14 August 2011 - Jessica's Birthday

This week Grandma Fails was in town.  The girls had a grand time with her.  At some point, they acquired new stuffed animals.  These are from Angry Birds.

While I was away on my research trip, Joanne did some minor remodeling to the master bedroom.  On the ledge beneath the vault in the ceiling, she did some beadboard panels and trim and added the mirror and iron sculpture.  It looks nice.

When I came home from church last Sunday, the girls (and Grandma) were anxiously engaged in manicures.

The girls even got to go to the outlets and do some late summer shopping.

Jessica turned twelve (not 16) this week.  This was taken on the morning of her birthday.  She was in the driver's seat because something went wrong with the starter on my truck and she was helping me diagnose it.  It turned out to just be a stripped bolt, but that didn't stop it from keeping the truck from starting and from taking several hours to fix.

What fun on a girl's birthday -- we went out and worked on the farm for a couple of hours.  Grandma came with us and helped pick peppers and tomatoes.  The weather cooperated and it was nice to be outside.

Farmer Dave's kids were there this week, and all the kids had a blast playing on the "haystack", which was essentially three bales of straw.  From left to right are Jessica, Emily, Mae, Madeline and Lalo.

After the farm work, Jessica got to participate in her first Young Women's activity.  Since most of the young women were out of town, it was just Jessica, the YW president, and her daughter who is just two months older than Jessica.  They went to a pottery shop and got to make their own pieces.  Here is Jessica's.

That night we had a family birthday party.  She had lots of presents and cards, which as always were very much appreciated.

Oh great...more stuffed animals.  Sigh.

She had a pineapple-shaped coconut birthday cake, which was very yummy but did nothing (good) for my diet.

7 August 2011 - Great Lakes Trip

This week I went on a research trip to the Great Lakes region.  I was collecting some GPS survey day.  If you want to see how far north I drove on this trip, find the town of L'Anse, Michigan on a map some time.

Here is my little Honda (college car) and my field research "lodging".  The areas I was in were very remote.  I put 2,500 miles on the car in just five days.

This is my field research gear.  The tall pole is an antenna for a high sensitivity GPS unit (the little yellow thing) that reads location with extremely high precision.  I carried this through the Ottawa and Superior National Forests capturing data in 120 different locations.

While I was off cruising the country side, Aunt Kathy came to visit and to go to Kirtland, OH.  I was sorry to miss her visit, but the girls were glad to have her here for a day.

The water in the Great Lakes region was beautiful every time I found some, which was often.  Minnesota isn't called The Land of 10,000 lakes for nothing.  This picture was taken as the sun was rising, just after 6:30 AM one morning.  I had camped at the edge of the lake the night before, and when I woke up, the water was so still and everything was so beautiful, I had to take a picture.  Actually, I took over 100, but I won't post them all here.  The only sounds were of nature, and it was early enough that there weren't many of those.  There really are no words to describe it, and the picture doesn't really do it justice.  The mosquitoes weren't even too bad this morning.

Here is another view.  I really liked this picture because of the way the glassy water reflected the thin clouds.

While I was tromping through the Ottawa National Forest, I came upon this little graveyard.  Evidently, around the turn of the century there had been a small settlement in this area of the forest, and a church in a town several miles away has taken it upon themselves to maintain this cemetery.  I will admit it was a little creepy, but kind of cool too.

I'm so glad I didn't grow up and go to this school in northern Michigan. (Don't forget you can click on the pic to make it big enough to read the sign if you need to.)

I was pleased on the drive up to find myself in Milwaukee when the Brewers were in town and when I had time to catch a game.  I'd never been to Miller Park before (this was my 18th Major League ballpark), so it was fun to catch a game, even if I was alone.  It's never as fun to go to a ballgame without friends, but I just made friends with the folks sitting around me.  To make my maiden voyage to see the Brewers just a little better, it didn't hurt that my ticket to the game only cost $8.00.

I returned home late Saturday night, tired but satisfied with an excellent research trip.  Now to collate my data, write up my findings, and get them published.

31 July 2011 - Patio's Done!

We went to the farm again this week and helped pick 200 more ears of corn.  Mercifully the heat index was down so it was a much more comfortable job than last week.  We also picked peppers, beans and dug potatoes which the girls went nuts for -- it was like a treasure hunt in the dirt.

Here are the girls with part of Wednesday's harvest.

It's been a long summer of work on the patio, but it's finally done.  I'm very pleased with the outcome.  The area underneath the deck used to just be weeds and dirt, and now it's a shady and pleasant place to enjoy an afternoon.  To finish, I sprayed the concrete with a silver gray epoxy sealant that should keep it looking nice for years and protect it from the winter weather.

The final touch was to add some soil around the edges where the forms for the concrete had been.  I planted grass seed too, so now we have to wait for the grass to grow in for the patio to look complete.

In our ward we have a kind and grandfatherly convert who sadly has no grand kids to dote on, so he dotes on our kids.  He recently took a bus tour of the lighthouses of the Great Lakes and while traveling, found these 3-D puzzles he thought the girls would enjoy.  One is a castle and the other is a horse and carriage, so they've been a big hit with the princesses.  When you finish putting them together, you get to decorate them yourself.