Grant & the Sunshine Left Today

Monday, Larry Jr., Grant and I worked on replacing all the screens on our porch.  The screens that were there must have been over 30 years old and there were a number of patches and tears.  We got tired of seeing bugs and birds out on the porch.  I bought replacement screens last year and never got around to finishing the job.  Jack brought up his air gun on Sunday and it was a big help in moving the job along.

We had to remove all the wood strips holding the screens in place and at the same time save them.  I had looked for wood strips the same as were up, but they weren't anywhere to be found.  So, the pry bar came out and Larry Jr. carefully removed them.  Grant numbered them all with a complicated numbering scheme and it was a big help in putting them all back in place.  Smart kid!

There must have been 300 staples holding the screens in place and they all had to be removed one at a time.  We finally got them all out and then started replacing the screens one section at a time.  This part of the job went very well and we managed to finish the job before dinner.

Each strip was numbered.

We rewarded ourselves by going to the Ott House restaurant in Emmitsburg, MD for dinner.  It was late when we got there and the place was packed with patrons three deep at the 70ft bar.  We managed to snare a small table and grabbed it quickly.  The Ott House restaurant caters to the firemen from the National Fire Academy down the road and it's always full of firemen from all over the U.S.  Many of them wear their firehouse t-shirts with their emblem on it, so you can tell where they are from.

The special was Buffalo Wings and that really drew in the crowd.  Grant and I shared an order of wings and Gerry & Larry Jr. had a crabdip.  The wings were fantastic, but the crabdip left something to be desired.  They made up for it by ordering a crab cake sandwich which they both thought was delicious.  Grant had a Buffalo wing pizza that was too hot for me to eat, while I had my old standby, a club sandwich.  It's hard to get a back club sandwich and I enjoyed mine over a pitcher of Yuengling draft beer.  Life is good.

We stopped by Cassie & Jacks for a short visit after dinner and Jack gave Grant a set of books on US Air Power.  Grant is crazy about books like those and his face lit up like a Christmas tree.  I would say he did all right by that little stopover.

Well, Tuesday was the day for Grant & Larry Jr. to bid us farewell.  Grant's been with us for over 4 weeks and was a pleasure to travel with.  He has more energy than two kids and asked more questions than three kids, but we had a great time with him.

Gerry had a Dr appointment in the morning and we met Larry Jr and Grant at one of Jr's favorite places to eat.  Yes, he and his mother share a love of Roy Rogers, Jr for the food and Gerry because he was one of her first loves.  At one time there were over 650 Roy Rogers restaurants and now they are down to 49 in seven states.  Maryland seems to have the most of them and Jr. always seeks one out while he is in the area. 

We had nice lunch and they headed down I-81 for home.  It was sad to see them go, but we will see them again in October on our way to Tucson.

One of Grant's favorite things to do was build a fire after cutting all the firewood first with his trusty saw.  He would work for hours gathering the wood and then making the fire.  Out would come marshmallows and other tasty morsels to fix over the fire.  I think he may be in line to become a certified pyro.

This was the fire pit after they left.  No sunshine and no fire, but great memories.  We had a great 4 weeks with Grant, but now we will crash for a few days and recuperate.