John and I slept in a little later this morning as we were still recovering from the late nights spent visiting and playing cards with our guests.  We ate breakfast out on the porch, got cleaned up, and headed off to church.  On our way home we stopped at JD's to pick up a tool used to install screening and then made another stop at Matt's to see the new basketball hoop they put up this weekend.

Following lunch, we watched a little golf, worked on the computer, and did some reading.  John and I then replaced one of the screening panels on the porch that got ripped over the winter.  Our weather has been nice and warm which has been a big help with the garden.  The strawberry plants are blooming and John has started picking berries.  Last year the spring was much warmer and by this time we were done picking strawberries and making jelly.  We would like to take a trip to Kentucky to visit John's brother, but that will have to wait a couple of weeks until berry picking is done.

John was up bright and early to make a breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee for our guests before they got on the road to Michigan.  We had a great visit with Tootie, Rodger, Jeannie, and Gene and look forward to maybe connecting up with them later this summer.  If not then, we'll see them when we head back to Texas next winter.

As usual after visitors leave, we got busy putting the house back in order by stripping the beds and washing towels and sheets.  John did some weeding in the garden taking frequent breaks from the warm sun.  The weather was so nice today we were able to eat all of our meals out on the porch and enjoy the outdoors without the bugs bothering us.  Since we were pretty much on the go the past couple of days, it felt good just to stay home and rest up.

John and I have been having a fun time with the Knowles and Bevins over the past day.  They arrived right in time for lunch on Thursday afternoon and after visiting around the table for an hour or so, we headed out for a tour of Clearbrook and visits to both JD and Matt's homes.  By the time we returned home, it was time for supper.  John grilled some brats and we also had a pasta salad, chips, fruits, and a few other goodies.  We ended the evening playing a rousing game of 31 which Tootie won.

We had big plans to take the folks to Itasca State Park to see the headwaters of the Mississippi River this morning.  However, Mother Nature had other plans and sent rain overnight that lasted well into this morning.  So we loaded up and headed off to Bemidji to see Paul and Babe and the tourist center.

After seeing Paul and walking by the lake, we headed off to the Green Mill for lunch and then did some shopping at several of the local shops.  The rain showers continued off and on for most of the day, but we were still able to be outside at times and had a fun day.

1.  

Our weather has continued on the warm side, but with the AC it has been comfortable working in the house getting ready for our company.  That's pretty much what John and I did yesterday and today.  The lawn is all mowed and trimmed and the house is all cleaned and the beds are ready.

Today was a big one for me.  John and I left the house around noon and headed to the Pain Management clinic for my first spinal injection.  I must admit I was very nervous and, at times, close to tears.  I didn't like not knowing what's coming or how painful it might be.  Dr. Gessner and his staff were very nice and put me right at ease.  He said the worst part of the whole procedure would be the numbing of my back--it would sting and burn.  He was right, but it wasn't too bad and I handled it.  When the doctor did the injection I only felt some pressure on my back with the whole thing taking no more than five minutes.  He told me my back would probably ache for a day or two before the steroid kicked in.  Someone on his staff will give me a call in a couple of weeks to see how I'm doing and I will go for a second injection August 1st.  Since I couldn't eat for four hours prior to the treatment and John didn't get any lunch, we headed over to Perkins for a late meal and then picked up a few more groceries.

On the bad side of our evening, the AC conked out again.  John found that the wire clips needed to be replaced (the first service call did something else to the AC), so an electrician is coming first thing in the morning to hopefully get it running so the house can get cooled down again before our guests arrive.

Since life has been pretty quiet around here, I didn't post yesterday as we only hung out around the house and did more cleaning in the shop.  We have company arriving Wednesday or Thursday--The Bevins from Indiana and the Knowles from Michigan.  Actually, the Bevins are spending a day or two with the Knowles and then both couples are coming to see us.

As usual when company is expected, the house and yard get spiffed up and that is what John and I have been doing all day.  With the hotter weather and rain, the lawn, garden, and flower beds have erupted along with the weeds.  John kept busy mowing and trimming while I got the downstairs cleaned up.  Tomorrow the upstairs will, hopefully, get a treatment and all the beds ready for our visitors. 

With the warm weather and high humidity, we were very glad to see the AC repairman pull into the drive early this morning.  The problem was a wire that had gotten loose and it only took a minute or two to reattach it and get the AC running.  Thank goodness for a cool house.

  

John and I were both up nice and early this morning because he had to get into town to pick up the bobcat he reserved for today and I had to head up to Sara's to help out with the garage sale.

Our sale was very successful and I was able to sell most of my things--even got rid of our old dishwasher and kid's trike.  The sale ended at noon and we had the garage pretty well back to normal in about half an hour.  John just needs to get up to Matt's and pick up the tables left in the garage.

While I was gone, John brought the bobcat to our place where he started working on the dirt by the trailers.  Matt and Sam came down to help and, since Matt can run the cat better than John, he took over and the job was completed pretty fast.  Sam also took a turn running the cat out in the front field and smoothed down all the gopher mounds.  Now John will run the drag over these sections and really get it smoothed out.

Late this afternoon I took a walk down by the garden.  With the moisture and higher temps over the past few days, the garden has erupted.

 Future cluster of grapes

 

After the rains of last night, the road was pretty muddy, so we skipped the morning walk once again.  After breakfast John made and received several phone calls about the machinery and then spent some time down in the shop looking up model and serial numbers.  We will be sending that information, along with photos, to an equipment dealer in southern Minnesota who may be able to help us find buyers for it.  Mid-morning Matt stopped in to get some help from John with taking some pipes apart.  He is installing our old outdoor wood furnace at his house and is working on the piping that will run from it to his basement.  We then sat and visited out on the front porch enjoying the nice breeze and ice cold watermelon.

I kept busy this morning with laundry and some house cleaning.  Living on a gravel road with open windows in the summer means a pretty dusty house inside.  I also got a couple of pictures ready for the fair. 

Since our AC isn't working, we decided to head to Bemidji and spend some time in the cooler stores, etc.  Our first stop was the post office where we shipped off two more ebay sales.  From there we headed out of town and took care of some banking, ate supper at Perkins, stopped at the mall for a quick look around, filled the Honda, and picked up a few grocery items at Wal Mart.  Wal Mart is in the process of remodeling thus making it harder to find what you want and that, in turn, makes shopping take longer than usual.  They are even redoing the road entrance to the store and it's like a maze trying to get in and out of the parking lot.

When we returned home, John ran a few more garage sale pieces up to Matt's and then we both spent the rest of the evening watching some TV and working on the computer. 

The sky looked rather threatening this morning, so we skipped our walk and slept in a little later.  

John kept busy clearing brush around our storage trailers as he plans to rent a bobcat over the weekend to smooth the dirt piles in front of them so they can be moved if we can sell them.  I finished pricing items for Saturday's garage sale and got everything packed up in crates for easy hauling.  I called Sara and schedule a haircut for this afternoon.  John and I arrived for it about 45 minutes early and set up our tables and got our goods all arranged and set for Saturday morning.  We got all this done today since Sara has to be gone tomorrow to pick Rachel up from Bible camp.

This evening John watched the final game of the NBA season--fortunately it was on one of the major networks as they're the only stations we can receive until our satellite is fixed.  The first available service appointment for our area is July 2nd.  So, we are adjusting to less TV and that's not necessarily a bad thing.  We had some major storms in the area, but fortunately for us, the worst of them went south of us.  Some folks had some pretty severe flooding in their basements.  On the bad side for us, I think one of the lightening strikes did something to our air conditioner.  It has been very humid the last couple of days, so we turned it on yesterday afternoon.  The unit is making a strange humming sound and the condenser won't kick in, so John will have to call the repair man tomorrow.  Hopefully he won't take as long as the Direct TV folks to get here.
 

We slept in a little later than usual since we didn't get to bed until after the NBA game last night.  John and I took our usual walk and after eating breakfast, decided to skip working in the shop today.  We both felt like we needed a break from all the cleaning and sorting.

John loaded all the trash we had gathered from the shop into the back of the pickup.  On our way to the township dumpsters, we stopped to visit a dear friend from church who suffered a fall about two weeks ago.  We spent about two hours visiting and learning about her early life which is very interesting since she is 90 years old.  When we left her place, we stopped down the road and unloaded the truck and then headed back to our place.

It was midafternoon when we got back, so John did some trimming while I headed into town to mail another ebay sale, check our subscription to the local newspaper, printed off a couple of photos for the fair, and then stopped to pick up a pizza for supper.

We have been having trouble with our Direct TV signal and called them early this evening.  Seems there is a problem with our satellite and they won't be able to get anyone out here until July 2.  So right now the TV in the living room doesn't work at all so we'll have to watch TV in the den or bedroom and, even then, about half the channels don't come in.  DTV said they will give us a $30 credit on our next bill since most of the channels are coming in and it's taking so long to get a service person out here.  I have also started a 6 week online photography class, so if I get too busy, I might skip a night or two of blogging.  I'll just have to see how things go.

Late last night we heard our neighbor's Great Dane barking in our backyard.  This morning we discovered what had him all worked up--cattle prints in our driveway.  Looks a cow, or maybe the bull, was out last night.  The fence line along our walking route looked to be okay, but we couldn't see the fence at the back of the pasture.  Our other neighbor's dog was up here this morning, so John and I had company while walking.  The Great Dane makes me nervous--I'm afraid if he gets too excited to see me, he could knock me over as he's one huge dog.

This morning we only spent about an hour in the shop.  John used that time to get all the trash we gathered into one spot and ready to load into the pickup.  I continued sorting through the shipping supplies and found several items we can try to sell on ebay.

John and Jo dropped in with the kids this afternoon.  JD had to make a part to replace one that was damaged in his last shipment.  I helped Jo for a bit cleaning out the filing cabinets in the office.  John and I then sat on the porch talking with the kids for an hour or so.  Jenni just returned home from Bible camp, so she told us about her time there and Josh shared what movies they have watched.

Sara is having a garage sale this Saturday, so I am putting a few things on it as I don't have enough items to have one of my own.  I spent this evening pricing what I have to sell while John watched the NBA game.

 John and I were up bright an early this morning because the cows in the pasture next to our house were making a racket at 5 a.m.  I'm not quite sure what the problem was, but thought maybe one of the mamas couldn't locate her calf.  She was still walking around the pasture bellowing when we went by on our walk.  When we returned, all seemed calm and quiet in the cow world and remained that way the rest of the day.

As is our usual routine now, we worked in the shop this morning.  I also baked bread at the same time, so was back and forth to the house a couple of times.  We made great strides in the shipping area and hopefully can get that done over the next day or two.

Following lunch, John and I headed into town.  I dropped off a couple of ebay sales at the post office and then we visited our electric company to let them know we were ready for them to disconnect the three-phase power.  They'll come out sometime in the next few days to get the process started.  Next stop was the insurance agent.  While the business was in operation, it carried commercial insurance on the shop and contents.  Now we have to drop the commercial part of the policy and switch everything over to our regular homeowners policy.  John needs to do some figuring on the square footage of the buildings and decide what to insure.  We'll have a week or so to get that finalized.  It was then a quick stop at the local grocery store for some milk and then the return drive home.

I kept busy the rest of the afternoon listing more items on ebay while John worked on cleaning up the area where the old wood stove sat.  That was our day.

John and I decided to sleep in this morning and skipped our walk.  We took our time over breakfast, got cleaned up, and then headed off to church.  Even though the day was sunny, the winds were pretty strong which made it difficult to do anything outside.

We spent most of the afternoon watching the PGA US Open which turned out to have a pretty exciting ending.  John received calls from the kids wishing him a happy Father's Day and spent a few minutes in the shop assembling a couple of oak peg plaques to put on ebay.  I sold another item so now I have another shipment to get ready for mailing.  That was our day--just mainly resting up for another week of sorting in the shop. 

Today was our warmest one yet this spring/summer.  Since it was to be a little on the warm side today, we got up a little earlier for our walk. 

Right after breakfast, we worked in the shop for several hours cleaning out and sorting through boxes in the shipping area.  We have found quite a bit of shipping supplies that were left over and that we should be able to sell.  I'll probably list a few items on ebay next week.  We need to finish going through everything in this area first.

We were just finishing up lunch when JD, Josh, and Julie stopped over.  JD wanted to pick up the mail and also get some pallets that we cleared along with some tin sheets from the damaged lean-to.  JD also let us know that a friend who is a logger had some wood for both of us and should be dropping it off today.  Matt needed to move the outside furnace he is buying from us, so I suggested we get Gerald to lift it onto Matt's flatbed after he unloads the wood.  My idea worked out perfectly and now Matt has the furnace at his house.

Our wood pile for the next two years--

just has to get cut up and stacked in the shed.

 

Moving the furnace

After the furnace was loaded, we visited with Matt an hour or so on the front porch enjoying the comfortable breeze and eating some watermelon.  We ended the day planting the rest of our flowers and then escaped into the house to get away from the mosquitoes.  Since we have a lot of water around, they have come in droves.  I think this is going to be a good summer for the bug spray business.

 

After our morning walk, John and I decided to take the day off from working in the shop and take a couple of motors we found over to Crookston to a motor repair shop.  John had called over there a couple of days ago and talked to the man in charge of repairs.  When we arrived at the shop, he came right out and discussed both motors with John.  He thinks the one motor might be shot, but will look it over.  The second motor he feels might be okay.  He'll give us a call when he has an answer about them.

From there we headed across the river to Grand Forks where we stopped at Carver's for some lunch before hitting a couple of stores for some shopping.  We also made a stop at Sam's Club and the local Wal Mart to stock up on a few groceries.  As is our usual practice, we stopped at DQ on the way home for an ice cream treat.

John and I were back home a little after five, got our purchases put away, and then spent a rather restful evening watching some TV and working on the computer.  I made a sale on ebay, so now I have some shipping to do.

 

Since it was such a beautiful day again, we only worked a couple of hours in the shop after our morning walk.  John and I finally got most of the shelves emptied and hauled quite a few boxes of wood out to the woodshed to be burned.  Now we have to start sorting through the good pieces and getting it stacked in some sort of order so John can decide what he wants to keep and what should be sold.  Once this is done, then we can concentrate on the machinery, small tools, and the many other smaller items that are in all the different areas of the shop.

John spent the rest of the day puttering around the garden and took care of a few jobs that have been hanging around this spring.  Our flag pole broke last fall in a strong wind, so today he got that fixed and back up with a new flag at the top.  He also planted the rose bushes we purchased the other day and moved more of the split wood by the shop to the shed.  

I kept busy catching up on some laundry and working on the computer listing some items on ebay.  Sara is having a garage sale next weekend, so after supper John took a few tables up to her.  I will be putting of few items on her sale, so now I have to get busy pricing and boxing them up.

We had another beautiful morning for our walk.  It probably won't be long before we'll be complaining about the deer flies buzzing around our heads, but for right now we enjoy being out bright and early in the mornings.

As usual, we spent the morning working in the machine shop.  We're slowly making progress as there are many shelves filled with items to sort through.  Today John dismantled all the jigs used in the assembly of the different tables, lamps, etc. while I sorted through boxes of miscellaneous items.  We had accumulated quite a few boxes of trash, so this afternoon John hauled several of them to the dump.

We stopped around 12:30 p.m. for lunch and then finished the job we started yesterday that was interrupted by the changed doctor's appointment.  John and I got the garage straightened up and then cleaned the floor.  Between all the rain and the gravel road, we haul in a lot of wet dirt when we pull the Honda into the garage and when it dries, it's like concrete and needs to be scraped up.  The garage looks nice and clean, hopefully it'll stay that way for a while.

Following supper, John cut more grass.  With the warmer weather, sunshine, and a few rain showers, the grass is growing pretty fast.  Seems like a section of it can be mowed every day. 

We had a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine and nice warm breezes.  Our morning routine has been pretty much established with breakfast and then a couple of hours in the shop sorting and throwing out.  The auto repair shop called saying the black truck was ready to be picked up, so we took an early break and I drove into town and dropped John off so he could bring the truck home.

The garage attached to the house had gotten a little on the messy side, so after lunch we decided to get it straightened out.  We were right in the middle of this project when the dermatologist's office called and said they had several cancellations and would John like to come in this afternoon rather than waiting until the end of the month.  We cleared up what we were working on, got cleaned up, and headed off the the clinic.  The doctor found a mole she didn't like on John's back, and removed it.  The wound didn't require any stitches and just a little care. She will call with the results of the biopsy in about a week, and if it's all clear, he'll come back to see her in four months.  She also found a few little questionable spots on his face and gave him a salve to put on them twice a day.  This is pretty powerful and will make the treated skin look pretty ugly while it's working.

While waiting for the prescription to be filled, we stopped at BK for an early supper and then Home Depot to purchase a couple of rose bushes.  The rose bush we planted about sixteen years ago didn't come back this spring--guess the winter was just too hard on it.

Since it was such a nice evening, I walked around the garden and snapped a few pics.  Looks like we'll be getting strawberries and grapes again this year.

 

John and I didn't walk this morning since the rains continued overnight and even though it was started to clear, the road was just too muddy.  

After breakfast we once again headed down to the shop to continue the cleaning and organizing process.  We are making headway in the machine shop and, hopefully, will have that section completed by the end of this week.

JD had cut some firewood to burn in the shop's outdoor furnace and had it stacked by the storage trailers, so this afternoon John hauled a couple of loads up to the woodshed and got it stacked inside for us to use next winter.  I spent most of my afternoon working on finances by balancing the checkbook and paying a few bills.  A trip to the Grand Forks area is on the horizon as we have a couple of motors that need to be taken to a shop over there for evaluation.  Our evening was spent watching a couple of favorite TV shows before calling it a night.

This morning we woke to cloudy skies and cooler temps.  John and I took our usual walk and by the time we left for church, the all day rains had started.

After lunch we watched a little golf on TV and, since we couldn't do anything outside, spent a couple of hours down in the machine shop sorting through more parts and wood.  JD came and worked a few hours doing some assembly so he can get the last of the orders ready to ship.  

The remainder of our day was spent watching more golf, baking cookies, and working on the computer selling some things on e-bay.  The weather is suppose to clear off and give us some sunny, warmer days for this week.  We want to clean the garage, so we hope to get to that this week if the nice weather stays around.

Not much happened around here today.  John and I took our walk and after breakfast spent the morning in the machine shop cleaning and sorting through patterns and parts. We have pretty much resigned ourselves that this is going to be a long process.  This afternoon John mowed the lawn, cleaned the porch, and set up the summer furniture. After a few days spent in the shop, I took time this afternoon to catch up on a few household chores. That sums up our day.

We started our day off, as usual, with our morning walk.  The weather has certainly made it enjoyable along with calf watching.  The pasture along our route is full of cows with their calves and it's fun to watch the little ones run along the fence to watch us walk down the road.  

I went to my final PT appointment this morning--well, final at least for a few weeks.  I have an appointment for an injection in my back the end of June and the therapist told me I'll have to have PT again after that to strengthen the back muscles.  While I was gone, John worked in the garden keeping the weeds pulled.

Following lunch, we headed back down to the shop where we got the first room done and started in the machine shop.  It's going to take awhile to get everything there cleaned up and all the left over wood and parts sorted out.  We'll just tackle a little bit everyday.

Our weather has continued pretty much the same--comfortable temps, low humidity, and partly cloudy skies.  John and I were up and out the door by 6:30 a.m. for our morning walk as we wanted to get an early start in the shop.  

We spent the best part of the morning doing more cleaning in the first room, loading the trash in the pickup to haul to the landfill, and removing the tubing and circulating motors of the heating system.  Matt is purchasing one of our outdoor furnaces and will be using these items.  We should be able to get this room completely done tomorrow and then get started in the machine shop.  We're still not sure how we want to go about liquidating everything--auction or private sale.  

Once the trash was completely loaded in the pickup, John and I headed to the landfill where the supervisor directed us to the correct location to drop off our different items--computer monitors in one place, metal in another, etc.  From there we headed into town to fill the pickup.  Couldn't believe that gas has dropped 50 cents a gallon since Tuesday.   

John decided to cut grass after we got home and I thought I would go down to the shop to do some more vacuuming; however, I had second thoughts and felt it would be better to do some work on the finances instead and give my back a rest.  Speaking of my back--I have an appointment for June 26th to get an injection in my back.

Today is our 49th wedding anniversary, so John took me out for a nice dinner in Bemidji.  What a great way to end the day.

Since the weather was cloudy with rain showers for most of the day, John and I decided it was a good one to get started in the shop looking things over.  The cleaning and sorting is going to be a very big project.  We spent the entire day working in just one room and got three walls completely cleared.  There were boxes of tax records, etc. that went back over 10 years that the accountant said we could destroy.  We set up a table where we placed the items we want to put on the auction, and the rest was pretty much trash that we'll haul to the landfill tomorrow.  John and I will hopefully get this room finished tomorrow--it was the easiest room to start with, but it at least gives us a sense of accomplishment before we tackle the harder areas.

We were gone just about the entire day taking care of different errands and appointments.  I had an 8 a.m. PT appointment, returned home for an hour or so, and then John and I went up to Matt's where I kept my haircut appointment with Sara.  From there we hit the road to Bemidji where our first stop was the clinic for a blood test for me.  Next we headed to Arby's for a quick lunch, made a stop at the bank, and then visited with our accountant to discuss the closing of Uniquely Wood.  Once that was done, we stopped at Target to return a shirt and do a little grocery shopping.  Next was Pappa Murphy's to pick up a pizza for supper and then one final stop to pick up a couple of new door mats.  John and I finally pulled into the driveway right before 6 p.m.  That was our day and we're both pretty tired tonight.

Our morning was overcast and the temps not quite as nice as yesterday, but we were able to take our morning walk.  The road dried out a little yesterday and it was easier walking without having to be on the lookout for mud.  

John kept busy most of the day dismantling the rest of the crushed lean-to roof and managed to get the entire area cleared by early afternoon.  He then vacuumed around the bottom of our screened porch to remove the leaves and other debris that accumulated over the winter.   We still need to get the summer furniture out of storage and onto the porch, but the weather has been too cool and wet so far.

Today I tackled the laundry, cleaned the upstairs, and did some work on our finances.  Tomorrow will be a busy one for us as we have some errands to run in Bemidji.

We had an absolutely beautiful day here in northern Minnesota with low humidity, clear skies, and very comfortable temps.  

After our morning walk and breakfast, we headed off to church.  We have missed the last two Sundays due to our trip out west, so it felt good to get back into our regular Sunday routine.

Following lunch, we watched a little of the college women's softball champion games and then headed outside to tackle our next yard project.  We have had a 3 foot wide pool with a fish spouting water by our front porch for many years and John finally got tired of fishing out the leaves and keeping the water clear over the summer.  We found a cute little fountain on our travels and decided that since the weather was so nice, this was the day to take out the old pool.  John got it emptied and while he was getting enough dirt and ashes to fill the hole, I pulled out all the brick work that surrounded it.  It didn't take long to fill the hole, assemble the fountain and set it up, and then plant the flowers we bought.

 

Our new fountain and flowerbed

The Flowering Crab Apple trees are full of blossoms and now, as you get near them, you can hear the constant hum of bees.  I managed to snap this photo this afternoon using extreme caution.

This evening John and I took a walk through the shop looking at the machinery, small tools, etc. and have come to the conclusion that an auction might be the best way to liquidate the business assets.  We have a lot to think about, but need to begin setting the process in motion.

 

 

We had more clouds and rain showers for a good portion of the day.  However, early this evening the clouds began to break up and some sun came shinning through.  The weather kept us pretty much house bound today, but this evening John did manage to get more of the collapsed roof over the entry door to the shop dismantled.  He has all the tin removed and now has to deal with the support poles and rafters.  Should be able to get this job completed in the next day or so if the weather co-operates.

As many of you know, we have had a small furniture manufacturing business for over 20 years with JD coming in and taking it over when we retired.  The poor housing market over the last five years has greatly affected the business with sales declining every year.  Added to this is the continued escalation in the price of components and the fact that many of our suppliers, as well as customers, have gone out of business making it very difficult to purchase needed parts as a reasonable price.  It has come to the point where the amount of sales doesn't justify the cost of manufacturing.  JD applied for and was hired to teach high school math for the next school year in Clearbrook. This is an opportunity that can't be turned down, so it has been decided to close Uniquely Wood's doors sometime over the next few weeks when all in house orders are completed and shipped.  Neither one of us has any desire to continue with the business,  so it looks like John and I will be pretty busy this summer getting the buildings cleaned out and ready for either an auction or gigantic yard sale.  The business was very good to our families over the years and we're very thankful for all it provided.