In California

After spending most of yesterday either sitting in an airport or  a plane, we landed in Sacramento around 7:30 last night.  It was about 40 degrees warmer than at home.  We were met by Mike, Jesse, and Isaac.  When we got to the house, we met Zach's bride to be.  We all sat around visiting until 11 pm west coast time.  John and I were pretty tired by then and headed off to bed.  One other big piece of news.  Early Monday morning the plumber called and came out to switch over our wood furnace and electric boiler.  We had been waiting for months to get this done.  Nothing like the last minute.  That's it for now.  Didn't bring the laptop so am doing this on my Kindle. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Bitter Cold Weather

The last several days have been bitterly cold and we have been pretty much housebound this weekend.  Late Friday afternoon we headed off to Grand Forks to watch Sam's basketball game and do a little shopping.  Unfortunately, the Bears lost by almost 20 points, but we had a good time watching the game.  When we came out of the gym the temp was 0.  It sure was a cold walk to the car and both of us appreciated the heated seats on the long ride home.

Since we are heading to California on Tuesday, we have both been busy getting things around for our trip.  Matt came over on Friday so John could give him a crash course on our home security system and JD stopped in on Saturday for the same reason.  We had planned to have our electric boiler hooked up before now, but the plumber just didn't get to us in time, so now someone has to come and keep wood on the fire.  Hopefully, we'll be able to get this taken care of right after we return home. 

Dusting of Snow

Even though our day was cold and windy with snow showers, Matt and John went off early this morning to finish up the job they were working on.  They worked all day and when they got to the final section, all the ridge cap they wanted to install was crimped.  It was unusable and more will have to be ordered before they can complete this job.

Since it was such a cold blustery day, it seemed like a good one to bake some chocolate chip  cookies.  There were also a few little messes from the alarm installation, so I got all of that cleared away.  My ebay auctions have ended and the last items were shipped yesterday, so I'm not selling anything else until we return from California.  Tomorrow night Sam plays his first basketball game of the season, so we'll be heading to Grand Forks to watch his game.  Since it doesn't start until 7:30 p.m. it will probably be a very late night.

Security System

Yesterday was a pretty quiet one.  John and I were up bright and early to head off to Bemidji so I could get a fasting blood test.  That took all of 10 minuets and then we went to Country kitchen for some breakfast.  Next, we made a short stop at Wal Mart for a few items before heading home.  The rest of the day John helped Matt cut down some trees while I did some cleaning upstairs and got things out of the way in preparation for today.

The security person arrived around 9:30 a.m. and was here most of the day installing our new system.  We now have one that detects motion, alerts us to any open door, and if the temperature in the house goes below 45 degrees.  If we don't respond to the alarm, a security company will notify us and, if that's not possible, contact the authorities.  We think this will give us some peace of mind about the house while we're in Texas.  Now we just need to remember to set it when we go out and how to disarm it when we return.  John was in and out of the shop this morning doing more arranging and then headed into town for his dental appointment to get a cracked filling replaced.  He's now done with the dentist.  The rest of our day was spent relaxing and watching some favorite TV shows.

 

Cold and Cloudy Day

The temps remained on the cold side today with cloudy skies--it just felt damp and raw all day.  John went out to his shop on and off and managed to get an air filtration system hung from the ceiling.  I did laundry and some straightening up around the house. Also got more ebay sales ready to ship.  Since we're leaving next Tuesday for Sacramento where we'll be spending the Thanksgiving holiday with Susie's family, I've been trying to keep caught up on laundry and household chores.  With the cold weather settled in, there's not much happening around here.  We're both looking forward to heading to Texas--only about five weeks until we can get out of this cold.

Lazy Weekend

Saturday morning John was up bright and early as he had to pick up Sam and get him to the school by 8 a.m.  He then stayed until the afternoon watching the basketball team scrimmage and then play a couple of 30 minute games.  I decided to stay home, get some bread baked, and take care of a few other chores.

Today was the usual Sunday routine--leisurely breakfast and then off to church.  The weather turned cold and rainy overnight, so this afternoon was spent inside keeping warm and watching the NFL.  John did make a quick trip up to Matt's to talk some basketball strategy with Sam.  We also a spent some time this evening  Skyping with Amy and the kids.  It was good to visit with them and catch up on what everyone has been doing.     

 

Nice Weather Again

The weather was nice and sunny today with temps in the 40's.  According to the long range forecast, this was probably the last warm day for a while.  We're suppose to get rain/snow showers over the next couple of days.

John took advantage of the warmer weather to work out in his shop getting more machinery set up.  He also gave his new table saw a trial run, said it works just fine, and is very happy with his purchase. I gave the kitchen a good cleaning today, even going so far as to clean out the fridge.  It's amazing what you find shoved to the back on the shelves. The cabinets also got wiped down and the floor mopped.  That was pretty much how our day went--things are pretty quiet around here.

 

Another Nice Day

The winds died down overnight and with the sunshine, the day was pretty nice.  John met up with Matt at the job site and they managed to get the tin on both of the lean-to's.  John actually got home in the early afternoon.

This is the building the guys worked

on today.  As you can see, most of our

snow has now melted.

While John was gone, I took care of a few household chores and then decided to take a run to Bemidji to pick up a few grocery items we missed the other day.  The road still had some ice and snow in the shaded sections that were nice and firm when I left; however,  by the time I returned, it was nothing but mud and slush.  I wasn't thinking about the mess under the car when I pulled into the garage and after about 10 minutes, I had a big puddle of muddy water on the garage floor.  John was kind enough to sweep it out after I backed the car out.  We let it sit outside until it dried off and then parked it back inside.  Oh, the joy of winter weather.

A Little Warmer Today

For once the weather forecast was right on and we did have a warmer day with plenty of sunshine.  A good portion of the snow melted away and we are down to gravel on the driveway and all steps and walkways are nice and dry.  The only drawback to the day were the very strong winds.

The original plan for the day called for John to work with Matt helping him install some metal sheets on a lean-to roof.  With the strong wind, that job got put on hold as the guys didn't want to risk handling the metal sheets in the wind.  Hopefully they'll be able to get to that job tomorrow.

Since he didn't have to work with Matt, John got all the tile and other supplies we purchased yesterday unloaded and stored in the garage.  He then went to work assembling his new table saw and building a stand for it.

 Our old two car garage is now John's new

shop.  New table saw is the yellow piece of

machinery.

It's obvious the colder weather is here to stay, so I spent some time today putting the light-weight jackets away and getting out our heavier coats.  We will be heading to Texas in about six weeks, so I also started sorting through some of the things we'll want to take and setting them aside.

A REALLY Cold Morning

The weather cleared overnight allowing the temps to drop to a very chilly 3 degrees above zero.  Once the sun came up, the temp was up to nine above by the time John went out to put wood in the stove right before breakfast.   The big question of the morning was whether or not to plow the two to three inches of snow that dropped over the past few days.  The forecast is for warmer temps (in the 40's) and sunshine so the snow should melt, but will it melt completely.  John decided to plow the section of the drive between the garage and the road so if it melts enough, we can get back to gravel.  Not plowing and not enough melting can mean icy ruts for the rest of the winter.

Since the weather was nice and sunny, we decided it was a good time to head to Bemidji after lunch and purchase the floor tile for our next project.  Before stopping at Home Depot, we did some banking and picked up a few grocery items.  The tile we wanted was on sale and, fortunately, there were enough cases left for us to do our project.  We also picked up the sub-flooring we need to install, cement, and grout.  John also found a table saw on sale for his shop.  Once we got everything loaded into the truck, it was getting to be supper time, so a stop at BK was next on the agenda.
Our evening was a pretty quiet one--just watched TV and worked on the computer.

Cold Monday

Even though our day stayed pretty cold, John did manage to get the snow shoveled off our walkways and the cement slab in front of the shop.  Since there's no heat in the there,  he brought this summer's  potatoes and onions up into our attached garage.  They will stay nice and cool in there, but shouldn't freeze.  He also put insulation in the windows of his new shop.  This serves a double purpose-- help keep the heat from going out the single pane glass and also prevent folks from looking in the windows to see what's in the building while we are away.

I felt ambitious today so I tackled the job of cleaning out all the office files, sorting what could be thrown away and what needs to be kept for taxes.  It always feels good to get that particular chore out of the way each year.  Our evening was spent watching TV and I started making my 2014 calendar.

 

Lazy Day

I think the inch or so of snow we got yesterday is going to hang around for awhile.  The forecast is calling for lows in the single digits for the next two nights with the daytime highs barely above freezing.  It's hard to believe that this time last year we were in warm, sunny Texas not giving a thought to the weather up here. 

Following a leisurely start to our day, John and I headed off to church.   Since it was cold and very windy, we spent the rest of our day hunkered down in our toasty warm house watching the Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers.  The hunters had some success today, Rachel shot a nice button buck.  Our other big news is our oldest grandson got engaged.  Hopefully we'll meet his bride-to-be when we're in Sacramento for Thanksgiving. 

Opening Hunting

We had more snow overnight with temps in the upper 20's and some strong breezes.  John was very glad he decided not to hunt this year.  He had just steeped into the shower this morning when Matt called saying Hanna shot a deer and might need some help as he was hunting on a different portion of land with Sam and Rachel.  John called Hanna and she said she was just getting down out of her stand, was going to try and find a blood trail, and would call him back.  Thirty minutes later she called, said she found the deer, and needed his help.  John asked her if she gutted the animal and she said, "No, I'm waiting for you."  Grandfathers do come in handy at times.  John bundled up and drove to Matt's place where he found Hanna and Sara at the edge of the woods with the deer.  After taking a couple of photos, John gutted the deer and helped them get it to the garage where they hung it up.  The rest of the family didn't have any luck today.

JD bought a plow for his four wheeler and needed some assistance getting it installed.  He brought the four wheeler and plow down to the shop and John, JD, and Josh spent a good portion of the day getting it hooked up.  They also spent sometime up in the house eating the chocolate cookies I made last night and when the job went longer than anticipated, stayed for lunch before heading back to the shop to finish the job.

The new plow is ready to go.  As I've mentioned

before, you can see the shop is now a storage spot for

lawn mowers, etc.

We started the day thinking it would be a pretty quiet one with not much to do since it snowed off and on and was pretty miserable to be outside.  Just shows you never know what each day will bring.

Cold Day with A Little Snow

John needed to get a fasting blood test this morning, so we were up bright and early and off to the clinic in Bemidji.  There was no wait at the lab, so we were back out the door in about 15 minutes.  Since we didn't have any breakfast, we headed off to Country Kitchen for something to eat.  

After a leisurely breakfast, we took care of some errands.  John had an old socket wrench he purchased from Sears many years ago and the last time he used it, it broke.  There is a lifetime warranty on Sears tools, so we stopped at the Sears store and they fixed it right away at no charge.  Our next stop was the AT&T store where we found out what we need to do to get internet service while in Texas.  We'll be setting that up the end of December right before we leave here.  From AT&T we stopped at Home Depot and Menards. We are contemplating replacing the carpeting in our downstairs hallway, and since it's such a heavy traffic area, are looking at tile.  We found some that we liked and, best of all, it's on sale till the middle of November.  That will give us plenty of time to take measurements and check on the cement and grout left over from our bathroom project.  The final stop was the grocery store to pick up some fresh fruit and produce.

This afternoon a representative from a security company stopped in to tell us about the different packages they offer.  We settled on one that will monitor our house's temps and also have an alarm system.  This will be installed next week.  John said his biggest problem will be remembering the alarm code.

This weekend is opening rifle season and there were hunters and campers with four wheelers everywhere.  With the light dusting of snow we had today, the hunters should be pretty happy.  Matt, Sam, and Hanna will probably be out in their deer stands bright and early tomorrow morning. 

Sunny Day

Sitting inside looking out at the beautiful sunny day, one would think that the temps were nice and warm.  However, once you opened the door, you got a blast of very cold air.  John didn't do much outside, but took his truck to the car wash and refilled one of our small propane tanks.  I spent sometime on the computer filling out forms for John's conceal and carry renewal and looking up some information about a local security firm.  Since our business has closed, no one will be here everyday while we are in Texas, so we are looking at options for checking the heat level in the house and notifying someone if it fails.  We have started thinking about Texas and what we will need and want to take.  This pretty much sums up our day.

Another Appointment

This morning it was John's turn to head off to the dental office for his yearly checkup and cleaning.  The dentist found an old filling was beginning to crack, so he has an appointment in a couple of weeks to get it fixed.  Glad that was found before we head to Texas.

Today the winds had died down, so after lunch got on the lawn mower and bagged up more of the leaves in the yard and dumped them on the garden.  He then cut more firewood and got it stacked.  The big load of wood that was delivered this summer is slowly shrinking.

I baked a couple of loaves of bread today and did some more cleaning and straightening up in the downstairs.  The weather didn't warm up very much today--I'm afraid it's here to stay.  The hunters are glad to see the cold since that usually gets the deer moving.  This weekend is opening deer season here in northern Minnesota.  John is not planning to hunt this year, but Matt's family will be out in full force.

Cold Weather

Even though the calendar says fall, our temps feel more like winter.  Our low for tonight is forecast to be in the mid teens and the highs for the next ten days will only reach into the mid 30's.

As I mentioned the other day, this week is one for appointments.  We left the house early yesterday as I had an 8:30 a.m. appointment for my yearly mammogram.  I was in and out in under 30 minutes and then we headed to Perkins for breakfast.  John and I took care of some banking and then made a stop at Wal Mart to restock the pantry.  This morning was a dental appointment to get my semi-annual teeth cleaning and checkup.  Once again I got a good report.  While I was gone, John got some more wood cut and did some maintenance work on a pump for our wood stove.  This afternoon he cut more wood and worked out in his shop getting some of his tools organized.  I took care of some laundry and worked on the computer sorting some photographs for a book I'm trying to get done.  This pretty much covers our last couple of days--really not too much interesting to share right now.

 

 

Wind

With the time change, it's light when we get up now, but the afternoons are much shorter.  I feel like we are slowly slipping into the pit of darkness because as each day passes there is less and less daylight.  I always look forward to December 21, the shortest day, because after that I know each day will bring more daylight.

We had a pretty quiet day--started off with church and then spent most of the afternoon watching the NFL.  John and I have a couple of appointments this week, but nothing special on our agenda.  

 

Pretty Quiet

Things have been pretty quiet around here.  Matt called on Wednesday evening and asked John if he could give him a hand with a large building he is constructing, so John has been working with him for the last two days.  With John gone all day I have kept busy finishing up my bedroom project and packing up the items I sold on ebay.  This afternoon I made a run into the post office to drop off my packages.  The weather was actually pretty nice with sunshine and temps in the low 40's.  As long as the snow stays away, we'll be happy.