Old format

Here's the link you want to use for the old format.

http://www.blogger.com/home

Back to the old way

I switched back to the old way so we can see how to write posts easily.
If I find a better way, I may switch to something else, just for the fun of it.

How do I write a new post?

This is strange, I kind of like the new layout, but I can't figure out how to write a new post except to click on "Blogger" and then it takes you to a page where you can select "New Post"  Seems kind of cumbersome,

Late September

OK, here it is late September and Kathy and I have been continuing work around the "lodge". We took off all the screens Saturday and installed the storm windows after washing them first. I am continuing to cut and split firewood feeling like a squirrel putting away nuts for the winter.

 The latest project is to start the finishing of the 2nd floor of the garage, making it into a 2 bedroom apartment. I hope to have this all done by spring of 2012. Just starting to do the electrical wiring in the walls and will next be installing insulation in the exterior walls before I put up drywall or plywood for the wall coverings. Have to install baseboard electric heat, a kitchen and a bathroom. Nothing fancy, but functional and eventually income producing.

This weekend we're going to a Wooster College football game, a young man from our church is on the team there and a bunch of us are taking a road trip (about an hour and a half) and going to their Homecoming game.

Guess that's it for now.  Catch you all later,

I changed the layout a little

Don't let the new layout fool you, you can still post just like before, things just look a little different and you can click the buttons on top (classic, slideshow, magazine, sidebar, etc.) to get even a different view.

I think it's cool!

Fall at our house

From Instant Upload

Here's a short video of Sunday morning at our place. Beautiful fall morning. I'm at work now, Monday morning, not making much progress.

We think Quincy may have had a stroke yesterday late afternoon. He woke up and can barely walk, like he's drunk -- keeps falling down .. sad. We'll talk with the vet tomorrow, his office is closed today.

Trip to South Dakota looks awesome, beautiful scenery. Hope all is well in St. John too.
Back to work, later

Trip to South Dakota

This is where my curser ends up, so I guess I start typing from here. We had a great trip. It looks like it was cold, but it actually was only cold in the mornings and one day when it rained and was windy. That's the day we went to the Badlands. We saw Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, The Devils Point, and the Badlands and took a two hour ride on this steam train through some real pretty country. There were about 20 of us, 8 stayed at a Bed and Breakfast about 12 miles out of Rapid City. The rest were at the Alex Johnson in town. Coming home to 80 degree weather is not too bad as it was much hotter when we left. This morning it was actually quite nice with no humidity. Rick has gone shrimping again and I am doing the laundry. Baxter stayed with Ryan and Tracy, but we went to Brunswick to pick him up on the the way home Friday night. love, Marilynn

TS/Hurricane Irene

Hey Guys, Just to let you know, we made it through the storm. Quite a bit of water on the floor because we didn't have enough warning time to put up shutters and the rain came fast and furiously directly at the windows from 1 p.m. yesterday and on thru today. It is, however, SLOWLY moving toward the west, but the wind is still quite high up here on the hill. It's not so windy in town. the electricty went about 3 a.m., but came back on today at 1 p.m. Boy, were we surprised!! Last year with Otto, we were out for 4 days.

There were 4 boats up on the rocks near Island Blues in Coral Bay. They said on the radio this morning that the winds were between 75 and 85 mph. Whew! some wind!!

Sending some pics

July News

Hi, we are home from our cruise and have finally caught up on our sleep. That 10 hour flight home and being up for 22 hours was a killer. We had a great time, spent 3 days in Rome, then onto Sicily. We really liked Sicily. It was not crowded and much less tourist orientated. It was beautiful and we spent time in a small city up in the mountains. The next day we were at sea, then onto Athens. We thought at one point that we would be going to Malta instead because of the rioting in Athens. But that settled down. The taxis were on strike the day we were there but we had hired a van for the 8 of us and he picked up right up at the port and took us everywhere in Athens. We were with him for 9 hours! Ephesus in Turkey was another favorite place. It is the cradle of civilization and the ruins were unbelieveable. We went to a place where they sold Turkish rugs and saw how they are made from the silk worm to completion. Most in our group of 8 bought a rug, but not us. They were still high and I didn't see one I couldn't live without. Crete was our next spot, very nice, olive trees everywhere. We went to an olive oil factory and toured the country side. Overall, a real nice trip, but glad to be home.

Kyla is enjoying summer camp. Ashley and Darin are fine. We found a nice leather sofa yesterday at an estate sale off Mandarin Rd yesterday for only $90 so we bought it and will try to deliver it up to their 3rd floor apt. tonight. Ryan and Tracy are coming down because she has a 4 p.m. cleaning appointment so Ryan can help move the sofa too. Yesterday it was raining and we really couldn't take it. Tracy just got a new job at the hospital. I don't know the details yet, but it is full-time with benefits. She was working 20 hours a week there and picking up hours at Outback on Friday and Saturday night. I'll hear more about it tonight when we see them. She gets to wear scrubs for this new job too which will help on the clothing side of things. Okay, now I'll try to load up a few pictures.

Graduation and MI visit 2011

Hi All,We arrived back in St. John safely and happy to be back. However, the weather in MI could not have been more beautiful. Evan and Bob even got in a round of golf. They had a great time together and I was happy to let that happen without being a part of that. Bob pulled up most of the carpeting in the condo and we are looking at putting down some cheap fake wood flooring when we go back, whenever that will be.

Drove to Bowling Green, OH where we met Herb and Kathy. Kathy was just behind us coming from MI and her "girls' getaway" weekend. We had a nice visit over lunch. It was too short. I love going to their place and seeing everyone there. Hopefully, next visit.

Graduation for Nathan was great. They graduated 10 of 25 students. We were totally overdressed for the occasion, but we can't help how we were brought up, now can we. We went to Amelia Island for lunch and a nice drive back in the rain. Nathan was so happy, as he told Laura, his girlfriend, that his family was there to share it. This is a rough crowd, the guys who work in this business. Marilynn and Rick had all the family over for a "low country boil" on Saturday and Marilynn told Nathan he could invite a couple of his dive buddies from school. We were 16 altogether. It was great!! Laura stayed until July 4 at Marilynn and Rick's and Nathan drove to LA for interviews a few days later. He is still waiting to hear as to employment. Should know something tomorrow.

Evan continues to thrive in his new job. He really likes having some money and loves working with the autistic adults. We are ecstatic as to his turnaround and especially the fact that he seems to be moving further and further away from the depression. Doesn't he look better???

Well, that's all the news for now. Have to go to work.

Let's get "bloggin' "

Love to all,

Betsy