Rainy day. Sam cleans windows. Sarah draws plans.

The porch has been cleaned to a sparkle.  We went to sleep early to guarantee an early rising.  Our goal was to apply the primer before the sun hit the side porch. The sun, we were told, can wreck havoc on very fresh paint.   Alas--I was  awakened at 3:30 am (a good deal earlier than planned) by an enormous peal of thunder--so loud the entire house shook.  Sarah and Sam had been awakened earlier.   This was not the first thunder clap.  The impressive storm continued on into Sunday---so all painting projects as well as plans to move gravel, whack weeds and mow lawn had to be postponed.

Instead, while Sam spent hours cleaning the downstairs windows and I swept and swabbed upstairs and down, Sarah worked on elaborate plans for the new bathroom that will chew up a bit of the master bedroom.   There are now three non-working bathrooms (two are just sinks and toilet--one is potentially full) and one jerry-built full bathroom.  The jerry build bathroom is not properly plumbed--and if we are moving the kitchen, is also in the wrong place.   It  would make sense to get rid of it--and instead build a small new bathroom in the master bedroom.  Our goal for the summer would be to get that bathroom built and also get the plumbing in order for the three other bathrooms.  We would get rid of the current (barely) working bathroom which would become a pantry when we move the kitchen upstairs.  All of this keeps Sarah very busy.

During a brief clearing in the afternoon, Sam put together the weed whacker (of course we first had to make a quick trip to Lowe's for a socket wrench)--and then did impressive work whacking weeds along the road.

After the long day of mostly inside activity, we dined out--not at the Hampton Diner but at Sheridan's Tavern on Lake Iliff: Sheridan's
Driving there on back roads, we saw scores of deer, farms both operating and abandoned--and of course a fair number of relatively new subdivisions with over-grown houses and extensive lawns. 

Very American and quite all right--crab cakes with sweet potato fries for Sarah, chicken pot pie for me and a hamburger for Sam--who in his post-vegetarian incarnation has yet to meet a burger he doesn't like.    Because the days are so long--we ate our eight o'clock dinner--overlooking the Lake--the rains came and went--mists everywhere--both on the water and on the way home.

We all shared Sarah's leprechaun pie (that would be chocolate mint chip ice-cream with a chocolate cookie crust), but I still felt  compelled to rectify the previous evening's error.  A quick stop at DQ was in order.  This time I ordered my small sundae with the proper toppings--half hot fudge and half caramel--which everyone agreed was delicious as can be.