Monday the 28th and a Vacation Day...Last day of February, and it was a nice day not real warm, mid 20's but it was sunny all day.
I spent the day making some wood beads for Crystalie, which I have done in the past, and her supply was pretty much gone. I took some birch sticks and sliced them thin with the radial saw, and the I use my little drill press and drill a hole roughly in the center.
These vary in size and thickness, and she uses for making rustic garland with fabric scraps and the wood beads. The first picture is of the Birch Beads. These will sit in the coffee containers with holes in the bottom in our heat supply cupboard on a wire rack where they will continue to dry out, the dry heat from our hot water heat, will suck all the moisture out of them to keep them from getting mold spots on them.
The secong batch of beads is made again from young birch shoots that are growing along the waters edge, and I cut those last summer. These were nice dry sticks, and as you can see I cut these about 2 inces long, and drill a hole roughly in the center. These too are used for rustic garland, and ornamental pieces on other things, just like the birch beads. That is one of those big pretzel jars, it holds about 2 of the coffee containers.
Just one of the many little things I do for stuff at Wooden Nichols, in fact I was working on my list of things to do for the store but it is too long to type out here. I will post the items when I complete them, I don't need everyone knowing how long my list is!
I also split and stacked some of my logs which I cut up yesterday during the day.
Oscar Nite!
Yes, we are movie fans here at Coffee Lake and years ago when our girls were younger we started our own Oscar Tradition, of carefully looking over all the nominees, and casting our own Ballots to see who would take home the coveted Oscar Trophy!
Who would get the most correct winners of last night's Academy Awards Show. I collect all the Ballots and play the role of Ernst and Young...the auditing company.
We do have a trophy, that gets passed around and in the base is a little list of past winners for each year. I don't have a picture of it because my daughter Jennifer has it at her house, she was the winner in 2010. It is gold and has an Oscar like guy on it holding up a gold star.
Well this years contest was very close and we almost had an upset winner, my daughter Raquel, and if I remember right, she has never won, but I think this was the closet she has come to a tie, with 13 right out of 24.
This years Oscar goes to my daughter Jennifer again, who jumped out to an early lead getting 5 of the first 6 right and ending up with 14 of 24 correct!
Congratulations to Jennifer, (she seems to win about half the time) but I know she does her research, and then gets lucky also sometimes. So our Oscar will stay with Jennifer one more year....Wait till next year though!
The move of going with Social Network over The Kings Speech, for best picture almost cost her an outright win though!
Better luck next year to all the losers! including me...
The right tool for the Job!
The right Tool for the Job.....
Yep, I have the good fortune to have my father-in-laws skidsteer loader to utilize for a couple of days. I have so far used to push the snow piles back some along the driveway which will of course allow me to plow things out easier, if we get another big snowfall, which will probably show up before winter is done!
The other job was cutting some trees that were dead and dying along the driveway, then using the loader to skid them up into my yard right next to the wood pile. This makes for quick work when I am ready to cut them up.
Which will be probably be tomorrow or Monday.
Heading over to Jacob and Jousha's house tonight for some Wii Time!
One Big Pine Tree!
A day off, and I spent the day taking down a tree for a friend of a friend.
The tall pine tree you see had major rotting and insect damage, causing it to be hollowed out from the base to about 40 feet up the tree trunk.
I was asked late last fall, if I would be interested to take it down for him, but it was a winter project. Since it leaned out over his property over a lake, so when it was going to fall, it would land in the water or in Minnesota this time of year on to 2 plus feet of ice.
The base was about 3 feet across but the tree trunk was U-shaped with the hollow part in it. It took two cuts with my chainsaw and it fell loudly on to the ice, busting most of the limbs off of it, and also breaking the trunk in 4 spots. I then began cutting the limbs up, and also the trunk from the top down to the base.
I had some help moving branches away and piling them up, Crystalie's Dad came over with me to lend a hand. After I cut most of the tree up, we went back to my truck and trailer drove to the public water access on the lake and then drove all the way back to the property shoreline, where the pieces were laying on the ice. It was about a half mile drive or more back to the shoreline, plowing through the 5-6 inches of fluffy snow on the ice from last weeks storm. But so sweet to park the trailer right next to the pieces to load them up!
The picture of the trailer full of wood, was the second load and the last of it, I hauled home. It will burn good this time of year and the tree was fairly dry, and not to difficult to split into pieces that I could load into the trailer.
I plan to try and cut some more, this weekend with my long weekend, using up some vacation days or I would lose them.
We also enjoyed a nice supper with our friend Marjorie, who came out to play a game of Scrabble, and visit and of course enjoy a nice supper of baked chicken, roasted root vegetables and garlic bread and dessert was cherry pie! as always we had a great visit and it was good to see our friend Marjorie!
It is that time of the year!
I am a fan of Baseball and of course our Minnesota Twins, my interest has always been there, and it started many years ago.
I remember being at my Grandpa Coit's house when I was a child, and if there was a baseball game on Grandpa Neal would have it on. Of course then you don't understand it all. There are so many facets to this team game. Over the years my interest has grown, especially in the last 15 years or so.
The Internet era, as allowed me to follow it much more closely, as far as watching gamecasts, which track all the activity but you don't view the actual game, in other words, scoreboard watching. But the last 3 years, I have begun listening to the majority of Twins games when I can on the radio, letting my mind create the picture of baseball fields.
Last, May I was fortunate to attend a Twins game at the new Target Field, which was a birthday gift from my daughter Misty and her husband Chris.
We had a great time, and the Twins won! It was great to experience the new ball park and I look forward to getting back there this summer some time!
So now I read almost every article I see on the Twins, and the excitement for a new season is great. Every year is a new challenge and new faces always make it interesting! Go Twins...World Series here we come!
New power cord with charger!
Well, my part arrived while I was gone on business, had a trip to the cities and back, and spent the night in a hotel.
I watched the Survivor episode and then Crystalie and I reviewed what we thought about it on a phone call, then I watched some other tv and even some basketball and Espn... which I do not get to watch at home since we just have off air stations.
Anyhow, my part arrived, and I have power to my laptop.
I spent a day and half calling on some current customers and some new prospects, and overall it was a good trip, with some new estimates needed and also some potential advertising.
But now I am home, and Crystalie and the dogs were happy to see me, and Crystalie will get a better night's sleep tonight!
Mobile post
Mobile post---
Short and sweet, my laptop needs a new power supply, the cord became unrepairable and I ordered it online, will be here tomorrow.
So I am doing this on my I-phone, to at least keep up! Ialso can make my scrabble plays and check emails.
So sorry, about the lack of content, but hopefully tomorrow, I will have a more eventful day!
Snowfall, finally...
It was forcast to start Saturday night, but didn't...waking up Sunday morning to a windy and cooler day but no snow. The day progressed and when we left Jennifer and Matias's house there were some flakes in the air and a trace on the roads.
So we went to bed Sunday night with the snow falling...Monday morning, it was definitely white outside and the snow was light and fluffy and we had received about 5-6 inches overnight. But it kept snowing till early afternoon, and the temperature rose to about 24 degrees, but the wind was blowing the light fluffy stuff all over.
So, I arrived home after work today to about 7-8 inches of snow, but the wind from the Northeast, blew a lot of snow off the pasture into our yard, and driveway. Which took me about an hour and half to plow out and now it looks like winter again with no bare spots showing anywhere in the yard! But it is almost March and things will begin to change quickly!
Sunday the 20th
Well, as you know we had company Saturday and Sunday, my brother Neal and his wife Claudia. Saturday, we enjoyed some Scrabble and a meal prepared by Crystalie. On Sunday morning, we enjoyed breakfast prepared by Neal and Claudia, various fruit and chocolate pancakes, with whip cream. Which was really sweet but very good also, thank you Neal and Claudia.
Sunday evening for supper we were invited to Jennifer and Matias's for supper prepared by Matias. The first picture is Jennifer and there puppy Joya, the second is us seated at the table, about to eat, the meal prepared.
The third is our plated meal, braised beef short ribs, with mashed potatoes, with boiled broccoli and cauliflower, all topped with a reduced gravy, used in the preparation of the meal. Needless to say it was delicious, the short ribs melted in your mouth almost and the potatoes were seasoned with some nutmeg, and the reduced gravy was so flavorful and really made it all taste wonderful. Not that we should expect anything less from Chef Matias, in the last picture beginning to plate our meal.
Oh for dessert we had some cheesecake ice cream with Honey Nut Cheerios sprinkled on it!
Along with cocktails and beverages, and the entertaining Joya, it was very enjoyable evening, thank you Jennifer and Matias!
Saturday Chores
Not to many chores to do, but I had a few today.
It was a good opportunity to haul garbage to town, and then go pick up a hay bale from Jeff's place, saving me a few miles with two jobs for the trailer.
We recycle, plastic and tin and aluminum, our paper garbage goes into the wood stove, but believe it or not we still manage to generate some garbage. But we don't pay for weekely pickup and I usaully end up with a load of garabage once every 3 months. Garrison Disposal accepts delivered garbage on Saturday mornings, so that is where I was headed.
I also had an old tv set which added to the cost this time, but all in all it was $40.00 for the garbage and the TV was $15.00 of that. After a quick unloading I was in route to jeff's for my big round haybale.
I got home and unloaded the hay, filled the woodstove, and cleaned some things up in the shop.
After that it was into the house, and I actually had to set-up a new wireless router for Internet, at least I hope that is the problem, it started cutting out and I would have to restart everything then it would work for a while. I had a different router so I hooked it up but it took a little time to get things configured, my computer and Crystalie's computer. Hopefully that takes care of my problem, if not that I will be calling the phone company to have a new dsl converter sent out to us.
We are expecting some company this afternoon, my brother Neal and his wife Claudia and Kiki, their little dog(that is them in the blurry picture). They will be here for a night and then tomorrow we are going over to Jennifer and Matias's for supper prepared by Matias! We are all looking forward to that! I will make sure to post what we end up being served tomorrow night!
Smarkle's Exercise Toy!
On top of my grill you see Smarkle's exercise program!
It is a tennis ball thrower stick I got a couple of years ago for my birthday. At the time Princess was my retriever and she was 12 years old and maybe would go fetch about 2 or 3 times and then take the ball and go tear it apart somewhere.
But Smarkle is a whole different story, she loves fetching a tennis ball, and she does not quit. She will run and get it and if I try to do some work, when she wants to play the ball ends up at my feet where ever I am working.
So when I want to tire her out some, I am able to use the thrower, which saves my arm and allows me to throw the ball 40-50 yards at a time if not more, and gives her a good run to retrieve the tennis ball. When she slows down some we take a break and I have to put the ball away or it ends up at my feet, with this look of why won't you throw it.
Love Ya Smarkle!
Lake of water!
This was view looking towards Coffee Lake along our driveway if you take a look at it closely, you will see about half the lake was covered with a layer of water on top of the ice from the recent snow melt!Needless to say, it was kind of cool to see the fresh water, but it was short lived, as last night the wind blew hard, and the temperatures dropped to the low teens by this morning freezing everything solid again. :(
But it is still winter and now this weekend there is snow forecast for the Sunday and into Monday. oh yippee!
Really though it doesn't bother me that much. Hey it is still winter here in northern Minnesota, and it weather is always a topic of choice for many of us even though we can't do anything to change it, so we just deal with it!
Survivor Redemption Island!
Yes, we watch TV here in northern MN, probably the form of entertainment that keeps us sane...our link to the world, along with the Internet.
But tonight is the beginning of the 22nd season of Survivor, we have watched every season, one in the fall and one in the winter till May over the last 11 years.
It also is our Pizza Night, as then we don't worry about what to fix and we can enjoy our show while eating.
I think the thing that makes this interesting is the human dynamic of survival is part of the process, and they have to fend for themselves quite a bit, which usually means everyone is starving and they lose lots of weight.
I marvel, at how some of the contestants have no idea of sustaining themselves, like drinking lots of water, even if you have to boil it to make it safe to drink.
So don't be surprised if you hear more about this season, as this season they have brought in a twist to the game and that is, someone voted out may be able to get back in the game, through a separate competition, hence the name Redemption Island.
I always find lots of people who watch the show also, and it makes great conversation. The big thing to remember when watching it is that the producers and editors only show you what they want you to see, so everything is not as it seems!
I can't wait for it to start tonight!
Water everywhere! Feb 15th
Well, if you haven;t heard or seen it we are experiencing a mid-Febraury thaw, we have 4 days in a row of 40 plus degrees.
With some sunshine, which is really welcome...but is is cool to see patches of grass appear where I have plowed snow off, and the driveway is a combination of water, and ice, and slush.
The lake is getting some brown spots on it from the water flowing onto the ice covering the lake.
All in all, the warm weather has brought smiles to peoples faces and they are realizing now that winter will end in a month or two, and who knows maybe sooner!
Valentines Day!
Happy Valentines Day, as you can see I got a bunch of Kemp's Ice Cream Singles and a nice card from my sweetheart. Thank you dear...
I gave her a nice card and a gift card to Caribou Coffee, a place she likes to stop when she gets to Brainerd for a Coffee treat.
We enjoyed a nice supper together, which I put together and watching her favorite show as we do every Monday Night---PBS's Antique Roadshow! We both enjoy seeing the finds they showcase on the show and of course we learn so much about the stuff they appraise.
Other then that we all enjoyed another day of thawing weather, it reached the high 30's with sunshine this afternoon and the snow melt continued!
Stanley Monthly Family Birthday Party
We spent most of the day at Crystalie's brothers house, Mitch and Kay's as it was time for another Stanley Family Birthday Party.Her family has made a habit to get together when there are birthdays that fall in each month. We all take turns hosting it and we all bring food depending upon what is being served by the host family for the main entree.
It has been something they have done for years and it is how I got to know Crystalie's family when we first started dating.
Today, brother-in-law Mitch and Jacob his oldest boy celebrated birthday's in February. Everyone brings gifts for them and there is at least one cake for every birthday being celebrating leading to the cake dessert combo for those who want it
Today, we also had ham, cheesy hash brown potato's, green salad, fresh dinner rolls, scalloped corn, baked beans and Chinese cabbage salad.
The two pictures:
Mitch and Jacob blowing out candles, and then all the kids who are part of the family on the staircase, overlooking the kitchen.
We spent the day visiting and the Stanley Family Garden Club met to discuss seed purchases to be made, which will end up here at Coffee Lake Farm, as Crystalie is the starter of a bunch of the seeds purchased that need to be started prior to garden planting.
Most of the kids enjoyed some Wii time playing games, and of course we had to eat and have gift opening and then cake!
Happy Birthday again to Mitch and Jacob!
Saturday's Projects
Well as you can see I got the new stairs in the backbarn, the first pick is from above looking down.The second is from the where the old steps stopped and the new go up to the right.
The third is a photo of a railing I put upstairs since the hole was so large.
The fourth is the installation of a gate and a barrier on the right to make it Smarkle proof. Smarkle likes to go exploring and then you find what ever she found some where in the yard later.
By the way, my inspector approved the new stairs!
I did get all my Saturday projects done, and tomorrow I plan to clean up my shop a little bit, before getting ready to go to the Stanley Family Birthday Party!
Projects to Do!
Needless to say maintaining and getting things done requires time and energy and lists....
Here is my list for this weekend...
Saturday----
Feed the New Hay Bale to the Animals
Get my Tractor working ..install new fuel pump
Pick up staircase from brother-in-law Mitch's house
Cut to fit opening in the back barn and install the new stairs
Put in safety rail upstairs around opening
Clean off snow and ice from remaining wood pile
Clean out wood stove--remove ash and check water level
Fill water tank
Sunday---
clean off back deck some lots of snow and ice on it
sharpen chainsaw
clean up shop space some..put tools away and organize work space
Go to Stanley Family Birthday party at Mitch and Kay's house
Relax and enjoy the family get together
Watch Grammy awards on Sunday night!
The weekend will go fast....
Warm Weather Finally!
Yes, tomorrow we start the big Warm Up!
After enduring another week of cold weather, and plugging in the pickup every night, and filling the wood stove to the brim, so it will last the night.
The burning wood heating up the hot water that flows constantly through 200 plus feet of pipe, to a plenum that sits below our blower fan and when the thermostat calls for heat the blower runs, pushing the heat out of the plenum in our duct work, thus warming our cozy home.
Needless to say the cold week chewed through a fair amount of wood, but the upcoming warm weather will slow the use of the wood dramatically.
The local weathermen have been teasing us all week long about the big warm up that is coming...we may even see high 40's in the next few days, meaning the snow will be melting and the sound of water dripping off the eaves of the house will fill the air, and the yard will become a slushy skating rink.
Hopefully the weathermen are right and we will enjoy some sunshine and warm temps, which will feel much warmer than normal!
Creativity
Well, I am fortunate to married to such a creative person, my dear wife Crystalie.
The picture above is of an arrangement, she fashioned out of a gift from our dear friend Marjorie, which was the lighted sprigs you see in the arrangement. Then she purchased some silks from Crafts Direct in St Cloud last week.
The antique coffee tin is an item she has had for years, part of an expansive coffee tin collection, what else would you collect when you live on Coffee Lake, plus it is her favorite beverage!
As you can see in this photo, she has lots of talent and made a very cool arrangement. She had years of experience working as a floral designer, but a lot of it is just her god given ability with colors and textures and flowers real or silk!
My picture from my I-phone doesn't do it justice!
Who's Cuter?
So one of the prizes at one at CFC (coit family christmas) bingo last Saturday night that I won was this fun pet hat, playing Bingo!So let me know which one of my two lovely models here, Tootsie the chocolate colored model, or Smarkle the shiny black model, is the cutest wearing the Jester Pet hat!
Thanks Crystalie for the lovely photos.
Cold and Colds!
Okay, I am usually pretty fortunate when it comes to catching things, like colds or the flu bug, I don't usually get them.
Well you guessed it, I went to bed last night with a very sore throat and ended up taking some cold medicine last night during the night to take the edge off of it. But this morning it was really sore, and I still needed to go to work, because we are finishing up the issue of Lake Country Journal Magazine for the March/April Issue.
Check out http://www.lakecountryjournal.com/ to see what I work on, and you can even view a copy of the magazine if you sign up to view the digital online version. I sell advertising for this publication along with other services we provide at Range Printing.
I took some Ibuprofen this morning, and things felt a little better, but I decided to have my throat checked to make sure I wasn't developing strep. So I went to a Cub food store in Baxter that has a Convenient Care in their store. A nurse practitioner is stationed there and she can take care of simply maladies, and take a quick throat culture for strep, it took all of 20 minutes and my result was no strep, and then she recommended various things to do and over the counter medications that may help.
Hopefully it doesn't blossum in to a full blown cold....I will just have to wait and see.
Outside, we are going to experience a blast of Artic Air for the next 3 days, and some cold winds with it. So back to plugging in my truck for a couple of nights, and the long johns!
Here are some helpful cold suggestions...
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/cold-remedies
Super Bowl Sunday
I would think everyone either knew or heard the Super Bowl 45 was played yesterday, in Dallas, Texas. If you didn't hear about it you must live in a cave, or not connected to the world.
It turns out it was the most watched every game in US Tv history. All in all it lived up to most of the hype, but I would have liked to see Pittsburgh win, but more for financial reasons. We are football fans here and enjoy watching a good game.
I like the Black Eyed Peas but the halftime show was a disaster for TV viewers, with poor sound..hardly able to make out the sound track they were singing to and the guests were okay but it all just sounded lousy, and there was way to much going on around the stage.
Being in the world of marketing it is always interesting to see all the hype around the famous Super Bowl Commercials and we all marvel at the cost of them, but nowadays the viral nature of the Internet helps those commercials go way beyond the 3 Million dollars in viewed value...the danger is if you flop, you still get a lot of awareness of your message and product.
Two of my favorites were a little more complex, I loved the style and feel and sound of the Eminem Detroit--Chrysler commercial, it had that feel proud moment for the city of Detroit...very well done..and if you know Eminem, he is committed to helping Detroit get back on it's feet.
The second one was the Budweiser western commercial, the stagecoach, and the rough cowboy..enjoying a cold Budweiser, and then breaking into Elton Johns song --Tiny dancer...was suspenseful, classic and then totally surprising with the tiny dancer song being sung by the saloon of people. Who doesn't love watching the famous Clydesdale's, in a western scene, I thought they did a great job of tying all the elements together and then of course they teased us a few times well before the night of the game with the "to be continued" trailers.
So share with me which one you liked the most?
Saturday the 5th
The photo is of some antique postcards my Mom found in a box of stuff that was in the attic at home that were saved by members of my Dad's family.
As you know we were gone on Saturday, celebrating our Coit Family Christmas or CFC has it is being referred to now. It was originally supposed to be in Fort Ransom, ND on Jan. 1st and 2nd, but a blizzard in North Dakota kept us form holding it.
So it was rescheduled this weekend in St Cloud and my brother Neal and his wife Claudia, were our gracious hosts, in the house they recently purchased in St. Cloud. We had Christmas dinner there and also a brunch on Saturday there. The other portion of time was spent at the Holiday Inn in town, where most of us also stayed, and enjoyed all the great amenities they have there. 2 large pools, game and play areas, and a bar
with live music Friday and Saturday night.
We had a great time and it was good to see everyone, and get a chance to catch up, the mild weather and no snow to amount to anything. Of course, we had plenty of food which everyone shared in the preparation, Christmas cookies and treats supplied by Grandma and Grandpa.
If you left hungry it was your own fault!
We also got to play some games, take family pictures, we have a gift exchange game we play, which had a few laughs and surprises, but way to many kitchen counter top appliances! We also played bingo for prizes on Saturday night. The only thing we didn't get a lot of was sleep...so needless to say we are tired and will enjoy the chance to veg out on the couch at home, watching the Super Bowl! Go Pittsburgh!
Vacation Day
On Vacation for a day to make for a 3 day weekend, we have a family get together this weekend, and we will be seeing my brothers and sister and their families.
It is our holiday get together, and we enjoy to much food and time to spent catching up and creating new memories. We also will do some gift exchange in the form of a game, which is good for lots of laughs.
So I may be absent of a post, but will make them up later.
Garden Produce
The joys of growing something, harvesting it and then eating it....
Tonight we had pork chops on the grill, a green salad with home grown sprouts(growing in our kitchen window in a jar) and squash from the CLF garden, and also applesauce from the CLF orchard!
It was all very good but it makes you feel good to reap the harvest and be able to eat it for a nice warm supper or dinner when there is 2 feet of snow on the ground.
The picture above is a picture of our garden a couple of years ago, but it won't be long and we will start the process of gardening all over, in fact the Stanley Family Garden Club is meeting Sunday the 13th!
Mother Nature
The weather this week has dominated the news all across this country. The images of the major storm roaring through 30 states, bring snow, rain and freezing rain and freezing temperatures.
In a way it is kind of comforting that we live in Minnesota, as we have seen this all to often, huge snowstorms and freezing temps, and un-driveable road conditions. I feel a little bit sorry for the poor people, who just haven't experienced this before. The storm is huge and the way it has affected the middle of the country and now moving into the northeast, is amazing.
The affects of this huge storm make me pause to realize that Mother Nature is truly the Mistress of the World we live in. The unbelievable power of the wind and the amount of moisture being dropped all over the country, is just hard to fathom. Hey when the weatherman is saying that haven't seen this large of a system in decades, it is just not a way to get our attention.
So, we hope and pray that people are being careful, and that they learn that unnecessary travel is truly unnecessary! Hopefully people will have a better appreciation of where we live and what we endure each winter!
Smarkle
This is Tootsie and Smarkle, last summer, they look so innocent don't they!
Smarkle, a black lab puppy coming up on 1 year of age. She has grown so much since we got her in early April of 2010. She has provide hours of entertainment and companionship to us all.
What is amazing is all the energy she has, between fetching the ball, or whatever you want to throw. Or following the lawn tractor where ever I go, believe it or not I have taught her to heel along side the tractor. She developed a habit of running ahead of me a ways and we want her to learn that she can't wander off on her own. So when I plow snow off the driveway, she will walk alongside the tractor as we go back and forth, if she wanders off, I just have to yell "hey" and she comes right back and then runs alongside the side of the tractor watching me to make sure I am happy with her!
She is smart and is eager to learn new things with a little patience..Crystalie taught her this one.
You may have seen these on my Facebook page, but they are cute and you might enjoy them!