Fair Time

The weather has been just about perfect for fair week so far.  We have had sunny skies with very low humidity and cool nights that make for good sleeping.

Matt and Sam needed some help with a bathroom remodel, so John spent most of yesterday helping them out and they were able to get the jb done in one day.  In the afternoon we headed into the fairgrounds and got our pictures and wood carving entered.  We took Rachel with us so she could meet us with her friends, but they were running a little late, so she hung out with us.  The three of us stopped at one of the food stands for a quick bite, and then headed back to the Original Arts building where John and I worked accepting folks' entries.  Around 8 p.m. we started putting the different art forms on display and finally gone done around 10:30 p.m.  Needless to say, it was a long day.

These are my entries in the nature and wildlife

classes.  You can enter up to three pieces in each and

they are judged as a group.

 

This morning John was up bright and early and headed into town to play a round of golf.  He just loves playing at this time of day because there are only a couple of early birds ahead of him and no one is behind, so he can take his time playing.  I might give it a try tomorrow--I'll have to see how I feel in the morning.

Matt called while he was on the course asking if John could bring the tiller up to an earlier job site and till the ground around the new addition they did so they could get the ground smoothed out for planting grass.  He loaded the tiller and took off for Clearbrook--Matt was nice enough to treat him to lunch once the job was finished.  I have kept busy with laundry and some light cleaning around the house.  This evening we went back into the fair where we walked through the barns and different buildings.  I have to report that I won first place for my photos in the nature and wildlife classes.  My landscapes and insect photo did well, also.  I'll try to post the winning pictures another time.

Just Hanging Around

Sunday was a cloudy day with off and on showers all day long.  Following church, we spent most of our time just hanging out around the house.  John did take an hour to go up to Matt's and help him fix a leaking toilet.

Today dawned overcast, but John decided to head into town to play a round of golf.  I'm still not ready to get back to playing just yet, so he went alone. The rest of his day was spent cutting and stacking more firewood and mowing the grass.  I managed to get the laundry done in between laying down and resting my back.  I hoping it continues to improve since Wednesday is Entry Day for the fair and we are scheduled to work that afternoon registering entrants for the Original Arts competition.  We're not too busy right now, just waiting for things in the garden to finish growing so we can get to the canning. 

A Beautiful Day

Things have been pretty quiet around here for the last few days.  John helped Matt on his job site because Sam was out of town attending a quarterback camp.  I have been laying low nursing my back and generally taking it easy.

 JD participated in a triathlon this morning, and since I was feeling a little better, John and I drove to Walker and watched him compete.  He did this same triathlon last year and improved his time by 4 minutes and got 47th overall.  There were almost 300 competitors.  This afternoon Matt stopped over and while the guys were outside, John discovered a huge hornets' nest in a trash can behind our outdoor stove.  They sprayed it and are hoping the wasps will take off and move somewhere else.  

Better Weather Today

Our weather was much cooler with less humidity today thanks to the very strong thunderstorms and winds (60 mph) that came through our area around 9:15 p.m. last night.  We must have been on the south edge of the front because folks north of us received 6 inches of rain and had power outages.  Our garden made it through okay--I thought for sure the tomato and pepper plants would be flat this morning.

John headed off bright and early to play another round of golf and I spent the morning in bed icing and resting my back.  I felt good enough this afternoon to head to Bemidji for some much needed grocery shopping.  We also stopped at Menards to purchase of fence charger so John can install an electric fence around the garden--he wants to be sure the deer can't get in again.  I am still being very careful about what I do and continue to rest and ice my back.  I'm almost certain the problem is with the back muscles and they just need to recover.  



 

Out Of Commission

I haven't written on the blog because right now there isn't much to talk about with us.  The weather has turned very hot and humid, so we have been hanging out around the house most of the day.  We did get some golf in on Friday before the temps rose, but that's about it.

I finally got the last of my fair photos ordered and the ones I have are now all matted, framed, and ready for entry day.  John got his wood carving painted (I'll post a picture later), so he's also ready to go.  As to the title of this blog, my back is out again.  I don't know what happened.  Got up Sunday morning, showered and dressed for church, and then came downstairs and sat at the counter to eat breakfast.  When I went to stand up I was in intense pain and now have spent the last two days laying in bed.  I'm not sure if it's muscles or something in my spine.  I'm going to see how it goes for another day and, if it doesn't improve, call Pain Management and see what they say.  At least John and I managed to get the peach jam done before I was completely down and out.  Even though the early morning temps were in the low 70's, John headed into town for a round of golf.  He said there were only two other people on the course (I wonder why, with the heat index near 100)  By the time he reached the last hole he was ready to call it a morning.  I must say he's committed to the game of golf, or else he's just plain crazy.

Lazy Days

The warm weather returned along with some humidity.  John and I played golf first thing yesterday morning so we could get a round in before it got too hot.  The fast greens took a toll on our putting and neither one of us could make a putt.  We both had a few good shots and several "Yikes" shots.  You know, those shots that are pretty bad and make you look like you've never played the game before.
 In the afternoon, I worked some more on fair photos while John worked in the garden clearing out the weeds.  

This mornng John decided to play golf again, but I opted out.  I need a day between rounds to give my back a chance to recover.  When he returned home he said he played much better today.  I spent most of my day clearing the desktop in the office.  I needed to pay a few bills, enter all the receipts from our trip into the computer, and get everything sorted and filed away.  It feels good to finally have that job out of the way.  I'm hoping the peaches I bought the other day will finally be ripe enough to make some jam tomorrow.

 

Cool Weather Continues

The past couple of days have felt more like fall than summer with the temps at night dipping down into the 40's and the daytime highs only reaching the low 60's.  It's definitely been sweatshirt weather instead of tee shirts.

John has been busy working with Matt and Sam yesterday and today putting steel roofing on the addition their building.  While he has been busy with them, I have been deciding on photos for the fair, getting them printed, and deciding how to display them.  The fair is a week earlier this year, so I only have two weeks to get everything assembled and ready to display. The local grocery store ran a sale on peaches, so while I was in town this morning, I picked up a lug of them.  We hope to get some jam made and possibly can a few jars.  John got finished with Matt this afternoon, so maybe we'll be able to get a round of golf in tomorrow.

Cool and Windy Sunday

John and I slept in for quite a while this morning as we're still in the recovery mode from our long hours on the road coming home from the West Coast.

Once we managed to get ourselves up and eat some breakfast, John headed out to his garden to do some more weeding--he thinks it's finally under control once again.  Since the deer ate the strawberries in the garden, we purchased a flat of them of them the other evening while in Bemidji.  We spent the rest of the morning making a couple of batches of jam and after lunch headed into town to play a round of golf.  It was a little on the cool side with some pretty strong winds, so there weren't too many folks out on the course. It felt more like mid-September than mid-July.

We spent a pretty quiet evening watching a couple of favorvite TV shows before calling it a day.  John has to be up bright and early to lend a hand to Matt and Sam at their job site.

Back In The Routine

John and I have spent the last couple of days getting unpacked and settling back into our normal routine.  Yesterday John spent the majority of his day working out in the garden trying to salvage what he could from the deer rampage.  Our tomato plants look a little shakey, but he feels that's because the weather has been cool and cloudy. I have been spending my time sorting through photos to enter in the fair.  It's a week earlier this year and since we were gone so long, I have gotten a little behind in fair preparations this summer.

Today John and Matt went to watch Sam play in a 7 On 7 touch football competition.  The guys ended up in fifth place out of 10 teams representing the different high schools in the area.

 This evening Joannne had both sets of grandparents up to their place for supper to celebrate Julie's 9th birthday.  As you can see from the photo below, she really likes her lovely gifts of money.

Our weather has been a little on the warm side, but this evening a front came blowing through and we needed to put on our hooded sweatshirts.  The forecast for Monday is actually saying the words "cold weather" with possible frost in some parts of Minnesota.  Hope it's not here.  Our garden couldn't take another hit.

Home Again and Back Into the Old Routine

After three long days on the road from Sacramento, we pulled into our driveway early Tuesday evening.  I must say it felt good to be  back in the cooler temps of northern Minnesota after the extreme heat of California.

We weren't home very long before Matt called and asked John if he could provide an extra pair of hands on his current job.  He would only need him for a an hour or so.

Bright and early Wednesday morning John headed out to help Matt and I began the task of unpacking the suitcases and sorting through what needed to be washed and what could be put right away.  When John returned home, he spent the rest of his day mowing and trimming the lawn and weeding the flowerbeds.  We discovered a bit of a problem with the garden--the deer attacked the grape vines and stipped them down to the bare vines.  They also managed to snip off the strawberries and beans.  We have never had a problem with the deer bothering the garden in the past, but I think with us being gone for almost three weeks, it was pretty quiet around here and they discovered our garden.  

Today John went back and worked with Matt for a few hours this morning while I attacked the large pile of laundry.  Following a quick lunch, we headed into town to play a round of golf.  The weather was pretty nice, but we're not use to the humidty after spending the past couple of weeks where there is almost none.  When we returned home, we got cleaned up and then headed into Bemidji to restock the pantry.  Just about everything from our trip is put away and now we need to get back into our regular routine.

On The Road Home

After months of anticipation, the wedding is over and we are on the road home to Minnesota.  We have had a very hectic time over the past couple of days with visiting relatives, helping to set up the reception, and then the wedding itself.  Everything went off without a hitch though the weather was very hot (almost 100 degrees).  Noah did an outstanding job as ringbearer and was very happy to get out of his outfit for the reception.  Several of us started off for home or further travel today while others will be heading out tomorrow.  It was hard to say good-bye, but John and I will see his siblings again in August when we gather at the Jersey shore for a week in September.  Right now we are spending the night in Coalville, Utah and hope to make the middle of Nebraska by tomorrow evening.  We will be glad to get back to the cooler temps in Minnesota--it was 109 degrees when we arrived in Sacramento from the northern part of the state.

Noah concentrating on being a good ringbearer

 

 Zach with his new wife and siblings

Isaac, Maggie, Becky, Zach, and Jesse

Happy Fourth of July!!

This morning we met up with Carol and Bill for breakfast and then headed over to Susie's place for the morning to spend some time with the family.  Amy and Dave arrived last evening from southern California where they have been vacationing with their family.  Following lunch, we came back to the motel for a little rest time before returning for the groom's supper/pool party.  There was quite a crowd and a good time was had by all.  As the sun went down, the guys put on a fireworks display.  There were fireworks going on all over the place.  As we were driving out of the neighborhood, we saw families setting them off in the streets.  It was quite a different Fourth of July for us.

Some of the cousins playing a game

 

Water polo in the pool

 

Fireworks by the pool

 

Fireworks by the pool and in the air

 

 Neighbor's display

 

Golfing and Wedding Preps

John and I have been keeping pretty busy here in Sacramento.  Yesterday John and Jesse, our grandson, played nine holes of golf at a local par three course.  While they were gone, Susie and I took care of some chores around the house and last night she took us to see Zach and Becky's new apartment along with some shower and wedding gifts.  John and I also spent a fair amount of time in the pool since the temps here have been in the upper 90's.  At least the humidity is very low.

Today the plan was for John, Jesse, and I to play a quick round of golf this morning, but John had a reaction to some pain meds he took during the night and wasn't feeling well.  Jesse and I decided to play and Isaac, his brother, came along to act as my caddy.  We had a good time playing--both of us had what we call "A Tiger Wood's shot".  

 Third hold at Brandshaw Ranch Golf Course

I made it over the water hazard off the tee.

 

 

Last night and today family coming from out of town began arriving.  John and I moved to the motel this afternoon as Amy's family was arriving and would be staying at the house.  John's sister and brother-in-law also flew in this afternoon, so I spent the afternoon visiting with them and then we went out for supper.  John skipped eating with us and is on the mend as the meds slowly flush out of his system.

In Sacramento

John and I arrived in Sacramento Monday afternoon and its been non-stop visiting and wedding preparations ever since.  Today Susie and I went to Target to pickup some paper products and a few other items.  We then went to Sam's Club where we met up with her friend Sandy to pick up the food needed for the groom's supper.  Since the wedding is on Saturday, July 5th, instead of a regular groom's meal, we are having a Fourth of July pool party in the backyard.  Sandy is taking care of all the food preparation for that part of the festivities and we'll take care of the rehearsal meal on Thursday evening.  Having a holiday the day before the wedding has caused some changes in the normal order of things.

Last night Zach and Becky stopped over and later in the evening demonstrated the Swing Dance they will be doing at the reception.  Susie and Jesse also did a little dancing.

Susie and Jesse trying out a few steps

 

Becky and Zach Swing Dancing

The next few days will be pretty hectic with more family arriving and some last minute details.