And more projects......

The boat gets a layer of shark skin to protect it. The boys were so thrilled to help with this project.

The Bug - will she ever run? Well she runs but not off of the property. This would be really neat fixed up if we ever find the time.
The mustang still needs body work and a paint job -- hopefully this spring if we can all agree on a color - even though it is my car and I know what color I would want it to be.
And of course there is always firewood. We had our firewood in over Spring Break - thanks to the boys - then they got the Castle grandparents wood in. Here we are working on the Smiley grandparents wood, we still need to get over to Uncle Dave's and split and stack wood for him and check on Grandma Cabe's wood situation - Good thing we had ours done early. This is a picture of Matt chainsawing and Aaron splitting, well trying to split - we decided to haul them like that and split them on my dad's log splitter - much easier.

The Trailer gets a make-over

Matt built this trailer last summer to haul our 4 snowmobiles in. This fall he is painting it to match the truck and finishing the inside, he also uses this to hunt with as he can haul the jeep in it and the boys can use it to sleep in at Elk camp, much warmer and comfier then a tent and they have always been to big to sleep in the camper.

The Jeep gets a make-over

Matt with one of his many fall projects




All we need now is the roof rack back one, which will be a while as it needs to be shortened so it fits into the trailer (Projects 2 & 3).

Dog News

This was Jasper when we first got him back in February this year, I can't believe how little he was, I bought this bed for him thinking it would last, I did not realize he would grow bigger then Sparky, Sparky is unusually large for a Jack Russell, so I was certain Jasper would be "normal" size or smaller.......only he's not, he won't be a year until November 30th, I am really hoping he is done growing as he is rather large, much larger then I wanted and he insists that he is a lap dog.
This is Jasper now in that same bed, I decided it was time to get him a new bed only I could not do it without getting Sparky a new bed too so I had to by two of them. You think he out grew the bed???
Ahhhhh new beds, much more comfortable. One for Jasper, one for Sparky (Sparky was too busy outside keeping track of the squirrels).
Sparky and Jasper in their usual routine in the morning of staring out the window until they see a squirrel; then they both run like mad out the dog door and there they sit all day.

Fall is here, School has started

This is the first day of school for the boys, Aaron a freshman and Logan a senior. This was the only descent picture of the boys I could get all morning as they are in that anti-picture taking phase, as you can tell Aaron has outgrown his big brother.
Fall is here so we have been busy harvesting and canning, I have always had blueberry bushes but have never gotten as many blueberries as I have this year or as big as ones; then I realized why; we no longer have Bo and Whoopi our labradors we had to put down last year. Our yellow Lab Bo in March at the age of 14 due to a tumor that ruptured in his mouth, and then our black lab Whoopi age 13 in November due to tumors in her lungs. I knew they like to snack in the garden but did not realize how much of the blueberries they had been eating, I was thrilled to get a lot of blueberries this year, I even had to freeze some after making muffins, bread and pancakes with the fresh ones. Bo and Whoop also loved to munch on the peas and beans in the garden. How crazy is that?

Today is our 20th Anniversary.....

I can't believe it has already been 20 years, Matt and I were high school sweethearts we started dating before our senior year although we knew each other since we were freshman. He proposed to me after graduating from high school so we set the date a year from then, 1988. If I would have thought about it we never would have married in the summer as Matt is a wild land fire fighter and is often not home in August (and sometimes July and sometimes September too) but he does love his job so I can't complain much about that. He has missed many of our anniversaries and my birthday too -- but....I think I am use to that by now. He is gone today in Oregon fighting fire. I did receive a lovely bouquet of flowers at work today and we will go out to dinner sometime when he is back home (November???) Matt's parents were oh so kind to invite me and the boys over for dinner tonight so I did not have to cook, that was cool. Here's to 20 years of happiness and many many more.

Oh, the toads

Toading has always been a popular sport with the boys, from the first time we camped there. When it gets dark the toads like to head towards the water. The boys like to see how many they can catch then they let them go.