Another cold front came through last night bringing very strong winds and cooler temperatures. By this morning the winds had calmed down, but even with sunny skies, the temps remained cool all day. Since we had nothing pressing this morning, we walked our three and a half mile route around the fort. Along our walk we saw this orange tree just loaded with oranges--someone gets plenty of fresh juice for breakfast.



Following breakfast, John went down to Lou Green's house to cut some branches that were rubbing on her garage roof. When he got back, Stan dropped in for a little visit and then John went to Ken Spencer's to see about a door that needs to be replaced.

John is still trying to get the golf cart battery situation resolved, so before we ate lunch, we went over to John and Lois Carlson's to see if he had any ideas about what to do. This was the first we had seen the Carlson's since we got back to Fort Clark--that meant it was not a short in and out visit. Lois got a Kindle (which I covet) and showed me how it works and also let me try it out while the guys were visiting and went to look at the house John C. is remodeling.

We made a quick run to the post office before returning home. John had gotten out our Christmas tree, so I spent some time trimming it this afternoon--should get it done sometime tomorrow.

Every evening we have some visitors in our yard. Here are a couple that showed up over the past few days.


This evening we watched The Biggest Loser and worked on the jigsaw puzzle--it's almost finished.

It's Monday, so that means wood carvers. We walked our shorter route this morning so John would be able to get to carvers on time. The weather was nice and warm, so shorts were the order for the day. While John was at carvers, I spent the morning giving the bedroom a good cleaning--washed all the bedding and mopped the floor.

After lunch John was in and out most of the afternoon. He fixed a closet door in one of the condos and then rode his bike over to Metcalf's to double check what Jan wanted done and to return a shelf he had fixed. John and Stan then went into town to watch the 7th grade boys play basketball. I was house bound today waiting for a service man who was suppose to come and fix something on our dishwasher. While we were in Minnesota, we received a recall notification from Maytag concerning a possible electrical failure in the dishwasher's heating element. When we got here, we checked the model number and went online to Maytag's recall site and found our model was among those affected by the recall. I filled out the forms online and received an email telling me a service man would be here today sometime between 8 and 5. Just one problem--he never showed up. I have the phone number of the company that was suppose to come today, so I will give them a call tomorrow and see what's up. On the plus side, I was able to get a lot more of my jigsaw puzzle done--just didn't like being stuck around the house all day.

The golf cart saga also continues. John still can't tell if the batteries are charging or if the golf cart charger works. We took the cart to the driving range yesterday, but it was very slow, like it was low on power. He plans to try and work on the charger tomorrow. We spent the evening watching Monday Night Football and finishing up the pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving. Sure was tasted good!

John and I spent a pretty quiet Sunday. We took our usual morning walk around the golf course and then after breakfast headed off to Frontier Baptist for Sunday services.

Following lunch, we watched some NFL and then went to the driving range to get in some practice hitting golf balls. We didn't stay very long because John wanted to get back to watch the Eagles. Unfortunately, they lost to the Bears. The game just ended when the phone rang--it was the Bears' fans from home wanting to know what happened to the Eagles.

Our evening was spent working on a jigsaw puzzle and watching the new Hallmark movie.

It's hard to believe that we have been back here at the fort a little over a week. We are slowly but surely getting into a routine that works for us and a big part of that routine is walking every morning. It was 34 degrees when we left the house around 7:15 a.m. Even though it was colder than yesterday, there was no breeze and that made a big difference. John and I didn't see another person out walking--usually we run into three or four folks out and about. Guess the cold weather scared them off.

Today was Fort Clark's annual Art and Craft Show, so after breakfast we headed to the Service Club to see the different exhibits. There was some beautiful art work on display along with many other handcrafted items, but John's interest was snagged by the table with honey and honeycomb products. He purchased a small jar of honey and some hand cream made from beeswax. As we were heading back to the car, we ran into Jan Metcalf along with the folks who own the lot across the street from us and ended up visiting for a few minutes.

Our first job after returning home was to wash all the windows, screens, and blinds. We thought we would be able to get this out of the way by lunch time. But as usually happens around here, we were interrupted by company. It was the folks we met earlier in the morning--they wanted to see what our house was like as they are thinking of building something similar after they retire--which is next month. They sold their home in Houston and will be living here full time.

It was after twelve by the time they left, so we decided to eat lunch before finishing the windows. It took us an hour to get all the windows and doors cleaned inside and out, but now the glass just sparkles. We took a little break to watch some college football, and then put up the outdoor Christmas lights. As we were walking this morning, we noticed that many of the homes were now decorated for the holidays. Next on the job list is to get the Christmas tree up and trimmed.

Right before supper we had several Axis deer come in the yard. They usually past right through, but tonight they lingered for a while. John also got the bird feeders up and we are just starting to get the birds coming. I took these photos through the glass in the door--good thing we got it cleaned today.

The cold front that was forecast for the past several days arrived late yesterday afternoon and brought much cooler temps overnight. The temperature was 40 degrees when we left the house for our walk, but we still wore shorts along with our heavy hooded sweatshirts. Once you got walking, you warmed up, and the cold felt pretty comfortable.

With the golf cart now out of the shed, John was able to get all the plastic crates and other boxes out of the house and stored there. Even though the house was closed up tight for six months, it still got pretty dusty and dirty both inside and out. Today we decided to start giving it a good cleaning--we got as far as washing the front door and cleaning it's glass. We stopped for lunch and then decided since it was such a beautiful afternoon, we would play some golf--more cleaning can wait until tomorrow. John and I had the whole Par 3 course to ourselves and took our time playing the nine holes. I did much, much better today than I did the first time. I think I am finally getting use to my new clubs.

We finished the golf game just in time to get home and make supper before it got dark. We decided on burgers and while John was grilling them, a nice looking buck came into the yard. He just stood out in the brush watching what John was doing--he certainly didn't seem nervous being close to people. He hung around for a few minutes and then moved on. Over the past couple of days we have noticed more deer coming into the yard--they sure are fun to watch.



Hopefully we will get more of the cleaning done tomorrow and put up our outside Christmas lights. We spent our evening watching some hunting shows and college football.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! We took a nice long walk this morning in preparation for eating a big Thanksgiving Dinner--thought it might help ease our conscience if we overate. When we got back to the house we watched a little of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then John went out to check on how the battery charging was going. In a few minutes I heard the golf cart pulling under the carport. Finally, success!! The batteries reached full charge--now John hopes they will hold the charge. Time will tell.

For Thanksgiving dinner, eleven of us went to the Ramada in Del Rio for their annual Thanksgiving buffet. They served just about everything you could want--ham, roast beef, turkey, dressing, vegetables, salads, soup, gravy, and desserts. It was just like eating a home cooked meal only one didn't have to cook or clean up. There were waiters wearing white shirts and black bow ties that served your beverages and keep removing used plates. We ate a delicious meal and enjoyed the company of good friends.




The remainder of the day was spent watching the Dallas Cowboys lose (yea!!) and a movie we have been wanting to see.

John and I walked an entirely different route this morning and covered over three miles. We walked down by the Red Bridge and along the Los Moras. The morning was overcast with a little mist and slightly cooler temps than yesterday. By this afternoon the sun came out, the humidity dropped, and it was very pleasant for sitting out on the patio.

After breakfast John stopped over at Metcalf's to talk with Jan and find out what little jobs she wanted done--he will probably get to them next week. Our golf cart batteries are still not fully charged, so John went to talk with Wallace to see if he had any ideas about how to get them charged. He told John he needs to charge each of them for six to eight hours apiece. It's going to take a couple of days to get them charged up enough to run the golf cart.

This evening was the first that we saw deer in our yard. There were several does and a young buck--the turkeys haven't shown up yet.


Matt called and told us they got their first major snowfall of the year--eight to ten inches and they were getting more snow today along with high winds. Sara emailed a photo of Sam, Hanna, and Rachel enjoying the first snow. Looks like we left Minnesota at just the right time--glad we are here enjoying the nice warm days, although it looks like the kids are having a blast.

This morning was cloudy with a gentle misty rain. Since it was so warm, we decided to go ahead and take our walk--it was warm enough that even if we got wet, we certainly wouldn't get cold. Sounds crazy, but we actually had a good time walking in the rain.

Today was "chore" day. I had over a week's worth of laundry to get done as I hadn't done any since before we left Minnesota. John wanted to replace the weather stripping on one of our French doors. That job was completed in about 15 minutes--then he was on to the next one which was charging up the batteries in the golf cart. The cart runs on six, six volt batteries. The charge in them dropped so low over the summer that the cart charger couldn't recharge all of them at one time, so John had to do each one individually with a battery charger he borrowed from our pastor. It will probably take a day or two to get them ready to use. Hopefully, we won't have to replace them--six batteries all at once--yikes!!!

In between jobs, John went over to Sam Lark's and helped him replace a vent on the top of his camper. Seems Sam smashed the vent when he misjudged the height of a tree limb. This afternoon, I went to the post office for the mail, and then stopped at the library where I found a couple of new mysteries by my favorite authors. Should keep me occupied for a while in the evenings.

The weather forecast is calling for a big change in our weather--suppose to get much cooler in the evenings. Actually, the higher temps we have been having are unusual for this time in November. John took some time tonight getting our little gas fireplace all cleaned up and ready to go just in case we need to have a little shot of heat to keep the house toasty. I don't do well with a cold house.

Our evening was spent watching both The Biggest Loser and Dancing with the Stars. The remote got a real workout.

John and I left the house by 7 a.m. for our walk. Even though it was just starting to get light and the sky was overcast, the temperature was ten degrees warmer than yesterday morning. We wanted to get our walk done before the sun burned off the clouds and the temps really heated up.

After breakfast John headed off to wood carvers. He took his pelican and the purple ribbon it won at the fair so he could show it off to his carver friends. It is now sitting on a shelf for all to see when they come to Wallace's to carve. While John was gone, I did some more unpacking and sorting. With limited storage space it takes a while to find a home for all the things that came with us. It was also the time of month to pay some bills--that kept me busy a good portion of the morning.

Our supply of groceries was getting very low, so following lunch, we went to Del Rio to run a couple of errands and to tackle food shopping. Our first stop was Home Depot to get some weather stripping for the bottom of our exterior doors--the current stripping is coming off. Next, it was across the highway to Wal Mart for additional plastic storage containers and then on to HEB for groceries. We found some awesome sales on fresh produce, so we were able to stock up on a couple of our favorites.

We were just finishing supper when Stan stopped in to drop off our copy of the Kinney County News. As he was leaving, our neighbor, Richard, came over to welcome us back to the fort and to catch up on what has been happening with all of us over the summer. We spent a quiet evening watching Monday Night Football.

Since it is light so much earlier this far south, we were able to get out for our walk by 7 a.m. It was a warm morning with a temp of 60 degrees. The days usually start out cloudy, but by mid morning the sun is shining. We walked our usual route of the golf course and then cut over to the back streets--there were a couple of new homes added since we left last spring.

After breakfast, we got cleaned up and headed off to church at Frontier Baptist. They had a singing group this morning, The Border Line Singers. They are a group of retired gentlemen who sing Gospel and Bluegrass. Following the service, we had a potluck lunch--there was an over abundance of food and it was all delicious. John and I certainly ate our fill.

It was a beautiful afternoon, so we decided to work off some of our noon meal with a little golf. Must say neither of us did very well--hopefully we will improve as we play more this winter. We ended the day watching some more NFL and The Amazing Race.

The fort was having its monthly board meeting this morning, so we decided to get up early and attend the meeting. Since we have been gone from here for over six months, we thought this would be a good way to catch up on what has been happening around here. It also provided a way to visit with friends we haven't seen for a while.

After the meeting, we headed over to Unit 37 to see Ralph Ramsey. We spent almost an hour with him before stopping in to see Wallace and Becky. Upon reaching home, we remembered we still hadn't done any grocery shopping, so it was back into Brackettville to get just a few staples to hold us over until we can get to Del Rio on Monday. Following lunch, I got the kitchen area cleaned, started the grocery list and got some of the clothes put away. John hosed off the deck and set up all the outside furniture. This morning started out cloudy and cool, but this afternoon was very sunny and warm--John just had to break out the shorts.



Many of our plants died over the summer, but the cactus grew like crazy. The cactus in the picture had only two paddles when we left here last April. Look at it now!


We had a pretty steady stream of visitors this afternoon--folks just welcoming us back. Our pastor dropped in and invited us to the community Thanksgiving service at the church this evening and to also let us know there will be a potluck dinner after church tomorrow. We timed our arrival just right--they have super potluck meals.

It was a very nice service this evening followed by snacks in the Fellowship Hall. We find we are settling back into fort life very quickly. It's almost as if we were never away.

WE MADE IT!! After 11 hours in the car, we arrived in Fort Clark around 5 p.m. I started the morning wearing a winter jacket and by the time we reached Texas, we needed to turn the AC on in the car. Stan Metcalf stopped over a few minutes after we pulled into the driveway and brought us some delicious homemade soup and dessert for supper. He stayed and visited for a while and then we unloaded the car. Everything is just stacked up inside the house. It's going to take a few days to get unpacked and find a place for everything. The dry ice worked great--everything was still frozen solid when we unloaded the cooler. Time to just sit down and relax with a little TV before bed.

John and I got up early, loaded up the Honda, said good-bye to Amy and the boys, and were on the road by 7 a.m. We drove for about an hour and then pulled off the road for our favorite breakfast at McDonald's. The day was nice and sunny so we had good driving conditions. After 10 hours on the road, we reached our planned destination, Blackwell, OK. We ate a quick supper at Bram's and then spent sometime in the motel hot tub easing our stiff muscles. After watching a little TV, it was time for bed so we can be rested and fresh for another day on the road. We plan to be in Fort Clark by late tomorrow afternoon.

There might not be a blog update tomorrow evening--depends if we can get our internet up and running.

Today was another cloudy, cold damp day--we haven't seen any sunshine for a while, so we hope to see some tomorrow when we head south.

We spent the day running some errands. This morning after the boys were off to school, we headed to Hobby Lobby for some scrap booking supplies that are needed to work on a photo album while in Texas. I found exactly what I was looking for and, best of all, it was 50% off. From there we headed back to the school to pick up Noah and then on to home for some lunch. We had time for a couple of games of UNO before we had to leave again.

John wanted to pick up some dry ice to repack our frozen foods for the rest of our trip. Amy did an internet search and found an ice supplier not far from their home. After lunch, we all got back in the van to finish up our errands. First stop was the chiropractor for a back adjustment for Amy's--she felt much better after her treatment. Then it was on to the library to return books and to let Noah pick out some new ones. Sioux Falls has a beautiful public library--coming from a small town, it was amazing to see such a large library with so many books to choose from. Amy did a good job of navigating and we found the ice company without getting lost. John ran inside and picked up a 15 lb. block of dry ice and stored it in a cooler we brought along. We had a little time to kill before picking up Caleb and Isaiah from school, so we stopped at a Goodwill Store to look for kids' winter jackets--none were found.

When we got back to the house, John chopped up the dry ice, repacked all the frozen foods, and then put the cooler back in the Honda. He then took a little trip to the local gas station to fill up the car so we won't have to stop tomorrow morning and can just get right on the interstate.

Our evening was spent helping with homework and watching a little TV.

John and I spent a rather quiet day visiting with Amy after the boys went to school. Noah goes to preschool in the mornings, so he was back home by noon. The boys had received little wooden models to assemble, so after eating lunch, John and Noah worked on a little wooden bulldozer. They sanded, painted, and glued the parts together and by this evening it was finished.




After the boys got home from school, Caleb decided to go outside and play some football with his friends while Isaiah stayed inside and started on his sailboat model. He and John got that finished up after supper. Then it was time to help Caleb finish up his race car that he had started working on earlier. The boys sure kept John pretty busy today.

It was cold and overcast this morning and that made us even happier to be leaving for warmer climates. We loaded the rest of our stuff into the Honda and after one final sweep around the house to make sure we hadn't missed anything--unplugging what needed to be unplugged and turning off the water--we pulled out of the driveway by 10.30 a.m.

We reached Fargo by noon and stopped at Burger King for lunch and then gassed up the car before getting on I-29 for the straight run to Sioux Falls. It was almost 5 p.m. by the time we reached Amy's place. The boys were all playing football in the front yard when we pulled up and we were bombarded with hugs, kisses, and all three trying to talk at once. Things finally quieted down by supper time. We spent the early part of the evening playing a few games and putting a puzzle together before the boys headed off to bed. The adults then enjoyed the peace and quiet watching Monday Night Football.

We woke up to a light dusting of snow on the road and trees along with gray skies and temps that didn't get above freezing the entire day. After breakfast we headed off to church and from their we went to Matt's for Sunday dinner. We had a delicious meal of ham, mashed potatoes, pasta and jello salads, and much more. Sara really put on a feast. One of Matt's hunting buddies and his daughter were up for the last weekend of hunting, so they joined us for church and the meal before heading off back home.

This afternoon we watched some NFL football and played a game of "31". When we finished the card game, it was time for the hunters to head out one last time. Everyone got into their hunting clothes and then I took their family picture for this year's Christmas card. John and I gave everyone hugs and kisses and headed home. We were sitting around watching TV when Matt and family came in and told us about tonight's hunting and for Matt to get some keys and find out what he needs to watch for around our place. After one more round of hugs they took off and we ended the evening watching Sunday Night Football. Tomorrow we hit the road for Sioux Falls where we will spend several days with Amy's family.

Today was a busy day. John worked in the shop this morning and got everything made that was needed for orders. I did a couple of loads of laundry so now everything is clean and ready to wear for traveling next week. We have a Food Saver, so I sealed some left over cheese and butter and stored them in the freezer for next spring. The fridge is bare--good thing Matt invited us for lunch after church tomorrow. This afternoon we watched some good college football games and then John started loading the Honda--there are only a couple small boxes, one bag, and the laptop left to load. They will go in on Monday morning.

John decided to give hunting one more try this afternoon. He sat in the stand on our back field and saw a doe (he didn't want to settle for that) and a nice buck that stood in the woods just at the edge of the field--it wouldn't come out while it was light enough to shoot. Tonight was the end of hunting for him this year. He'll take his rifle up to Matt's tomorrow so it can be stored in his gun safe while we are away.

After a supper of leftovers, we watched some more college football and a Harry Potter movie.

John and I were up nice and early because we had a 9 a.m. appointment with Sara to get our final haircuts before our trip. While we were there, Matt came home from hunting and told us about a buck that he was trying to shoot. It gave him the slip in the woods, so he will head out this evening and try again. He spent all day yesterday cutting up the four deer they shot--their freezer is now full of venison.

When we got home, John went back down to the shop to assemble more tables and some other items while I continued my packing and cleaning around the house. I am just about half way through the packing and the boxes are starting to pile up in the office. John went out hunting again this afternoon, but didn't see anything. After supper, we did a little more packing and then spent the rest of the evening watching some TV.

Not much new happened around here today. John worked in the shop until lunch time. I spent my morning packing up the office things I will need in Texas and then began boxing up the canned goods and other food items I had set aside to take. After lunch we went to Bemidji to take care of some last minute banking and then stopped at Wal Mart for a little more milk to hold us over until Monday morning. John was hoping to get back in time to hunt, but we didn't make it home before the sun set--there are only three more days left in the rifle season. It's a good thing all the outside chores are finished as the weather was very cold today--we are expecting a low of 25 degrees to night. We ended the evening watching some TV and working on the computer.

Our weather is starting to change. The temps stayed pretty warm overnight and this morning it was 50 degrees when we got up. As the day progressed, clouds rolled in along with a cold front and rain. I think our unseasonably warm days are over--I took a walk down to the shop this afternoon and you could feel the change in the air--cold weather is on the way and that means we will be on our way south.

It was a pretty quiet day around here. John spent most of his time working in the shop helping to get parts and product made so the orders can be shipped as soon as possible. I continued to get things organized and if not packed, then ready to pack. I have my many different lists that I keep checking to make sure I not missing anything. Even though there was a steady rain, John decided to go out to the deer stand. Due to the heavy cloud cover, it got dark early so he wasn't out in the stand very long. Didn't see any deer tonight--still have four days of hunting left.

After supper we finished the evening watching Survivor and the CMA Awards.

We hit a record high temperature today of 66 degrees--our normal high for this time of year is 38 degrees. John was up early this morning as he had to meet Matt at his house by 8 a.m. They were heading up to Clearwater Lake to install some vents on a house. I thought they would be gone all day and was surprised when John returned home about three hours later. Seems vents had already been installed but the homeowner didn't know it, so there was no job to do.

There is still plenty to do in the shop, so John worked down there until it was time to head out to the deer stand. He saw a nice doe tonight, but is holding out for a buck. He had seen one out on the field earlier in the fall and is waiting to see if it is still around. I spent today finishing up sorting clothes, doing laundry, and getting most of the clothes packed. I hope to get most of the packing done by Friday so we can relax on the weekend.

After supper we enjoyed a quiet evening watching The Biggest Loser and a couple of other favorites.

We had another beautiful day--temps were near 60 degrees. This is unusual for November but according to the forecast, winter will arrive by the end of the week with highs only in the mid to upper 30's. Looks like we will be heading out for Texas next week--we want to leave before the snow arrives.

Sam and Matt went hunting again this morning and Sam shot a nice spike buck. They also saw a huge buck, but couldn't get a good shot. They will try for that one another day. John spent the morning down in the shop making parts and doing some assembly. It gets a little hectic this time of year trying to get all the orders out in time for the Christmas shopping season. I sold all the items I had put on E-bay last week, so this morning my time was spent boxing everything up and getting them ready to be shipped.

John got a phone call from Gander Mountain telling him that he was the winner of the drawing they had over the weekend. Since we had to go to the post office and the bank, we decided to go to Bemdiji when he was finished in the shop and pick up his prize. He thought it would be a blaze orange hooded sweatshirt, but was very pleasantly surprised to find he had won an extremely nice hunting jacket with a value of $160. Now he will be toasty warm waiting for that big buck to appear.


Matt wanted to see John's new jacket, so we stopped in at his place on our way back home. We got there just as they were hanging up another deer--Hanna had shot a yearling doe this evening. She was very happy to have gotten her deer as she will be tied up with volleyball camp after school the rest of this week. Rachel also went out with Matt and was anxious to get her first deer. They saw a couple this evening and when Rachel focused on one through the scope, she told Matt, "It looks so cute eating the grass". He knew right away the conversation was going down a bad road and there would be no deer for Rachel this night. She just wasn't ready to pull the trigger on her first deer.




After we got home we spent the rest of our evening watching Monday Night Football.

The one good thing about turning the clocks back is that it was light when we got up this morning--the bad thing is that it will be dark by five in the afternoon. John decided not to go hunting this morning, so we had a leisurely breakfast and then got ready to head off to church for the Sunday morning service. Attendance was way down today--think it was a combination of the time change and opening deer hunting. Those that were there shared their hunting experiences after the service. Sounded like most of the hunters had success on the first day.

Matt took Hanna out this morning and they sat in their deer stand until it was time to leave for church. They saw a couple of deer but couldn't get a good shot. This afternoon John and I wrapped the shrubs in front of the house so they won't get crushed by the snow this winter and then we watched the Vikings and Eagles win. John went out to his stand late this afternoon and stayed out until dark--again, he didn't see a single deer. We ended our evening watching the Cowboys take a beating. That was good to see when you are an Eagles fan.

Today was the opening for the Minnesota deer hunting season. John doesn't go out the first morning--says he never sees anything then--but waits until the evening to hunt. We were just finishing breakfast when the phone rang. It was Sam. He said "Tell Grand mom to get her camera ready". I grabbed my camera and we headed up to Matt's place. Sam and Matt were hunting together this morning and both shot nice does. This was Sam's first deer and he was smiling from ear to ear. John helped them get the deer hung up in the garage and then we all went in the house to hear the "hunting story". We got a blow by blow account including where the deer came in, how close it was, how it fell, and how hard it was to drag them out to the pickup.

Sara, Rachel, and Hanna hunted on the home place, but didn't see one single deer this morning.




Before leaving, hunting plans for the evening were discussed and it was decided that Hanna would come home with us and go hunting with John tonight. We had some lunch after we got home and then everyone just vegged out until it was time to get ready to go out to the deer stand. Hanna and John got bundled up in their blaze orange hunting clothes and headed out to the deer stand around 5 p.m. They stayed out there until dark, but didn't see any deer.

When they returned to the house, we had pizza for supper and then took Hanna back to her place. A couple of Matt's friends from the cities had dropped in after hunting all day and told us about their day's adventures. The one fella saw a huge buck and was just about ready to shoot when it suddently scented him, turned around, and ran off into the dense brush. He was just sick that he missed such a trophey. Matt plans to hunt in the morning but is not sure who is going with him--Sam or Hanna. After we got home we watched a little TV and then turned the clocks back before heading to bed.

We got up nice and early and were on the road to Grand Forks by 8 a.m. Our plan was to do some shopping and eat lunch before we headed to the Alerus Center for the Clearbrook football game. First stop was Cabela's to check out any sales they might be having--there were a few, but nothing that grabbed our interest. From there we went to Sam's Club to pick up bulk packs of chewing gum and face soap to take with us to Texas. Since we ate breakfast pretty early, we were getting hungry, so our next stop was Culver's for some lunch.

When we were finished eating, it was time to head to the Alerus Center for the football game. Clearbrook was playing at 12.30 p.m. in the first of four semi-final sectional games. We met up with Matt, Sara, and the kids along with some other Clearbrook fans to watch the game. Sorry to say that Clearbrook got hammered--we all left at the end of the third quarter. Matt and Sam wanted to get home to go bow hunting and John and I still had a little more shopping.



We made a quick stop at Best Buy and then the mall before hitting the road for home. After supper we spent the evening watching a couple of TV shows. Tomorrow is opening deer hunting--hope the kids do well.

We had another bright, sunny day. The temperatures are only reaching the low to mid 40's now, but at least we haven't been hit with a snow storm. The deer hunting season opens this Saturday morning and the forecast is for clear skies and warn temps--at least warm temps for this time of year in northern Minnesota. Many years it has been well below freezing on opening morning.

John had a dental appointment this morning for his annual checkup and teeth cleaning. This is his least favorite thing to do, but he made it through and is good to go for another year--no cavities.

After lunch, John spent a couple of hours working in the shop making parts. My day was spent doing some cleaning up around the house and sorting through our canned goods to see what gets packed and what can stay until next spring. Tomorrow we are taking a road trip to Grand Forks for a football game and some shopping. Our evening was spent working on the computer and watching some TV.

John and I got up as soon as the alarm went off at 6:15 a.m. We had to be at the Honda dealer's by 8 a.m. to drop the car off for an alignment. It was going to take a couple of hours before the car would be ready so we got another loaner vehicle. We had an hour before John was due at the surgeon's for his final checkup, and since we didn't take the time to eat before we left home, we headed across the street to Country Kitchen for one of their delicious breakfasts.

John got a good report on his shoulder. Everything has healed up nicely and he has no activity restrictions. The doctor only advised against one thing and that was not to do heavy work above his head--something he will always have to guard against. He mainly needs to use caution and common sense when doing certain things.

Since we were still waiting for a call that the car was done, we headed to Gander Mountain so John could buy his deer hunting license (he finally made the decision to hunt). From there we went to the mall where we did a little shopping and visited with an old friend we saw. We were just getting ready to leave when we got the call that our car was ready. We made one final stop to pick up some milk and then we hit the road to home.

After lunch John went down to the shop to make a few more parts that were needed. While he was busy with that, I took care of some chores around the house. We spent the evening watching Survivor and a couple of other favorite TV shows.

Today was a pretty quiet one around here. John left early this morning to finish the trim job he and Matt have been working on for the past few days. He thought he would be home by noon, but they found they had to hang a couple of exterior doors, so they stayed until they had everything done.

When John got home, we headed off to vote. We cast our ballots in a little town hall out in the country where our township and one other share the voting facility. We signed our names in the registration book and were handed a ballot. We then went into a little cubicle and it filled out. After we got that done, our ballot was put into a cardboard folder and we then slid the ballot into an electronic vote counting machine. This is worlds away from the computerized ballots of the bigger towns and cities. The electronic machines have only been used for the past couple of years--prior to then, our ballots were counted by hand.

Following supper we spent our evening watching the election returns on Fox News. What an amazing night!!

We had a couple of appointments in Bemidji this morning so we were up and out of the house pretty early. First stop was the Honda dealership to drop off our car for servicing. We picked up a loaner vehicle from them and drove to John's eye doctor appointment. It was time again for his annual eye exam--he had all the usual tests and learned that his eyes are very healthy. From there it was back to the Honda dealer to pick up the car. We found that it needs an alignment done, so we will have to bring it back again on Wednesday morning.

Our next stop was Wal Mart to pick up a few food items. We didn't need very much as we are trying to clear out the pantry before we head to Texas. It was close to noon by the time we left Wal Mart, so we decided to grab a bite at Burger King before we hit the road to home.

This afternoon John went back up to the job site to help Matt install more trim. They were short some pieces, so this evening he spent a little time in the shop finishing what they need so they can complete the job tomorrow. My afternoon was spent doing more sorting and packing along with laundry. Tonight we watched the Giants win the World Series and some of Monday Night Football.