We had rain off and on for most of the day; however, this evening the heavens opened with torrential downpours. Hopefully this weather system will move out by tomorrow as we plan to travel to the Jersey shore to visit with some friends.

We left the house around noon, picked up JB, and headed off to the Marlton Diner where we met Wayne. I had my first Philly cheese steak since arriving here. We usually end up having two or three each time we are in the Philadelphia area. These are the "real" cheese steaks--you can't get them like this anywhere else in the USA. It was a good visit with the three guys catching up on each other's lives. After leaving the diner, we stopped in at Wayne's for a little more visiting and then dropped JB back at his apartment.

John and I got home in time to make supper and then spent a quiet evening reading and talking with Pop.

Wayne, John, and JB (John Barden)

We spent a pretty quiet day around the house keeping Pop company. John contnued to work with the rifles he got from his uncle--he gets the name of the rifle and the serial number and then looks them up on the internet. Most are from the late 1930's and all are in mint condition.

My day was spent working on photos, getting them into an album, and visiting with Pop. I also spent sometime out in the yard taking some photographs. The weather remains nice and warm, so after supper we took another walk around town. A couple of the neighbors were outside when we got back to the house, so we spent some time talking with them. The one fellow was a neighbor of John's growing up, so they had some catching up to do.

Tomorrow we are going out for lunch with JB and another of John's high school friends, Wayne. Talked to Matt this evening and learned that Sam had a new, shorter cast put on his arm this afternoon. Also, he is done with the sling. Glad to hear the good report. It's time to watch Survivor!

Today was another warm, rainy day--it almost feels like summer with the humidity and high temps. We took one quick little trip out to the bakery this morning to purchase some Italian rolls for lunch and that was the extent of our travels for the day.

John spent most of his day looking over the rifles that his cousin had left here for him. They were his uncle's and had been stored at their shore place for years. The house has been sold, so she was cleaning it out and asked if John would want her dad's guns. John told her he would like to have them and that we would pick them up when we came east this fall. He has been looking them up on the internet and one rifle looks like it dates back to 1898.

I bought a bunch of photos with me and spent my afternoon working on a photo album of last winter's adventures in Texas. It will take me several days to get this job done and I still have more pics to print. There was a little break in the showers this afternoon, so I went outside and took a few pictures. As you can see, things are still very green here and some flowers are still blooming. Matt called this evening and said the leaves at home are at their peak for color and it is a very beautiful fall.

After supper the skies cleared off, so we took a walk around the town and old neighborhood. We walked down the street where I grew up and tried to remember the names of all the families that had lived there at one time.

It's amazing how different everything looks from an adult perspective. I remembered our driveway as a huge hill, and it's only a slight rise. The street is also much narrower and the houses smaller than I thought they were. How did our family live in such a tiny house? Everything seemed so much bigger when we were kids. We had a fun evening walking through the old neighborhoods and recalling some good and not so good adventures from childhood.

After three days of rising with the sun it sure felt good to sleep in this morning. We spent some time unpacking and settling into our new surroundings.


John's longtime friend, JB, had called last night inviting us out for lunch today, so we made arrangements to pick him up a little after noon. We fixed lunch for Pop and then headed out. JB took us to a little eatery in the mall known for its pizza. He was right, their pizza was some of the best we have ever had. You can't go to a mall and not spend some time in the stores. John scoped out all the clearance racks and found a couple of good buys--I also found one or two good sales. JB managed to resist buying anything, but he sure encouraged us to stimulate the economy.


After dropping JB back at his apartment, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some milk and one or two other needed items and then headed home. We just got in the door when it started to pour. It had been raining off and on all day, but nothing heavy until this afternoon. The rains are very welcomed here as they have been in a long dry spell. Bill, our brother-in-law, had redone their entire lawn with new sod last fall, and now it is brown and crispy--no life left in it at all.


We all spent a quiet evening visiting and catching up on emails and blogs.

Today was the final day of our journey east. We were on the road by 6:30 a.m. just as the sun was breaking over the horizon. The first half of the morning we drove through the mountains of western Pennsylvania. The trees were just beautiful in their bright autumn colors. The scenery really helped make the drive more enjoyable.

Interstate 80 goes right past the town where we lived for eight years. Since we were making such good time, we decided to get off the highway and take an hour or so to see how much the area had changed over the last 33 years. What were once open fields and farmland are now filled with housing developements and businesses. It took us awhile, but we finally remembered our way around the winding mountain roads and were able to locate our house that had once been out in the middle of nowhere. Now it is one of many on the road. I'm not sure our kids will remember this place--there have been additions and out buildings added since we left as well as the trees have matured. I remember them as little sticks in the ground.

After our walk down memory lane, we got back on the interstate and headed for Philadelphia. There was plenty of traffic, but it kept moving right along and we were able to reach Pop's house by 3:30 p.m. It sure felt good to be out of the car. We had a nice evening visiting with Pop and catching up on what has been happening here in Jersey. This week we hope to connect with some old friends.

After a good night's rest, we were back on the road by 7 a.m. When planning our trip, we thought it would be best to hit Chicago early on Saturday morning and thus avoid any heavy traffic or delays. Oh how wrong we were! There were plenty of cars and trucks and even some bumper to bumper driving. What were all these people doing up so early on a Saturday morning? Don't they know you're suppose to sleep in on the weekend? Our trusty little Garmin led us through the maze of highways and we managed to make it through unscathed. Here are a few photos of our brief visit to Chicago.




From Chicago, we crossed over the state line into Indiana. We found the traffic was still a little on the heavy side for a Saturday and as we got closer to South Bend, we realized that Notre Dame had a home football game. There were many cars and people at every gas station and rest stop. When we got to the South Bend exit, the traffic was backed up all the way onto the interstate. Once we made it past that spot, it was smooth sailing the rest of the day.

We pulled off the road in Austinville, Ohio around 4:30 p.m. and found a nice motel with a heated indoor pool. John and I were glad to get off the road for the evening and had a nice relaxing supper at Perkins which was just across the street from the motel. Tomorrow will be the final leg of the journey--we are really looking forward to seeing Pop again and being able to stay in one place for the week.

Last night when I wrote on the blog, I said that we were fortunate not to get the heavy rains that plagued the southern part of the state. Well, I spoke too soon--we had a steady downpour the entire night. The rain, combined with high winds, made it hard to sleep. Our plan was to be on the road by 6 a.m., but we pushed our departure back about half an hour so we could start out with some daylight. As we were pulling out of the driveway, the rain let up to gentle showers. Our first stop was at a little cafe south of Bemidji for breakfast. By the time we were on the road again, the rain had turned to an on and off again mist.

We stopped for lunch right over the Wisconsin state line. There was heavy semi traffic when we first crossed into WI, but it soon spread out and wasn't too busy. Our day's destination was Janesville, WI and we reached our hotel by 4:30 p.m. Our Garmin brought us right to the front door and then found us a Cracker Barrel for dinner. After a delicious meal, we drove across the street and spent some time walking around a Sam's Club and then Wal Mart. Both were very nice brand new stores. It sure felt good to spend some time walking around after sitting all day. So far, John's back seems to be holding up okay. The clouds and rain cleared off by mid-afternoon and we had good travel weather the rest of the day.

As forecast, today was cloudy and cool with rain showers most of the day. We were very fortunate in that the heavier rains stayed to the south of us. Down by the Twin Cities some areas got 7 inches yesterday and overnight. We need a week of sunny weather to dry us up--there is still a lot of standing water. That's very unusual for this time of year.

John worked down in the shop for a while this morning and afternoon. In between the rain showers he took care of a couple of outside jobs--draining the hoses and putting them away and also draining the fish fountain and storing that for the winter. The rest of the fall jobs will have to wait until we return from our trip.

Today I straightened up the house and finished packing clothes and a couple of little projects to work on next week since I'll have plenty of down time. Since the fridge is cleaned out, we just ate a frozen pizza for supper. John then went up to Clearbrook to watch the 7th grade football game--I elected to stay at home since it was cool and raining and I didn't feel like standing outside and getting cold and wet. The 7th graders won 40 to 6 over their arch rival--Bagley.

The packing is all finished and only a few things remain to be loaded in the Honda tomorrow morning. My evening was spent watching the season premiers of CSI and The Mentalist--two of my favorite shows. John spent time on the computer and then watched some TV. We hit the road early tomorrow morning for our East Coast adventure.

John had an early appointment with his surgeon this morning, so we had to leave the house right after breakfast. On our way into town, we stopped at the dump to drop off our trash--making sure that was taken care of before we leave on Friday.

John had a very good report from his doctor. He is now allowed to do just about whatever he wants, just no working with his hands above his head. He is also to start the strengthening of the shoulder muscle. The only thing that would cause a problem would be if John was to suffer a trauma to the shoulder--such as falling on it or something like that. Dr. Miller said he could even do rifle hunting in November. He has another appointment with him November 3rd, so it looks like we won't be heading south until sometime mid-November.

After leaving the doctor's office, we made a quick stop at Wal Mart to pick up some water softener salt and then went to Office Max to pick up some contractor forms for Matt. We stopped at Matt's on our way home to drop off the forms and then stayed and visited for a bit.

John helped out in the shop this afternoon and I spent some time getting the finances in order and then loading a few items in the car. Then it was time for Weight Watchers where I just weighed in but didn't stay for the meeting. When I got home, we ate a quick supper and then headed up to church for Bible Study. Rachel's birthday is Friday and since we will be on the road, we gave Sara and Matt her gift.

We had the DVR record Survivor while we were at church, so when we got home we watched the show. Glad to see that the "old" tribe won immunity this time, but couldn't believe the "young" tribe voted off one of their strongest players. Next week should be interesting.

This morning John and I went up to Sara's for haircuts. We had to be there by 9 a.m. so there was no sleeping in even though it was a cool, cloudy, and very windy morning. John drove up himself as after his haircut he was to meet Matt at the job site. While I was getting my hair done, Matt called Sara and said they ran into a problem with the homeowner, and things were on hold until the issue gets resolved. Hopefully everything will work out and they can complete the job sometime over the next day or so.

John returned home and found that help was needed in the shop, so after lunch he spent some time making sofa servers. I finished up the laundry today so everything is clean and ready for packing. This afternoon I decided to clean out the inside of the car so we can start loading it tomorrow. Depending on the weather, while we are in Bemidji tomorrow, we'll take the Honda to the car wash--John's shoulder is still not up to washing a car.

We spent a rather quiet evening--John watching baseball while I watched the start of The Biggest Loser.

John had an early morning PT appointment, so we were up and out of the house right after breakfast. John's range of motion continues to improve with some movements at almost 100%. His therapist has deleted several of the exercises he had been doing and added some strengthening ones. He will exercise using different rubber bands which will help strengthen the shoulder muscles that were repaired. His next PT appointment is in three weeks and that might be his final one--all depends upon what the surgeon says when John sees him on Wednesday.

The morning started off partly sunny, but by lunch time, heavy clouds moved in and we had rain for the rest of the day. John helped out in the shop for an hour, but then took it easy the remainder of the day and rested his back--it's improving a little more each day. I spent time today sorting clothes for the trip and getting some laundry done. This evening was spent watching Monday Night Football.

It was much warmer this morning when we left the house for our walk--42 degrees instead of the 30 degrees of yesterday. We walked out the back door and as we turned the corner of the house we found that we had a visitor near the garden. A nice looking skunk had its head down, walking toward us, while he was busy eating. He didn't even see us. I ran back inside to grab my camera so I could get his picture. Afer a few minutes he realized we were there and took off into the tall grass. We're not sure where he is living, but hope it's across the road in the woods.
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After breakfast, we watched a little of the Sunday news shows, got cleaned up, and headed off to church. This morning John participated in the service by reading scripture and leading in prayer. Since his back is still stiff, John once again spent most of the day resting and watching NFL football. This evening he said his back is feeling a little better. Hopefully it will keep improving as we head out on our trip the end of the week. Nothing worse than sitting in a car for hours when your back is painful. This evening a dark cloud bank moved in from the west and contributed to a beautiful sunset with unusual clouds.

This morning the temperature was 30 degrees when we set off on our walk so we had to wear a couple of layers of clothing. You don't want to put too much on or else you get hot and have to take something off and then carry it. We started out just as the sun was coming up and the frost looked like diamonds on the ground. There was quite of bit of frost on the roof and the tomato plants took a hit also--actually there was frost just about everywhere.

The fall colors are really starting to appear. This past week the leaves have been changing just about every day and should be at their peak in the next week or so. It seems like most of the leaves are usually gone by the first week of October.

John's back is still stiff and sore, so it's a good thing he heads back to PT Monday morning. Hopefully his therapist will be able to give him some exercises to loosen the muscles or at least tell him what he can do to get some relief. He pulled a muscle or popped something out of place when he was reaching into the car to get his cell phone. He pretty much spent the entire day resting and watching college football. Since we will be here until sometime later in the fall, I dug out some autumn decorations to place around the kitchen and livingroom. I also finally got the rest of my information and email addresses on the new laptop so now I am ready to use it full time. I can see it will take awhile to get use to using the Windows 7 system, but so far I like it.

Today you could almost feel winter coming--the morning was cloudy and cool with a few sprinkles. The skies became partly sunny by noon, but the temps only reached the mid 50's and with a strong breeze, it felt rather chilly.

John and Matt left around 8 a.m. get some more work done on the deck. They were able to get the steps and top railing completed, but were short some lumber and have to wait until Monday to get it finished. The bow hunting season for deer starts tomorrow, so Matt wanted to quit early anyway as he has a fellow hunter coming up from the cities to spend the weekend hunting.

Since John was home early, we decided to start tackling our list of fall jobs. First on the list was clearing off the screened porch. We bagged up all the cushions, rolled up the carpets, and placed everything in the storage trailer. The hanging planters were pretty much done, so we emptied them out and cleaned up the pots. Our big planters still look very nice, so we'll let them go until we return from our trip unless they get hit with frost some time over the next few nights. Porch and deck ready for winter--one job down and several more to go.




I took a little time this afternoon to run into the library to return some books and picked up a new mystery that had just come in. From there I headed over to the grocery store for a couple of items; hopefully we won't have to pick up anything else and will use up what we have on hand before we leave next week.

Following supper, we spent a quiet evening watching Twins baseball, reading, and doing some computer work.

The weather had cleared off late yesterday and the temps dropped overnight. We had some frost down by the pond, but John and Matt both had a hard frost at their places. It is suppose to get cold again tonight with the possibility of more frost. This will help to finally put an end to the grass cutting. Another sign of fall is the geese coming into our area. On our way to Clearbrook last night, we passed a field with a huge flock settling in for the night.

Matt and John left early to work on the deck they are installing. They made great strides today and got all the floor boards down. Hopefully, they will get the railing finished tomorrow. While John was gone today, I started sorting through some of our winter coats and clothing and got a few more things ready for our trip. I checked the weather on the East Coast and right now it is about 20 degrees warmer out there than here, I'll have to wait until next week to make the final decision about what clothes to take--for warm weather or cool.

John was pretty tired when he got home so he spent a quiet evening watching the Twins play the White Sox. I worked on the computer and watched an old movie.

The rain that started during the night continued well into this morning. Matt called John to tell him that there would be no working today and that they would probably be able to go tomorrow as the weather is suppose to clear off by late this afternoon.

Since we were pretty much house bound all day, we spent some time getting more things ready for our trip. Next week we will be busy with several different appointments--PT and a return to the surgeon's--so I am trying to get a head start on some of the packing. Late this afternoon John was able to get outside and do some more lawn mowing--hopefully that job will be ending soon.

After supper we headed up to church for Bible Study and saw Matt. He had just gotten back from Sam's doctor's appointment. His arm is healing nicely and he finally got a hard cast. The only bad news is he still has to have his arm in the sling for another two weeks. At that time he will hopefully get a short cast and be able to get rid of it.

The new TV season started tonight with my favorite show--Survivor. I set the DVR to record it and when we got home we watched the first episode. This season it's a tribe of young people against a tribe of older folks. Should be interesting to see what happens.

John and I were both up bright and early this morning. Matt arrived around 9:00 a.m. to pick up John and they headed off to start a new job--adding a deck to a house. The job is only a mile or so from our place, so they can come back to our house for lunch.

After taking care of some financial chores I headed off to Bemidji to run some errands and pick up some groceries. I made a stop at Office Max to purchase a new flash drive to use in backing up my photos. The sales clerk was very helpful and took the time to demonstrate how to safely close out of the drive so I wouldn't ruin it. I also stopped at the mall and found a great sale on jeans.

There was another 7th grade football game this afternoon, so I stopped at Subway and picked up a couple of subs for supper so we could eat before the game. I was home about half an hour when Matt dropped John off. We ate the subs and then John went up to watch the games. I had been gone all day and was tired of running, so I opted to stay home.

John and Matt were in charge of the chains for both 7th and 8th grade games (the chains are used to measure the yardage for downs) so they had front row seats for both games. The 7th graders won 24 - 0 and remain undefeated. While John was at the games I got the groceries put away and worked some more on transferring information to the new laptop. The rest of the evening was spent watching some TV before bedtime.

John had to be up and out bright and early this morning to meet Matt at his house by 7:30 a.m. John was helping Matt with a small job and thought he would be home by lunch time. The work took longer than anticipated, and John didn't get here until 4:00 p.m.

Since we will be leaving in less that two weeks for our trip to the East Coast, I started setting aside some of the things we will want to take with us. While John was gone most of the day, it provided a good opportunity to do some cleaning and time to get all the laundry done. It was a busy day and the time just flew bye.

As soon as John got home, we headed up to Clearbrook to watch the 7th grade football game. Even though Sam is not playing, we like to go and cheer on his friends. They are improving more with each game and once again were victorious. It was well after dinner time when we got home, so we settled for heating up a frozen pizza for supper. The evening was spent watching more NFL--we have just about overdosed on football this weekend. There were some very exciting and entertaining games, but we were disappointed the Eagles and Vikings lost. Oh well, it's only the first week of the season.

The weather this morning was just perfect for a walk. The sun was just starting to come up, there was no wind, and nice cool temps. We are suppose to have a few days with no rain, and hopefully that will help the ground dry out a bit after the 2 inches we got the other day. There is still a lot of water standing in the ditches.

Today was Rally Day at church with Sunday School resuming after the summer break. There was a potluck dinner after the service, so I had made a pasta salad last evening to take this morning. Matt and Sara had to stay for a meeting, so John and I dropped Sam, Hanna, and Rachel off at home. Sam was eager to get there so he could watch his beloved Chicago Bears play Detroit.

John's back has been a little stiff and sore, so he spent most of the day resting and watching football. I finally got all the photos sorted into files and backed up onto a flash drive. Now I can transfer some of them to the laptop and start installing the programs that I want to use on it. I'll be glad when I get this job done.

The day started off cloudy with very strong winds--we battled a strong wind yesterday during our walk and decided we didn't want to do it again this morning along with the muddy road. We treated ourselves to a little extra sleep.

Matt and Sam came over this morning to get the apples that were still on the tree as well as those on the ground. The guys shook the branches and the apples fell like rain. Matt also climbed the tree to get the apples that were higher up and pretty soon the tree was bare. John helped with raking the apples up as Sam had a hard time trying to do it one handed. They then headed out to the food plots to hang a game camera. He wants to see what time the deer come onto the plots to eat.





After lunch, John and I headed up to Clearbrook to attend an open house for a friend's 90th birthday. There was quite a crowd and a nice opportunity to visit with folks we haven't seen for a while. The afternoon continued windy and cold, so we spent the rest of our day inside watching college football, reading, and working on the computer.

We had just a long enough break in the rain to get our walk in this morning. By mid-morning the showers and heavier rains returned and the wet weather lasted the entire day.

Since we were house bound, John took some time to sort through and organize his ammunition, making sure he had what he needed for deer hunting later this fall. I spent most of my day working on the computer clearing out more pictures and uploading them to Shutterfly for printing. When there was a break in the rain, I ran into the library to return several books and to pick up some more reading material. It was a very lazy day. We spent the evening watching the first Lord of the Rings trilogy movies. Hopefully, this rain will be moving out soon.

After no walking for the past two mornings, we were able to get our exercise in today. The day started out sunny and cool with the wind coming up as the sun rose. After a few hours of sun, the clouds moved in with off and on showers and cool temps for the rest of the day.

John was happy this morning--he finally caught the elusive gopher. He thinks there are more of them as there are several holes, and doesn't think one gopher would be doing all that work by himself. He reset the traps and hopefully will be successful once again.

I was having trouble downloading a computer program, so since the weather wasn't so nice today, we decided to head back to Grand Forks and get the Geek Squad at Best Buy to install the software. We dropped the computer off and were told they would call when it was ready to be picked up. By then it was lunch time and we went to Culver's for a change of pace--no Burger King today. Just as we were leaving the restaurant, Best Buy called and said the computer was ready. It worked out great as Best Buy was right next to Culver's.

Our next stop was Wal Mart where we bought a wireless mouse and external hard drive to use with the laptop. From there we did some window shopping in the mall and then headed back across the river to MN. Our final stop was Cabela's where John wanted to check out some ammunition. There were no sales, so we left empty-handed.

John and I had just arrived home when Matt and our pastor, Adam, pulled in the driveway. They wanted to check out the food plots and see where the ground blinds were located. They will be bow hunting here this fall. John went out to the deer stand this evening to watch for deer and saw one small buck. He likes to see if the deer are coming to feed in the plots and whether they are bucks or does. The remainder of our evening was spent watching the Vikings and Saints NFL game.

This morning was very foggy and overcast and since John had to meet Matt by 7:30 a.m., we skipped our morning walk. Hopefully the weather will co-operate and we will be able to get our walk in tomorrow.

John went with Matt this morning to help him put the finishing touches on his siding job. Joanne came to work in the shop this morning and then came up to the house to visit with me for an hour or so. She had been away over the past several weeks, so it was good to catch up with what she had been doing and to hear how the kids made out their first day of school. Jo also gave me a crash course on navigating around my Face Book page. Hopefully I'll be able to get it set up the way I want and start communicating with my friends and family.

I spent time making all the fall birthday cards and wrapping the gifts--that's a big job done. I was also trying to download a computer program on the laptop, but ran into some problems--will have to take a trip back to Best Buy and get them to install it. While I went to my Weight Watcher's meeting, John made supper so we could eat as soon as I got home, and then it was off to Bible Study at the church.

Sam was back to see the doctor this afternoon. He had another x-ray of his arm and the bones are beginning to knit together. The doctor did not want to remove his soft cast yet, so he put a fiberglass one over it. Sam will go back again next week and possibly get a hard cast at that time.

John spent the rest of his evening watching the Twins win again. I did some computer work and tried to finish the mystery book I'm reading.

The heavy rains of last night became light showers by early this morning. It was so wet outside that we decided to skip our usual walk.

Right after breakfast we headed into town for John's PT appointment. His therapist was very pleased with his progress--his range of motion has continued to improve. She assigned additional exercises and said that he will probably be able to start strengthening exercises after he sees her again in two weeks. Before heading home we stopped at the local grocery store to pick some fresh fruit--John wanted some peaches for his cereal.

Matt needed a little help this afternoon, so John went to give him a hand for a couple of hours. While he was gone, I did some financial work and more picture sorting on the computer. Sam's football team had their first game at 5 p.m. this afternoon, so after John got home, we bundled up in winter coats, hats, and mittens--the sky was overcast with temps in the low 50's with wind that made it feel even colder. The Bears played good and won the game. The coach chose Sam to be an honorary captain, so he was part of the opening coin toss (Sam is #30).



Sam walking with his friend Ben, who is the quarter back of the team.

When the 7th grade game was finished, we stayed and watched the 8th graders play for a few minutes, and then headed on home. First thing we did when we got there was to put on the kettle and make a couple of cups of hot tea to help us thaw out. We spent the rest of the evening just relaxing and watching some TV.

We were up bright and early for our walk. The temps were in the upper 40's with a pretty strong breeze. John made the comment that in about a month or so, it will much colder and not so pleasant for walking. It reminded us that before long we will thinking about returning to Texas for the winter.

After breakfast, John did his PT exercises while I put the finishing touches on the food for lunch. Bee and Nancy Stone and Dave and Valada Sandwick arrived around 10 a.m. It was good to see some familiar Fort Clark faces and to catch up on their news. We sat and visited for a bit and then John gave them a tour of the shop and house. By then it was time to eat--hamburgers, pasta salad, chips, and fresh carrots and cucumbers from the garden. We sat around the table talking for another hour or so and then they headed on home.


This afternoon the clouds returned bringing thunderstorms and heavy rains, so we just spent the rest of the day relaxing inside and this evening watched the Boise State - Virginia Tech football game. It was a great game!

Over the past couple of days we have been seeing more wildlife while taking our morning walks. Today we saw a coyote running through the pasture across the road from our house. It is unusual to see them during the daylight hours. As we got further down the road, we could see some deer standing a neighbor's yard--we had a fawn standing in our own driveway a couple of days ago. It is fun to see the different animal tracks on the road as we walk. We found a spot today where the beaver have been crossing the road and have started plugging up a culvert. When John was on the town board, he would have had to deal with that problem--now it belongs to someone else.

After breakfast John did his PT exercises and then we headed up to church. We saw Hanna and Rachel right away and then spied Sam. We were really surprised to see him there. He was the center of a lot of attention with people wanting to know what had happened to his arm and how he injured it. During the service he sat in the back with his arm propped up with a couple of pillows. I think he was probably glad to get out of the house for a little while--Sara said he was going stir crazy just laying around and watching TV.

John took some time this afternoon to mow the lawn once again. Now that cooler weather has arrived we can only hope the grass will stop growing and maybe the lawn cutting will come to an end. Since we are having company tomorrow, I took some time to straighten up around the house and get some food prepared. Our evening was pretty quiet and uneventful.

When we left the house to take our walk this morning the temperature was 42 degrees. It's hard to believe that at the beginning of the week it was so hot and humid you didn't want to be out of the AC. That's how September weather is in northern Minnesota. It is suppose to dip down to 39 degrees tonight.

After breakfast, we took another road trip to Grand Forks to pick up my laptop. While we were there we made a stop at the mall for a new pair of jeans and a coffee maker, and then went to Sam's Club to get some chips and bread that were on sale. We also stuck to our normal routine and had lunch at Burger King as well as stopping at McDonald's for their hot fundge sundaes.

Matt called as we were just leaving Grand Forks and wanted to know if we could come and stay with Sam and the girls while he and Sara went to Bemidji to pick up a few things Sam will need for school on Tuesday (at least he is going to give it a try). Sam still spends his day laying down with his arm elevated with ice packs to help with the swelling. The puffinesss in his fingers is getting better. John and I got to their house in time to have supper and then Matt and Sara left. Hanna and I walked around outside trying to find something interesting to photograph--there's not too much right now--will have to wait a week or two for the fall colors to start. Sam and John passed the time watching a couple of football games.

Matt and Sara weren't gone too long, so John and I were back home around 8:30. We spent the rest of the evening watching some college football. I, for one, am very glad the football season had started.

The winds were so strong this morning, that we decided to skip our walk. The sky was overcast with a misty rain that lasted until early afternoon. Since the weather was so poor and the stores were having good Labor Day sales, we decided to head to Bemidji and finish up our birthday shopping. On our way we stopped at Matt's place to visit Sam and to see how he was doing. It seems he had a fairly good night--Sara kept up with the pain meds, so that helped him get some rest. He has to keep his arm elevated and apply ice several times a day. Rachel and Hanna are doing a good job taking care of Sam and getting him things that he needs. It's great to see Sam smiling.


When we got to Bemidji we did a couple of errands and then went to the mall where we found everything on our birthday gift list. It sure feels good to have that job done. I also found a nice jacket for the fall that should also work well for wintering in Texas. We were both getting hungry, so our next stop was Burger King for lunch. Our last stop was Wal Mart to stock up on a few groceries and where John took care of an errand for Sara.

John and I did a few chores around the house this afternoon and then spent a pretty quiet evening watching the Twins game and an old John Wayne movie.

Well, today has been quite a day. We started off as usual with our morning walk. The temps were about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday but you could still feel fall in the air. We noticed that more of the trees are starting to loose their bright green color and yellows, oranges, and reds are beginning to appear.

After we got back to the house, I took a little walk around the yard to look at the different signs of fall. The apple tree in our yard is full of small apples. The trunk of this tree is almost completely hollowed out and it amazes us how it keeps producing apples year after year. The apples are only about two inches in diameter and don't taste very good, but the deer just love them. As they fall from the tree, John rakes them up into five gallon containers to be fed to the deer.


It is also interesting to see how some of the most noxious weeds in our fields look so pretty in the fall.


Our tomato plants are producing some large and delicious tomatoes. John wanted this photo posted so he could brag to his brother about his great tomato crop.


This afternoon we headed up to Clearbrook to watch Sam's first game of the season. It wasn't an actual game, but a scrimmage with a team from another town. Our whole family has been looking forward all summer to going to the games and rooting for the Bears. They were on offense first and Sam, playing half back, was running the ball well and making good yardage. Sam, #30, carrying the ball for a large gain.


This play is a pitch out to Sam with his friend Hunter blocking for him--another nice gain.


Shortly after this, Sam broke free for a run down the field and was tackled around the ankles and went down. He went down and didn't get up. The coaches went over to him to see what was going on and Matt walked out onto the field. I thought he had fallen on the ball and had the wind knocked out of him. John then went out on the field to see what was happening. I walked down to stay with Sara and give some moral support. Matt came over and said Sam broke his arm. Fortunately, two of the parents there were nurses, and they were able to put on a splint and stabilize the arm. John then went and got Matt's truck and drove it near the field so they could get Sam inside and off to the hospital. John went with them and I took Hanna and Rachel with me. To help keep the girls occupied we went to watch the 7th grade volleyball game and then out for supper before coming back to our place.

Matt called with the news that both bones in the forearm were broken, but the good news was that surgery was not required. We had told Matt and Sara to request one of the doctors from the practice that did our surgeries as they were some of the best in their field. Dr. Caron was on call and came right over to the hospital. X-rays were taken and the arm was set and placed in what they call a soft cast for now. Sam will see the doctor next week and if the arm looks good, will then have a hard cast put on. They got back to our house around 8:00 p.m. to pick up the girls and head on home. I walked out to see how Sam was doing, and I must say he looked like one sad little puppy. He just loves the game of football and gives it his all when playing--this will be a real growing experience for Sam. Matt asked the doctor about how he thought the arm got broken. Dr. Caron said when Sam went down, he put his hand out to break his fall and that put a great deal of stress on the bone--it would have been better to keep the arm in and roll with the fall.

The doctor told Sam his arm will heal just fine and to remember that this was only his 7th grade year. Better this year than his senior one. Dr.Caron also assured him he will be healed and ready for the basketball season. Thank goodness for that since basketball is Sam's second passion. Even though Sam won't be playing any more football this season, John and I will still go to the games and cheer on the Bears.

That was our day. Not exactly what we thought it would be when we got up this morning. We're just so thankful that Sam will heal up and be better than ever.

The weather was cool and crisp this morning, almost like fall. When we left the house for our walk, the temperature was 47 degrees. Hard to believe that two days ago it was 75 degrees at 6:30 a.m. Our highs are suppose to be only in the low to mid 60's for the next week. When we got back from our walk, I went down to the pond to check things out. It seems our duck families have left and many of the birds are also gone. I suppose we will soon be seeing the geese heading south.

After breakfast, I was working back in the office when I heard a truck pull in the drive and saw our friend Tom Benson. Tom has just returned from his tour of duty in Afghanistan. I knew he was on his way back to the US, but wasn't sure when he would get home. It was so good to see him again and to learn that his entire unit made in home safely. Tom, John, and I spent the rest of the morning through the early afternoon catching up with each other and hearing about some of Tom's military experiences. We pray that he will have an easy transition back to civilian life.

Following Tom's visit, John went up to watch Sam's football practice and I headed off to my Weight Watchers meeting. We both returned home in time for a quick supper before heading off to church for Bible Study. The rest of our evening was pretty quiet--just watching a little TV and working on the computer.