Flowers - grandson - barns

Finally the construction is almost completed and they opened the main street going into town, which I have mentioned is a half a block from us. Now maybe I can get the windows washed and some of this grind off. Dust and dirt have been bad all summer and of course we've had to have all the windows up.

I took a couple of pictures of the front/side of the house showing my flowers. They are starting to die out a little so thought I'd better get some quick.


The weeks are just flying by and only two left before the wedding. Things are going good except for one panic attack by me the other day. I went to laundry mat and took my note book of all the wedding stuff to go over some things. Well the next day I went to get it and couldn't find it anyplace. Luckily someone there took it into the Quality Dairy (attached & own both) and they had it in the drawer. Talk about heart failure. Even tho Brandi has her's, mine has a mothers to do list, not to mention who's been paid and amounts still owed. Will not be taking that outside the house again.

Darrius stayed over night last night. I don't no where all the energy comes from but between him and Pepper I was ready for bed early. Pepper gets so excited when Darrius comes over and they are just about inseparable the whole time. This morning they were curled up together, both sound asleep, so I have a feeling it was a late night of watching TV together. At least after Darrius left this afternoon there was one tired puppy and peace and quiet around here (for about a hour).

I need to start finding a route back to Texas by way of heading north. The plan is to go thru the Upper Peninsula along Route 2 and down to Door County to see our good friends Gary and Marilynn who have a lot next to us in Texas. Can't wait to see them. Than we will head to Brooklyn Iowa to stop and see Larry and LaVila. They too have a lot down in Texas in another park but we first met them out in the desert in Quartzite AZ. Another couple we can't wait to see. After that, it's up in the air. It's a little different traveling with a pet and having to find a motel that allows them. Plus some charge a fee and could be as much as $25 a night. I have a couple of web sites that will help us find them on our route.

Still no takers on the sale of the Kenworth. We found a website for horse owners so we listed the ad on there. Have had several calls but they all seem to be over a thousand miles away. Last time I looked we had over ten thousand hits on the web shot photo's. Larry said he is about ready to "raise" the price. It seems when ever his father couldn't get something to sell he would start raising the price and it always sold.

I shared a picture a few weeks ago of the roof being painted at the old farmstead that I grew up on and that my twin now owns. He had a hard time trying to decide what to do with these barns as they haven't been used for livestock since Larry and I lived out there in the 70's and had cattle and pigs. He thought about having them torn down but than decided the history of these barns and the fact there are so few of these left he hated to do that. So he found some Amish gentlemen and are having all of them resided. This picture shows you one almost completed and the other to be done yet.
I would of hated to see these buildings go down. Not only did I and my siblings spend time wandering these barns but so did our kids and grand kids. Its fun to read on FB our kids and their cousins talking about the memories they have.

So guess that's it for this week. Till next week.......................

Accident-Elevator fire - Furniture

Can you believe only one more week of August. Usually by now I have our route figured out heading south for the winter but without having to find a football field to park our rig in I haven't thought to much about it. Other than we want to go through the Upper Peninsula and stop to see some friends that's about the extend of it. I don't have to worry about football fields but do have to find motels that allow dogs. Some places don't charge extra but others it can be as much as $20 a night so I need to do more research on this.

The construction that closed the main street (1/2 block from us) going into town , since June is finally getting close to the end. Completion is suppose to be before school starts the 4th of Sept and it looks like they will make it. Weather wise this summer hasn't delayed them except for maybe one afternoon and these guys have been putting some long hours six days a week. It was a major over haul of the road plus new water/sewer pipes. I swear you would think we lived on a dirt road with all the dust. Windows (outside) are horrible but refuse to do them until they are finished. Special note here - I found that if you want a great streak free window cleaner take a spray bottle, fill 3/4 full with water, add 3-4 drops of Dawn (blue) dish soap and have at it. I give it a good spray where Pepper likes to sit and look out the front door and it cleans it right up.

I have a few pictures to share this week. The first one is of a accident near here that closed down both lanes of a major highway for over 12 hours. Luckily it was a one vehicle accident and no injuries. But some company is going to be hit with a huge clean up bill.
Nothing like thousands of gallons of liquid asphalt spreading across four lanes to put a damper on someones day. Kind of makes you wish you didn't get out of bed that morning.

This one someone posted on Facebook while they were in the UP of Michigan. Pretty awesome ha
There was a major fire at a local grain elevator this week. There aren't many elevator's around here left for farmers to take their crops so this is really going to make things difficult. There are already long lines at these places and with a major one possible not being open and farmers having to drive farther this could be costly.
Yet another garage sale/estate sale purchase that I have to share. I decided that I really would like to have a Secretary Desk in the the living room where I had a hutch. The hutch just didn't fit in there once I put furniture in so I've been watching Craigslist and going to sales and I found the perfect one the other day. After a little negotiation (you know me, can't pay asking price) we settled on a fair price and brought it home. It needed a lot of clean up so I worked on that. Here's the finish product.



If you click on the picture and enlarge it you can see the little drawers and cubby holes. Well while I was cleaning it Larry said to keep a eye out for secret areas. There are these decorative carvings beside the little door in the center and when I started to clean the second one it move. Guess what, both of these pull out and when I peeked inside I could see something. There was a $20 bill stuffed way in the back. So that just sweeten my purchase a little better. I'll admit I thought about taking the $20 back to the place but than who knows how long that's been in there. One other paper we found stuff in another area was dated 1985. Larry did look the numbers up that are listed on the back and found it was built in Flint around 1940.

So did you really think you'd get away without seeing a picture of the grandson. Of course I have two to share.

First I need to introduce you to our soon to be grand baby Dar-Relle. We were at Darrius's football game this morning and of course it was hot and sunny. Thanks to Dar-Relle I was able to have a little shade.

In case you haven't guessed Dar-Relle is a Senior (high-school) this year and plays defensive line. He was just chosen the Coach's pick for best Defensive-men in the CAAC Blue Division.

Again Darrius's team won 14-0. Our little guy is pretty competitive and does not like to loose in any sports he's playing. Wonder where he gets that from.

But it really helps to have a big brother to go over all the plays after the game.

Guess that's it for this week. It's suppose to cool off tomorrow so maybe I'll get ambition to get back upstairs and finish painting the bedroom.

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

Football - School - Anissa's 1st car

Well we've gone from hot and humid to cool and wet to beautiful fall days. All within a week. Our rain gauge topped out at just over four inches in a 2 1/2 day time frame. Of course we (or I should say I) won't let a little rain stop us from grilling out.

I swear we could sit here and watch the grass grow. But it sure has greened things up. Last night it was down in the 40's and today we about froze our backsides off at the grandson's first football game. Which by the way they won.

Here he is all ready to head out.

This is just a little harder to watch now that he's actually in a tackle league. Poor guy has been wanting to play football the real way for so long but boy it's hard on a grandma to watch.

With school starting in just a few weeks we stopped off and picked up the school supplies that's required. Not sure how some of these families handle it when they have a bunch of kids. But at least our guy is ready to begin a new year.

Soon grandpa and Darrius disappeared and look what ended up in the cart.

That night this was posted on daughters Facebook

:::Sigh::: the point in his life where a Teddy bear has been replaced by a football...

I did get a little painting done upstairs in the hall. With the weather next week looking good I'll try and get the one bedroom prime and painted.

Grandpa has been helping Anissa look for her first car the last couple of weeks and today one was found that meant Gr-pa's "approval" and Anissa's "cool" look. She is so excited which I can't blame her, we all remember our very first car. Since she starts this coming Thursday at college it was good they found this.

I didn't get a picture of her and the car but here's the one on the advertisement
It's a nice vehicle and like gr-pa told her "you keep it maintained and it will last a long time".

Four weeks from today is the wedding. Daughter isn't in a full panic mode yet but I dare say within the next few days she'll hit her peak.

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

Special Day for our Grand-daughter

Well I said I'd try and take some pictures of the parade for the Stanley Cup but since we had a down pour pretty much the full day they had to cancel the parade. From what I understand each player only gets one day with the Cup. It was on display at the local high school but we had know desire to fight the crowds to get to see it. So the only picture I have is one from the local newspaper.
Speaking of rain we ended up getting just over four inches on Friday and Saturday. It was a fairly nice all day/night type so I'm sure it helped. I know we could almost sit on the back patio this morning and watch the grass grow, hence Larry's out mowing since they are calling for rain the next few days,

My brother is having the old barns at the farm painted and resided. Niece Amy took a picture of the painter on the roof. Any one out there need a job, pretty sure they don't have a long waiting list for this type of career.
One special event this week was our Grand-daughter Anissa's 18th birthday. Grandpa and I took her out to lunch along with making a stop to look a car. She starts at the local college this month and she'll need some transportation.

So here is a special Happy Birthday to our girl

Afraid these posts are pretty slim on information. Not much happening except for wedding plans. We've gotten some good use of our new grill except for the days it was rainy. Today since it's a little cool we have a big pot of stew in the slow cooker and it sure smells good.

So guess that's it for this week. Till next ........................

Our town - football in the back yard

Another week and after a few days of cooler weather the heat returned. Right now there are some watches out as some nasty storms work their way across the Lake towards us. I will admit watching these storms heading towards us is a lot easier to handle when I'm sitting in a sticks and bricks than when we are in the trailer. But after high 90's the last few days I'm ready for the cooler temp's on the way.

Today we walked downtown (a whole 4 blocks) to check out the Island Art Fair event. They say it draws about 10,000 people, which I believe. It's always packed. The Grand River separates our town right in half and there's a island on the river. Each year there are several events held on the island and this one is all vendors. But it seems every year it's the same ones, with the same items, with just high prices. Of course when ever there is a major event such as this in our small town (at least 4 during the summer) everyone and their brother has a garage sale. And again, it seems to be the same places with the same junk (opps treasures).

Next Friday there will be another event with a parade. Have I mentioned that it doesn't take much of a reason for this town to throw together a parade. Anyway one of the local's here named Matt Greene will be bringing the Stanley Cup here and of course that's the star of the parade. OK, I'll admit I had to ask Larry a who/what/why/where question on this trophy, but in my defense I DO NOT watch/listen or for that matter care about sports unless my grandson is involved. And than it's more I know when to cheer (when what ever kind of ball he's carrying goes where it's suppose to) and when not (he misses). So I will try to remember to take my camera that day.

Our small grill died on us the other day. We thought about not getting another one until next spring but with the end of the season sales it didn't make sense to wait and pay full price. Besides we use the grill just about every night. So off to our favorite Menards Store (we've started to call this place our cottage) to see what they had and the all important costs. As it turned out they had a nice three burner with a side pot burner and temperature monitor on sale, plus this is also the week that anything you buy you can send in for a 11% discount credit card. With all the savings it didn't cost much more than that little table top one we purchased three years ago. And Larry really likes the way this one grills. He has grilled fish and steak so far and found out how bad that old grill was.

Only have a couple pictures to share with you. Darrius brought over one of his foot balls the other day and while he and grandpa played catch in the back yard Pepper wanted to play too.

This is called keep away

But this one is my favorite

Doesn't that smile just melt your heart.

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

Bridal Shower - Our little football player

OK, Anissa's senior prom - over/done, graduation - over/done, graduation open house - over/done, Brandi's bridal shower (today) - over/done, Me -overdone and beat.

So with that said, this is going to be a short blog. The week flew by with comparing notes with daughter Renee' on what she needed me to do at this end. She mentioned this week she was so glad she didn't try to have her wedding here in town (they live in Ohio). I think between the girls I've used up more of my cell phone minutes than I ever have.

But the shower time arrived, the room Renee' rented at Country Suites was very nice and just the right size. Family and friends arrived and enjoyed some good food, lots of laughs and may hugs.

My pictures didn't turn out very well so I'm using some that her Aunt Elaine had on FB

I won't even try to tell you some of the comments on this present.

So after clean up and loading two cars we headed over to Brandi's place to drop presents off. I'm sure tonight she is showing Darrell all the new and exciting things they have for their new home. And I'm sure Darrell is just tickled pink about all these kitchen gadgets.

The only other picture I want to share is of Darrius with his new football helmet. All last week he went every evening for try outs and on Friday they posted the boys that made it. Of course he was just beside himself, he's been wanting to be on a team that actually tackles.

From what Brandi said he hasn't taken it off since they got home from purchasing it and has spent most of the afternoon playing catch with his older brother to see how it feels to catch a ball with a helmet on.

Guess that's it for today. We have a bit of a breathing room before back to full swing of wedding items so I'm going to enjoy the next few days.

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

Lunch at the lake, wedding errands,

Not to much to write about this week. We've been busy daily but it's mostly helping Brandi with the wedding by doing some running around for her. I have to give my husband credit. Monday we left here at 8:30am and didn't get home until after 1pm. Five stores and not one complaint. What a guy, than we went back out the next day and hit three more. Told Brandi she owes daddy a big big hug.

Larry did get one of "his" projects done. Had another basement window that he wanted to replace with bricks and four glass blocks. Only two more to do.

We took Brandi and family up to a restaurant in the little village called Mulliken the other night. This has been a family owned business for as long as I can remember where the food is simple but just like the saying "taste just like grandma's". One of those places you see when your traveling, normally sitting on a four corner lot with maybe a mom and pop grocery store beside it. And you just know that this is where all the locals eat and everyone knows everyone. That's pretty much this place. My father use to go there every morning for his bacon and eggs as my brother now does, to discuss the plight of the crops, how the market is doing and who just purchased that newest combine. Each man has his own chair at the big long table and heaven help anyone sitting in their spot. But than who else but the local farmers arrive at 6AM, sometimes even before the cafe is officially open, so they just walk in the back door thru the kitchen and grab their coffee on the way to the table. Brandi put on her Facebook that night about going there and it was fun reading comments from her friends about this place. So to get back to taking the kids up there, we are having Rob cater the wedding for us and it would be nice to have Darrell (future son in law) at least taste the food before hand. Luckily he enjoyed his meal.

Today we went up to my sisters cottage to have lunch with our niece and nephew who are visiting with their kids from Albq NM. Quinn who is 12 so wanted us to bring Pepper as she is a total animal lover. We don't normally take her along when we plan on staying for longer than a few minutes and never when we've been invited for lunch. But Quinn and Pepper had a great time and here's a couple of pictures to share.

Here's Quinn and Pepper checking out the water
Quinn went in and didn't take long for Pepper to follow
Especially since she had Peppers ball

Darrius had a two day football camp this weekend and Brandi posted this picture on FB

What better way to cool off a 100 kids at the end of camp day

Darrius is so excited about football season, (community sponsored event) as he finally gets to play tackle football.

So that's about it for this week. Seems like next week will be full with helping Renee' with last minute things for the bridal shower on that Sunday. Anissa needs a ride to work a couple of mornings, of course Darrius on Tues/Wed and Thursday afternoon a vet appointment for pepper's shots and heart worm test.

So until next time.................................