Music, Bonfire and S'mores

Butch and I  were asked if we could help with a bonfire last night. That seemed like easy duty and we all know there is nothing on TV to distract us so we jumped at the chance. Silverfox played his beautifully haunting flute music, a few S'mores and the company of a group from Alpine Pleasure Tours made for a pleasant and relaxing evening.
Butch being the firebug that he is loved making the bonfire and I took more than a few pictures.
This is a lovely shot of pinecones burning. For some strange reason I am getting a server rejection notice on pictures I am attempting to upload so I will try again later. Check in later for more pictures.

A couple more

I have whipped out a couple more bracelets. I am getting faster. These do not hurt my wrist.

Update from my friend Kay

Kay and Bill are our age and there are only two people in their current household. I am not sure I would let him out of my sight!
Latest from Kay:
I do have to tell you that Bill is at it again. Yesterday he came home with 34 ears of sweet corn, (all you could get in a bag for a $1.00). Of course he got 2 bags. They had red potatoes for 5 cents a pound, so of course we got two bags which totaled 25 pounds for $1.30. I have the biggest head of cabbage, that will take me at least 3 weeks to use up, a head of lettuce, 2 pounds of baby carrots, and celery Hey there is hope he only got 1 dozen eggs. He is bragging as he got all this for $9.70.
Hey do not laugh        I NEED HELP!!!!!

Vibrams

Fellow workamper Jan has the weirdest looking shoes that she says are extremely comfortable. So I took a couple pictures of them to share with you. The website for the shoes can be found here: http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/indexNA.htm

Stumbled upon

I stumbled upon a website where he makes a short movie of the places he and his lovely young wife have visited. I thought you might like to see Mackinac Island from his perspective.

http://longlonghoneymoon.com/2010/07/13/video-no-man-is-an-island-mackinac-island/

Full Day

Butch put in 10 hours yesterday. That does not happen often. He did 4 hours of mowing greens and 6 hours of rangering. I did some blogging then worked on bracelets.
Oh and we worked in a walk and breakfast at a local restaurant too. While we were on our walk I noticed a smell that was not easily identified. Finally it dawned on us that it was from the power plant. The Alpena power plant is located in Hillman and they grind up wood chips. The ground up wood chips is what we were smelling. Not an altogether unpleasant smell but quite powerful. I imagine the humidity had something to do with the intensity of it. I did notice it was better than the rotting corn smell we got from the elevator in Cumberland IA when they cleaned out the bins in the fall. That was always pretty disgusting and it seemed to last for weeks.
Our plans for today include the demise of some spider houses. I was going to put a really neat photo of a spider web in here but copyright issues cropped into my head so you will have to rely on your imagination of a dew covered spider web of beautiful proportions.

Baby Elise looking serious

Latest Elise

From proud Grandpa Gary

With Grandma Susan

Movie and Ice Cream

Went to see Nanny McPhee, small cee-Big pee. You know about that if you had seen the first one. Good movie. I like kids movies. Butch liked it too. Especially the synchronized swimming pigs. We went with Tom and Wanda Burnell and Rob and Ronni Silver-fellow workampers. After the movie we went for ice cream at North Country. Very pleasant afternoon.

Hen & Chicks

I seem to have a knack with Hen & Chicks. Or Any plant in the cactus family that does not take much attention. I found a Hen & Chicks on Leo's  back steps and they needed planted so I did an intervention some might call it a plantnapping and they have flourished. The main mama is about to bloom!












This was taken from Main Mama a few months ago and now she has a bunch of chicks.

Lightning

Last night it started to rain and we had flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder. Butch started grumbling about mowing greens in the rain...again! I said do not cry before you are hurt thinking it surely could not last all night. Well it did. The sun is starting to peek out now but from 6 to 9, the green mowing time, it was pretty rainy...and he has a sore throat with continual sinus drainage. Chewed him out for not using the netipot. He is now using it so we will see if he caught it in time.
Found a website about our hometown all done on a humorous note. It has been around since 2007 so not exactly new. I could tell right off the local hierarchy was not in charge of it because they were being lampooned. www.jeffersoniowanews.com  The website takes some maneuvering but very interesting in many places. Check out the archives. I got stuck on the "Who lives here" section where there are several pages of house pictures and who used to live there and who lives there now. Probably not of much interest to anyone but Jeffersonians past and present.
I am reading Sunday's Child by Tom Lewis and Butch finished The Help by Kathryn Stockette. Butch was in need of more reading material so I started looking on the kindle and found a bunch of free ones. Most of them were by first time authors, perhaps the reason they were free. I will let you know if they were worth downloading. There is a kindle for PC version that you can download for your computer and it is free. It works very much like the Kindle I have and can take with me anywhere. If you have any questions about that feel free to ask me or go to www.amazon.com and do a search for kindle. They will tell you about Kindle for PC.

Ladybug in flight

Have you ever seen a photo of a ladybug in flight? Me neither. I am not the photographer.

A story about our friends Bill & Kay

For those of you who know Bill & Kay well this will give you a chuckle and not surprise you. For those of you who don't know them well, I hope you will get a chuckle. Bill & Kay were getting ready to go on a trip so Kay had pared down all the food in the fridge. A day before they were headed off on their trip Bill decided to go to the Farmers Market. Kay told him NOT to buy anything. Firmly she said, "DO NOT buy anything!". Bill has a shopping problem that is famous. He cannot seem to buy just one of anything.
 Kay had a few errands to run before taking off on their trip and she came home to find  8 quarts of strawberries, 24 ears of corn, 4 pints of Blueberries, ( 4) 5 pound bags of sugar, 2 dozen eggs, and 6 tomatoes!


This is what Kay emailed to her friend Julie:

Funeral arrangements are pending for William R. Stilson, age 69 of Curtice, Ohio. He was reportedly found buried under 8 quarts of strawberries, 24 ears of corn, 4 pints of Blueberries, ( 4) 5 pound bags of sugar, 2 dozen eggs, and 6 tomatoes. He is survived by his overworked distraught wife Kay 


I think she is going to have to ground him for his own safety!

Touring Northeast Michigan

We took Bill & Kay on a bit of a tour first stopping at Fletcher's Pond.

Then we moseyed on to Alpena and stopped at Dollar Tree for some Maple Leaf Creme Cookies.

 Dollar Tree is the only place that has them and we have refrained from stopping there every time we go to Alpena until yesterday. Butch was driving. After filling the car with the aroma of maple we did a short tour of Alpena and then moved up the road to Rogers City and the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse.

Following a pleasant visit at the lighthouse we found our way back to Hillman and played cribbage for a good share of the afternoon and evening. Bill had received a really bad haircut a couple of months ago and the "edges" had reached a point where they needed attention but the top was fine so Butch took out his clippers and trimmed Bill up around the edges. He did a pretty fair job considering both of them had enjoyed more than a little margarita.

Cold Front

Yesterday was a busy day with surprises. I was expecting our friends the Stilsons  on Wednesday but they came yesterday afternoon and what a pleasant surprise. We have had a great time with lots of laughs since they arrived. We have showed them around Thunder Bay Resort by car and golf cart. A cold front went through yesterday afternoon and we dang near froze to death on those golf carts. We made it a quick tour for sure. We enjoyed pizza at the grill and then went into Hillman for ice cream at the Lickety Split.
This morning Butch is playing his usual golf at Bill and Kay's insistence and then we are going into Jaques restaurant in Hillman for omelets. Kay loves omelets and at this particular restaurant not only do they have good omelets they also have homemade wheat bread. So more fun plans for the day.

Kay is objecting to picture taking but I think it is a good one of all.

I have neglected to tell you of Butch's bracelet making. It is the bracelet that hurts my wrist to make. Unfortunately he says it strains his eyes. Age takes its toll. Take care of your body, you never know how long you'll need it and it is doggone frustrating to have it give you trouble. I tell this to all the young ones knowing full well it is either too late or falling on deaf ears. 

It is Butch's bracelet. I started it and finished it for him. He did the middle.

Water for Elephants

by Sara Gruen I just finished this book and it is worth a look to see if it suits your tastes. Butch enjoyed it very much too.
http://www.amazon.com/Water-Elephants-Novel-Sara-Gruen/dp/1565125606

Sometimes...

Thinking of a title is the hardest part. Butch is off traveling to another golf course with a bunch of guys. Something he said he wouldn't do but we all know how that goes. I am doing laundry and plan to get  a walk in shortly. Missed yesterday.
It is one of those mornings that remind us that summer is on the wane and fall will be here soon. Just a bit of coolness in the air. Very nice after the hot days with the AC running. I know all you folks who have had the triple digit temps are chuckling about our so-called hot days in northern Michigan. It has been a very pleasant summer weather wise. Near perfect most would say. I was very interested in what yesterday would be like because "WINDY" was in the forecast for here. It was going to be blasting away with 20 mph! Whooeee! That is merely a breeze in most places we have been where wind doesn't even play a part unless it exceeds 35 mph with gusts from 45 to 60. But it was a windy day here-the windiest one of the summer. Maybe winter is a different story. I have no plans to find out.
Must get my sheets in the dryer...till later...

Link of the Day

I haven't given you a link of the day for a long time. I have run across this one before but I think it is one that most everyone can use at one time or another.

 

Manuals Online

http://www.manualsonline.com/

 

"Locate hard-to-find user manuals, discover new features, and realize

the potential of the products you rely on. Manuals Online pairs

self-help and product information with a growing community of engaged

product owners."

States Visited

This is a map of the states we have visited. I guess by rights you have to stay over night in a state for it to qualify. So that is a criteria for us and this map. We could add another 8 if we could count just passing through.

Off to the Theatre...

Lobby gathering- pictured L-R-Wanda, Ronni, Howard, Tom and Jan

Sunday afternoon at the theater. I do believe this is our first outing as a group since we have been here. That was a frequent occurrence at Snow Mountain Ranch the last 3 summers so I have missed it. It lived up to my expectations and we had a very nice time. We attended a play at the Thunder Bay Theatre in Alpena and it was "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" . It was a comedy and we all enjoyed it very much and afterwards we went to a Chinese/Thai resataurant to eat. Great outing and I would love to do something like it again.

Howard-I kept this photo even though it is blurred simply because I thought it turned out to be an interesting shot. 

Butch and Ronni during intermission.

Ronni and Jan at the restaurant.

The morning after...

The entertainment in The Barn last night was great. Michael Lee Seiler We have been fortunate this summer to see some very talented performers and right in our own backyard so to speak. Unfortunately they have not had the crowds that they deserve. Anyway, we enjoyed Michaels performance.
We also enjoyed Hillman's fireworks last night and right from our dining room window. It was in connection with their V-J Day celebration. We didn't make it downtown for the parade or any of the "festivities". I wish they would change the theme of their celebration to Patriot Days or something else less specific but then we will be rolling our wheels down the highway in about 7 weeks. They are most likely the last town or village in the country celebrating V-J days.
Butch is doing the green mowing thing again this am and he stopped by to tell me I may have to come pick him up at the maintenance shed. He had a break down this morning and had to replace a pin. Don't worry, I do not have a clue either. All I know is that it will delay him getting finished and he will be holding up golfers from their dedicated pursuit of...hard to find the right word here so we will skip over it!
I am on break from handwork and it has been a surprise to me how much I miss it, both Swedish weaving and bead weaving. I must get the wrist healed up as much as possible before attempting it again. Tried it a bit too soon and have suffered a relapse of the wrist injury. Once again it is getting better.
We have a social outing with many of the fellow workampers this afternoon. That has been a rarity this summer and we are looking forward to a good time. I will take my camera.

Cleaning up

In reading the RV Travel newsletter this morning they talked about the importance of knowing how to take a Navy Shower. I think everyone should know how because you never know when the knowledge might come in handy. Water is a very important commodity and becoming more so all the time.
Butch rangered yesterday from 2 to 9. For those who do not know, that is essentially the police force on the golf course making sure the pace is kept up with and no one is doing stupid stuff they shouldn't be and also to help those with troubles of various sorts such as running out of gas or flat tires on the carts. So while he was busy and not underfoot I decided to clean windows and screens in the RV. It needed done and was long overdue. And now I have a new outlook on life. Things are much clearer now. 
I have found Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner to be most effective in the cleaning of screens. I remove the screens from the window and lay them on an old bath towel, lightly spray with Scrubbing Bubbles and then wipe off with a rag. I do both sides. They are sparkling when I get done. Things stay so clean here (Michigan) that it is one of the few times I felt like this chore will last awhile. Yippee!!

Today was a get up early day for Butch and the mowing of the greens. It is staying dark longer now so he doesn't have to get up and at it quite so early. I decided to get my walk in early as there was rain in the forecast and as a I write this there are raindrops tap tapping on the roof.
Tonight there will be entertainment in The Barn. Someone new we haven't heard before. Michael Lee Seiler
So 7:00 PM will find us at The Barn to find out what Michael has to offer.
There is a parade and celebration in Hillman today. Not sure how much we will take in but we do plan to look it over some . The parade starts at noon.

65th ANNUAL V-J DAY FESTIVAL

August 14th, 2010

8:30AM to DARK

Location: Hillman, Michigan

Contact Information:

Hillman VFW Post 2356

Phone: 989.742.3710

8:30a.m.-10:30p.m. Breakfast at the VFW Hall
8a.m.-11:30a.m. Car Show & Swap Meet at Hillman Elementary School
8:30a.m.-2p.m. White Elephant & Bake Sale at St. Augustine Parish Hall
9a.m.-5p.m. Civil War Descendants, Wool Wranglers and Concessions at the Brush Creek Mill
10a.m.-2p.m. Quilt Raffle & Luncheon at Calvary Episcopal Church
10a.m.-3p.m. Used Book Sale at Wright Public Library
11a.m. til gone - Pig Roast by VFW under the Buck Pole
Noon - The Grand Parade on Main Street, presented by the VFW (with dedication, trophies, etc. in front of the Hi-Way Inn). Also, Veterans gathering with food and music at the VFW Hall after the parade.1p.m. Music at the Hi-Way Inn Parking Lot - bring lawn chairs & coolers
1p.m.-2p.m. Kids Games at Independent Bank parking lot
1p.m. Fire Hall Open House and Ribbon Cutting
7p.m. Elk View carriage ride and gourmet dinner & wine tasting at the Thunder Bay Resort (call for information, 989-742-4502)7p.m. Music at the Mill by Chester's Habit, bring lawn chairs
7p.m. Music at the Hi-Way Inn
10:30p.m. Music at Chauncey's Pub
Dusk - Fireworks over the Thunder Bay River

Spider Fighter

Wednesday morning Butch plays in a senior league so he went off to golf and I took up battle with the spiders on the 400 building. It is amazing how fast those little boogers can spin a web.
 I worked away with my broom for 3 hours and I was able to finish that building. It is worse than housework or some would say much the same. You know when you are finished you are not really finished for it will all be there to do again and soon.

When Butch finished golfing he went over with the blower and blew off a few decks. The blower works much better and faster than a broom. It does not work to blow off the spiders. They and their webs hold on for dear life.
We played in couples golf last night and it was fun but not because I played well. I have just learned how to make fun out of whatever may be happening.
This morning we were back to beading class. I am nursing my wrist yet so I took it real easy and did not learn anything new but worked on one that is now easy for me.
As you can see we are creatures of habit and we soon do all the same things we have been doing...again and again. But we are okay with that because if we weren't we would change it. Michigan, like the rest of the Midwest, is experiencing above normal temperatures. The locals all tell us it is unseasonably warm here (upper 80's and humid). We are running the AC. I like it best when it is warm enough to have the windows open but not so warm we need the air on. We have had many of those this summer and I am hoping for a few more. I look at the temps they are experiencing in Iowa and my memory of what that is like is still pretty vivid. And it is not a pretty picture. Also all the rain they are getting is reminiscent of 1993 and we were still living in Iowa then. It rained every day it seemed and got very old. We were never in danger of flooding because Cumberland was on very high ground but the incessant rain was mighty depressing after a few months of it. And they said that was a 500 year flood! The news people are all saying this year could surpass 1993 in the record books. How's that for a kick in the pants?! We are very sympathetic to all the friends and family we still have in Iowa .
So until I once again get inspired or we do something new.

Another Day in Michigan

I remembered a therapy they had me do on my wrist before I had the surgery the last time. They set up two pans of water, one very hot and one very cold. They then had me alternate between the two pans. The cold one nearly killed me and the warm one felt really good. So I did this last night after finishing dishes. I had a pan full of water with ice cubes and the dishwater, alternating between the two. It really helped!! It feels much better today. I am guessing it shocks it into behaving.

Butch is out- Guess What?- Golfing. I have my walk done and I should be fighting spiders but I seem to be dragging my feet. Getting a wee bit tired of fighting spiders.
This morning I also tied up loose ends. You know how that goes...the check book needs balanced. The umbrella needs some minor repair. My picture folder on the computer needs some organizing- that is in addition to gathering up the garbage, cleaning the litter box and other everyday things. So mostly done with all that so sat here for a chat with all of you.
Next week friends from Magnolia Park, Kay and Pecan Bill will be stopping by for a visit. We are very much looking forward to that. Kay is a stay-at-home girl, I sometimes call her a hermit so she doesn't want us to plan too much to do. So we won't. They will also be on the tail end of a lengthy vacation. So it will be easy does it. We can handle that.
As I sit here at my computer I can see the tee box on number 4. I watch many people hit the golf ball every day. Some things I know for sure.
1.There are more bad golfers than good.
2. Some people cannot hit the ball even after many attempts.
3. Most people have never had a lesson in their life and if they did it didn't "take".
I am sure I could add more. I remember many years ago when I finished my lessons and I was so scared to hit off the first tee because it was right in front of the clubhouse. Butch said just stand back and watch a few people hit first and you will not feel so bad. It was one of the times when he was right, wink, wink.

Wildflower takeover-

Golf, bracelets and wrist

We played in a Rally for the Cure tournament here yesterday. Good thing we had Butch on our team. After nine holes my enthusiasm,energy and effectiveness start on a downward spiral. Mary, Tom, Butch and I shot a 56-17 under par but that was with the help of 12 yards of pink ribbon. You pay for the lengths of pink ribbon ahead of time and can use them to not count putts if you are close enough to the hole. It was all for a good cause but even so Butch has to do some tall talking to get me into these events. We didn't win any prizes but that was okay. It gets tough to find places for any extras as it is.
 I have been having great fun with the bracelets but now I have overdone it and injured my wrist- the one I had surgery on a few years back. So I am wearing my wrist brace and not doing bracelets until it has a chance to heal. I do not want to have surgery again. The surgeon did tell me it is not unusual to have it done more than once but that means to me that I did not take care of myself properly after the first one. I will do what I can to not have another surgery.
We are having another rain filled day. Nothing like Iowa is getting! The weather in Iowa has been on the skids for more than 3 years with unusual, bizarre and plain old crappy stuff. I keep thinking they have to have a period of really nice weather once in a while but it does not seem to be forthcoming.

Saturday Morning

Friends Mike & Sharon are at home in Granbury Texas getting his health issues attended to. All your prayers for our friends surely helped.
Yesterday Butch and I worked on the villas and suites doing battle with the spiders and their webs. The largest building is the worst and I cannot figure out why. It always has much more webs than the other two. One of the primary differences is the amount of sunlight and the side of the building getting the most sunshine is also the worst. Some smart guy is going to tell me it is because there are more spiders there...I can see that one coming.

Butch had some electrical chores yesterday afternoon so I took a break.
And this morning he is doing his green mowing chores. But he is usually home by now and I have not seen him go by so I am beginning to think there are mower problems.

Click on pic to see them better.

I have been busy making bracelets but I must take a break from them now as my wrist that has had one surgery is beginning to give me some trouble. Linda instructed us on a new one last Thursday (Sidewinder-on the bottom) and it is very pretty but I have a really tough time getting the needle through the beads. Near the end I was using pliers to pull it through and that worked well. Part of the problem is that once I start I do not want to put it down till it is completed. So I will dig out my wrist brace and wear it for awhile and quit on the bracelets until the pain has subsided.
So Butch has now made it home and shopping in Alpena is on our agenda so signing off for now...

Catch up...

Fellow workamper Linda and I worked on the villas and suites yesterday to help housekeeping due to an overload of  people checking in and out and a shortage of housekeeping help. We stripped and made up beds and also restocked towels. I am not used to working that hard and I cannot say I like it at all. I think Linda and I agree on that.
I came home, showered, napped and then we played in couples golf. I felt like I wasn't much good to anybody and I was just excess golfing baggage. But then we came to hole number 3 and I step onto the tee box with a 7 wood in my hand and Butch says,"Wait! This hole is farther than you think and you better use your 5 wood." I said, "If I hit it as I should and hit it well I will  be way over." He said, "Okay, but remember what I said." I used my 7 wood and I was on the green 5 feet past the pin. It happened to be a hole with a flag for closest to the pin for women. Not only was I closest to the pin, I then made the putt for a birdie. It was the highlight of my evening.

This morning we beading women met in the Barn for a beading session.We learned a new bracelet this morning(Sidewinder) and I had someone in mind as I was doing it but that someone shall remain nameless for now. It is a pretty thing. I will show it to you when it is complete.
And now for an update on the Kindle. Butch has become an avid reader! This is a total and complete surprise to me. Yes, in the last year or two he has read far more books than the previous 60 years of his life but I had no idea that when we got the Kindle he would go completely nutso! I bought 4 or 5 books when I bought the kindle thinking they would last awhile. He has swallowed them all up and is in need for more. I think I will slow him down by making him do his own shopping. It will be either a blessing or a curse. Just like the Kindle!