We had a picture after all!

Here is the group we had for the holiday weekend. Kids, Jenny's boyfriend Kyle, grand kids, niece and nephew, Wayne and Jeanne, Doug and the Goodfallows.

Another Week Has Gone By!

I can't believe the weekend is come and gone so fast. We have been busy since Wednesday with work and the kids coming up. This was the first time David and Elizabeth have been with us since the house was finished. It was wonderful to have the whole family together!! Then a big crowd with nieces, nephews, and the Goodfallow family were here for Turkey Day. What a house full, but everyone had a big meal and we had fun visiting with everyone.
On Friday the kids took me to Traverse City for a birthday dinner and when we got to the Blue Tractor Cook Shop there was a crowd waiting to greet me for a birthday celebration. What a surprise, but they had me confused with some old guy that looked like me that was turning 60! A good time was had by all with a lot of laughs and hugs.
Yesterday everyone packed up and left for home and by late afternoon we were back to the quiet and the woods. Now we will be settling into the winter mode and planning for a few visitors for the Christmas holiday and then our winter escape to the southwest states for the winter.
I hope everyone had a good holiday and that all is well.

 Somehow the camera did not come out during all the chaos over the weekend. I can't believe we forgot to get our family pictures when we had everyone together!

Monday, Monday

Back home in the hills today. Mike had a successful hunt over the weekend with a young buck for the freezer! He got his deer on Saturday afternoon in Mio at the Lee's cabin. (Camp Leesure). We both saw deer, but Mike saw more than anybody after seeing five on opening morning.
I am still hunting and have been exploring the National Lakeshore property with my trusty Remington at my side. The local Leelanau paper has posted some pictures of the big bucks taken locally and they are inspiring me to keep on trying.

The weather has been very moderate and unusually calm for almost a week now. According to the forecast the fifty degree days are not going to last much longer. Right after Thanksgiving we are supposed to lose twenty degrees and could get some snow for a couple of days.

David flew into Detroit today and we are anxious to see everyone on Wednesday and Thursday. Safe travels to all over the holiday weekend!

One more week til Thanksgivng!

We are getting close to turkey day, but first there's a hunt to complete. Mike and I are ready to head for Mio tomorrow to stalk the elusive big buck!
We have had a crazy couple of days of weather the past two days. On Sunday it was bright and a balmy 60 degrees. On Monday we had 30 degrees and a snow shower that left us with almost an inch of snow for Tuesday morning. Winter is on the way.

We had a family get-to-gether a couple of weeks ago. My, my, how the family is growing!!

Here are a few pictures from one year ago.

It hardly seems possible that one year ago we were doing all this work. We've come a long way since then. Notice the fireplace before Tom came and helped us finish it off.

 

Our facilities have definitely improved!

 

We remember all the molding we had to stain. Mike was coming up when he could to trim out the doors and windows.

 

 

 

November 8th already!

The days fly by as we head into the cold season. Nancy and I got our firewood split and stacked for the winter since we had a string of three days with no rain! Now I am getting ready for deer hunting and Thanksgiving.
Hope everyone is doing well.

Canada geese heading south over Lake Michigan. We heard snow geese flyng by the house this morning. A totally different sound than the Canada geese.

Suttons Bay on a sunny Wednesday afternoon

This is the harbor at Suttons Bay. The water is as low as I've ever seen it!

 

 

 You know you're a redneck if.....

 



Nancy was helping to haul and stack firewood on Thursday.

We wound up with quite a stack and some more on the porch. Hopefully this will get us through the winter.

Election Day Tuesday

Well, I hope your favorite candidates make the grade today. (And I hope they make the grade for the next four years to get this country moving again and back on the road to balanced budgets, a stable and growing economy, and no deficits).We got out and voted at Cleveland Township Hall today for the first time. There were a few people there voting, and many more by the time we were leaving. We saw just how many old folks there are living here in our township. (Nancy read some statistics and found that forty four percent of the residences in Cleveland Township are summer residences, not year round homes)!
We had visitors over the weekend from Houghton Lake. Bev and Gary spent a night with us and we had fun visiting. On Sunday we went for a hike near Port Oneida.
I spent the day today getting firewood ready to be split and getting some fall chores done around the house. I finally got a day off when it wasn't raining, although it was drizzling after supper.
The FED EX man came by this evening with a package and when I opened it I found a new leaf blower inside! It looks like a beauty with a backpack and hand controls for easy handling. Thank you so much to all who were responsible for making that happen.

I will close with a few pictures from the past couple of days....

This was the back yard on Saturday morning. We woke up to a nasty surprise with the ground covered with this white stuff. Luckily it all melted by noon.

This picture was taken on October 21 at Port Oneida. Notice the fall colors here.

This is the same view on Sunday, November 4th. No more leaves on the trees.

A view on the hike with Bev and Gary on Sunday.

 

Here I am playing with my new toy. Thanks Kids! I'll let you take it for a spin on Thanksgiving weekend!!

The day after Halloween

I know it's been a while since my last post. We've spent a lot of time with our family and friends and all of our thoughts and prayers are with Cindy. May God keep her and may her spirit be with us and all of our loved ones who have gone before her.

Our latest adventure took us to Brighton and Romeo to be with the grand kids as they celebrated Halloween. We had fun with Laura, Sean, Kara and Nolan and then saw Becky, Dave, Ben, Kate and Trevor and Mike and Amy with Natalie and Hannah in Romeo. We saw some old friends we haven't seen since we moved from Romeo and had a great time with the Wrights who were good enough to put us up for a couple of days. We also got to visit with the Lozens who we missed when they were here last week.

We are back at home now and all the leaves are gone (and the sky is gray). We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and having David and Elizabeth home along with the rest of the family to be together for the holiday.
Hope all is well with everyone.

A fall hike near Port Oneida. Sunday, October 21 

We had a wonderful fall day for a stroll

The hills behind Basch Road

Aspens in bloom along M-22

One last beach stroll on an eighty degree afternoon in October

Back yard visitors

Spooks in Romeo at Mike and Amy's house

We had a cool and drizzly night for trick-or-treating, but still plenty of people

Don't forget to vote next Tuesday!