We had a late night last evening as we didn't head off to bed until the worse of the storms passed through our area. Today has been heavy rains, high winds close to 40 mph, and dropping temperatures. One good thing is that our windows and siding on the west side of the house are getting a good cleaning from the pounding rains. Hopefully we won't lose any shingles or suffer any structural damage from the winds.

This morning John worked down in the shop. He has been busy making sofa server parts and when their completed, he'll start assembling the servers. This should keep him busy over the next few days. This morning I got some birthday cards ready to be mailed and worked on the computer cleaning out emails and paying a few bills. After lunch we went to Bemidji to do some banking and picked up a few groceries. Tim and Mary Ellen Miner are coming on Thursday, so I needed to restock the pantry.

This evening the heavy rains and high winds continue. We are just staying cozy and comfortable inside watching a movie and hoping we don't sustain any damages outside.

It was a good thing we held our Memorial Day party yesterday--this morning we woke up to cloudy skies and rain. John's back is much improved, so he spent much of his day down in the shop building a new chair for our deck. I did several loads of laundry and some cleaning up around the house.

Around 7 p.m. this evening the clouds broke up and the sun came out. John decided to mow some grass. With the warmer temps and rain, our grass is growing so fast it's hard to keep up with it. The first part of our evening was spent watching some old WWII movies. Right now we are in a tornado warning--heavy rains, hail, and strong winds are headed our way. We are keeping our eyes on the TV to see where the storms are heading. Looks like it's going to be a long night.

Our original plan for today was to get up, eat breakfast, and then head off to church for the Sunday morning service. However, once John was out of bed and got moving around, he felt it wouldn't be in the best interest of his back to sit on a hard per for an hour, so church was out for today.

We pretty much just lazed around for the day until it was time to go up to JD's house for our Memorial Day get together. The weather was fairly decent today, but rain is in the forecast for tomorrow, so it was decided to celebrate the holiday on Sunday. The boys got a basketball game going and the girls hit the trampoline.



Soon everyone headed inside for supper. We had a delicious meal of sloppy Joes, salads, watermelon and ice cream for dessert. The kids managed to eat the majority of the watermelon--there was not one piece left. We adults decided to play some poker while the kids were busy with the wii, drawing pictures, and just plain old playing together. Jenni and Hanna are very talented artists and drew a picture of me and a basketball player.

The poker game

Jenni and Hanna with their art work

Matt, Sara, and I all got terrible cards tonight and were out of the game fairly fast. Joanne ended up the big winner. After the game we all just sat around talking while the kids continued playing.
We didn't get home until way after 11 p.m. It's a good thing school is out for the year and everyone can sleep in tomorrow morning, including us.

It was another quiet day for us here in northern Minnesota. We had alternating sunshine and heavy showers--one minute the sun would be shining, and the next the rains were pouring down. If you walked outside at all, you didn't dare go far from the house in case the showers would start and you'd get soaked.

John spent most of his day resting his back--it's starting to feel a little better, but he is still very cautious when moving around. I spent some time working on the computer getting John's old hunting bow listed on ebay. I also hauled a load of trash to the dump and made a trip into town for a few groceries. We are all getting together at JD's place tomorrow for Memorial Day and I decided to bring ice cream and toppings for dessert. Our evening was spent baking bread, watching a movie and some more college softball.

Not much going on around here today--we had an all day rain which kept us inside the house. John spent much of the day laying on the sofa, resting his back, and watching college softball. I changed the bed linens and did some organizing in our bedroom's walk-in closet.

Matt, Sara, and the kids came over this evening to borrow some of our DVD's. Today was the first day of summer vacation and, with the rain, the kids were getting a little bored, so they decided to come over to our place and check out some of our movies. While they were here, Matt looked out the living-room windows and spied a muskrat swimming in the pond. He and Sam grabbed the 22 rifle and soon took care of that pesky creature. There are still a couple of them left in the pond, so hopefully John will be able to get rid of them before they can dig more tunnels in the earthen sides of the pond. Our evening ended watching more college softball--John is really enjoys watching these games as he used to play fast pitch softball years ago.

For some time John has been wanting to build a permanent storage area for our firewood--something with a roof to keep snow and rain off, but open on the sides to stack and remove wood. Matt worked up a plan and figured how much wood and steel sheets we would need. We decided to head to Menards first thing this morning and get all the needed materials. John wants to get the posts for the covering in the ground so then he can continue to stack firewood and not have to be concerned about trying work around the wood pile.

When you get wood from Menards, you order and pay for it in the store and then drive around to the warehouse where they have people to help load it. They were a little busy this morning, so John loaded most of what he needed. The only thing left to get was the steel sheeting for the roof. While helping the guy pull out the sheets, John's back went out--he has been laying on the ice pack since we got home. We did manage to stop at Burger King for some lunch before heading home.

This evening Julie had a dance recital at the Bagley High School, so I went in by myself since there was no way John could sit for any length of time. Julie has been doing dance for a couple of years and is really improving--she did a great job tonight.

Our dance star

When I got back home, John was still resting his back while watching NCAA Women's softball. I watched a little of while while working on the laptop before calling it a night.

John had a big surprise when he went down to the shop this morning--he didn't have to work. Since it was a beautiful day, he decided to take advantage of it and do some work in the garden. Our neighbor had dropped off a load of manure, so he spread it in the garden and then tilled the ground again. After that, he planted the green beans, radishes, cucumbers, carrots, and onions. He thought about putting his tomato and pepper plants in, but changed his mind after the weatherman forecast a freeze warning for tonight.

After lunch we got cleaned up and headed up to the Clearbrook school to attend Julie's kindergarten graduation ceremony. The kids presented a program of songs and then received their diplomas.

Julie is standing on the right hand end of
the top row. She's wearing a blue dress
and white leggings.

Our proud graduate!

This evening John spent sometime down by the pond trying to hunt the muskrats. He didn't stay down there too long--the temps had dropped and there was a strong wind. He said it felt like sitting out during deer hunting. We ended the evening watching American Idol--Scotty was my favorite all season and I'm glad he won.

Our day was pretty much just like yesterday, even the weather was the same--cloudy skies for most of the day, but by the evening the clouds broke up and we had some nice sunshine. John worked in the shop for the morning and then after lunch headed up to Matt's to cut some firewood and then hauled a truck load back home. Our wood pile was pretty much depleted over this past winter, so there will be many trips to get the wood to our place.

The beginning of this year's firewood pile

Today I worked in the office taking care of finances and then washed and put away some winter jackets and coats. After supper we were able to take a walk down the road--it sure felt good to get outside in the fresh air. When we got back to the house I grabbed my camera and took a few photos of the wild plum tress that are blooming by the garden.



We spent the evening watching the finale of The Biggest Loser and The Voice. There is a freeze warning for tonight, so John put the tomato plants back into the garage. He had them sitting outside so they could be watered by the rain.

Today we had both sunshine and showers which allowed John to do some things outside after working in the shop this morning. Following lunch he took an old metal door track and rollers up to Matt so he could hang a door on the storage shed he built. While John was there he filled the pickup with another load of firewood, brought it home, and got it unloaded.

My back was much improved today--I think all of the resting has payed off and the muscles are finally settling down. Since I have no pain being up and around, I managed to get a bathroom cleaned and a closet straightened up. I could even sit long enough to get caught up on emails and facebook.

The sun and wind helped dry up the grass, so John did some more lawn mowing before and after supper. If the weather keeps up warm and wet, grass cutting is going to become a full time job this spring and summer. This evening we relaxed by watching Dancing With The Stars and a couple of shows we recorded earlier.

We slept in a little this morning as I decided not to try going to church. I didn't feel confident enough that I could sit through the entire service. My back feels pretty good while I am up and walking around, but sitting any length of time is still difficult.

JD has a huge order that needs to be shipped tomorrow so he and Joanne were both here this morning to get it packed up and ready to go. John spent some time down in the shop working on a new chair he is building. I spent some of my day taking pictures of bow hunting equipment that we want to sell on ebay. I hope to get it listed this week.

We had rain most of the day, so we just relaxed this afternoon watching more women's college softball and golf. Late in the afternoon things cleared off for about an hour or two, so John decided to cut some more grass. With the warmer weather and rain, the grass is growing very quickly--it was just all mowed several days ago.


I could tell Spring is really here--our neighbor across the road had put his cattle out on pasture. It's been fun to watch the new calves run through the woods.

The rains that started yesterday continued all night and through today. There were some pretty heavy showers off and on--don't have the rain gauge up just yet, so we don't know how much we got, but it seemed like quite a bit. Everything looks pretty wet and muddy.

Since nothing could be done outside once again, John worked down in the shop with JD. Joanne and the kids came a little later in the morning, so Jenni helped Pop Pop with his assembly. I am able to do just about everything again as long as it doesn't require sitting for any length of time. I worked on and off on the computer doing some financial stuff, taking breaks when I needed to stand up and doing something else or laying down until the back pain eased.

John was finished in the shop by lunch time, so we spent some time this afternoon watching women's college softball and horse racing. Early this evening the rain stopped and it cleared off. John took a few moments outside to clear the mud from in front of the garage and also pulled a few larger weeds from the flower bed by the house. The sky in the west is building up again, so it looks like we'll be having more rain.

Today was another one of resting for me. My back keeps improving, but sitting is still difficult for any length of time. John worked down in the shop for most of the day because the weather turned rainy so there was no working outside. A bright spot for me today was a phone call from Mary Ellen--we will have a visit from her and Tim the first part of June. It will be fun seeing them again.

In between periods of resting, I managed to get a few loads of laundry done as well as baking some chocolate chip cookies. John wants to get the garden started, so this afternoon we went to Bemidji and picked up several tomato plants. Hopefully, he'll be able to get them in the ground sometime over the next few days. We ran a couple of other errands and then decided on Keith's Pizza for supper. The car ride there and back was more than enough sitting at one time, so once home it was
back to laying on the sofa and some TV.

We had a pretty quiet day around here. My back continues to give me trouble so I spent much of my day laying down resting it. I can stand and walk around okay, but I just can't sit for any length of time. It's a real challenge trying to sit long enough to write my blog each evening.

John worked in the shop for a large part of the day. Late this afternoon, he and JD got up on the shop roof to try and seal a few leaks. Showers are in the forecast for the next several days, so they thought they should try and locate the leaks and fix them. Next was grass cutting--John also wanted to get it done before the rains come.

After supper we took a walk down the road where we met up with our neighbor from across the highway. He was on his way to check on his cattle that he had just put out on pasture. When we got back to the house, John also did a little digging out in front of the garage in the hopes of keeping rain water from running in under the garage doors.


This evening I watched American Idol and The Mentalist. John called his friend Stan Metcalf in Fort Clark to check up on him following his shoulder surgery. Looks like Stan is going to be laid up a few weeks. Hopefully my back will keep improving so I can get back to my usual routine.

It was another beautiful day with sunny skies and warm temps--if the weather stays like this over the next few days, we'll have to think about doing some planting in the garden.

JD got more orders, so John was needed to work in the shop the entire day instead of only in the morning. I went up to Sara's for a haircut around 10 a.m. and pretty much spent the rest of the day resting my back. I was at least able to get a loaf of bread baked, but that was about all I accomplished.

This afternoon, John also went up to Sara's for a haircut. While he was there, he picked up a truck full of old junk boards. After supper, he cut them up to be burned in our outdoor furnace. Just as dusk was setting in, John took the 22 rifle down to the pond to hunt the muskrats that have built a lodge on the edge of the pond. He wants to get rid of them as they are tunneling into the side of the pond which acts as an earthen dike to hold the water back. If they weaken it too much, the water will flow out and we'll no longer have our nice pond for wildlife.

This evening I continued to rest my back and watched some recorded TV shows while John did some internet surfing.

We had a beautiful Minnesota spring day with plenty of sunshine and warm temps. I was up bright and early as I had an 8 a.m. doctor's appointment in Bemidji. I have been having trouble with some numbness in my right hand and today I was tested to see if I had a pinched nerve or nerve damage. The good news was that the nerves are all good, but the doc couldn't figure out what was causing the numbness. It really doesn't hinder my hand use at all, so I guess I won't worry about it unless it should become more severe.

Following my appointment, I did some errands--banking, dropping off clothing at Goodwill, making a return to Menard's and picking up a new motion light. I also made a quick stop at Wal Mart for some groceries. I have been having back trouble again, so once I got back home, I hit the bed to rest for a couple of hours. I have found that laying down and resting my back is just about the only thing that gives relief and eventually the pain lessens and I can get around okay once again.

John worked in the shop this morning, and then worked out in the garage getting one of the new windows installed and a couple sheets of chipboard up. He also got the garden tilled and ready for planting as well as some more grass cut. He managed to keep himself pretty busy today.

Garden all tilled--the new raspberry row is in the middle
and the strawberries are on the left hand side.

Our front lawn is all mowed. The trees in front of the
house are just starting to bud--the other trees have young leaves
and are showing some green. At least our lawn looks nice and green.

We took a little walk after supper and ended up down by our pond to see the ducks. They weren't sitting on the nest, but we saw quite a few ducks flying out over the fields and the other little ponds, so hopefully they are just taking a break from sitting on the eggs.

We had another beautiful, sunny day with temps nearing 70 degrees. You just can't believe how good it feels to be able to get outside and enjoy the fresh air after being cooped up inside for what seemed like forever.

After breakfast, John worked down in the shop for several hours. While he was busy with that, I tackled a week's worth of laundry and got the rest of the screens up from the basement so I could get them cleaned and ready to put up. Joanne came to work to help with staining and brought the kids. One of the jobs on our list was to take out some of the older raspberry bushes. Josh, Jenni, and Julie were eager to help--as John pulled the bushes, they hauled them to the trash trailer. It didn't take long to get that job done.


While walking down by our pond, we saw a duck sitting on a nest. We're hoping that in a little while we'll have a nice little duck family for the kids to see. When Jo and the kids left, it was past lunch time, so John and I stop for a quick bite before washing the windows on the back of the house and putting up the screens. There are only the windows on the front and west side left to do.


John had worked on the riding lawn mower over the weekend and got it ready to go--today was the start of the mowing. The grass has been growing very fast so he had to get started on it before it got out of hand. He was able to get behind the house finished by supper time. There's still quite a bit left to mow. After a busy day, we just relaxed this evening with some wildlife shows on the TV.

This morning we woke to blue skies and sunshine which gave us a beautiful spring day with temps in the mid 60's. It was the perfect day to get some of the outside jobs done.

John made us a nice breakfast again this morning--eggs, bacon, tea, and toast. After eating, we got cleaned up and headed off to church for the Sunday service. This afternoon since the weather was so good, we decided to tackle the job of cleaning off the screened porch and getting it set up for summertime use. I got the job of hosing down the porch, screening, and the siding on the front of the house. While I was doing that, John worked in the garden getting rid of some weeds and trying to decide where he wants to plant the different vegetables.

The cleaned porch floor

Once the porch was cleaned, we put down the new carpet that we bought at Menards a few weeks ago. It fit perfectly and I think we'll really enjoy it this summer.

Unrolling the new carpet

Porch is all set up and ready to use

We have flown American flags for years, and every once in a while we have to replace them. The last one got all ripped up so we took it down before we went south in the fall. Today was the day to put up our new flag. We like having the flag up as it helps us see the direction and strength of the wind.

Raising the new flag

The new flag is up

The warm weather of the past few days has brought out the apricot tree blossoms. The tree is looking very pretty right now. It's the only tree or shrub in bloom just yet. I think that will change this week, as it's suppose to be sunny everyday with the temps finally reaching the 70's.
After following Survivor since February, we watched the final tonight--Rob won!

Today was cloudy, cool, and windy--not too nice for the opening of the fishing season and that's why we don't fish the opener. I have to have nice warm weather before I'll go sit out in the boat and try to catch something.

JD is still pretty busy in the shop, so John worked down there again this morning. While he was busy with that, I packed up the clothing and other items that didn't sell at the garage sale to get them ready to take to Goodwill next week. After lunch we unloaded the building materials we picked up yesterday and John worked on the electrical hookup in the garage--we want to put up an outside motion light and some new lights inside.

Chipboard, windows, and insulation

Working on the electrical connections

The sun decided to come out this afternoon, so I took advantage of the nicer weather and took a little walk around our yard. Even though the temps have been cold, I found the apricot tree is starting to bloom. Also saw the first dandelions in the lawn. Spring is truly here--the temps just haven't caught up as of yet.

Today winter returned. We had cloudy skies, showers, strong winds, and temps reaching a high of 45 degrees--with the winds it felt more like 35. The forecast is calling for sunny days next and temps in the upper 60's--we can only hope.

John worked for JD in the shop this morning doing more assembly while I did some cleaning in the kitchen and took care of some more financial things. After lunch, we headed to Bemidji and Menards where we purchased four new windows for the garage along with chip board and insulation. By the time we got everything loaded into the truck, it was almost supper time, so we hit Burger King for something to eat. It was raining when we got back home, so we just parked the truck under the shed and left it to be unloaded in the morning when, hopefully, it will be drier and warmer. Tonight was movie night.

In case you are all wondering why I didn't have a blog entry last evening, blogspot.com wasn't operating. I kept checking, but couldn't get on at all last night to post. I have been checking back all morning, and finally the site is open once again.

So, as to what we did yesterday. I left home bright and early to a dental appointment--just the regular six month check up and teeth cleaning. Another good report--NO CAVITIES!! That is such good news for me as I really have a phobia about going to the dentist. It's just something I have to get through twice a year. From the dental office, I did some errands around town and then headed off to Bemidji where I took care of some banking, mall shopping and groceries. I was gone from home most of the day.

While I was off doing my thing, John spent his morning working out in the garage. He filled in cracks and open areas in the walls with some insulating foam, pulled out more bad insulation and nails, and generally cleaned up the area. After lunch, he hauled the trash we gathered the other day to the landfill and then went with Matt to install another bathroom fan. That was the last thing to be done on that job--payday's coming. When he got back home, John cleaned out our lean-to and made another trip to the dump before finally calling it a day. The day ended with a little TV and computer--couldn't believe James was voted off American Idol.

Spring is finally coming to the North Country. With the warmer temps and sunshine, the grass is growing quickly and the leaves are coming out on the trees. It's good to see the green again.

Since the weather was co-operating, John decided to start our garage project today. This project consists of putting in new windows, insulation, wall board and shelving, and painting the walls, ceiling, and floor. We emptied all the shelving, sorting through what could be taken to the landfill and what we wanted to keep. That job took a good portion of the afternoon. Next, John removed all the old paneling and any insulation that needed to be replaced. We loaded all the trash in our little trailer, swept the floor, and called it a day as it was past supper time.



After a quick meal, we set the DVR to record Survivor, and headed up to church for the mid-week Bible study. When we got back home, we spent the evening just relaxing while watching Survivor and a couple of other TV shows. Tomorrow is a visit to the dentist and errand day.

Not too much happened around here today. There were some severe thunder storms in the area early this morning, but fortunately they went north of us. Before Matt and John left for the job site, they rigged up a ladder and planking in order to change a light bulb over the cellar steps. Hard to believe what they had to set up in order to reach the light fixture. With that job out of the way, they headed off to work. Today they put the ridge cap on the roof, hung some doors, and completed a few other tasks so the garage is now ready for siding.

While John was off with Matt, I finished up the basement project that was started yesterday. We had many now empty plastic storage crates, so I cleaned them out, made sure each had the proper lid, and then stacked them out in the garage until we can decide if we want to keep all of them. Next on my list was laundry and then taking care of some bills.

Looks like John will have another day off tomorrow--hopefully the weather will be nice so we can get some more outside work started. This evening I watched The Biggest Loser while John enjoyed a baseball game before calling it a night.

We had some heavy rains overnight which left everything pretty wet and muddy this morning. Today was the first one that John didn't have to work for either JD or Matt and, since we couldn't tackle any outside jobs, we decided this would be a good day to work in the basement.

John and I cleared off the shelves, sorted through all the storage boxes, and found there was quite a bit of stuff we could move out of the basement. While I continued working on organizing the shelving with things to be stored in the basement, John installed the new sump pump he bought a week ago. The underground water table is so high from all the rain we've had, the pump runs quite a bit. When the water is pumped out of the sump hole, you can hear the water rushing back in to fill it again. Rains are in the forecast for much of this week, so I think it'll be quite some time before the pump stops running.

Joanne came to the shop this afternoon to help with the staining and brought the kids with her. John and I were able to spend a little time visiting with them while they played in the yard. I found a very pretty Christmas box while cleaning out the basement and thought it would be a good one for Jenni to store scrape-booking stickers. When I showed it to her, she thought the exact same thing--the box now has a new home and I have one less item in the basement.

After such a busy day and many, many, trips up and down the cellar steps, we spent a restful evening watching a little TV and working on the computer. Matt called, John's vacation lasted only one day--he'll be helping Matt tomorrow if it doesn't rain.

The beautiful weather of yesterday gave way to cloudy skies and rain today and that's suppose to stay around here for most of the week. At least we were able to get one of our outside jobs done yesterday while we had some sun.

John made a very nice breakfast this morning of bacon, eggs, toast, and tea. After eating, we got cleaned up and headed to church for the Sunday service. Since it was Mother's Day, John decided to take me out for dinner. We hit the road to Bemidji where we ate at the Ground Round--I enjoyed a nice steak with baked potato and salad (my favorite meal). From there we went to Menard's where we bought a couple of Adirondack chairs that were on sale. We needed a couple of new chairs for our screened porch--our older chairs were ripped, falling apart, and needed to be replaced. John and I made one last stop at LM Fleet Farm to pick up the chainsaw part that he ordered last week.

When we returned home, I found several Mother's Day cards from JD's kids. They must have stopped over while we were gone this afternoon. Matt came over this evening. John went down to the shop with him to lacquer the skull mounts that were made last week. The deer skulls that were sitting in the office are now gone, thank goodness. My evening was spent watching the finale of The Amazing Race.

Today was just beautiful--temps in the upper 60's with partly cloudy skies. Finally a day we could get something accomplished outside of the house.

This morning John worked in the shop finishing up some assembly. JD will not need him next week, so he will now have some time to get started on his projects. While John was in the shop, I worked in the basement sorting through my canning supplies and checking to see what we had on hand and if any additional jars or lids will be needed for putting up the summer harvest.

Following lunch, John and I tackled the house garage. We cleaned off all the shelves, sorting, organizing, and throwing out what was no longer of any use. We actually ended up with some empty shelves--probably won't be long before they're filled again. Next job was to clean the floor. John hooked up the garden hose and we wet down the floor, did some scrubbing, and then swept the water outside. Floor looks nice and clean now.

We were just finishing up with the garage when Matt and Sam stopped over. They were on their way home from shingling the garage the guys had been working on this past week. Showers are in the forecast for most of next week, so Matt thought it might be wise to get the job done today. Sam can't stop over without challenging Pop Pop to a game of pig. After a couple of games, Pop Pop is still king of the court.

Sam taking a shot


Sam trying for a deep shot to beat Pop Pop

We were both pretty tired tonight, so we just relaxed by watching a movie and a little of the basketball playoffs.

The past few days of sunshine and warmer temps have brought out buds on some of our trees. We can finally see a little bit of green if we look real close. However, with all the moisture we have had, our grass is growing like crazy and will need to be mowed by next week. Last week we picked up a new battery for the riding lawn mower and filled the gas can, so everything should be ready to go when John decides to cut the grass.

Matt picked up John this morning and they headed back to the job site where they finished sheeting the roof and then put on the tar paper. It is now ready to be shingled next week. John's part of this job is done as he doesn't do roofing any more. When he got home after lunch, he went back up to Matt's to get another load of firewood. The woodpile is starting to grow once again.

The temps were nice and the winds calm today, so I thought it would be a good time to start washing some of the windows and putting in the screens. It's hard to believe, but the mosquitoes are starting to come out, so we can't have the windows open in the evening without the screens. I got all the upstairs windows done today, so we now can have some fresh air at night. We spent the evening reading, working on the computer, and watching some recorded TV shows. Tomorrow our plan is to start working on the garage if the weather co-operates.

Both John and I were up nice and early this morning. It's amazing how easy it is to get out of bed when it starts to get light at 5 a.m. The days will continue to get longer and longer until the end of June.

John went with Matt and today they got the remainder of the trusses up as well as most of the sheeting on the roof. There is just a little more to be done tomorrow and the roof will be ready for shingles next week. Showers were in the forecast for today, but the weather was just about perfect for working outside.

I left the house a little before John as I had an 8:50 doctor's appointment in Bemidji. Today I saw Dr. Hatch, my arthritis doc as I call him. My thumbs have been very achy since I have been back in MN, so today he gave me a cortisone shot in my right thumb. He also sent me to have both hands x-rayed as I have been having some numbness in that thumb. Dr. Hatch wants to see what is going on--possibly a bone spur that needs to be removed. They set up an appointment with a hand specialist in Fargo just in case the problem is a spur. I can't get in to see him until the first week of July. Right now the shot is kicking in and the pain is just about gone. So maybe it's an easy fix.

After I got through at the clinic, I headed to the mall to check out some sales at JC Penny's and a couple of other stores. While looking through some tee shirts, the power went out in the entire mall. I waited around a few minutes, then decided to leave and go pick up some groceries at Wal Mart. When I got outside the mall, I noticed that the traffic lights and all electronic store signs were not working. What to do? I thought, well, it's almost lunch time, might as well stop at Burger King and see if they're operating and try to wait out the power outage. The only thing you could get at BK was any of their burgers--no fries, no pop, nothing else. Also, you had to pay with cash or a check. It was interesting to see how they kept operating without power. They wrote your order on pieces of paper and then ran them back to the prep area to be made. While I ate my burger, I thought I would wait 30 minutes, and if the power didn't come back on, I would head back to Bagley and come tomorrow to get groceries. The 30 minutes were just about up when the lights came back on. Yippee!!! I could get all my errands done today. I returned to the mall to purchase one of the tee shirts that were on sale and then headed down to Wal Mart and did the grocery shopping. I finally made it home by late afternoon.

John worked a long day and didn't get home until after 6 p.m. so that made eating supper a little later than normal. We spent the evening watching a little TV before heading off to bed.

Our weather is starting to turn for the better. The temps are reaching into the 50's and low 60's even though there are some clouds and rain showers in the forecast. John continues to stay busy working for both JD and Matt. He went to the shop this morning to assemble some furniture. Matt called to say that the trusses for the garage had been delivered at the job site, so after lunch he headed out to work with Matt on the garage they're building. They got about all of the trusses up and should get the rest up tomorrow if it doesn't rain.

My day was spent giving our bedroom a real good cleaning and getting the winter clothes that we don't take to Texas stored away for the summer. The clinic called yesterday to reschedule a doctor's appointment for tomorrow so that means a trip to Bemidji. Our evening was pretty quiet--just watched Survivor and American Idol.

We finally woke up to a day without snow on the ground--sunshine and bright blue skies instead. After breakfast, John headed off with Matt to work on the garage he and Sam had started yesterday. They put the sheeting on the walls and then had to quite for the day as the trusses hadn't arrived at the job site.

Since it was such a beautiful day, following lunch John went up to Matt's to haul a load of firewood back to our place. Our giant woodpile of last fall is completely depleted, so he needs to start gathering wood for next winter. It's much better to be doing that when it's still cool and the mosquitoes aren't around.

I spent my day doing more laundry, baking cookies, and making a nice roast beef dinner for this evening's supper. We relaxed this evening watching The Biggest Loser and The Voice.

There was another inch of snow on the ground when we got up this morning. The skies cleared off by mid-morning and the it soon melted. The weatherman say there shouldn't be any more snow this week, but couldn't guarantee that it was over for the spring. Our highs for today only reached the mid 40's--it just doesn't want to warm up.

John spent most of his day down in the shop installing a new relief valve on the compressor, making parts, and doing some assembly. Today was laundry day for me as well as doing some straightening up around the house. The weather is keeping us pretty much inside--hopefully it will warm up soon so we can get to work on some outside projects.

Today was the first of May and this is what we saw when we got up this morning and looked out the window. That's right, snow. The rain of yesterday turned to snow overnight when the temps dropped into the upper 20's and only reached into the mid 30's by the afternoon. We had snow showers with blowing snow all day--winds were 20 to 25 miles per hour. It looked and felt like a January day. There was over a foot of snow on the garage roof where it connects into the house--the wind just drops the snow onto that section.


After breakfast, John and I bundled up and, after much discussion, decided to drive the Honda to church instead of taking the four wheel drive truck. We made out fine--just had to be careful driving through the slushy sections of the roadway. By the time church was done, the highway, as well as our gravel road, were clear of snow.

John spent some time this afternoon working on his chainsaw getting it ready for cutting firewood. Matt and the kids also stopped over--they wanted to make wooden plaques for mounting some deer antlers. Sam was down in the shop and the girls stayed up in the house with me while I baked some raisin bread. The kids also looked through my DVD's and took a few home to watch--I told Sam he would be fined if they weren't returned on time to Grandmom's lending library.

John spent the evening watching the Phillies' baseball game against the New York Mets while I tuned into Celebrity Apprentice. We can only hope that the weather turns for the better this week so we can get started on the outside chores.