Thursday, September 29, 2011

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Scrabble Update!

Well it seems my two Scrabbler players, Ricki and Crystalie, are having a difficult time playing live Scrabble....meaning no online dictionary and also having to think a little faster on their feet.

The win/loss is as follows

Rory---4
Ricki--0
Crystalie--0

I am sure tonight there will be another rematch, and it will be interesting to see if they can muster a Victory!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

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Helping with a project


Well, I enlisted Rebekah to help me create some corn stalk bundles, with the corn we raised in the garden. I cut the stalks and had Rebekah carry them out to the grass in bundles of 4 or 8.



I then had her help hold them while I wrapped some twine around 12 or so stalks per bundle.

We of course had our normal audience, Tootsie and Smarkle,
we ended up with about 8 or 9 nice size bundles

So, thanks to my helper Rebekah! They are loaded on my truck and will be
dropped off at Wooden Nichols tomorrow morning!

Monday, September 26, 2011

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Baking Cake!

Well our visitors, have been here a couple of days and then went up to see Grant's parents in
Silver Bay, MN. When they got home, Rebekah and I had plans to bake a cake!
Rebekah and I love cake so Grandma Crystalie, had bought a pink cake mix for us to make.

The shots above are Rebekah cracking the eggs and then running the mixer,
and I of course am supervising. 

After it was out of the oven and cooled off, we put on cream cheeses frosting Grandma made for us, pink of course with cherry flavoring.

Rebekah added sprinkles and pink sugar crystals and then we of course had cake for dessert last night, right after we finished it! So Ricki, who took the pictures didn't even get a chance to get one of the finished product...but we can all say that it tasted wonderful!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

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The last lawn mowing...maybe!


The last time I mow grass for the 2011 season, may have just happened
this weekend. After working at R the last two days, I hurried home and hopped on my lawn
tractor and mowed the yard.

I wanted to clean up the taller green spots and also the dead grass, that has dried out and
the frost had turned  brown. These pics are of various spots in the yard.

It is always a satisfying feeling getting it mowed, it looks so good for 3-4 days
 then things get a little ragged around the edges.

Mowing late in the fall, I tend to mow it pretty short, which helps the leaves to blow across the yard,
out to the field or the tall grass along the edges of the yard.

I may go over a few areas where the leaves pile up later and mulch them
 up prior to any white stuff falling, which helps next years grass get a quick start. 
Sitting on the lawn tractor for the almost 3 hours to mow is not all bad, I listen to
the radio and it gives me a chance to think about what is next to do!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

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Firewood season

I spent an hour and half tonight after arriving home from work, putting a new blade on my chainsaw.

This isn't the exact model of my chainsaw but it is pretty close to the same style. Mine is now 15 years old and still running great!

Then I cleaned out my little utility trailer and headed out into the woods with Tootsie and Smarkle following me. There was an old dead popple tree across the lake, and over on the point to the west of the farm. I cut that down and loaded up what was worth burning in the wood stove. Made the trip back to the stove and unloaded it.

I then headed out to the east of the house across the pasture to cut up a smaller oak tree that had fallen on the fence last spring.  Again my two companions came with and we had another loaded trailer and headed back.

It is just some dry wood to feed the wood stove as the days get cooler, and with company our hot water usage will go up some, and our stove preheats all our hot water. But it is only the start of many hours of cutting and prepping wood for this next winter!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

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The completed project!

Here is the completed project, the shopkeeper, designer and artist...my wife Crystalie
finished a few of them today.
You can see the old barn board I cut into the shape of the pine tree and the
base is also barn board with smoothed edges.
Some have slightly smaller trees, with a shorter snowmen.

I also drilled a 2 inch by 3/8 inch deep hole into the base where the votive is held in place,
which brings a peaceful little light to this lovely winter scene!
These will be available at Wooden Nichols on her Christmas Open House starting
October 20th-23th, and until she closes the end of November if any of them are left!

Monday, September 19, 2011

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Wood Projects!

Yes, more wood working is going on in my shop, I had some free time this weekend and my little
shopkeeper came up with an idea for some of my salvaged barn wood.

So I spent some time cutting out some patterns she drew, and then spent time sanding the wood a little more a cleaning it up process, and rounding some edges...

I can't show you anything yet, as the shopkeeper has some more work to do with them!

Hopefully in a day or so I can show you the preview!

Friday, September 16, 2011

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A Day to Remember!

Today, I am celebrating with my loving wife Crystalie, our 16th Wedding Anniversary!

We were wed in the yard at Coffee Lake Farm, and have truly enjoyed our 16 years of working together to make it our home, and a place to share with friends and loved ones!

The day was a cool fall day with some sunshine and clouds and a beautiful evening that we shared with our family and close friends.

The work we have done together to make this our home as often involved many conversations over a cocktail, or at a dinner table or even in our jacuzzi tub. We have always planned our additions to the farm, along with all the projects we have going on, by talking about it before it happens.

Yes our lives our busy as many of you have seen, but that is who we are, a team of two people with different talents and abilities, that like to plan new projects, or just start old ones over like gardens and building projects, and improvements to our home! Of course a lot of our efforts have gone into Wooden Nichols, and making it better and different each year!

I know I am blessed to have my wife Crystalie in my life, our time to together is always good, and always rewarding and I love taking care of her, when she needs the help and also when she just deserves it!

I love you dear, and look forward to many more years with you as we both grow older and become that cute little couple you always like to point out to me when we are out and about!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

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Frost Warnings!

So I open my big mouth about the Harvest Moon, which was full last night, and then this morning they have frost warnings out for our central Minnesota area.

Needless to say, Crystalie spent the day picking garden veggies, with some help, Sister-in-law Kay came over and got a whole bunch of stuff, and our friend Judy Mans, came out also and picked some tomatoes.
Crystalie picked a bunch of tomatoes that we put on a table in our shop, that will get some sun, when I open the big door. The sun will hopefully finish adding some nice red color to them!

When I got home, I moved a bunch of it around for her, and also covered some of the plants with tarps for the next two nights, and hopefully they will survive.

I am kind of excited, if we do get a frost, to see what is uncovered in my Pumpkin  Patch and walls of Gourd Vines!

Monday, September 12, 2011

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Pesto Sisters!

Well the Basil and Parsley plants are not as many as they once were in the garden...
Because the Pesto Sisters met tonight at Coffee Lake Farm, for the annual process of making homemade pesto! mmmm!!

Below you see the food processor heaped with washed basil leaves and parsley sprigs.


Below all the secret ingredients are added to the top of it, and then it is chopped up finely by the food processor, and after that it is moved to a large bowl.


It is then neatly packaged in 1/4 cup amounts into plastic wrap, into the little bundles below, after that it is moved to the freezer to freeze them solid, then they can be stored in plastic baggies or containers in the freezer. This years total count was 117 packages, that were made before they ran out of some of the ingredients they purchased.

 Below are the Pesto Sisters...from the left...
Montina, Crystalie and Coralie
Yes they look like they were working hard, and this is just before we sat down to a pesto rice and pork supper along with broiled tomatoes!
If any one could use some basil, or parsley drop us a note, and we can arrange for you to get some or you can stop out and pick some up!


Friday, September 9, 2011

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Slowing down...

Our grass has slowed done some over the last couple of weeks, with the cooler night temperatures and the lack of a weekly rain, it has made a noticeable difference in the grass growth for the week.

There are a few area's in the yard that stay pretty green even with a lack of moisture, but overall our yard is on a very sandy base of soil. Sure we have some black dirt but the layer of it is pretty thin, and are yard can dry out pretty fast.

I am not concerned about missing some mowing time, but I am just noting the changes we see here at Coffee Lake Farm! That happens with the changing seasons!



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The Harvest Moon is coming!

Well, it isn't here yet, but it is getting close, the Harvest Moon will be full next week here at Coffee Lake Farm.
I don't have a farmers almanac, but it seems some of the old rules of nature hold pretty true. The one that I rely on quite a bit is when you get your full moon, you are more likely to get a frost in the fall, if we make it through next week's full moon, with out a frost, it could be another 2 weeks or so till we see a hard frost.

If you look around locally not many trees have started to turn. We usually see the sumac start turning bright red and popple trees will start to shift to a more yellowish green. They are the ones that seem to turn first, and warn us of the cooler temperatures. Of course we can all see the difference in our disappearing daylight!

I am fine with a later frost, as our longer maturing garden plants, got a slow start, and are just beginning to reach maturity, another 10 days will allow them to mature fully without any stress. Our pumpkin crop looks pretty good, and I will soon be picking gourds and pumpkins for Wooden Nichols!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

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Appliance repair!

Appliances, that make things so easy, and a washer is one of them. Ours is about 20 years old and
needless to say, it has had some issues.

The latest one was that it wasn't spinning the best especially with a heavier wash load. When I did my plumbing repairs, I noticed a pile of fine particles under the washer. So I took a look at a parts diagram, for my washer on the companies online parts store. I realized that the fine particles were part of my v belt that runs from the motor to the base and spins the wash tub, and works the agitator.

So I looked up the washer v-belt numbers and wrote them down on a piece of paper and went to a local appliance store and purchased by $22.00 v-belt. It took all of of 5 minutes to put the new one on, and after inspecting the old one, it clearly was much looser on the pulleys and it was much thinner and pretty smooth. All meaning it was probably slipping a lot and when the washer was full, it slipped even more.

Now we will see how it works with the new belt, but there is a chance that other things may not work as well in the near future as it getting up there in years!



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Time for some Golf!

Yes, some time for a round of golf, with one of my favorite golf partners, our close friend Colette.

We both play about the same game, and she many times has beaten me, but I don't mind considering she plays no less than 2 times a week, and takes time to practice regularly.

We went out right around 5:00pm and used my perk of free golf and cart, for an 18 hole round of golf on "The Lakes" which is the Ruttgers Championship course. A par 72 course that is narrow and a real challenge. The course is in beautiful condition, with all the rain and the great work the staff at the golf course does.

We played 18 holes in 2 hours and 35 minutes, and ended up with a tie, we both shot 93.
It was about as perfect of a night to play golf, not a lot of wind, but very comfortable temps and of course a challenging game. The cool thing was that we played through one foursome otherwise it seemed like we were the only ones out there tonight!





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Beautiful Weather...

Yes, we are enjoying some great weather the last month and half, right around the first of August it seems like we are in a great weather pattern. Mid 80's and cooler, not a lot of rain but enough to keep things green.

Cool nights for good sleeping in our home, that does not have air conditioning. Heavy dews on the ground in the morning and a layer of two of some ground fog or lite fog over the lake water.

This week appears to be the week, when we won't see any rain, and temps at night have been in the mid to low 40's but no frost danger yet!

If you are looking for a great online weather site, I like this one...

http://www.intellicast.com/

It has a lot of cool features and is simple to use, and I like the weather radar it has. But right now it is pretty boring but beautiful weather!

Monday, September 5, 2011

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Chore list completed

Well I got through my list today, and below our the steps for project number 1.

Well, here is the new facet set for our tub/shower in the box.
Below is the old set before removal, as you can see they are still functional, but when you turn them on, that is when the fun begins, the washers leak and it does drip, even after it is turned off. Our well pump causes a weird vibration in the fixtures and piping when the shower is turned on. 
I was not able to just replace the valves, so here is what I had to look at on the backside of the tub, this area was next to the washer, with a piece of paneling over it of course. The black pipe is the washer drain pipe, and was right behind the old plumbing tree, and it would not come loose, so I had to basically pull it back out of the way. the copper lines are the water lines up to the washers hot and cold water supply, where it hooks up to two small valves.  

 After removing the lines and disconnecting the shower water pipe, the galvanized pipe in the middle, I took the old tree out and then took it out to my shop removed the water line connections for the washer and put them on my new plumbing tree. After getting that done, I installed the new tree, and then connected the new facets and tub spout and a new shower spout and shower head.

Everything works great and no more noise, it took me about an hour and 45 minutes to do it all.

I then went out, and cut a couple of big loads of firewood, did a little weed whacking earlier in the day.

I then rounded up two of the un-shorn llama's Latte and Lily, and trimmed them up, giving me one full bag of dark brown wool!

It was a busy day but got lots done, and also got in my two hours at R. When I arrived home our friend Marjorie, stopped to get some tomatoes and visit. She ended up having some supper with us and we enjoyed an episode of American Pickers!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

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Chore List for tomorrow

Yes, finally a day at home, no regular work, except for just a couple of hours work at R. at 5:00pm.

Needless to say I have a project list for tomorrow.

1. Replace the facets in our tub/shower, which maybe just swapping out the facet fixtures and valves and the brass fittings into the existing plumbing tree or I may need to replace the tree, which requires pulling out the washer and opening up the backside of the facet wall and removing the old plumbing tree and putting in the new one so my new valves can be installed. Hopefully it will be the first!

2. Cut up some more of the old barn for firewood and craft wood. I want to try and do a bunch so I don't have to cut for a while, and also we will need more wood for the stove as the nights are definitely getting cooler.

3. Fix my Llama stall so I can trim up a couple of Llamas to stock pile wool for Crystalie's projects, don't worry I won't trim them to short so they still will have ample time to grow back a heavier coat.

4. Weed and pick some more garden produce!

The weather sounds good for tomorrow, so hopefully I can get my list done!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

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Navy Pier in Chicago!


We visited probably the biggest tourist trap of Chicago, and it is called the Navy Pier. It is the home of the worlds largest Ferris Wheel, which is over 150 ft tall, and sits up on the second level of pier which adds about another 30 ft in height. As you can see it has a lot of seat cages that take sometime to fill up.


The pier extends about 1/2 mile or so out into Lake Michigan, and is the home of an exhibition center, numerous water tour boats and services. Along with a wide of array of shops in the interior of the exhibition hall area. A wide variety of tourist trinkets to buy, lots of clothing and other items.

The flags are located along the Pier, and it is quite a patriotic sight.  There is also across the way on another pier some sort of Navy Docking site.
Here is the the Tall Ship, that is a tourist ride essentially, a 45 minute boat ride, that has a crew of pirates who entice visitors to buy a ticket to set sail  on Lake Michigan.


 Crystalie, also found sometime to visit with Bob Newhart who officed in Chicago, during his show. It was a very cool bronze statue, all though the couch was a little firm!


At the nay Pier was this exhibit of Stain Glassed windows, and we walked through this and were amazed at all the complex work, it also featured a large amount of Mosaic Glass sculptures, very cool and we are sending some pics to our own stain glass creator, Deb!


 Here is Jennifer waiting for her lunch at the Billy Coat Grill, which is where the Saturday Night Live skit of Cheeseburger, cheeseburger...Pepsi...it is a huge landmark with lots of history, the guys their recite the lines all the time, and it was very good!

If you get tired of walking you can rent these bicycles cars, and ride around the pier instead.


We also saw a young man who reminded us a lot of our nephew Dillion Wilson...those of you who know Dillion can weigh in on this also!

We had a nice visit with Raquel and Eric, and Miles joined us, and it was great to spend some extra time with them. This was our last activity before we headed to the Union Station for the train ride home, but that was met with a delay of 3 hours before we left Chicago. 

We enjoyed our trip to the wedding and also enjoyed the chance to see some of Chicago.  



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The Chicago Wedding!

Here you see the Bride and Groom making their entrance into the reception held in a museum courtyard. This is my niece Michelle and her husband Matt!

Above is the  small park and the location of the wedding this was located about a mile from where we stayed, and is the site of the oldest house in the City of Chicago. As you can see it was a beautiful day and a beautiful setting, they were married in front of a huge garden fountain.

 Above is Michelle's wedding party along with her bridal attendant. It was a large wedding party for a smaller wedding party but it all looked wonderful, and as you can see it was a little windy that day at times!


Above is the courtyard where the wedding reception was held, and you can see it was an intimate setting, for the 140 people or so that attended. This was taken in the evening after the meal and introductions of all the wedding party. Their was a DJ and dancing afterwards, and we all enjoyed a wonderful evening.

I need to thank my sister Valerie for the photo's I used from her facebook page.

Friday, September 2, 2011

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Football is almost here!




Many of you know that I enjoy football season each year, Pro-Football mostly but I can watch College games also when I can. Above is the team, I root for the most.

But part of the big draw for me annually is the Aitkin Fantasy Football League, I have belonged to this group since 1992, I think is the first year we started. We have a 12 team league meaning we have 12 owners who draft players from all the active players on the 32 NFL teams. We field a 1-QB, 2-RB and 3 WR or TE, 1-Kicker, 1-Defense and Special teams are included in this group.

Our draft was held just last night Sept 1st, and it takes about 3 hours to draft our teams, and of course give each other lots of grief!

The fantasy league is not just for fun, there is cash awarded for doing well and of course winning the Fantasy Superbowl! But probably more important are the bragging rights!