Our Kayaking Trip

Sunday was our long-awaited kayaking day. Pete and I have been planning a trip down the Farmington River for a few weeks now. On Saturday, we planned our route. We wanted to kayak the part of the river that was a little more low-key vs. the upper part of the river (which has some rapids). We decided to put-in in Farmington (off of Rt. 4 -- Wannowmasa Lane). We wanted to take out at "The Tree" on 185 (it's the largest tree in CT). Our route (including a lunch break) was going to take us 8 hours and was a hair under 13 miles.

We rented our kayaks from Main Stream Canoes and Kayaks in New Hartford. Geesh, were they expensive to rent! ($45 apiece!!) We were there at 9:00 sharp to pick them up. They had to be back no later than 6:00.

The beginning of our trip was OK. We got the kayaks into the water with no trouble. About 0.1 tenth of a mile into the trip, the river became extremely wide and had some really weird currents. The kayaks we rented were much bigger than the ones I was used to (Pete and I have both been kayaking in New Hampshire on several occasions). I could not steer my kayak for the life of me! I was going around in circles and could not aim it where I wanted to go (which was downstream). After about a half hour of figuring out how to work the things (they had rudders too which we decided, after a few painful minutes, that we weren't going to use), we were off. A little further down the river (about a mile or so), Pete saw some water to the left of us. Oh boy, that was bad. I remembered seeing in my book, "The Farmington River Guide," that the Pequabuck River started from the Farmington (on the right hand side), and and I, for about 10 painful minutes, thought we were now going down the Pequabuck toward Bristol!! Upon realizing that we were still on the Farmington, we proceeded. (I had stopped to look at my Guide and realized that we were OK.) After we passed the REAL Pequabuck, we were aware that we were coming up to an old dam. We had to stay to the left of the river as to get out and find a portage path. We could NOT go over the dam with our kayaks!! It was a small, broken down dam, but, nonetheless, it was a dam. We found the path and dragged both kayaks up, around, and then down the side of the dam (on land of course). We then continued on our merry way with no other incidents!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. There was a lot of paddling for us to do but there were also some times that we could stop paddling and just let the current take us. We were on the river for a LONG time but we enjoyed ourselves.

After we crossed under Route 44, Pete got out to swim. I had planned on it but decided against it. I didn't want to sit in a wet, silt filled bathing suit for another 3.3 miles. We were going to go for a swim when we reached the pull-out at "The Tree" but decided against it when we got there. The place was jammed with screaming kids, people who didn't speak English, and a car booming Latin music in the parking lot. We were absolutely beat and we didn't want to deal with all of that.

We had left Pete's car in the parking lot at 8:00 that morning. After we pulled the kayaks out, he took the car to go get the truck, thus leaving me with the kayaks. It took him about 40 minutes to drive to our put-in spot, get the truck, and come back to me. After sitting there, on top of the kayaks for that amount of time listening to booming Latin music, I was so glad when Pete returned with the truck. It took the rest of our energy to lift both of our kayaks up to put in the bed of the truck. After tying them down (they stuck out of the bed quite a bit), we were off -- headed back to Main Stream to return the kayaks.

Once the kayaks were returned, we quickly stopped home so Pete could put on dry sneakers. We then took the truck to Farmington to pick up the car. When all was said and done, we were home at about 6:45. What a long, yet very enjoyable day!

Next time we go kayaking, we are going to go up river, perhaps starting in Barkhamsted. We want some of the wilder water that the Farmington offers. We're also going to look into possibly purchasing some used kayaks -- $100 rental each time we go is a bit much!

I'll post some pictures after we finish off the camera (disposable) and get the pictures put on CD.

Stupid Political Phone Call

This is one of those things that I just have to put in my blog....

On Saturday I got a phone call from "Malloy for Governor." I picked up knowing full well that I was going to get some message about voting for him in the primary on August 8th. I WASN'T prepared for what I was about to hear:

Me: "Hello?"

Guy on phone campaining for Malloy: "Dan Malloy is running for governor."

Me: "Uh huh." (I alreay knew that)

Guy: "Uh, he's running against John DeStefano."

Me: "Uh huh." (Knew that too)

Guy: "Uh......uh, I don't know what else to say."

Me: "OK then! Bye!"


Can you believe that? That's one of the stupidest calls I've ever gotten. Dan Malloy is not going to get any votes with morons like that making calls to people!!

Hooray!!

I am DONE with all of my assignments for my summer class! Hooray! I mailed my packet of work to my professor this morning. My unit on recycling was 11 lessons and 55 pages long! I worked on it ALL DAY yesterday! It took 45 minutes to print the awful thing. (If anyone is interested in seeing it, I'll send you the files!)

Now, here's hoping for an A in the class. We'll see.........

My Day Today...

Ugh. I'm beat. I've literally been at my school work for over 6 hours (just about straight). My neck is getting tired and I'm starting to get antsy. I think it's time to call it quits for today and move on to bigger and better things (like watering my flowers and doing some hand trimming outside).
My Day:

5:30 a.m.: Alarm went off for Pete. He got up and hit the snooze button. Pete then decided to snuggle with me until the alarm went off again.

5:39: Pesky alarm again. Pete got up to shut it off and then came back to bed with me to snuggle for another 6 minutes.

5:45: Pete got up. I laid there for a few more minutes.

5:50: I'm up; a little bleary eyed but up nonetheless.

5:50-6:30: I got up, opened all the blinds, fed the cats, got dressed, went outside to get the paper, started the coffee, toasted 2 English muffins, and began to eat breakfast (after leaving Pete his daily banana, Vitamin C tablet, and a travel mug filled with blueberry coffee).

6:30: Pete leaves for work. I went outside to say goodbye and to wave as he drove off.

6:30-6:45: I finished breakfast and reading the paper. Clean up time.

6:45-7:20: Did my hair and made the bed.

7:20-7:40: Called mom (my morning ritual while on vacation)

7:40-7:50: Tidied up around the house. Kissed my kitties.

7:50-10:00: Went to Wal-Mart and picked up some stuff that I needed. I also bought my brother a ton of stuff for his birthday. He's a bachelor and about to get laid off ($ is tight). I bought him a bag of pretzels, toilet paper, bar soap, boxed mac & cheese, band aids, a 2-pack of Tidy Bowl (one for each toilet!), laundry soap, 2 boxes of tissues, a 4-pack of sugar free Red Bull (yuck!), a bottle of Febreeze (he needs it), 2 rolls of paper towels (the cheap ones), and a can of hash. After Wal-Mart I headed to Barnes and Noble (had to wait 10 minutes for them to open) and then to Shaw's for some mid-week groceries.

10:00-10:30: Came home and put everything away.

10:30-10:35: Called the kayak rental place down the road. He told me to call back on Saturday to make Sunday reservations. (Pete and I are going to kayak down the Farmington on Sunday. It's going to be about 12 miles on the river. I can't wait!! The weather looks great too!)

10:35-11:45: Worked on my assignment (a huge unit with 10+ lessons -- useless) for my summer class. I started to print a 214 page manual (The Connecticut Framework: K-12 Curricular Goals and Standards). I had to print it in 50 page incriments. While it was printing, I would grab bunches of the already-printed stuff, collate it, punch holes in it, and stick it in the new 3-ring binder I picked up at the Mart this morning. The printing took a real long time but my ink never ran out!!

11:45-12:30: Took a break for lunch. Watched the 12:00 news.

12:30-3:45: Continued to work on my assignment (ugh). Mom called somewhere in there so that was a nice break. Finished up my binder with the CT Framework.

3:45-4:10: Took a walk. I needed to get out.

4:10-4:55: Went back to work on my assignment (*&%$*!@ UNIT!!!)

4:55-5:20: Heated up my leftovers from lunch. Watched the 5:00 news.

5:20-6:20: Came back to work on my %$&*!@*! assignment. I think I'm about half done. What a waste of a day. I'm not even gonna use this crap in my classroom. Oh well.

6:20-6:40: Posting on my blog. Like you want to read this. Too bad. I'm in the typing mode.....

6:40-9:30: I'm gonna go back outside and do some trimming and watering. Then, I'm going to read. After that, shower time.

9:30: Pete will be home from work!!! Hooray!

10:00: Bed

Tomorrow: Repeat today. :(

My trip to Aunt Betty's

I had a very interesting weekend. It wasn't relaxing like I had hoped it would be but it was OK nontheless. Pete, his mom, and I went to visit his aunt and uncle (his mom's sister) in Danbury. They recently moved into a $600,000+ condo. On Saturday we visited and then went for a tour of Stamford and beyond. We went to some beach somewhere on the Sound (no swimming -- we were there for about 20 minutes). After driving for about 2 hours (during which I got car sick twice), we stopped at a really great pizza place called the "Colony." Pete's mom has been raving about that place for years. The pizza was great! My pizza was an anchovie pizza (dee-licious!!). The pizza's there have an extremely thin crust (crispy) and wonderful velvety sauce. It was soooooo good!

We slept over on Saturday and came home on Sunday. Here's a few pictures to share.

Performance Day!!

This is it -- my final dance day. Honestly, I'm glad it's just about over but I'm also excited to dance tonight in both performances. We've worked long and hard for this day. I'm excited that I've got 4 people coming to watch me too. Pete seems like he's really looking forward to it tonight which makes me feel good. I wonder what he's going to think when he sees the whole thing through. (He stopped by yesterday but we were only rehearsing bits and pieces of the show so he only saw the angels part and the opening.)

Pete took some pictures of us yesterday. They didn't come out very good because it was dark and we were moving. I posted them anyway. Enjoy!!

Dress Rehearsal Day!

Well, here it is: Dress Rehearsal Day (Dance Day #12). I knew the days would go by quickly. I feel so much better about my dancing now. I totally wanted to quit back on days 1 and 2! And now, here I am.

Our times are a little different today. Instead of a 9:00-5:00 day, we're to be there from 11:00-6:00 or 7:00 (not sure which yet). We've got an 11:00 start time tomorrow also. Our performances are at 4:00 and 6:00 tomorrow. Pete, Mom H., Roxy, and Dave are all coming for the 6:00 performance tomorrow.

Hopefully Pete will stop by today on his way back from getting a haircut in Hartford. I really would like him to come. I'm proud of what I've accomplished and learned and want to show off to him before the performance. I told him that he would probably never see me in this type of environment again. I wonder if he'll be surprised when he sees me. I know I've been showing him a lot of the dance moves at home but, under the bright lights and up on stage with everyone else, I'm sure it will look different.

It's very gray out right now with a temperature of 66 degrees. I guess we're in for some rain today, tomorrow, and Saturday. There's a tropical Storm (Beryl) out in the Atlantic right now. She's going to lovingly dump some rain on us. I don't mind though as the ground is beginning to get dry and I'm going to be indoors anyway.

Chloe's got a vet appointment at 10:00 today in Torrington. Pete is going to bring her as I need to leave between 9:45-10:00. I've got to make a quick stop at the post office so I can mail a box loaded with birthday present goodies to my very special God-daughter. I can't believe that on Monday she's going to be 6! Boy, does time fly!

Our 3rd Anniversary

Today is our third wedding anniversary. I can't believe that I've been married for 3 years already! Not that it's a bad thing -- I love Pete more today than ever -- it's just, looking back on the day, that time flies!

I am not really going to write a lot tonight. Pete surprised me by coming home 45 minutes early from work. He just finished changing and I'm going to go spend some time with him.

Until next time!

Tuesday's News

Today's News:
Hot, Hot Weather! It was in the upper-90s again today. I broke out into a sweat just while sitting outside eating my lunch. Sweltering.

Severe Thunderstorm Watch. Yup, with the hot weather usually comes thunderstorms. We're in a watch-box right now. There are some nasty cells heading toward us. I expect it to be raining and booming by the time I go to bed. I'll have to take my shower early. Those dark clouds are a-comin'!

Dancing Day #10. I've made it this far already!! Things are getting a little easier for me as we're just drilling the dance routines now. I'm not up for learning anything new; I've gotta keep all this in my head for three more days!!

Same Old, Same Old at the Homefront. Which is fine by me! I love coming home to my cozy (and cool!) house and my cats. I have been waiting up for Pete since I don't have to get up quite as early every morning. This place is my haven!

Well, that's all the news for now. There may be more but this reporter's gettin' tired and wants to get a glass of water and settle in (before the T-storms) with my book.

Dance Day #9

I can't believe that today is July 17th already. I've been out of school (work) for just about a month. Another 5 weeks or so and I'll be headin' back!

Today was our 9th day of dance. This week is it -- our dress rehersal is on Thursday and the performance is on Friday. Pete, Mom H., Roxy, and Dave are all coming to my performance. Mom and Pop would if they could but they're in Michigan right now and won't be home until Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Today went pretty well. We all went through the whole performance, stopping now and again to tweak things (I had to be tweaked once, I'll admit. I looked around while I was supposed to be standing deathly still. Oh well.). My back muscles are the problem -- man o' man are they sore! I've been keeping a tube of Ben Gay in my bag. Today I brought a box of IcyHot muscle patches too. This morning, after just 30 minutes of dancing, I slathered that minty smelling stuff all over my back! It helped for most of the day. Around 2:30. the pain returned! I put an IcyHot patch on at the end of the day -- still have it on now -- to ease the mighty pain coming from the muscles on both sides of my spine. I even have a muscle ache over my rib bones (the ones in your back -- yeah, there's muscles there!). My back itself is OK, it's just those darn muscles! I can hike up Talcott Mountain and not have a problem, but dance! Oh, that's a different story for my poor 28 year old body. My muscles just don't like moving the way I've been moving them. Jump, jump, knees to chin, clap, clap, turn, spin around, arms over head -- wave 'em too! -- jump, jump, spin around, clap, clap -- don't forget to smile! -- now switch and start with you left side! Jump, clap, swing, booty shake, jump, knees to chin, clap, clap, clap, breathing hard, collapsing to the floor. Ow!

Holy Hotness!

Oh boy -- today was a hot one! I didn't think it was that bad until Pete and I left his mother's house this evening (it was her birthday today!). After being in and out, in and out, in and out of the heat and the A/C, I felt quite sick to my stomach. All the way home, I was very uncomfortable. Pete, as kind as he is, just made me some Alkaseltzer to drink. I feel a little better. I don't think it helped eating a big meal at Ruby Tuesday and then having cake and ice cream. I swear I could feel the ice cream curdling in my stomach as we drove home.

The heat never really bothers me if I just stay out in it. What bothers me is the constant changes in temperature. Either I need to stay in where it's cool or I need to stay out where it's hot. No fluctuation between two extremes and I'm fine. 92 degrees isn't that bad. Tomorrow it's going to be 97 but I'm going to be trapped inside all day practicing my dance steps (or attemping to anyway). I really shouldn't complain though -- it IS July! :)

Heublein Tower (Talcott Mt.) Hike

Pete and I went hiking up beautiful Talcott Mountain in Simsbury this afternoon. It was a perfect day for a hike as it was warm but extremely overcast. We were excited to find the Tower open when we got to the top (it's usually closed). We were eager to go in as I've never been in and it's been years since Pete's been in the Heublein. From what we're to understand, the Tower was built in 1914 and was used as a hotel. President Eisenhower was a guest in the Tower. We were able to see the chair that he was sitting in when he accepted his party's invitation to run for president.

The hike up the Mountain was beautiful. Pete and I took some incredible pictures. On a clear day, the views are much more spectacular but, we were pleased with what we could see today. The landscape below had a blue hue to it due to the humidity. It was just wonderful to be so high up and to be able to see so much. On a crystal clear day, you can see not only a lot of the CT landscape but Long Island Sound, MA, NY, and RI from inside the "ballroom" at the top of the tower. We couldn't see that far today but we could see pretty far. It's estimated that from the 165-foot tower (which sits 1,000 feet above sea level) that over 1,200 square miles can be seen on a clear day. Wow. Our hike and visit to the Tower today was such a wonderful experience and great excercise too!

I don't like incompetence

My dance class has 2 aspects to it: dancing with Jacques and Kay from 9:00-4:00 hours and then class time with Susan from 4:00-5:00. What a waste the classtime is. Susan is a horrible professor! I don't feel as though the class is tying in with our dancing and where exactly does the "mulitple intelligences" part come in? Through the lessons she's having us create? And the way she wants us to write up our lesson plans is absolutely ridiculous! I am learning absolutely nothing in this class that I can take back to my own classroom. I'm going to do what she wants just to appease her and get the A that I'm after. In terms of using the unit I create in my classroom this coming year -- yeah right.

There's my rant for the day. Now I've got to do my homework. :(

Wednesday Morning

I've got a few minutes before I have to make my lunch and head out the door. I feel good -- a little sore in a few places (Ben Gay has been applied) -- and ready to go. I've got my dance/exercise clothes on: a purple spandexy tank top (not tight fitting but very close) and my 1/2 cotton 1/2 spandex short shorts. Those are the best for movement as I have to pretty much bring my knees to my chin. This type of clothing is actually very comfortable. I think that when Pete and I go hiking (just up Talcott Mt.) I'm going to wear this getup.

I guess we're in for another day of severe thunderstorms. We got rocked yesterday afternoon while we were at St. Joe's. The power blipped a couple of times and some alarms went off in the building. Other places in CT were without power for a while. I guess the driving during the storm was pretty trecherous too -- 15 cars were involved in 4 accidents on 91. Geesh! I hope that if it storms again today that we're safe within the confines of the auditorium and that it clears before I have to drive home (driving over Avon Mountain is no picnic even in clear weather!). It's cloudy out now but very humid. I'll definitely be shutting the computer down before I leave!

Wow! I can do it!

Well, I survived another dancing day. It's not so bad really (as I type with a clenched jaw). No, really. I think that I'm realigning some strands in my brain somewhere to be able to do this. Just my luck, tonight when I go to brush my teeth I won't remember how! It's funny how people can learn things that they swore they would never do or even know how to do. Anyone who knows me knows what a cluts I am. I've got 2 (no, make that 3) left feet. I'm Polish for goodness sakes!! I can't dance but..... wait..... maybe, just maybe, with a little practice and some TLC, I CAN! Our main instructor, Jacques (who's world renowned I might add), actually came up to me today and told me, in front of all 48 of us, how much I had improved. He gave me a little huggy squeezy type thing and then promptly told me that I was stepping on the wrong foot to do one of the dances I just did. Oh well. I was beaming anyway. It feels good to improve (ever so slightly in my case) and then be recognized for it. I wonder what I must look like up on stage anyway. I'd probably die if I knew.

So, the moral to my long rambling story is: try, try, try and try some more. I'm going to use this summer dancing experience as an example when I try to teach the concept of perserverence to my students this coming school year. I think they'll enjoy the stories that I'll have to share! :)

Another dance class done -- 9 to go!

Here I sit. Tired and and sore. I suppose I'm getting better at the whole dance thing -- maybe 5% better. It's some tough stuff! I pulled a muscle in my leg earlier today when we were doing the fall backward routine. I've since put some Ben Gay on it. It feels a lot better but the cats have been all over me! Chloe, after doing a bit of heavy-duty sniffing, let loose quite a bit of cat drool on my leg. After I cleaned that up, Hannah proceeded to get on me and actually lick my leg! I stopped her when I realized it but I think she got a little high off of it. It was some good whisker lickin' after that!

I've just got to keep my chin up. I know there is much more out there that I could be worried about. I'm young, I'm healthy, it's my summer vacation, and I've actually lost a little bit of weight! I will definitely be proud of myself when Pete watches me in the final performance next Friday (July 21st).

Sooooooo...... I've got to quit all my complaining and just be happy! :)

My thoughts

I haven't written in a few days; I've been kinda busy. All is going relatively well with my class. Friday was a much better day (although I'm still having a hard time dancing, I'm starting -- slowly -- to improve). It has been a rough 3 days but hopefully next week will be better.

Friday was also Pete's 30th birthday. It was pretty uneventful as I was at class most of the day. I've been bugging him for about a week now about turning 30. He's OK with it. Yesterday we had our annual summer picnic in honor of Pete's birthday. The weather couldn't have been better. Adam was here (he slept over Friday night) as well as Mom and Pop, Mrs. H. (Pete's mom), Roxy and Dave, and then Phil (he showed up later but came nonetheless). It was a very good day. Mrs. H. also gave me some dancing tips and she and Pete taught me how to keep time with music (which will greatly help me tomorrow as I have to clap along with the beat of a gospel song and I couldn't do it on Friday -- I seem to always be clapping when other people aren't).

This Morning: Pete and I went to the 8:00 mass and then to McDonald's for breakfast (I had already eaten but Pete had not. I got a bacon, egg, & cheese buiscuit -- it was grease central! I brushed my teeth immediately upon returning home!). Later Today: I'm going to be heading to Kohl's momentarily to buy some more shorts for my dance class. I can't wear jean shorts as I can't bend/move around good enough in them. After that, it's about 3 loads of laundry. Pete's going to glue our paver stones down on the front step. Later on, I'm going to do some written work for my class (ick!). Maybe later we can go for a nice walk somewhere. It's an absolutely beautiful day!

Dance Class

Well, here I am on the morning of Day #2 of my dance class (it's really a multiple intelligences class but, honestly, all were doing is dancing). Yesterday, we danced for about 5 hours, sang for a half hour, and drew the stage (yup) for another 30 minutes. We had a 45 minute lunch. At the end of the dance day (which is 9:00-4:00) we have class time from 4:00-5:00. Man was I beat on my drive home yesterday!!

The one bad thing about this course is that I can't dance. Believe me, I'm trying but it's very hard. The dance instructor guy (who's 70 and very lewd at times) is some bigshot from NYC. He's got some other dancers with him to help out. These dancers have pulled me aside (twice) for some one-on-one instruction. (Yep, I'm that bad.) After a bit of practice, I can get the dance step that they've taught but.... I can't do it all (there's a ton of dance steps we're doing) especially when he (Jacques, the dance guy) has us speed up. My legs and arms are all over the place and usually one entire dance move behind. It's pretty bad. At one point Jacques came right up to me and told me I didn't know the steps. I was embarassed and told him I was trying. The fact is, I DO know the steps, I just can't get my body to cooperate. So much for a "multiple" intelligences class. This class is just focusing on a narrow band of intelligences (such as spacial visual). My intelligence (I'm a naturalist!) has nothing to do with what we're doing! That's why it's so hard for me. Oh well. This is a 6 credit course which will be over on July 21st. I just have to do my best and try to have fun. I think part of my problem is that I'm stiffening up because I'm upset over how difficult it all is. I have to loosen up and just do my best. Ugh. Geesh, if only I had known what I was getting myself into! (When I signed up for this course I had NO IDEA that we'd be dancing all day!!) Let's hope today goes a little more smoothly than yesterday!

Happy 4th of July!

Blah!

OK -- I'm going to vent now..... I am sick and tired of working on my master's!!! I hate B.S.ing the professors just to get a good grade. For instance, I've got to have a "reflection journal" for my next class (which starts this Wednesday). I haven't touched the journal until about 10 minutes ago (in fact, I just went out and bought the journal an hour ago!). We're supposed to have read all 3 text books and have 4 journal entries AND post on Blackboard (with 5 responses) ALL FOR WEDNESDAY!! Here goes the B.S.ing part! I've written 2 journal entries so far, one dated 4-22-06 and the other dated 6-3-06 and I've written about how much I'm looking forward to the course (not true) and how much I am going to learn from it (yeah right). I actually am dreading the course (it's 13 days -- M-F, beginning on July 5 and ending on July 21 -- for 8 hours a day!! To make it even worse, it's a DANCE class! I don't dance, I CAN'T dance, and I don't like dancing!!) The sole reason that I am taking this course is because it's a 6 credit summer class. That's it! Blah I say. So, now that I've roped myself into it, I've got to do a lot of B.S.ing because I want an A. After this class, I've only got 2 more classes to go until graduation. I've made it this far with a 4.0 and I'm not going to mess that up now. So.... I'll do what I do best (as Pete says) and brown nose until the class is over. I'll do everything they want, when they want and, if that means making up stuff (like now) then, so be it. What else can I do? Say forget it and blow my A average? Not only that, it's costing me $3,400 to take this course!! Blah I say, blah!!!!

Front Step: Day 2

Well, with many thanks to my parents, our new front step has arrived! The picture is of Pete and Mom pouring some of the Quikrete into the wooden form. We used 12 bags of Quikrete! Most of the bags were 80 pounds apiece (poor Pete did all of the moving and lifting of them). We poured one bag at a time into each of the two wheelbarrows, added water, mixed, added more water, more mixing, and, when it was ready, dumped it into the "hole."

We're going to let the concrete set tonight and tomorrow. On Tuesday, we're going to place our paverstones on top. We should be able to glue them on Friday.

I'm not sure how Pete and I would have faired if it hadn't been for the hours of help my parents gave both yesterday and today. Both of them are a wealth of information and expertise!!

Front Step: Day 1

Today was the first day (out of two, hopefully!) of our demolition of the front step. It was very rotted and wobbly. My parents offered to help us with the project -- the above picture is of my father taking the sledge hammer to the step. And the bees, yes, they were killed (although not by me). There were over 100 of them!! We eventually found the queen and about 50 eggs deep down inside the step. Quite an ugly but sad sight. My father got stung twice.

Tomorrow we will pour the new step using Quikrete cement mix and apply the paver stones. We want to re-do our entire walk and stone wall in paver stones but, one project at a time. We hope to have the entire thing completed by the end of the summer.