of his freshman year). After some soul searching and brainstorming he wanted to give welding a try. At this point, he had 0 welding experience. He had gone to Summer Scholar’s at Michigan Tech and he had really liked working with metal. So he enrolled in Northeastern Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) for welding. He moved back home and became a commuter student.

Brandon came to us asking if he could adopt a dog of his own. We had a senior Pomeranian/Pug mix (Sophie), and several cats. After talking responsibility and expenses we gave our blessing. After a bit of searching he took a chance and visited our county Human Society. They had recently received a “chihuahua” as a surrender. I went with Brandon, and who we met was no chihuahua. They brought a super loving boy whose legs looked far to short for his body, and head looked to big for his body. It was mutual love at first sight. The shelter required that all dogs and humans in the house had to meet the potential new dog before adoption could be finalized. This was a Friday, so all of us had to wait until Monday. Sophie was fine with this new dog (at 16 she was pretty chill) and Brad was fine with him. Kipp (the dog Brandon was attempting to adopt) was happy to see everyone! A call to our families vet, and Brandon was a proud pet parent.

Our oldest, Alex, was in his senior year at UW Madison. The company he had interned with over the summer kept him on as a remote intern when classes resumed. In September he had applied for a position that would be opening up the following spring, and was offered the job. He would be moving to Pennsylvania after graduation. The days of him being “only” 3 hours away were numbered. Brad and I took a weekend and went to Madison to spend time with Alex and his girl-friend Lauren.

Brad did fit in getting a load of lumber to start work on the new walls for the transformation of the former bathroom, 2 bedroom closets, and a bedroom into a bathroom, laundry room, hall closet, and walk-in bedroom closet. He would work on framing of the walls, and shimming studs where needed. More on that in another post.

In the midst of all this was 3 Fish Frys and a Brunch at our church that we volunteer with, before we knew it Easter was upon us, and given Brad’s role at church Holy Week was spent almost more at church than at home.

I took a weekend with Lauren’s mom and took a trip to Madison and did graduation photos with our Badgers. We had to hit the memorable spots, and they both managed to get into Abe Lincoln’s lap despite the ladder not being present yet.

Before we knew it, it was Mother’s Day weekend – aka graduation weekend. Brad DID NOT want to navigate Madison traffic on graduation/move out weekend. We got a hotel room downtown within walking distance of Camp Randall Stadium. Alex had graduated High School with the smallest graduation class in a century, he was now part of the largest graduating class to date at UW Madison. There were nearly 8,000 graduates (bachelors, masters, and doctorates combined). Looking out at the field from the stands was like playing Where’s Waldo when EVERYONE is dressed like Waldo.

Brandon’s graduation was relatively local, but we knew it had the potential to be a late night. We stopped off at our friends & sitters (Dan & Barb) to drop Sophie and Kipp off so we would not have to watch the clock. By the time graduation and going out for a treat was over it was late. We called Dan & Barb, should we leave them for the night and come back in the morning. Something wasn’t right, we should bring them home.

Sophie had been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure just over a year ago, and we had been treating her with medication to keep it in check. She had been having syncope (fainting) episodes again, which was concerning. (The medication had stopped the syncope.) A blowing fan did wonders for her to aid in controlling the syncope. She was 17 now, in addition to the CHF she had had high lipid levels for years, and was going on 3 years with no gall bladder.

I had taken her to the vet the week before due to diarrhea that I assumed was from worms or some parasite. She was always eating what she found on the ground outside – yuck! It hadn’t gotten any better and the color was way off. The vet fit her in the next day (Thursday). She had gained 2 pounds in less than a week. This time she got in to see her regular vet who knew her history. He took her back for an ultrasound, and returned with devastating news. Her little heart just couldn’t keep up, and she was filling with fluid. He looked at me and said “its time”. My boss, Fr. Carmen, and friend, Barb had gone with me, we all guessed it wasn’t going to be good. I had never wanted it to come to this. I didn’t feel it was my place to make that decision, but his words didn’t ask for a decision, only surrender to the reality of the situation. My mind reeled. I had gone to work with Sophie, I couldn’t just come home without her! I asked if I had time for Brad and the boys to say good-bye. He had an opening that afternoon.

Divine intervention, Alex was home for a short week for Brandon’s graduation and to pack in-between his own graduation and moving. I called Brad, he told he receptionist he was leaving and came straight home. We spent tearful precious hour and a half with her. She even got something she hadn’t had for years – PEANUT BUTTER. We went together, and Fr. Carmen met us at the vet. While she was OUR dog, Brad and the boys knew she was mine more than anyone’s. In my arms she fell asleep and crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

Brad’s dad threw a graduation/summer birthdays party at his house while Alex and Lauren were still in the area. Two weeks later we were on the road first to Madison to finish packing up Alex’s stuff & then to Pennsylvania. Brandon didn’t help with the move due to starting a full time job welding. We came home & celebrated our anniversary. Brad helped me in the kitchen with a project I had started and was in over my head, and before we knew it our church picnic was here and family camping was right behind. We then celebrated Brandon’s 21st birthday. September rolled around and the big push at Brad’s work to get stuff done over summer break (even though he’s not at a school district) was finally over.

Brad checked in with the concrete guy and the window guy to see if we would be on their schedule before the snow flew (it was time to start thinking about that again). It did not look that way. So back to the projects at hand.

We took a trip to Pennsylvania to celebrate Alex’s birthday with him, and soon Thanksgiving was upon us and before we knew it, so was Christmas. With the new year came planning for Fish Fries again. We fit some work in, but life was again taking over.

We hoped that 2024 would be the year, but more about that in the next post.