Cooler weather - replanting shrubs

Up until yesterday (Friday) the week turned out to very nice weather wise. Highs in the 80's, low humidity and lows in the 50's (that one night of 53 was a little too cool). But all good things must end and the heat returned and looks to be in the 90's until at least Wed, but for only one day, than back in the 90's. Someone asked why we don't get a window air conditioner but I really don't like those things and besides there probably aren't any more around.

We didn't do much this week. Went bike riding a few times but we need to get out and ride a lot more.

One day we planted three blue berry bushes in one corner of the back yard. I had to go back and get some more top soil and I came across a dog wood bush on sale and I couldn't pass that up. So we (ah Larry) ended planting that behind the garage, which than it looked kind of funny with just the one bush. By the time we (again Larry) finished we had transplanted two rose bushes, and a mum plant. I'm hoping that everything survives. The previous owner had a shed sitting there and worked on motorcycles, so who knows what he dumped on the ground. If things survive I'll take a picture for the next blog.

Our fuel prices didn't stay down very long. Luckily we filled our car up at the $3.37 and the next day it jumped to $3.57. Some one on the news must have used the word "may" rise when reporting on gas prices.

We need to raise the grade up around the back of the house but before we can do that we had to remove a old coal shoot and brick the wall up. Got that done this week so now we want to build a small retaining wall at the end of the patio. This and the raising of the grade should divert any rain run off away from the house (hopefully).

Guess that's about it for this week. I only have one picture to share and that's of our grandson Darrius playing in the sprinklers. Of course his friend Pepper wasn't far behind.
That's it, till next time......................................

Record Heat with no air, storm damage

Along with many other area's we either tied or broke records this week. The hardest day was Saturday when it reached 103 with heat index of 114.

Storms rolled through here on Thursday, while some of us got 5/10th of a inch others just a mile away got a inch. But the biggest thing was the straight line winds that took down limbs and wires. We were lucky and didn't have the damage but many people in the surrounding area have been with power for several days now.

I have a few pictures to share showing some of the damage out at the farm.

Wonder where this siding landed
Here's the bottom of the pine tree
Here's the top of the tree

Luckily with so many huge old trees all around the houses there wasn't any more damage than there was. But the family has been without power since the storm when wires were pulled down which caused outages all around them. As of tonight they still haven't gotten it back on but they do have a generator to keep the freezer/fridge running.

As I type a cold front (dropped down in the 80's) has gone thru and we are enjoying the cooler temperature. As I've mentioned we don't have air here so the last week has been spent sitting in front of fans, reading books or doing my ancestry. I've stayed away from going to places that have air, I found a long time ago that I have more problems after spending time in air conditioning than if I just put up with the heat. Most of the week hasn't been bad, we've opened the house up at night, than close it early morning. Because of not going out this week I haven't been grocery shopping or the laundry mat. With the temp's down in the 60's tonight and only low 80's tomorrow I'll hit the laundry early and grocery store after.

I mentioned last week that our daughter Brandi moved in to their new place over the weekend. Here's a picture of the house. They are all getting settled and enjoying having so much room.
I took some pictures of the flowers that we planted last fall before leaving and a few of the annuals I put out. Lots of watering this week but they seem to be doing ok.

We didn't have Darrius this week as his folks took a few days off to get settled. That's ok, grandma needed a long break after last week. But Tuesday he will be back and with cooler weather Pepper will be biting at the bit to play outside with him. And believe me Pepper needs to have some of that energy released after spending so much time in the house and it being to hot to play.

Guess that's it for this week. Till next time..............

Aug weather in June - Residing Garage

Not sure what's going on with our weather here. We have been in the mid/high 90's more in the month of June than we normally have in August. July is starting out the same way or at least the first 8 days. Wonder if this means we will have Sept weather in August? So far it hasn't been to bad in the house. Did I mention we do not have air conditioning. We open everything up at night and close it up during the day with the furnace fan running. It keeps it about 15 degrees cooler inside so can't complain.

Last Sunday we went over to the Moore side to help our sister in law Gail celebrate her retirement. Had a nice gathering and of course lots of rug rats running all around.

Here's a picture of Gail, congrats and enjoy your new retirement career.

Tuesday is a normal Darrius over night stay with us and spending the following day. Pepper just loves these days and stays pretty close to Darrius the whole time.

I haven't figured out why yet but for some reason we picked last week to re-side the back of our garage. Nephew Dave happened to have some siding that matched our blue color almost perfect so we loaded it up and brought it home. It took a couple of days as we were trying to do it early AM and late PM as much as possible but we finally finished. It looks so much better. The previous owner had a shed attached to the back and when they moved out they took the shed with them. Fine no problem except they cut a door way between the garage and shed and left that wide open. So last summer Larry just patched it to keep the snow out.

Brandi and Darrell moved this weekend to a nice big home. With three kids all needing their space this will work out great for them. Everyone has their own room, not to mention a family room and finished basement. It was a awfully hot day for moving but they got two homes into one in about six hours and ended the day in the hot tub to ease the sore muscles. Larry and I did our fair share of contributing to this move by taking Darrius off their hands Friday and Saturday. Darrius seems to think he's able to do everything that his dad and big brother can but it usually ends up more work for the mom and dad. He was so excited about the move and just couldn't wait to get there yesterday to try out the basket ball hoop.

Oh and Darrius wanted me to take a picture of his hair cut. Pretty cool design.
One night I meet Brandi at the hall where the wedding/ reception is going to be. We wanted to check out tables/chairs, see what's available there and how she might set things up. It's a nice place and with a few extra's it will look special for their occasion.

Guess that's it for this week. Till next time.......................

Open House - Visit with Retama Family

Anissa's open house came off without a hitch (pretty much) and she had lots of family and friends come to celebrate this special day with her. As usual she arrived looking beautiful and so grown up.
Lots of food, perfect weather and special people. I think every one had a great time and I know Anissa was thrilled with the day.

Well there may have been one that we're not sure if she had a good time.

Our little Delilah wasn't looking like she was to thrilled
Probably a good thing we couldn't read her mind.

The week seemed to be busy doing every day things. Monday Anissa and I did a little shopping for the bridal shower. Darrius comes on Tuesday evenings and spends Wednesday with us. We went for a walk and had to take a picture of Darrius and Pepper. They have become inseparable on these days and it's so fun to watch them.

This picture says it all

Today was a full and fun day. Our little town has a event called Yankee Doodle Days every year. It goes for three days with events for kids, a beer tent for the adults, food tent and entertainment each night. Today was the parade, which our town seems to have lots of. If there's a reason, there's a parade. I forgot my camera but what a wonderful time watching so many different things going down main street Kids had their bikes all decorated, the Shriner gave us a great show on their little bikes and cars, marching bands, cheerleader groups, of course our own Uncle Sam leading the parade (who happens to be in his 80's and known by everyone in town), a 1950's county police car along with their rescue boat, ATV's, and especially the County Horse posse. Oh and of course the fire engines blaring their horns which signals the end of the parade.

After the parade we needed to run in and pick Darrius up and drop Anissa off at her job. If we'd of known this parade was so big (normally a 10 minute one, this was 45 minutes) we'd of gotten Darrius earlier. But next time we will. He and I went downtown to check all the things out while he spent the afternoon with us while his mom and dad took his half brother up to a football camp that was having several colleges there.

Than around 4PM Dale and Mark Bruss came for a Retama Happy Hour and dinner. After dinner Dale treated us to ice cream at the new Cold Stone Creamer here in town, yum. We also met them yesterday up where they are staying in Ionia and had a nice lunch at a local place and did a lot of catch up on what's happening.

So right now we are sitting in our living room waiting for the fire works to start. One of the nice things about living in town is we don't have to leave the house to see the fireworks and again this town loves to shoot those things off over the River.

So with that note I'll say that's about it for this week. Till next time.........

Open house prep, rose bush, peppers saloon trip

Lots of phone calls, emails back and forth with Brandi and trips to the stores, but I think every things ready for Anissa's Open House tomorrow. Now if the weather would cooperate. They were calling for high's in the 90's but that has been changed to the low 80's. But the bad news is the chance of rain has increased, but hopefully it will be over by party time. If not we are under the pavilion so that will help. More comments and pictures next week on the big day.

So what pictures do I have to share with you this week. Oh, I've got to show you the rose bush that friends Lon & Pat brought us last year for a house warming gift. When we left for Texas I wasn't sure if it would survive the winter but look at it now.
Looks like I need to get to the garden center and get a trellis.

Wednesday will be our weekly Darrius day's. Brandi dropped him off Tuesday evening so he could spend the night and all the next day. Darrius and Pepper had a great time racing from one end of the yard to the other, playing with the hose and when grandpa and Darrius played soft ball Pepper made a great retriever.

Unfortunately, one was ready to quit and watch TV and the other wasn't.

One day Larry and I walked down to the local library and got our card. They have a nice eBook collection that Larry can use on his Kindle. But what I was excited about is they now have access to the website Ancestry.com. Some of you know that I've been interested in our family history and use to belong to this website. But it was really getting expensive for the time that I would use it so dropped it several years ago. Soooo once this weekend is over I told Larry I'd be making the two block walk to the library and spending lots of time there.

The only other picture to share is of Pepper. We took her over to a groomer in town here for a trim. Ah I don't think the groomer and I were on the same definition of "trim". When I walked in Pepper was barking her head off (which is not like her) and one look at her and I knew she was probably giving the woman Hell.

It's taken a few days to get use to the new Pepper and I'm sure she will be cooler with the shorter hair cut but I miss my puppy face little girl.



So that's about it for this week. Till next time.....................

Yard Sale - Birthday Party

Well Larry had his 2 week check up on his eye and everything was fine. Back in a month than Dr said they would do a six month check up. Ah that would be in February and we sure won't be here at that time of year. Guess we'll have to talk about that one.

The only other thing we've been doing this week was getting ready for a yard sale on Friday. I can't figure out how we could possible have anything to sell when we haven't had a house in over six years. But we did fine things and with Nadene (DS), Bob & Diane (DB & SIL) and Stint (SIL) we had lots of fun.
We were lucky to have perfect weather and having this tent cover really made it comfortable to sit under. We closed up shop around 4PM, boxed what was left and that all went to the Hospice House's store.

The nieces stopped with their kids and I was able to snap a couple of pictures of them.

Here's our little Lucie. It looks like Pepper is trying to convince her to play ball.

Adrienne was enjoying her doughnut. Course when there's food around the crumb picker upper isn't far away.
None of us made a killing on the sale but we all had a good time.

This afternoon we went over to our great great nieces (yes it was hard typing gr-great, even harder to admit it) birthday party. Little Delilah Michelle turned 1 year old. What a cutie.
Here's one of our gr-gr nephew Cooper and Delilah. Coppers about a month younger but probably 10 lbs heavier.

So that's it for this week. The next few days will be busy with last minute to do things for Anissa's open house next Sunday. So far weather is showing 80's and sunny, perfect for a Park Party.

Till next time........................

Graduation Day for Anissa

Well our beautiful Grand-daughter Anissa reached one of many milestones in her life. Last night she became a 2012 Graduate of Waverly High School. The commencement was held at the Wharton Center Performing Arts on the MSU Campus. It was an exciting evening of watching our little girl go across the stage to except her diploma.

Unfortunately even tho this place has wonderfully comfortable seats, they kept the lights down as if there was a concert and all the pictures came out dark and hard to see. Plus each student was only allowed eight tickets which was a bummer that other family members weren't able to attend. As most of you know we have a rather large support group when it comes to family accomplishments (not to mention very vocal) so it was a shame they couldn't be there for Anissa. And because things were very hectic in the hours before (lets just say our girl earned her "Most Dramatic Award) and after the event some how everyone missed getting a picture of Anissa by herself in her cap and gown.

I do have one picture as she was standing to move to the stage.

She's hard to see but she is the last one in line.

Anissa with mom Brandi
And one of the family

Congratulations Anissa, your one beautiful special young woman and Grandpa and I are so proud of you.

So as for the rest of the week. We had a very warm (I won't call it hot) Memorial Day here. Temp's in the 90's and a sunny day. Two days later we were back in sweat shirts and the heat turned on. It got down in the 30's one night and a cold rainy day followed.

I was suppose to have a yard sale here last Friday but with a high of 50 we canceled it and hopefully this Friday will be better. One of the nice things about advertising on Craigslist is being able to post the last minute.

Other than that the week was pretty calm and basically staying inside to keep warm. I did get upstairs and started going thru all the tubs that have been in storage for the last six years. We need to get things sorted and moved into a walk in storage room up there (sounds better than it is, just a room off the bedroom that was added over the kitchen) so I can start working on painting the two bedrooms up there. One we'll finish as a grandkids/guest room and the other will be set up as a train room. Larry still has his Lionel Train set and he has always wanted to set the track up with villages etc. This will be a good project for him and Darrius over the next few years.

Now that Graduation is over we're on to finish the final plans for the Open House in two weeks. Hope for good weather because it's being held at a city park.

Puppy note: Renee' and Brian came up from Ohio for the graduation and they brought along their dog Devon. Pepper was so excited to have another puppy to play with but alas Devon is a bit finicky and doesn't do the "play" thing. We took them out in the back yard and was able to get a picture of them.

Pepper tried to play keep away but Devon just wasn't having anything to do with it.
Not sure what they were looking at but it entertained them both

That's it for this week. Till next time...............................