My yesterday

Butch went to Mickeys to help put her new shed together. My original plan was to ride to the river but the wind was up a bit so decided I could burn more calories working in the yard. Last fall Butch seeded our formerly mud area in the backyard with grass seed and I am sure many of you know that in so doing the grass seed does not always stay where you want so I had plenty of unwanted grass patches between my pavers on the path to the Moho. I dug them all out. Cleaned up the area around the hostas on the north and in those few words and two chores I spent all morning! The belltower started chiming and I started counting and was shocked to hear it was noon!
My improvement plans for the southwest corner of the living room are 3/4 done. A couple of years ago we dismantled a desk and used part of it for Butch's hideyhole desk in the closet and the rest of it to hold odds and ends next to my desk. It looked unsightly and unfinished so I planned to dispose of it. However, my teammate asked what I planned to do with the stuff in the drawers. Buy something new? As I am all about reuse and restore I changed my thinking and with Butch's help and some paint we now have a new printer stand.

I have also been thinking about something to hold the NuWave oven and induction plate and my first thought was a small kitchen island but that thought meta-morphed into a stainless steel cart. Went to my first source for such things, Amazon.com and found one for $130 but that did not include the casters-another 40 bucks! So I kept dragging my feet. I would go look at it then click out without buying and I did this for several days in a row. Then on Wednesday in my email was a Costco notice for online only items and there was a cart! $77 and it already has the casters on it and free shipping. It is slightly smaller than the other one and  it will fit better. Sometimes when something is holding you back it is for a good reason. And for those of you trying to help, I looked in many other places than those two, Craigslist, Wayfair, Overstock etc to name a few.
So the new cart will be here Tuesday and I will post pics of the finished improvements of the southwest corner of our living space.

River Ride

Decided to get another ride in today and when I started out, my legs said, "Really? We  are going to do this again?"  And I said, "Yes, but I will go slow and if you give me any trouble at all we will stop."
So down the trail we went headed for the Raccoon River Valley Bridge. The weather is perfect, very light breeze, full-on sunshine, birds singing and flowers blooming. It was a perfect day and a perfect ride and I hope it is the first of many more.
We have a flooding situation. The bridge always makes me a bit uneasy when it is in the flood stage.

OMG

Just returned from my first bike ride since October of 2015 and I am a pooped pup! I started out and thought, "This isn't too bad." But then I started thinking it was really too easy and noticed the wind was from the northeast but I kept going. The trail is always easy going DOWN to the river and not as easy coming back UP to town. Funny how your memory sometimes fails on these things. I thought I will just take it easy. It will be okay. But then I decided perhaps it was a bit too much for my first go of the year so stopped short of the river probably a half to three-quarter of a mile. I am  so glad that I did because the trip back was the workout of the year. Now I am home and recovering. Butch is on the golf course getting his workout but I know mine was tougher!

Naturally pleasing arrangement.

This was my turn around point. Picture faces south.

Artistic bend

Early this morning, a few minutes after 6:00 AM this was the view on my wall. It was created by the sun shining through an east window and making this artistic feature on a west wall. I like it. A true artist does not owe anyone an explanation.  

Latest project- ironing board desk

This is not the best of pictures but it gives you the idea.
Ingredients:
1 adjustable ironing board
1 5 ft.x 16 inch laminate white board
8-10 right sized screws.
Directions:
Mount best-looking side of board evenly centered on ironing board. If you have any DYI skills at all you can figure the rest out. And to answer the first question- it is far sturdier than you might imagine.

Wah la- a new desk!

And now I can see outdoors while computing. Yeah!

Our Missouri kids

Our Missouri kids went to the zoo! The one thing I enjoy most about Facebook is keeping up with the grands through pictures. Snipped a few choice photos.

Devon is 13!

 We had a great time at Devon's birthday party. We played Five-Straight, a game that Jason introduced us to many years ago. A fun way to spend a rainy day and celebrate Devon becoming a teenager..

Cold to the Bone too

It has been very cold here this past week and we weather it much better in the house than the motorhome but it is still not good. Yesterday we went to an auction. It is in a big old building that is not heated. Once we became thoroughly cooled we came home. My only purchase of the day was an ironing board I acquired for a dollar. It wasn't even on the auction. I have been looking for one and there it stood right by the door so I asked the auctioneer about it and he sold it to me and even asked me how many I wanted. Apparently they are not a hot item at auctions. If you start looking on Pinterest you will want an ironing board too.

These folks are better acclimated than I am.

They do not appear cold at all.

So we came home and heated up some leftover chili, the perfect meal for the day.

A few days ago when the sun was still shining the neighbor cat came over for a visit. She laid claim to our place and many others over the winter. Her name is Fluffy and she keeps her distance. I do not mind having cats around as they keep the mice away. So meet Fluffy:

 I spent too much time on Pinterest this morning getting inspired for projects. Butch will soon have lots of things to do. If you feel you are in a rut just visit Pinterest and soon you will be flooded with all kinds of ideas for all kinds of projects.

This afternoon we will be going to a birthday party for a new teenager, Devon Hiller. He is a good kid so I think we are all safe for now.

Whether the weather is cold,

Or whether the weather is hot,

We will weather the weather,

Whatever the weather,

Whether we like it or not!