Good Morning!

It's a shocker, I know, that I'm finally here.  What's MORE of a shocker is that I'm up with hot coffee and beginning to write at 6:39 AM!  Maybe I'm making up for yesterday when I didn't wake up until noon after 13 straight hours of sleep!  Last night, I got just over 5, thanks to Dosie (the cat) who was tearing up and down the board walkway that connects the two decks, right underneath the bedroom window this morning.  How can 6 pounds of cat sound like an elephant when they do that?!  Then, of course, just as I was plodding downstairs to show her that I'd left the front door open a crack, specifically to avoid being wakened by animals wanting to go out or come in, she came scampering UP the stairs!  Sigh.  Kids!

I was just reviewing the pictures I've taken in the past several days to remind myself what to post about, and there's a lot!  But, you won't get it all right now: tooooo much.  Last Tuesday was the day my dad, Papa Pea, came out and when I started making some real headway cleaning up the front yard and prepping for it the summer.  Within this past week, we had our first real day of spring . . . and then it was summer.  I kid you not.  One day of spring, yep:  that was all we got.  Cold, cold, cold and then HOT (by my warped standards, anyway).

Last Wednesday, I shut down the outside wood furnace and made all the appropriate adjustments necessary to transfer production of the house's hot water to the water heater (which just serves as a hot water storage tank in the wintertime when it's heated from the boiler).  The mosquitoes arrived but not in droves, thank goodness.  I haven't had to wear a headnet or bug dope yet.  No blackflies, either, but I hesitate to jinx things by even mentioning that!  I also refilled the batteries.  Papa Pea had taken a look at them when he was here (I had some concern about the sulfuric build-up on some of the terminals) and cautioned me that they off-gas and, therefore, lose more of their acid/water balance as they age.  So, I need to keep a closer eye on that.  We also discussed a new physical layout for the batteries when I get my new ones:  as I've mentioned before, the 24 large, deep-cycle batteries are place three deep and eight across, and the depth is too much to allow for any sort of personal physical comfort when maintaining them.

We northeastern Minnesotans put our hummingbird feeders out around the 15th of May, and I thought I saw a quick glimpse of one on Sunday, but I couldn't be sure.  At any rate, I got their sugar water made and out on Monday, and I saw the first . . . and then a couple . . . little guy(s)/gal(s) yesterday morning.

My days before, during, and after the upcoming holiday weekend are gonna be a whirlwind of activity:  my oldest girlfriend and her family are coming from their home in St. Paul to put the second story on their cabin, just 9 miles east of me (keep your fingers crossed for good weather!).  She's a physician's assistant, and her hubby is a physicist, so their schedules are tight.  Due to that, they'd planned this trip last fall and booked me to nanny for their two little ones - ages 2 1/2 and, let me count, 9 months - for five of those days.  I begged off from the Saturday & Sunday of the Memorial Day Week(end) so I could be in my gallery in town, hoping to grab the first of the season's tourists.  AND, my uncle and his wife from California might be visiting over those same days . . . so it's gonna be a BUSY time!

I've really kicked it into overdrive concerning my business, too, and my days "off" seem to be more productive than my in-office days.  While I'm not necessarily complaining, the problem with being in my office is that friends know that I'm in my office!  So, getting things done there seems to be a bit ineffectual.  I think I'm going to start trying to change that by keeping the door to my office closed.  If that doesn't work, I'll have to start putting the word out that I really can't be visited.  And/or just really limit those visits.  It's my own fault, I know:  when they say, "I really shouldn't be tying you up!" . . . I tend to respond, "I know, but I never see you!"  So, WHY am I complaining?  Yes, I am in charge of my own schedule:  I need to learn to put a cap on things.  ;)

But, following a COMPLETE waste of limited time in the office last week, I've made the first two of my three consecutive days here at home count.  I've put myself on an hourly schedule, and it's all about my 60-minute timer.  I'll do one hour at the computer on business work, then one hour on Swamp River Ridge work.  Rinse and repeat until the end of the day when I'm exhausted.  Usually around 9:00 or 10:00 PM.  BUT, I am getting things DONE, and that feels good!

My "around the homestead" accomplishments these past days have been based around the good weather:  laundry out on the line to dry, high-pressure washing of the second and larger slate walkway, planting a border of lily bulbs in an area susceptible to erosion, intense vacuuming (while the sun shines & charges my w-e-a-k and desperately-needing-to-be-replaced battery system), keeping an eye on the chicks (haven't lost one yet although I did have to perform an "emergency procedure" on a very pasty vent Sunday night), weeding, pruning trees, putting rock borders around perennials and trees, and more general clean-up of the front yard.  Even though there's no substantial green on the trees yet, I could already mow some of the grass . . . which I think I may start today.

I took a short walk in the woods the other day to see what I could find poking up through the duff:  wood anemones only, so far.  The unopened blossoms are particularly pink this year.

The ticks seem to be out in force already, though:  while at The Peanut's & Bunny's house for dinner last Friday night, I had to rather suddenly excuse myself to the bathroom as I sqeaked, "Excuse me, I have SOMETHINGCRAWLINGUPMYLEG!"  Their dad just said, "Mmm.  Tick."  I dropped trou in the bathroom and The Peanut came zoomin' in to say, "Can I see?!"  Yep, first tick of the season.  I showed her how to CRUSH their hard shells to make sure it was d-e-a-d!  Then, last night as I was sitting here in this chair in the library crocheting, I felt something drop onto my neck.  Yup, another one.  (How many of you are starting to itch and creep out, reading this?!)  I'd felt something in my hair earlier in the evening but couldn't find anything . . . I suspect it was the tick.  Yuck.  BUT, I'll take ticks ANY day of the week over (shudder) spiders.  (As I look overhead to make sure there isn't one ready to fall down on me.  Spider, not tick.)

I took the new header photo last Thursday as I headed into town, less than a mile down the road from home.  At first glance, I thought, "Oh, a baby!"  I was even a little hesitant to stop to take the picture, wondering where protective Mama was.  But, then I realized that it was just a small yearling:  freshly kicked out of the nest.  Cow moose (meese?) keep their calves through the whole first year until they calf again in the springtime:  then the 1-year old gets kicked to the curb to fend for him/herself!

So, with that, it's time for pictures.  Let's see what I can find of interest to post.

I took this picture a week ago last Monday to show how things were starting to green up.  Yes, that is snow in the right-hand side of the picture.  But, it's - finally - all gone now.

The soft needles of the Tamarack (aka American Larch) are starting to pop.

I took this yesterday to show that there are no green leaves on the trees yet.  This, across the driveway from the chicken house and poultry yard, is where I'd like to build a small barn - just out of view at the far left.  The structure that you see was going to be the home for the bee hives, but I've since found a better spot for them.  Instead, I will use this as a small, enclosed garden area . . . once it's repaired from the damage caused by a huge tree falling on it a couple of years ago.

I got the large front deck completely cleaned up yesterday.  Outdoor rugs moved and vacuumed, spider webs cleared.  Then, moved as many houseplants as will tolerate the outside conditions out there.  Got the new cover on the table, too.  Now, aside from the furniture cushions which need to stay inside unless being used, it's user-friendly and ready to go!

Finally, I'll leave you with a picture of the kitties, curled up on the afternoon sun.  I love it when they cozy up together!

I hope you have a terrific Wednesday!

A Gorgeous Day!

I couldn't have chosen a better day than yesterday for my Mental Health Day!  It was BEAUTIFUL and 59 degrees in the shade:  WOW!  I worked outside in nothing more than a threadbare sweatshirt all day (okay, and pants & mud boots).  I was pretty much exhausted last night and fell into bed just after 10:00.  But, as usual, it took me fo-EV-ah to fall asleep!  It seems that, when I lay down, my brain starts up.  Ugh.  It was all "in order to do this project, I need to get this figured out, and then I need to do this, and then, and then . . . ."  BUT, I guess it was worth it (going to bed at an early hour) 'cause I woke up about 5 minutes before the 6:45 alarms this morning:  AMAZE-BALLS!  ;)

Even though I didn't get my whole list done yesterday (see previous post), I got a LOT done and felt really good about my day.  I like the feeling of being physically worn out by the end of a day:  lets me know I was productive!

I just now remembered:  I saw the first skunk of the year on the winter driveway the other night.  I HOPE the dogs don't have a run-in with one this year!

There was SO much melting yesterday, and the yard in front of the garage is about 1/3 mud now instead of snow.  Once it is free of snow, I'll change the winter's snow tires for the regular ones.  The late snowstorm at the beginning of this past week was actually a good thing because I wouldn't have gotten that final layer of ice off the winter driveway as early if I hadn't needed to go out and plow.  As a result, that 4 1/2 mile stretch of road is free of snow now (at least, the narrow track that my car fits through is down to muddy dirt).

Check out this illustration of yesterday's melting.  These pictures were taken 8 hours apart:

11:30 AM - My lilac bush and a white pine just off the slate walking path leading from the side door.

7:30 PM - And, LOOK:  the first of the slate walk (to the right of the lilac bush) surfaced yesterday!!  Compare the two images of the white pine, in particular:  in the morning, the bottom boughs were still encased in snow!

Random:  while I'm uploading these pictures this morning, I'm also pulling ClipArt from the Web for signs advertising my Easter cards . . . and check this out:

Ummmm, yeah . . . this is EXACTLY what I think of when I think of Easter!  What the . . . ??!!

Here's the messy end of the kitchen (yesterday) waiting for me to clean it up and put away all the groceries that have been sitting around for well over a week.

Ahhhh, clean!  (At least this end of the kitchen is!)  And, everything is put away properly and in its place - not just shoved into the pantry.  (The door to the pantry is tucked between the upright freezer on the left and the glider rocker . . . which I'll have to recover at some point.  Warm pink is NOT my kitchen accent color!)

Do any of y'all have a comfy chair in your kitchen?  Honestly, I NEVER would have thought to introduce one to the space had it not been for a little house right down on the lake that my folks rented the summer we moved from the homestead and into town (before they'd rented the place in town).  (Clarification:  the rental is NOT the house / property they own now just outside of town.)  That was the summer before my senior year of high school.

This old, little ramshackled house had THE COMFIEST, most adorable (red gingham, if memory serves), tiny Lay-Z-Boy-esque upholstered chair nestled into a corner of the kitchen.  After we moved from there (and STILL, to this DAY!), Mom and I talked about breaking in to steal that chair!  (Actually, she did contact the owners to ask to buy the chair but they said, "Nope!")  Since that time (eek, 23 years ago!!!), I think both Mama Pea and I have always yearned for a kitchen large enough to accommodate a comfortable chair.  After all, WHERE does everyone congregate?  The kitchen!  And, every single time I've entertained here at the Swamp River Ridge house, there's always someone rocking away in that chair and chatting while I finish up meal preparations.  I hope Mom's planning on including a comfy chair in her new kitchen design (I'll bet she is)!

A couple of other seasonal "firsts" before I forget:  I saw the first pussy willows of the season yesterday (they bloomed a bit earlier down by the temperate big lake), and, this morning, I hear red-winged blackbirds!  Their trill is my FAVORITE summertime sound!

Another project on yesterday's list was clearing the big deck.  The weather has started to turn so lovely that I want to be able to sit out here before bug season starts (all too soon).  But, since the 4+ feet of ice and wet, wet snow was so heavy (and required chipping off with the ice chipper as I went), I cheated and just dug a path from the door off the sunroom to the place my wicker rocking chair sits by the railing.

A slightly distorted, but effective, view from the southwest end of the deck looking back at the sunroom.

After all that hard, sweaty work, I cracked a beer and sat down to survey my domain!  :)

We'll end here for today with a view of the (very!) snow-covered walkway between the large and small deck.  I think I'll let Ma Nature take her course with that . . . or, at least, wait until she's done most of the work!  ;)  This side of the house faces S/SW, and the windows are:  master bedroom (top left), master bath (top right), living room (bottom left), and dining room (bottom right).

What a difference . . . .

If I hadn't taken this picture myself . . .

and had other pictures to confirm the date . . .

I wouldn't believe that the following was taken

today, April 20th, one year ago.

Would YOU?

 

And here's what Swamp River Ridge looked like this morning:

 

Wow.  In this situation, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Shoveling Done. More or Less.

I began this post and uploaded the pictures on January 28th.  That was a solid 2+ weeks ago now.  

  

Still, the snow keeps coming, and I find the areas of snow needing to be shoveled to be MORE than enough to allow for my 'exercise with a purpose' New Year resolution.  And, in that resolution's defense, I will admit that I've noticed two benefits already.  #1, I can toss Tucker, who's built like a brick sh*t house very solidly, into the truck with much more ease than it's required in the past.  #2, one of the most disgusting places to have cottage-cheese-fat-dimpled-skin (the upper arms - ugh!) is actually firming up, I do believe!  And just in time for short sleeves & tanks.  Those days really are just around the corner.  I promise.  It is kinda humorous . . . or aggravating, depending on your perspective:  down by the lake, there is hardly NO snow (including the property my folks call home).

Okay, despite good intentions, my eyes are c-l-o-s-i-n-g.  But, it is 1:28 AM, after all.  Where DO the days go???  Muuuuust sleeeep.  I'll be back tomorrow.  Ahh, later today, that'd be.  :)

Day 5: HOME!

Thank gawd! We made it!


We got to my folks' house about 10:30 last night. Traveling from the southwest edge of Minnesota to the northeast tip made for a l-o-n-g day! After a visit with my mom & dad, we loaded up the dogs for the 1 hour ride home arriving about 1:00 AM. A quick perusal of things, and we were in bed by 1:30.

Tom woke up early this AM asking for a pain pill and then we both passed out again until NOON! So, I'm really functioning as though it's only just 11:00 AM now at 3:00 PM!

But, I've got the car all unpacked (although we had to leave about 1/2 of its contents with my parents last night in order to fit the dogs in!), and now I'm going to tend to the disaster that is this house (and find out WHAT the smell is here in the kitchen!).

Tom came outside when I was almost done with the car, but he's disappeared now, so I'm assuming he's sleeping and hoping he's getting some good, bone-mending rest. Sitting up in the car for 5 days was NOT exactly what his body needed!

Mass E-Mailing & Pictures

For those of you to whom this will come as a surprise, here's the brief (or not so brief, knowing me!) synopsis. For the rest of you, skip down for the latest news near the bottom.

Tom drove out to Sedona, Arizona leaving on Saturday, the 7th, and arriving on Monday, the 9th. He came out for some mental R&R and to get in a little bit of road bike (bicycle) training with his friend whom I've previously written about.

A view of our house at home the day of Tom's accident.

On his second day here, Wednesday the 11th, he and Don were just down the road a mile away from the house when the front tire of Tom's bike ultimately came off! Tom was catapulted into the ditch, first striking his head (thank god for helmets) and then absorbing the impact with the front right of his torso. Besides some pretty good road rash, the crash resulted in 6 shattered ribs, a badly broken clavicle (collarbone), and a collapsed lung. If he hadn't been wearing his helmet, he would have been paralyzed . . . or gone.

A shot of the prop-plane / puddle-jumper I flew out on.

After a brief visit to the ER in Sedona, he was transferred down to a terrific (and much larger) hospital in Cottonwood. I arrived there Thursday night (the earliest flight I could get thanks to Spring Break), and the wonderful staff set me up in an alcove of the private room with my own hide-a-bed. From that point until his discharge on Sunday evening, the 16th, I got to be his personal nurse 24/7 and never once left the hospital!

Tom's hospital room.
You can see my little bedroom alcove behind Tom in his hospital bed.



At his request, I shaved Tom's head once when he was still completely bed-ridden, but this was his first foray into having it done in the bathroom . . . as you can see by his position, it was a rather exhausting excursion.
I call this pose our version of 'The Thinker'. ;)



Here's a good shot of the icky yellow hue that Tom's bashed-up shoulder took on. He never turned black and blue but instead skipped right to this.

Tom on the first day home, Monday.

We came "home" Sunday night to the home of dear friends here in Sedona. They left on their cross-country bike trek on Wednesday morning and, since then, we have been slumming it (ha - hardly!!!) alone, recouping in the sun ever since.

With our friends in their back yard the night before they left (Tuesday night).
P waits - not too patiently - for D to open the champagne!

Tom feels better each day although he suffered just a bit of a set-back when we got out of the hospital - no IV pain meds and trying to get comfortable in a "regular" bed. A couple of mornings were hard, and Tom ended up laid out on the cool floor of the bathroom the first morning (by choice, fortunately). And, we had to adapt to setting an alarm for during the nights so that Tom could keep on top of the pain with his meds . . . vs. sleeping through and then being absolutely MISERABLE waiting for them to kick in when he awoke.

Tom doing his exercises that keep inflating his lung
and preventing it from collapsing.

The chest tube incision site the day we got to remove the bandage: Wednesday.
No stitches, no nuthin'!



The first short walk down the road.

We went out to run to an outdoor store and then the grocery store Wednesday evening, but it was really too early for Tom to attack all that, so I took him home in between the two errands. D & P's house here is only 5 miles out of town proper, so everything is quite handy.

The view out the car window on my way to the grocery store.

Today we took a little walk on the red rock trails across the road. So, like I said, a little more each day. We have a good friend from home who lives in Flagstaff now (and surprised the HECK out of us by showing up to visit Tomin the hospital last weekend!) and who we were planning on visiting tomorrow night. But, based on our experience with "overdoing it" so far, we made the executive decision today and asked if she would come down to us. We know it would be too much if we tried to do the drive there, the actual visit, and then the drive home.

On Monday, the 23rd, we drive back up to Cottonwood for another set of x-rays and a meeting with the doc. At that meeting we hope to be given the thumbs-up for Tom to travel. When he was released this past Sunday, there was still a small portion of his lung that was collapsed, and I think the repair of that will give us the go-ahead travel home. (He's had a little lung exercise machine that he uses several times a day and, during our walk today, he said that he could feel that his lung HAS healed, he thinks.)

Fortunate for us in this situation, Tom drove out here from Minnesota to Arizona, so we have wheels. Once we're given the all-clear we'll head home, but it remains to be seen how much Tom can comfortably travel each day (and how much driving I can keep my eyes open for since Tom does 95% of our long-distance driving). I know we'll need to take our time, though, so we've looked at the map to see how much of it we can do on designated Scenic Routes. But, if all goes as well as we expect/project, we'll be home around a week from tomorrow, I'm thinking.

I've been updating folks via our blog, and I'll repost this e-mail there with photos. Go to www.swampriverridge.blogspot.com.

Everyone both here (strangers!) and back home has been truly amazing regarding stepping in to do ANYTHING they can to help us. And, I wouldn't be able to be here helping Tom if my folks weren't taking care of Swamp River Ridge, so a HUGE thanks goes to them.

Hope to see you all soon . . . and keep those helmets on!

xox Weslie & Tom

"Yippee Ti Yi Yay . . . ."

"I'm on my way . . . . back in the saddle again!"

Ahhhh, technology. That said, I know I wouldn't miss what I didn't know about. So, is it better that I KNOW about the technology of the Internet and computers . . . or would I have been better off without it all in the first place? And, that's a dilemma for another day, I guess. Point is, as of 10:45 PM last Thursday night, we're back online!

Now, the first order of business is to welcome the newest little baby to Minnesota via his parents who are home from Uganda (their home-away-from-home) for the birth and the four weeks following! At a healthy 8 lbs. 7 oz., OAB arrived on Saturday, I heard from his proud ex-pat grandpa in England this AM (see, we're so wide-spread now that we DO need that thing called Technology)! We can't wait to meet this little bundle of love!! (This stunning photo was taken by the papa - an incredible photographer.)



Meanwhile, the other bean (the aforementioned bean's cousin!) we're expecting with much anticipation is still in utero, due mid-month. But, both mama and baby (and daddy, let's not forget him!) are completely healthy and ready-to-go, so we are on "Baby Watch"! With their respective parents (brother and sister) having married their respective spouses just 2 weeks apart in our hometown, it will be exciting to see these little ones grow up together! August 2008 - a good baby month! (This photo of the ravishing mommy was taken by this bean's proud papa!)

Baby news aside, onto This Is Our Life!

I am, quite literally, in a state of disbelief that it is August. Now, were it the beginning of June, I could (almost) handle that. On the up side, I am looking forward to the cooler temps that September always brings. And, really, we have not had the hot, hot summer that we had last year, but I can no longer tolerate ANY heat (since my early menopause - sorry for the TMI, fellas).

And, then there are the bugs. Due to the long, wet spring, we have been INundated with nasty little biters this summer. I'd hoped the cool weather precipitating the hatch would keep the mosquito numbers down, but it was an "Alaskan Bug Season" this year. From the beginning of June until the end of July you simply COULD NOT GO OUTSIDE unless you had bathed in 100% DEET bug-dope (sticky, slimy, and smelly . . . not to mention fairly toxic) or covered yourself (in those hot temps) head-to-toe in non-breathable netting. The last two months have just NOT been conducive to enjoying The Great Outdoors. Fortunately, there are 10 months left to each year when outside activity IS possible. It's just a shame that - in the (very) limited growing season - we have to make so many uncomfortable adjustments just to get out in it.

You'll notice a new August picture that I've posted above. No, Maisy hasn't morphed into a much bigger dog: that's Tanner who we were babysitting for 8 days at the end of last month. Although the picture doesn't adequately show it, he's really a small horse and proverbial "bull in the china shop" . . . but, fortunately, also a complete lover. :) And, true to that description, he made the bottom half of the front door's screen his own personal dog door one day when he decided that he wanted to be on the side of it that we were on. On the up side, we and our dogs like / use it so much that, with a few modifications, we're going to make it a permanent addition! So, no harm, no foul!

As I've mentioned before, Tom has been gone SO much now with his new job(s): painting for a friend's very successful LLC and developing Trapper Cabin Handyman Services. The former finds him working 65 miles from home (although he's only 36 miles away today!), and there's no sense in him driving all that way (home again) at night only to turn around in fewer than 12 hours to do it all again. So, we're using our little cabin just outside of town a lot more, and it's nice to have that option. Unfortunately, it would be nice to see my husband once in a while! Although our time was limited due to a run into town for the entire evening Saturday, we did get a few things done this weekend.

That huge spruce tree that we felled back in May has finally become many linear feet of good, solid lumber, thanks to help from my dad and Tom's use (more skilled each time) of our portable sawmill.

I think I mentioned that the crack in the tree was so massive that we thought sure it would be hollow. But, much to our surprise, it was solid as can be. So, rather than become firewood, it has provided some good slabwood (to become snap-cracklin' kindling this winter); some beautiful, wide 1/2" thick panels which will become cabinets in the kitchen; an extra, solid 10' (12'?) 6 x 6; and these two 10" x 10" x 12' lunkers for our front yard gateway.

Tom got them stained (grey) on Saturday, and the upright supports will get stained the same red as the house and garage fascia*. Yesterday, we got them on their supports and perfectly placed. And, yes, they are H-E-A-V-Y!!! Tom came away with a bloody foot (as usual, he was wearing just his Tevas), and I came away with VERY swollen and sore forearms (where the butt ends of the timbers rested as I lifted them for Tom to adjust the supports underneath). * In the first picture, you can see that Tom got the staining done on the garage fascia. The garage, itself, will still be painted a lighter grey to match the house. Maybe NEXT summer?! Yikes.

Another notable aspect of these pictures is our MASSIVELY OVERGROWN yard! It looks like it should belong to an abandoned residence! Good grief! I've used the lawn mower ONCE this summer . . . and only for about 1 hour (that's all the heat and bugs would allow). Now that the bugs are beginning to abate, though, I really hope to get out to make a difference.

A month (or two?!) ago, I spent a good wad of money on many well-researched flower and ground cover seeds for the area between this gateway and the house. Perennials, all of them. We hope to have ground cover in the area closest to the house where the trees / shrubs / evergreens are planted along the two slate walkways. Then, alongside the gravel path (soon to come - the gravel was delivered) that will join the gateway and the slate walkway will be taller wild flowers. I'm trying to figure out how to produce that organized chaos of an English garden without it looking like a care-less mess. Any ideas?

Okay, that's all for now. My hat goes off to those of you who are doing a bang-up job of updating your blogs regularly. I'd love to say our lack of Internet was the only thing that prompted this latest dearth (SUCH a good word, that is!) of posts, but we all know that ain't the truth. ;) I just have to get my MIS under control (Multiple Irons [In The Fire] Syndrome).

Spring Has Finally Sprung

Good morning and YAYYY! As of yesterday, spring has finally sprung in the far reaches of northeastern Minnesota! Sure signs were laying in bed before the alarm went off yesterday morning listening to the songbirds for the first time, it being warm enough to leave the back door slightly ajar so the dogs & cats could come and go as they pleased, listening to the returned red-winged blackbirds trilling (my most favorite summertime sound), and me being able to stand outside to wave Tom off this morning instead of smiling through a window of the house.

So - finally! I love winter (my favorite season, to be sure), but I love spring. Yes, it's dirty and messy but it's also the rebirth of everything! Each day brings new changes like no other time in the year.

A friend e-mailed yesterday to ask how I am and wondered why I haven't written anything here about that. Well, 'cause there's not much to share anymore . . . PLUS I don't want to sound like an old woman who has nothing better to talk about than her most recent ailments! :) But, if inquiring minds want to know: I no longer have abdominal pain unless I physically stress myself (pushing or pulling something too heavy) - which I'm still trying to not do. I still get tired really easily, and my body is still trying to physically "level out" from going from three years of being on HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) to - now - neither being on nor having (!) ANY hormones! I still have the "other" aches and pains that we'd hoped (against hope?) would be eliminated by this surgery, but whadya gonna do: surgery doesn't fix everything! So, that's that - my current medical status.

With the return of the sun and the warm temps, the snow has been melting like nobody's business! When we took our "after-work" walk down to the river last night, the opportunity presented itself to take our annual walk down (on) the river . . . before it was too late. The first picture here is from three years ago today: CANOEING (!) on the river! That's a bit of a difference from what we saw walking on the river yesterday! (Pictures 2, 3, and 4.)



I've uploaded a video, too - taken last Sunday, the 13th: two days after the big late-season snowstorm. The back-story to this is that Tom had thrown a snowball for Tucker (a dog who doesn't really "get" the whole theory of playing catch), and it just smacked down on his face! Twice. :) So, we were trying to recreate that for the camera . . . with no luck, of course. At any rate, it was kind of fun to see them romping in the snow. Click here to view that.

And, finally, the last picture is of our freshly messy yard (taken last night). Spring is here!

Repetition in Winter

I just replaced the heading picture with the March photo of the house, and it struck me as humorous how similar all the winter shots are! Gives you an idea that - aside from the snow melting off the roof - not much changes in our surroundings here in the wintertime! :)

Below you'll see the December through March shots. I wonder if the slate walk-ways will begin to be visible in the April picture?

Winter Photos

As you can see above, I just posted the February picture, but - HA! - it hardly looks any different from the January one (pictured here)!

December Monday Morning

Happy First Monday of December! (December ALREADY?! Ugh!)

We've had quite the array of winter weather over the past week. Last Tuesday, we got about 4" of snow and then Tom and I ran up to Canada after he got off work to pick up a few last-minute supplies I needed for the local craft sale on Saturday. I don't know how it ALWAYS happens, but only 4 stops - including dinner - and we didn't get home until just before midnight! Argh! We did learn, however, that the way to avoid the 1/2 hour wait in the check-out lines at the Superstore is to be shopping at 10:30 PM their time (they're an hour ahead of us). I swear, vs. the HUNDREDS there are during the day, there were only about 12 cars in the parking lot. Max. (The Superstore is like a combination of Target and Cub Foods.)

Between midnight and mid-morning Wednesday, the bigger snowfall (that we weren't really expecting) started, and we had a decent amount by morning. Enough that I knew, after the alarm went off at 6:00 and I looked outside, that I needed to hook up the plow and head on out so that Tom could get out to the main road to head for work. So, coffee on and Tom's lunch made, I was out the door at 6:45.

(More later - my day is slipping away!)

5 August 2006

So, for comparison's sake: this is where we were LAST YEAR on August 5th . . . just beginning the installation of the zinc roof and with NO stonework done! Wow. Seems like the house has been "wrapped up" a lot longer than that!

Administration & Question of the Day

Well, after being flooded with comments (okay, two) about my very cool new sepia-toned header picture on the blog . . . all requesting for a change back to the original . . . I have. When the people speak, I listen! Ha ha.

My California-based uncle remarked that the new photo didn't "show the great green that you have in MN." (True enough.) And, my mom weighed in almost immediately after I had posted it, saying that she didn't like "the coloration of the house picture" because "it looks scarily, spookily, ominously like the air used to before a tornado in Illinois! When you live through something like that, you're scarred for life." So, again, I acquiesce. ;)

And, in case you hadn't noticed, I try to update the blog header photo of the house once a month so that the (albeit subtle) changes - both in landscaping/progress AND the seasons - can be seen. And, now that I think about that, I guess a color picture does work better for all of that, anyway . . . .

Regarding the most recent Question of the Day . . . I didn't stump anyone! I figure one vote (of the scant three) was from my mother (who would know the truth), another from my oldest girlfriend (who would also remember said event), and the final from a third good guesser. So, yes, we (Chicken Mama's family when she was growing up) got electricity when I was 12 years old. I remember it well - a memory probably aided by the Polaroid of Mom turning on the light switch for the first time!

Prior to 24/7 electricity, Dad would fire up the impossibly loud diesel generator once a week so that Mom could do the week's ironing and other such energy-requiring tasks (although I can't remember any others, specifically). The glare from the bright, electric lights (the house was wired) that went on with the generator were always a bit startling at first before you got used to them.

28 May 2007

In-progress construction of the raised-bed flower garden off the end of the kitchen.

15 May 2007

A close-up view of the zinc shingle assembly and installation.

By the end of the day, they'd run out of zinc - 1/2 of the 4-season porch roof from being done.

Once they get another sheet or two of zinc and hand-bend the rest of the shingles, they'll be back up to finish.

12 May 2007

Of course we knew it would make a difference, but we didn't realize just HOW much it would "pull things all together" to have the smaller roofs finished!

Here's the owner of the company putting the finishing touches on the front entrance roof.