Today we had rain for most of the day, so it was a good one to stay inside and get the grouting done on the kitchen tiles. Matt arrived bright and early and the guys got started. This was a whole new experience for me--I didn't realize the amount of work involved in grouting. After the grout is applied, you have to keep wiping the tile to remove the excess grout. This took most of the day as you have to wipe, then let the grout dry a little more, and the wipe again. Matt left a little after noon and John did the last of the wiping himself.

Matt starting to apply the grout

John wiping down tile

While the guys were grouting this morning, I headed up to Sara's for a haircut and by the time I returned home, the project was pretty well finished. John and I spent some time this afternoon getting left over tiles counted and ready to return to HD, putting tools away, and cleaning up the work area. I had library books due today, so I made a run into the library and grocery store for some milk.

John had picked green beans the other day, so this evening we processed them and got them into the freezer. The remainder of our evening was spent watching some baseball and recorded shows. As soon as we get the kitchen cleaned up and everything back in place, I post a photo of our new kitchen.

Today we reached the final step in our kitchen makeover--installing the new tile on the back splash. John had everything ready to go when Matt arrived at 8 a.m. and they got started right away. Matt handled applying the adhesive and putting the tiles on the wall. John was mainly the gofer and took care of cutting tile when needed. I mainly stayed out of their way and followed their progress as the day went on.

Getting the first line of tile started



Tile done and ready to grout

The last tile was put in place a little before three. Matt had to get home so he could take Sam to football practice and Hanna to her first volleyball game. John and I ate an early supper and then headed up to the school for Hanna's game.

Hanna serving

Hanna's team lost their first game, but won the next two, so they had a successful first outing of the season. Hanna even scored the winning point in the third game. We stayed to watch the eight graders play their three games and then headed home. Tomorrow the grouting will get done and then it'll be time to restore order to the house once again.

Our weather continues to be just beautiful--sunny, warm days with nights nice and cool for sleeping. We are beginning to see more signs of the approaching fall. There aren't as many birds around and the Canadian Geese are coming back into the area.

After breakfast John headed down to the shop where he assembled product for most of the morning. I did a couple of loads of laundry and some cleaning up around the house. John checked the garden after lunch and found plenty of pickling cucumbers ready to be picked. Since we had all the necessary ingredients, we decided to spend the afternoon making dill pickles.

This evening I attended a baby shower and John spent his time watching the Phillies game on TV. Tomorrow the tile job begins. Can't wait to get the kitchen finished and back to normal.

This morning we slept in a little later, but unlike last Sunday, we were up early enough to make church on time without having to rush around getting ready.

After lunch, we checked out our tile pattern one more time and found that we had room to add a few additional decorative tiles. So, it was back to HD to pick them up. Before leaving for Bemidji, we checked out our pickle making supplies and found we were short on a few spices and lids. We added these items to our list of things to get and took off out of town.

It didn't take us long to get everything on our list, so before we headed home, John decided to stop at BK for a couple of strawberry milkshakes. We then made one final stop to gas up the Honda and pick up some fresh corn from a roadside stand. Supper tonight was a garden salad (with everything fresh from our garden) and the corn. It was all delicious. While we were en-route home
Matt called and said he had to go bid on a job and fix something for one of his customers tomorrow, so the tiling got pushed back until Tuesday.

John's sister called this evening to let us know how they fared through Irene. They received about seven inches of rain and had high winds, but the power stayed on in their part of town. The creek behind their house flooded the entire lower level of their yard, and they were up all night bailing water out of the basement. Also, all their cut up firewood floated away. But all in all, they were very fortunate--none of their big trees were lost and their neighborhood came through just fine.

Last night we made a tentative plan of what we wanted to get done this morning. We decided that we would haul the old windows from the garage renovation along with quite a few cans of old paint to the landfill. The hours of operation on Saturdays are 8 to 12. We were just finishing up breakfast and getting ready to load the pickup when Matt and Hanna arrived to look at our tile layout and checkout our new sink and counter-top.

After looking over our tile pattern, Matt pointed out a few problems with the layout. We then spent the next hour measuring and trying different ideas. It was decided the six inch square tiles would not work and needed to be returned to Home Depot. They would be replaced by three by six inch tiles and another decorative row. This new design eliminates a lot of tile cutting and works better around the outlets and switches on the back splash area. By the time Matt and Hanna left, it was almost 11:30. So much for going to the landfill--Matt also wanted the old windows, so the main reason for going to the landfill no longer existed.

The tile work is going to commence on Monday morning and we needed to have all the new sized tile here by then. John and I headed off to Bemidji, stopped at BK for a quick lunch, and then headed to the Home Depot. After digging around the shelves of tile, we found two full cases of the size and color we needed for our project. Then it was back home and laying out the new tiles. We think we have finally found what looks good and will work without having to do a lot of cutting.

Our garden is overrun with cucumbers, so this evening we made our first batch of bread and butter pickles. Since we have a glass top stove, we used the burner on our out door grill to process the pickles. It worked out real slick and we didn't have to heat up the house.


We have been watching the progress of Irene as we have friends who live on an island off the New Jersey coast and John's sister lives right outside Philadelphia in South Jersey. He talked to his sister last night and she said they have set a record for rainfall in August and is concerned about the rains and wind coming their way--they have many big trees in their lower yard and the ground is saturated. John learned from his sister that the Jersey shore has been evacuated, so we're sure our friends are safe with their son way inland from the ocean. Hopefully we'll be able to contact them in a few days and see if their house survived the storm.

It was another beautiful day--Matt and John have certainly had a good week for working outside. John left early again this morning, but was back home by 2:30 and reported the job was finally done--that's a good thing as JD told him he got a couple of large orders and will need some help next week. John told him he wouldn't be able to work on Monday as that's the day the tile gets put up in the kitchen. We need to get that done and get the tile up off the living room floor.

With John working such long hours this past week, I have had large blocks of uninterrupted time and have been able to get quite a bit done. Today I managed to get the bed linens changed and give the bedroom a thorough cleaning. This afternoon we made another batch of peach jam and hope to start doing pickles sometime this weekend. Our evening was spent watching some more DVR recorded shows before calling it a night.

Today was pretty much an exact carbon copy of yesterday. John was up and out early to meet Matt and head off to the job site. Good news is they will probably finish this job up tomorrow. I completed the little bit of laundry that was left over from yesterday and also spent an hour or so in the office taking care of some bills. Joanne came to the shop and brought the kids. While she was busy down there, Jenni and I looked through some scrap booking stickers that I didn't need--she picked out a little stack to take home.

Over the past few days I have pretty much figured out when John will walk through the door, so tonight supper was ready when he got home. We're still eating a lot later than usual, but that should end after tomorrow. This evening we watched more of the Little League World Series and a couple of other recorded shows. I'm running out of space on the DVR, so I need to delete a few of the shows to make room for more.

We had a beautiful day weather-wise. Temps weren't quite so high and a strong wind hung around the entire day. Not much to talk about tonight. John headed off to work with Matt and was gone until 6:30 this evening. He gets home late because they have to pick Sam up after football practice and that doesn't get over until six.

My day was spent doing laundry and giving the den a good cleaning. After supper we watched more of the Little League World Series and then called it a night.

Summer came back today--it was much warmer with higher humidity and temps near 90. John was up and out the door early to meet up with Matt by 7:30 to drive to the job site. I headed off to Bemidji a little after 8:30 for an eye doctor's appointment. A change in prescription was needed, so I'll have new glasses in a week or two. From that appointment I headed over to the clinic for my scheduled mammogram. They had a brand new machine--no x-ray, everything is now digital. The whole screening only took about 10 minutes. My next stop was Burger King for some lunch and then onto several stores for groceries and canning supplies.

John and Matt had to pick up Sam after his football practice. Since it went a little longer, John was late getting home, so supper was later than usual. This siding job will probably take the rest of this week, so right now it looks like the kitchen tiling will start next week. We spent the evening once again watching the Little League World Series. Pennsylvania beat Georgia and is one win away from playing in the final championship games. It was a very exciting game tonight.

We had a beautiful morning with sunshine, cool temps, and a slight breeze and were able to get our walk done without being harassed by deer flies. After breakfast John did some cleaning up around the woodshed and outdoor furnace. I sold several things on ebay yesterday, so this morning I got them boxed up and ready to take to the post office.

Sam has been working with Matt all summer; however, football practice started this afternoon so after lunch John went to work with Matt while Sam went to football. John will be helping Matt finish this job up the rest of the week. It's too much for Sam to work in the mornings and then go to football in the afternoons so John has been pressed into service. I think this means the tile will be staying on the living room floor a little longer.

I took my packages to the post office and then went to Bemidji to do some shopping. I have a baby shower next week and needed to get a gift. This evening we watched more of the Little League World Series--Pennsylvania won again tonight.

John and I had a rather lazy Sunday. We slept in until almost nine and then had to hustle to get to church on time. As we were driving home we noticed more signs of fall--saw a couple of trees with a few orange leaves. The deep green of the summer is beginning to fade and the grass has slowed it's growth. It is no longer getting light at four in the morning--it is now closer to six before the day begins to lighten. August is our transition month from summer to autumn even though the calendar still says summer.

Today we watched quite a bit of the Little League World Series. Both of us enjoy watching the teams from around the world and USA play. Even though many of these kids don't speak each others language, they still can come together to play a game of baseball.

We took breaks between games and finished laying out the kitchen tile and John went up to Matt's to haul the last load of split wood home. The shed is just about full--one more trailer load should do it and hopefully we'll have enough wood for the winter.


Sam and Hanna got their football and volleyball schedules. Looks like we'll be pretty busy going to games in September and October. I'll have to get all the games on the calendar so we don't miss any. Hanna's first game is August 30th and they both have games on September 1. That should be interesting figuring who'll go where.

John went up to Matt's early this morning where he helped John split the wood that had been cut up yesterday. John then hauled a load back home and put it in the woodshed. The guys got the whole pile split, so now it only has to be hauled home. There's another large pile of wood to be cut and split, but John thinks he will take a little break from wood and go back to it when the weather cools down.

John picked beans yesterday, so this morning I got them cut up and ready for freezing. I also sold a doll on ebay and got that ready to be shipped.


This afternoon we finally got the new microwave installed and then laid out the tile pattern for the back splash. Right now we have to walk very carefully in the living room so we don't mess up John's tile pattern.

Now to read the instruction book

We need to watch our step until this can get up on the walls

In between our different chores, we managed to watch quite of bit of the Little League World Series. We are rooting for Pennsylvania.

Oops! Guess what I forgot to do last night? I got so wrapped up in a mystery I was reading that I totally forgot everything else. Oh well, here is a re-cap of what we did Friday:

John once again went up to Matt's in the morning and cut up more firewood. It still needs to be split and brought home, but he'll get to that in a day or two. He told me he just about has the one section of wood completely cleared.

With doing our kitchen and painting projects, I pretty much have neglected the rest of the house, so this morning I gave the office, laundry area, and downstairs bathroom a good cleaning. After lunch, John and I went down to the shop where we cut the bead board paneling for our cupboard. He then got that and the rest of the baseboards installed. That just leaves the tiling to do and then the kitchen is done.



John spent some time in the garden picking tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans. While he was busy with that, I started a batch of peach jam. Looks like we'll be busy with canning and freezing our garden produce these next few weeks.



That was our Friday--nothing too exciting.

Today was pretty much the same as yesterday--including the weather. John went up to Matt's first thing this morning and hauled another load of wood back home and stacked it in the shed. I went up to the school around ten to pick up Hanna and took her home from volleyball practice.

We needed to do some banking, so after lunch we headed off to Bemidji. After stopping at the bank, we hit Wal Mart for some spray paint and a few groceries. Our final destination was Home Depot. We decided to put some white bead board on the side of the pantry cabinet--this would match what we put up yesterday and give the cabinet ends a clean, uniform finish.

This evening John picked some cucumbers and tomatoes. Looks like we'll have plenty of them to eat and give away.

We skipped our walk this morning because John wanted to get up to Matt's nice and early to haul and unload another trailer full of wood. He likes doing this before the day gets too far along and the temps start to rise.

I took sometime this morning to do a few loads of laundry and then I had to leave to pick Hanna up from volleyball practice. Matt had dropped her off at the school on his way out of town to a job site and, as Sara had salon appointments this morning, I was called upon to get Hanna home when she was done with volleyball.

When the new counter tops were installed, we had to pull off the backing on some cabinets, and in the process of doing that, the board got chipped. While at Home Depot, we picked up replacement backing and this afternoon John installed it along with new trim.





Our kitchen project is just about complete. We just have to install the tiles above the counter top and we'll be done.

One can tell that we are moving toward the autumn in northern Minnesota. As we were walking this morning, we spied a couple of trees with a few yellow leaves. Even though the days are still fairly warm and humid, the overnight temps have been cooling down.

Right after breakfast, John and I headed off to Bemidji and the Home Depot. Our goal was to make the final decision on tile for our new back splash. After looking at several different colors and trying out a few patterns, we made our choice. John loaded all the tile into our cart, we checked out, and hit the road home.

This afternoon John did some work in the shop. JD and his family are at the wholesale market and he left John a list of parts and product that need to be made while he's gone. When John was done in the shop, we spent our afternoon measuring and laying out the tiles trying to work out a design that we like and would work in the space we needed to fill. We think we have found something that will work, but we'll check it out again tomorrow.

Today was a very busy one. John left home nice and early and met up with Sam to split firewood. They loaded it into the trailer and then John hauled it home. He went early in the morning so he could be back home by 10:30 when the counter tops were to be delivered and installed.



I managed to get a couple of loads of laundry done before the guys arrived to install the counter tops. It seemed to me that things went very smoothly and they were finished with the installation in about three hours. John stacked firewood while they were working and once they left, he began hooking up our new faucet and garbage disposal. With the sink now back in operation, we started to clean the cabinet bases and put everything back in it's proper place. Now that the new counter tops are in, we've found that we need to rethink the tile color for the back splash, so it's back to Home Depot tomorrow.

Making a few final adjustments before
bringing in the new counter tops


Moving the under counter sink into place


Counter tops all installed--just cleaning up

After such a full day, we relaxed this evening watching some TV and working on the computer listing several items on E-Bay.

John and I were up bright and early this morning to finish clearing off the kitchen counters. Matt arrived right on time at seven to help us remove the old kitchen sink and counter tops. The job went much easier and smoother than we anticipated, and everything was done in a couple of hours. The old counters will become work tables in the garage and shop.

We were planning to use the same garbage disposal with the new sink, but John found a problem with it and decided we needed a new one. We have to get our kitchen back together after the counter tops are installed tomorrow morning, so we made a trip to Home Depot for a new disposal. While we were there, we looked at more tiles for the back splash. Before heading back home, we decided to stop at Menards to look at their assortment of tiles. While there, we found a nice sofa on sale. John was going to go home, get the pickup truck, and come right back to Bemidji to haul it home. While we were talking with the salesman, a friend of ours stopped to talk and when he learned of our predicament, offered to haul the sofa to our place in his truck. All the kitchen drawers and everything from the cabinets are sitting on the living room floor, so the new sofa is now parked out in the garage. Tomorrow we will hopefully get our kitchen put back together with the sink and water back in service.

Our walk was canceled this morning due to a very heavy fog. We don't like walking on our country roads when we can't see what else might be there walking with us--things like skunks.

Since we didn't walk, we were able to get a much earlier start to our day. Right after eating breakfast, John headed up to Matt's to cut more firewood. He got quite a bit cut and now needs to wait for Sam's help with splitting it before hauling it home.

My morning was spent storing frames, mats, and glass away as well as doing a little laundry. Around noon I went back up to the garage sale to help get everything taken down and cleaned up. There were still people at the sale buying at closing time, so we stayed open for almost another hour. We learned there was an auction down the road, so many people stopped at our sale either on their way to or from the auction. I sold just about everything I took to sell and the others did real well, too. It was a good day for a sale.

Our new counter tops and sink are coming on Monday morning and we need to have out part of the installation done by then, so this evening we emptied out our bottom cabinets and removed all the top drawers. Matt is coming over bright and early tomorrow morning to help John remove the counters and get them out of the house.
John will then be able to get the new plumbing in and install a new floor under the kitchen sink. I think we'll be pretty busy over the next couple of days.

We were up a little after six for our walk--the temps were warmer this morning, so we were accompanied by the pesky deer flies again.

Matt had pulled some more logs out of the woods the other day, so right after eating breakfast, John went back up to his place and cut up the smaller ones that didn't need to be split, loaded them in the trailer, and hauled them home. After taking a little break, he then stacked the wood in the shed.

While John was busy with wood, I spent the morning gathering more items for the garage sale, pricing them, and getting everything loaded into the Honda. I met up with Jo and Cindy around three this afternoon and we managed to get everything set up for the sale. Hopefully many people will show up tomorrow morning ready to spend some money as we have tables full of stuff to sell. I was running a little late getting home, but John had supper under way, so we weren't too late eating. John watched some Little League Baseball this evening while I watched some of my recorded TV shows.

We had another very pleasant morning for our walk--it was cool enough to keep the deer flies away again and that always makes it more enjoyable to be outside.

This morning I worked on getting the remainder of my fair photos out of their frames and mats and then redoing some of them to hang up around the house. I still have one long empty wall in the living room that needs a few pictures, but John wants to make some new frames first and then we'll decide what to put there.

Our refrigerator has been acting up--freezing things that shouldn't be frozen and running almost constantly. The ice maker is also giving us some trouble, so we thought it time to shop for a new fridge. We spent our entire afternoon visiting every appliance store in Bemidji and found a great sale on appliances at the Home Depot. The fridge we wanted had to be ordered and won't be delivered until the middle of September. Hopefully our current fridge will hold out until then. We made a quick stop at Wal Mart for a few groceries and then headed back home.

A friend of Joanne's is have a garage sale on Saturday, so this evening I started pricing a few things to sell. John spent his time watching some sports and the GOP debate.

We had our first cool night with temps dropping into the upper 40's--that called for heavier sweatshirts and no deer flies on our walk this morning. John and I were up a little earlier since we both had places we needed to be this morning.

Right after breakfast, John headed to JD's where he spent the day helping him install a ceramic tile floor in his bathroom. I went up to Sara's for a haircut and when that was done, stopped over at JD's to see how the floor was coming along. They had about half the tile down, and it looked nice with the new paint job.

This afternoon I ran into town to the post office and the drug store. While there I saw Valada Sandwick--she and Dave are back in Bagley for a month or so before returning to Fort Clark. She told me they came home to quite a mess-mold growing all over everything in their little house and have been cleaning from top to bottom for the past week.

When I got home from town, I decided it was a good time to clean out the freezer in garage and get it defrosted. It was warm enough that it didn't take any time at all for the built-up ice to melt and to get the freezer wiped out and everything stored back inside. That should take care of that job until next spring. We spent a quiet evening watching some TV, reading, and working on the computer.

A cold front had moved into northern Minnesota overnight so today's temps were much cooler--we wore long pants for the first time in many days. John decided that since the weather was so pleasant, this would be a good day to split firewood and haul it home. He went up to Matt's right after breakfast and he and Sam split the wood that was cut up the other day. John managed to haul two loads home and get them unloaded into the wood shed.

East side row is filled to top

Now wood is stacked from this side with
rows working forward to fill shed

Today I finally got the last of the laundry completed and then worked on taking Hanna's photos out of their frames and storing away the mats, glass, and frames for next year's fair. I re-mated and framed a couple of my older photos and John got them hung up after supper. Then it was on to the final job of the day--processing the green beans and getting them into the freezer.

John and I were able to get our walk in before the thunderstorms rolled in for most of the morning. Since nothing could be done out of doors, John worked in the shop--JD leaves in one week for market and needs to have samples of product ready to display. My morning was spent working on finances and doing more laundry.

The weather cleared off around noon, so after lunch John picked a container of green beans and mowed the lawn. I started cleaning the fair photos--the frames and glass get pretty dirty while hanging at the fair. Some of the photos will go back up on the walls and others will be removed from their frames and stored away. We spent our evening watching some TV and working on the computer.

It was another quiet day around here. I think all the painting and cutting of firewood this past week has tired us out--we needed a couple of days to rest up and recharge the batteries. The weather was just about perfect today--temps in the 70's with low humidity. Suppose to be like that for most of the week. We managed to get our morning walk in even though the road was a little muddy in places from the all day rain of yesterday.

It was our usual Sunday morning routine--walk, breakfast, watch a little Fox news, get cleaned up, and then off to church for Sunday service. The attendance was fairly low this morning as our youth are attending a national conference in Colorado and many folks are on vacation.

John and I spent most of the day relaxing in front of the TV watching the PGA tournament. This evening we headed into town and the fair to walk around a little and pick up our exhibits. Now Hanna and I start all over again taking and gathering pictures for next year's fair.

We had a pretty quiet day. This morning John went up to Matt's to cut another load of firewood--he didn't haul it home as it needs to be split. He'll do that another day when he can get Matt or Sam to help with the splitter.

The majority of my time over the past week had been taken up with the fair and painting, so today it was time to concentrate on restoring order to the house. I did four or five loads of laundry and got all the crystal and dishes back in the China cabinet. I only have a few more chairs to get back in place around the table and to rehang the mirror. We'll take care of that tomorrow.

Rain started around noon and continued into the evening--saved John the job of watering the garden and flower pots. Since he couldn't work outside, he worked out in the garage and has finally gotten everything stored away. The pickup truck is now back inside and out of the weather. We spent the evening watching a few TV shows and a movie.

John's plan for the morning was to head back up to Matt's to cut, split, and haul more firewood. He was just getting ready to leave when it started to rain, so he went to Plan B and worked in the shop until the weather cleared off. The only problem with doing wood later in the day is you encounter the higher temps. When John got home from doing the wood he looked like he had been swimming--good thing he drinks plenty of water.

My plan for today was to get the painting finished. I thought to get started on it first thing this morning, but there were several bumps along the way with my plan, and I didn't get started until almost noon. Fortunately, half of the wall had a first coat, so I was able to get it all painted by late afternoon. Next job is to get everything cleaned up and the furniture put back in place. Hopefully that will get done tomorrow. We had a severe thunderstorm this afternoon with very heavy rains--it broke the heat and humidity and our forecast calls for highs in the 70's for the next week. Maybe the hotter summer weather is over for northern Minnesota.

John was up early again this morning to head up to Matt's for another load of firewood so he could get it back home and unloaded before the day got too hot. With that job out of the way, he then worked down in the shop with JD.

After getting some laundry started, I made up a shopping list and went to Bemidji. I visited a couple furniture stores checking out sofas, made a stop at Burger King for some lunch, and then went on to Home Depot for more paint. My final stop was Wal Mart for a few groceries and fresh produce.

When we entered our items in the fair yesterday, John and I signed up to sit in the Original Arts building this evening--they like to have someone there just to be sure nothing happens to the exhibits. Hanna won two ribbons for her photography and I won five. I was very surprised about which photos won--I wish I could speak with the judges and learn about how they make their decisions. The photos I thought weren't very good, won, and the ones I thought for sure would take a ribbon, didn't. I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder.

Hanna's dog photo in upper right--my two black and white landscapes and one color landscape all won ribbons

John's carved faces won a ribbon as well as the chair he made. It was a very successful fair for all of us. We'll probably head back there tomorrow evening and see the livestock and other exhibits as we didn't get a chance to do any of that tonight.

We had a very busy morning. Hanna needed a ride to the fair grounds to enter her photos so John went up to Matt's around 7 a.m. to pick up a load of firewood and bring her back to our house. We then loaded all of John's carvings and my photos into the truck and headed off to town. We unloaded everything into the Original Arts building, taped our exhibitor tickets on each item, made a quick stop at our local hardware store, and drove back home. John dropped me off before taking Hanna home because I needed to attend to the bread I started before we went to town.

John unloaded the wood he hauled home into the wood shed and then worked in the shop with JD. With two walls left to paint, I got one wall completely painted with two coats--I thought I would get the final one completed today as well, but I ran out of paint with half a wall left to do. Now it's another trip to Home Depot for another gallon of paint. Maybe I'll get this done before next week--I can only hope. This evening we started freezing some of our green beans and watched a little TV.

We had thunderstorms with heavy rain overnight and that brought very high humidity for this morning. Needless to say, John and I worked up a sweat taking our walk--we almost made it back to the house before the sun came up. Once it was up, the temps and humidity both started to soar.

After breakfast John went down to the shop to make more parts and I started painting the big wall in the living area. Last night we had all the furniture pulled out from the wall and the trim removed, so I was able to get started first thing. I gave the wall two coats of paint, and was finally finished up a little after 4 p.m.

New color over the top of the windows


Second coat finished behind China cabinet


Wall painted and all the trim is back up

John mowed the lawn this afternoon using his new mower. It was amazing how fast he was able to get it done--probably in half the time it took using the old one. Our green beans were ready, so John picked a big bucket full and we got them snapped and ready for processing--we'll do that tomorrow. Wednesday is also start of our county fair and entry day. We'll be taking our photos and wood carvings into town early in the morning to get them entered in the fair.

John and I headed north after breakfast and a little more visiting with Amy and the boys. The weather remained very hot and humid all the way to home. We made our usual stops in Watertown, SD, for lunch at Culver's, and one more for gas over the state line into Minnesota.

Our house was warm and stuffy when we arrived home, so the first thing we did was to crank up the AC. In an hour or so, it was nice and comfortable inside again. JD was still here working in the shop and asked John if he would work tomorrow as he received more orders and still needs to get ready for the wholesale market.

One goal for the rest of this week is to get the painting finished. After supper we removed the trim around the windows and I emptied the china cabinet so we can move it away from the wall. We are doing this wall a darker color, and that's the one I want to do next. The rest of our evening was spent catching up on emails, snail mail, and watching a little TV.