Saturday, June 30, 2012

Nothing much new happening around our place today.  We took our usual morning walk nice and early and, after breakfast, John spent some time down in the shop finishing up the projects he started yesterday.  While walking back from the shop, he saw a pocket gopher in the yard.  It's very unusual to see them out in the open so John got his trusty 22 rife and dispatched it to gopher heaven.

I spent sometime in the garden this morning taking some more photos of the light dew on the grape vines.  I'll have to post a few of them after I get them sorted out.  I am slowly, but surely, paring down which pics to enter in the fair.  I hope to get that job done this week so I can get the pictures printed and figure out if John needs to make me more frames.  

Since there is no rain in the forecast, John took some time this evening to water the garden, trees, and flower pots.  We spent the evening watching the Olympic trials and a couple of shows recorded earlier with the DVR.

A note to Amy and Dave:  We are remembering Emily's 14th birthday tomorrow and are thinking of you.  Here is a photo of our new "Emily's Garden".


   

Friday, June 29, 2012

We were up nice and early once again for our morning walk.  It begins getting light a little after 4 a.m., so that makes it a little easier to get up and get started on the day.  John and I enjoy walking as the sun comes up and the deer flies are not quite so pesky.

John spent most of his day in the shop making a couple of tables that we'll use for gifts.  I did some cleaning up around the house--the road is so dry and dusty that when the windows are open, we get a nice coating of dust inside.  Big dump trucks have been hauling gravel down our road all this week, so needless to say, the dust has been flying.

I spent some time outside checking out the garden and some of the marigolds we planted.  The taller marigolds are beginning to blossom and are attracting many little butterflies.  I managed to take a few photos of them today.


We have six family birthdays in July and since there were some big holiday sales in Bemidji, we decided to take the afternoon off and do some birthday shopping.  We found some super bargains and got all the gifts we needed.  Of course, we had to stop at BK for supper since we had a coupon for a free Whopper.  We made a stop at the bank and gassed up the Honda before heading home.  A quiet evening was spent relaxing in front of the TV in the cool AC.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Our warm, dry, windy weather continued today.  John and I got up even earlier this morning so we could get our walk in before the heat and humidity arrived.  Fortunately for us, the temps didn't get as hot as yesterday.  Actually, it was a rather pleasant day, nothing like what other parts of the country are experiencing.  We are forecast to get warmer temps through the weekend.

John picked more strawberries first thing this morning while I got yesterday's picking into bags and then the freezer.  Once he was done with berries, John spent the rest of the morning in the shop making a plant stand to enter into the fair in August.  He did a fine job combining several different species of wood for the top.

 Top is made of elm, walnut, cherry,
and padauk

John informed me we were out of bread, so I had to make a couple of loaves this morning.  We both spent some time today watching the news about the Supreme Court decision.

We have had some strong, warm winds over the past several days that have dried things out, so after supper John watered the garden, trees, and potted plants.  There's no rain in the forecast, and if the winds continue, watering will become an every day job.

  Apple tree moats seem 
to be working just fine

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The weather forecast called for high's in the upper 80's with high humidity, so we were up earlier than normal to get our walk in before it got too warm.  Once the sun was up, the temps rose pretty quickly, so we turned the AC on for only the second time this season.

When we got back to the house this morning, I grabbed my camera and walked around the garden taking some pics of its progress.  Due to the long hours of sunlight, rain showers, and hotter weather, the garden is further along than it usually is this time of year.  The raspberry bushes are just full of maturing berries, the cabbage plants are heading up, and we have a tomato and a few peppers on those plants. Question for brother, Gus--How is your garden doing?


First blossoms on potato plants
 

Raspberries waiting to ripen
 
 Cabbage plants

As you know, we have been constantly trying to keep the birds from getting into our strawberries before they ripen and we can pick them.  This morning as I was walking around the garden, I found the true culprit.  Here is his mug shot:


  Caught in the act of sneaking strawberries

The squirrel was so busy going back and forth under the strawberry plants and stuffing his mouth, he never noticed me slowly making my way toward him and taking his picture.  When he finished with the berries, he started toward the cabbage, that's when he spied me and darted away.  John and I have seen two gray squirrels running through the trees in our yard and now we know why they look so chubby and healthy.

Since the weather was on the warm side, John didn't do any work outside today--he spent the morning in the shop where it's nice and cool rebuilding a coffee table he had made a couple of years ago.

Sam had another appointment with his surgeon this afternoon.  Sara had salon appointments and Matt was working in Bemidji, so John and I picked him up and took him to his appointment.  Matt was running a little late, so I registered Sam and then the three of us sat in the waiting room until Matt arrived.  John and I took off to pick up the new tire for the lawn mower and then met up with the guys at Applebee's for some dinner.  We made a quick stop at Wal Mart for some milk and a few other items, and then hit the road home.

Sam had a good report from the doctor.    All bandages are now gone and he has no restrictions as far as using the hand.  His fingers are looking pretty good considering the trauma they suffered.  He will probably have a numb area around the tip of his ring finger, but considering he might have lost the tip, that's a small price to pay for having his finger intact.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Not much new happened around here today--just another quiet, at home day.  Following our walk and breakfast, John decided since it was such a nice warm, breezy day he would give both the Honda and his pickup a good cleaning.  With the rain comes a very muddy road, so it doesn't take long for the vehicles to get a nice thick coating of dirt.  


The strawberries are still coming on strong, so after lunch John picked another bucket full while I got the ones picked yesterday ready for the freezer.  With the warmer temps and winds, it hasn't taken long for the garden and shrubs to need watering again, so that was John's other task for this afternoon.  He tested out the moats he made around the apple trees and so far they seem to be working.

I had some trouble moving photos to our new computer, so I had to spend an hour or so figuring out what I was doing wrong.  I finally solved the problem and now all photos are transferred.  We spent some time this evening watching more of the Olympic trials and Design Star.  Very uneventful day--just the kind we like.

Monday, June 25, 2012

After a couple of days of off and on rain showers, some clear, sunny weather with comfortable temps is in the forecast for most of this week.  Our Monday was pretty low key--started off, as usual, with a walk followed by breakfast.

Early this morning John picked more strawberries while it was cooler and the garden had some shade.  He then spent a good portion of the day working on getting a better system to water his apple trees.  Those trees are on a slight side hill and when they are watered, most of it runs off.  John dug all the grass out from around the base of the trees making a little moat.  He then spread some manure around each and watered them.  The water stayed around the trees and, hopefully, they will get more moisture at the roots.

I was busy today doing laundry and working on end of the month finances--balancing the checkbook, etc.  I got the office straighten up and found boxes for the items I want to put on ebay this week.  That pretty much sums up our day.  This evening we watched more of the Olympic trials for swimming and track.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Sunny skies when we woke up this morning meant we were taking our usual walk first thing.  Then it was breakfast, showers, and off to church for Sunday service.

Matt and Sam came over right after lunch to work with John making a couple of gates for their entry way so they can keep Diesel (their dog) in that area when he's in the house.  I worked on getting more photos transferred to our new computer and also narrowing down options for the fair.  John and I also took some time this afternoon to watch the PGA.  All in all, our day was pretty quiet and low key. 

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Saturday morning + rain = sleeping in.  I slept in, John, the early bird, was up at his usual time.  There's just something about a cloudy, rainy, morning that makes one want to snuggle down in the blankets and go back to sleep, so I did.

I got showered while John made us a very nice breakfast of poached eggs, bacon, toast, and fresh strawberries.  I should sleep in more often if that's the kind of breakfast I'll get.  

I cleaned up the breakfast dishes while John ran into town in search of a new tire for his lawn mower.  When he got home he said he thought the price for one was rather high here in town so we decided to go to Bemidji and see what we could find.  Tires Plus could get us the tire we needed, but it had to be ordered and will be in the shop by Wednesday afternoon and ready to be picked up.  

On the drive to Bemidji, the "change oil" light came on in the Honda.  Since we were already in town, we took it to the dealer and got the oil changed along with a tire rotation and general car check up.  Now the Honda is good to go for many more miles.  While the oil was being changed, we got a loaner car and made a quick stop at Gander Mountain for some night crawlers and the grocery store for some rolls and fresh produce.

In between showers this afternoon, John picked more strawberries and did some weeding in the garden.  It seemed every time he stepped outside to do something, the rain would start coming down.  I got the berries he picked yesterday bagged and into the freezer.  We are just freezing them whole which makes the process go much faster.  This evening we watched some college baseball and just vegged out.

Friday, June 22, 2012

We had another beautiful summer day with bright sunshine, clear skies, and just the right breeze.  John was outside first for our walk this morning and told me to grab the camera as there was a heavy dew and the sun was just at the right angle to get some nice pics.  We spent about 20 minutes looking at dew drops and trying to get them photographed.


 These are grape vine leaves

John picked another bucket of strawberries while I took care of a few household chores, then, after lunch, we decided to go fishing.  We haven't been out once this year--there haven't been many days without very strong winds and our boat is just too small to risk going out when it's windy.  We got everything loaded up and headed off to Lindberg Lake which is about ten minutes from our house.  We had the entire lake to ourselves with just some wildlife for company.  We saw a pair of loons and some eagles.  The eagles have had a nest by this lake for several years and we usually see them when we come here to fish.  Today was no exception.  John and I spotted the adult eagle first.  As we drifted further along the shore line, we found the nest.  There were two young eagles in it--we think they were just getting ready to fly.  They kept flapping their wings, but never took off.  They were just beginning to get white in their tail feathers, but their heads were still dark.





 The fishing was a little slow this afternoon, but John finally caught a very small northern.  At least we weren't skunked.

First fish of the season 

When we got home from fishing, John cleaned off the boat and then mowed some more lawn.  While he was mowing along the fence line of the neighbor's pasture, he didn't realize how close he was to the barbed wire and ended up slicing a rear tire.  Tomorrow he'll be tracking down and ordering a new one.  

Thursday, June 21, 2012

This morning was nice and sunny with cool temps which made it just about perfect for walking and, afterwards, some picture taking in the garden.

We had nothing specific on the agenda for today, so after breakfast, John headed down the shop to finish his wood carving case.  I think it turned out looking pretty nice and now he has a way to keep his tools all together and an easy way to transport them.

  Wood carving tool box

I spent some time sorting through the photos I took this morning and trying to decide if I wanted any of the them for the fair.  This afternoon between rain showers, John managed to get the grass cut and some of the strawberries weeded.  I cleaned some of the downstairs as it hadn't been touched in over two weeks--the dust was getting a little thick.  John spent the evening watching the NBA finals while I worked on the computer and watched a couple of my favorite shows.  

Amy called this evening to let us know that all went well with the closing on their new home.  They had quite a crowd to help with the unloading, got that job done within an hour, and are now in the process of unpacking and getting settled. 

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

It started raining overnight and we had a nice steady rain for most of the morning.  The afternoon brought off and on showers with the clouds finally breaking up later in the day.  Needless to say, our morning walk was canceled.

Since nothing could be accomplished on the outside, John and I decided to head to Bemidji to take advantage of some sales for laundry detergent and a few other household items.  We stopped at BK for lunch since we had a coupon for a free Whopper and then gassed up the Honda and made a final stop at Wal Mart.  

After we got home, I unpacked and put away our purchases while John braved the mud in the garden and picked more strawberries.  He then spent a couple of hours down in the shop working on a tool box for his wood carving tools.  I cleaned and cut up the strawberries and got them ready for the freezer.  Our evening was pretty quiet--watched a little TV and worked on the computer.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

John and I were just walking out the door for our morning walk when it started to rain, so we turned right around and ate an early breakfast instead.  Rain showers and storms were in the forecast for the entire day and that meant no outside activities.

Hanna and Rachel both had volleyball tournaments in Thief River Falls, so John called Matt and asked if he could ride along with him and Sam.  I begged off as my back has been very sore and I didn't think sitting on bleachers the whole day would be very good for it.  John left right after getting showered and cleaned up and didn't get back until almost 5 p.m.  Hanna's team lost, but Rachel's ended up playing for third place.

With the house all to myself and plenty of peace and quiet, I spent the day sorting through photos on the laptop, deleting ones I didn't need anymore, and trying to pick out the ones for the fair.  I was able to get through most of the pictures and only have a few more files to sort out.

The weather is still stormy this evening and we are in a severe  thunderstorm watch until early in the morning.  Right now it's pouring outside--it's just what we need as it's been pretty dry here. 

Monday, June 18, 2012

We had very high winds today, thankfully they didn't start until after our walk. One good thing about them is they keep the bugs away when working outside.

Between the wind and the cooler temps this morning, John thought it was a good time to get back up to Matt's and finish splitting the wood he left there and haul it home.  Everything he had cut and split is now home and unloaded onto the wood pile.


Woodshed is full to the top
 
 New woodpile stacked between trees
Second row has been started

While John was gone doing wood, I got started on the laundry and cut up the strawberries he picked this morning and got them ready for another batch of jam.  This afternoon we made the last batch and now have about a dozen jars of strawberry jam.  Next we start on raspberry jam as soon as they ripen.  Those bushes are full of berries--should be a bumper crop of raspberries this year.

 
 The first two batches of jam

The repair shop in Clearbook called and said the tiller was ready to go, so after supper John went and picked it up and when he got home, tilled the garden.  With the warm weather and rain showers the weeds were beginning to get out of hand.  I took the camera and walked around the property taking a few photos.  Found these little butterflies all over the ground by the pond.  They were only about 1 inch long.  Experimented with my telephoto lens and managed to get this pic.  Might enter this in this summer's fair.

 

Sunday, June 17, 2012

When we woke up this morning, the sky was overcast and it looked like rain was on the way, so we skipped our walk.  Our day was pretty low key with our usual Sunday routine of a leisurely breakfast and then off to church.

John picked more strawberries this afternoon and then we got a second batch of jam made.  He also received Father's Day calls from the girls and we both spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the PGA US Open.
 

Saturday, June 16, 2012

As we left the house for our morning walk, we saw quite a few robins in and around the garden.  They were there for one thing and one thing only--the strawberries.  John walked toward the garden hoping to scare them off, but the robins stood their ground.  He started shouting and waving his arms, and finally they moved back a little bit.  It looked like an old western with the garden being a wagon train and the robins surrounding it, waiting to attack.  As soon as we returned home, we grabbed a couple of buckets and picked all the ripe strawberries.  With the warmer, sunny days, the berries are ripening pretty fast so we'll have to pick everyday to beat the birds to the berries.  


Following breakfast, John headed up to Matt's to split more of the wood he cut.  He split for a couple of hours until the rains returned and forced him to quite for the day.  I continued working on the new computer installing more software and transferring some files and photos.  This afternoon we made our first batch of strawberry jam and processed the berries picked this morning so they are ready to be made into jam. We were short about 1 cup so we need to wait until we pick more berries tomorrow.  


We took several breaks this afternoon to watch the PGA US Open.  John and I both were craving pizza, so I ran into town and picked one up for supper.  Our evening was pretty quiet--just watch a little TV and worked some more on the computer.

Friday, June 15, 2012

The morning was sunny and warm, just perfect for a walk.  We left the house a little earlier than normal to try and beat the insects that like to buzz around and be generally annoying.  

Right after breakfast, John headed up to Matt's where he spent the entire morning splitting and loading the wood he cut up the other day.  When he got home, he unloaded about half the pile, took a break to eat lunch, and then finished the job.  Our woodshed is completely full, so he's stacking this wood between the trees.  The plan is to not use the wood in the shed, leaving that for when we are gone over the winter, and burn what is stacked by the trees this summer and fall.  John still has more logs to cut, split, and bring home.

I kept busy this morning finishing up photos for ebay and installing software programs I use on our new computer.  Also got our home network up and running so now our laptop and desktop computers can exchanged information. 


This afternoon John worked some more on root removal and restoring the stone blocks around the flowerbed.  When we first made the flowerbed 14 years ago, we had two layers of blocks.  Over the years the first layer sank into the ground, so John had to dig out those blocks to rebuild the wall.



 
I continued cleaning our home office this afternoon.  I only planned to sort through the files for our computers, but somehow ended up going through all the files and getting them cleaned out and organized.  After supper John and I went outside and worked on planting flowers in the reconstructed bed.  We got finished just as the bugs were arriving.  I also took a few photos of our garden--it's coming along pretty fast this year.


Emily's Garden redone
 

Onions and dill looking good
 
 The white plastic bags hopefully
keep the birds away from the strawberries
 

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Thunderstorms rolled in around 3 a.m. this morning with the rains hanging around long enough for us to miss our walk.

Between getting ready for last Saturday's garage sale and Amy's family visiting, I had gotten behind with several household chores, so this morning I started catching up on the laundry and then spent  time sorting through the few items left over from the sale.  I took some pictures so I can put them on either ebay or Craig's List.  


John picked more strawberries and then added them to what we picked yesterday.  We have just about enough to make our first batch of jam.  John also did some weeding in the garden and spent some time cutting out more roots from the tree he took down.  We need to get most of the roots out of the soil so we can make a flower bed.  


Amy's family stopped on their way out of town to say good-bye and to make plans for us to visit them in Gillette.  The rest of our day was rather uneventful and we spent a quiet evening watching some TV.

 

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

We were up a little earlier for our walk this morning as we had to be at Sara's for haircuts by 9:15 a.m.  When we returned home from the walk, we took a little stroll through the garden and found more ripe strawberries.  They are coming on pretty fast now.  John and I decided to pick them right away in hopes of beating the birds to the ripened fruit.  Looks like we'll be making jam sometime this week.


While we were at Matt's, John called to see if his truck was ready to be picked up.  It was, so we just headed into Clearbrook to get it before going back home.  He parked the truck in front of the garage and as I got out of the Honda, I noticed some dripping from under the front of the truck.  Seems there was a small leak in the radiator. 
Our grill's propane tank ran out yesterday afternoon just as the last hamburger was finished cooking, and since we needed another full tank, we decided to head to Bemidji to get more propane and some "Stop Leak" for the truck.  

We reached Bemidji just in time to have lunch at BK before hitting Wal Mart.  John got what he needed to fix the radiator and I picked up some more fruit and fresh produce since the kids cleaned us out at the cookout yesterday.  When we got home, John worked on the truck and then we loaded the tables used in the garage sale and took them down to the shed where they're stored.  The garage is now all cleared out and back to normal.

Following supper we went back to Matt's house where everyone spent the evening visiting for one final time before Amy's family leaves tomorrow morning to spent some time with Dave's relatives.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

We had a sunny day with beautiful clear skies, but the temps remained on the cool side.  We were up a little earlier for our morning walk as we had a busy day ahead of us.

The whole family was gathering at our place this afternoon for a cookout, so right after breakfast I got busy making a pasta salad while John did some straightening up around the house.  We wanted to get all the food preparation done before noon as Amy, Dave, and the boys were coming over right after lunch to visit before the rest of the family arrived.

Everyone else got here about 4:30 and, as usual, the cousins had a great time visiting and playing together.  We all had a good time and before we knew it, it was 9 p.m. and time for the party to break up as the kids were getting tired and needed to get home and to bed.



Picking and eating the straberries


Josh playing football
 
 Jo and John discussing the garden


 The cousins playing football

When peace and quiet returned to the house, John and I spent the remainder of the evening relaxing and watching a little TV before heading off to bed.
 
 

Monday, June 11, 2012

The sun was peaking in and out of the clouds  when we took our walk this morning.  However, heavy cloud cover soon moved in along with rain showers and very strong winds--the day turned too miserable to be outside.  The high temps today were about 30 degrees cooler than the past few days.  It was back to long pants and sweatshirts.

Before the rain showers arrived, John managed to get some grass cut behind the shop and a little clean up work done in the yard.  Since Amy's family are here for a few days before they make the move west, we are having everyone over to our place for supper tomorrow evening.  We'll have 16 people, so this morning I headed to Bemidji to get some groceries in to feed the crowd.  While I was there, I also did some banking and found a new, larger monitor for the computer we purchased last week.

After supper this evening, John and I got the new computer all set up and I have been spending some time figuring out all the bells and whistles. It's so much faster than our old one and the bigger monitor is wonderful.  Now I have to get all my favorites and info transferred off the other computer.  That's it for today--not much new except the computer.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

This morning was overcast with the threat of rain on the horizon, so we skipped our walk and slept in a little later this morning.  A short storm went through this afternoon and the temps dropped 20 degrees in half an hour.  Our hot muggy weather will be absent for a day or two.


After a leisurely breakfast, we headed up to church, where we met up with Dave, Amy, and the kids.  It was a real pleasure having them sit with us during the service.  Since we had been pretty busy the past few days with the garage sale, we spent a relaxing afternoon watching golf.  In between the rain showers John managed to get some grass trimming done.  It was pretty much a lazy day for us with nothing exiting happening.

 

Saturday, June 9, 2012

John and I were up bright and early to put the finishing touches on the garage sale.  John drove up to the highway and got my signs posted and also put one on the mail box at the end of the driveway.  I opened the garage doors at 8 a.m. and soon had a yard full of customers.  The sale was a great success.  While I was busy selling, John went up to Matt's to pick up the tiller and hauled it into Clearbrook for servicing.  After dropping that off, they picked up Matt's boat and brought it back to his place.

It warmed up enough today that we turned on the AC.  After such an early morning, we both relaxed in the cool of the house and watched some golf and horse racing.  

Dave, Amy, and the boys arrived at Matt's this afternoon, so this evening John and I went up to visit and spend some time with them.  They'll be here for several days before heading off to visit with Dave's family.

Friday, June 8, 2012

We had another warm, sunny day with very strong winds.  Fortunately, we were able to get our walk in this morning before the winds came up.

Right after breakfast, John took off for Matt's and spent the entire morning cutting up the logs he had pulled out yesterday.  Now he needs to get that wood split and hauled home.  That will probably happen sometime next week.

I worked the entire day getting the garage set up for the sale, pricing  items that I missed, and making signs for the highway.  After supper John helped with some last minute tweaking of the garage and then went off to water the garden.  Now we just need some buyers to show up bright and early tomorrow morning.


Garage all set for the big sale!
 
 
 

Thursday, June 7, 2012

We had a lot that we wanted to get done today, so we were up and out right on time for our walk.  

Immediately after breakfast, John and I got the long tables out of the shed and hauled them up to the garage.  He then headed up to Matt's where he hauled out more logs and got them cut up.  From there he went up to the school and watched Hanna and Rachel's last day of basketball camp.  Sam was only able to help out as he still can't play due to his injured fingers.  

I spent the morning getting the garage set up for Saturday's sale.  With the tables finally arranged, I then hauled all the sale items out to the garage and began getting things arranged.  I still have some pricing to do as well as gathering up a few more things to put out.  

We needed to do some grocery shopping, so late this afternoon we headed off to Bemidji where our first stop was the bank to get some cash to use for making change.  We decided on pizza for supper, so we headed across the street to our favorite pizza place.  Final stop was Wal Mart to restock the pantry and then we headed on home.  Tomorrow will be spent putting the final touches on the sale.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

We were up nice and early for our walk as we wanted to get it in before it got too warm and also wanted to get a head start on the day.

Today was our 48th wedding anniversary so we decided to just enjoy the day and hit the road to Grand Forks.  We left the house a little before 10 a.m. and, since it was almost lunch time when we reached GF, our first stop was Culver's for something to eat.  John and I had a list of items we wanted buy and the stores where we could pick up what we wanted.  After lunch we went to a craft store where we found a vase and a few artificial flowers for the bathroom.  Our desktop computer has given up the ghost, so our next stop was Best Buy where we found a good sale on computers and bought a new one for our home office.  We also made stops at Menards, Sam's Club, and Cabela's.  Along the way we ate supper at one of our favorite spots in GF and then made the mandatory stop at DQ on our way home.

We were both pretty tired by the time we returned home, so we spent a quiet evening just vegging in front of the TV watching a couple of our DVR recorded shows.     

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Summer arrived in northern Minnesota today with temps reaching into the low 80's.  The weather has been so nice that, after our walk, we were able to eat breakfast out on our screened porch.  It was very enjoyable eating outside, listening to the birds, and watching for hummingbirds at the feeder.   

John keep busy part of the morning working in the garden keeping the weeds under control.  When he got through with that job, he worked on the boat again and got the trawling motor hooked up.  Sam Lark had given John a little table before we left Texas.  It was pretty beat up, but he has been working on restoring it and today he got it finished.  It's beautiful--now we need to decide where to use it.  The warm weather forced John  to work inside this afternoon and he got some of the trim back up in the bathroom--just one more door to hang and then it's done.

I finished up the laundry that I started yesterday.  With the warmer weather and more working out of doors,  the amount of dirty clothes has greatly increased.  I also got several of the downstairs rooms dusted and vacuumed.  I think I've finally gotten the last of the tile dust out of the house.  We spent a pretty quiet evening watching the Wisconsin election returns and several other TV shows. 

Monday, June 4, 2012

It was warm enough this morning that, for the first time this spring, we were able to wear shorts for our walk.  The weather was just about perfect the whole day.

Right after breakfast, John got busy mowing the lawn and, when that chore was out of the way, spent the rest of his day cleaning up the boat and getting that and the motor ready for fishing.

My day was spent getting the laundry started, cleaning the upstairs, and just generally taking care of the house.  We still need to do a few more things in the bathroom to call that job completed, but with sunny days in the forecast, getting the trim back up has slipped down on the priority list.

An update on Dave and Amy--they closed on their house in Sioux Falls this morning and will be spending some time visiting friends in southern MN before heading north to see family. 


Sunday, June 3, 2012

It was a pretty quiet Sunday for us.  The sun was shining when we took our walk, but by the time we left for church, some clouds were coming in from the west.  We walked out of church to a light shower and cloud cover that stuck around for most of the day.

John got the rest of the flowers we bought planted by the front pond and then we both spent the afternoon watching the PGA.  It was a pretty exciting round of golf.  After supper we finished picking up the roots John pulled and making sure all the tools were put away.  Like I said, a pretty, quiet day.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

John and I were up nice and early this morning because we had a list of jobs we wanted to get done today.  Our plan was to get out early for our walk; however, Matt arrived around 6:30 a.m. to pick up our tiller so he could work up his garden.  He ended up staying to visit for a while and by the time he left, we were back to our usual walking time.

Right after breakfast John headed up to Matt's to cut up the logs he pulled out yesterday.  He filled the trailer, brought the load home, and then got it all unloaded.   Our woodshed is just about full again.

While he was gone I got started on my main objective for the day--cleaning out the garage for next Saturday's sale.  After I emptied out what I could, we took the hose and cleaned the floor.  The guys had done all the tile cutting for the bathroom in the garage and that left the floor covered in a white powder that needed to be washed off.  I sorted through things on the shelves and got them straightened up. John continued to work a little on root removal, moving stones to another flower bed, and planted some flowers around the pond.  We took little breaks in between jobs to watch some of the PGA and women's college softball on TV.  


New flowers around the pond
 
 Nice clean garage

After supper we got most things picked up and put back in their proper places.  John then watered the garden and I took a few photos to document the garden's progress this summer.  We then spent a relaxing evening vegging out in front of the TV.

 John watering his tomato plants

 Strawberries are coming.  Won't be long now.

  Everything's nice and green down by the pond.
So far no duck family this year.

Friday, June 1, 2012

After cutting down our tree and getting all the debris cleaned up  yesterday, we had some stiff and sore muscles this morning.  Our walk sure helped to loosen us up and get all the parts moving.

JD called last evening and said he broke a belt on his lawn mower.  He was anxious to get his lawn cut as he and his family are leaving on vacation tomorrow.  John told him he could use our old one, so this morning he unloaded the trailer, used the old mower to cut the grass around the house,  loaded it up, and hauled it to JD's house.  He then stopped at Matt's and got some logs ready to cut.

When John returned home, we tackled the problem of the tree stump.  We removed most of the rock we had around the tree and then attacked the root system and, quite a system it is.  It's going to take some thought on how to remove that stump and kill the roots so we can plant some flowers without tree shoots returning.








Roofing Being Done Everywhere!!

John and I have been keeping pretty busy over these last several weeks.  Our weather has turned quite warm, but the nights cool down very ni...