Last Week in WashPA and Projects

For our last few days in WashPA we have been going almost nonstop with seeing friends and completing a couple RV projects. On several days we left home in the AM and did not get back until after dark. It was not all work, as we got to spend a lot of time with friends and to eat at some of our favorite local places one last time until next year. We had ordered a new chair, replacement mirrors for the bathroom and a new lens to replace one in my glasses that was scratched. With a week to go none of them where in, but they all arrived in time though not all were done to our satisfaction, story below.

One BIG disappointment for Nanc, her hip while feeling somewhat better, was not good enough early enough for her to get in shape to run the Great Race. This was the 40th year of the race and all the finishers received a special commemorative medal. Oh well, hopefully next year.   

Tom was registered for the race also but was not ready to run, so on Friday we went to Pittsburgh to pick up their race packets and went out to eat. This gave us a chance to go to the Church Brew Works, a unique brew pub in and old church. As always, the food was great the the beer heavenly. 

The Jones' decided to have the euchre club over one last time before we hit the road. Wow, we got to play three times in two months. You have seen all those folks before so here is a picture of their great dog, Bentley. I'm real happy to report I came away that evening with the first place money.  

. We got together with the Wednesday lunch bunch a couple more times. They tried the newly opened Washington Brewing Company and everyone had rave reviews for the food and beer. These gatherings with all these old friends are always high on our to do list while we are here.

How about these two beautiful 1950 models, Nanc and Mike's pride and joy 1950 Ford.

Nanc has been asking for a ride for a long time, but this car only comes out under the most ideal conditions. After checking the weather, no wind, no rain and temperatures between 68.5 and 73.8 Mike agreed to take her for a ride to the Kooper Kettle where we were all meeting for dinner. As you can see she loved it.

Last Saturday we went to the River House Grill in Charleroi with Bill and Kim. I taught and coached with Bill, and Kim is a former student who I also taught with for several years before I retired. We had a fun evening getting caught up.

Always at the top of our list of great local restaurants is the Union Grill. It is a Cheers like atmosphere where everyone knows your name and they have great food. 

Our last Friday was Tom's birthday so we went to the Back Porch in Speers, another great local place. They have great food in an 1806 stone house. We like the Side Door Bistro in the basement, but the upstairs dining rooms decorated with antiques is also great.

We do eat out much more than normal when we are in WashPA. One thing almost every place we go to have in common is they are locally owned and you will usually find the owner there to welcome you while overseeing the whole operation.

We always seem to have a few RV projects while in WashPA. Below are the small projects we worked on while here this year. 

We changed the back splash behind the sink. We removed the old border and used stick on plastic faux tiles. They come in packs of four and are flexible enough to be fairly easy to apply. The curve around the window was the most difficult. I made a pattern from a piece of the border we had removed. It is a small change but the boss is happy with the results so that is all that counts.

The lock arms on the slides were rusted and looking really bad. I scraped the old paint off with a razor blade, then wire brushed and sanded the metal. I then put taped around them and painted them with rustoleum. I used a brush rather than spray so I did not have to worry about over spray. Not as professional as the original but they look a lot better than they did.

We never drive at night so the fogged headlights were not a safety issue, it was more about the appearance. I had bought a kit, but decided not to use it when the directions said it could ruin the paint. I read on line that tooth paste would work and I tried it. While it was okay, it was not that great. I then discovered a mix of baking soda and vinegar, wow it was so easy. In less than an hour I was done with both Opus and the CRV. The final step was to apply a coat of paste wax. I was happy with the results and even if it doesn't last it is very easy to do again.  Nanc also used the baking soda/vinegar mixture worked like a charm on cleaning the grout on our ceramic flooring.

The mirrored doors on the bathroom medicine chest were looking shabby (top left) from moisture getting behind the glass, so we needed to change it. It turned into a major project and we are not happy with the results. We got the new mirrors back, remounted them only to find they had been glued to the frame incorrectly and did not match up. (bottom left) We returned them to have the right one removed and put on properly. I got them back and reinstalled them for a second time only to come home that evening and find the mirror had come off the frame and shattered on the floor. Understand, the original mirrors were 13 years old and had traveled over 100,000 miles of bumpy roads. Once again I removed them and they made a replacement which was not done until our last Friday in WashPA. I remounted them again only to discover the new one is just a bit larger than the old one and does not match at the top. No picture of that but we are not happy with the results and will have to deal with it next year. 

I must be doing a good job with retirement because I wore out the recliner and Nanc wanted to replace it. We checked out several local places and they all needed 10 to 12 weeks to get the new recliner rocker we wanted. We found a place in Ohio, Sheely's, that could have it in six weeks, making the delivery the day before we were leaving. It came in a bit early and I'm looking forward to breaking in a new recliner.

We are now a little south of DC and are spending a couple days with Michelle and Keith. We are then heading to the Outer Banks for a week before a quick trip south to FLA.