Life is fast and furious

Ben at almost 6 months--a real cutie



Nothing like a day in the park with cousins




Choo choo Bob's is a fun place




Well grandpa and grandma camp has to have a project!!

 I have had problems loading new pictures onto the computer so have not blogged for some time.
First the pictures.  Leo and Ruby who live in Madison WI had a week in the cities for grandma and grandpa camp!!!  Gdma/Grpa Larkin had the first few days and we took the last two.  They are so fun and so so so interesting.  We had a fun picnic Friday with cousins Faustina, Jude, Ben, aunt Cynthia and uncle Mike.
It seems like summer should be here soon and then I pinch myself and look at the date--June 24th--wow.  Tomorrow would have been mom and dads 82nd anniversity I think.  Brother Dave turns 68 on Friday, John/Mary celebrate their 10th anniversity Thursday and time marches on and actually seems to be in a hurry.
Terry and I have been busy so far this summer.  We took 3 days last weekend and took in Duluth and watched grandson Sam run 27 miles.  Doesn't even sound fun to me.  On the way up and back we took in several MN state parks so now for this spring we have visited 16 MN parks.  We hope/plan to take a short camping trip in a couple of weeks and take in a few more.  That camper is to blame---who wants to work when you can play in that??  Or as Liam said, "Grandpa this is such a great camper who would ever want to live in a house?"
I have begun to think about a couple of woodworking projects but before that I have spent some time (and need a lot more time) to clean-order and do general cleaning in the shop. 
I have also spent some time listing a couple of things on Craig's list and actually sold some things.  I have come to believe (well I have believed it for some time) and practice the art of using or losing things.  Well losing is not the right word but I thought is sounded good!  What I mean is what do I need things sitting in the garage or house that just sit and sit and sit.  Doesn't make any difference if they are worthless or priceless if they are not used someone else should use them.  I think by the end of the summer the woodshop and the garage will be cleaner, more orderly and more fun to use.  As for lumber that may be priceless and needs to stay a while!
Terry and I took in Cynthia's sister in law's HS graduation party yesterday and after church today we will take in another party for two girls. 
The weather in St. Paul has been wonderful.  Enough rain so we have had lettuce from the garden and the tomato plants are looking good but the best part of the rain is the front lawn looks fairly good.  As it dries out the real truth will show and that is the front lawn is little grass and MUCH weeds or just dirt.  Next year that will be a project to fix.  BUT for now with all the rain it looks OK.  The temps have been in the 80's and it just has been so so nice.  Last night we sat on the deck and just talked for some time.  Not really any bugs.
It is now 9:00 AM and time to more on.

Moving on

It was a good day yesterday.  We have had too too many things around here.  Travis drove the Allante from FL to St. Paul last year and we thought we would sell it here.  Well we waited until kind of fall and of course nobody wants a car like that for the winter.  Also it is 25 years old and the tops go up and down manually which is not the in thing today.  Well we put for sale sign on the windows and parked it on busy streets and yesterday, the third day, we got a call and it sold.  It was a fun car to drive and would have been fun to keep but with a garage for one car and 4 of them here it just did not make any sense.  Now a decision to sell one more or not. 
On another note the garden tiller, which was purchased in 1972 found a new home.  Over the years it had a new gas tank, a new engine and much more.  Along the way the throttle stopped working, the crank case leaked and that list could go on for a long time.  Well yesterday I spent about an hour trying to start it. Finally when I was a nanosecond from giving up it started.  I wired the throttle open and was able to till what I wanted.  It kind of slowed down as it went during the 30 minutes and when I was finished it whispered to me it kind of was done too!!!  Terry made a sign, I wheeled it out to the curb and within the hour it had found a new owner some place.  I have come to the conclusion that with me in my mid 60's it is time to get serious about some things that were accumulated since the 70's.  If my math is correct the tiller was 40 years old and sadly there are other things in the same category.  I guess the only thing that never changes is things always change.
We will spend some time today getting things in order for the camper as we will head north to Duluth tomorrow.  Plan to take in 3 or 4 MN state parks on the way and get the little passport stamp in our book.  Kind of fun to do little things like that.  I think we have 8 stamps so far this spring.  I think if we were to get all 72 stamps we would get a million dollar check from the state---well not really but I do think with 20 or something like that one gets a free night of camping.  For number 8 we got a little cloth badge kind of like a merit badge. 
Coffee done and something to eat on the way.

Progress--memories--regrets

Grandson Tom ,on Terry's side,  was 9 yesterday



How about camping on Lake Erie!!




Lake Erie has millions of flat rocks




Like mother--like baby!!!




This food is mine.

Here we are almost 1/3 into June.  The weather so far this week has been picture perfect.  Still, warm and sunny. 
Terry and I started to clean the exterior of the camper yesterday and found out quickly that it will be a BIG job.  We now know that we should have found the time before our camping trip to put some kind of finish on it bbuutt we did not so in the weeks ahead from time to time it will be scrub, buff and shine for some time!
We drove to apple Valley for a short time with Tom who turned 9 yesterday.  Terry's youngest grandchild is about 2 months older than my oldest, Henry.  I think he liked his battery powered super shooter.
There are times when I look back and say "Why did I not do that way back then?"  In 1977, when we moved to Niles Ave. there was a low voltage outdoor lamp in the back yard.  Over the years it quit working ,I did not fix it :( , and then it slowly started to lean like the Tower of Pisa (sp).  Well Gail wanted me to remove it perhaps as long as 10 years ago but I never got to it.  Well yesterday the saw came out and the lamp post came down.  I may take it all out or I may mount a rain gauge on it.  Times like that it is too easy to look back and say it took so little time and effort why did I not do that for Gail?  But......
We had our first garden food a couple of days ago.  Some very sweet radishes were enjoyed in our salad.  Now if that stupid bunny rabbit does not eat our lettuce.
I am upstairs and there is at least one more cup of french press in the kitchen and also Terry would enjoy a cup of decaf so will close.  Decaf in the morning--that's my Terry.

Home again



John/Diane Richardson and us--red was in on Friday!!




The tail tell us it is dinner time at the Richardsons




At Grand Portage State Park,-our last site of the trip

We arrived home Sunday afternoon.  We had a wonderful trip.  Some of the highlights were:

• Spending 2 nights with John/Mary and kids
• Taking in grandson Zach's HS graduation
• Driving 3911 miles safely
• Seeing beautiful scenery in Canada neither of us had ever seen
• Seeing a huge bear cross the road-I think it was too big for a black bear
• Experimenting with our new camper and getting used to how things work.  Also making a list of things we need or will not need
• Driving through 11 states during our trip
• We did a couple of short but fun bike rides

All of the above were fun but really the highlight of the trip was spending two nights with John/Diane.  The Richardsons live next to us in Naples.  We do not spend a lot of time going back and forth but have always enjoyed the limited time we spend with them.  When they heard we may take a trip they invited us to stop.  They are so nice and also live such a active and interesting life.  John worked in the financial field, actually he still works some, and I think he did very well.  They drove us around one afternoon so we could see things they enjoy and do.  We drove past the hunt club, John used to hunt fox with hounds and wear those red jackets and top hat!, drove past the shooting club and the ski place but the most interesting place was the Caledon Mountain Trout Club.  We had lunch there and spent about 2 hours.  It was fascinating.  It really is the image of "the good old boys club".  The 4 trout ponds are stocked with 25,000 trout.  People keep their poles on the veranda locked up so as one walks around the veranda to lunch there is a line of about 300 long poles.  It reminded me of some place one might see in an old time movie.  It was so fun to see another slice of life that I really did not know even existed today.  We also enjoyed our lunch.  Everyone who had lunch was brought a bowl of soup, a plate of sandwiches with the crust cut off and a small plate of dessert.
We also had a great time just sitting, talking and watching in their country home which they built on 53 acres.  I took pictures of wild turkeys, many different birds and of course the deer on top.  Their home is not fancy but the setting is so peaceful and beautiful.  One morning I made my own coffee and went outside to sit near the woods to just watch and enjoy.  When one can do that it seems God is close.
So now wear for a bit.  Yesterday Terry spent washing clothes and doing much ordering around the house while I spent mowing and edging the lawn and doing some weed kill.  We have many many things to do around here so there is never a lack of things to do. 
We are planning to camp for two days June 15 and 16.  Grandson Sam from GA is going to run Grandma's Marathon in Duluth and we will take that in.  We still are planning a long camping trip in the fall.  We hope it works out.  As of now it will take in about 17 states, be 7000+ miles and perhaps last 6 weeks. 
I was up early this morning.  I would really like to relocate a bunny that has been feeding on our garden.  The little guy has not shown up yet today. 
End of the french press this morning.