House Raising

Our neighbor at the Lake, called these the concrete mushrooms.  She emailed and said we had "concrete mushrooms" sprouting on our lot!





I am just going to put these photos in for now, and let them stand on their own!

I have been waiting for Himself to Blog.  I even offered him photos for him to write around but he has projects at both ends.  Not only is this cabin rising in northern Missouri but our heat pump is being replaced in southern Iowa.  In addition to that, he's working half days at OMC and trying to finish trimming the house.
We expect to make a trip down and back middle of this week and may get there again on Friday.  I would enjoy being there for the WHOLE thing but we are really busy and struggling at work, what with this "going paperless" project and I hate to turn my back!

Anyway, I am really liking this addition.  I didn't know it would be so big!  Himself says from the upstairs loft, one will be able to see over the little cabin.  It won't look "of a whole piece" probably until we can get the little cabin resided and the dogtrot added on.  But still, we will be able to use the livingroom and our first interior improvement, we hope, will be the bathroom with shower!  Anyway, lots to tell and lots to come and I know Himself will join us soon.

New Adventure

to quote Himself, "our new adventure" has begun!  Himself and the contractor made the first decisions today . . . and Himself made the first down payment!  lol  Probably the first of many.  I'm hoping you know who will get to writing in here and give some of his observations and points of view.  October 4, three of us will go to Des Moines and pick out siding and windows and doors -- exciting things like that!  I am almost convinced I should stay home but Himself thinks I should go.

Here

Here is Himself, digging out old footing piers so that he can level and "pour' new footing piers.  He gets down and dirty!   But he getsherdone!  

Here we have been digging and hauling dirt away.   He digs and levels and I haul good black dirt to my garden and then scrub the mildow from the cabin's north wall. 

Here, I have started cleaning.  Remember, children!  If you ever get lost in the woods, look for the moss on the north side of the tree so you know which way to walk yourself out of there!  lol



Here!  yes, here.  This will be the building site.  In just a couple of weeks, I should have photos to show you so our imagination doesn't have to do all the work!

I can't wait!  I am so excited and looking forward to digging holes and framing walls and laying subfloor.  I'm looking forward to battles (oh no, not battles!  discussions, planning meetings, strategy planning with Himself on finishes, colors, layouts, details.  I am hoping he will be motivated to post in here again!  I'm throwing down the gauntlet! 

Here is an adventure, waiting to happen!

Scrumptious

Whoever thought Nana would be posting photos of food?  I must think I'm Pioneer Woman or something (oh wait, I do!  I do think I'm Pioneer Woman -- remember all those posts from III where I said "I can do/endure/chop/dig/build/heal/deliver this because I come from Pioneer Stock!)

Himself and I created this pretty meal last Saturday evening at Too.  Himself smoked that pork and created those home-made french fries!  Yum!  I layered the pork and tomato and provolone cheese and toasted it under the broiler.  Throw in a home grown ear of corn and some previous fresh air and exercise, and you have one deliriously happy, well fed, spoiled rotten girl! 

At the Kitchen Table

I'm sittin here at the kitchen table at Too.  I really hadn't wanted to come down this weekend.  We were here last weekend and I thought I had better things to do at home . . . like clean house, get ready for company in a couple of weeks and see my grandchildren.  But, Himself, wanted and had projects lined up and so I didn't moan or whine (or very much anyway) and here we are.  Me at the table with this new friend of mine with thunder rumbling overhead and lightening flashing off to the south and it is right.  I was meant to be here, relaxing.  We have had an extremely busy (wild/crazy/maniac) week at work and as the economy continues to slump, we just get busier.  I have been pretty much in control and level and digging down and getting her done until today when we got the word that next week is the target week.  Next week, we get our training and our go ahead and we move to the new paperless era.  We give up the paper copies and learn how to get our scanned documents out of the computer.  I have to admit, I got a little anxious.  I thought about hyperventilating and pounding the walls shouting "Why?"  "Why?"

I wondered, how will I get my work done using new software and retreiving scanned documents when I almost have too much work to get done now using known and proven methods?

Then we arrived at Too and breathed in the rain freshened air.  We took a golf cart ride around the quiet lake roads.  I settled down and remembered that I have always survived every new software upgrade.  I've waded through many system changes.  I am determined, if not young and agile and quick.  I will adapt.  I will getherdone. 
So this is where I should be right now.  Here at Too.  Rocking on the screened porch with Himself, releasing the tension in my shoulders, letting the worry go.  Enjoying the moment . . . love,  Nana from Too

Buggy crossing

Hot day in July

under ominous clouds.

The Amish trot down our road.

The Amish trot down their road now!

I like sharing the road with the

slower paced, old world folks

and always hope to take a photo that will

remind me of good days in the country.

Distant Memories . . .

Distant Memories . . . sometimes in this entry distant memory means a "photo from a distance" . . . other times it means a memory from a distance.  I love looking through all the old photos of us at Too.  I can't believe we have been going and enjoying for so long.  Enjoy along with me -- enjoy this visit to Too! 

oh hey.  Not fair!  this is from a trip to Kansas City, I think, back in the mid 1950s.  I would have been too young to stand up on that wall.  I would have fallen off backwards.  Just ask Granny!  But I do have a few scattered memories of this family trip to the Kansas City zoo. 

Good times. 

You've heard this before,

I bet.  Just a reminder to keep the negative out . . . and let the sun shine in. 


One day an old Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson. He said, “There are two wolves fighting inside all of us – the wolf of fear and hate, and the wolf of love and peace.”


The grandson listened, then looked up at his grandfather and asked, “Which one will win?”

The grandfather replied, “The one we feed.”

All wet

Gary and Alice gave us this pump.  I love it!  It is just right.  Himself spruced it up with a good coat of paint.

4th of July weekend

Prairie coneflowers are in bloom.

Gabby loves dogs!  and cats . . . and horses . . . and frogs and clams from the lake. 

Audri Lu loves birthdays and cousins and staying at the cabin and being three!

Bella Bu loves bubbles, her Mama and DaDa and running and climbing!

The bridge is done!

Maddie Mu loves birthday cake, her Nana (you better, Maddie!) and new front teeth! 

Joseph Austin loves golf carts and 4-wheelers and cars and all things transportational.

Is that a word?  Transportational?

Jack loves camping and fishing and all "guy" things. 

Ah, you, come here, Jack.  I'm going to count those ribs and kiss you to pieces!

Morghan Grace loves everything.  Parties.  Family get-to-gethers.

Her friend McKenna, camping, the cabin . . . you name it!

Tyler, I have to apologize for not getting a better pic of you.  You were off and running, riding --  traveling to Lake Marie.  I got the back of your head, Mr T!  But we are sure glad you got to see us!  Come back soon!

Other than the 3" of rain that came down the night of July 4 that rained out the fireworks and the boating and the camping and worst of all the SMORES, why, we all had a swell time!  In fact, after the last three years, we expect it to rain on the 4th of July -- we expect to have the biggest rainfall in history.  We expect to be damp and soggy and irritable.  We would feel wierd if it didn't rain.  But that doesn't mean we like it.

oh year 2011?  Will you please plan a dry week for July 4?

Mo and other thoughts

Himself and I ran down to Too Saturday and came home Sunday.  We found that we might want to be home this coming weekend so we high-tailed it to Too to check the grass and the garden.  There was a bit of rain in the ol' rain gauge but not a lot, for a change.  Himself hauled out the mower and I hauled myself to town and then shopped every grocery store in the county.  I like to spread my business around and this is a low population county but basically, these small stores sometimes "carry" one item while another does not.  So to get what one wants, you shop them all!

Himself would say I love to shop but I don't, not really, not when it comes to grocery shopping . . .   and not even clothes shopping or heath & beauty shopping.  Now, if it is second hand rose shopping, or Rerun shopping or flea market or auction or garage sale shopping, then, YES!  I do enjoy that kind of shopping.  In writing this and reading it and analysing it, I guess I only like to shop if I think I am going to get a bargain.  Well, it could be worse.  Far worse.  I could be a shop-o-holic who shops for everything!  There is nothing wrong with finding a bargain . . . or even just looking for a bargain, in my opinion! 

There it is!  PaPa's new bridge.  Or new bridge railings, I should say.  There is PaPa's bridge and Nana's nine hundred and ninety-six cone flowers.  The coneflowers were at their prime this past weekend.  They were in their glory!  And not just here, contained neatly in a bed, but marching all up and down the road.  Marching right and marching left and even sometimes, across the street!

Here's the new vehicle.  Pretty sharp, eh?  what say?  Nice!

It is boxier, than the First.  Some features are better and some not quite so good as the earlier version.  We will get used to it, I'm sure.  It just plain feels bigger! Taller and . . . well, just plain bigger.

And these two pretties were growing side by side in the wild flower bed.  Just like people, like humans, sometimes "like" flowers stay together and don't mix with the other flowers.  Even tho these two are so very different, they are still striking together and sharing the same space.  May we always be tolerant of others' differences.

After all, look how many people overlook your mother's idiosyncrasies . . .

The Rainy Season

To say this spring has been rainy is an understatement. It has been wet! and it continues to rain here in northern Missouri. Talking to a full time resident at the Lake, last Saturday the Lake received 7+ inches and additional rain throughout the week including .8" on Friday and 1-3/4" on Saturday. Last weekend, Johanna and her friends were there when the 7" came. They got up Saturday morning to a lake in the front yard. The water came up through the bridge and over the driveway and our pretty little garden (in previous entry) washed away. The "kids" did some damage control and saved the bridge rails from washing away and picked up what plants they could find.

We ran down Saturday evening, a week later, and got up to a rip roaring thunder storm this morning!

The ground is soggy, the ditch runs hard and water streams down natural waterways through the yard, into the ditch and through the culvert. The ground is so wet we didn't mow as it just would have tracked up the grass and made more of a mess. Last evening, we picked up plants from around the yard. This illustrates how wet it has been there -- these plants have been out of the ground for a week and are still alive! We found 2 tomato plants, a bush cucumber and 3 marigolds.

I scrooped up clumps of black dirt washed out of the garden box and strewn around the yard. We raked up what dirt was left in the box and replanted. We even had some of the green onions left in the box and shored them up a little. Now we hope for sunshine and rains a little further apart . . . and may our garden grow.

Labor Day Weekend???

nahhh. It just felt like it! It was a good weekend (except for one small breakdown in communication, according to Himself) and we got some things done that we had been wanting to do! So, no! It wasn't Labor Day but a fine Memorial Day weekend!

Himself and I prepared the "cabin side" of the bridge for repair.

We prepared . . . and were prepared to fix this bridge.  We did. 

Now, it is just left to put some rails back on.  The easy part, Himself says. 

  Himself and I selected a spot for the Pump. 

He built the form and we poured the concrete

and troweled it out smooth.

Himself washed up the 4-wheeler and added the spit and shine.


a

Himself spruced up the Party Harley. 
He added a light and a switch to the front!
He had put tail lights on awhile back
so now we will be safe both day and night
both coming and going.

Look at us go!  Zipping down the road after dark with the prop a whirling and the road lit up!


Nana found a new level spot for the hammock and tied it up tight. 
It should be in the shade most part of every day!

Himself and I designed and built a new ladder for the boat.

We needed one a little sturdier anyway,

but when the top step broke under Himself's foot,

a ladder moved to the top of the list!

We needed the new steps so the little ones could climb up here and play house.

Or in a few years, camp out in the houseboat.

Of course, I'll have to lock them in!  lol

If they are like their folks, they'll be trying to sneak out

and roam the neighborhood just because they can!

One last duty.

Nana dusted off the swings

and tested the ropes for wear and tear.

That's it!

Too is ready.

Too is ready for the summer season!