Good-bye July

The last day of July is here.  Hard to believe that summer is fast fading and before one knows what is happening fall will be here.  These last few days have been perfect weather so July will fade with flying colors.
I have been able to ride bike each day but the miles are slow in coming.  Last week I rode all 7 days but only a total of 39 miles.  Maybe I can do better this week.
Got some trim up in the bathroom last week and now the rest should get in this week.  Also did a bit of work on the floor in the guest bedroom so that is now ready to repair.  I watered a couple spots in the lawn yesterday so will see if water is the solution to the brown spots or if something else is the problem. 
August is a busy month in terms of card making.  I think there will be a need for about 6 cards so I had better get ready.  Sometimes I think this card making is unless when I think of the time spent and am not sure they mean a whole lot to most people.  It does save money.
I need to get to work as the FP is long gone so it is time to fire up the energy for projects.

4 FOUR

Elspeth Zoe is celebrating her 4th birthday today.  She is quite the cute, smart and savoy little girl.  She can think on her feet better than most adults and in terms of keeping up with her siblings, she does a super job.  Happy birthday Elspeth from Grandpa and Grandma Terry, we love you.

Life is a series of changing seasons

It is a perfect weather day here in St. Paul MN.  Still, sunny and warm.  I finished my bike ride this morning, only 6+ miles but it was enjoyable.  Some of the things I rode past and some thoughts I had:

• I rode past the Highland golf course.  The dew was still on the grass, the flags were absolutely still and many were already on the course at 7:00 AM.  That could have been me some 50, 40 30 years ago.  I would get on my Harley Sprint with my bag on my back and head out to the course before it opened.  By the time it opened I was GONE.  Some play, no pay because I had no money.  On Father's Day many many years ago the boys took me golfing.  The temp was 100 I believe and I ran out of gas walking up up the hill on the back 9.  I retired to the club house to wait the boys out as they finished.  It was Saturday morning and men's group this day was to be a 9 hole golf outing.  I, in those days I dared not say no, headed out with the guys to the golf course as many men headed to my house to paint the exterior!  What was I thinking?  I arrived home in time to catch Dave who was about to start painting with primer!!!  Live and learn, I hope I have to some degree.
• I rode past Mark L. home.  All was still at 7:30 AM.  Mark invited me to go with him to his dads place in 2010.  I purchased 300 board feet of ash wood and about 1/3 cord of fire wood.  Mark's dad, Arnie, put air in the tires to the point that I thought they would blow, but all was fine.  Travis used the last of that fire wood last winter.
• I rode through the parking lot of Highland where I worked for 29 years.  The grass area where I would have soccer practice was filled with seniors playing tennis this morning.  I stopped to watch for a few minutes and I think I could have been the best on the court!  I looked to my right and the window filled west hall is now a classroom.  I walked out of Highland Junior June 15th, 2007 and have not returned.  It was 29 years well spent with many memories most of which are good.  
• I rode past Highland 9 hole golf course.  I would say it has been 4 years since Terry and I took Norma and Wayne out to golf there.  It was a fun day with a rule that you could put no more than a 9 on any hole!  I remember hitting some long drives but for the most part they looked like a Santana curve ball gone wrong!
• I often think of our bike ride with Norma and Wayne as I head out.  Two things stick in my mind.  One time Terry's chain broke and that was the end of a VERY short ride.  The other was when Wayne said he could not ride as slow as Norma and her reply was she liked to see the flowers along the way!
• As I finished my ride I needed to get a few extra yards on my ride so I rode down the ally to the north.  Bob's car is parked in the back.  The car that he puts much time into so it looks very nice.  There on the back passenger side rear fender is a big dent.  Something most have happened that was not good.
• All over Highland there is house after house that has been updated and most if not all the time has been made 50%-75% bigger.  I had NO idea so much has been done in the last 10 years or so.  In many cases a new looking full 2 story house sits next to this tiny looking 1 1/2 story house that looks lost.  If the big house is on the east the sun comes up by noon and if it is on the west the sun sets by 2:00 PM!

So much more could be said.  As I rode past the Lauer house and the McCloud house my memory tells me they have little kids but really now they have little grand children!  Seasons come and season go but life moves on and it is up to us to make it happen in a good way.  FP is gone as I needed to heat it up after my bike ride.  I need to check my Saturday list, check off the items that I have done and then get going on the ones that need to be worked on.

Not fancy but better than the store and cheaper too!

Baseboard for the bathroom.  I could not find any in the store that I liked.  The price was too high and the molding was too cheap so I am in the process of making it.  Not fancy but it will look nice when it is in.
It is my lucky day.  On my daily morning bike ride I found a Klein electrical screw driver.  I think it is worth at least $3.00!  It was on the road and had not been run over so it is like new.  How lucky can one get???
We picked the first of the cherry tomatoes yesterday.  The plant looks like a huge bush and all the fruit was green BUT when one looked inside there were about 15 ripe tomatoes.  They taste delicious.    Now I should transplant it to be right by the path to the shop so I could pick some on the way there and on the way back.  The raspberries are about done so I can not pick them.
This old age thing is getting kind of old!  I knew I had trim paint left but I looked high and low yesterday and could not find it.  I mean I have at least 20 different containers of paint but the trim, there was none.  This morning it dawned on me that in June, when I painted last, there were tiny bits of stuff in the paint so I strained it and put it in a different container.  I went out into the shop this morning and there was my container of paint right in front of my eyes but the label read concrete mix!  Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I also looked and looked for the primer and finally found it in the quart container instead of the gallon I was looking for.  Like I said, this getting old stuff is old.  My saving grace is that brother Dave mentioned also that there are times he looks for things and can not find them.  So if an accomplished woodworker and craftsman has that problem I guess I will not complain.
I continue to write my "to do list" each day and I am actually getting better at being realistic.  Yesterday was not the best day but most days have been fairly good.
I have a Dr. appt this morning as I would like to find out if this lack of energy is normal or if there is something wrong in my system.  Yesterday I was so exhausted that I took a nap.  Now with all the projects to do a nap should not be on my to do list.  But what can I say, not much.
My breakfast is finished, my bike ride is finished, my FP is finished so it means it is time to work.

Call me the rain man!

As one can see the garden has NO regard for the fence

A treasure hidden among the green

I am excited for squash

I am thinking of staking this runner as it may be the next bean stalk for Jack!

I have the solution for Dave and Marlys as Jamestown is very very dry.  I went out and bought a new lawn sprinkler Monday.  I tested it and adjusted it as I watered the lawn a tiny bit on Tuesday.  Then Tuesday night we get 1.4' of rain.  It may work in ND too!
I had second thoughts of my bike ride this morning but Terry just said I should do it so I will.  Just hope I do not get rained on.
With the lawn getting that nice rain it should be good for a while.  For some reason God's watering does much more than Carmen's watering.
We changed our Verizon plan to unlimited data but then we received this notice that we have used 10 GB on our internet so it will be 3G instead of 4G speed until the next billing.  So this morning I down loaded 4 pictures for this blog and it took about 10 minutes, what the heck?
Yesterday I checked off most of my "to do list" so that is progress BUT I stepped on the scale this morning and not so much progress.  Oh well tomorrow is another day.
FP is down to the last few "enjoys" so will sign off for now.

HARVEST TIME!

Raspberries, beans, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes and zucchini are the food of the season!

Not a lot but it is fun to see things mature and then pick and eat them.  The garden is now kind of like a jungle with vines going everywhere.
I continue to get a small amount of work done upstairs.  Yesterday I installed a new light in the main bath area and also a new light in the stool space.  It seemed to me that it should have been about an hour job but it turned out to be MUCH more than that.  I then went to Menard's to buy a new light fixture for the shop as one had decided to quit.  I arrived home and hung the new fixture and then went to put in the 2 new bulbs.  One was about 1/16" longer than the other and would not fit in the fixture.  They were LED lights and it appeared that a small piece of glass was fastened to each end and I assume that how ever they were put together one end did not get on all the way.  I have never had that happen before.  The bath light fixtures, I had to make 3 trips to the hardware store for different things.  I was happy that the store was only a mile away.
I took a deep breath and purchased a new lawn sprinkler.  The one I have been using watered in a circle and I was tired of wetting down the sidewalk with about 20% of the water.  I have not tried the new one but I think it should be good.
Our neighbor in Naples sent an e-mail and said he has decided to list his home for sale.  That is sad news.  He said that the USA just makes it so difficult and expensive for his family if he were to die and leave the home to them.  He mentioned that the market is currently in a slow mode so it may not even sell this year.  He also mentioned that he has had a mold problem this summer which makes me nervous about Terry's home.  To get rid of mold is expensive and time consuming.  Terry may have to contact our home watch.  They are to check it weekly but there is not way to be sure that happens.  If mold starts and it is not found right away it becomes a nightmare.
I have started to make a daily list of things I want to accomplish and blogging was not even on the list for today so I had better down the last of my FP and hit the list!!!

A lot of relatives

31 of 41.7 great grand children

This is what summer is about!  It takes power but tipping it over is FUN

prayer before the noon meal on Saturday

17 of 25 living grand children (oldest is 47--youngest is 24?)

There were about 75 people at the gathering.  Times like that are precious and far between.  Terry, I and family prepared the Saturday evening meal.  We served about 20 pounds of sloppy joes, about 10 pounds of pasta salad, soda (pop for some) and 5 watermelons!  There were leftovers.
We have had rain the last few days so the garden and lawn are looking great.
Today we will see Norma and Wayne.  Norma was Terry's legislative assistant when she was in the MN senate.  I am not sure I am labeling Norma correctly but I do know that Terry says she was a terrific help to her.  They are such great people and we see them at least once a summer.  It will be lunch at their place at noon.
I got my bike ride in this morning.  Still not long but it was 7 miles so that is not too bad.  I almost feel guilty as riding that bike is so easy.  I rode through the SPA campus and I know the boys would not know where they were if they walked through it.  I don't know how many $$$ they have spent but I am sure it is many many many millions.
In the pictures above I know all the grand children but the great grand children, no way.  I can kind of know what parents they belong to but even that is a stretch.
No it is on to some projects before we leave, the FP was great today.

Down

Here we are on July 20th which means we are on a count down to August!  Wow the summer seems to be flying by.  Why does it go so fast now and 60 years ago it seemed to last forever?
Terry and I returned Tuesday from the Saunders gathering and our visit with Dave and Marlys.  The gathering was from Friday PM to noon on Sunday and then we drove to Jamestown for a 2 night stay.  We had a great visit and I enjoyed getting the Diamond Back and 9MM a bit dirty.  Dave has a hand gun and then he also has Dad's target 22 hand gun.  He hit 3 bulls eyes and I NONE.  I took some satisfaction in thinking I was a good with the Beretta as he with his (I don't remember what he has) conceal/carry hand gun.  We drove out to his brother-in-laws place west of town.  We shot back of the trees in a junk pile but it brought back memories of "the old junk yard days!"
It was nice to see Grandma Saunders in a good way.  She was pretty quiet, first time ever, but she seemed to be doing fine.  When I talked to her she did say that she is not excited about her living situation as the people there don't talk a lot but I know it is the best place for her.  There were little kids ALL OVER the camp which was fun.  If my count is correct Grandma has 25 grandchildren (Scotty died at a young age so she has had 26) and 41+2/3😀 great grandchildren.  As I think about it I may be kind of quiet too if I had that many little ones!!!  All the Lees were there so that was fun.
It seems that brother Dave is doing OK.  I know that he would like to be more active than he can be but he is doing work in his shop.  I am always amazed at the things he does.  When I look at his wood working it always reminds me that I should do better.  It seems to me that he and Marlys have made a cute, comfortable home and now they can sit back and enjoy.
Much to do here as usual.  This morning I want to get back on the bike as I have been off for a few days.  Also want to fertilize the lawn.  Yesterday I picked some garden things so for lunch I had a lettuce salad with cucumbers and beans all from the garden.
Terry's son Brian and Tammy, his soon to be bride, arrived Tuesday and stayed over night.  We had a nice visit.  We will travel to Iowa over Labor Day for their wedding.  They headed back to Iowa in the afternoon.
I was going to put pictures on from the weekend but maybe tomorrow.
Enough for now as the FP is gone and there is work to be done.

Happy 4th of July

It looks like a great weather day and one of those days when, as Dad would say, you could hear the corn grow.  I have not been out in the country for some time but I do know that in the "old days" they would say the corn needed to be knee high or more today.
I am almost ashamed to say that I just got Bentley out yesterday.  Bentley is the custom made bike Aaron did for me a few years ago.  It is named for a blue Bentley in Naples as I knew my blue bike was the closest I would come to the car!!!  I had forgotten what a fun ride it it.  It is light, fast and a joy to ride.  I would say Aaron did a VERY good job.  Now all I need to do is work on those legs and that butt.  After my SHORT ride yesterday I would say on a scale of 1-10 my legs were -2 and on the same scale my butt felt like a -1.  I did go on another short ride this morning and then decided I needed a new battery in the bike computer so I got on again and rode to get a battery.  I think I am making progress but it is slow but then what can you do when you are an old man?
Not much on the docket today.  I am determined to get a little or much work done upstairs each day so I will do a small amount of painting.  I put the final coat on the door trim yesterday and so today it will be some on the two windows.  Terry and I are going to get some living room paint this morning also.  Then we will take a couple of hours in the afternoon and pick up Susan and Jerry for lunch.  With tasks, bikes, critter relocation, gardening, lawn etc. it is just so easy to not get out much.  EXCEPT I do manage to get out to Menard's to spend $$ for home things!  We purchased some nice place mats because they cost $6.99 and had a mail in rebate of $6.99.  Figured you can't beat that.
I need to be sure I can put the windows back in this afternoon as we may get some stormy weather.
John L gave us some gift certificates at Surlys after he was here in April.  We used half of it yesterday as we had lunch there.  People think of it as a beer place, and it is, but they have great food as well.  On a Monday noon I would say there were at least 150 people there.
Enough for now.  I actually finished my FP after my ride so I am good to go for the day.

We are into July 2017

No pictures today but a few words.
One of my favorite things of summer is walking out to the wood shop and stopping for a bit to eat!  A couple years ago we had cherry tomatoes in that path and for a few weeks I could stop, pick a few and enjoy.  As I recall I may have just gone to the wood shop so I could eat.  Now we have a different delicious treat.  The raspberries are in their best.  A hand full here, a hand full there and maybe one extra for good measure!  Actually who cares about the work in the wood shop?
I am watering the front lawn this morning.  We have had cool temps but things begin to heat up today and for the next while we may be looking at high 80s and low 90s.  They say next week the heat index could hit 100.  Our lawn is not plush but it would be nice to keep it green for a while.
Work continues to happen in the sun room and bathroom.  I spent some time yesterday priming frames and trim.  I did not finish but accomplished perhaps 80% of the priming.  I dare say I probably under estimated the amount of work to be done there.  Have I ever done that before???  Well the good news is some work is being done each day and that adds up to progress.
I read a story in the paper today about a 94 year old woman whose husband became MIA in 1944.  Finally, his remains have been identified and are on their way home.  She said she wants him home before she dies!  She did remarry about 10 years after he was missing but she said she told her husband that if he ever returned she would go back to him even though she loved whom she married! It brought to mind what kind of suffering so many people go through.
I have begun to work on ONE of the projects Terry has suggested.  I have made 2 samples and neither is good but it has given me ideas on what may work!  We will see what comes out of it.  I know I should be working full time upstairs but one has to do a little wood working that is FUN.
I need to find out what is happening with my phone.  It is using data in the middle of the night that of course I am not using.  What the heck is that all about?
I may sign off and take the last of my FP out on the deck.  The morning is super nice and perhaps I should enjoy before the heat comes.
HAPPY JULY TO ALL.