Sunday 3-8-09, we spent the day in St. Louis visiting Grandma Arden. We actually drove out Saturday evening at bed time so Alli would sleep in the car instead of being bored and making a huge fuss. Sunday morning, once Alli was awake and proper quantities of coffee were consumed, we started working to tear up some old carpet in one of my mother’s extra bed rooms. This back room had been used as a study when I was a kid and it still had the original carpet in there. Yes, the house is older than I am and the carpet is as old as the house! Under the carpet was the original hard wood flooring that had never been used and my mother wanted to uncover it and let it get some fresh air.

First, we had to move the furniture out then James carefully pulled up carpet in strips so my mother could later get it to the curb on trash day. We found that the carpet was not too gross because the room was not heavily used. Under the carpet, the padding was quite deteriorated. In some places it was glued to the wood and other places it was like powder having just broken down completely with age. We had to take rubber kitchen spatulas and sort of scoop it up and into a trash bag……sometimes you had to scrape it up to get it unstuck……..this part of the job was pretty gross. Once the carpet and pad had been taken to the front porch, we then had to remove the tack strips and staples. Luckily, James found a crow bar yesterday while he was out cycling. He did an excelled job removing the old tack strips and I carefully plucked staples out with a pair of pliers. It was noon by the time we were done and our backs were tired and achy. James did still manage to scamper up on the roof and clean out the gutters for my mom as well. Then we all got cleaned up and headed out to do something more fun. James went to visit his old college roommate and my mother and I went shopping.

By now, the wind had picked up and it was really a mess outside. Still very warm……in the 70s, but it was so windy it was unpleasant. I had a hard time opening my car door due to the strength of the wind on it. My hair got blown all over the place and did not even try to comb it out.

At bed time, we packed everything into the SUV and headed back to Columbia. Driving at night, is working pretty well, and we are planning more day trips to St. Louis to help my mom out. She lives by herself and my brother lives in Kansas City. So having a man come out and do a few things is a super big help for her……….and it is always nice to visit Grandma.

Again, I did not take any photos.......shame on me.