Anders and I hang out

I spent 2 nights in Durand last week.  Anders and I hung out on Thursday and Friday morning.  We spent time at the park both mornings, but I downloaded those photos to some unknown location on my computer, so until I unearth them, I only have a couple of pictures of Anders.  We spent some time on the deck.

Such a big boy and has his own lawn chair.

He is so good a play, like riding his fire engine.

Gotta love a boy with big blue eyes!

Anders and I are hanging out

Anders and I are enjoying a very nice day at Tarrant Park in Durand! What fun...rocks, and swings and rocks and slides and rocks and monkey bars and rocks!
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And I shall call him.....

I'm enjoying seeing this juvenile cardinal at the feeder.  He's changing quickly.
Click on the photos to see them larger.  I wish I could get pictures of him without the window in between us, but these are pretty good.

A conehead now

Such a handsome young bird

His colors are awesome.

He seems to have an injury to his beak.

He should be easy to recognize at the feeder this winter.

I am going to give him a name, have to noodle on that for awhile, but I'll let you know what I decide.

Yet another project

Near my front door, there was a triangle of rock between the asphalt of the driveway and the cement of the landing between the house and garage.  It was a problem all the time.  I couldn't shovel the snow off of it in the winter and in the summer it collected water and grew weeds.  Generally it was a mess.  My nephew in law, Mark, has experience at the paving game, so I hired him to help me.  He brought my great niece, Breanna, along and she was a good helper.

First Mark had to cut the asphalt so we could make a nice area for pavers.

Wicked dust, but it the asphalt really cut pretty well.

 Asphalt gone, now we have a nice area for the pavers.

Breanna thought the pile of asphalt was fun to climb on.

Had to take a second picture, she wasn't at the tippy top the first time.

Breanna got right in there with the tamper to compact the sand.

She was a good helper, this is some back breaking work.  She actually told me to let her do it so "you don't hurt yourself".

She helped level out the sand and did a good job.

Nice and level and ready for pavers.

Then she made a sign which says "Do Not Walk" but after the illustrations, the message is a little hidden.

Sunday we will get the pavers from Menards and then put them in place.  I can't wait to see how nice it looks and it will be easy to scoop the snow off it in the winter too.  This place is really getting spruced up!

Sunday afternoon, project finished, it is a beauty!

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Payton

Tonight Payton is going to her first high school dance, Homecoming, and she had her hair done today.

Fun for her, but these girls grew up too fast!

Fun New Website

I found this fun website that makes a picture out of words.  This is my first attempt, I think I can have some fun with this.

http://www.tagxedo.com

How Immature

This mama cardinal brought her little one to the feeder a couple of times today.  Papa cardinal was along too, but I didn't get him for a photo.

Mama teaching the baby about free lunches.

No cone head yet and no orange beak

He's starting to show his cardinal red

Before and After

Since the shutters were off the house for the siding replacement, I got the idea to paint them with spray paint made for plastic.  It was easy work to paint them, and tedious time consuming work to put them back up, but the end result was worth it.

What shutters?

Changes the whole look of the house, sweet!

It's been a real mess around here during all the repairs.

Andy has done a good job of getting both roofs done & the siding replaced.

Taking shingles off makes a mess

I was happy to help from the ground, but no roof work for me, that's for the young studs in the family.

Siding off...siding on

Siding off

Back of the garage, we were surprised that there was no vapor barrier under the siding, there is now tho.

I decided to replace the sliding glass door since the siding was off anyway and the old door was crummy.

New door in, shutters up

It all started with this mess.

Seasons Changing

I'm feeling better, but not great.  The doctor said it will be several weeks, and many coughs, before I am completely healed.

I thought I needed to update the blog before I lose all my followers but it will be short.

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I've been watching a few new birds at the feeder now that I'm putting seed out again.

This little goldfinch guy is changing to his winter coat.  

Only a little of his gold is still showing

This little chickadee is such a beauty. 

I wonder if he is related to the insane chickadee that harassed us early in the summer.

Sick people should go to the doctor!

I've been fighting a bad chest cold & cough for almost a week and finally got myself to the doctor today.  I have pneumonia in both lungs.  So, I'll be missing Dad's WWII reunion in Davenport, IA this weekend in favor of staying home and healing my body.  Guess I should have gone to the doc on Tuesday, but I honestly thought I was getting better.

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Andy is nearly finished with the major work on the house.  It's wonderful to have it all done.  It's also been kind of nice to have him around while I have been sick, he's probably the reason I went to the doc today.  Having never had pneumonia, I could not imagine that I would have a case.  

Johansen Cabinetry

With the impending sale of Gus's cabin in the Barrens, Dad was faced with needing to move all of his tools to a new location.  I organized my garage, and we moved everything here.  Spending a little time with Dad looking at the tools last night was fun although bittersweet.  His table saw that was purchased in about 1945 by his Dad and has been used by Dad every since is an amazing artifact of Dad's life.  I was thinking about how many kitchen cabinets that were made using that saw, quite a history there.  The stand for the drill press that my grandfather, Ansgar, made from parts of a windmill that was being torn down is a real antique.  If these tools could talk, what stories they would tell.

As I open tool boxes and look inside, I am amazed at hand planers, hand drills and even a planer made from wood that have lasted all these years and are still functional even though they are not battery powered and full of features for making jobs easier.

Next summer, Dad and Ev will stay here and we will fire up Johansen Cabinetry in my garage, maybe even build something using only these hand-tools, just to honor the past.

Road Trip! Road Trip! Road Trip!

I took a little ride North today.

Thanks MJ for a wonderful morning of coffee, pumpkin cookies and a good visit!  I can't wait to make the rhubarb leaf bird baths!
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From Gordon I continued on to the Sand Castle.  I wanted to check out the work Kris had done last week on the rock wall behind the wood stove.

I could not find a really good before picture but you get the idea.

Kris did an awesome job on the rock.

The Sand Castle in fall is so nice

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Stinnett Landing

When I left the Sandcastle, I headed to Hayward to pick up Kris's wild rice at the processor.  On the way home, I took some country roads and made a stop at the Stinnett Landing on the Namekagon River.  The water was so smooth, almost looked like oil.

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When I headed for home, I made one more stop to check out the cranberry bog.  

I am hoping to catch some action there one of these times.  This time I saw the bogs thick with berries.

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Finally back in Rice Lake, I followed this pick up truck down main street.  I could not resist taking a photo of his back window & the sticker.

Click on photo to see it larger.

Just Relax!

Cats know how to relax, so I thought I'd make an instructional video starring Hops.

Click here for the Just Relax Video

Roofing is not for me!

The work started Sunday on the hail damage.  Andrew's Patriot Valley is my construction company.  He hired both Mark (nephew in law) and Kris (nephew/godson) for Sunday's work.

Roofing is not for sissies!

On Labor Day Monday, Nephew Andrew is continuing with the job of tearing off the old roof and putting on new on both house and garage.   While it has been a treat to have him here, it is hard work for sure.  I cannot believe that he can climb a ladder with a roll of tar paper on his shoulder, please!

Andy is a tough guy

It was a tea party, and not the kind you are hearing about on the news!

Stella and Ruby have birthdays just a few days apart, so there was a party for the two girls on Saturday at Kyle & Heather's.  It was a tea party so everyone was asked to wear a hat.

Stella is 4

Ruby is 2, sitting with Great Uncle Larry

Grandma Lois made the big cupcake cakes

Great Grandma Virginia was there

Back:  Heather, Janice, Ruby, Chelsea, Stella, Jessica, Kelly
Front:  Angie, Emily, Lois, Elliana, Milena, Lois, Wanda, Megan and Lora

Very nice party, lots of fun with the hats!