Volunteer

Some squirrel must have planted this sunflower seed in the big pot where I am growing cucumber.

It is a pretty summer flower, so I am glad I didn't pull it out when it looked like a weed.

I took this shot with the cartoon setting on my cell phone

This year I have not only this volunteer sunflower, but about 8 volunteer cherry tomato plants growing through the rock around the pots that held the cherry tomato plants last year.

The volunteer plants are doing great and producing.

Gotta love Mother Nature. 

2012 Olympics in London & Summer flowers

The folks and I have been enjoying watching some of the Olympic Events on television.  Ev is especially interested as am I.  Dad has been working in the garage Johansen Cabinetry Shop for the past couple of days and making good progress.

But today, Sunday, we are having a very lazy day.  Naps and reading paper and watching Olympic events.

A few photos of my flowers from the other day.

Grandma's beans on the trellis I made.  They are doing great.

Here is the before picture, I was worried that his looked like a monolith, but turns out it was just right.

My cone flowers are on their last days.

The petunia side of the bean garden.

The High Bush Cranberry trees I planted 3 years ago finally have berries.

My day lilies are almost done, but this lemonade colored one sure was pretty.

This sunflower came up as a volunteer in one of the big pots I had cucumbers planted in.

First Potato Salad of the Summer

On Wednesday afternoon, Dad and Ev & I headed off to Luck to have supper with Gus and Lois.

Lois made yummy potato salad and Gus grilled chicken breasts.  

A delicious summer supper for sure!

We had a very good visit and headed home to Rice Lake just at dark, 

but we did not see a single deer on the road.

We are really enjoying these visits with family, and it keeps our grocery shopping to a minimum.  

☺

The China Buffet with The Chivers

Dad and Ev and I met Angie and the kids at The China Buffet in Rice Lake for early supper / late lunch.  

We enjoyed a nice visit while we ate and after.  

It was fun to see little Ivan.  

Emily and Megan are always fun to visit with and catch up with their summer activities, 

including swimmer's ear.

Owen spent quite a while talked to Dad about all manner of things... including why Dad wears glasses, what are those things (hearing aids) in Dad's ears and a number of other 'guy' things.

We don't often get a chance to visit with Angie 

so it was nice to hear about her job and all that goes on in her busy life.

A very nice afternoon for sure!

Sunday with family

Sunday afternoon, the folks and I drove to Spring Valley to have dinner at Andy & Michelle's house.  It was a nice afternoon visiting with Andy, Michelle & Alyxis and Dana & Erin and Jackson & Jake.  The food was excellent but the nice visit time was the best.

Jackson gave me this picture as a thank you for the baseball game a couple of weeks ago.

We hope we can go again this year.

Jackson pointed out that he did the ground and the sky all by himself but that the baseball player was printed on .
Very nice Thank You.

A little update

It seems like I am busier with Dad & Ev here so my blogging gets a little slow.

This past week was a mixed bag.  On Monday, we went to the Urgent & Family Care Center so Dad could be seen.  He had developed a bad cough and was wheezing.  I was worried it was pneumonia, but the doctor said no.  The medication seems to have really kicked it now after 7 days.  But for 4 days, we pretty much were home bodies so Dad could rest and get well.

Unfortunately we had to turn down two invitations for visiting with the kids, but it could not be helped.

Along with being sick, Dad was bothered by his hair being too long.

They had hoped to make a trip to St. Croix Falls for haircuts by their favorite Barb, the Barber.

But, she does not take appointments and between the drive over and the wait, it would have been too much for Dad.  

So, after playing cards on Thursday, I stopped in the little barber shop in Cameron, and Gayle Larson, the barber, had time to cut both Dad & Ev's hair on Friday.

On Friday, I went to the driving range in the morning with friend Carol, then came home and got the folks and we went for their haircuts.  

The barber is a very nice Wisconsin guy and the folks were pleased with their haircuts.  

We stopped at The Cameron House for lunch and had some delicious fish.

And then headed off for a little drive around the countryside.

After golf, my friend Carol had shown me a very large mansion that is being built in Chetek.

We also drove around Gopher Point, a building development in Chetek that is comprised of twin homes on the lake.  We also took a spin past the 'driving range' and then stopped in Chetek for ice cream before heading home.  We all enjoyed the outing.

It was nice enough when we got back to sit on the back deck and visit.

A good day all around, especially with Dad feeling better.

*****

A week ago, I went to a farmer's market at The Country Pantry and Market.

One of the items I bought was a squirrel feeder which I thought looked like it would be fun for the squirrels.

I brought it home and put it on one of the feeder platforms, and the squirrels found it and I was amused seeing them get their seeds out of a big gallon jar.

The jar laid on its side on the curved support and then plugged into the little house.
The squirrel would then go through the little house, into the jar, to get a treat.

Friday afternoon Dad went out on the deck and then came in the house and told me we had a problem.

A mourning dove had gotten into the glass jar and was frantic to get out.

I grabbed a screwdriver and a dark towel.  I threw the towel over the jar and the bird settled down.  Then the bird found the way out of the little house and flew off.

I'm not going to risk another deal like that, so the glass jar is removed and the squirrels can have the little house as a play place.

Fun design but not bird proof.

*****

Yesterday I took a few pictures in the backyard.

 I love my cone flowers this year and hope that I can get them to reseed so I have more next year 

.

The cosmo flowers have always been one of my favorites.

Their flowers and leaves are so delicate

One day lily in the backyard and it continues to bloom

 The folks and I were sitting out on the back deck almost at dark and we got to see this 

hummingbird moth visiting each of the petunia blooms.

That was a treat.

Elms Trees are Goners

This summer about 5 elm trees in my yard suddenly dropped their leaves and died.

Most were behind the garage.

 One was down in the lower part of the yard.

Adios to those trees

 Now this part of the yard is so open.

It will change the sun/shade factor in that area so I'll have to rethink a flower bed or two.

 Now it looks so open

The tree guy also noticed that a big maple tree close to the house 

needed to be cabled together before it split and fell on the house.

So, that is done, yay.

I am glad I didn't know it was at risk before yesterday, now it is fixed and nothing to worry about.

H O T Baseball Photo Book

For YEARS I have used Kodak Gallery for all my photo printing and photo projects, but they recently closed and transferred their accounts to Shutterfly.

So, like any new software, there is a learning curve.

Today I worked on my first order from Shutterfly, time to test quality, delivery time, etc.

This is the little booklet I put together with the photos from the weekend.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly offers exclusive photobook layouts so you can make your book just the way you want.

H O T Baseball 'through the fence'

 Last weekend, Gage and his friend, Levi Jensen, came to Rice Lake for the weekend.  Gage was playing in a baseball tournament with his "Shockers" team.  Levi was along to watch.  They stayed Friday and Saturday nights at my house with Dad & Ev and me.

The kids had fun playing with my iPad in the evening.

Here are few of the 761 pictures I took through the course of  7 ball games.

The temperature at game time was almost 90 degrees.

Getting ready for the first game.

 The first game was Friday night.

Gage made an unassisted double play by catching a fly ball and tagging first, 

then he had 3 triples.  It was a good night for him.

Dad and Ev came to the game on Saturday noon.
Here the boys are keeping them company before the game.
We had umbrellas that gave us a little shade, but it was H O T.

On Saturday, there was a close play on 3rd.

Gage tagged out the runner as you can see.

The other team claimed Gage pushed the runner off the bag, but the momentum carried him.

Here is the proof.

Little magic with photo editing.

Glove in mitt, batter in the dirt, but no one got hurt.

More fun with photo editing.

Gage and Coach Stenberg

Gage pitched several innings

Stepping into it

Gage played first for several innings and on Sunday Dad looks on

This dragon fly watched the game for a bit too

Pre game meeting at the plate

All of my photos from this tournament were taken 'through the fence'

Coming in for the slide

The slide and the overthrow

And he is safe.

Gage played catcher on Sunday when the heat was stifling.
He made a good save on this 'just a little high' pitch.

Gage cooling down between innings

Close play at second, the ball is in his mitt.

Gage is a good hitter, here he is about to connect.

Close play at 3rd

Popped it up...

Who's got it?
Gotta call those!

Jens and his Dad at the final game, it was scorcher, but Jens seemed happy.

Gage on 2nd

After 7 games played in the high heat of summer,
Gage's team, The Shockers, took second out of 10 teams.
Nice job!

Gage gets his 2nd place medal from one of the players on the winning Rice Lake team.

The boys were leaving for the games on Sunday as the folks were still lounging.

It was a fun weekend with the boys here with us and the baseball games were really good.

And I got lots of work done on my tan!

*****

All of the baseball game photographs were taken with my camera in Manual Focus mode.

My access to the field was limited of course, and I had to shoot everything through the fence.