August News

Hello all,

Yesterday was Ashley's 33rd birthday. That makes me feel old! We had Darin, Kyla and Ashley over for dinner on Friday for the birthday as yesterday was the 1st home Jaguar game. We left here at 5 p.m., went to the tailgate where it rained and rained and lightning and thunder. They delayed the game, but it continued to rain, so at 9 p.m. we left. The game started at 9:30 and didn't get over until I don't know when. We lost by 1 point.

Our trip to Michigan was okay. The wedding was hot as was the reception, inside, no AC. Sunday was a nicer day, weather wise. We saw our Bay City friends. Came home Monday.

We are staying home next weekend and then up to Dover Bluff for Labor Day weekend.

I took Kyla to meet her teacher Friday. She will be in 2nd grade and has an older teacher, 18 in the class. School starts Monday. Darin will take her Monday and I will take her Tuesday as the before-school day care doesn't deliver until Wednesday.

The retirement party looks like you had a great day and everyone was enjoying themselves, including Quincy.

Betsy, tell Bob that the people up the road fixed their post lantern last week. Everytime I pass it I think of Bob because he wanted to know why it was still laying on its side.

Looks like Betsy and Bob had a nice time sailing. It's a cool house from the other side too.

Looking forward to cooler weather. love, Marilynn

A Day at Sea

Here is Marie, our captain. Bob and i took sailing lessons in the ANTS program (Adults and the Sea) about a year ago. We became friendly. She just turned 70 and gave herself one ear piercing and a small diamond for her birthday. We went to her birthday party at her beautiful home here on East End. She sailed down here by herself about 15 years ago. She captians this boat for the owner and takes people on short cruises. She had to get the boat moving, so invited us to go to Flanigan and go snorkeling with our neighbor who is renting the house just below us. Got to see our house from Flanigan instead of always looking at Flanigan from our house. It's been many beautiful days together. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Storm's a comin!! will wait another 24 hours and see what develops.

Hope all is well with you guys. Enjoyed the video, Herb and Kathy, of Quincy and the retirement party.

luv,

b

Retirement Party

We had a good time with about 25-30 people at the party.

It rained early on, (real hard) but it stopped after about an hour. We cooked brats and dogs and then did SMORES out at the bonfire later after dinner.


That's Chuck, our next door neighbor with a 43" White Amir that washed up on shore yesterday. He put this fish in the pond back in 1966. It's a algae eater.

We had fun with Quincy today taking him for a "run" by driving the golf cart and holding his leash. He did "super"

Quincey Runs Off Leash!!

Check out this link for the YouTube video of Quincey's first time "off-leash". Immediately after running home to the door, (but before we got there to let him in), his nose got the better of him and he took off running into the woods.

I had to leave for a meeting at church and it took Kathy about an hour to find him (remember he can't hear)

Quincey Goes For A Walk

Here's a video of Quincey going for a walk with Kathy.

Getting Ready For The Party

We're getting ready for a party this weekend, invited about 30 folks to come on out for a BBQ. Pix shows just burning some brush after tidying up around the property.

Also took Quincey for a ride on the golf cart. He got right up there and is very comfortable, must be used to riding in a car.

Trip to Michigan

Here's a link to the Taq Falls State Park site where we went when we were in Michigan. The video I made is too large to upload to this blog.

Here's a pix of "Quincey" our new dog that we saved from the pound. He's deaf and blind in one eye and now the pound had him neutered! He's 10-12 years old and he's real sweet.

When we bought the house we knew it needed chimney work and the guy finally came and started this past week. Here's a pix. He took it down to the roof and is rebuilding it back up with all new flashing. This pix shows it not done. At this point he's taken down the outside brick and much of the inside brick and will start to lay all new.

Great Trip To Michigan

Kathy and I returned from our trip to Michigan this afternoon. We were gone from last Wed to today (Tuesday). We spent Wed nite in Westland with Kathy's sister and Mike. Then Thursday morning we headed up to St. Helen (Roscommon County) near Houghton Lake and spent the rest of the time with Pam and Mike at their old mobile home in the woods. Each day we took small "day trips" and cooked at home and went out to eat only once. I shot a short video of our day trip to the Upper Peninsula where we drove all the way up to Paradise and the Whitefish Point Bay lighthouse. We stopped at Taquaniman Falls on the way back and had a great day.

Before we left for up north we went to the dog shelter and made the committment to adopt a dog. He's (Quincy) is 10-12 years old and deaf and blind in one eye. He's a coon hound. I'll try to get a decent pix of him and upload it. Right now he's out on the screened porch because we just brought him home from the vet where he was neutered and he's a little nervous so we thought he should be left to rest out there. We've had to put an "E" collar on him so he won't lick the incision and dissolve the stiches.

Well, I guess the video was probably too long and didn't load up, I'll post some still shots later. Bye for now

Cinderella

I took Ashley and Kyla to the dinner theatre on Saturday to see Cinderella. Lots of pretty princesses. Kyla got her face painted and during the play the King's men walked through the audience to try on the glass slipper and they stopped at Kyla. That was a big thrill, of course, it didn't fit. During intermission the children were invited to get up on the stage and get their picture taken.

The red shouldered hawk was in our backyard while I was getting ready on Saturday morning. He was picking up and dropping that stuffed duck of Baxter's. Finally, he took off with it, flew about 50 feet and dropped it. I did the retrieving. I told Baxter the day before to bring his duck inside that it would get all wet if it rained, but he doesn't listen any better than the rest of my children. Rick and I have finally finished the whole right hand side of our backyard fence. It was 24/8' sections. New posts, stringers and 5/8" slats. That fence should last another 20 years or more. We'll do the other side and the back when it cools down a bit.

I'm going to lunch with Ruth Ann Jackson, she used to live across the street from us on Watson. Her husband passed away a couple of months ago and we went to the funeral. We hadn't seen her or Andy in sometime, but she's excited to catch up.

Take care, love, Marilynn

summer family news 2010

Where to start. It's blowing and raining again like crazy. You know those waves you have during labor, well that's about how these squalls come. This is now the second day we have not been able to be outside. We were so lucky weather wise for Nathan and Laura's visit.

Nathan and Bob and the realtor have decided that the best course of action for Nathan is short sale. Priscilla, (realtor) put the house on the market on Friday and he had a showing today. Once the dust settles, he will move to an apartment and has made application to a dive school in FL to be certified to weld underwater on a rig. He'll have to borrow money - approved for $7200 from Feds, the rest I think he will apply to Sallie Mae - Smart Option Student Loan. Know anything about that, Herb? Course is 20 weeks and he is guaranteed a job right after, but will do no diving for 36 more weeks of training on the job. He's so excited, he can't stand it.

Evan is still working at the Farmington downtown theater. The "manager" was dismissed as the new city manager came in to check things out. Evan had been telling us what was going on. He didn't have enough proof to go to the city, so glad they came in. After that, he called the city manager and got an appointment to tell him how Evan thought they could save money and work more efficiently. The city mgr. asked what he knew about what was going on at the theater and Evan told him. Looks like he may get a promotion to asst. mgr. It's a job he can do, without much stress and no heat, so his arms should remain healthy. Bob says it's the first time he's really seen Evan "take it by the balls".

Bob got a job doing a pool deck in STT last week. He has to do samples and should start in a week or so. He's doing a micro topping, not polishing. As I write this, the wind and rain have begun again and the rain is coming at the house completely perpendicular!!

As for me, I'm going to learn to make yogurt from scratch. The yard is looking quite good with all the rain we have had - 10" more that YTD last year and the vegetable garden is fallow and rejuvinating until planting season again.

That's all for now. dinner preparation calls.

luv to you all.

B & B