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Historic Bridge Walk

2012-02-09T12:35:00.003-06:00

Earlier this week while on our morning walk, Sandy and I ran into a couple that stopped to tell us they were looking for this historic walking bridge. We hadn't heard of it so weren't any help but after getting home, I Googled it. Patrick and I did a dry run yesterday to see if it was within walking distance. Today, Sandy and I found it on foot.

The bridge goes over the Guadalupe River. In the last picture, the white "dots" in the distance are RVs parked under the overpass. This year there are more RVs than previous years.
On our walk back home, I took a couple pictures of something else "historic". A new house being built next to one that is on the National Historic Registry.

We toured this one last year during a tour of several other older houses; some are still in their original state and some were refurbished and are occupied by families. This one was left in its natural state. I don't remember the story behind the Lindheimer's but it had to do with some newspaper printing business and there are signs on different side streets letting people know how to find this place.

Our walk was only a mile longer than our regular walk and our legs and joints were letting us know about it by the time we got home.

Social Time

2012-02-01T18:09:00.004-06:00

Each Wednesday at 4:00, weather permitting, we have a gathering of us Winter Texans to socialize and eat a lot of good things. Everyone brings some sort of hors d'oeuvres or other snack food. We get to meet out neighbors and get the latest news. The picture below shows today's gathering. Some had already left, but most of the crowd is still there. The gathering is held on the "upper" patio/deck area. There is a small pool and two hot tubs. One hot tub is hotter than the other. It is a nice area for the gathering. The big main pool and hot tubs area is behind the complex and about a 100 feet from our building. The "upper" area is much more convenient.

Still Kickin'

2012-01-28T18:44:00.003-06:00

We've been in Texas for almost a month and time seems to be going fast even if we haven't done too much except enjoy the nice weather, visiting with friends, and taking a few rides out in the country.

We took a tour of the Toyota plant in San Antonio one day with our friends, Sandy and Erwin. They make Tacoma and Tundra trucks at this plant and it was interesting - even for women - to see how efficiently these plants operate with all the technology and automation these days. They make 800 trucks per day.

We've only golfed once but the courses are greener this year than any other year we've been coming here. We did realize the "green grass" was mostly clover and weeds when we got closer to it.

Today we took a drive to Bastrop and Lockhart - the areas that were hit with the fires last summer. The State Park at Bastrop lost all but 95 acres from the fire; and, this past week had flooding rains that washed out many of their roads so we couldn't make the trip through the park to see anything. The ironic part was that during the fires, the golf course was spared and didn't have any damage.

There are quite a few Minnesota vehicles driving around down here but I have a feeling we'll be seeing more from Manitoba starting next week. There are a lot of Canadians at our complex.

Sandy and I have been walking daily - or almost daily - to get some exercise. Our trek is 2 1/2 miles and takes us an hour. It goes a lot faster when you've got someone to talk to while walking.

Patrick is enjoying sitting in the sun on the balcony. We overlook a big pecan orchard that goes down to the Guadaulpe River so it's very relaxing.

We haven't seen anything to take pictures of on our trips so this will have to be a pictureless blog this time.

Arrived Safely!

2011-12-30T17:50:00.003-06:00

We arrived at the condo in Texas today around noon. It was a very easy drive this year - no snow or ice anywhere, not even in our own driveway.

Patrick was busy packing the truck 2 days before we left; he was getting anxious to leave long before we did but it wasn't quite as bad this year because of the lack of snow at home. We don't travel too lightly.

The spot in the center was saved for the big cooler.

The first day we drove 650 miles before we stopped for the night in Carthage, MO. The next morning we headed to Siloam Springs, AR to visit Patrick's cousin, Mary, and her husband Buzz. We visited about an hour and then started our trek to Gainesville, TX.

On our trips in previous years, we went by a big casino on the Oklahoma/Texas border (located in Oklahoma) and had said each time, "sometime we'll have to stop and check this place out." This was the year. Gainesville is only about 10 miles south of this casino and the only place we could find a motel room.

Patrick came out more of a winner than I did. It was a nice side trip to break up our journey down here.

We're glad to be settled in the condo and looking forward to seeing our friends we've made here.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

2011-12-25T09:07:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas to all who check us out on this blog. We are not having a white Christmas in this part of Minnesota this year; actually it feels quite "tropical" for December in this part of the country and we're not complaining one bit.

Today is my sister, Joanne's, birthday (I won't give her age but she is older than I am); and, also her son who is the Big 50 today - Happy 50th, Marlin. Having a birthday in December is difficult enough when it comes to trying to celebrate, but the Christmas babies have it tougher. I think these two have managed it quite well too!

Christmas Must Be Coming

2011-12-04T13:46:00.003-06:00

With all the blossoms on the Christmas Cactus, it must mean Christmas is just around the corner. This is the most flowers this plant has had EVER!
This view shows there are more buds to bloom so we should make it to Christmas!

This plant was a door prize at a baby shower for my nephew's son. That "baby" turned 21 in November.

Out With the Old

2011-11-30T15:45:00.006-06:00

Santa came early again this year. Last year at this time we had new light fixtures installed; this year it was a new washer and dryer.

While we were waiting for the installers to get the washer hooked up, I looked out the kitchen window and saw these. It wasn't what I was expecting to see - after all tomorrow is December 1.

I wonder what Santa will bring next year!

Fire In The Trees

2011-11-25T07:33:00.003-06:00

I took the picture below about 15 minutes before sunrise this morning. The pretty pink clouds behind the dark trees reflecting on the water in the river almost makes it look like there is fire in the trees. Made me look twice when I first saw it.

Patrick

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T08:12:00.010-06:00

Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!! The first picture below is of the sunrise taken this Thanksgiving morning. The sky was prettier before the sun finally got up in the trees, but it is still a nice scene. The next picture is of our Christmas Cactus. It is starting to bloom and is going to be a real bouquet of flowers when all the buds open up. It just has the one bud that has opened now and the next picture is of that flower. The last picture is of some ducks that went swimming by on the river while I was waiting for the sun to get higher. Enjoy the pictures and have a great day.

Patrick

We Knew It Wouldn't Last

2011-11-19T18:30:00.004-06:00

We've been very fortunate this fall and haven't had any measurable snow - until today. It looked like about 5" when I shoveled the sidewalk. The river is partly frozen but not on "our" side.

The birds were really busy all afternoon; mainly, Cardinals, Juncos, Chickadees and Nuthatches.

Besides getting the snow, the electricity went out about 12:45 pm while I was painting an interior room downstairs. Needless to say, it got pretty dark and halted the painting project. There really isn't much you can do without electricity. We called one of the restaurants close to our house thinking we could get something to bring home to eat; it was also without electricity. There were 3 restaurants and one gas station that were without electricity; not good for Saturday night business.

The local DQ was open so we stopped there and came home and ate by flashlight. We were almost done eating when the electricity came back on at 5:35 pm. It was a long afternoon!!

Reflections

2011-10-29T08:28:00.005-05:00

Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees but this time of year, we get some great views in late afternoon of the trees reflecting off the river. It is a little hard to tell where the land and water meet.

Hopefully we can enjoy these views for a little while longer before the "white stuff" appears. So far we've had a great fall - wish it would last a few more months.

Pretty Trees

2011-10-02T15:06:00.004-05:00

We have two Maple trees in our backyard. They are both at full color now and very pretty. The first picture below is of the tree behind the Gazebo and the second is of the tree behind the garage. Enjoy.

Patrick

Do Over

2011-09-19T16:24:00.006-05:00

As you may recall, in June we had a blog about a new tree that we had planted along our driveway. Today we had another one planted as the first one didn't survive. We were fortunate to have a tree service that stood behind their product. We also had time to decide we didn't like the size of the first tree we had planted so chose a taller one this time - a couple feet taller at 14 feet.

We got a Norway Spruce and we're hoping this one makes it.

It has a ways to go compared to the one next to it but is sure looks better than the brown sticks that were there.

Parade of Homes - Bird Style

2011-09-06T13:43:00.023-05:00

We have an assortment of birds around our place and Patrick is doing his best to give them living accommodations. Some of these houses were put up earlier this spring and a couple of them found "owners" almost immediately; e.g., blue birds and wrens. Several were just put up in the last few days so we're hoping they will attract some birds next spring.

They aren't the fanciest houses but the birds shouldn't mind too much. They are move-in ready and the rent is free.

When cleaning out the wren house, this surprise was left inside.

The actual size is about the size of a jelly bean but we were surprised at the size as the wren is a small bird. Never know what you'll find behind "Door #1".

Where Am I?

2011-08-27T09:02:00.004-05:00

We have a nice morning here this morning; nice enough to open windows for some fresh air. When I walked into the bedroom to open our sliding glass door, this gold finch was sitting in the middle of the deck. It's a young one so I'm not sure if it can't fly or it flew into the glass door and is trying to get the cobwebs out of its head.I opened the door which is only about a foot away from where the bird is sitting and it didn't move. At least the feet are on the floor and not in the air - so that's a good sign. I hope it's gone the next time I check.

Today Was the Day

2011-08-18T15:10:00.005-05:00

Back in July, there was a blog regarding a new "gadget" Patrick bought - an ice cream maker. Today seemed like a nice day to finally try it out. I've never had homemade ice cream so this was a new experience to see for me. I didn't realize how long it took to "crank" this stuff out. The churning has begun (looks like the guy who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar).

It's really churning here:

The bucket gets pretty frosty:

The churning is over; ready for the next phase: Any additional ingredients need to be added after the ice cream has churned. Ready for the chocolate chips.And, now it's ready for the freezer.

The peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream is now in the freezer waiting for the real taste test. We sampled leftovers from the bowl and spoon and that was very good. I'm sure there aren't many calories in this either.

One Funky Tomato

2011-08-02T08:45:00.003-05:00

Yesterday's wind and rain storm (also more of the same today) wasn't too kind to Patrick's garden; especially, the tomato plants. There are several green tomatoes that we've been watching very closely and hope they will revive themselves enough to ripen.

After the storm blew over, Patrick walked down to the garden to see how it looked. This tomato managed to survive the storm.

It makes you wonder if the shape has anything to do with the survival. I'm wondering how to slice it for a BLT.

Wish We Could Share

2011-08-01T12:41:00.003-05:00

To family and friends in the south, we sure wish there was a way we could share this "stuff" with you. We are currently getting another deluge of water (last look in rain gauge was 1") which we really don't need. We've seen this little creek too many times this summer. It's a pretty flat area between us and our neighbor.This is in our back yard; again we've seen it more than we want this summer.This past weekend is the first time in over 3 weeks that we've finally been able to walk on our dock; otherwise, it's been under water. We were able to lower the pontoon a little; enough so Patrick could start the motor only to discover we need to take it to the marina for some work before we can go for another pontoon ride.

It's been a very hot, humid and wet summer in this part of the country. Like I said before, we sure wish we could share some of the moisture. We know how hot it's been in the south and can relate to it now.

Geraniums Keep Going

2011-07-25T13:15:00.005-05:00

Three summers ago we bought two nice Geranium plants, one pink and one red, to sit on the front steps by the front door to the house. They did well that first summer and we brought them in for the winter before the frost got them. They did well over the winter and went back out on the front steps the next summer. Again they had a good summer and did lots of blooming all summer long. Again we brought then in for the winter. We trimmed them back that winter and this past spring they didn't look real great. So, we bought some new plants for the front steps and were going to just throw the old Geraniums away. I decide to give them another chance on the back side of the house. As you can see below, they have come back real well and are again doing great. I guess we will continue to bring them in for the winter as long as they keep coming back each spring. I thing the Chicken Poo that I gave them this spring helped a lot.

The last picture below is the current picture of our dock and the flood. The water is going down. We can see all the rocks I put on the dock now. They were completely under water last week. Hope it keeps going down so we can soon use the pontoon again. Missing a lot of nice days for boating the last week.

Patrick

High Water

2011-07-17T10:22:00.006-05:00

When I could first see the dock this morning, it had what I thought was a shadow across it. When I looked closer, I saw that it was water. The first picture below was taken around 7:00 a.m. It is foggy because the lens on the camera started fogging up as soon as I took it outside. I took one other picture which was totally fogged and gave up.

The second two pictures were taken when we got home from breakfast around 10:00 a.m. I put the rocks that you can see sitting in the water on the dock to keep the panels from floating away. I have also tied the pontoon to the lift so it can't leave if it starts floating. So far the water isn't high enough for that. There won't be any boating for awhile because the water is so high I couldn't get the pontoon out from under the lift canopy. Before this all came up we had to duck when I backed the boat out so we didn't get hit in the head with the canopy frame.

Patrick

Thanks to Facebook

2011-07-13T11:11:00.007-05:00

About six months ago, Patrick and I decided to sign on to Facebook; mainly, to see what it was all about since it seems to be the big thing in the computer world these days. We soon discovered how many "friends" were out there but one morning, Patrick received an invitation from a friend he wasn't sure he knew or not. He asked me if it was one of my relatives but I didn't recognize the name. I suggested he just ask the person how he knew him and the response was a pleasant surprise.

Yesterday, this group came out for a visit and enjoyed a nice pontoon ride which included lunch at our favorite lunch spot - the local golf course.Chuck and Berniece, and Ruthie and Bob (L-R) ventured all the way out to our place and brought this lovely planter which Chuck made out of repurposed barn wood.We will enjoy this planter for a long time and it has found a spot on our front step.

The reason this Facebook invite turned out being special, the two ladies were Patrick's sisters-in-law over 30 years ago; now we're all good friends. Thanks, Bob, for sending that Facebook invite to Patrick.

More Mouths To Feed

2011-07-10T12:48:00.004-05:00

We had a first this morning when Momma Mallard came to the feeder and brought her 6 little ones along. They aren't big enough yet to reach up on the feeder for corn, but they will be soon and I am sure they will be back for the "free lunch".
Patrick

One More Feeder

2011-07-08T18:14:00.008-05:00

As shown in previous posts when taking pictures of the various birds, there were 3 feeders on a pole. Evidently, we needed another one as that was Patrick's project this week. This time the pole is sitting in a cement slab so it'll be easier to mow plus being sturdier.

Here's how the project went - getting ready to pour cement.Then, we wait for the cement to dry.Note the different color cement; it must need to blend in with the lawn.The installation process begins. It reminds me of an erector set.Now the decision process begins - where to install which feeder so it looks the best. ....and the installation begins.Here's the feeder complex.There's even a suet feeder that the woodpeckers really enjoy.
Besides these feeders, we still have the finch feeders and another bird feeder hanging from our deck. Can't say the birds go hungry around here - at least in the summer.

Another Experiment

2011-07-04T11:39:00.005-05:00

This experiment is still waiting to happen. Patrick loves shopping on Amazon.com and this is his latest purchase.

It looks like a cleaning bucket but it's actually an ice cream maker. I've never had or made homemade ice cream but love to eat it. I'm still waiting for the first batch. I'm sure it's worth the wait.

Rainy Days

2011-06-22T08:34:00.006-05:00

We've had more than our share of rainy days this spring/summer. We'd prefer to be out in our pontoon. As an alternative, we've been trying out some new recipes and attempting to hone our culinary skills.

A couple weeks ago while grocery shopping, we got some peaches. Patrick had found a recipe he wanted to try for a peach cobbler. He did make the cobbler and it tasted good but he thought it was too "juicy". It was good and it's gone.

Last week on our grocery trip, we found some strawberries that looked great. After cleaning them, I decided there were too many to cut up so I decided to try my culinary skills and made the fresh strawberry pie below.

Since I don't know how to make a pie crust from scratch, I used one from the refrigerator department at the store. The missing part on the edge broke off, and I see I need to figure out how to make those fancy borders that are shown in the example photo. It did pass the taste test and it's still raining here so we have something to look forward to today. It's probably not the best thing for our waistlines, but we are expanding our culinary abilities - well, maybe just a little!

Wild Life

2011-06-18T09:03:00.007-05:00

This is as "wild" as it gets out here. I took most of these pictures in about 5 minutes (Patrick captured the duck/rabbit photos).

We've only seen one pair of mallards this spring/summer. They usually come up to eat real early in the morning and late afternoon. There are also about 9 drakes that come up to eat and then retreat to the end of our dock.

These drakes wanted nothing to do with the corn tray with the rabbit around. The rabbit could have cared less. Usually the cardinals aren't as cooperative for picture taking, but this pair was cooperating very well.This is my favorite:This woodpecker was harder to get - he kept swinging around on the suet feeder.We enjoy the wild life out our kitchen window on a daily basis. It's very good entertainment!

Another Project Off the List

2011-06-11T12:48:00.006-05:00

Today is the third anniversary of the day we moved into our house. The projects haven't stopped either.

The deck off our bedroom has been repaired in some areas every summer. This year, two of the railing boards needed replacing. What we thought would just be two new boards turned into a little more than expected. Once the boards were removed, Patrick noticed the corner post that they were mounted to was rotting. Rather than replacing the entire post, he opted for cutting away the bad wood and replacing it with some new pieces.After the trimming was done:We then realized two other boards; one on the step and one on the landing were also rotting. No pictures of those but they've also been replaced. This morning, the new railings were installed and electric boxes reinstalled.Not bad on the paint job either - that was my contribution to this project. It turned out great. Now, I can paint the entire deck when weather and window replacement on the gazebo project is done.

On another subject with our resident birds. I caught a picture of the pair of bluebirds enjoying the view of the yard this morning. It's rare to see them away from their birdhouse at the same time.Of course, these guys continue to entertain us on a daily basis.

It's been a fast three years and I think our project list is getting a little shorter - we hope so anyway.

More New Neighbors

2011-06-02T09:05:00.004-05:00

Originally, this bird house was built with an "open floor plan". The front was totally open in hopes of attracting birds that build their nests more in the open; e.g., Robins. When that didn't seem to be working, Patrick decided to close the front and drill a hole and see what happens.

Yesterday, I noticed a bird checking out the new house. At first it didn't look like the bird would fit through the hole but that proved different later in the day.

This morning, I spotted a pair of Bluebirds going in and out and taking up residency.

With our new neighbors moving in this spring, we may have to throw a housewarming party. However, after further thought, with all the feeders we have around here, they have a party going on all day long. Also, it would be pretty hard to throw a party without these little guys; they have an open floor plan all the time.

New Tree

2011-06-01T18:03:00.004-05:00

This spring Patrick noticed one of the big spruce trees at the end of driveway was looking pretty sick. After contacting a landscaper, we were told this type of spruce - Colorado Spruce - is known for getting this disease and if it isn't take care of promptly, it will spread to the other trees. Replacing one of these old trees is enough for us.

After doing some internet searching, we found a tree farm that sold spruce trees taller than 8 feet. Today the project was done.

The old tree:

After a good trimming:Planting new tree:New Norway Spruce:It's 12 feet tall and should grow into a very nice replacement tree.

Another project off our list; just a couple to go and then we should be able to go fishing.

Location, Location, Location

2011-05-28T13:31:00.003-05:00

For the past couple years, we've been trying to attract Orioles and have them stick around. Our attempt at buying an oriole feeder along with the orange colored food for it hasn't worked. The one male oriole we saw the first year kept trying to eat out of the hummingbird feeder. When that didn't work, he left.

This year, we bought another oriole feeder and mixed up the same recipe as used for the hummingbirds and hung the new feeder in the apple tree.

As in human real estate locations, bird real estate locations must work the same as we have seen a male and female oriole on the new feeder. Today I tried to get a picture of the female oriole on this feeder but couldn't get the camera ready fast enough. When I got back to the window, she had moved on to try something else.

We just had a discussion earlier today on what other food the oriole ate as we didn't think they could survive on only liquid. Now we know one other item in their diets.

One morning last week when it started getting a little more daylight outside, Patrick looked out at the tray of corn we have out for the ducks and saw another creature enjoying some breakfast.

For now, we'll let him/her eat; however, Patrick just planted some new hostas in the back of the yard. They haven't started to sprout yet but my past experience with new hostas and rabbits hasn't been the best. We may be shopping for some type of deterrent before the summer is over.

New Neighbors

2011-05-22T13:02:00.003-05:00

It's another rainy day here today but it doesn't seem to stop these home builders. Last year Patrick built several new bird houses in hopes of attracting some "residents". This weekend, a pair of these birds started making a nest in the house in the apple tree.

It looks like a type of finch but I'm not sure. However, it looks like a nice place to get out of the rain.

Watch "Dog"?

2011-05-21T09:33:00.009-05:00

We've got a new guard of the hummingbird feeder this spring. In the past, whenever a "hummer" guarded the feeder, it sat in the apple tree. This year it seems the cedar tree that's about 3 feet from the feeder is the new guard post.

If any other hummingbird comes anywhere near the feeder, this guy will take chase. We've watched them fly all the way across the neighbor's yard and out of sight. This guy is serious about keeping this feeder all to himself (yes, it's a male bird).

Garden Time

2011-05-19T12:02:00.009-05:00

I finally got the garden planted today. The first picture below is of the "lower" garden from the high end looking toward the river. On the right, next to the fence, is a row of sweet peas. Next to it is a row of Radishes. The Tomatoes are down the center and the peppers are just to the left of the tomatoes. Down at the far end by the stakes are the 3 hills of Cucumbers. If it grows as planned, there will be a lot of vegetables to give to my friends.

The second picture is of the "upper" garden which I haven't had any luck with growing stuff in past years with the exception of the big Sunflowers last year. So, I am going to turn it into a flower and plant garden. This morning I planted two different varieties of Hostas along the fence. There is one plant at each stake you can see in the picture. We will see how they do and be planting more as the planning goes along. I am pretty sure there will be Tulips in the future and who knows what else.

We had the soil tested in both gardens this spring and have applied the fertilizers that are suppose to bring the soil up to its best level. I have also gotten some granulated Chicken poo which I will be using as needed. This should be a good crop year.

Patrick

Final Day

2011-05-09T15:15:00.003-05:00

In spite of our cloudy and rainy weather, our roof job was completed today and it looks great.

With the pillars and archway gone from the front entry, it gives the house a more open look. Now, it just needs to warm up so the flowers can grow.

Earlier this morning, spotted another new creature that we've been trying to entice to stick around.

We saw our first hummingbird last night and again this morning. Now, we just need to get this oriole trained to go the right feeder. We have an oriole feeder out, but the oriole is trying to eat out of hummingbird feeder instead.

We also just saw our first pileated woodpecker. The creatures are finally coming back.

Day 5

2011-05-04T18:12:00.004-05:00

The weather has been cooperating. The wet and windy weather we had was over the weekend so didn't disrupt the project.

The back of the house is done (kind of hard to tell any difference).

The front is about half done. The lone pillar by the front step will be coming down; the other two have already been taken down.

And, as a little diversion, tonight our dock people showed up. Now, we have another project to do when the weather warms up a bit more.

Day 1

2011-04-28T08:54:00.003-05:00

We hope the snow has finally stopped for this season; we saw flurries yesterday but none stuck. Today the roofing project begins on our house. We are very fortunate to have a great contractor in the family; my cousin's husband and his two sons. They also did the addition to our garage less than 3 years ago. Today he is tearing off the shingles he put on then.

The way the shingles were flying off, I didn't dare go outside to take any pictures. Also, it's cold out there.

The Last Snow????

2011-04-20T06:34:00.006-05:00

We can only hope this is the last snow of this winter. When I went to bed last night, I thought, from looking at the weather radar, that the snow had missed us. Wrong! The pictures below are what I woke up to this morning. The first two were taken from the kitchen window and the last two are from the living room and show the backyard with the river in the background. At least the river is going down and we will soon be able to put the dock and boat lift in and go get the pontoon. Spring and summer will get here yet!

Patrick

P.S.

2011-04-16T10:38:00.002-05:00

Now you all know how much both of us are disliking this weather.

Pretty?

2011-04-16T08:42:00.003-05:00

Some people might think this is a pretty scene - us, not so much! This is what we woke up to this morning; along with many other people in this part of the country.

This winter doesn't seem to want to give up but we're told by the weather "experts" this white stuff will be gone by this evening.

Some of our local residents are wondering what's going on too! This dove isn't smiling.

After eyeing the target, this Blue Jay made his move on the sunflower seed feeder.

And, hopefully, the orioles won't get scared off when they see their feeder looking like this.

We're hoping this is the last of this stuff until later this year - much later!

So This Is Spring

2011-04-16T07:53:00.007-05:00

The nice weather we have had, up until the last couple days, had finally melted all the snow from last winter, even the big piles. The following pictures are what we woke up to this morning. Looks just like the beginning of winter again. At least they say that it will be up in the 50's tomorrow and all this will melt quickly. The first picture is of our front yard area. At least we don't have to shovel the sidewalk. The other pictures are of the back yard area and the bird feeder area.

All I can say in closing is my favorite saying about snow, ISH!!

Patrick

Gray Fox

2011-04-15T12:28:00.005-05:00

Our friends Donna and Buddy in Texas sent us these pictures today of a Fox that frequents the backyard at their new house. They also have Turkeys and Deer but haven't got pictures of them yet. This is a cute little fellow and he should keep down the rodent population.

Patrick

Snow Light

2011-04-01T10:59:00.006-05:00

There is a large pile of snow that was pushed up by the snow plow guy and it covers the end of our sidewalk to the front door of the house. Along this sidewalk are several lights that come on in the evening. The big pile of snow was pushed up over one of these lights. The pile is at least 4 foot deep. The first picture below shows the big pile with the light showing in the middle. That's our driveway pole light that is so bright. The second picture shows a close up of the light showing up through the snow pile. It has an eerie effect to it. Maybe the "Light Ghost" will get the snow melted. Patrick

Welcome Home??

2011-03-31T15:54:00.007-05:00

We arrived home last evening after two long days on the road. It was dark when we got here so we couldn't see how much snow was left, or if we had water or ice in the river.

This morning we could see it all; probably more than we cared to see too. Behind this snow bank is the sidewalk to our front step. If we're lucky, we may see it by May.

To give a little perspective, the bushes that are hardly visible are about 4' tall. They still have our Christmas lights on them but that project will have to wait a while yet. Shoveling is not even an option on this frozen tundra. I did get the front step cleared but that's all that would move. There has been talk of flooding in our state but I don't think we'll have to worry about it here. The river is high but would have to come up quite a bit more to get to the edge of our yard.

The boat lift looks pretty lonely and it will be a while before we can think about bringing the pontoon home. We had some company this morning.We haven't gotten any corn yet so they may need to wait a while longer to find something to eat. There were a few birds that showed up too. We filled some of the bird feeders this morning so maybe our "regulars" will be back soon.

It is good to be back home - just wish we could have brought some of the warm weather with us.

Going Home

2011-03-28T12:48:00.008-05:00

Today is our last day here for this season; we're heading home tomorrow morning. The truck is almost packed. Today is laundry day and I'm waiting for the clothes to get dry which is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

This is what the living room looks like:

and then there's suitcases:Hopefully, we'll be able to lift these after they're stuffed.

Tonight we're going out to eat with our friends, Sandy and Erwin, which is a good way to wrap up a day of packing.

Time has gone fast and we hear there is still snow on the ground at home. Spring has to be right around the corner - right??

Super Moon

2011-03-20T07:49:00.002-05:00

You may have seen the report in the news about last nights full moon being called a super moon because it was as close as it ever gets to the earth. I checked it out around 9:30 and this is the picture I got. Doesn't look all that close to me, but it may have been closer later in the night. It did seem to be brighter than usual. At least it ushered in Spring. Happy Spring everyone and hope we have a great summer.

Patrick

One More

2011-03-12T07:10:00.003-06:00

The picture below is of another great place to get a great hamburger and the onion rings are good also. It is located in the town of Bracken, Texas. The town is so small that it doesn't show on the road maps and our GPS couldn't find it either. We have been there in previous years and found our way back.

Patrick

More Fine Dining

2011-03-06T12:24:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we experienced another true Texan BBQ place in Lockhart, TX. Our friends, Sandy and Erwin, had been here before and asked if we'd like to go along. It was a good day for a little road trip since the wind was like a hurricane (not exactly) all day.

This place doesn't believe is furnishing forks so we mostly ate with our fingers. If you get a side of something, you will get a spoon plus a knife for your bread. The food is served on a sheet of paper that's torn off a roll. While you're standing in line waiting to order your meat (which is served by the pound), your eyes can water from the smoke of the BBQ pits. Your clothes also smell like you've been standing over the grill for hours. It's something you should experience at least once.

Sandy thought we should have our picture taken while feeding our faces. I had ribs and they were good; Patrick had brisket and said it was good too. We got there early and they were already out of a couple of the items we wanted but we found substitutes.

Last Sunday, we went to Texas Pride near San Antonio. This is known as a motorcycle place but it's pretty tame on a Sunday afternoon.

Centerpoint Station is near San Marcos and has great burgers. It's also an antique store and has lots of "memorabilia" (fancy word for junk) to either look at or buy.

As you can tell, there's no shortage of places to eat around here. We've only visited a few more than once and we've got less than a month left to go down here.

Thanks, Sandy, for furnishing the pictures of Texas Pride and Centerpoint.

Not Too Lucky!

2011-02-26T08:34:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was a great day for a little road trip. I saw an ad in the newspaper for a casino in Texas - we thought this was unheard of for here. After doing a little online searching, we got an address and discovered this place was ONLY 3 hours away but it was in a part of Texas we had never seen, so we went for it.

Once we got off I-35W, about 40 miles south of San Antonio, we took off on a two-lane highway for 97 miles with only two small towns along the entire stretch. There were a few cattle ranches, one big cabbage field, a very large pecan tree orchard, a sod farm and an onion field. That was it for our "sights" for the entire 97 miles. The rest was brush and dirt.

The casino is in Eagle Pass, TX which is on the Texas/Mexico border. It's on an Indian reservation - just like the ones at home. It's really out in the middle of no where with a road through the weeds to get to it.

With a name like Lucky Eagle, we were hoping for a little luck. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have video poker machines since these are pretty much the only machines I play at any casino. We both found penny machines only to discover the first one had a minimum of 50 cents. We played this for a while and then moved to another "penny" machine. This one had a minimum of 25 cents. Patrick's original investment was $5; when he cashed out at $10 on the second machine, he was done. Me, not so much. We played for about 2 1/2 hours and I was only about $30 lighter than when I started. For me, that's a good day.

Our timing wasn't the greatest for getting around San Antonio before rush hour; we hit it at the peak. After an hour of stop-and-go driving, we stopped to eat thinking the traffic would die down. We were back on the freeway at 6:30 and it was still rush hour and pretty much that way all the way home.

It was a long day but a fun one too.

Fine Dining - Texas Style

2011-02-18T18:02:00.005-06:00

Since we've been here, we've rarely eaten at the same restaurant more than once. One thing we have learned is that you can't judge the food by the outside of the building.

Here are a few of our hot spots. This one has great burgers.

This one has great onion rings.This one has great tacos. We never heard of "puffy tacos" before and have tried those for the first time - d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s.What more is there to say about a place with a name like this?

This is our favorite breakfast spot.Good BBQ ribs here and on Friday nights it's all you can eat ribs. We can still only eat one serving.This has good breakfasts as well as evening meals. It's also an antique shop.
This is probably one of the nicer places we've been but it was Valentine's Day so maybe we just felt "special" that day.Speaking of Valentine's Day - I saved the best for last.There are some places we still need to get to but we've got time yet. Care to join us?

Fun Day!

2011-02-13T15:49:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was such a nice day here, we thought it was a good time for a road trip. Patrick had been wanting to go to a winery that gave tours; however, we ended up at an olive farm instead.

We heard about this place from our friends, Erwin and Sandy, and they went along to show us the ropes. The owner of the olive farm gave a good talk about the history of his farm, what it takes to grow olives in Texas, and how the various weather climates effect the trees and olive production.

After the "lecture", we went inside and he showed us the machines used for processing the olives. We even did a taste test on the various flavors of olive oil. This is something I've never heard of and done before. The others tasted more flavors than I did, including a chocolate flavor.

Once the session on olives was over, we turned to another counter and did some wine tasting. Now, this was more up my ally. I tried all 7 flavors; 6 of them were from this farm but the best one was from a California vineyard. Good thing he can't read this blog.

When we finished our tastings, we went to a place called Salt-Lick BBQ for some Texas BBQ. Sandy and Erwin had been here before; however, Patrick and I were quite surprised at the size of this place. We got there shortly after 3:00 and it was in full swing; lots of people and a band playing in the front yard. We had to wait about 45 minutes to get seated, but with all the action going on, time went pretty fast.

Here's a shot of the BBQ pit:

A picture with our friends, Sandy and Erwin.

... and then there's us.

It was a full day by the time we got home and a very enjoyable one too. We didn't come home hungry either.

Gift Cards are Great

2011-02-08T14:56:00.003-06:00

Prior to our leaving home, and before Christmas, my niece inquired about the name of the town in Texas that we stay during the winter. It never occurred to me that she might be "fishing", but we're glad she was as today we cashed in on the gift card she gave me for Christmas to a restaurant in Gruene.

When I asked her how she picked this particular restaurant, she said she figured if the food wasn't the greatest, we could always have a margarita. Well, Kaylyn, the tacos were good, Patrick's beer was good and my margarita was very good too. She thinks like me - at least when it comes to refreshments.

Thanks, Kaylyn. We still have a few bucks left on the card so will be going back before heading home.

Snow in New Braunfels

2011-02-04T07:30:00.005-06:00

It does snow in Texas even this far south. The following two pictures show what we woke up to this morning. The first picture is of all the backyard area and the second is one closer up of the swimming pool/hot tubs area. There is about a half inch from what I can see on the sidewalk outside our condo. We haven't received out daily paper yet and as far as I can see there hasn't been any traffic on the street that goes by our condo. I think everything is shut down in this area. The snow should all be gone by this afternoon when the temperature is suppose to be up to 49 with clear skies and sunshine. Here's hoping.

Patrick

My Kind Of Football Field

2011-01-24T14:36:00.005-06:00

I recently saw an article in the local paper about the New Braunfels High School putting in new artificial turf on their football field. It made the news because it is a very bright red. Red is the one of the school colors. We drove out by it today just to see how red it is. The following two pictures will show you. Looks like they have it set up to play Soccer on now.

Patrick

Morning Walks

2011-01-21T12:39:00.004-06:00

When the weather cooperates, my neighbor lady (and friend, Sandy) and I have been going for walks each morning. It seems like the walks go faster when you have someone to talk to along the way plus pick pecans with too.

The last two mornings, we decided to pick pecans along our walk. Yesterday, was my first time ever at picking pecans. I really didn't know what I was looking for in the grass and leaves but it didn't take long to get the hang of it. By the time we made our 2 1/2 mile trip, we figured we had about 10 lbs. of pecans that we were carrying with us.

Patrick starting cracking the pecans last night with a hand cracker we found in the kitchen drawer. Sandy was nice enough to bring over their more modern cracker for us to borrow. It had to be easier on the hands.

The bowl was what was shelled this morning from yesterday's pick. The pan is what I picked on today's walk. The cracker is going to get another workout.

I'm not sure if we'll be picking any more pecans or not. We surprised ourselves today by finding as many as we did as we thought we did a pretty good job of scavenging yesterday.

Hot Tub

2011-01-19T07:23:00.007-06:00

Yesterday was a very nice day after a week of dark cloudy, cold and rainy weather. The facilities here include a small swimming pool and two hot tubs. One of the hot tubs has a nice water fall and is kept about 10 degrees hotter than the other one. The pool is heated to just a bit cooler than bath water and the "cool" hot tub is like bath water, maybe a couple degrees warmer. They are all very pleasant to be in. So, yesterday I decided to try them out and see how the hot water would relate to my hip. It turned out very well and I was able to do a lot of exercising in the water that has been a bit painful out of the water. I think this is going to become a regular routine for awhile. Below are pictures of Pat and myself in the "hot" hot tub with the waterfall. She enjoyed the hot water to relax in after her daily walk. Hope they don't scare you.

Patrick

Any Ideas?

2011-01-17T17:50:00.003-06:00

Today we had a new bird at our feeder. After searching our bird book, we still haven't come up with a breed. It's a pretty bird and not one we see at our home feeders.

It's about the size of a Chickadee if that helps. We did notice that this bird and Chickadee don't like each other and one will chase the other away.

Breakfast and More

2011-01-13T12:51:00.004-06:00

This morning we went to The Guenther House in San Antonio for breakfast along with friends, Erwin and Sandy. The Guenther House is known for its delicious waffles, and they didn't disappoint us today. After breakfast, Erwin asked us if we had seen the SAS Shoe Factory (which we hadn't) so we made a side trip.

We didn't realize how much other stuff there would be to see besides shoes. As we entered the store, this was the first thing we saw; a 1939 Buick. It happened to be in Patrick's favorite color too.

As we meandered through the store, the next thing that caught our attention was a 1956 Cushman motor scooter. I couldn't get both Patrick and the bike in one shot.

While I was sampling some old-fashioned candy, Patrick was doing some investigating and came across this creature. I'm sure glad he wasn't alive.

Who ever thought a shoe factory could be so interesting?? They do have tours but we were in between time slots so maybe that will be another trip.

On our way home, we drove by Lackland Air Force Base. This is where Patrick spent some time during his training for the Air National Guard. Needless to say, it had changed some in 40+ years. It brought back memories but he'll have to tell you about those.

P.S.

2011-01-09T13:50:00.004-06:00

It appears our new customers are House Finches. The earlier pictures are either female or young ones. This one is definitely a male House Finch and was very accommodating to pose for me.

This one just made me laugh. It looks like he's doing the splits.There has been a Chickadee visiting the deck too but it's been on the "grab and go" plan. It doesn't stick around long enough for a photo shoot.

And, this is the creature that hasn't figured out what corn is -- yet. He needs to look the other direction.

First Customers

2011-01-09T11:50:00.006-06:00

Before we left home, Patrick made a bird feeder that could be fastened to a window with suction cups. We are on the third floor and we found out last year that people in the condos below us do not appreciate bird seed falling on their decks. This was found out by the people living directly below us.

We've been here a little over a week and today we had our first customers to the feeder. First, one bird found it.

It didn't take too long before it had company.

In looking at our bird book, we aren't sure if this bird is a Fox Sparrow or a female House Finch. Patrick brought his binoculars and shortly after we took these pictures, he spotted a House Finch on a tree limb.

Patrick put some bird seed on the floor of the deck to entice the birds. There is a Fox squirrel that has made his/her rounds on our deck. Yesterday, it stopped and smelled a kernel of corn, but didn't take it. Either it didn't know what it was, or it wasn't hungry because at home they aren't shy at all about eating it.

Our entertainment has begun. Hopefully, we'll get a variety of birds shortly.

Texas Deer

2011-01-02T17:58:00.004-06:00

This morning when I opened the blinds on the windows facing out on the backyard of the condo, I saw the three deer in the picture below. Looked to be a doe with her two fawns from last spring. One of the small ones was laying down right below our condo when I first saw them. The other two were up eating and were soon joined by the other one. The White Tail deer in Texas seem to be smaller than the ones in Minnesota.

Patrick

On the Road Again

2010-12-31T13:31:00.003-06:00

We arrived in Texas yesterday shortly after noon. Our trip down was very good; no ice or snow anywhere.

Our first stop on Tuesday evening was Carthage, MO. We didn't expect to get that far in one day but were glad we did so we had more time to visit with Patrick's cousin, Mary, and her husband, Buzz, in Siloam Springs, AR.

Siloam Springs is on the Oklahoma border where there happens to be a casino on the Oklahoma side. Mary and Buzz like their lunch buffet so treated Patrick and I before we headed out on the rest of our journey.

Our GPS took us on a new route to Texas so we went through some towns we hadn't seen before; one, being Muskogee, OK. There were others, but I happen to remember Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muskogee" song and sang it all the way to Texas in my head.

Our second night was spent in McKinney, TX which is just north of Dallas. This was just the right distance for us to make our trip the rest of the way on Thursday morning - only a 4 1/2 hour trip.

We are enjoying the nice weather and scenery. We wish you all a very Happy New Year too.

Stalagmite

2010-12-24T13:37:00.004-06:00

We have our very own Stalagmite right outside our west kitchen window. The formation is behind our garage where the exhaust for the garage heater comes out and drips water when it is running. The first picture was taken from the back garage door and the second picture was taken through the kitchen window, thus the screen. This will be about as big as it will get because the heater will be turned off when we head south. Fun to watch it grow though.

Patrick

Holiday Get-Together

2010-12-20T08:38:00.010-06:00

This past Saturday was our annual Anderson Holiday Get-Together. Since we moved out of the Twin Cities area, we started having this get-together the week before Christmas which seems to work out best for everyone. We lucked out this year to not have any snow storms to interfere with travel. We had 27 people from the ages of 7 months to 80 years old.

The tree went up the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Some family members are enjoying a football game on television before we ate.

Joanne and Lynda having a little chat - better than watching football, I guess.

It didn't take long for the line to form once the food was set out.

We prepared a 25 lb. turkey, peeled 15+ pounds of potatoes and made about 8 lbs of pork in crock pots for pulled pork sandwiches plus vegetables and salads. Patrick baked 4 pies and they were also a big hit.

My sister, Joanne, and brothers, Jerry and Charles, had a gab session after we finished eating. Charles (who I'm sitting next to) celebrated his 80th birthday on Dec. 13th. I'm from a family of 7 children; 5 surviving. Charles is the oldest; I'm the youngest so he thought it was appropriate that we sit together for the photo. Today is a snowy day here again with 4"- 8" predicted. Now, we can concentrate on packing for our trek south. We all know someone who is very anxious to get out of here too.

Snow Shoveling Movie

2010-12-12T13:42:00.005-06:00

This is a short movie of Pat shoveling last evening. Click on the symbol in the lower right corner of the movie screen to make it full screen size and click on the arrow in the lower left corner of the screen to start the movie. Sorry about the darkness. Enjoy.

Patrick

Snow Shoveling

2010-12-11T17:51:00.006-06:00

Shortly after supper this evening my dear wife decided the front sidewalk needed shoveling. These pictures show her at work. The snow was knee deep in places. It is all cleaned and looks great now. The plow guy will be by later to clear the driveway.

Patrick

The Arch Comes Down

2010-12-09T10:44:00.008-06:00

The picture below shows the decorative arch that was over our front step and landing to the front door. It was getting to be in not so good shape and really didn't serve any purpose but decoration. Pat decided that it should come down and I agreed. The following pictures show the process and the results.

Now we are looking for ideas on something to cover the front landing area and be a little decorative also. A project for next spring.

Patrick

Is it Spring?

2010-12-03T13:56:00.004-06:00

It's snowing here - again - with a prediction of up to 6" before it's done tomorrow. These birds are either mixed up on their seasons; or, they're stocking up for the snow storm.

We thought both of these species went south for the winter - the junko and the gold finch. They don't seem to mind the snow.

Santa Came Early!

2010-11-30T13:00:00.005-06:00

It's a snowy day here today and definitely gets the Christmas spirit going. We also did a little more updating in our house so I'm calling it my early Christmas present.

The light fixtures that came with our house are from the 1980's. We updated a couple this summer which got me motivated to do more on our main living level. These are the originals:

Kitchen

Hall (2 fixtures)

Dining Room

These are the updated fixtures:

Kitchen

Hall

Dining Room

Last year at Christmas time we were painting interior walls and rooms to get rid of wallpaper. I wonder what I can find to do next Christmas??

Silly Bird

2010-11-24T12:39:00.006-06:00

We're in the middle of a snow storm out here today and when we looked out on our deck, we saw this silly bird eating. It's a different bird than we've seen here before so figure it must be passing through on its way to warmer climate - at least we hope so.

Patrick is searching his bird book for the species. It's a male American Gold Finch, winter coat. They are usually a bright yellow but change color in the winter. This is news to us - guess we learned something new today.

Morning Ritual

2010-11-12T08:48:00.003-06:00

You would think these creatures would be flying south by now, but we have a few "resident mallards" that either are very inept or are the type that stick around all winter.

As soon as it's daylight, they start their trek to the empty board where they would really like to see corn. However, I don't move quite as fast as they would like.

Then, a few brave ones make it back while the rest are standing in the background still trying to figure out what that person in the window is going to do.

Once one bird gets spooked, they all fly off only to circle back and start their trek all over again.

So far this morning, the 21 mallards have made 5 attempts at getting fed and still haven't made it.

While these guys are trying to figure out whether or not it's safe to approach the board, this Junco is happy to have the board all to him/herself. We're pretty sure this bird is just passing through on its way to warmer temps. Too bad the mallards don't follow.

While I was waiting for the mallards to make up their minds, this Nuthatch was relaxing on the suet feeder so I thought it deserved a picture too.

The bird population is dwindling, and with the weather forecast including the "s" word for around here this weekend, it should dwindle even more.

Hip Pictures

2010-11-03T15:13:00.004-05:00

We have had previous blogs about my hip operation and its progress. I can tell you now that all has gone well and I am mobile again without any cane. Looking forward to golf when we get to Texas in January. Today I received copies of the X-rays of my new hip joint. Decided to share them with you. As you will see I am now held together with screws and wire. The screws were to make sure the hip socket doesn't move while the bone is growing into it and the wire was put around the top of the bone that was cut off to make sure it didn't split when the hip spike was driven in. The wonders of today.

Patrick

Waffle Saturday

2010-10-30T13:11:00.005-05:00

After a person retires, the days seem to run together and you have to think about what day it really is. Some say that every day is Saturday except for Sunday when you get the "big paper" (if you subscribe to the newspaper).

Around here, we know it's Saturday because it's waffle day. Patrick has become a very good waffle maker; specifically, pecan waffles. It's also great to have breakfast waiting for you when you crawl out of bed. Pretty neat.

Last winter while we were in San Antonio, we found a restaurant called the Guenther House when we took a "hop-on hop-off" bus tour of the city. It's an old house that's been converted to a restaurant/gift shop. They are known for their waffles. We made a mental note of this place and went back later. After trying their great waffles, we bought some waffle mix to bring home and were hooked. We don't have any of the Guenther House mix left but have found that Aunt Jemima works just as well with the addition of some special ingredients.

Waffle Saturday has been our tradition since we got our new waffle iron. When we've had overnight guests, they got to try these waffles too.

What a great change from cold cereal.

P.S. to Previous Blog

2010-10-25T09:19:00.004-05:00

On Saturday morning, my buddy returned for his breakfast. This time Patrick tried the movie feature but didn't get the sound for fear of scaring him off. It's very short.

We've gone through one 50# bag of corn with one more to go - and that's only in a week's time.

Typical Morning - Almost

2010-10-22T09:41:00.006-05:00

With the nice weather we've been having this fall, our ducks have been hanging around as usual. Every morning there is a group of between 10-25 mallards that gather on our shoreline.

It's not unusual for them to make more than one trip to the corn tray and find it empty before I get up.

The ducks are pretty skiddish about any noises from inside the house or movement in the kitchen window. However, a couple weeks ago, I went out to fill the tray and one drake wasn't going to go away empty handed so he waited for me to fill it. The cameraman in the house wasn't aware of this so didn't get any pictures - until this morning. My "buddy" was talking to me the whole time I was filling the tray. (Yes, I know my butt is big!)

I had to bend down to his level to carry on the conversation we were having - you should have heard it. Something like "quack - quack quack - quack quack quack". It was all duck language.

While I was filling the tray and visiting with my friend, the others were waiting a little further away, still trying to decide whether or not it was safe to come closer.

But, before the rest of the gang arrived, my friend wasted no time in getting his share first and thinking "she's finally out of here".

His private dining didn't last too long and the gang took over. Sometimes they walk away and other times fly - this time they chose to walk.

Reunited

2010-10-13T12:36:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since "Big Red" (Patrick's name for his truck) has been out on the road. In fact, it was a month ago today that Patrick had his hip surgery, and today the two were reunited for their first trip to town.

Patrick was off to meet some friends for lunch and the restaurant is only blocks from our house. This was a good first venture to make.

And they're off!

Pleasantly Surprised!

2010-10-05T13:56:00.004-05:00

During this recovery process, it gets rather slow out here at times. There are chores that still need to get done; e.g., lawn mowing. I've managed to figure out how to operate our big riding lawn mower and haven't either run into or over anything - yet. Being a farm girl and doing a lot of tractor driving in my younger days, I'm not intimidated to give most things a try.

Today, I was playing on the computer while Patrick was resting and I was waiting for some laundry to get dry. When the doorbell rang, I nearly flew out of my seat but was very shocked to find a box on our front step with my name on it.

This is what was inside:

Needless to say, I was very pleasantly surprised and it is nice to be appreciated. Evidently, my nursing skills haven't been too bad either.

Quick Patient Update

2010-10-02T08:16:00.004-05:00

Things have been rather slow around here lately so haven't had too much to write about. However, I thought it might be a good time to do a short update on Patrick's progress so anyone that reads this "masterpiece" will know how he's doing.

Yesterday was his first follow-up with the surgeon (even though it was a PA that we saw). They were pleased with his progress and the healing of the hip. We assumed this would be the only follow up but found out differently after our visit. We get to go back again the end of October for another check and x-ray. After that it's another check up 6 months after surgery (March-April), and then yearly thereafter. That was a little bit of a shocker.

As with most surgeries, there are some good days and some not-so-good days but considering it's only been 3 weeks (this Monday) that the surgery was done, he's doing pretty darn good. After our appointment yesterday, we stopped at Goodwill/Easter Seal and returned that beautiful red walker. He's now navigating with a cane.

The e-mails and phone calls are very much appreciated. We've been able to go out for our usual Sunday breakfasts and a lunch at our favorite spot - the golf course. Otherwise, it's been pretty much home cooking - for whatever that's worth.

Updating

2010-09-20T11:06:00.005-05:00

Some of the items we inherited with this house have started to break down. I guess that's expected in a 20+ year old house so not complaining. We were fortunate when we moved in that we liked all the window treatments and they pretty much went with our furniture and linens.

The first thing that went was our kitchen faucet; the faucet part actually broke off. That was our welcome home job after our first winter away too. Fortunately, it didn't happen on my cousin's watch - she had enough issues that first winter; e.g., pipes freezing and water backing up into the bathrooms. We survived that one ok without too much trouble; just replacing a couple ceiling tiles in the downstairs bathroom and all was good again along with the plumber's bill to come out and analyze the problem and later install our new faucet.

All was going well until about a month ago when part of the cord on the patio door shade in our bedroom broke. We were able to raise/lower the shade but it was a bit lopsided. In my previous house, I had gotten some shades that didn't have cords so I started my search on the internet to see if they had them available for patio doors. There was one place that had them so we placed our order. It arrived just before Patrick's surgery.

We hadn't intended to change the shade until Patrick had recovered from his surgery. However, that plan changed yesterday. Patrick tried lowering the shade and the string got stuck and then "somehow" the bracket got bent. It wasn't working too well.

After taking down the curtains and rods, we got the old shade off and thought, if necessary, we could fix it enough to use it a little while longer. Fortunately, we had the new shade standing in the corner but we hadn't taken it out of the box yet to see if it actually fit.

Well, it fit and we did get it installed but not without a price. I don't think going up and down on a step stool several times is what the doctors had in mind for hip therapy. Today is a cloudy/rainy day here and also a good day to recuperate but not a good day to try to take a picture.

He's Home!

2010-09-15T13:18:00.004-05:00

Patrick made it home this afternoon. We needed to make a stop at the local pharmacy to get a couple prescriptions filled and then a stop at the local gas station to get his Powerball tickets. I think we made those stops in priority order.

Anyway, he's doing good and has his faithful companion close by his side (and it's not me on this one).

For those that know Patrick well, you know his favorite color is red. When we picked out his walker, the gentleman that was assisting us was moving the various walkers around and Patrick spotted the red one on the wall and asked if it was available. The gentleman said that not many people want to use the red ones but that didn't stop Patrick.

You will probably also notice those lovely socks he's wearing too. It was just easier to leave everything on and get the shoes on over the top than trying to remove anything - that will come later.

He's glad to be home and now the real fun begins - getting back in shape. He's got his exercises down pretty good already so now all we need is time and maybe some patience to go along with it.

Give him a call or send him an e-mail; he'd be happy to hear from you.

Surgery Update

2010-09-13T15:09:00.004-05:00

First of all, Patrick's surgery went as expected and no surprises. As for the person who was doing the waiting (me), it was a different story.

Backing up a little, we had planned on getting up at 4:00 am since he needed to be at the hospital at 5:30. Needless to say, we both had sporadic sleep during the night. When he woke me up at 4:00 am, he had already showered and gotten dressed and played on the computer. We left home around 4:40 am and arrived at the hospital shortly after 5:00 am. There were a few other folks there already too so I guess it was a sleepless night for others as well.

The nurse took us to a waiting area where all the "fun stuff" began starting off with those lovely gowns and non-skid slippers. By 6:30 am, he was ready to roll so they took him to the pre-op area shortly before 7:00 and this is where we separated.

The hospital has a very nice surgical waiting area and a receptionist that keeps the family members waiting informed on the status of their patient - except me. We were told that this procedure would take about 1 1/2 hours so once I knew the surgeon was performing the surgery, I calculated that I should/would hear something about 9:45. At 10:00, I went to the receptionist to check on status - she said the surgery was still in progress. At 10:08, the receptionist came and got me, stuck me in a consult room and said the doctor would be in shortly. At 11:00, the receptionist checked to see if the doctor had been in yet - no such luck. She began paging him - no luck. Then, I heard "Code Blue" over the PA system - my heart started jumping. Pretty soon, there was a page over the PA system for Patrick's surgeon - twice.

There was a changing of the guards at the reception desk so the new receptionist was trying to find out what was going on. I was removed from the consult room because they needed it for someone else. I was back in the general waiting area and pretty soon the surgeon came flying in the door; now it's 11:30. We found another room, had a 5 minute discussion and when I walked out with him, I saw Patrick in the front of the elevator and being taken up to his room. He had already been in the recovery room, was awake and had talked to the surgeon himself by this time.

The surgeon apologized all over the place. He was on-call at the hospital and got called to the emergency room right after Patrick's surgery. He left his pager behind somewhere so when he heard his name over the PA system, he remembered what he forgot - ME.

Anyway, I got to ride up the elevator with Patrick to his room. He was just beginning to feel his feet and wiggle his toes when I left. They plan on getting him up sometime later on and guess what - he's hungry. They started him on ice chips, but when I left he was graduated to juice, coffee and water. If he's lucky he'll get some type of liquid dinner tonight.

So far so good. Depending on how well he does, there's a possibility he may be coming home tomorrow but that's still a maybe. I think the surgery was harder on me than him - he slept through the whole thing.

Sign of Fall

2010-09-07T18:11:00.003-05:00

We had planned on taking our pontoon out today but weren't sure that was going to happen the way the day started with rain and wind. By mid-afternoon the sun had come out, no more rain, and the wind wasn't hurricane level so we decided to give it a shot. The boat lift and dock look pretty lonely now.

I drive the pontoon twice a year; in the spring from the boat landing to our dock and in the fall from our dock back to the boat landing.

It's all set to make the trip tomorrow to storage until next spring. We are doing this a little earlier than usual this year due to Patrick's upcoming hip surgery.

Watch the Bully

2010-08-30T09:59:00.007-05:00

For the past week we've been watching the hummingbird show out our kitchen window. There's one male bird that seems to think this feeder is all his and chases away another bird that even tries to get close.

Yesterday, we noticed about 4 female hummingbirds fighting back and we think they won as they eventually landed on the feeder and got a drink.

Here's a little show of how it's been going that was taken this morning. It may be a bit jittery; I was trying to get the birds as they were flying around but wasn't very successful. Click the arrow on lower left of video.

What retirees will do for entertainment!

.....And Here They Are!

2010-08-23T15:21:00.003-05:00

This is another finch feeder which the birds haven't found yet. The original one is still hanging beside it; it will be interesting to see how they react.

And, this one is a bird house for finches or whatever small bird can fit through a tiny hole.

The birds around here have so many choices but they sure are great entertainment.

Another Experiment

2010-08-23T09:28:00.003-05:00

We have two areas on the end of our yard that originally were flower beds. When we moved here, they were both weed patches so the one that gets the most sun (closest to the river) is the one used for the prime garden spot. The other one has more shade and there hasn't been much success growing anything except this year. Patrick planted cantaloupe and watermelon seeds in this spot and neither appeared.

Patrick thought he would try growing some sunflowers to get seeds to feed the birds. When he purchased the seed, the packaging said something about "very large" and he assumed it meant the flower. Now, he's rethinking that assumption.

The cedar trees off to the right of the above picture are about 20' tall, so that may give you a better idea on how tall the sunflowers actually are too.

Then, there's this plant that decided to take a different growth path. It's also a pain for Patrick when he mows the yard.

It will be interesting to watch how much longer this one will stay off the ground.

And, for another experiment. Patrick built another bird house that is suppose to be for cardinals to build their nest (at least that's what the photo description said). It may be too late for this season to attract the cardinals but we're hoping next spring it will get occupied. If not, it's a neat tree ornament.

The new work bench is getting a good work out. The next bird house is already in the making.

Spider Web and Flowers

2010-08-21T10:41:00.009-05:00

This morning, when I got up, it was very foggy. I looked out at the dead Plum tree in the backyard and there were several Spider webs showing up because of the moisture from the fog. The first two pictures are of the largest web.

While I was taking those pictures, I noticed how nice our hanging flowers are looking. The following pictures are of them and a Seedum plant on the ground. It is blooming now and starting to show some color. Enjoy.

Patrick

Good Times

2010-08-16T18:05:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday was a great day for a pontoon ride with friends. This time it was on someone else's pontoon and a different lake. Dan and Carol hosted the group with their new pontoon and then a barbecue later. Sorry, we didn't get photos of the barbecue part but, trust me, the food was fantastic.

This is the group of friends (with Captain Dan at the helm) that worked together for several years, have taken 10 trips to Las Vegas and continue to get together for overnight trips and special occasions.

I think Jim is trying to figure out what is wife is talking about in the above photo.

Since there isn't a shot of Patrick, you can figure out who the photographer was for this trip too.

Workbench Done

2010-08-13T08:05:00.006-05:00

Some time back I had a short blog on my workbench and that I had finished one of the two drawers I had planned. Now the other drawer is finished and all the trays at the bottom of the peg board have been sorted and organized. So, my workbench is officially done and ready for use. Below is a picture.

Patrick

Another Experiment

2010-08-07T18:18:00.005-05:00

When we moved to our new house, the gazebo furniture was left for us by the previous owners. It was better than nothing, but not by much.

The first year, we had the furniture reupholstered. The existing upholstery was sun rotting so each time we sat on it, we would hear another rip either in the seat or one of the back cushions. Thank goodness for fabric sales at JoAnn Fabric as I found some fabric that is suppose to withstand sun. I found a lady in a small town near us that did re-upholstery and she did all the cushions; e.g., sofa, loveseat and one chair. Unfortunately, we didn't have our blog in existence when we had the furniture done so there aren't any shots of the wonderful floral pattern we started with; here is the updated version.

Another item we "inherited" was a coffee table. Last summer I thought I could just restain this table to give it a little face lift. However, that was just a temporary fix. It still looked like crap.

This summer, I got the bug to try re-finishing the coffee table. I've never done this before and figured it couldn't look any worse. I went to Menard's and was standing in front of a shelf with several options for stripping. I was reading the label on one of them and an elderly couple came up beside me and the woman started grabbing the same brand as I was reading - several cans of it. Since I didn't have a clue on what I was looking for, I asked her if this stuff really worked. She could have been a spokesperson for this product. She went on to say she had tried several of the other items on the shelf and this was the ONLY one that worked. I told her that was good enough for me. She was right, it worked great.

The next two shots are of the table before and after the first application.

After two days of scraping and sanding, I finally applied the stain yesterday. Today I applied the finishing touch of a clear coat polyurethane. These two shots are the finished product.

I don't think I'll be refinishing any more furniture for a while but am very pleased with the way this table turned out.

Weed in plant pot

2010-08-04T07:23:00.005-05:00

We are in a never ending fight to get rid of weeds in our lawn and gardens. Now we have a new fight with a weed inside the house. How this noxious thing made it into one of our plants is a mystery. We recently repotted this plant and used fresh potting soil. At least this one will be easy to take care of with a simple jerk. Below is a picture of the invader.

Patrick

New Hip

2010-08-02T18:29:00.004-05:00

I guess my old body is finally starting to wear out. For the past month I have been having a great deal of pain in my hip. It has restricted my activities some including no golf. Today I got in to see the Orthopedic surgeon and now have a date set for getting the new joint. It will be the 13th of September as everything is scheduled now. That should give me plenty of time to rehab and still be ready to go to Texas at the end of December and start playing golf again. Below is a picture of the new joint replacement.

Patrick

Old Fools? BUT Young at Heart

2010-08-01T11:36:00.004-05:00

About a week ago, I heard a truck in the driveway and when I looked out the window from the loft, there was the Fedex truck. I knew I didn't order anything and Patrick was stretched out in the recliner sleeping, so I waited until the truck left and went outside to see what was delivered.

Leaning against the garage door was a huge box with the name "Huffy" on the front. It was only one box but I also knew Huffy was the brand of bicycle. After Patrick woke up, I asked him if he ordered something and, of so, it was leaning against the garage door. He then told me he ordered me a bike.

I had been looking for a bike that didn't have a bunch of gears, old-fashioned handle bars, and a big seat. He found one on the internet that met my criteria. While he was assembling the bike, he told me he ordered one for himself and it would be coming the next day.

Patrick hasn't been able to test his bike out much. There's also another reason for getting the bikes. Patrick is visiting a doctor tomorrow to start the process for possible hip replacement surgery. We've heard that riding a bicycle is great for rehab so we're hoping he gets a chance to use his bike before the snow flies. He also bought a carrier for the back of his truck so we may be taking these "vehicles" south with us this winter. Time will tell on all of these plans for now.

Hungry Guys!

2010-07-24T10:18:00.009-05:00

It's rare to see one of these woodpeckers up close, but this morning there were two working on the suet as well as trying to find something on an empty board with corn crumbs. The ducks had been here at some point and cleaned it off.

This was just a holding spot to rest for a while.

After this guy figured out he wasn't going to get anything off the empty board, he decided to try the bird feeders. Evidently, he didn't care for what was on the first feeder so he flew off to the next one.

He discovered this feeder was empty. We had sunflower seeds only in this one and the cardinals cleaned that out - time to refill.

This is what the board usually looks like before the ducks arrive. Lately, we've had groups of about 16 hens showing up. It's been a challenge keeping up with all our critters.

The "chunk" near the top of this board is the small piece of suet that was left over after the guy in the first picture finished it off.

New Workbench

2010-07-22T14:32:00.005-05:00

We had a blog previously showing my moving and expanding my workbench in the garage. That project is now 90% done. I still have to make one more drawer, but that part of the project is on hold until my hip gets better. The pictures below show my very wonderful wife just after she finished painting the new workbench. The second picture is just of the workbench itself.

Didn't she do a great job!

Patrick

FINALLY!

2010-07-15T15:38:00.003-05:00

We have been trying to attract orioles to our bird feeder without much success. This week we noticed a couple orioles hanging around our suet feeders but when I tried getting a picture of them, they took off.

I did get a shot of this bird but didn't know what it was at the time; just that I hadn't seen one like it before. Patrick looked it up in our bird book and discovered it's a female oriole. Who would think the female would be yellow.

While waiting for the orioles to return, this character was entertaining us with his acrobatic moves. We haven't a clue what tasted so good in a pine tree, but he sure was chewing like it was a delicacy.

When the male oriole finally did come back, he went to the wrong feeder - again. We have an oriole feeder but so far they haven't tried it. They keep going to the hummingbird feeder only to get disappointed.

One of these days, he may figure out the orange stuff tastes better - once he tastes it.

New Toys

2010-07-08T15:31:00.005-05:00

We noticed in this past Sunday's Menards ad that they had powered sanders on special. Pat has a number of projects around the house that require sanding. So, today we purchased two new sanders, one for open major area work and one for more detailed small area work. Pat has already tried them out and they work well. The first picture below is of the one for working in smaller areas. Below it is a short movie of Pat using the larger one on a window ledge in one of our bedrooms downstairs that had gotten stained from water leakage from a plant that was sitting there for awhile. The movie only last around 30 seconds, but it does have some good hip action.

To start the movie, click on the small triangular arrow in the lower left corner. If you would like for it to be full screen, click on the little squares in the lower right corner first and then on the triangular arrow in the lower left corner to start the movie. Press Esc to return to your regular screen. Turn your sound up and enjoy the movie. You have to make your own popcorn.

Patrick

Fireworks

2010-07-05T07:48:00.002-05:00

This is for all of you that may not have been able to go see a fireworks display last evening. We traveled to Spicer Minnesota to attend their display. It was a very nice show and had one of the best Grand Finales I have ever seen. We used the movie capability of our camera to bring the Grand Finale portion of the show to you. Click on the little arrow to start the movie. Be sure and turn up your sound. Enjoy!

Patrick

Good Samaritans

2010-07-04T11:35:00.007-05:00

Patrick's friend, John, who also was his neighbor when he lived on Lake Osakis, needed some assistance yesterday putting a new roof on his screen porch which sits on top of his boat house. A few weeks ago, during one of our thunderstorms, the screen porch was lifted off the cement slab and deposited against John's cabin. The picture window in the cabin and gutters were damaged and all the glass from the screen porch was blown all over the yard. The screen porch had combination windows on all sides - quite a mess.

Yesterday, John called in the troops which included Patrick and some of his family members. It wasn't the best day for doing this project as the wind was blowing pretty strong and each piece of tin had to be held pretty tight to keep it from blowing away.

Here's the first sheet of tin being installed. The window on the cabin will be replaced in a few weeks as well.

Patrick and Mark (John's nephew) getting the weather stripping installed before placing another sheet of tin.

This is how it looked for the entire project in getting the tin to stay in place while someone put down weather strips and someone else fastened with the screw gun. It was definitely a team project.

This is John taking a little breather and watching his "crew".

The tin has finally been installed and now the frame is being set back in its original spot on top of the boat house.

And it finally made it into position at 5:00 pm. The project started before 10:00 am so it was a long day.

Patrick and John have done many projects together so it was nothing new for the two of them to reunite for another one. It's just what friends do for each other.

Corn Lovers & More

2010-06-30T17:23:00.005-05:00

This morning when I looked out the kitchen window, I was surprised to see two rabbits. Usually, there is only one at a time. I'm thinking the one standing behind is the mother rabbit and the other her "baby". The "mom" looks like an older rabbit and more protective.

The older one never did eat any corn on this trip so I'm thinking she may have been here earlier. We also think these "cuties" may have been the culprits that ate the corn and peas from Patrick's garden since the peas are totally gone and the corn stalks chewed off.

This is the only pair of mallards we've seen all summer. We've named them "Mr. and Mrs." - very original, huh? On other occasions, we've had as many as 18 drakes at one time. That's when we picked up the board for a couple days to try to thin out the crowd. It has worked so far. When our 50# bag of corn is gone, we're going to stop feeding all critters and let them fend for themselves.

Since the weather was so nice today, we decided to go for a pontoon ride. We found another location on a lake further away from us where some pelicans have perched. These pelicans were more cooperative than the earlier pelicans and I couldn't decide which was my favorite picture, so I'm posting most of them.

I took twice as many pictures of the two rabbits. It's a good thing I could pick only a couple from that group.

Remodeling 101

2010-06-26T14:34:00.005-05:00

When we added on the third stall to our garage, it was with the intention of storing our pontoon. However, after it was built we realized a couple obstacles. First, were the two light poles in the driveway and the sharp turn that would need to be made get the pontoon lined up; second, there was only 6" on each side to negotiate without hitting the sides. It didn't take us long to figure out the pontoon would need to be stored somewhere else.

In the space between the old and new garage, Patrick put up a small work bench; it was only 4' long so not a lot of space to work on.

A couple weeks ago he had the bright idea to move his work bench to the back wall of the new garage.

As you can see, he was able to double his work space as well as gain another electrical outlet so no more extension cords being strung across the work area. The peg board above the work bench was one 4' square hung above the old bench; after adding another 4' square, the tools are more readily accessible now.

As for the rest of the new garage stall, it is now the home to all the "toys" necessary to keep up our yard as well as build new bird houses among other things.

This is the newest addition.

The paint has been bought to finish the work bench; just needs the painter now. It's just another one of those "round-to-it" projects waiting to get done.

It's nice to know the new addition has so many purposes.

What a Guy!!

2010-06-25T09:15:00.003-05:00

What a nice way to start a rainy day - someone baking my favorite pie. First, I have to back up a day.

Yesterday, I decided to go to the vegetable stand in town to get some sweet corn to go with our grilled steak for dinner. Patrick asked me to check out the peaches and if they looked good, get some and he would make a peach pie. Then, if I bought peaches, I would have to make a trip to the store to get some Crisco for the pie crust. I was in luck, they had peaches that looked good so off to the store for Crisco.

Anyone brave enough to make a pie crust gets a big star in my book. My one and only attempt at this many years ago was a disaster. The pie crust wrapped around the rolling pin so many times I had to peel it off. Then, I remembered someone saying to use more flour on the rolling surface so it wouldn't stick. I had so much flour in the crust, you could use it for wall filler. I was done. The pie crusts that you buy in the freezer department work just fine for me.

Here's the finished product. Looks good, doesn't it? So much for any dieting for a while.

I think there are enough peaches left for another pie too!