The "Race" Experience

Wow, what a hot weekend for a camping trip to a campground without electricity. Good thing we brought the generator to run the air=conditioning. The campers were crammed in like I've never seen. Quite an interesting atmosphere. Lot's of partying, like way more than I've ever seen. Crazy scene. But, our backyard neighbors were some really nice guys from Canada. They even shared some of their gourmet camping food. Of course we had a friendly rival over car drivers. The race was awesome. Watching those cars roar around the track was awesome. It was very hot tho. Stayed cool with lots of water and cold washcloths packed in ice/water. Saturday nite we enjoyed a concert by Cross Country which turned out to be a Christian band. They were pretty good.

Man, I Sure Am Tired

Got home bout 4:30 from camping at Otsego Lake. Had a great time with the TREE's and Tom's parents, Big Tom and Carla. Here are some of the highlights:

• swimming



• tubing



• riding in the boat



• Big Tom's goulash



• Visiting my dad in Boyne



• Getting yelled at by the park ranger for being too loud at night ( I was telling the story



• of "Big Red." )



• sunburn



• campfires



• pizza and taco pie, AND pineapple upside down cake ~ all served campfire style



• Sr. pics for Niki



• carmel corn from the new store in Boyne



• building sand castles



• telling the dead shark and emu stories (Karen knows these)



• hanging with good friends

August Already

I had a record low number of blogs for last month. Several reasons. Mostly I just didn't feel like writing. It happens sometimes. Also, this past week I've been very busy. Had to go out to the job sites 6 out of 7 days starting with last Sunday. The only day off was Thursday. Business picked up about double, so that's a good thing. Just makes things more hectic. This next month is going to be really crazy. We are leaving today for Otsego Lake up by Gaylord. We'll be there all week. Well most of us. Sarah will drop Niki and I off and drive back home to work this week. Never ending work. Then I am meeting 2 of my nieces on Sunday at DTE for the Michael W Smith/Amy Grant concert. Looking forward to that.

Then home for a few days and off again to camp at MIS where we will then watch the NASCAR race on Sunday. My birthday gift to Sarah. She has always wanted to attend the race. I want to visit: Cambridge Junction Historic State Park. It is the site of Walker Tavern, a major stopping place for stagecoaches traveling between Detroit and Chicago in the early nineteenth century. The site tells the story of taverns and stagecoach travel for early Michigan residents.

Home for about a week, then off to Cleveland OH to the Safeguard Properties Convention where we will hob-nob with other contractors and sit in sessions all day to hopefully pick up some procedures to help in the work flow. We will eat darn good. With any luck maybe we will win one of the HD cards or cash prizes this year! Home for another week then off to Myers Lake Campground for our annual Labor Day group camping. Now, (Marlene) that will be the end of summer as we know it!

Drilled Out Two Door Knobs Today

Yea, so I got to use the power tools today! You might also like to know that I did all this while talking on the phone. I took out 2 knob-locks and 2 deadbolts. See I even know all the right terminology. I'm not sure how helpful all that was though because I'm supposed to install the new knob-locks and remove the innards to the deadbolt and re-install it. But, I was quit engrossed in my phone convo. so I wasn't able to finish my task.

All this after my 5 mile bike ride last night. Rode my legs off! See I got a new "computer" as the bike guy calls it. It was so fun keeping track of my speed/mph, ave speed, time etc. that I didn't even mind the 5 miles. I even went an additional mile afterwards with Syd cause she wanted to go for a bike ride after I got back.

A Stay at Home Get er Done Weekend

I think it's going to be one of those weekends. There is a list of things to be done.

• Shopping for baby shower on Sunday (Katie's first)


• Get cards for grad party today


• Grocery shopping for ingredients for shower food - oriental slaw & nacho chips


• Clean the messy, dusty house


• Finish cleaning out the front flower bed


• Clean out the camper in prep for the upcoming Otsego trip


• Organize the outfits for Sr pictures for Nicole


• Regular grocery shopping


• Clean off the deck


• Finish painting the wooden birds my sister sent me a while ago


• Oil changes in the vehicles

Hot N Humid

Yikes, can't even stand to be outside to get the mail or walk across the street. Trying hard to get to the Ann Arbor Market in the morning. Keep getting work orders tho, so it may not be possible. We shall see. Lots to do tomorrow; including a grad party. Stand by:

Apparently it is the Ann Arbor art fair this weekend; so no market. I will have to settle for the SC market on Sunday.

Humph

That might be bout all I can say today.
I received 2 cute gifts (notepads) with the perfect sayings for me:

1) "I used to have a handle on life.... but it broke!"

2) "Let me drop everything and pretend I care."

LOL aren't those great?

someone knows me well. Speaking of gifts, I received gifts in the mail from my sistopheers 2 days in a row. Don't ya just love gifts in the mail? Well I do. Thanks again my sissies. Drinkin out of my "K" cup right now.

Post Birthday Breakfast Scam

I was told I was being taken to The French Laundry in Fenton today. Day late birthday breakfast. I willingly dragged myself out of bed to go. Oh, and we might as well do 2 quick jobs after that. Ate a delicious leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs with mushrooms and Maytag blue cheese, a warm croissant and glass of passion tea. All is right with the world. Go to the first job, a quick lawn mow. All I have to do is take pictures and blow the grass off the walk and driveway. Easy, peasy. Now on to the place that we were at on Sunday. Just need to install a sump pump & get a little debris. Again all I have to do is take the pictures. Hour and a half later we are still there. I'm browsing through my new magazine, Organic Farmer's Market. I then am asked if I would like to "put on the water boots and squeegee some water in the basement. Sure why not. Get down to the basement. Yikes. A wet mess. The boots and floor=very slippery! Pushing the squeegee= extremely slippery! Very muggy, no air=very miserable. Came home and mowed the back lawn. (at least I had the riding mower) Needless to say, I took an hour nap and still have barely moved off the couch.

How Is It The Middle of July Already?

Time flies when you're having fun I guess. I've been busy trying to get the house back in order. It seems to take longer and longer each time. Anyway, not much else is going on. "Same ole-same-ole. (that reminds me of grandma Rush) Thinking about going up to Tawas for my birthday. However, the dog is being like Saran-wrap so I don't know how that will work. Would have to take him. He hates being left alone. Any offers to dog-sit? Here are a few more pix from Algonac.

Algonac State Park

Another lovely trip to Algonac State Park. The site was right on the water. Of course, because that's the one I reserved 6 months ago. Very hot this year. We only cooked one dinner on Sunday night. It was too hot to cook the rest of the nights. A great vacation for me-- no cooking. We brought the bikes but only biked around the campground because, again, it was too hot. Too bad because they have a really nice bike path into town. It was so hot I didn't even make coffee and had to go to Mickey Dee's to get iced coffee. Went to a new garden/gift shop and bought some local honey, a hanging thingy for the camper and a few other gifts. We also visited the local K-mart a few times to get some tank tops. Here are some pics of the campsite and also how Bailey kept cool.

Okay, It Is Way Hot to Be Camping

You know it's hot when you're camping if:
you run several times a day to get ice
you blast the air and stay inside and watch a movie
you don't even feel like cooking on the grill
you spend 99 cents to buy a water spray bottle to "mist" yourself (and the dog)
the dog lets you lay a wet washcloth over his head
you bring a fan outside
you see people in a pop-up camper with an air-conditioner stuffed into the canvas pop-out
all you can manage is a "sponge bath" because the shower room is way too hot & stuffy
you go to K-Mart 3 or more times a day
you go to the library to check your fb

First Campfire of the Summer

Had the first official campfire of the summer last night. Built a roaring fire in the firepit. It was a little chilly; sweatshirts in order. The Aurand's minus Tom came and brought the smushmallows and graham crackers. We tried something new last night since we didn't have any Hershey's bars to go with them. We spread peanut butter on the graham cracker and added a little Hershey's syrup. A new kind of Smore. Most excellent! Everyone was tired so we made an early night of it. Had to get up last night and get an extra blanket it was so chilly. BrRrRrRr.

Last Day of June

What, already? Where did the month go? The days are already getting shorter..NoNoNooooo! Hold on. We still have plenty of summer left.
Here are a few of my favorite summertime things:
camping
grilling
Boyne [may not be going this year :( ]
taking walks in the evening
bike riding
iced coffee
sitting out in the driveway (i know sounds weird)
picnics
birthdays
boating

What's the Buzz?

Facebook is a social networking website launched in February 2004 and operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.[1] Users can add people as friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by workplace, school, or college. The website's name stems from the colloquial name of books given to students at the start of the academic year by university administrations in the US with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better. Anyone age 13 or older can become a Facebook user.
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.[5] The website's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It later expanded further to include (potentially) any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. The original concept for Facebook was borrowed from a product produced by Zuckerberg's prep school Phillips Exeter Academy, which for decades published and distributed a printed manual of all students and faculty, unofficially called the "face book". The website currently has more than 400 million active users worldwide.[6][7]
Facebook has met with some controversy. It has been blocked intermittently in several countries including Pakistan,[8] Syria,[9] China,[10] Vietnam,[11] and Iran.[12] It has also been banned at many places of work to discourage employees from wasting time using the service.[13] Privacy has also been an issue, and it has been compromised several times. Facebook settled a lawsuit regarding claims over source code and intellectual property.[14] The site has also been involved in controversy over the sale of fans and friends.[15]
A January 2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users, followed by MySpace.[16] Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade 'best-of' list, saying, "How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook?"[17]
From: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In The Good Ole Summer Time

Going to Handy Dip in our Pj's
Getting attacked by bats walking Mary Laukka home
BLBC
UPBC
swimming in the pool
playing baseball in the backyard
taking a family vacation
going to the Tiger's game
family birthday parties (lots of July birthdays)
trips to Iperwash
Hoping the good humor man would drive by
playing outside way past dark ~ kick the can
riding bikes

"Old" Friends Are the Best

(dedicated to Lisa)

Old 'n' Gold

Old and good friends share a piece

Of passion, pain, and pleasure

That no one else, no family can

Begin to know or treasure.

It's as if a secret room

Held their private store,

And every time they met, they could

Go through some special door.

It doesn't matter if they see

Each other every day,

Or years and years go by before

They come and go away:

The moment that they meet it all

Is there--the memories of

Fierce loyalty and times of need

And gratitude and love.

~author unknown~

A friend that knows (mostly) all about you and is still your friend is valuable. Patching up a broken friendship is worth the effort. It's hard to say you're sorry, but so worth it! We have stood by each other through "thick" and "thin" and endured the same crap like no other.

Summer Solstice - First Day of Summer

Summer Is:

Water Skiing














• Blowing Bubbles

Camping



• The Zoo

The first day of summer officially kicks off today at 7:28 a.m. ET, the beginning of the summer solstice and the longest day of the year—at least in the Northern Hemisphere.
The summer solstice is a result of the Earth's north-south axis being tilted 23.5 degrees relative to the sun. The tilt causes different amounts of sunlight to reach different regions of the planet.
Today the North Pole is tipped closer to the sun than on any other day of 2010. As high noon on the first day of summer, the sun appears at its highest point in the sky—its most directly overhead position—in the Northern Hemisphere.
That doesn't mean the sun will be exactly overhead at noon for everyone, said James Bell, an astronomer at Cornell University in New York State.
It depends on the viewer's latitude—the sun is only shining down directly overhead at noon at the Tropic of Cancer. "It's still at a low angle if you're up in Alaska," Bell explained.

June 17th

Happy Birthday, Sarah jane and Riley rose. Oh, and happy anniv. to our neighbors LeAnn and McKenzie. Went out to lunch at Red Robin. It was a beautiful day. I told Sarah she could do whatever she wanted. She picked a nap-- go figure. That's what happens when you work too hard, I guess. I called R.R. and wished her HB by singing the traditional song over the phone. Syd went swimming in the neighbor's pool, she was the only one brave enough. The other kids thought it was way too cold. Then we went to Tee Bonez for dinner. Very cool, on Lake Penemah where we used to ski; (in Fenton) there was a band and we had a nice dinner.

No Smores Allowed

Had a great time camping with our friends the Hinspeters. Went to Brighton Recreation Area. It only rained Saturday night and it was a peaceful sounding sleep inducing rain. It was cloudy most of Sat. and today but that's ok. Went for a bike ride on some trails Sat. a.m. Probably a couple miles around Bishop Lake. Went canoeing and kayaking in the afternoon for about an hour and a half. It was very muggy. We all really enjoyed that though. Chilled out and read in the late afternoon. Tried a mango smirnoff drink. It was pretty good. Then we ate a grilled dinner of chicken, asparagus and veggie packets. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. We ate very healthy all weekend. yea! I have to go "out" to work tomorrow because we got a HUGE job. But my goals for the rest of the week include making homemade granola and some whole wheat muffins. The plan is to eat healthy and exercise because I cannot afford my $200/month diabetes meds. (that's just one of 3 that I take.)

They're Back!

Mr. and Mrs. Blue Bird, that is. Syd noticed them yesterday. She said some birds are fighting on the grass. And sure enough it was the bluebird and the sparrow going at it again. I guess Mr. BB was still not happy with Mr S. taking up residence in the camper birdhouse. Later in the afternoon, however I noticed that the Mr. and Mrs. BB were hovering about and keeping an eye out on a different house. This morning I was up early and noticed them still hanging about. Upon closer observation, I saw that Mrs. BB was bring grass and such items back and forth and stuffing them into the new house. I was able to get some nice photographs of them in action yesterday. Mostly Mr. BB. They are so pretty and also fun to watch.

Finishing up packing the camper and hope to be pulling out by 4:30. Hope the rain holds off at least until we get set up.

Getting Ready for the Camping Trip

There is always so much to do. Whew! That's probably why once you get there you sit around and relaxxxx the whole time! Washing, packing the clothes, food, camping necessities. Why just the food alone, you have the "dry" goods, the refrigerator food AND the freezer food. I'm not complaining, really I'm not. Trying out a new state park with some friends. Brighton Recreation. I think it's really in Howell though. If the weather holds out we may try kayaking on Saturday. I really hope the weather does hold out. There is nothing MORE frightening when you're camping than a thunderstorm, especially if there is alot of wind. Let's not even mention the "T" word.
Then there is all the double-checking to make sure everything is still in the camper. Matches, newspaper, towels, paper towels, toilet paper, blankets, chairs, etc... That is my job today since I didn't have to go mowing.

Way Back Tuesday

Ha, ha. couldn't wait til Wednesday.
So, I was thinking about going to Ipperwash Beach as a kid. Just random thoughts actually. So bare with me. They will be in no particular order.

• Getting candy & pop from Blue Jays & another store
• Larry St. John throwing firecrackers at us
• The old log cabins
• Staying in the cottage below the Wagners
• Going to the beach at Grand Bend
• Trying to water ski behind Cliff Maye's boat
• Walking the beach
• Sunsets on the beach
• Going to the Forest Gospel Hall
• Going to the cute stores in Forest
• The Brown's A-Frame cottage and their get togethers
• Going to the bakery with mom and getting fresh tarts & bread
• Running up & down the sand dunes
• Purple Haze (private joke)
• Trips to Kettle Point
• Crossing over the bridge to Canada

**feel free to add your own memories - comments

SC Hometown Day Parade

Didn't go the the Birdhouse in Freeland or the farmer's market in Midland. Instead went to the Hometown Days parade. Sat by the "Tree's" and friends. Prime spots on Miller Rd. by Mary Crapo. (where the play was held) It was hot & humid and long. I held the bag while Syd and Evan scooped up the candy that was being thrown. Then went grocery shopping. Made some coleslaw and went to the last card party of the season.

Today we researched some bike trails in the area, decided to head out to do a quick job and then go biking. We got rained out before we even got there. Will go another time. There is a 7.5 mile trail in Clio and a 3 mile trail in Flushing that we want to try.

Fabulous Friday

Just sitting with my coffee and enjoying the cool breeze and quietness of the morning. I'm hoping the clouds will clear up and we will see the sun. Finally got a peak of it yesterday afternoon. Sure glad the heat has dialed down a bit. Not sure what's on tap for the weekend. Probably a little work, a little rest. I would like to go to a farmer's market somewhere to get some fresh veggies and fruits and maybe some organic chicken.

Thinking about going to the "Birdhouse" in Freeland and the farmer's market in Midland.

I Love a Surprise

Especially when it comes in the mail. It appears I wrote too many checks to good ole Uncle Sam and he returned one to me yesterday. Thank the Lord! It arrived at a most opportune time. The check book was squawking up a storm. LOL I did this last year too. It seems I keep forgetting to tell the accountant about the last payment that I make. Oh well.
It's June already. Wow. Going to be a busy month. Going to make a batch of my famous enchiladas tonight for dinner. Maybe with a salad from the lettuce growing on the deck.
K, bye gotta get back to work.

Memorial Day 2010

Remembering fallen soldiers of every time and season.

Had to work in the morning. Just mowing, but all the way to Novi & Brighton. Then came home and cleaned out the van. Now just waiting for some rain. It is very dry. My sister had storms and lost power down in Livonia. Had fun reviewing past memorial days via my previous blog posts. What a neat way to record things. There is so much I would have forgotten. It's neat to have it all electronically recorded. I'm amazed at how much some things have changed, and yet also how much they have stayed the same. Last year we were recovering from throwing a wedding. Other years involved planting a garden and one year a camping trip with great friends.

2010 Balloon Glow at Frankenmuth

While watching the news last night, we saw a clip from the Balloon Flights in Frankenmuth. The newscaster said they were scheduled to take off at 7. We hurried up, jumped in the car and flew up to Frankenmuth. We arrived just in time. We saw several balloons take off. What a beautiful sight. We hung around listening to the announcer. We soon learned that it was actually a race and that the balloons would be arriving overhead and dropping a bean-bag with streamer attached into a target area. We decided to hang around. I'm glad we did. It was really neat to watch as the pilots maneuvered the balloons over the target area and dropped the bean-bag. Several missed the area entirely as they depend on finding the right wind currents to guide them. The pilots then landed the balloons and ferried them back to the area where 15 of them set up just at sunset and fired the burners creating the "glow." It was really beautiful to watch them glowing and listen to the "whoosh" of the flames.

Not Much But Work, Then Rest

Had to go to work again today. Just mowing. 4 lawns from Ortonville, to Grand Blanc, to Burton, to Flint. Got home at a decent time, took a relaxing bath and settled on the couch to veg. Sarah was updating the work. After about 1/2 hour she jumped up and said, "we have to go." Apparently, we skipped a job that was due today. So, back out we went. It was quick tho, and we are back home again.
My Peonies are in full bloom. Beautiful this year. Yesterday, as you saw on my fb, was the Community Picnic at the elementary school. I was in charge of Syd and Emma. Who by the way is the class whiner. She lived up to her name. Wow! That was interesting. Now I remember why I never wanted to teach Kindergarten. Syd did a great job of getting her to "refocus." And of course and ice-pac was involved. The kid only ate watermelon for lunch. Which was provided by Famous Dave's and was quite good.

Field Day Thursday

A trip to St. John and Henderson Mi. First a stop at Hardee's in Owosso. One of the few left. Then on to St. John where I mowed and Sarah did the "maid service." Basically just wiping down everything and vacuuming, like a "refresh" cleaning. Then on to Henderson, which is out in the middle of nowhere basically. The farmers were bringing in the hay. The grass at the property was super high. I guess last time the crew tried to mow there the lawn was wet. Some spots were over a foot tall! I had to go real slow. It was huge too! Over an acre I'd say. About half way through I noticed my neck and arms were getting hot and burny. I covered with an extra shirt for the duration. Man it was hot. Then more sitting in the sun. Niki's games last night-they're always a double-header. Whew! More hot. They squeaked out both games though. Was wishing I had a pool to go swimming in when I got home.

Whey Back Whens-day

Found some old pics. One of the girls tubing up north. The "good ole days." What fun they had. And me too, tryin to make them fly out of the tubes.

The other is of Syd and Niki back when Syd first started coming over. Oh my, she was a tiny little thing.

A Taste of Summer

Highs in the upper 80's. Good Grief! We never seem to be able to have just a "normal" temperature. We're either above or below average. Last night we enjoyed a 'Lost' party with the Renee's. Burgers and spaghetti salad. Renee tried the new recipe from the Kroger magazine, buffalo chicken dip. It was very good. Topped off the dinner with carrot cake or ice-cream sandwiches. I chose the carrot cake. Yummm. Today's agenda includes daily chores and trying to stay cool! Tonight's menu will be: Grilled pork tenderloin (recipe from chef Donaldo), grilled peaches and grilled asparagus.

Scrap at the B&B

Wonderful weekend with the sistopher and neicopher and great-neiceopher & great-nephewfer. It all started with a trip to the scrapbook store. Got some beautiful pages for my new ancestery book. Then went back to the B &B and Don graciously unpacked my car and took everything down to the basement. Marlene got us started by buying a georgous ancestry pad of pages and some scrapbook pages. We then made a lot of copies of documents and photos! Thanks Mar! She copied down the family tree that I had worked on to date. Dinner by Chef Donaldo and his apprentice Karen was Greens a la Taco Salad served with Corunna. For dessert a fresh baked Rhubarb/Strawberry Crumb served with vanilla ice-cream. Breakfast on Saturday was Buttermilk blueberry pancakes served with Canadian bacon and of course coffee. Lunch was Hummus and chips with Asiago & apple brats. Yummmm. Some people had another slice of the crunch. (not me I was too full!) The sleeping accomodations were cozy and peaceful. Other activites included a Barbie wedding, (video will probably show up on another blog) magnetic dolls, storybook reading general silliness.

A Full Day

Did the morning work & paid bills. Watered flowers. Went to Rich's - bought some basil, red-leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, and nasturtium plants. Oh and a grape tomato plant. Picked up Syd the Kid. We got the car washed, picked up some bird seed, picked up some lunch and headed for the park. Ate at the park and played for a bit. Came home. Planted all the stuff in pots, cept the nasturtium which we put in the flower bed. Picked up Evan. Then did a "drive by" to see if peeps were living in the house that we have to do work at tomorrow. Took a small bike ride with Syd on her Barbie bike. Went to the store to get shrooms for the ke-bobs. Made some awesome grilled chicken kebobs and ate them with some fresh pineapple. After dinner I played "hopshotts" with Syd. Threw to the ball to Bailey several times. Now I'm just chillin. Very nice outside today.

Post Today is on http://fit-n-trim.blogspot.com/

Today's post is back on http://fit-n-trim.blogspot.com/

I don't care if anyone reads it or not. It's just something I need to do. I think it keeps me accountable to something.

No Cell Phones in The Courthouse

New law in the Genesee Co. courts ~ No cell phones allowed. Duh, ya think? However if you are a lawyer, cop, employee, or juror you may have one. Ok, that's probably 70 percent of the people there. Hoping to see more places adopt the rule. Michigan will soon have a "no driving while texting" law.

I have a fresh supply of kleenex, cough drops, cough medicine, Tylenol, benedryl, chicken soup and vernors. Can't seem to shake the cold. Took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. I seem to feel worse in the afternoon and evening.

Sneezing, Sniffling, Coughing

That's me for the past three days. I haven't been sick or even had a cold for at least 2 years. But the neighbors have been passing this cold around to each other and I think it finally got passed on to me. Stuffy head & nose. Bad headaches and some dizziness. Been mostly camped out on the couch reading, watching tv and napping. Yesterday I did sit out in the sun at Niki's softball tourney. It felt good for a while. But then in the afternoon, I started to feel drowsy so we came home and I napped. No cooking for me - take out Chinese. Then back outside for a bit to watch as Syd learned how to ride her 2-wheeler Dora bike. Hopefully the sneezing, sniffling, coughing will soon be through!

All Dressed Up & No Place to Go

Mr. & Mrs. B. Bird have returned only to find out their previously occupied home went into foreclosure and Mr. & Mrs. Sp. Arrow and family have moved in lock, stock & barrel. Mr. & Mrs. B. Bird were quite upset. So much so that Mr. B. was engaging Mr. & Mrs. Sp. in a duel. This went on for a relatively long time. The Sp. Arrow family was not about to budge. So I quickly dressed, & ran to Meijers to purchase a new home. Now the plan is to entice Mr. & Mrs. B. Bird into the new home. They were nowhere to be seen when I returned. I'll be keeping surveillance this afternoon.

Way Back When-s-Day (Thursday)

I got the blog title from my sister, of course - got to compete. I think she actually got the idea from another blogger anyway. Here are some pics from the family first trip to Florida. ~ December 1971. Just the 4 out of the 6. We were quite "wowwed" with the ocean, oranges and the sun. I fell in love with it way back then.
It's raining cats & dogs today! Found some cool stuff with the genealogy today. I'm making a pork tenderloin with sage (from my sister's herb garden) and bay (from my bay tree) with red skinned potatoes and asparagus. Smells delicious-i-oso. Crockpot of course.

Just Another Day in Paradise

I made this basket up last week. Went to Rich's Market and picked out all the flowers. They were on sale 3 for $10. Did some dishes, computer work, banking, shopping (the grocery type), made grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner then rode my bike while Syd rode her scooter. Now I'm blogging, ordering pictures online, adding songs to my playlist, and listening to Nicole reading from Frankenstein.

Tired, Cold & Sore

Tired is because we stayed over Tom & Renee's too late last night playing "Sing-star." It's just so much fun. I couldn't leave until I beat someone. Finally did- singing MmMmMmMmM song by Crash Test Dummies. Then tired some more because we had to get up at 7:30 and go to work. Tired, Cold and Sore from cleaning a most nasty house. It was disgusting. I don't even want to put up pictures because it was so gross. It was freezing cold today, possibly even saw some little tiny snowflakes. I should add smelly too, cause that's what I was after cleaning that mess. Came home dropped the trailer full of junk, changed clothes and headed back out to finish a couple other jobs. Rushed home to take a bath and get ready for the prom pics. Ended by ordering take out Chinese and vegging out, which I'm doing now.

Monday's Musings

Some Places I'd Like to Visit This Summer

• Ann Arbor Farmer's Market
• Shipshewana
• Algonac State Park
• Boyne, Mi
• Holland Tulip Festival (Too late, I already missed it)
• Otsego State Park
• Mackinaw Island: The Great Turtle Run/Walk
• St John, Mi: Mint Farm
• Roscommon, Mi - Kirtland Warbler Festival
• Saginaw State Park: Walk the trails in nature center
• Oscoda, Mi: Kayaking

Some Much Needed Rain

Except that I couldn't open the G.S. until bout 12:30. Only a few people today. Made a few bucks. Sarah boxed it all up and put away the boxes until next time. Didn't do much today. Lazy day. Made an awesome chicken pasta for dinner & then strawberry shortcake too! Now I'm just trying to finish the book I'm reading because it has to go back to the library tomorrow.

May Day ~ May 1st

May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to several public holidays.[1] In many countries, My Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations organised by the unions, anarchists, and socialist groups. May Day is also a traditional holiday in many cultures.

So what are you doing this May Day? We had a bit of rain, now it's just cloudy. I'm sittin here in the garage again, trying to make a buck. Had a wonderful evening last nite playing euchre at Mike & Chris's. Had a bbq - first of the season. I came in third place and recouped my $5 game fee. Yahoo!