This afternoon I worked on getting the steps and corners  sanded on the upstairs rental unit on Miami Street.  It took me four hours of sanding with the palm sander, and probably 20 sanding sheets.  It actually went fairly well.  They're not perfect, but the trim will cover most of it.  We plan to sand the open areas of the wood floors tomorrow afternoon.  I wanted to get this finished while we still have fairly nice weather, and it's supposed to be warmer again for the next week.  I can leave the windows cracked, so the polyurethane smell won't be so bad.  I figure starting on Friday, we'll apply a coat of poly daily through Sunday or Monday.  I like to do four coats, so it will probably be Monday before we get it finished.

I met with a seller earlier today to complete paperwork for a new listing.  I will meet her tomorrow to take pics, measurements and details.  It's a really nice ranch in Crestwood - 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, sunken family room, 2 car garage - really nice.  We are listing it at $234,900.  Once I have more details, I will write more on this one.

On Sunday afternoon we took some time off drove the Great River Road in Illinois.  We try to do this at least once a year around my birthday.  I love the drive and the scenery - the bluffs on one side of the road and the river on the other side.  We began in Alton and drove north along the river.  I love the quaint little town of Grafton, although it is being developed with new marinas and condos.  The town was busy, too.  It was bumper to bumper traffic in the heart of town.  I guess everyone else was thinking it would be a nice day for a drive, too.

From Grafton, we drove to Pere Marqette State Park.  It is a great area to take in nature and sightsee. 

The leaves were beautiful, but there was still a lot of green.  This coming weekend will probably be better for color.

We finished out our trip by driving around Horshoe Lake.  The expected cold front was coming through, and the wind was blowing fairly hard, kicking up the waves.  I was surprised to see all the duck blinds erected in the water, but I guess duck hunting season is upon us.

I purchased Halloween treats to hand out on Friday evening.  We're not doing candy this year, but opted for individual tubs of Play Doh - something different to hand out.  Each package has 66 tubs, and we got 4 packages.  That's 264 tubs of Play Doh.  I bet we'll give them all away, too.  We always have a big turnout, and this year the weather will be great.  I can't wait!

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