After several days of fall-like weather, summer returned. We are expected to have temps in the upper 70's to mid 80's with plenty of sunshine through the weekend.

Matt and John started a job installing all new windows in a house south of Bagley and were gone for a good part of the day. The new bedspread I ordered for the guest room arrived yesterday so now I could make a decision on paint colors. After John and Matt left, I loaded the trash in the Honda, stopped at the landfill, and then headed to Bemidji and Home Depot. Fortunately, a friend of ours works in the paint department and he graciously worked with me to get the exact shade of paint I needed. I made a stop at Target and the grocery store for a few things and then started back home.

John and I had already prepared the room by moving the furniture and removing trim. As soon as I got back I started on the paint job, getting three walls covered with the first coat before calling it a day. Hopefully the second coat will be done by noon tomorrow and I can do the final wall with the second color. Hanna has a volleyball game tomorrow afternoon, so my painting time and John's work day will be cut short. After such a busy day, we spent a relaxing evening watching some recorded TV shows.

This is going to be pretty short as it's almost 10:30 in the evening. We just got home from Sam's football game. We left a little before 2 p.m. and it was over a two hour drive to the town where the game was held. The 7th grade team played first and then the 8th grade. The Bears played an excellent defensive game, but really struggled on offense as three of their key players were missing. That's one third of the team when you're playing nine man ball. They lost in the last minute of the game with the final score 8-6. The game ended about 7 p.m. so we stopped at a Subway about half way home for a quick bite to eat. Matt, Sam, and another player and his dad stopped with us to eat and rehash the game.

As for the first half of our day, John did a little work in the shop for JD and then cut down an apple tree that we had planted over 30 years ago. Each year more of the tree was dying but it still produced; however, this spring it finally gave up the ghost and it needed to come down. That's all for now--time for bed.

It got pretty cool last night--JD said he had 32 degrees on his thermometer this morning. John decided the weather was perfect for cutting firewood, so he headed up to Matt's right after breakfast and cut a trailer load, brought it home, and got it unloaded and stacked.

While John was busy doing wood, I did a couple of loads of laundry and framed some photos using the new ones he made. After lunch we hung the pictures in the living room--that room is now completely finished. JD needed some help in the shop after being on a short vacation last week, so John gave him a hand for a couple of hours.

Following supper, we moved the furniture in the guest room away from the walls and John removed all the trim and baseboards. I have a little taping to do and then it will be ready for painting. I hope to get to that by the middle of the week. Tomorrow is another football game way up north, so we'll have to leave right after lunch.

John and I had a rather lazy day. We got up in plenty of time to get ready for church and were actually early for the service. We had a special treat today as our special music was Hanna and Rachel singing a duet.

After lunch we watched some tennis and golf and then John headed outside and mowed the lawn. With that job out of the way, he went down the shop to lacquer the picture frames he made yesterday. I cleaned up the kitchen, labeled the pickles we made, and got them stowed away in the basement. Our evening was spent watching a movie and doing some reading. Like I said, a pretty low key day.

There was a definite change in the weather overnight. The heat and humidity have been replaced by much cooler temps--high's only reached the low 60's today. It is starting to feel like fall around here.

Our first chore of the day was to cut up cucumbers and onions in preparation for making more pickles. After getting everything sliced up, it needs to be refrigerated for three or four hours. Our thought was to let everything chill while we made a trip to the landfill. Before heading to the dump, we made a quick stop in town to fill up the truck and a gas container--price of gas is up--$60, ouch!

After lunch we got the pickles done--7 more pints are now on the shelves. John's grapes are coming on, so we wanted to try making some grape juice. Our friend, Mary Ellen Miner, emailed us a very simple recipe--just put a cup of grapes in a quart jar along with some sugar, boiling water, and then process for 10 minutes. We did up four quarts, should be interesting to see how it tastes.
In between breaks in the canning, John went back and forth to the shop to work on some new picture frames. He has some old wood that he's using and is experimenting with different stains and paints to get a different look for the frames. I am planning to paint our guest room next week, so I spent some time getting things moved around and out of the room. College football has started, so we also spent some time today watching a few of our favorite teams play. We especially root for Penn State and Boise State.

We left the house around 8:45 a.m. to head up to Sara's so John could get his hair cut. I went along as we planned to leave from there and go to Bemidji where we had some errands to do. Before we left the house, I transferred all the photos I took at the scrimmage onto a CD so Matt and Sam could have them. As usually happens when Matt, Sam, and John get together after a game, about an hour or so was spent talking over the plays and other aspects of the game. It was almost 11 a.m. before we left their place.

Our first stop in Bemidji was Home Depot to return the tile and adhesive we didn't use. Next, the eye clinic where I picked up my new glasses--it's amazing how much better I can now see things in the distance. From there we stopped at the mall to return some decorative pillows and then K-Mart for some canning supplies. It was now lunch time and, no, we didn't eat at BK, but chose Arby's instead. Final stop was Wal Mart for a few groceries and then back home.

This afternoon John cut the grass using the old lawn mower so he could bag the clippings for his compost bin. I had started organizing and cleaning out the storage closet a few days ago and got that done today. This evening John watched some college football while I worked on the computer and watched a movie.

Strong thunderstorms arrived in our neighborhood early this morning. We were hit with very strong winds and heavy rains--three inches in little over an hour--which left us with high temps and humidity for the day.

John and I slept in a little later and had a rather lazy morning. If felt good having some free time after pushing to get the kitchen finished this week. After lunch we headed up to Matt's to meet up with him and drive up north for Sam's football scrimmage. We arrived at the school about an hour early (didn't take as long to get there as we anticipated), so we found an ice cream stand and had a couple of sundaes.

It was one year ago tomorrow that Sam broke his arm in a scrimmage against this same team. I'm happy to say that today's outcome was much different. I think he was a little nervous about taking that first hit, but once he got out on the field, he did very well. The Bears held their own against the other team and were able to practice their many different plays. There was no score keeping--the teams has so many plays on offense and then the same for defense. The coaches stayed out on the field and made corrections or changes after each play. It was a real learning opportunity for the players from both schools.

Sam carrying the ball for a nice gain

Sam getting ready to pass the ball

While we were at Sam's scrimmage, Sara and Rachel were watching Hanna's volleyball game. Her team lost the first game, but won the next two, so their season is off to a great start. John and I came home through Bemidji, so we stopped at, where else, BK for a quick supper before heading for home. I have put all the kids' games on our calendar, and I think we'll be very busy this month