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Latest House update - Feb 23, 2011

2011-02-25T10:37:00.001-05:00

This is the latest update to the house. You can see the roadside deck has been started. Most of the other work is electrical and plumbing, so no photos of that would be interesting most likely.

We hope that everyone enjoys their day. Spring is in the air......right????

Let's try something new....

2011-02-16T17:23:00.002-05:00

Play slideshow

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Ok .... I'm trying something new. I noticed that I can create an email and then send it to blogger and it's supposed to create a post. Maybe I can edit it easier this way? Well at least maybe I can get my photos loaded easier! Let's see what happens. Update: Well looks like it did not work as it should, but you can still see the photos if you select to "Play slideshow". Not sure how long that the photos might be available though.

building the garage

wrapping the garage

doors and windows in walkout

windows in the garage

inside the walkout basement

roadside view as of Feb 16th

lakeside view as of Feb 16th

Have a wonderful day!

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Feb 16, 2011

2011-02-16T17:03:00.004-05:00

This photo below is the latest and greatest for our house at the lake. The lumber is for the decks that are to be added to the lakeside, roadside and south side of the house. My entire album of the lake house is on my FaceBook page. Honestly, it is getting more and more frustrating to load things onto this blogger. I just had to redo it twice and decided to give up and only post this one photo. Join me on FaceBook to see the entire album. Have a WONDERFUL day!

2010-11-23T17:59:00.002-05:00

It started out in the 40's this morning and the temp just kept dropping all day until we were at 30 degrees by the time we left for home. We arrived up at the lake around 9 am. The crew was working hard to get the house unwrapped, cut in half and ready for the crane to come in to set the house onto the foundation. It was very windy and cold by the time all was set to go. We sure felt a sigh of relief when the house was sitting solidly onto the foundation! This crew is amazing!

Oh my......I guess that I loaded the pictures in reverse order! LOL Scroll to the bottom and work your way up.

The house looked like this at about 3:30 pm.

They will work to get it all closed in before they leave for the day.

Both sides are together here.

They are now lifting the hinged roof into place with the crane.

This is the roadside section being lifted into place.

The lakeside section is being lifted into place.

A view of the basement, looking out over the lake,

before they set the house.

Everyone have a wonderful evening!

Progress on the house at the lake....

2010-10-22T18:23:00.012-04:00

The neighbors have been visiting everyday that they have been working on the house. The lawn chairs are lined up along the edge of the work area and we all sit and watch. Everyone is anxious to know when the house is coming. Progess is being made.

The blocks were delivered Oct 13, 2010. They began with the basement walls.

Oct 14, 2010 another day working on the house block...

The walls are getting higher....

The end of another day of work....

The progress as of the end of Oct 15, 2010. This is the roadside of the house. They added tar to the wall before they headed home.

Yesterday we had quite a bit of activity.

They filled the block on the basement with insulation....

They filled the basement floor and outside edges with pea gravel. The truck had a converyor on it and the gravel shot out across the basement floor. Was pretty neat to watch. This is one of the masons in the basement of

the house after they were done adding the pea gravel.....
Today they worked on the garage walls....

.....and another crew finished the sill plate on the house basement walls....

They finished the garage walls this afternoon and have called for the inspection. I can't believe that I didn't get some pictures tonight when they finished up! I guess that we were beat from watching them work so hard all day long....LOL. I'll take some next time we go up of the finished basement and garage foundations. They have to build the stick built wall of the walkout basement and backfill around the outside of the block walls. Loads of sand fill will be added to the inside of the garage and packed down between layers to bring it up to grade. After that, the cement will be poured for the basement and garage floors. The house will be delivered possibly within the next couple of weeks! There's one house in front of ours. We heard that they have to have two days of nice weather to set a house onto a foundation. Last we heard, they will be setting our house with a crane. They had thought that they were just going to roll it off of the truck onto the foundation, but I guess the plan has changed. Will be interesting! Of course, they are calling for rain nearly everyday next week, so we will have to wait to see what happens. Ughhhhh.....

More views of the lake - Oct 11, 2010

2010-10-12T08:03:00.006-04:00

Yesterday we went out before lunch for another color tour. Wow....you just couldn't take a bad picture! The colors were just outstanding. The lake was still and the reflections speak for themselves. What a great day!

Us in front of one of the islands on the lake.

A look at our dock.

The newest finished house on the lake. Took over a year to complete

and they still have to work on the landscaping.

North shore of main lake looking at the only island that has a house on it.

West shore of the main lake.

One of the islands, looking toward the east shore of the main lake.

West shore of the main lake.

East and South shore of the main lake.

North Shore of the main lake.

West shore of the main lake.

Mark fishing, photo facing the East shore of the main lake.

West Shore of main lake

East and south shore of main lake.

This one below is looking into our cove.
Duck pond

House on Duck Pond

West shore of Duck Pond with horse barn.

East shore of main lake.

The one below is also looking into our cove.

Approaching the dam

West shore of main lake, below.

Below is the house across from our dock.

Enjoy the day!

Murphy Lake Fall Color Tour

2010-10-10T21:07:00.002-04:00

Click photo twice to go to youtube if you'd like to watch in full screen at 720 resolution. I lost the music about half way through. Guess I messed up somewhere, but the movie is still there.

Enjoy!

October 10, 2010 - Fall Color Tour of our lake

2010-10-10T16:35:00.004-04:00

We had a PERFECT day for the color tour of our lake.

Enjoy the photos below....

From our neighbors, Jim and Bonnie's deck...

The following are various views from around the lake....

Below is mother, Pearl enjoying her boat ride.

This below is our little cove by our dock. See our shed?

Another view, below, of our cove.

Captian Mark...

Would this be fun or what? What a veiw they had!

Mark wants to go kayaking tomorrow!

This one below is a shot that I took as we were coming into our dock....

Another shot from the dock of our trailer and the piles of dirt....

I hope that everyone had as nice of a day as we did.

The color tour was outstanding!

Hugs....

First week of October 2010

2010-10-05T20:40:00.005-04:00

Colors are starting to turn at the lake.

Bob R at the lake turned 70 this week!
They set the footings and poured the cement today!

They are working on the lake side of the garage.

The nearest portion of the footings in the photo below is where

the house will be once the basement is completed.

Ok.....we are getting excited! The blocks are to be set on Monday if all goes as planned.

Stay tuned......

Happenings the past couple of weeks...

2010-09-30T10:29:00.007-04:00

Things have been happening around here the past couple of weeks. We've either had some serious beaver and mole damage or someone is digging a basement at the lake!

My steps before the destruction....

My steps after.....
The culprit being watched by hubby and neighbor Bob R with Dom in his lap.

Grandkids by the fountain out back of one of our favorite places to eat....JJ's

Hubby relaxing on the river. We took a ride to Frankenmuth to pick out Mark's birthday gift.....a plow for the Ranger.

Cousin Roy turned 80!

Roy and Pat...

Me, Mark, Jerry and Cheri

Me, Bridget, Jerry and Cheri

Roy with his amazing birthday cake...

One more for good measure!

Hope you had a wonderful time. I'll send the other photos to you soon!

Love to my cousins! Was great to get a chance to visit.

Cutting the very first tree....boo hoo!!!

2010-09-14T11:05:00.001-04:00

Wedding Day, continued....

2010-09-14T09:36:00.031-04:00

Wedding Day Photos continued.....

It was a wonderful evening!

Wedding Day

2010-09-14T09:12:00.016-04:00

Photos from the Wedding Day

flower girl and ring bearer

Groom & mom
flower girl
waiting for the ring bearer

ring bearer

groomsmen and pastor waiting for the bride

beautiful bride and her father

Mr & Mrs!

sister and groom

flower girl and ring bearer

bride and groom with bride's parents

bride and groom with groom's parents

Mother / Son dance

Congratulations and Best Wishes!

Love, Mom and Mark

Trees are falling

2010-09-14T08:42:00.010-04:00

We've started a new project. The trees are falling to make way for a cabin at the lake.

April 2010 before the destruction began.

Mark and I cut down the smaller trees first starting in early September 2010.
We did what we could do. Look at all of the stumps!

Mark's hurting! Bob F came to check out what was happening.

Mark's buddy, Chuck is cutting, Mark is marking out his logs.

Another one saddly bites the dust with the last lone pine standing to go next.

The Creek's new location up by the road. The logs that Mark will saw up for woodworking are lining the septic field and tank.

They are all down now and cleaned up. Sad to see all of those trees down.

Now we wait on the building permits and the foundation will start soon.

Everyone enjoy the day!

A June weekend at the lake

2010-06-27T17:02:00.003-04:00

Kayaking fun on the lake....
Beauty of the lake....

Catch of the day.....

Two happy fishers.....

I'm SO proud!

2010-06-25T11:16:00.002-04:00

Another "project" at the lake. We are burying the electric and water lines to the RV so that we don't have to keep moving them to mow.

Let's get some Smore's going!
An ultra light ride over the lake. This fellow comes to visit the lake nearly every weekend.

Reflections on the water.

A yummy red, white and blue cake for Father's Day. Happy Father's Day honey bear.

Miss you dad.....

2010-06-14T15:58:00.002-04:00

Well it has been awhile since my last update. Guess things have been busy here. Here's a few items from the last month at the lake....

Rascal has his head in the oatmeal box trying to get his ball out. What a hoot!

Sherry and Dale came up for an afternoon to the lake. Mark drove the boat while Dale trolled. Sherry and I just sat while visiting and enjoying the evening. Dale managed to snag this 26" pike. We put him back into the water though. Next time the fate might be different!

Bob R on his bass boat with neighbor Dennis. I think that we out did you this time Bob. Bob said that he had caught 4 bass that night.

How many Canadian Geese can you count?

Jan 9, 2010

2010-01-10T08:02:00.008-05:00

Sneaky Pete.....

came down from upper Michigan last night to a local restaurant, so we gathered several friends and family to join us for the evening. Sneaky Pete can sure play the fiddle!

Our gang.....

Our gang from the other direction. Who's missing from the picture? LOL

Sneaky Pete Schindler on the fiddle along with his wife on the mandolin and son on the drums. Pete with his wife.

Pete's on the drums..

Nov 2009 - Jan 2010

2010-01-09T09:22:00.015-05:00

Let's play catch-up here again.....

It's a Chinese birthday for our grand daughter.

Thanksgiving Dinner with family.
Thanksgiving birthdays.

A little sing along on niece's pink guitar.

Kid's in front of our Christmas tree.

Leggo time!

I want to learn how to crochet! They both did amazingly well for the first try.

An angel in the snow.

Me first!

I have to do things fancy, so I twist and turn.

A look across the yard at the snow.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day! We sure enjoyed our snow day with the kids.

Dec 16 2009

2009-12-16T08:36:00.003-05:00

Think Spring!

We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.....

Oct 25 2009

2009-10-25T14:49:00.003-04:00

Had the grandkids for the weekend. Always a joy to have them in the house. We will miss them.

Oct 17 2009

2009-10-18T08:08:00.009-04:00

The kids have started a tradition of going to a campground where they have trick or treat. The campground closes off all the roads so the kids can safely go from RV to RV to fill their treat bags. So much safer and the kids have a ball. There were hundreds of gobblins roaming the roads. Below are some photos that I snapped at the gathering.

Our grandson

Our grand daughter

The colors in the park were outstanding!
Mommy, a friend and Daddy
Daddy, Mommy and kids

Trick or treat?

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Oct 14 2009

2009-10-14T16:41:00.003-04:00

The colors have arrived at the lake and I'd say that they are pretty much peak!

This first photo was taken from the lower level of our lake lot, looking up toward the road.

This photo is a view of our lake lot from the waters edge.

This view of the lake was taken from our neighbor, Jim and Bonnie's deck.

This view of the lake below was taken from our neighbors side yard.

This below is the view of our upper yard at the lake lot looking north up the lane.

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood, but quite chilly at about 40 degrees today. The well is now blown out. The pontoon and RV are tucked away in the barn at the stick house. The dock has been pulled up to the shore. Now we await the leaves to fall, one more mowing of the grass and then raking of the leaves. We look forward to our Wednesday lunch with the neighbors.

Much love to all of our family and friends. We hope that your day has been as beautiful as ours!

Oct 2 2009

2009-10-10T14:35:00.001-04:00

The kids had soccer games last weekend. Here's a couple of photos of them in pursuit of the ball.

2009-10-10T12:30:00.003-04:00

Some colors at the lake a few weeks ago. I like the reflection!

It's getting more colorful now, but the boat is out of the water. So I took some shots out of the window of the truck while driving the RV home.

Hope everyone is doing well!

PS......Just had a odd thing happen on FaceBook. Be careful. Someone stole one of our friends passwords somehow and was on his chat trying to get money sent to London. Said that he had been held up at gun point, lost his cash, credit cards and phone and he needed money wired to him. This scam has been going around for years and now it's on FB too, so beware. You might not always be talking to who you think you are!

Oct 1 2009

2009-10-02T12:54:00.003-04:00

Ok....got this photo to load now. I guess that the blogger was having issues with uploading photos. This photo below was taken on Oct 1, 2009 on our lake. It has started raining now and it is to keep on raining for several days here, so perhaps this will be the best "color" photo that we get at the lake. Hopefully, next week, I will get a chance to get my blog caught up with all of the photos that I've taken during the summer. Hope that this message finds everyone in good health and enjoying life!

June 19-24 2009

2009-07-01T10:28:00.008-04:00

I'm playing catch up here today. I haven't made any posts lately. We've been spending as much time as we can up to the lake, coming home only to mow the lawn and pay the bills. We enjoyed visits with friends. The lake was sprayed for weeds. Hope it kills them! We visited Bob's farm at the lake with Mario and Frances. Rocky and Rusty got clipped for the summer. That's about it in a nutshell. Enjoy the photos and call us sometime to come up for a visit. We'd love to have you!

Two buddies sharing a beer out at the island.

Reflection on a calm day out on the lake.
Looking at our dock as we come in for a landing.

We had some excitement at the lake when they brought an airboat out to spray the lake for weeds.

Rocky the alpacha is headed for his shearing. BEFORE.....

AFTER....

Mark with Popeye. You have to keep an eye on Popeye, he'll get you from behind! He especially loves females with bare legs! I keep a close eye on him when we are at the farm.

Mario and Frances with Bob at his farm at the lake. Frances is holding Harley and Bob is holding her baby chick, Davison. Bob always comes up with the cutest names for his animals.

Mark, Jim and Rascal. Jim stops by often at our place at the lake for a visit. Rascal rides in a baby pack with Jim. Rascal can't wait to get off to find his ball and chew.

Here's a group shot of us with Mario and Frances on the boat.

Chuck and Carole seem to be enjoying the ride!

Our friends, Mario and Frances out on the boat.
HAPPY 4th of July to all!

June 12, 2009 - Friday

2009-06-13T10:19:00.002-04:00

The grand kids were able to come spend a couple of nights at the lake with us in the RV. Here they are on their maiden cruise in the kayaks. They had a blast and didn't want to get out. At first I had them tied by a rope until I knew that they were able to guide them around our little bay area, but after a few minutes, they were both off on their own.

Here's the kids on the pontoon with grandpa steering the boat.

The kids took a dip at the neighbors house. It was quite cold yet and they didn't stay in long.

Here are the kids dipping their feet into the water at the dock.

Here's grandpa with the catch of the day. This is the largest one so far that he's caught.

June 7, 2009

2009-06-07T19:16:00.003-04:00

My oh my, have I been bad lately about updating my blog! I did take a few shots of the newest flower bed at home in the front yard. It's looking pretty nice! I keep forgeting to bring my other camera home from the lake to get the photos off of the card to post to the blog! I've been so busy today trying to clean out some of my other flower beds. All of the time at the lake means not enough time to work in the flower beds at home. But hey.....we are retired and need to enjoy life!

I do hope that everyone is having wonderful weather! Is slowly, but surely warming up here finally.

May 14, 2009

2009-05-15T07:18:00.003-04:00

As many of you know, we decided to put a dock out for our boats to tie up to. The winds have been unbelievable the past few days and the pontoon has been swaying around. We went to Menard's and bought a 40 foot long premium floating dock kit. This dock took us two days to put together. Wow.....what a lot of nuts, washers and bolts! It was all worth the effort though. We think that it will be a great dock for us. Many thanks to all of the neighbors and our son in law for helping us to get this put into the water!!!!

Here's a view of our new dock. What an improvement it has made for us to access the boats! It was quite the chore to get it into the water. Now that it is in, it should be easy to remove in the winter by just pulling each section up onto the shore. We will see when winter comes around again just how easy it will be. Here's a shot of the dock from our neighbors property. You can see how it connects up to our deck and boardwalk on shore.

This is a shot of our lilacs in our backyard at home. Wouldn't these look great at the lake? I have a few bushes already started up there. In maybe 20 years, we will have more bushes full of lilacs up to the lake. LOL

This is another shot of our backyard showing some of the flowering trees and shrubs. This Spring has been perfect for the flowering items in our yard. It smells like a perfume factory back there!

One last shot of our dock with the two boats tied up to it. We've had to get rid of our paddle boat. It was over 20 years old and didn't make it through the winter. Not sure if we will replace it or not just yet. We just bought two kayaks this Spring, so they might be all that we need for now to enjoy the lake.

Have a WONDERFUL day everyone!

May 8, 2009

2009-05-08T20:06:00.002-04:00

On the way home from the lake today, a herd of deer ran out in front of us. I just happened to have the camera in my lap and managed a photo. Here's a couple of the deer. It's amazing that we have not hit any deer yet. We see them all the time up around our lake.

We finally decided to get a dock to put out into the water for our boats. Will make life much easier. Here's one of the two sections that we put together today. Two more sections to go and then we'll get them put into the lake.

What a beautiful day it was here today. It's still 72 degrees at 8 pm. We could handle this type of weather year round! It was wonderful at the lake and we managed to make time for a spin around the lake before we headed for home. We are both beat after working all day long on the two dock sections. We will sure be glad when they are in the water. We both look like little piggies....we are sooooooooooooo dirty!

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

May 4, 2009

2009-05-05T14:06:00.006-04:00

Had a chance for a boat ride on the lake yesterday and on our lap we saw this loon. He was just sitting there on his perch looking from side to side most likely waiting to see a fish jump. It was sure a beautiful day. UPDATE: Well now I'm not so sure if this is a loon or not. Anybody out there know? I'm going to start hunting through my bird book and other internet sites to see if I can find out what it is. Maybe it's some type of an egret or heron. After doing some searching, this bird is beginning to look like it might be a Cormorant. Anyone out there know about Michigan birds? Click on the photo to get a closer look.

April 29, 2009

2009-04-29T19:44:00.003-04:00

We spent the day at the lake today. We took a chilly spin on the pontoon around the shore line and I took some pictures. Right up next to our boardwalk, we found these Canadian geese with their babies. I managed to get a few shots of them. The state land was beautiful with the cherry trees in bloom up against the birch and pine trees.

Here's our place looking to shore from the boat. The water is extremely high right now, so we are having no problem at all getting the boat in and out! The dam looks like Niagara Falls there is so much water pouring over it right now. We hopefully will have a dock out into the water in a few weeks so that we can then have something to secure our boats to better so that the wind doesn't play games with the pontoon and the fishing boat.

We do hope that everyone is enjoying their Spring weather! I think that just maybe it is finally starting to warm up here.

April 11 2009

2009-04-11T19:45:00.005-04:00

Today we went to the FOX Theater in Detroit for the Riverdance show. Was a great day with the family. The show was wonderful! They did not allow cameras inside, so all that I could take were some shots outside of the FOX, at the Hockey Town Cafe and at Applebee's where we went afterwards for our grandson's birthday. It sure is pretty inside. Wish I could have taken a few photos in there to show everyone.

The birthday boy!

April 6 2009

2009-04-06T09:08:00.002-04:00

!!! ************* !!!

Sure did not expect to wake up to this snow this morning!

Kids with great grandma

2009-03-14T14:44:00.003-04:00

Took my grandkids over to see my mom, so I got a picture of them. She was sure glad to visit with them. Grandson found her old computer and played an ancient racing game. Granddaughter had fun running around watering the plants and playing with the toys.

Our son's band festival

2009-03-12T18:48:00.002-04:00

Our son's band played at their band festival last weekend and earned a II rating overall. We're very proud of their accomplishments. I thought that they sounded wonderful!

Feb 22 2009

2009-02-24T10:57:00.005-05:00

Ray the birthday boy and wife, Barb.

We had a cousin to celebrate his 75th birthday with a party at the bowling alley. Here's some photos of the group that gathered to honor him.

Ruth, Ray and Yvonne

Ray with his cake.

Ray's ready to bowl!

The group of all of us cousins together.

Had a wonderful time visiting with all of my distant cousins that I don't see very often.

Dec 25 2008

2009-02-22T09:22:00.002-05:00

I'm trying something new. Let's see if it works!

January 21 2009

2009-01-23T08:04:00.002-05:00

We took a drive up to the lake on Wednesday to have our weekly lunch with the gang. Was sure great to see and visit with everyone! Afterwards, we drove to the property to see what it looked like there. We had not been there in a couple of months because the roads were so bad. The first photo is of our boardwalk after I came back from taking photos of the neighbors house to send to them in Florida. I'm looking down the hill and toward the lake. You can see our boardwalk there in the center of the photo.
This following photo is of the main part of the lake where the islands are. The island shown is the one that is the highest of the three. Anyone for swimming? I did not see much activity on the lake at all. No ice shannies or kids skating. No ice cleared off that I could see. Just saw one place that our neighbor across the water from us had taken out his four wheeler to make a few donuts in the snow. The snow was only about 3" deep on the main part of the lake, but in our little bay area it was at least a foot or more deep! The ice looked decent in our area, but not so great near to the shore on the main lake part. I didn't walk out on the ice very far though. I imagine that it was better further out and away from the shoreline.

Here's a couple of shots down the boardwalk. You can see how deep the snow was there. Maybe that is why we are so quiet. The snow even banks up here more than it does on the rest of the lake. We are very protected and surrounded by trees and shrubs.

After this trip to the lake, it makes us long all the more to get back there with our RV in the spring. We just love it up there!

Hope everyone is warm and cozy.

The sun is out....

2009-01-20T13:34:00.006-05:00

...and there is plenty of snow on the ground!

The first photo was taken Jan 19th out our front dining room window, before the sun came out to melt the snow.

Just as a comparison, this next one was taken on Jan 7th after a light snowfall.

These pictures below were taken this morning, Jan 20th. You can certainly see that God has added a few more inches of the white stuff to the ground and on the trees since Jan 7th! When I got up this morning around 7 a.m., it was a mere -1 degrees. At nearly 2 p.m. it is all the way up to 11 degrees. It certainly has been cold and snowy around here lately. The first picture below is of mom's house at the end of our drive that is lined on both sides by the spruce trees. If you click on it to see full size, you can see where I had to climb up on the roof to see what was going on with her furnace vent. THAT was FUN.....NOT!

This is our house in the photo below looking through the Colorado Blue Spruce trees along the road edge. The poor bushes along the front of the house will take all summer to recover from the heavy load of snow that is covering them.
Here below is a shot looking down the center of the double row of trees along the roadside looking to the north. The snow is starting to fall out of the top of the trees and onto the lower branches. The sun has already melted a lot of the snow away.

We hope that everyone is doing well and keeping warm. The scenery is beautiful, but we sure wish that we were somewhere warmer!

January 7 2009

2009-01-07T20:44:00.003-05:00

Thought that I would share a few pictures that I took today. The first is a picture of our house through the Colorado Blue Spruce that line the front of our yard.
Here's some of the birds that I was able to snap. Took several photos, but they were flitting on and off so quick that I couldn't get too many good shots. I took this shot of these birds after the the squirrel jumped off.

Mr. squirrel decided that he wanted to monopolize the feeder. The birds were not too happy. He was twisting and twirling trying to get into the seed. I had to step out the door to get him to get off and he took a flying leap over to the pole. Usually they can't get onto this feeder, but guess this one is a better jumper than most. The birds were delighted when he finally left. They didn't even scatter when I went out the door to scare the squirrel off, they just flocked to the feeder. Who knows how long he had been on there and I guess the birds were starving.

Mr. Cardinal

Mr. Blue Jay

January 4 2009

2009-01-04T12:40:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

Mark is onto a new jigsaw puzzle. Here's his hideout in the basement. How much more could a man ask for? A TV, fidge filled with refreshements, a jigsaw puzzle, a couch to stretch out on and a gas heater. Yeah...maybe a bathroom too. That will maybe come in time.

Here's his last puzzle all put together. Now we'll take it apart and stick it back into the box. Anyone want to put a puzzle together?
Here's the two strips of wallpaper that I have up so far. It looks really nice, but that last piece was sure a challenge. I had the window, toilet paper holder and the furnace vent all to deal with in one piece. Glad that one is over. Hope that is the worst of the bunch! Looks pretty good for some paper that I paid a dollar a roll for several years ago.

Next project - wallpaper master bath - before

2008-12-30T10:41:00.005-05:00

We used to have wallpaper in the bath, but I ripped that down about a year ago. I then plastered the bad spots and painted with Kiltz paint to stop the mildew at the ceiling edge due to the moisture from the jet tub and shower. The bath has been this stark white for several months. I wanted to make sure that the paint had cured before replacing the wallpaper. So far no more mildew. I plan to start this project in the next few days and when complete, I will take more pictures to post. We also bought a more powerful fan that will eventually get installed.

I put a new family group picture in the side margin of the blog. It was taken on Thanksgiving weekend when we had the family over for dinner.

Happy New Year!

Christmas afternoon

2008-12-27T11:02:00.014-05:00

We are all ready for our guests for Christmas dinner. Mark is playing the Wii to practice up before the real pros get here to compete with him. Here's just a few of the dessert goodies and stuff to snack on. I love my one horse open sleigh!
Everyone is ready to dig in. Hurry up and get the picture over with so that we can eat!

Our grandkids in front of the tree. It's a family tradition to take these next two photos.

Our son and daughter.....

Passing out the gifts....

She got what she asked for!

And.....so did he!

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without all of the wrapping paper, boxes and gifts all over the floor around the Christmas tree.

Still unwrapping those gifts....

Pretty much got them all opened up now. Our son in law was puzzled about that stick handle. He had to open another gift to figure it out.

We had a wonderful evening with our family. So glad that everyone could come. Next time, I guess I'll stand in front of the mirror to get a picture of myself to post too. LOL Mark had the video camera out to take pictures and totally forgot once everyone get here. He said that he did take some pictures of the table set up and the basement though!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

More snow to come yet tonight

2008-12-24T11:31:00.005-05:00

A look out the driveway. There's still some snow in the trees here, but a lot is already melting out of most of the trees.

I don't think that we will be BBQ'ing anytime soon.
A path for the electric meter reader and the boardwalk to the north barn and mom's.

A look out the front window. Still a lot of snow in these trees yet.

The weather outside is FRIGHTFUL!

2008-12-21T09:59:00.009-05:00

I think that the photos speak for themselves! It's COLD, WINDY and just NASTY outside today! At times, when the wind gusts, you can hardly see across the yard.

Yeah, I know.....it is pretty, but so is a nice sunny warm day!

Betty DID have her head down on the printer sound asleep until the flash clicked! Don't bug me mom. I'm on my nice warm printer and it's cold outside!

Here's what I've been making lately since you can't get outside to do much else. I think that they are turning out CUTE! If you are on my Christmas gift list, don't look below this line of print! LOL

If interested in hat, here are the directions for it and a scarf.....

Crochet Beret
Hook:

Beret - F/5-3.75mm size hook;

Scarf - I size hook

abt 7 oz. of 4 ply yarn will make a beret and scarf
For small, medium and large sizes, follow noted directions.
Small – child; Medium – most adults; Large – very large head
Round 1: Chain 7 and sl st to join. Ch 2 and dc 19 into loop. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (20 dc)
Round 2: 1 dc in top of ch. 2 dc in top of next dc. *1 dc in top of next dc. 2 dc in top of next dc* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (30 dc)
Round 3: *1 dc in top of next 2 dc. 2 dc in top of next dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (40 dc)
Round 4: *1 dc in top of next 3 dc. 2 dc in top of next dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (50 dc)
Round 5: *1 dc in top of next 4 dc. 2 dc in top of next dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (60 dc)
Round 6: *1 dc in top of next 5 dc. 2 dc in top of next dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (70 dc)
Round 7: *1 dc in top of next 6 dc. 2 dc in top of next dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (80 dc)
For small size, skip Rounds 8 & 9 and go to Round 10.
Round 8: *1 dc in top of next 7 dc. 2 dc in top of next dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (90 dc)
For medium size, skip Round 9 and go to Round 10.
Round 9: *1 dc in top of next 8 dc. 2 dc in top of next dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round (100 dc)
Round 10 – 16: 1 dc in top of each dc. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (small 80 dc; medium 90 dc, large 100 dc)
For Large size, go to round 17; medium size, go to round 18; small size, go to round 19.
Round 17: *1 dc in top of next 8 dc. Dec 1 dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (90 dc)
Round 18: *1 dc in top of next 7 dc. Dec 1 dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (80 dc)
Round 19: *1 dc in top of next 6 dc. Dec 1 dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (70 dc)
For large size, go to Round 22.
Round 20: *1 dc in top of next 5 dc. Dec 1 dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (60 dc)
For medium size, go to Round 22.
Round 21: *1 dc in top of next 4 dc. Dec 1 dc.* Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (50 dc)
Round 22: *1 sc in top of next dc*. Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (small 50 dc; medium 60 dc, large 70 dc)
Round 23 - 30: *1 sc in top of next sc*. Repeat between * to end of round. Do not turn. Mark end of round. (small 50 dc; medium 60 dc, large 70 dc)
Cut yarn and fasten off.

Pom-pon
On 2” cardboard, wrap yarn around 50 times. Slide off of cardboard and tie tightly in middle with 5” piece of yarn. Cut loops all around and fluff into a pompom. Fasten pompom at hole formed by round 1 of pattern. Clip ends of yard to within 1/2 inch of hat.

Scarf

Note: Cut fringe first to make sure there is enough to make tassels. See below.
Row 1: Ch 126, turn, sc in 2nd ch from hook. Continue with 1 sc in each ch to end. (125 sc) Turn.
Row 2 – 22**: 1 sc in back loop of 2nd sc from hook. Continue with 1 sc in back loop of each sc to end. Turn (125 sc)

**I crochet width of scarf (rows) until yarn is gone from skien or it is as wide as I'd like it to be.
Cut yarn and fasten off.
Wrap yarn around 3” piece of cardboard 72 times. Slip off of cardboard and cut across one end of loops to create 72 – 6” pieces of yarn. Take 3 pieces of yard together to make a tassel and knot across end of scraf creating a fringe. 12 tassels to each side.

Christmas Band Concert

2008-12-12T08:45:00.010-05:00

Our son held his junior high/jazz/high school Christmas concert last night. They all did a wonderful job. We can really see the band improving and growing over the years that our son has been the music director. Great job Rob!!!

Above is the Junior High Band
Above and below is the Jazz Band

Above and below is the High School Band

I was trying to capture Rob "in flight" while he was conducting!

Below are the graduating seniors. Rob presented each of them with a Bronner's Christmas ornament of the instrument that they play.

More photos of the High School Band below.

We couldn't be prouder of our son and all that he has accomplished!

2008-12-12T08:43:00.001-05:00

We had some interesting "art" on the back porch windows the other day. Just mother nature sketching some cold winter scenes for us.

Happy Birthday!

2008-12-12T08:36:00.006-05:00

I'm playing catch up today with my photos. Here's some of the family November birthday photos. We had Thanksgiving dinner together the day after Thanksgiving and also passed out a couple of birthday gifts.

Sara is learning to play euchre. She'll be ready to go by the time of our March euchre party! Looks like her team is in the lead if you look at the score cards.

Our gal is 7!

2008-11-23T10:04:00.005-05:00

Our little girl is growing up WAY TOO QUICKLY!!! She was elated with the excitement of her 7th birthday party. Here's a few photos to remember the moment....

The birthday girl...

Uncle and girlfriend...

Uncle and Aunt

Mom and Dad

Grampy

Hannah Montana Cake

Let's eat cake!

Mom and big brother...

One of her presents was a photo frame filled with photos from the first 12 months of her life.

Happy Birthday Girl.....We LOVE you BUNCHES!!!!

From smiles to tears...

2008-11-15T13:57:00.002-05:00

It was a day of smiles to tears for our grand daughter. She asked to have her ears pierced for her 7th birthday. She was told that it was going to hurt. They did both ears at once. I guess that I can understand why they would do that. Wouldn't have wanted her to back out after the first one!

They do look pretty honey even though it did hurt a lot!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T09:56:00.002-04:00

Last night was Halloween and the family went up to Uncle Rob's to trick or treat. Had a wonderful time. The kids were very excited to RUN around the subdivision to collect their treats. We enjoyed a nice meal before and then a movie after the trick or treat. Here are some of the photos from the evening. Hope that you all had as lovely of an evening as I did. Thanks kids!

A few more colors from the lake

2008-10-26T10:49:00.003-04:00

Been so busy here lately that I had not had a chance to post these last few color photos taken at our lake. Enjoy! Don't forget to click on the photo for full size. The really beautiful colors are pretty much all gone now. We are past peak as they say around here. There are a few colors still, but not with the beauty of a week or so ago.

October 13 2008

2008-10-15T08:35:00.004-04:00

Hello Friends and Family,

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Don't forget that you can click on any photo here to get a full size view. Some are well worth the extra effort in my opinion!

Over by the dam, at the lake, there was an amazing tree full of beautiful red leaves. Well this tree dropped it's leaves and they fell into the pine trees below. Sort of makes them look like Christmas trees with little red bows in them. Amazing what nature can create!
Another view near to the dam was this refection of the colors in the water. There's Bob R's place to the left.
Here's a shot also at the lake of an old wagon of some sort on the neighbors land. I couldn't get the lake in the shot, but it was behind the wagon. Thought this shot turned out sort of cool.
Here's a shot of the colors at the corner of our road leading to our lot. Isn't it just beautiful beyond words?
And.....for the last photo.....here's a shot down our Orchard Lane that leads to our lake lot.

Michigan Fall Sunday Drive

2008-10-12T15:40:00.002-04:00

All of the following photos were taken less than 10 miles from our home. Isn't it just a beautiful day today here in the thumb of Michigan?!!!

Octobor days....

2008-10-12T09:04:00.003-04:00

We had a lovely visit with friends Gregg and MaryLou when they came to stay a couple of days at our place the first week of Octobor. We enjoyed several games of Mexican train and chickenfoot dominoes. We took a trip up to the lake and a short driving tour of our area of Michigan. Here they are in our guest camper parking spot at our place.
On the way home from a visit to a doctor for Mark's back, we came across this amazing rainbow. I got the camera out and the battery was reading as dead. I clicked several times to try to get it to take just one more photo and this is what I finally ended up with. It was a lot brighter, so you have to be fast with a rainbow because before you can hardly blink an eye, it will be gone.
Sort of sounds like a fish story hum???? BUT....I did at least get a little bit of something to show for it. Another trip up to the lake. This below is across the road from our property. The trees are so amazing there!
Here's a shot across the lake from our friends deck. They've gone to FL for the winter. See what you are missing Jim and Bonnie?! It's beautiful!!!
To round out this post, here's Gregg with Keisha. She was having a great time romping around our backyard chasing her frisbe. Such energy!

Sept 23 2008

2008-09-23T16:25:00.006-04:00

We went to the lake today to get our trailer packed up so that we could bring it home. Of course I forgot to bring my new camera, but fortunately my old stand by was in the trailer. So I got that out and discovered that the batteries were dead. Not to be beaten out of these autumn snapshots, I looked through the drawers and was lucky enough to find some batteries to get the camera up and running. Sad to see the time come to have to pull the trailer off the lot there at the lake. It was such a wonderful summer considering that we were not able to travel any distance from home due to Mark's back. We are looking forward to next year at the lake.

Here is a picture of the changing colors in the acres across the road from us at the lake.
This picture below is facing the view if you stand on our upper land of the lake property and look to the north.
Here's a view below of the colors as you look at the south side of our boardwalk.......
....and the south side again looking up the boardwalk from the lake. Most of those pretty oranges and reds are from that dreaded poison sumac! It is beautiful in the fall, but I sure would like to see all of it gone. I'll take the pretty deep reds of the maple trees and the yellows of the birch trees there instead. I'd rather look at the poison sumac on the neighbors land and not ours!
Here's a view looking across the top part of our lake property facing to the north.
And.....here's our Cedar Creek all packed up and ready to head home for winter storage in the barn. The grass has filled in so nicely and the new parking spot for the Creek at the edge of the drop off is really looking inviting for next year. The plants and trees that we put in are all doing very well. It should look pretty good next spring!

I walked down our road to the neighbors lot on the lake and took this view of the state land on the east side of the lake. Thought I'd let Jim and Bonnie see what they are missing while they are at their winter home in Florida. The colors are starting to turn. Several neighbors have offered us a ride out on the lake to view the colors. We hope to take them up on their offers soon!
I will take more photos of the colors in the next few weeks when we go to visit at the lake.

Hope everyone has a lovely day!

Grandparents Day

2008-09-14T13:14:00.002-04:00

Our grand daughter with her Grampie....AND ......with her grammie.....
The class sang us several patriotic songs. How wonderful that they are teaching our kids to sing songs of praise for our land!
Here she is with the little face that she made of herself....
Here she is with her teacher.....
It was a very nice party dear and we are so honored that you invited us for this special day. The cookies and drinks were yummy!
Much Love, Grampie and Grammie xoxoxoxoxo <3 <3

Season changes at the lake

2008-09-14T13:02:00.002-04:00

My cousin in Florida asked that I take pictures as the colors change at the lake. Here's where we are at now. Just a few colors here and there. I'm sure that it's going to be spectacular in a few weeks! This is the island in the middle of our lake.... This is a view on the east side of the lake where it is all state land.
This is a shot of our deck with the paddle boat leaned up against it. I love the birch trees that are all over our area there. See the little maple at the waters edge that's turned a pretty red?
Our grass seed has really taken off. Mark mowed it just before I took this picture. I also dug a stairway up the hill on the far side. Not sure if we will use it much, but it looks nice so far. I plan to take some hostas up there to plant at the sides. Still needs more work, but I'm in no hurry.
This is a view of the land across the road from ours where some of the trees have started to turn their colors. See how pretty the birch are mixed in with the pines and the other trees? We have a real "up north" look here even though we don't consider this up north as it is only 17 miles from home! But it really reminds us of what it looks like up in the UP of MI.

Soccer Game

2008-09-14T12:49:00.003-04:00

First soccer game of the season, it rained cats and dogs. The poor kids got drenched. Here's our grandson, #10.

Getting ready for the game....

Both teams lined up and ready to start....
A little celebration after a team mate makes a score down the field.....
#10 gets a good kick!
Our boy is drenched to the skin. It never stopped raining the entire game. All the kids were soaked. I took him to his home for a hot shower and some dry clothes before we headed back to our house.

Sept 6 2008

2008-09-09T09:25:00.004-04:00

We had a wonderful time at a local old car festival in the beer tent. We went for the first time last year and had such a good time, that we wanted to go again this year. I'm glad that Mark's back was up to it so that we could go! The last shot that he had in his back on Wednesday seems to have finally hit the right spot. The MRI that they took a couple of weeks ago helped the doctor to get the needle pointed at the right area finally. Mark gets one more shot this Wednesday and then next week he is going to see a surgeon to see what can be done. Unfortunately the shots are only a temporary fix that many times only lasts a couple of weeks.

Here's our "group"....Sherry, Dale, Steve, Judy and Mark. I'm behind the camera.

Here's the announcers.... Blondie and Johnny Burke.
The Beat Club..... They were the warm up group. Pretty good. Great to hear many of the old Beatles songs again. They dressed and acted like the Beatles that all of us baby boomers loved.
The Diamonds...... They were wonderful entertainment. This group has been around for decades! They were amongst the entertainment on the ship when we took our cruise to Alaska with a group of friends. The guy on the left was a baritone and the guy in the blue shirt was the tenor. They did most of the lead singing. Very entertaining! The baritone could really go LOW and the tenor, really HIGH! They also played instruments as you can see in the photo below.
The main act was Phil Dirt and the Dozers. One just cannot say how great this group is. They did so many songs that relate to the baby boomer generation. This entertainment was outstanding!
We think that there had to have been over 1000 people there if not more. The place was packed. The dance floor was shoulder to shoulder. People were even using the aisles to dance.

Here's Sherry and Dale in the center dancing to the Diamonds.
Steve and Judy got out to shake a leg to the faster paced music. Steve is the one with the white tennis shoes. You can just see Judy's head to the right of Steve.
Here's a shot of us together. We were having the best time. Hopefully we will be able to make this party again next year. We only danced to one slow dance, but sure did have a lot of fun watching everyone else dance. We swayed and sang along with the groups as they played the oldies.
There was an antique car festival earlier in the day. I didn't even take any photos of the cars that we did see. We did not walk up and down the rows of cars this year like we had the previous year. We got there to the festival right around 5 pm and the old cars were all lined up on the street trying to get out of the festival. We were lucky and got waved to the parking lot that was the closest to the beer tent. The old cars were pulling out, so there were spots to park. We still had to walk quite a distance across a farm field and then through the vendor stands before we got to the beer tent area. Last year we walked nearly a mile to get back to our car I think! We had an all you can eat spaghetti dinner, hosted by the Lion's Club, before we went into the beer tent. Was yummy for the price of $8 each. It was a wonderful evening with great friends. Thanks so much again to Steve and Judy for telling us about this fun time!

A Tribute to Barney

2008-09-03T14:00:00.005-04:00

The many faces of our beloved dog, Barney that passed away last evening. These are a few of the many digital images that I had on my computer of Barney. There are many more stored away in our photo albums that we will cherish for years to come.

This, above, was our 2005 Christmas card I designed that was inspired by Barney as Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Barney had his own path out in the front yard through the snow. Each new snow, Mark would go out in the front yard and snow blow Barney his own path.

He was always ready to pose for a picture.
He had his own Christmas gift to open along with the family on Christmas mornings.
He was loved by his "siblings".
Even Betty the cat would snuggle up to him for a nap.
He loved to travel in our Creek and meet all of our camping friends.

He was so pretty after his bath and he was brushed out. He KNEW that he was a beautiful dog!
What a smile....
He always kept a watch over each of us. Always ready to protect his loved ones.
He even posed for Christmas card photos!
Our beloved dog, Barney went to heaven this last evening. He was a wonderful dog for over 13 years that our family enjoyed. He WAS part of our family and was included in all that we did over the years. It was a sad day when he laid his head down for the last time. He was a fighter to the end, but alas he could not beat this last illness. He will be sadly missed, but he is finally at peace and enjoying his new life in heaven. He is there with my dad. Dad loved Barney so much and it makes my heart happy that he is there to keep my wonderful dad company again.

Sunday, Aug 31 2008

2008-09-03T13:55:00.002-04:00

Sunday we had some company to our place at the lake. Our son and his girlfriend were up along with some friends of ours, Dale and Sherry. Mark cooked up some awesome chicken on the grill and then we had our dessert out on the boat. We enjoyed a couple of long rides on the pontoon and watched the sun set.

Aug 30 2008 or abouts

2008-08-31T09:43:00.006-04:00

Happenings at the lake....

Re-seeding to get the grass a better start. Here's a shot of the lower section...

Upper section..... Put in some gravel where the trailer will be parked again next spring and a little more re-seeding of the grass areas.
The trailer is sitting in the driveway so that the grass can get a better chance to grow this fall.
Cousins Art and Laurene came for a visit.

At Bob's farm....
The Alpacas and the goats.....
On the pontoon at sunset....

Mark and I at the helm at sunset....
Laurene is kicking up her heels. I do think that she's enjoying the boat ride or was it that mudslide? LOL
Pit stop for Mark.....
My best sunset photo of the evening.....
Hey Jim, Bob's out fishing!

A volleyball game on the lake between the islands. Ahhhh....to be young again! What a great time those kids were having.
The kids came out for a boat ride. Mark ate cake. LOL
Not such a great shot of the kids, but they had a fun time jumping off of the back of the boat and swimming. I made taco salad to take out for supper on the boat.
Son in law decided that tree must come down! Mark was out to supervise, of course, while our son in law cut down the tree, pulled it down off of the hill out of the other trees and then cut it up into firewood. Thanks so much for the help!
We've sure been enjoying the lake. I had to come home to mow the lawn, but will head back out to the lake asap afterwards. Expecting our son and his girlfriend today as well as some long time buddies of ours. More photos to come of our Labor Day holiday at the lake. Thanks for stopping in to visit my blog.

Aug 23 2008

2008-08-24T08:23:00.009-04:00

We had to pass on the wedding, but made the reception. Mark's back could only handle one or the other. He was only able to sit for about two hours, so here are some of the photos that I took during that time. We had a lovely time. Very relaxed and unrushed reception. Great job kids!

Click on any of the photos to view full size. If you'd like a copy of any original to make a hard copy of, just email me. I'll send a full copy of all the photos that I took to the bride and groom. I took a lot of other photos of the guests. These have all been cropped down that are on this blog and not the best for making a hard copy from.

Enjoy the photos!

August at the lake

2008-08-23T09:58:00.004-04:00

Here's Mark and our grandson with their catch of the morning. They went out around 9 am and came back in around 11 with 21 gills. They were proud as punch.
Grandpa cut off the heads and our grandson played with and handed grandpa the fish.
Here's the catch all lined up, with their heads off, ready to be cleaned.
Here I am with our grandson cleaning the fish. He took a real interest in this. I cut around the fins and he pulled them out. Then he skinned them. Then I fillet them and put them into the freezer to cook another day.
Hobo pie feast with the neighbors. Grandpa is getting the pie cooker ready for the fire. The pies were a big hit.

We had some music when Jim brought in his gitar to sing a few songs for us.
Our grand daughter, as aways, was up and dancing to the music.
Here's Jim with his "adopted" grandkids. Jim and Bonnie left for their Florida home on Saturday. They will be missed at the lake!

Aug 14, 2008

2008-08-16T03:52:00.004-04:00

Happenings at the lake....

Jim and Bonnie just had some landscaping done at their place. WOW!!! Looks nice!
Next door, new utility poles went in at Bob and Bonnie's lot. One near to the lake with the transformer and one up near to the road. Soon they will have electric and water for their trailer too! Many neighbors sat with lawn chairs to watch the excitement.
Another ride out on the lake. This day my cousin Ray came to visit and took a ride with us. The next day he came out to try some fishing. Mark and Ray came back with 15 bluegill. From what I hear, Ray was beaming from ear to ear.
Here's a loon that we saw out on our lake. They are an endangered bird.
Amazingly, there were two more loons out on another portion of the lake. I caught them in flight.
These loons held up our boardwalk permit for a month or so. The DEQ wanted to make sure that there were no breeding nests on our land. One more photo of the yellow billed loon in flight.

Aug 6 - 8, 2008

2008-08-10T18:47:00.004-04:00

It was an enjoyable week for us at the lake. Our good friends, Mario and Frances came up on Tuesday and spent the day with us. We enjoyed a couple of trips out on the pontoon and some great food. Frances is a wonderful Italian cook and we both worked in the tiny Cedar Creek kitchen to put together a couple of good meals.

On 08-08-08 we were amazed to see this beautiful rainbow to the east of our lakefront property. You can see the corner of the Creek in the photo. How beautiful it was. The rain had just passed through and the temps dropped into the 60's.
Later in the evening, we took a cruise around the lake with our wonderful friends Ed and Jenny with their pup Ice. They came up with their rig and spent a couple of nights with us. I took this shot of the sky while out on the pontoon.
Jenny kept mentioning that she could get used to living like this. Ed did his best to try to not take her seriously. LOL Ice loved the boat rides. He'd put his nose up in the air to smell the scents of the lake.
Who knows what next week will hold. The temps are supposed to be back up into the 80's again. Maybe we will still be able to get a few more days of boating in at the lake before the cold sets in for good.

July 28 thru Aug 1 2008

2008-08-03T07:27:00.003-04:00

Mark's mom, aunt, niece and two grand nieces made a visit to the lake today. Of course, we had to take a trip to the farm. They all really enjoyed the animals.
Now I have it, what do I do with it? LOL Little Harley will let anyone hold him. He's usually the star of the show. He is so funny to watch as he speeds around the grounds.

Our grand children at the helm of the pontoon. They are really enjoying the boat! Our grandson caught three fish with grampie, but the photos didn't turn out well this time. Maybe next time!
These are the islands in the center of the lake that the kids love to swim at. They have lovely sandy beaches with a slow drop off. Perfect for all ages to enjoy the water. On the weekdays you can pick your spot, but on the weekends the shores of the islands are packed with boats and swimmers all day long.
The kids are enjoying the warm waters of the lake by the islands.

The kids had a ball jumping off of the back of the pontoon into the lake. This boat has a ladder that reaches down into the water so that they could get back up onto the boat for another leap.

Even the little one could enjoy a swim at the island.
In the next two pictures of the lake, notice how much forest land you can see. Nearly half of the lakeshore is state game area. That's why this lake is so beautiful to us. Not so many houses along the shore like you see at most lakes. Most everyone really keeps up their lakefront very nicely as well.

My grand daughter took this shot.
Another beautiful sunset to round out the evening.

The Pontoon has arrived!

2008-08-02T12:45:00.002-04:00

The long wait has ended and the pontoon boat arrived. We were just giddy with excitement as the place delivered the pontoon and put it into the lake for us. Mark was the lucky one that got to take the first ride with the fellow that delivered it. He took Mark for a ride and explained how to drive our new toy.
Here is the pontoon finally at our dock. We had to put it at the neighbors shore for a few days until we got things cleared out in front of our dock. We can now drive it right up to the edge of the deck and walk onto the boat.
Here's Mark with his new fishing buddy! I think that I'm going to have to get him one of those captain caps.
Here we are at the helm of our new toy. Can you tell that we LOVE IT??
Here's a shot of some of the neighbors that went out with us on our maiden voyage. Everyone had a great time. So relaxing to ride around the lake on and Mark loves it for fishing. The 4 stroke engine is so quiet too. No more crawling in and out of the row boat. I have a strange feeling that the little row boat may go up for sale soon. Time will tell.

July 23 - 26, 2008

2008-07-27T17:11:00.008-04:00

July 23 - 26, 2008
Another day at the mini farm. ......

An outing on a friend's pontoon......

The kids playing some bocci ball.
A little Frisbee....

The camp.....
Let's make a fire. This log proved to a challenge!
The hammock was a hit!
This morning we went blueberry picking.....
Our daughter out on the lake deck with her Daisy Doll....

Son and girlfriend are all loaded up and ready to take off with their tent and bed rolls. Thanks for spending a few days with us kids! A day out on a bass boat with a neighbor. He said that he got it up to over 50 mph. Our grandson said that he thought that he was going to fly right out of his seat and take out the motor!
Here they come flying around the corner.....
OK honey, you need a little practice with the new camera!

Our friend was babysitting a parrot, so the guys had to get their parrots onto their shoulders to take a photo. Too funny.

Look at my fish grammie!!! Turned out to be another joke. This bass turned out to be a rubber one, but now our grandson won't let that fish out of his sight. Nice try little buddy!!!
How many neighbors can you fit onto a 10' x 12' deck? We still have room for more. Nice evening at lake with friends......
A beautiful sunset to end the evening.....

July 17 2008

2008-07-18T07:43:00.005-04:00

We had a chance to go to some property that is located across the lagoon from our property, so I took a picture of our place. You can see our deck and boardwalk, along with the boats on the shore, across the water.

One of our neighbors there at the lake has a little mini farm that he opens up for friends to visit. We took the grandkids and they had a ball feeding and playing with the animals. Here's a baby pigeon.
Here are some of the animals that he has on his mini farm....

They both got to hold some chickens in their lap. The dog was a bit jealous, but gets along great with the animals. He runs around chasing the goats and they play along with him. Some of the geese actually chase the dog!

This one rooster really took to Mark. He came up to his side and jumped up on his lap. Needless to say, Mark was a little startled by his visitor! He loves for you to rub his belly! He sat there for quite sometime until Mark finally lifted him and put him onto the ground.

Feeding the Alpacas.
The neighbor down the road kindly invited us to swim at their lakefront. It was a great place for the kids to have fun. Should have took more pictures. They had a ball jumping off of that dock into the water. They swam under the dock and did canon balls for quite a long time.
The grandkids spent several hours casting a bobber with a sinker on it into the lake and reeling it back in. Who would ever imagine that they would have so much fun just doing that! Our grandson really wanted to go fishing, but grandpa's back just wasn't up to it. I did row us out a bit into the lake and to fish. My grandson did get a couple of nibbles on his hook, but couldn't get it to latch on.

Heading up to the lake again this weekend. Hopefully those thunder storms miss us! Have a wonderful weekend.....

July 8 2008

2008-07-11T21:20:00.005-04:00

We FINALLY got the 5th wheel up to the lakefront lot. It took some doing, but got her in where we wanted it. Been really busy this past week running home looking in on mom and taking care of things and then again back up to the lake. Good thing that it is only an 18 mile drive! We are looking forward to the time when we can spend several days in a row up here instead of a night here and there. Each time we go, we love it more and more. Here's a few shots that Mark took of our set up.

Ken and Carol from our camping club came out to visit at the lake Sunday. Had a nice time with them. We were sitting out on the viewing deck at the end of the boardwalk for this photo. They were headed for the Michigan rally the following weekend. Sorry that we had to miss that rally. Hope that they are having a wonderful time!

July 3 2008

2008-07-04T07:55:00.004-04:00

Mark's cousins are holding their biannual two day 4th of July celebration. July 3rd was the first day. Mark's back was not up to par to stay for the fireworks, but I did get a few photos of the crowd before we had to leave. A big thanks to the cooks of the wonderful fish dinner. It was out of this world. I don't think that there was a crumb of food left! Below are some shots that I took at the party. I especially love the one of the two boys on the gate looking at the donkey and the two little girls pointing to the sheep. It was a bit too chilly to use the pool, but the younger ones found many activities to keep them busy while the others sat around and visited with friends and family.

June 30 2008, Monday

2008-07-01T07:38:00.002-04:00

The boardwalk is coming along well. Monday morning, we were greeted to this view of the deck. We had yet another section of boardwalk and the deck to go yet on our project. We got right to work on framing in the rest of the foundation. Then we added the deck boards and FINALLY this project is completed and ready for DEQ inspection.
Mark is taking a much deserved break sitting on our new deck out at the lake. What a wonderful view! Those lily pads will soon open a path for the boat once we start using the lake more. You can see that some of them are disappearing to the left of the photo where we took out the fishing boat and paddle boat on Father's Day.
This is our view of the lake from the deck when you gaze out to the south. The main part of the lake is around the bend to the left.
This is the bush that ATTACKED me about a week ago. The dreaded poison sumac. You better believe that I will not forget what this bush looks like from now on. I have several patches that broke out on my arms and legs. I tangled with the bush when I was clearing out the path so that we could work on the boardwalk. If you are going to be working in any bushy wetlands, make sure to enlarge this photo by clicking on it so that you too can see what to look out for.
Tuesday we plan to spend the day enjoying the lake. We are going to load up our fishing gear and drop some lines in the lake to see what we might catch.

June 26, 2008

2008-06-26T14:39:00.002-04:00

Here's the progress to date on the walkway. Just a few more sections and we will be all the way out to the lake!

While we were up working on the walkway, the well drillers came. They've started drilling and said that they would have the well done today. Then they will take a couple of more days to set the other things up so that we can have water at the property for the 5th wheel.
The electric should be going in soon. Can't wait until all of this work is done so that we can play!

June 24 2008, Tuesday

2008-06-25T14:06:00.003-04:00

Another day of work on the boardwalk. I've hurt my lower back, so I'm grounded for a few days. Mark's helper, Bob is coming back to help again on Wednesday. I pulled the wheelbarrow up into the shed a few days ago and pulled my back out once. I was down for two days with that. I was just starting to feel good again. I did some vacuuming and pulled it out again. This time it was worse than the first time. So called the doctor to get some meds for it. I'll most likely be out of commission for a couple more days. Here's the progress up until Tuesday on the deck. I managed to limp through helping Mark to get one more section completed and the frames done for four more sections. I had a rough night last night and again this morning, so have to resort to taking the pain pills and muscle relaxers until things level out again. I really miss being up there helping the guys. I love to see the progress. Hopefully tomorrow I can go up and at least WATCH them work.

Boardwalk and Shed Projects

2008-06-21T17:43:00.008-04:00

Our boardwalk out to the lakefront has finally begun! Here to follow is the progress that we've made today. We are all bushed, and still yet have several sections to complete. After the first one was up, the next one went much faster. This first photo is of the pallets that we were using to get out to the lakefront.
Here's the frame for the first section of boardwalk with the pallets on each side to keep us from sinking in the muck.
Mark has the deck boards down on the first section. Then we had to shuffle the pallets around so that we could walk on them to build the next section of boardwalk. Once you start walking on that wet land area, it gets more and more spungy. A couple of times we sunk pretty deep in our boots.
There's the second section of the boardwalk framing going up.
Mark managed to get the boards almost out to the end of the second section before we called it a day. We need to go buy more lumber to do the next section. We don't know how we would have managed if we didn't have those pallets to walk on up the side as we were building the walkway.
Here's the guys working on a little 6 x 6 shed for the well tank and electric panels. This project took them three days to complete on site. Mark had worked several days prior to that putting the sections of the shed together so that it would fit together like a little jigsaw puzzle.

They had four ladders going at times to build this. It over hangs off of the side of the driveway, so it was a bit of a challenge for them.
They finished it off with a cute little deck on the side so that they can hook up the water hose and connect into the power. It looks like a little white arrow pointing to heaven to me. LOL
That's it for our updates for now. Have an open house tomorrow. Our friend Bob has done a lot of work to help us with this. We are sure going to miss his help on this project when they move on to their next RV park stop!

Father's Day

2008-06-15T19:41:00.003-04:00

Friday we went to our newly purchased lakefront property. We had hired a fellow to level off the land for us. Then we worked like dogs on the upper portion to get it raked and leveled off to our liking. After a hard days work, here's Mark dreaming of getting out onto the lake.
On Saturday, we returned to the lakefront and finished up the leveling, seeding and planting of the slope with flowers to hold the soil in place. We think that it's really shaping up nicely.
Father's Day. Here's the kids in their boat leaving our lakefront. It's full of lily pads right now, but later in the day we took the little paddle boats and kept running back and forth over the area to stir them up. Dug out a few logs from the edge of the shore too and now we can get the boat up to the edge of our lakefront.

Here we are at one of the little islands. We beat our daughter because we had the gas motor and they had the electic motor. Mark jumped out of the boat and took some photos.
Here comes our daughter and family. They finally made it here to the islands!
The kids had a fun day playing in the water!

Work at the Lakefront

2008-06-12T16:00:00.007-04:00

Progress on our lakefront property.

We have been moving some dirt, took out three trees and built a shed.

This is the before photo taken in April out by the road when we bought the land.

This is the lower section by the wetlands and lake before we built the shed. You can see the pretty view of the lake.

Here's our new shed. The boardwalk across the wetlands will be just to the left of the shed.

Here's the trail where the boardwalk out to the lake will be placed.

Looking to the South.....Here's the upper part of the property, by the road, where we will be parking our 5th wheel. There to the right is where the trailer will be parked and back by the guys is the continuation of the circle drive to pull the trailer in and out. To the left is the road.
Looking to the North......This below is a view from the other property line. You can see the proposed RV drive and then the area to the left to place our RV rug and let the awning out. It's a perfect view of the lake! This is where the three trees were taken out.
It's LOOKING GOOD!!!!

Baseball Game Day

2008-06-03T10:22:00.002-04:00

Monday was baseball game day for our grandson. It's the first game that I've had a chance to attend this year. As usual, grandma was all smiles and proud as could be! Below, my grandson is in right field. He also played 3rd base and left field this game.

He's up to bat.
He takes a ball for a walk to first base.
He's anxious to get to 2nd base. Come on batter, get a hit!
Off he goes on his first steal of the season!
He made it to 2nd base after a nifty slide. Unfortunately the batter struck out for the 3rd out of the inning and my grandson was stranded on 2nd base.
The girls were having a fun time playing with Barbie dolls.
We each enjoyed a hotdog at the park and then headed back home.

Niagara Falls - Canadian side

2008-05-30T15:14:00.010-04:00

The ride on the Maid of the Mist to the center of the Horseshoe Falls was unbelievable. I've been to Niagara Falls many times, but never had taken this ride. I will be sure to never miss the chance again to do this. It was one of the highlights of this vacation! Here to follow are photos of the falls that were taken while we were on our ride into the falls. These photos cannot explain the beauty of this ride. It was just awesome! I hope that you can click on the photos so that they will enlarge to full size. Some may enlarge and some may not. I don't know why this happens on this blog, but try them all to see if they will enlarge for you so that you can take in the beauty of the sight. The mist was so heavy that one could not take a full photo of both sides of the Horseshoe Falls. We rode the boat right up into the mist. You couldn't see through your glasses and had to cover your camera equipment up.

American Falls

American and Bridal Veil Falls

Horseshoe Falls

American Falls American and Bridal Veil Falls
Horseshoe Falls
Horseshoe Falls
American and Bridal Veil Falls

All good things must come to an end.

More to come of our other adventures on the Canadian side of the mighty Niagara Falls.

Hockey Hall of Fame & Good Bye to Toronto

2008-05-28T09:56:00.007-04:00

From the Sheridan Hotel in Toronto, Canada, we took the walk to the Hockey Hall of Fame using the PATH system. Here are a few of the pictures that I took there of the museum.

This one below is of Mark and the guy guarding the door to the entry of the Museum.

Mark's beloved Red Winds....

This is our friend Steve taking a crack at being a goalie. They super impose your image into the photo on the screen so that you feel like you are actually playing the game. This stained glass dome towers over top of the place where the Stanley Cup is housed in an old bank building that is now the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Mark and I are posing with the Stanley Cup in the photo below. We were fortunate that the trophy was there when we visited. The silver cup left soon afterwards to follow the playoffs.
Mark, Steve and Carol are heading for Union Station to board the train for Niagara Falls. What a fun time we had in Toronto.

Coming next is Niagara Falls......

Memorial Day Parade

2008-05-26T12:28:00.005-04:00

Let's all get ready for the parade! The band room is alive just before the parade begins.

Here come the veterans carring the flags.

Here comes the band. What a wonderful job they did. They sounded terrific!

There they go, headed back for the school.
A last good bye. Thanks to all of the veterans and for the sacrifices that they have made for our freedom. We honor you this day.

Toronto

2008-05-14T08:06:00.005-04:00

Here we are in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This was the view from our hotel window. You can see the CN Tower in the distance.

We walked EVERYWHERE and certainly did get our exercise on this trip. This below is the main hall of the EATON Centre. The birds were beautiful. We didn't find very much to purchace here, but we enjoyed the views along the walk.

Here I am, along with Carol, checking out the map of the Eaton Centre. Steve is there in the background glancing up the hall wondering how long we will be shopping in this place and how much it's going to impact his wallet. LOL Really, the guys were great and never complained one bit about the shopping OR how much money we spent. We found this great place to eat. It was only their 2nd day open. The food was wonderful and we had a great time winding down after a day of walking the city. The waitress had a bit of a problem with the camera, so some of us were caught a little off guard for this photo.
Here's a view of Toronto from the outside balcony at the place we ate.Here's a fellow chalking some sidewalk art. There were several that we came upon during our walk that were trying to earn a few bucks.

We came across many bums sitting, sleeping or begging on the sidewalks of the city. Very sad.

To the right, in the picture below, you can see a bum trying to get some sleep right out on the sidewalk. We passed several before I thought to get out the camera to take some shots.More to come!

Train to Toronto

2008-05-10T16:05:00.004-04:00

Our guests from Montana have arrived. Steve and Carol are the Mountain Directors for our Cedar Creek RV Club. Here's a shot of their trailer before we took off on the train ride to Toronto. It was a short visit that day. We started out early the next morning on our journey to catch the train in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

We had some tricky turns and unexpected events happen on the way to the train station, but we finally made it. We had a quick cup of coffee and bagels before we got onto the train in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
We had some great waiters on the ride from Windsor to Toronto. Wonderful dinner and drinks. We were all very relaxed and happy by the time we pulled into the train station. Here's Carol and Steve at the Toronto Terminal.

Mark at the Toronto Terminal.
We decided to walk to the hotel from the train station. It took us about 15 minutes to arrive at the hotel. Was a nice walk, but a bit on the windy and chilly side. We all were enjoying the sights as we walked along the busy streets.

Here's our first glimpse of the hotel.

We arrived before the rooms were ready, so we had to decide what to do to kill time. The guys immediately came up with a plan. We sat in the bar and they had a beer or two and then we headed up to the rooms.

More to come....

Outing at our town festival

2008-04-26T15:20:00.006-04:00

One of our FAVORITE things is being a grandparent! Today we went to pick up the grandkids and went to our "Wild" Town Festival. The kids really enjoy this because they get to see all sorts of "wild" animals. Here they were petting the sheep and a baby calf.

He's SO SOFT!
There's a rooster at their feet.
Goats and pigs.
Here's a sheep getting ready to be sheared.
They are looking at some salamanders in the aquarium.

There were all sorts of snakes, turtles and frogs there too. Even an eel!
Here they are feeling what the pelts of different animals feel like.
The kids here are looking at some old fashion farm tools. They each had a turn to turn the crank to get the kernals off of the corn cob and then again to turn a crank that ground the corn. Guess I was too amazed myself and forgot to get the camera out for that! LOL
Of course they wanted to have a ride in the BIG TRACTOR!
This is a lama or an emu that they were petting.
Here they sit in the states oldest court house at the judges bench.

They were watching box turtles eat earth worms here. They didn't want to leave this spot. It was pretty entertaining and they had a front row seat. Last year they had the snakes out that you could hold or touch. I was glad to see that the turtles were out this time!
We all had an enjoyable day together exploring the different activites. The kids were all smiles. It was very windy, but we still enjoyed the day. This is the 2nd year that we've went. The town does a wonderful job with this and best of all, it's all free!

58readytotravel

Latest House update - Feb 23, 2011

Let's try something new....

Feb 16, 2011

Progress on the house at the lake....

More views of the lake - Oct 11, 2010

Murphy Lake Fall Color Tour

October 10, 2010 - Fall Color Tour of our lake

First week of October 2010

Happenings the past couple of weeks...

Cutting the very first tree....boo hoo!!!

Wedding Day, continued....

Wedding Day

Trees are falling

A June weekend at the lake

Jan 9, 2010

Nov 2009 - Jan 2010

Dec 16 2009

Oct 25 2009

Oct 17 2009

Oct 14 2009

Oct 2 2009

Oct 1 2009

More fish stories....

June 19-24 2009

June 12, 2009 - Friday

June 7, 2009

May 14, 2009

May 8, 2009

May 4, 2009

April 29, 2009

April 11 2009

April 6 2009

Kids with great grandma

Our son's band festival

Feb 22 2009

Dec 25 2008

January 21 2009

The sun is out....

January 7 2009

January 4 2009

Next project - wallpaper master bath - before

Christmas afternoon

More snow to come yet tonight

The weather outside is FRIGHTFUL!

Christmas Band Concert

Happy Birthday!

Our gal is 7!

From smiles to tears...

Halloween 2008

A few more colors from the lake

October 13 2008

Michigan Fall Sunday Drive

Octobor days....

Sept 23 2008

Grandparents Day

Season changes at the lake

Soccer Game

Sept 6 2008

A Tribute to Barney

Sunday, Aug 31 2008

Aug 30 2008 or abouts

Aug 23 2008

August at the lake

Aug 14, 2008

Aug 6 - 8, 2008

July 28 thru Aug 1 2008

The Pontoon has arrived!

July 23 - 26, 2008

July 17 2008

July 8 2008

July 3 2008

June 30 2008, Monday

June 26, 2008

June 24 2008, Tuesday

Boardwalk and Shed Projects

Father's Day

Work at the Lakefront

Baseball Game Day

Niagara Falls - Canadian side