Painting and Out of Town Trip

Since the weather has turned cold and the outside chores are all done, I decided it was a good time to work on my bedroom project.  On Monday I got three of the walls painted in a nice shade of green and yesterday painted the fourth wall in a color called Oklahoma Wheat.  With all the furniture moved away from the walls, it was the perfect time to wipe down all the baseboards and give the room a good cleaning.  Now I need to decide which of my photographs I want to put back on the walls and then the project will be completed.  I'll post a picture of the room when I get everything back in place.

While I kept busy painting, John worked on the wood pile cutting, splitting and stacking more wood.  He also worked on organizing his new shop and moving some of his tools from our attached garage.

After such a busy couple of days, we decided it was time to relax and headed out of town to Grand Forks.  We arrived around noon, so our first stop was Culver's for some lunch.  From there we hit Michael's and Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  As we were driving down the street to Sam's Club, we saw a brand new Hobby Lobby and just had to stop.  John and I spent the next 45 minutes wandering through the new store and found some artificial flowers we thought would look nice with the new paint in our bedroom.  Our next stop was Sam's Club with a final one at Cabela's back on the Minnesota side of the Red River.  On the way home we made a stop at Subway for a couple of subs for supper and ate them in front of the TV while we watched Survivor.

La-ate Night

It was after 12:30 in the morning before we got home from Sam's football game and after 1 a.m. before we finally got to bed.  The Bears put up a good fight, but lost with a final score of 38-24.  The football season is officially over for this year.  Since we got home so late, we slept in this morning and pretty much vegged out today.  John did manage to get some of the leaves picked up with the lawn mower and put them on the garden.  I got the wallpaper border down in the bedroom and cleaned the walls so now I can get started on painting.

Jenni's birthday is on Tuesday, so Joanne had both sets of grandparents up to the house for supper and a little party.  We spent a couple of hours visiting and playing a game of "31" before we hit the road back home and called it a day.

 Jenni modeling her new hood sweatshrt

Finally, A Sunny Day

After what felt like a week of cloudy rainy weather, the skies cleared off today and we had some much appreciated sunshine.  The temps were even a little warmer, but the winds were quite strong with gusts up to 30 mph.

John took advantage of the good weather to cut, split, and stack more firewood.  The woodshed is just about full.

 
Since the ground was a little bit drier, the guys that bought our storage trailers came this afternoon and hauled away the remaining two trailers.  They had gotten stuck before when they tried to pull them out, but it went very smoothly this afternoon.  Now John has another job--tearing down the wall and smoothing out the dirt bank.

I kept busy today listing more items on ebay and getting the month end finances done.  Not too much happening around here right now.  Tomorrow night we head up to Hallock, MN for Sam's second playoff game.  It's about 2 1/2 hours north of us and about 20 miles from Canada.

 
 

Cold is Here to Stay

I checked the long range forecast today and found that our high temps will only be in the mid to upper 30's for the next ten days.  We were hoping that some warmer weather would return, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.  It certainly has been an unusual fall with temps being at least 10 degrees above normal at the beginning of the month and now the sudden drop to below normal with snow showers just about every day.

Fortunately, John got the outside chores done just in time and now spends an hour or so each day cutting firewood.  He actually prefers cutting it when the temps are on the cooler side.  I spent some time today packing up my recent ebay sales.  All the DVD's I listed sold, so I had to get them ready for shipping.  I still have a few more items to list, but I'll wait until the weekend to get that job done.  My next big project will be getting the bedroom walls ready for painting--I just have to get motivated to get started.

Big Win for the Bears

Just got home from the football game where the Bears won 38-14, beating the number 8th ranked team in the state.  This was the first playoff game, so now they will play again this Saturday.  The weather was pretty cold--temps in the low 30's with snow flurries--so John and I bundled up with many layers of clothing and managed to stay warm.  The only thing that got cold on me were my hands.  

This was the perfect ending to a busy day which started off with an early morning appointment with my arthritis doctor for my six month checkup.  After I finished up at the clinic, we stopped at Perkins for breakfast and then did a little grocery shopping, stopped at Home Depot to pick up the paint for the bedroom, and then made one final stop to purchase a small air compressor to be used in John's shop.  We relaxed for an hour or so, and then headed off to the game.  Now we're both tired and ready to hit a nice warm bed.

Another Chilly Day

The clouds hung around all day with rain/snow showers off and on.  The temps didn't even get out of the 30's. 

John spent some time this morning down in the shop moving a piece of machinery and making room to park his truck.  The old machine shop is now going to be used as a garage/storage area.  While he was busy with that job, I did some laundry and spent quite a bit of time on the computer getting tickets for our trip to California for Thanksgiving.  John had enough "miles" for a free ticket, so we only had to pay for mine.  This afternoon he bundled up and cut more firewood and stacked it in the woodshed.  The rest of the day we just took care of a few household chores and stayed toasty warm in the house.

A Light Dusting of Snow

The rain of yesterday turned into a light snow overnight, so with the weather being so yucky, we were pretty much housebound today with the exception of our outing for church.

John and I spent most of our afternoon watching the NFL with little naps every once in a while.  I did manage to open the paint samples I got at Home Depot the other day and paint a few sections of the bedroom walls to see what color I liked and I think I have finally settled on the colors I want.  Just have to let them sit a day or two to make sure.  Since it was such a dreary day, I baked some cookies to help warm up the house.  That was pretty much our day--nothing much happening around here right now.

Gettng the Woodstove Ready for Winter

Yesterday was cold and rainy all day, so we made a quick trip to Bemidji for a few groceries and then spent the rest of the day taking care of a few household chores.

Today, Friday, the rainy weather cleared and we had a nice sunny, but chilly, day.  We had our first hard frost the other night, so, since the weather was better today, John and I decided it was a good time to get the flower beds cleaned out.  The frost really did a job on all of the plants, so it was time for them to go.  

Since we have closed our business, JD won't be here everyday to fire the outdoor wood stove while we are in Texas.  Since we will be heating the house with electric heat while we're gone, we needed to figure out what to do about the stove since it operates with circulating water.  He didn't want to empty it and then refill it with water each spring, not to mention the possibility of not getting it completely emptied and end up with a cracked pipe.  John decided to go with half antifreeze and half water in the stove, so yesterday he ordered two 55 gallons of antifreeze and today pumped it into the furnace after draining about half of the water.  It was a cold job and took most of the day, but now it's done and it shouldn't have to be dealt with again.

 

Rain Free Day

After several days of cloudy skies and showers, it was a blessing to have the sun shine today.  Even though the day was sunny, the temps were on the cool side.  It looks like our warm weather is a thing of the past and won't be back for months.

John took advantage of the sunshine to cut up more firewood for the winter.  He also took care of a few chores in the old shop--putting some anti-freeze in the floor's heat pipes and blowing the water out of the systems.  Since the sale is now over, I started working on my next project--redoing our bedroom.  The new quilt I ordered for the bed arrived yesterday, so now I am trying to decide what colors I want on the walls.  I also got the laundry caught up and some cleaning accomplished.  I didn't get much time to keep the house caught up over the summer, but now that the sale is done, we are slowly getting back into a normal routine.

Rainy and Cool Day

We had a cool, rainy day, but John did managed to get outside in between showers and get some more wood cut.  My day was spent doing laundry and getting more of the summer clothing put away.  Since we had a football game this evening, I decided to have our main meal for lunch and made a new tuna casserole recipe I found on the internet.  It turned out to be pretty tasty, even if I say so myself.

I must admit I was a little hesitant about attending the game this evening in the rain, but by late this afternoon, the rains stopped and, as we headed north to the game, the skies cleared.  Only problem with that was the temperatures dropped quite a bit.  It was 37 degrees by the time the game ended.  I wore my insulated underwear top with several other layers under John's heavy hunting jacket and wool socks.  I did manage to keep fairly warm.  The Bears were very successful, winning the game with a score of 51-6.  Sam threw for a touchdown and also ran for 1.  This was the final game of the regular season.  Playoffs start next week, so we'll be watching at least one more game next Tuesday evening.

 

Another Rainy Day

We had a beautiful sunny day Sunday, so we took advantage of the nice weather after church and spent most of our afternoon cleaning out the garage attached to our house.  Being busy with the sale most of the summer and September, things had piled up in there and it needed quite a bit of organizing.  Since John is setting up a new little shop in our detached two car garage, we were able to move quite a few things into that shop.  We now have much more space for our car and a nice clean garage.  Once we were finished with this chore, John started cutting up some of the big pile of wood we had delivered earlier in the summer.  He has a long way to go before that job gets done.

It's a good thing we tackled those jobs yesterday, as we have had a pretty steady rain most of the day along with much cooler temps.  We left the house bright and early this morning for John's followup appointment with his dermatologist.  He got a clean checkup and doesn't have to go back for a year.  We then did some banking and grocery shopping before hitting the road home.

John called Matt as we were leaving Bemidji to let him know we were on our way home.  He was bringing his lawn mower over to our place so he could store in the shop for the winter.  The guys then moved the machines that John kept off the sale up into the new one.  Matt then stayed for lunch and spent some time just visiting before heading out.  

Hanna had a volleyball game this evening, so we ate an early supper before heading up to the school.  In the final game, Hanna served 14 straight which led their team to a victory.  The B team won 2 and lost 1.  It sure was fun to watch her play such a big part in the team's win.

Rainy Day

John and I took advantage of the nice weather yesterday and cleaned the porch, getting it ready for winter.  We vacuumed the carpet, getting rid of the many ladybugs that had congregated there over the past few days.  John also brought in the grill and removed some furniture, wind chimes, and other little items and stored them in the old shop.  One thing about closing Uniquely Wood, we now have a massive storage facility.  We are waiting for a frost to finish off the flower beds and that looks like a strong possibility for tonight.  A freeze warning is in the forecast.

I had been having trouble with a flareup in my autoimmune system which caused extreme itching and burning in my eyes.  I wasn't getting any relief with the drops I had from the doctor, so bright and early this morning John and I headed to Bemidji and the Walk-In clinic.  It didn't take too long to get seen and I got a prescription for a steroid that should help calm the inflammation.  I see my arthritis doctor in a little over a week and, hopefully, he should be able to shed some light on the problem.  After we left the clinic, we stopped at Country Kitchen for breakfast and then made a stop at Walgreen's to pick up my prescription.

Since it rained all day, we were pretty much housebound this afternoon.  We did spend a few minutes down in the shop recounting some of the wood and box inventory for possible sale and then just vegged out watching college football and working on the computer.  We just finished watching the four OT win of Penn State over Michigan.  It was sure one exciting game. 

Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home--PLEASE!!

I thought, for some reason, that since we made it into October without the annual ladybug infestation, we were in the clear for this year.  Sadly, I was very wrong.  The LB's made their appearance a couple of days ago and are everywhere.  If you go outside in the warmth of the afternoon, you soon have them all crawling all over.  I've heard that the LB's live in the soybean fields eating the aphids and once the soybeans are harvested, they need to find a new home.

The last two days we have been busy working on our fall chore list.  John got the last of the tomatoes out of the garden and dug the potatoes.  His potato crop was pretty impressive this year.  The grape vines have been cut back, the oldest strawberry plants pulled, and the garden tilled.  It's now put to bed until next spring.

These potatoes weighed over two pounds each

 The forecast is for cooler weather, so I think it's safe to start putting the shorts and other summer clothes away.  I have been spending some time cleaning out the closet and getting our fall and winter gear out.  The weather has been warmer than normal, but one keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop.  These days can't last much longer.  The leaves have passed their peak as far as color goes and are falling at a rapid rate.  Won't be long before all we'll see is bare and brown, but for right now we are still enjoying our beautiful flowers.  I took some more pictures today and found we had many bees and grasshoppers resting on the blooms.

 This guy liked posing for the camera

We had a major sports conflict this evening.  Hanna had a volleyball game at home while Sam had a game in Grand Forks.  John and I split up with him going with Matt to watch Sam play and Sara and I watched Hanna's games.  Tonight was Parents' Night at the volleyball game and Hanna presented me and Sara with very beautiful yellow daisies.  Next week ends the fall sports season, so we'll have a nice break before basketball starts.

Painting A Floor

Over the past couple days John has spent much of his time clearing our two car garage and preparing the floor for painting.  Today the weather was perfect for doing the job, so that's what we did most of the morning and early afternoon.  He had bought a paint that is specifically made for cement floors and there were several steps to the preparation of both the floor and paint and today we were finally ready to get the job done.  John rolled the paint on while I followed behind spreading special chips that give the floor some color and prevent slipping.  Now we have to wait a couple of days for the floor to completely dry and then John can start setting up his new shop.

This afternoon, one of the guys that purchased two of our trailers came over and started the process of getting them ready to haul out of here.  They jacked up the trailers, checked the tires, and then put boards under the wheels so the trailers won't sink in the soft dirt when they are pulled out.  They will be coming sometime over the next few days to start the process of moving them out.

This post is from Tuesday evening.  Got distracted and forgot to publish it.



 
 

Rainy Days

We've had plenty of rain over the past two days, so outside activities have been greatly curtailed.  John got our two car garage completely cleaned out with his boat, four wheeler, tiller, and lawn mowers now stored in one section of the old shop.  

Following the sale, our office looked like a tornado had hit it, so I spent most of Friday sorting through stacks of paper, getting them organized, and getting the desktop cleared off.  

Today we spent the morning in the shop sorting through the few items left over from the sale and deciding what could be kept for another garage sale and what could be thrown away.  We got all the tables down and have a pile of things to take to the dump next week.  JD and Joanne stopped down this morning to clear out what she didn't sell last Saturday, so now the shop is pretty clear and just needs a little more organizing and it will be ready for winter.  Our weather is suppose to be a little nicer next week, so we hope to get all the outside jobs completed then.  

Missing Package

I found out through an email from ebay that one of the items I shipped a couple of weeks ago was not received by my buyer, so most of my morning was spent trying to track the package and sending emails to my customer.  The package should have been returned to me, but I haven't seen it yet.  I stopped at the post office this afternoon, talked to the postmaster about the missing package, and was told they would get back to me in a day or two.  I can tell this is going to be adventure getting this problem resolved.

John kept busy cleaning out our two-car garage.  His plan is to turn it into a little home shop so he can have a place to putter around.  Two years ago we replaced the all the windows, re-insulated the entire building, and put up new chip board all around, so it should be a nice shop.  His next step is to power wash the cement floor and give it a coat of paint.  This needs to be done pretty soon as the weather is getting colder and you can't apply the paint if the temps are too low.

This afternoon we headed off to watch Rachel and Hanna play volleyball.  These were away games, so we traveled to a town east of Bemidji.  This was Rae's final match of her 7th grade season and she did a fine job.  Hanna's team played much better this evening and won both of their games.  She still has a couple of more games left in her season.   

No Wind But Cooler Temps

John kept busy this morning unhooking our shop's air compressor.  A gentleman called last night and told us he was interested in purchasing it.  He called again this morning to confirm the purchase and said he would be here by 11:30 a.m. to pick it up.  He arrived right on time, it was loaded onto his trailer with no problem, and off he went.

We also had a call from a business owner interested in possibly purchasing the rights to the name Uniquely Wood and manufacturing some of the items we made.  After the compressor was on its way, John and I spent several hours meeting with James.  We have a lot to think about and will get back in touch with him in a couple of days.

In between all this action, I managed to get a couple of loaves of bread made and John was able to clear out the old shipping area and get our boat moved down to the shop for storage over the winter.  We are slowly crossing off items of our To Do Before Winter list.

Making Juice

We had a beautiful sunny day, but the winds were so strong you couldn't get anything done outside.  Since we stuck in the house and still had a bucket full of grapes left over from jelly making, John and I decided to make more grape juice.  There were more grapes than we expected and we ended up making14 more quarts of juice.  Since our weather is expected to turn colder later in the week, John got the rest of the tomatoes out of the garden.  Since the kitchen was already a mess from making the grape juice, we decided to give tomato juice a try.  John found a simple recipe on the internet and we now have 12 quarts of tomato juice.  Today's efforts finished up our canning for this year.

This afternoon a couple of guys who were at our sale on Saturday came back to look over our dust collecting system.  They decided not to purchase it, but ended up buying several other items that were still here.  We are slowly but surely getting rid of the leftover sale items.  After they left, we headed up to Clearbrook to watch Hanna's volleyball game.  They had an off night with their serves and only won 1 game out of 3.  Hopefully they'll play better on Thursday.