Now We're off to Merry Lake

We usually stay at Papa Jack's for a couple of days, or until we keep finding him out in his garden. This usually means, for a guy approaching 90, "get the hell out of here!" So we gather up the kids, and off we go, to Merry Lake. The lake is in a town, Camden Mi. which is literally a tobacco spit from the Ohio line. Pioneer Ohio is the first town across the line. This is very important to the story I'm about to tell.
We went to some garage sales in Pioneer on our way to the lake, and I asked one lady if she knew Russ Lanius, he used to be the service manager at a Canon dealer where I was the sales manager back in the 80's. She said of course, they're on their way to NC for a vacation. I can call them for you. So, right then and there, she calls them and I talked to his wife, gave her our email address and she said they would get in touch with me. It was freaky! A few days later, I got an email from a Blackberry it was Russ, the message was "I just left Wauseon H.S and I'm on my way to Mac Steel, talk to you soon". The guys still on the same service call  I sent him on 30 years ago. Hilarious!

MacSteel had one of the worst driveways I had ever seen, that's probably why it's taken him so long! What's really freaky, is that we were traveling from NC to MI on the same weekend. I think we need to keep in touch, and yes, he has a daughter named Missy. You can't make this up!

Next post~Germanator shows up on Merry Lake vacation

Today We Clean (don't say it) The Window Blinds!

We have rented this house for six years and have never cleaned the blinds. The kitchen, dining nook and living room are  one great space. All the times the smoke detector went off because of burnt offerings left on the stove. Jackie experimenting with a new stove top idea for her artwork. The numerous coffee explosions, from our beloved Corning Ware 9 cup perculator, and last but not least, her favorite blackened salmon in olive oil. It gets the prize for worst mess ever! Jackie's reaction to "Blind Cleaning?" Play both videos at the same time, hilarious!

64 ounces $1.00
Dollar Store

I was going to take a before and after picture but I'm only going to show the after picture. Let me put it this way, I forgot what color they were until I started the cleaning process. I yelled out to Jackie, "you owe me a dollar, they are white!"

$5.00 kiddie pool

The blinds were beyond the blind brush or vacuum stage. They needed a take down tub washing. If you are facing a similar task, I have a system that works wonderfully for me.

My process is called,

"One Blind at a Time"

Our blinds after cleaning

Things you're going to need, 2 /64 ounce refill bottles of Awesome Orange Degreaser, $2.00 gets you 128 ounces at the Dollar Store, a kiddie pool, everyone has one, if not $5.00 at the store of your choice.  Soaking mixture 2 bottles of AO into pool, add 3 large buckets of hot water into pool and you're ready to start soakin', You will need rubber gloves, by the way. Remove first blind, take to the "soaker", take a sponge to the blind then swish it back and forth a few tmes and let soak. While it soaks  I take the opportunity to clean the windows. After you get the window cleaned inside out. Remove blind from soaker and rinse with hose. I laid the cleaned shade on the front porch railing to dry. Take next blind out and repeat the process. Once second window is clean, you're ready to put the first blind back in place. They don't get mixed up and the window is completely finished!

I used to dump all the blinds in the bathtub at the same time to clean them, needless to say I could never match the blinds to the right windows. I had to go to"bed sheet" backup. This system really works well.

Til next time~