June 13 - 25, 2026 Replacement Floor Tile in Homer - Alexa Garage Shingles - Wiseman Family Visit - Father's Day - Alexa's Garage Soffit

My Blog Reflection

What strikes me is that there's a very fine line between success and failure. Just one ingredient can make the difference.

Andrew Lloyd Weber

June 13, 2026:

We went to the movies in Cape Girardeau. While in Cape we ran by Menard's so to purchase some replacement floor tiles for Homer. The tiles I put down about seven years ago yellowed terribly. Last year I replaced all of the easy tiles with new ones, i.e. the ones that did not require me to unbolt the couch, the dinette, and the toilet. This left a visible row under the couch. Here is a picture, although it doesn't really pick up how yellow these tiled turned.

Here is a picture after I replaced the yellowed row. It looks a lot better. I'm hoping these replacements will not yellow. I hate doing things over and over.

Here is a picture of the yellowed tiles left under the dinette. This picture better highlights the yellowed tiles. Ugly!

I had to unbolt both dinette seats to replace the yellowed tiles that were visible. Here is a picture when completed. A big difference.

I also needed to replace a couple of tiles in the bathroom. Unfortunately this meant taking up the toilet. There were twenty tiles in a box and I was short by four tiles. The project went on hold.

This is a good picture to show just how yellowed the tiles became. Isn't that awful? I hope they were a new batch and that doesn't happen with the replacements.

June 15 - 16, 2026:

While waiting to obtain more floor tiles, I went over to Alexa's and we worked on replacing the broken and missing asbestos shingles on the back of her garage. 

Here are some "before" pictures.

Asbestos shingles are very brittle to work with, even when new. These fifty year old shingles were worse yet. These shingles are no longer available but Alexa found four from the house (which are a little different) in the garage that we could use.

I reported some time back that on the left side of the back of the garage a vine had grown between the downspout and the wall of the garage. This vine was in excess of four inches thick and had made its way up under the wall shingles, under the soffit, and even under the roof shingles. Earlier in the year we had cut off what we could get to. This still left some vine wood clinging to the downspout on that side of the garage. Here are a couple of pictures. You can see how the vine grew under the wall shingles. 

Before we could put up any shingles we had to patch a large hole in the wall and cover everything with felt paper to make it waterproof.

Using a couple of the the "newer" shingles and pieces of the old shingles we were able to complete the wall. Here are two "after" pictures.

The final repair was replacing one broken shingle on the bottom of each side of the front of the garage. 

The entire project took about eight hours and was frustrating due to the materials we were working with. Now we need to repair the rear soffit that was torn loose when the vine was cut out and replace the two back downspouts.  

Kelly was taking a friend to Cape Girardeau today so she picked up six more tiles from Menard's so I can finish the Homer floor tile project. I will be glad to get it completed as well.

June 16 - 17, 2026:

After finishing up at Alexa's I started working on finishing up the floor tile replacement in Homer. Here is a picture in the bathroom after I pulled up the toilet and the tile under it. You can readily see the ugly yellow tiles left to replace.

The new pieces went in quickly and this is the final result.

As I was cleaning up I noticed that two tiles by the top step were yellowed so I decided to pull them up as well since I now had extra tiles.

The new tiles, although the exact same lot number, have a little more gray color in them than the last batch. Even though the color is off a little the gray looks better than the yellow.

A few days ago I had painted the yellowed vertical tiles under the top step black. This gives the steps more depth when stepping in and it solved the yellowed tile problem forever.

June 17, 2026:

It was EXTREMELY windy all day. As luck would have it, the wind tore part of the seam on the sun sail we had just put up on the 12th. The sun takes its toll on the thread on the seams. I took the sail down to keep it from getting torn any more. I laid it out in the garage out of the wind so I could work on it. I then went to Ace Hardware and got two tubes of a construction adhesive that is rated as having the best adhesion even on vinyl. I laid down two beads of adhesive on the seam. Here is a picture of the sun sail. The arrows point to where the seam came apart - on the end and ended in the middle.

The adhesive has to cure for twenty-four hours. The sun sail has some age on it so probably next year we will need to buy a new one.

June 19, 2026:

I put the sun sail back up. Construction glue has done the trick.

June 20, 2026:

The Wiseman Family, consisting of my daughter, Annie, husband, Adam, and daughters, Violet and Wren, arrived from California for a visit. The ladies flew in and Adam pulled their pop up camper here on a road trip with his mother for company. 

Violet did not feel well and, upon going to bed, vomited up violently. It was a nasty mess to clean up but Annie and Kelly got everything changed and washed in no time.

June 21, 2026:

For Father's Day all three grandparents gathered at our house for a brunch. Here is a picture of the group. The back row: Aaron (Alexa's friend), Mike, Kelly, John (Adam's step-dad), Kathy (Adam's step-mom), and Adam. Front row: Alexa, Wren, Carol (Adam's mom), Jay (Adam's dad), Violet, and Annie.

We had a great visit.

June 22, 2026:

The Wiseman pop up camper is named "Poppy". A camper is a new experience for the Wisemans. I showed Adam and Annie how the water system worked. 

We turned on the gas and could get anything to light. We put on a different LP hose on but no change. We then put on a LP hose that had a regulator and all worked great. The regulator on the camper was obviously bad. It was a double regulator. I had never seen one before. We spent the rest of the first day chasing down parts. We found everything we needed except one fitting. We were able to rig up the new double-stage regulator and everything tested out fine. I then showed them how to light the gas water heater and how to turn on the gas furnace. 

Inside the camper there are two plastic tracks that the door slides in when the unit is folded down. The glue holding up the strips had failed in several places. I cut wooden wedges to hold the plastic track in place while the new glue I injected set up. 

Adam and Annie both noticed that the trailer springs squeaked so we jacked it up and put grease everywhere we could get it inserted in the leaf springs. It should take care of the problem.

The camper came with two interior movable fans with lights. Adam replaced all inside bulbs with LED bulbs and found one fan light did not work. I took it apart and found a bad ground connection. I replaced the connector and all works well now.

June 23, 2026:

I was glad to help them get acclimated to the camper and to be able to help fix a few things that needed attention. It is a ten year old camper but has been used very little and is in marvelous condition. 

Here is the "Poppy" and the tow vehicle as I sat in a chair and watched Adam load everything up before folding it down and locking it up for travel.

Here are Adam and Annie ready to roll out.

From Perryville they travel today to St. Louis to visit with relatives. Tomorrow or the next day they will drive to Table Rock Lake in Southwestern Missouri to meet up with California friends who own a cabin there. After a few days they will camp their way back to California with a number of tourist stops to make on the way. This will be their first camping road trip in "Poppy".

Violet was still not feeling up to par and had been running a low grade fever the entire time they were here. Upon arriving in St. Louis they took her to an Urgent Care and found out she has a mild case of strep throat. They started her on antibiotics. Hopefully she will recover quickly. Adam said it is not a Wiseman vacation unless someone gets sick! 

It has been great fun having them here.   

June 25, 2026:

We got back to finishing up the work on Alexa's garage. We had to reinstall the soffit, which we damaged by pulling out the vines under it. We also had to reinstall the downspouts.  Here are a couple of pictures of Alexa pulling out the vines from beneath the soffit. We couldn't believe what was still up under there. One section of vine was as thick as Alexa's arm.

Here is a picture of me working on getting the soffit back in place.

Here is a picture of the back of the garage with the downspouts re-installed. All that is left on the garage project is to powerwash the garage and paint it when the weather cools off a little.

I have a project of installing a garage door opener some time soon. 

May 24 - June 12, 2026 - Alexa To Florida - Homer is Home - FInal Kiosk - Coons Visit - Oven - Generator - Glenn Miller Orchestra - Mike's Birthday

My Blog Reflection

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open.

Frank Zappa

May 27, 2026:

While it seems difficult for Kelly and I to get down to Florida, Alexa flew down yesterday for five days. Of course I wrote out instructions on how to open up the house, disconnect the car from the trickle charger, etc. With only two video calls Alexa had everything under control. Joining Alexa tomorrow are Jenn and Eve. It is the rainy season in Florida so some activities they planned may be limited or cancelled.  Even with rainy weather they should have a good time. 

We brought Homer home. This year we found evidence of a mouse and for the first time in ten years I can not get the generator to start. I hate ethanol! I'll get some stuff to try and get down the carburetor to clean it out.

I did get the water system de-winterized and the converter is charging the batteries as it should.

May 29, 2026:

I received a call that the plexiglass I ordered for the front of the bike trail kiosk was ready. With Alexa out of town I asked my friend, Gary Moll, to help me install it. We picked up the plexiglass and immediately found that it was a quarter inch too wide. I believe I gave them the right measurements but that is neither here nor there now. We brought the plexiglass to the house and cut a quarter inch off. We then headed back to drill holes for mounting the plexiglass to the frame with stainless steel screws. 

Just as we were starting to work the rain came. Luckily we were able to move under a nearby pavilion to drill the holes. After all the holes were drilled, and the inside paper pulled off the plexiglass, we installed it. It is under roof so mounting it in the rain did not bother us other than getting muddy feet. To protect the surface while we were working we only removed enough of the protective covering to insert the screws. Here is a picture of it mounted with the protective covering still on the outside. A pretty blue color I must say.

 

After all of our tools were loaded and we were ready to leave the rain let up. Naturally. Here is a picture of the front. The plexiglass gives off a little glare from a distance but it worked out great.

I was told I had to have this project finished by May 30th and I made it despite several setbacks. I'm glad it is finished.

May 30, 2026:

I walked off the deck this morning to look at something and found that clearly a couple of racoons found our back steps to be a nice place to leave us a number of nasty packages. I couldn't believe how much there was at the bottom of the steps and also going down several steps.

What would possess them to leave deposits here when there is a huge lawn and hundreds of acres of conservation property behind us? Disgusting. I hope this is a one time event. Keep your fingers crossed.

June 2, 2026:

When we brought Homer home I could not get the generator to start for the first time in ten years. I'm sure it is the ethanol sitting in it over a lengthy storage period even though I try to run it dry before I store it. I bought some starter fluid. With an extension tube on the end of it, I can squirt down into the carburetor to clean up any varnish, etc. Unfortunately I cannot open the top of the carburetor to spray it in directly. I sprayed what I could I could in and let it set.

In the early evening it was quite pleasant to sit on the deck and enjoy the weather. I took this picture of a few clouds that came by and hid the sun for a few minutes.

June 5, 2026:

Last night we realized that the oven burner was not igniting. It had been acting up lately but now was completely dead. I walk in the morning with Gary, who is a retired HVAC and appliance repair guy. I told him about the problem and he said he would be over later in the morning to look at it. 

Upon taking everything apart and removing the igniter he found that the igniter was bad. We got online and ordered a new one. It should be here in a few days.

When walking I had also told him about not being able to get the generator started in Homer. While he was here he wanted to look at the generator. I was happy to have another set of eyes to help determine why it would not start. We took off the fuel filter and tried to pour some carburetor cleaner directly into the carburetor. There is only a small hole so most of the cleaner just ran back out.  The engine still wouldn't start. 

While I was pushing the start button Gary noticed that the vacuum chamber was not pulling the choke in. When he pushed it in manually the engine continued to run. The vacuum chamber rod was hard to push in so we squirted some carb cleaner in and around it. It then moved freely and the generator thereafter ran like a top. We adjusted the idle a little to get the right voltage. YIPPEE!!!!!

The generator ran fine under a load for about twenty minutes. I turned the load off and let the generator run for over an hour while I ran a couple of errands around town. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have this problem resolved.

June 6, 2026:

In the morning I went out to the lake lot and cut the grass. It was so tall it had gone to seed. I had to cut it twice to get it looking decent. I wanted to spray weeds but Alexa has my sprayer. I will have to go back for that.

June 7, 2026:

This afternoon we went to The Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis to see a performance by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. If you are not familiar, the Glenn Miller Orchestra was a major band in the late 1930s and early 1940s when people listened and danced the night away. The band has been continued and plays concerts all around the country. The Sheldon is a small venue and, although the stage isn't very large, they had room for fourteen musicians and a singer. It was a great concert. The man in the gray suit was the music director and host. Here are a couple of pictures.

After the concert Aaron treated us to supper at Tony G's on The Hill. We hadn't been there before. It was 10:00 p.m. by the time we got home. A nice way to spend a Sunday.

 

June 12, 2026:

Today is my birthday. As a surprise my sister, Renee, and her husband, Jim, drove down from St. Louis will all the fixings for a great steak dinner. I was completely surprised by their visit. Alexa joined us shortly thereafter. 

It was a beautiful day for sitting on the deck so Jim and Alexa put up the sun sail so we could all sit out in comfort. Jim also mounted the cantilever umbrella for more shade.

Before dinner I opened the many gifts I received. I got SEVEN gifts from Kelly. Here is a picture as I'm getting ready to start opening one.

Kelly was pretty tricky. She wrapped various sized boxes and used various bags for the gifts. However, each gift was a gift card from a different restaurant in Perryville. How cool is that! I won't go hungry for a while!

Alexa gave me a coffee mug and a roll of Sweet Bologna from Stonies. They are in the foreground in the picture above. Later in the day we sliced some up of the bologna and enjoyed the unique taste.

Aaron showed up a little later and gave me two extension cables for the TV so we will no longer need to pull the TV out to make any new connections in the back. He and Alexa installed the cables for me. Very nice and a thoughtful gift.

In addition to providing a porterhouse steak dinner with corn on the cob, baked potatoes, French bread, and salad, Renee and Jim gave me bag of assorted candy. I grilled the steaks and they came out great. There was more meat than we could eat so Kelly and I can have some nice steak sandwiches this coming week.

After supper Alexa served the ice cream birthday cake Kelly purchased. It was quite good and topped off the great meal. If you can imagine, I was windy enough to blow out the candle. LOL

The day was a complete surprise. In fact I was doing maintenance on my weed eater when Renee and Jim pulled up in the driveway. Walking over to their car I was like "whaaat"? With quick "Happy Birthday" wishes I realized this had all been planned. It was a great day and a great birthday with family I won't forget.

 

 

May 8 - 23, 2026 Kiosk Project - Mayfest - Making of Kiosk Doors - Mother's Day - Change in Kiosk

My Blog Reflection

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world.

Albert Einstein

May 8, 2026:

Recently a Mountain Bike Trail was built at Legion Lake here in Perryville. The build project included a kiosk on which maps, information, etc., could be posted. The posting surface on the kiosk is just a sheet of plywood under a roof. Here is a picture of the front and back. Anything posted on it would blow away in an instant.

The powers to be thought locking glass doors were needed on both sides to protect anything posted. They contacted the Perryville Rotary Club. We were able to obtain a grant from our Rotary district to pay for locking glass doors for the front and back of the kiosk. I was "volunteered" to make these doors. LOL. I have until May 30th to get them built and installed.

The other day Alexa and I picked up the wood needed from the lumber yard. Since the kiosk is out in the weather we purchased treated 1 x 6s. These will be  sawn down the middle to make door frames 2 3/4 inches wide. 

We cut the boards to length and then split them on the table saw. Here is Alexa gathering some more table saw skills and learning to keep her fingers far away from the blade.

After splitting all of the pieces we mitered the corners. For four doors there are eight side pieces and four top and four bottom pieces. Here is a picture of the stack of pieces cut to make the four doors.

Each piece now needs to have a 1/2 inch deep groove cut in it to hold the plexiglass in place. The plexiglass is 1/4 inch thick so I want the groove to be 5/16 inch wide so there is no binding when installed in each frame.

Daughter Erin sent Kelly five pre-packaged meals for Mother's Day. They arrived early so Kelly fixed one for supper tonight. It was "Salmon Cakes with Roasted Potato Wedges".  The meal even came with Tartar Sauce and a fresh lemon. The meal was excellent and enjoyed with a nice glass of white wine.

 

May 9, 2026:

Alexa, Aaron, Kelly, and I met up with Mary Bock and her daughter, Jennifer, to listen to music on the Courthouse lawn at the Mayfest. Having found a shade tree to sit under we stayed for about three hours. It was a beautiful afternoon to sit outside. It is the first time I have attended the Mayfest in at least fifteen years. Here is a picture of us under the shade tree and a picture of the crowd at picnic tables under tents nearby.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Mary gave Kelly ten cans of "Steak n Shake Chili", her absolute favorite. Kelly was thrilled. We got home about 7:00 p.m. and each had a can for supper.

May 10, 2026:

This morning I cut the 1/4 grooves in all of the kiosk door pieces. Tomorrow morning Alexa will come over and we will work on cutting biscuits into each mitered corner to make the frames. A biscuit cutter cuts a slot in each piece of wood to be joined. The biscuits are wooden pieces you purchase. They are inserted with glue halfway into each piece of wood to secure the pieces together. Here is what a biscuit looks like. 

Due to the large size of these doors, I am using the largest biscuits, which are "No. 20". Here is a picture of my biscuit cutter. You can see the slot near the bottom where the blade comes out to cut the wood in a semicircle for the biscuit to be inserted.

Here is the mitered end of one piece of the frame. The arrow points to the area where the biscuit cutter will make it's cut. On the left of the board you can see the groove cut to hold the plexiglass.

The groove on each piece MUST match the groove on the adjoining piece so that the plexiglass will slide correctly into the frame. The wood we are using is treated pine and today I noticed that not all pieces of the wood are exactly the same thickness. This will present a challenge in lining up the grooves before making cuts for the biscuits. Once all of the biscuits are glued in place and the glue dried, each corner will be air-nailed for additional strength. We will have to make three sides, insert the plexiglass, then glue and nail the top piece. Alexa's pair of hands will help greatly with this.

It is Mother's Day so Kelly put me to work making one of the pre-packaged dishes Erin sent her for Mother's Day. Kelly picked out "Cream Spinach Cavatappi". They send along great instructions so I got to work chopping the spinach, etc. It took about twenty minutes to prepare. I was a little nervous because I didn't want to screw up the meal but it turned out delicious.

May 11, 2026:

Alexa and I started cutting biscuits and assembling pieces. We quickly found two long side boards that are bowed out badly. I clamped them to a straight edge and soaked them with water to see if they will straighten out in a day or two. If not I will have to purchase another board and make two new side pieces. I'm probably lucky that only two long pieces bowed out. The bowing of these boards is a result of the lumber being stored outside, constantly getting wet, and the liquid product they soak the boards in to make them "treated" to last longer out in the elements.

We also found one bottom board that was bowed up in the middle. I clamped it to the saw table as well and soaked it with water.

We cut all of the biscuits on the boards and then began to assemble one door. I needed long clamps for this project. Here it is the first door on the table. Once the glue dries on the bottom, before final assembly I want to take it out to the kiosk and make sure I haven't miscalculated any measurements. I only have one surface in the shop large enough to glue these doors. We will glue the rest on the garage floor.

Alexa had to work on Mother's Day so she and Aaron celebrated Mother's Day with us today. For supper they warmed up one of the meals Erin had sent. This meal was "Sweet & Savory Brisket with Cheesy Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli". Kelly added spring rolls, which came separately, and some of the asparagus Bob and Ronnie dropped off the other day. Like the previous meals this one was well made and enjoyed.

 

Bob and Ronnie have kept us supplied in fresh asparagus all season. This was their last batch as they left for their cruise to Alaska.

May 12, 2026:

We took the first door frame out to the kiosk to make sure there were no miscalculations. The two side pieces of wood that bowed badly did not straighten out so we purchased another board and cut two new side pieces. We then glued the side and bottom pieces on all four doors. After that I headed to Liberty Glass and ordered the four pieces of plexiglass cut to size. 

May 15-17, 2026:

Kelly and I have been dealing with the worst stomach flu either of us ever had. we are hoping to be able to eat come rice today and keep it down.

May 19, 2026:

I am still dealing with the stomach flu but felt well enough to pick up the four pieces of plexiglass and, with Alexa's help, install them in the frames. The doors with 1/4 inch plexiglass are heavy so I ordered more hinges. There will be five hinges on each door to support the weight. Here is a picture of the four doors with the tops being glued and clamped. Tomorrow we will air-nail all corners. The doors will be ready to be hung on the kiosk when the rest of the hinges arrive.

May 22, 2026:

A milestone today. The truck turned 222,222 miles as I pulled into the garage. We love our Toyota truck.

Work continues on the kiosk glass doors. Today I sanded and air-nailed all of the corners.

Later in the day I went out to the kiosk and found that a map had been posted on the front side which takes up the entire front of the kiosk. It was mounted by someone using wooden strips. These mounting strips totally screwed up how I was going to mount the two doors on the front. I had no idea the map was going to be this size. No one had talked to me about it. I made four doors, two for the front, and two for the back, as instructed. Here is a picture of the mounted map.

After talking to Alex, Rotary President, we decided to eliminate the front two doors I made and order one piece of plexiglass to be mounted to the wooden frame to protect the map from the weather and vandalism. I ordered the piece of plexiglass. Once it is received holes will be drilled so that it can be screwed in place, more or less permanently. 

I must admit I was quite miffed that no one talked to me about the size of this map, etc. It would have saved me a lot of work to only make two doors rather than four, plus it would have saved some expense.

May 23, 2026:

Memorial Day Weekend and what are Mike, Kelly, and Alexa doing? Working on the kiosk!

Kelly, Alexa, and I went out to mount the two doors on the back side of the kiosk. Once they were mounted and the lock installed it was clear that some cabinet latches were needed to hold the doors in place against the frame. We purchased two catches for each door, top and bottom, and installed them. Here is a picture of the doors installed. Lots of information can be posted here about park rules and activities.

With the exception of mounting the front plexiglass when it is cut, the project is complete. The cost was covered by a Rotary grant. I do not intend to let myself be "volunteered" for anything like this in the future.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!