We left on July 31st a Wednesday in the late afternoon, after I got done with work for the day and drove to Madison, WI for the night. Checked into a nice Days Inn around 11:30pm and proceeded to get to bed, after a few scrabble plays. We got up the next morning and drove through Chicago about mid-morning where we probably saw a few thousand orange construction barrels! We had a 35 mile stretch of no more than 45 mph, so it took a while to get through to the east side of Chicago.
We arrived in Ann Arbor about 5pm Eastern time, and got to see these two little guys right away!





We were hosted by Raquel's sister-in-law Andrea and her husband Jon, at their lovely home just a few blocks from Raquel and Eric's apartment which is a little full these days. We were treated to some great meals by Raquel and Eric on Thursday night and also Friday night, we ate out on Friday for lunch as we took Miles and August and Raquel, shopping in downtown Ann Arbor, while Eric worked on Friday. The picture below is Miles looking at some insects, he is quite the insect hunter!
 Saturday we all got up and headed up to the city of Tawas, MI on Tawas Bay on Lake Huron, which is about a 2 hour and 30 minute drive from Ann Arbor, MI. Where Eric's parents own his grand parents home, a few blocks from the beaches of Lake Huron. We stopped along the way at a yard sale and scored some nice items, and also stopped at a fruit stand and bought some pretty nice fruit and veggies for the stay in Tawas. Below you can see me and Miles going for a walk on the beach.
 We gave Raquel and Eric and Miles some free time from August, and they took Miles down the beach and out into the water for some afternoon fun! It was about 80 degrees and a light breeze, and partly cloudy, all in all a great beach day. We also spend some time at a local artist fare, and walked around the park there.


 Saturday, night we fixed some pork chops and sweet corn, and some fruit for supper. After the kids went to bed we enjoyed a game of International Rummy and some ice cream bars! Sunday we spent the morning walking the boat harbor, and looking at all the spendy boats moored there. We also walked downtown through the shops, and when the kids were tired of that back to the house for a light lunch and naps! We had to say our good byes on Sunday afternoon around 3 and headed up north to head back to Minnesota, our route was to go north over the Mackinaw Bridge, and into the UP of Michigan, to Marquette, MI for the night. We didn't make it all the way to Marquette, we decided to stop in Munsing, MI for the night, which was about 40 miles east of Marquette.
 Shortly after we crossed the Mackinaw bridge, we came upon this on going yard sale! We of course pulled in and we wondered through the rows of tables, looking for items for WN or to re-purpose.


 After that yard sale back on the road, we realized when we were getting close to the city of Munsing, we would see 3 of the Great Lakes all in one day, we started on Lake Huron, drove along the north shore of Lake Michigan on Hwy 2 in route to Munsing, MI which is on the southern shore of Lake Superior! Pretty cool, at least we thought so!
We arrived in Munsing, found a hotel for the night and got a bite to eat at a bar and grill called the Dogpatch, named after the Lil'Abner cartoon.
We got up on Monday morning and headed west through Marquette and towards Superior, WI and then in to Duluth, MN and home to Deerwood. Don't worry we stopped at a few antique stores and also thrift shops along the way to break up the sitting time, but all in all we got home around 6:00 pm our time!
Thanks to Andrea and Jon, for their hospitality and also Raquel and Eric and the boys, for all the fun we had and also the great food. At home we want to thank Mitch and Kay, and Jennifer and Matias for keeping an eye on Coffee Lake Farm for us!
Sorry we didn't have more pictures, but we were too busy playing with the grand kids and kids!

After two weeks of very cold weather, and a day where we are getting up to 15 above zero, I thought it would be a good time to start up the old plow truck (Elvira) and also my John Deere lawn tractor/snowplow.

Needless to say they did not start right away, Elvira just needed a little gas in the carbureator
and she did fire up! I thought for a little bit I was going to need to charge the battery some. So after it warmed up I loaded up the dogs and we scrapped off the little snow we had in the yard and on the driveway, after a few light flurries over the last couple of weeks.

The JD was a different story, I did have to hook up the charger and also put a heater on it for about 20 minutes to get it to go, but once I got it running and let it warm up a little also, I used it to clean up some of the snow around my woodpile, and a few smaller spots that Elvira is to big to get into.

The critters got a fresh bale of hay yesterday and also a bale that I used to bed down their sheds with, which they eat more of it then lay on it, but it does give them something to lay on till they do eat it all up. The water tank was also filled this morning, which is a job I need to do about every 5 days.

Other than that we are feeling better but still have a cough, and it is more annoying then anything. We are both ready to be done with it all, but I am sure in a week or so it will be gone!

Work for me has been busy, as we kicked off a new year the 1st of January and this year my sales goals are higher, and there will be lots to do to meet those goals. I was pleased however that I made my January goals by 128%, which will give me a little cushion if I have a down month, but things look to be off to a good start!

Crystalie, is busy making items and selling some stuff to her wholesale customers. We started discussing plans for next summer and some occasional sales here at Coffee Lake Farm, and we hope to make some announcements in March or early April has to our 2013 sale schedule!

The woodpile is holding up well, as I have 4 rows of wood left, and we just started the 4th on the 1st of Feb. With warmer temperatures coming, it will be interesting to see how much I have left by Mid April.

Well, since Jan 12th, I have been battling a very bad cold, and of course after about 4 days of having it, I managed to share it with Crystalie!

It is one of the worst bronchial colds, we both have had in years. We both ran temperatures, along with chills, and lots of coughing and serious hacking. Then of course it moves into your head and nothing tastes good, and the biggest challenge is drinking lots of fluids and getting lots of rest between coughing spells.

I did not miss ay work days, but I maybe should have stayed home more than I did. But after 11 days I still cough occasionally, and I have been sleeping better.

Other than that, we did get our Christmas decorations down last weekend, but it was an effort for both of us to get motivated, and get it all done. Needless to say we took lots of breaks and spread it out over last Saturday and Sunday.

Crystalie is still coughing also but she is fighting it and trying to work on small projects, and cleaning the house trying to get rid of this nasty bug!

All in all we both are starting to feel human again, and hopefully the next week will be more productive for us both.

We have had company since Christmas Day here at Coffee Lake Farm. Rebekah and her Mom and Dad came to visit us, and her dad, Grant had to take care of some business locally also.

But during the visit, Rebekah celebrated her 8th birthday, which happened to be her golden birthday on Jan. 8th. Above you see the beautiful cake her mother Ricki made, it was a 7 layer cake, with rainbow colors for each layer. We had some of the Stanley family here to celebrate her birthday with pizza and cake.

During the visit Rebekah has been learning to ice skate, her dad and mom have had her down on the ice almost daily for some refreshing exercise and fresh air. She has gotten pretty good, and enjoys it a lot, because in Washington, where they live there is no frozen lake to skate on.

We have experienced some weird weather here in the last week, we've had rain and warm temps, followed by a cold snap that put us below zero last night. Needless to say everything is icy and slippery. Along with the weather, I have been suffering from a cold, and I thought I was out of the woods earlier this week, until, yesterday when I came down with it all over again, bad cough, chills and a temperature at times along with a stuffed up head and general achiness all over. We are usually pretty healthy here, and seem to avoid a lot of colds and flu but not this time.

This morning I fed our llamas and horse another bale of hay and checked their water supply, and also played fetch with Smarkle, while doing all of it. Smarkle lives for chasing the bright green tennis ball all over the yard. You can't go outside where she isn't dropping a ball at your feet waiting for you to pick it up and chuck it so she can run and fetch it and bring it back to you.

Hopefully the next few days I will get over this cold, and take care of some projects by next weekend. I need to run some garbage up to the garbage facility in Aitkin, and all the Christmas decorations need to come down and get put away for another year!

We all know that it is now 2013, and it looks to be a very busy year around here!

With the closing of the Wooden Nichols Store, and moving it all home into our new storage shed...a 28 ft semi-trailer and my shop. We have it all stuffed to the rafters! Well almost, the plan is to reorganize some of it when it warms up a little bit. When spring comes we hope to have occasional sales here at Coffee Lake Farm, so our shoppers can see all of our work here at the farm!

All of our animals are fine and as you can see we have lots of snow. Pedro is enjoying some sunshine which was just before Chrsitmas in this picture. He is standing on the old pushed up manure pile, it is amazing how much the llamas like getting on higher ground.

We are currently enjoying the company of Ricki and Grant and Rebekah from their home in the state of Washington. Having a few extra people makes the winter days go faster, and we are easily amused by Rebekah, who will be 8 years old soon.

We are looking to a family Christmas this coming Saturday, which will feature a great meal and gift exchanges. It is always a very special time and I hope those of you who read this also have had a Happy Holiday season!

This years goal for my blog is to post weekly so I can keep you all amused and caught up on events here at Coffee Lake Farm!

Well, it has been a little while since I last wrote, and it has been a very busy time which is not unusual for us here at Coffee Lake Farm.
I have been busy lately with the annual firewood chores, cutting down trees, limbing them, and then dragging them up closer to the buildings where I will need the wood. Then once it is closer to the house I have cut them into pieces, and  began the splitting of the big pieces, and then moving them over next to the wood stove where they will disappear, providing us with a nice warm home through the winter and next spring.

I have had some help with moving some of the split firewood. This last weekend Jennifer and Matias, came over and moved about 3 cord of wood using the garden tractor and small trailer and then stacked it close to the stove. Which I greatly appreciated, and Matias also treated us all to some nice barbequed ribs, for supper that night. Oh, I should mention my Mom and Dad stopped by, as they were out bumming around on a Sunday afternoon, with a visit to Wooden Nichols and also a stop at the farm, Dad even helped move some wood for a little while in the afternoon! Thanks Dad!

Having the folks close by has already been very cool, and Crystalie and I  have enjoyed a couple of nice suppers together with them, and also just getting to see them a lot more often, as they enjoy these golden years of their lives, now living in the Brainerd/Baxter area. Closer to a number of us kids and our families!

They have been busy getting settled in and have had  lots of company, since moving over here. I have been hauling away the mountain of boxes and storage tubs from their apartment, when they have gotten them emptied out. Which will come in handy shortly, as we will be cleaning out the Wooden Nichols store after the 25th of November. We will be emptying it out completely and working on storing all of that here at the farm. So needless to say things will not be slowing down at all, even into the Holidays!

The new job has been getting busier all the time, we have been going through budgeting for next year, and I have been working on some Dealer Tool Demo day events, which will start after Thanksgiving and run into the middle of December. Hopefully adding some more sales and getting some much needed exposure with my lumberyard type customers. Work is fast paced and never a lack of things to work on, as I am always prospecting for new customers and also working to increase our business with existing customers.

As you can see things are very busy, and Crystalie and I  enjoy our quiet evenings at home working on our projects or spending time online, and also playing Scrabble!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers and I will try to post some pictures this weekend, as I wrap up my firewood chores!

Well, here is an update since early September.

I have made two more trips to North Dakota to my Mom and Dad's, to assist with them with prepping to move to Baxter Minnesota in 2 weeks. This was to help move things to a consignment auction and to also haul back some steel siding I took off the old dairy barn.

The steel will be used later on Coffee Lake Farm for siding on the back barn studio where Crystalie works her magic with fabric and now also dried floral and evergreen arrangements. Between two different batches of steel I have I will be able to get the building sided, and even had some insulation in the process, making it tighter and easier to heat.

I also have mowed some grass form time to time, cleaning up the fall leaves around the yard. The garden has been completely cleaned out, and everything harvested has been now canned and we have some squash to move to a wintering place. Probably over to our Mitch and Kay's heated shop, for the winter where it will be close by for us to pick up when we need it.

Crystalie purchased a storage trailer from her brother Mitch, which is a 28 foot semi trailer, which is now located behind the shop and located next to the studio building. I installed a ramp with an old dock section I got from my brother Neal. I also then moved a bunch of items out of the shop, mostly tables and some shelving, and then proceeded to clean my shop up some. that is always an ongoing process...

Last weekend, I built a new section of fence, by the newly placed storage trailer and proceeded to clean up behind the shop, and cleaning up some old wood I stored back there. I also cut up two large pine trees, that were victims of last summers wind storm.

The new job is going well, and I have been adding new accounts and working existing accounts. I am always learning new things, and enjoying the busy pace of the job. I just completed my plans for 2013 and it will require lots of effort.... but all worth while!