up north

Jessica and I went up to the north shore.We left sat.and came back Sunday.We drove the north shore drive and the gunflint trail.and shopped We bought fudge and smoked fish. it was fun but too much time in the car.next time we should spend 2 days at our destination when it is so far away. 

soap

I finally made some soap, and now I don’t know why I was so afraid of making soap.It was easy but time consuming.The emersion mixer made it much quicker.I made mint soap and soft spoken which is lemon and lavender. Now to wait 3 weeks of dying before I can use them. Aside benefit is it makes the house smell great now that the fragrance is a little diluted

today

today Andrew Jessica and I had lunch with Shelly at the Thai place. Lunch was great but I got a parking ticket for parking at a broken meter. Andrew Jessica and I went home and made Chock cherry jelly and labeled my wine and carried it down stairs I now have 232  bottles of wine[Andrew and I counted them] and no place to put my 15 gallons of wine to bottle in 6 months. I guess  I have a lot to drink!!!!!

weekend

this last week end was all about chock cherries,Shelly Jessica and I picked them then I needed to clean wine bottles so I could start some chock cherry wine I had to bottle the 2 kinds of wine so I could use the tubs to make new wine.I then processed the cherries and made juice I have over 100 bottles of wine in my kitchen waiting for labels and to go to the cooler downstairs.

wine

We heard a loud bang,Macgyver ran to see what it was, it sounded like a gun or something falling. OH NO MY just bottled wine decided it did not want to stay in the bottles. I bottled it 4 days ago .It was popping corks, 6 at first then a couple more. I decided to uncork all the wine when I did it was like small volcanoes erupting when I pulled the corks out .I then placed it all in a container and add more chemicals What a mess!!Now I am just watching it and hoping it doesn't pop any more corks.Is that how far in the cork was I keep asking myself or is it coming out?

cherries

This weekend was all about cherries. Dave and Tammy helped me pick them. I bottled my pinot noir wine after sweetening it, with help from Mark- tasting it. so I could start some cherry wine. I also made cherry jelly.I forget how much stirring and waiting it takes to make the juice for both wine and jelly.The jelly did work= no syrup this time.The chock cherries are almost ripe so I’ll be repeating the whole process in 2 weeks.I love the results so I guess the work is worth it.

Today I admitted that I have a new addiction playing solitaries on the computer all the different forms I tell myself I am keeping my brain young doing it.It does keep me from eating.. I had Morgan for the weekend Jerry went to Wisconsin dells riding his bike.She continues  to be afraid of the stairs and a very active dog but an ok visitor

day 9

today is my trip back to Minnesota, I left at 1100 and arrived home at 0032 a very tired person.My flight in Atlanta was delayed due to bad weather.  Dezzy yelled at me for a hour after I got home he lost his voice he yelled so long, the dogs were happy to see me.I am glad I had Tuesday off from work

day 8

today is Sunday we went on a ride to see the black forest. we also saw a monastery from 1200s with paint from 1400s.We had chips and water in the car

day 7

1. Today was the 4 oh July.We went to the flea market in Stuttgart  we  had lunch.in town. we saw the fruit and veggie mart and the flower mart and the rest of the flea market.no hugging people or hard wallet were found I did buy jelly. 

We went to see the fire works on base at 11pm we sat on a blanket with some of Nikki’s friends from work.It was a great show.

day 6

today we went shopping down town Stuttgart I bought candy .Nikki bought some ear rings. we went to the market and bought food and herb plants. we- Nikki Kaylee and me- went to see the tv tower. It started to rain after we got there so we were able to go to the top we then went down a floor and had desert and watched the lightning show.The view would have been better in clear weather but it was fun watching the storm.

DAY 5

TODAY WE WENT TO THE CASTLE. THE GROUNDS WERE BEAUTIFAUL AND THE CASTLE AMAZING,some of the castle had been destroyed. there was a party to be held there that night so there was a lot of activity. The castle was worth going to. we rode the train the hill was very steep. we drove to the castle town and had lunch in town.The castle ground were full of paths and flowers.

day 4

Today was a day to relax. we started a puzzle and went to the discount store shopping mACIE AND kAYLEE BOUGHT CLOTHS AND A PURSE

day3

day 3 We went to see the hunting palace. My first ride on a German train. the palace was amazing.All of our feet hurt when we returned home from all the walking. I had my first German food today. When the menu is all in German it is hard to order but with Nikki’s help we ate well.

day 2

day 2 today was a restful day Nikki worked till almost 8pm so i slept and became accustomed to the time change. Macie and Kaylee opened their b=day presents of jewelry and now have some spending money for Germany  

trip

HI I am in germany My trip was interesting. I spent 6 hours in the airport 4 of them playing solitaire on the computer. I tried to sleep on the way here but was kept awake by a bumpy ride and noisey yellow passengers. I made it up till 8 pm that makes being awake for 22 hours with only a couple hour nap. I then slept for 12 hours Nikki is at work today there is a change over of bosses so there have been loud gun solutes going off,Just what I needed a day of rest. more later

June’s day

today was mom’s funeral Uncle Phil had a story about one of the pictures  It seems that Grandpa Frank either knew he was going out to sea or grandma June was ill so he came home to see her and returned awol to be arrested. his captain had him released since his ship was leaving the next day ,He couldn’t stay away from as Phil says the dark eyed beauty.The funeral was ok Jessica did a great job with the pictures and Shelly and Jerry helped with the movie. tomorrow is the interment at fort snelling.

new computer

Hi Shelly and Mark helped me pick out a new computer a laptop.Shelly came over and helped me start out on it. We all so started a slide show for grandma June’s funeral and 2 collages of pictures for at the church. this computer is much different.

Justin's b-day

Today is Justin's b-day so I thought I would add some pictures of him to my site

EASTER

Easter brunch was fun. we had quiche Carmel pecan rolls and fruit and ham. we also had a egg hunt Jessica and Andrew helped me clean the house dye the Easter eggs and hide the chocolate Easter eggs. 166 hidden 150 found. 45 large eggs hidden all found. Here are some pictures of us .

amanda's visit

Amanda is in town for a family reunion and Easter at her sister's home. She spent wed. with me . We went to the Como conservatory and zoo and to see grandma June and out to eat we also stopped by a Shelly and mark's home so she could see them and the kids. She stayed overnight so we went to breakfast also and shopping before I brought her to town so her friend Jessica could pick her up It was Fun seeing her here It has been 5 years since she was at Shelly's home and 10 years sense she went to Como .Amanda's husband grows orchards so we took lots of pictures of the orchards at Como for him

pre easter

Jessica and I spent the day cleaning and preparing for Easter. Jessica painted on the wall in the wine bar 2 wine glasses and a bottle of wine and some grapes around the sign "life is too short to drink bad wine". Since the walls are wine colored she had a hard time getting the right color for the wine and the grapes. the grapes kind of blended into the wall too well. Jessica did a great job very artistic. here is also a picture of Desy helping us clean-- ha!

work

even this far away from Fargo north Dakota we at work got 12 pts from one of the hospitals there north memorial hospital got 80 regions hospital 75 the flood is affecting lots of people.I don't know how many the rest of health east got it will be interesting to see how long the pts stay with us.we still need pts census is still low.

bday party

we-Shelly Mark Jessica and I went to the Hampton inn for a night of swimming hot tubing saunaing playing cards-King in the corner- and general fun!!!! we had green mill pizza and beer/ wine coolers and pop and coffee and hot chocolate and shrimp and chips Mark and I decided we like papa john's pizza better. here are some pictures of us playing

pre St Patrick day

Today was a very successful day.I got my driver's license renewed and passed the eye test not wearing my glasses. I made reservations at the Hampton Inn for my birthday party sat. I made a Irish diner, corn beef and cabbage and carrots and potatoes we had milk chocolate brownies for desert. Mark and I had bock beer and Shelly had a pina colata wine cooler. Mark and Shelly helped me make labels for my latest wine a white zinfandel and make shrink tops for the bottles we also started a new batch of wine liebfraumilch. I also cleaned the house and aired it out it was 65 out I have a good case of spring fever now!!

spring break

Jessica Andrew and I went to the Hampton Inn for a night of swimming and hot tubing. the pool was cold but the hot tub was great. We swam for about 3 hours in total. we even got the sauna to work . We had Green mile pizza ,and chips and dip, and pretzels, and shrimp and cocktail sauce and soda. The weather was suppose to be blizzard like but it missed us we did see some snow blowing out the pool windows. From our window we saw 4 deer in the morning, we all had fun. we did hear a frog in our room at night and never figures out what the sound was.The kids loved the coffee bar and making coffee with differnt creamers I liked the tea and hot chocolate.

pictures

Friday night Shelly and I went out to the barn , so I could take pictures of Shelly and Conny. It has been 4 years since I last saw them ride. Taking pictures of moving subjects with out flash in a building turned out harder then I thought. the movies turned out great but next time I will either talk less or talk more in riding terms on what is happening. I took 20 movies most only a few seconds long a couple a few minutes long. the picture were either too dark or fuzzy kind of sci fi like. It was fun. I then got to try out my car's directions to get home. it worked OK but my hands free phone is having trouble understanding me so it can be frustrating. I did make it home. Saturday I went to Shelly's so she could down load my pictures to her computer we then went for a car ride so Jessica could practice driving. Jessica is learning that car driving takes a lot of concentration and remembering rules and observation of things around you. I think she drove OK but just needs more practice. We then went to the parade of homes tour. we saw 2 houses one for $200.00and the second for $1,900.00 both houses were great had large closets and bathrooms the first was smaller then either of our houses at 1500 sq ft the second was 5000 sq ft the second was a party house with a walk in wine cellar and a kitchen with bar in the basement and a full kitchen up stairs. we liked the second layout better .It is fun looking and getting ideas for my basement bathroom.

friday

Today was a typical work day, I wanted to go on a transport so I could go home early but some one else wanted to go so she could go to a funeral so I let her go. the morning went very slow but speed up after lunch and I got out on time. we are having pizza tonight at Shelly's home Mark and I like everything pizza and the rest like cheese Then Shelly and I are going to the barn so I can take some pictures of her and Connie The last pictures of them I have are 5 years old.It is 47 degrees out so hopefully all is not muddy.I have the weekend off great!!!

A cricket is a scrap booking cutting machine, not a insect. It has all kinds of patterns and letters and pictures to scrap with. It will arrive at about my birthday.A Present to my self.It is like a little scrap booking computer. I can't wait to get it.

Shelly and Nikki in my colorful chair.

christmas cheer

a holiday toast

First day

To day is the first entry in blogging. I only worked half a day so I went to lunch with Shelly and then had desert with Grandma June-- ice cream of course. I then came home and bought a cricket and then started my blog. Hope I have an interesting one!!!