Saturday, August 29, 2015

Long Game and Late Night

John and Matt knocked off work early yesterday so everyone could head out for last night's football game.  We left home about 4:45 p.m. and made a stop at DQ for some supper.  From there it was straight south for an hour to Ulen.  Even though the day had been warm, there was a nice breeze that kept it comfortable for the game.  It was one of the most exciting games I've ever seen--at the end of regulation the score was tied 22-22.  It took five overtimes before a winner was finally declared.  Unfortunately the Bears came out on the short end losing 2 points.  The players on both teams were completely exhausted when it was over.  You could see the players were really slowing down as the overtimes went on.  It's a shame there has to be a loser in a game like this--both teams playing their hearts out.  On the bright side, Hanna came to the game so we got to visit with her for a bit.




Friday, August 28, 2015

Starting Back Up Again

After taking a break from posting, I've decided it's time to get back to it again and let folks know what we're up to here in northern Minnesota.

August has been a busy month for us.  It started off with the county fair where John and I worked in the Original Arts building on entry day and helped long into the evening getting everything set up for judging the next day.  John took a first place ribbon with his Sea Captain wood carving and I got first for my still life photos and an Award of Merit for my Mountain Laurel picture.


 The garden has been great this summer.  We've had plenty of rain along with hot, sunny days. Our grape vines have recovered from the deer destruction of last summer--in fact, they are back bigger and stronger than before.  We should get a bumper crop of grapes and plan on canning many quarts of juice.  John and I have already done dill and bread and butter pickles and sweet relish.  We had plenty of jelly left over from last year, so we skipped jelly-making this summer.

John and I have been playing golf just about every day; however, that is being put on the back burner since John has started working for Matt as Sam is back at football practice and school will start on Tuesday.  We had a major storm go through our area about two weeks ago that caused a lot of property damage.  Matt has been getting many calls about repairing roofs, replacing walls that were blown in, and repairing other damages to siding, etc.  I think he'll be kept busy the remainder of the year.

The high school football season is underway.  The team has three games before school even starts.  I think it has something to do with the Vikings using the MN Gopher's field and trying to work in the high school football playoffs.  All I know is that high school football has started throughout the entire state.  The Bears first game was last Saturday night at home and they won 36-12.  Sam had an outstanding game scoring two rushing and two passing touchdowns.  Tonight we head to Ulen for the second game of the season.  Volleyball started last night.  Jenni, 7th grade, played her first game and Rachel, a freshmen, played JV.   The Clearbrook girls had a winning night at every level.


Jenni Serving
 


Rachel (15) Returning Vollies
 


 Sam (7) is Quarterback and A Defensive Player

 Now, you might be asking why I haven't mentioned Hanna yet.  Well, she got a scholarship to a private Christian Academy and now is attending school about two and a half hours away from home.  Sara did her high school at Hillcrest and Hanna has always wanted to go there, so when the opportunity came for her to attend Hillcrest, she decided to take it.

I think this just about catches me up on what has been going on with us.  It's hard to believe it's the end of August and Fall is just around the corner for us living in the northern parts of the country.  We can see some of the leaves are beginning to turn and many of the birds have already started south.  John and I will be heading that way before we know it.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

End of the Month Catch Up

Since I haven't written anything over the past two weeks, thought I better do a little catching up with my blog.  We just returned home from a five day trip to Wyoming to help celebrate grandson Isaiah's 14th birthday.  The weather was just beautiful and we had a great time visiting.

I had the nerve denervations done and my back is finally doing much better.  It takes about four weeks before you start to feel better.  I head back to pain management for a follow up in about two weeks.

John's arm is completely healed and he has been back playing golf--I hope to start up again tomorrow since the weather is going to be much cooler.  We had some hot, steamy weather for almost two weeks and I just don't like playing when it's like that.

John and Josh hauled some slab wood back to our place and got it unloaded.  It has been sitting in the back yard waiting for John to get busy.




The fair is this week, so John and I spent time getting some of my pictures ready for the Original Arts building display.  We'll be working at the fair a couple of days helping with entries, setting up, and working in the building during the fair. 

The garden is doing great and it won't be long before we start harvesting and canning.  We brought some Texas wildflower seeds home, planted them in the front flowerbed, and they have grown beyond our expectations.


 
 I'll try to do a little better with posting on the blog. 
 

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...