Thanksgiving Day

During Thanksgiving Day, out behind the garage, E was practicing with his bow as the turkey was being deep fried.
As you can see, he was very successful in hitting the target - a bulls eye.



While E was practicing with his bow, the rest of us had a Leinie in our hand while keeping an eye on the Turkey.
After the turkey was done we deep fried some venison. I had never tried it before and as it turned out, the boys were asking for more after the first batch was done.

New Face in Jonesie's Digs

There is a new face in Jonesie's chair. She took over the garage real quick as you can see.












Mr. H did not last long in The Chair when Missy was around.

The Digs were a popular place during Thanksgiving week.

Hard Water Fishing Season

The hard water fishing opened up for Jonesie yesterday and as you can see it was quite a good day.
I started out on a lake that had a variety of fish in it and I caught one of each except the walleye.

I then moved to a river and caught 3 northern pike. This one is 29 inches long and the 2 that I threw back were over 30 inches. I had 4 flags and caught 3 fish in less than 2 hour's.




The other fish in the pictures are perch. The largest was 12" and the other 2 were 11".

It was cold out, about 7 when I started and only got to 18 degrees in the afternoon.

Thanksgiving Week

The guest of honor decided to return again this year to claim his place. And as you can see the kids enjoyed him as much as the rest of us. We were glad hat you resumed your spot at the Thanksgiving table.









Nana enjoyed the company of Miss Em and Miss Em would run to Nana every morning to get her hugs and kisses.



















The house was filled with 11 people this year and was so much fun with all of the sounds of many different conversations going on at the same time.














The Thanksgiving Menu was as follows:
Deep Fried Turkey
Mashed Potatoes w/ Gravy
Stuffing
Pretzel Salad
Baked Corn
Cranberries
Wild Rice Salad

For Desert it was Pumpkin Bread Pudding, Strawberry/Rhubarb Crisp with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Coffee.

Thanksgiving Week

It started out with the grand kids checking out the 4 wheeler. Emme seemed right at home sitting on it with her brother.
Evan had made big plans for rides on the 4 wheeler a long time ago. He already has his hunter orange on for safety.







Evan and I tried our hand at ice fishing on Pond X. Fishing was slow as Evan was hoping to catch a turtle or some frogs. All we got were some aquatic insects.














Miss Em had to check out the xmas tree that we put out in the woods. I think it met with her approval as she wanted to return to the tree many times.

Happy Veterans Day

This is a picture of Wisconsin a few days ago but it reminds me of the stories that were told about the now famous Armistice day storm, 11-11-1940.

My Dad told me that he was out picking corn that day. It started out to be in the 60's and it was time to finish with getting the crops in. He said that when it hit, it hit so fast and hard that he had a hard time getting back to the house. He told us that the temperature dropped so fast and the wind started with the heavy snow that he was a bit worried about getting home as he could not see even the direction he was going.

Beyond that, I salute the veterans who have served this country. I think more needs to be done for the people who serve in the military besides a day on the calendar.

Fall Work Winding Down

The last work in the fall is coming to an end. Jonesie finally finished the raised bed that will be for the squash and other assorted goodies next year.
The challenge was the steepness of the yard where we wanted to put the bed. On one end the difference from front to back is about 10 -12 inches. But as you can see on this end it is about 20 - 24 inches. That meant that I had to haul in 5 loads of fill before I even started to put in the top soil.
Now it needs some manure and peat moss then covered with about another 6 inches of top soil and it should be ready for planting next spring.

The Last Hurrah

The last rose of the year. I was so surprised that this one blossomed after the cold weather that came thru here last weekend. Now today it was 74 degrees outside and not a cloud in the sky. They say we will be back to normal, mid 40's, by the end of the week.

News from the Farm

Not much news as Nana and Jonesie haven't been in Spring Valley. Jonesie has just finished up a job in California and is heading to the farm. Nana is out in Portland with the gran kids. I talked to Nana last night and she had had Emme all day and was completely worn out by 7 last night.

I am hoping to be in my tree stand deer hunting in the upcoming days. Hunting for me consists of a couple of hours in the morning and in the evening. As usual, I am waiting for the thridy pointer to come walking by the tree.

Must go get on another plane and head back to WI.

Fall Photos

It was 28 degrees this morning and I just had to take some pictures from around the yard.

Fall

Not enough to do on the farm

Nana and I were thinking that as we get older, maybe we need some more work to do. Geez, I don't know where these hair brain schemes come from.
Well this is a new raised bed garden that we started putting in on Sat. am. It is 4 feet by 24 feet and will, hopefully, house squash and tomatoes next summer. Nana has big plans for lining the front with flowers. My plan was to raise dahlias in this new bed. She dsen't believe that I can do it. Keep checking the blog next summer for updates.

Time to Put the Gardens to Bed

This weekend was a busy one for Nana and Jonesie trying to beat Jack Frost and winter.

We gathered up the leaves, put them in a big pile behind the garage and went over and over them with a lawn mower until they were close to powder.
We then spread a nice blanket of them on each of the garden beds.

Harvest Time

This is probably the last thing we will harvest this year. t was the first year that we tried squash. These are the Buttercup variety.

We started out with 6 seedlings from a nursery and had invested a total of $3.00. We ended up with a total of 10 squash for the summer.

The last time I was home(for about 18 hours) Nana had baked some of the squash and it was wonderful.

Winter is Here

The weather has changed up here in just the short period of time that I have been here.
Yesterday it was snowing and blowing all day long and in the evening a travel warning came out that told everyone that no travel is allowed until further notice.








These are just a couple of pictures outside the camp.

UPDATE

I forgot that yesterday, 10-2, was 9 month's since I have smoked. So that is 3/4 of the year.

Never in my wildest dreams, when I was smoking, did I ever envision that I would or could write the above statements. But it sure feels good to write it down now.

North to Alaska

Received a call on Tuesday from BP on The North Slope of Alaska asking if I could come up to help start a motor. No problem!!

Cool here in Anchorage right now - about 50 during the day and freezing at night. On The Slope it is in the 20's now , so it is cooling off up there.

Don't know how long I will be there but it is always a pleasure to visit The North Slope.

It's A Rainy Day In Tampico

As you can see, Tampico has a hard time dealing with the rain. It was an all day rain but still all of the streets looked like this one. The guys told me that it is because the runoff water pipes are from 70 years ago.
This shows the water over the curb and filling up the medium.

When we finally went home that night, we found the water lapping at the emergency doors at the hospital.

Tampico

Well, here I am in Tampico, Mexico for a few days.

I didn't know what to expect from the city an was pleasantly surprised by how clean it is here. No plastic bags floating around. There are three parts of this city, the poor city, the medium city and the well off city. No matter where you live here, all parts of the city were tidy.

The weather is something else as it is apparently the rainy season. The temperature and the humidity are very much the same as Houston - hot and humid, and not for me.

The food has been very good and the cost is quite reasonable for what you get.

After having said all of that, the job is going well and I don't expect to be here more than a few
days.

I did find a sign that I am going to try and take a photo of - it is called Wisconsin Av.

Southern California

First let me tell you that Southern California is not all it is sun about. My eyes haven't stopped burning since my arrival yesterday.

Wouldn't You Trust This Man In An Oil Refinery?



So here is the story leading up to the "drug test" story.

Last week Nana noticed that Social Security had my birthday wrong on my retirement statement and so we called the SS hot line. I was told that this form had to be filled out, taken to a SS Office along with your birth certificate and everything else pertinent to proving that I was who I say I am and prove that I actually was born on such and such a date. After listening to babble on for a while I finally asked what would happen if I didn't change the birth date. Well this person was long winded and she commenced to lecturing me about how the government has been cracking own on degenerates like me since 9-11. I wouldn't get social security, I wouldn't be allowed on a plane etc.
I, like a fool told her that I get on a plane every week. After 45 minutes we finally departed ways. I id fill out the forms and all but did not make it to the SS Office yet.

Now fast foreword to this morning. I went back to the office that I report to for this job to drop off the drug test form. I was informed that there was a problem with my Social Security Number. I then had to go to the SS Office in Torrance, CA to get a certified letter stating that I was who I say I am and that I am the owner of my SSN that I have carried since my sophomore year in high school.
I got to the SS Office, took a number and waited for one and a half hours before I could go state my case. I told the lady what was going on and she asked me some questions tat only I would know. Satisfied, she stamps a form that says I am who I am.

So, the lady on the phone from the SS Office made sure that I would have trouble using my SSN from now on until I get the birth date changed.

I would love to tell my office that I cannot fly anywhere because the Social Security Office won't let me get on a plane. Fat chance that will happen.

Garden Booty

This some of the loot we picked from the garden this morning.
It is to bad that everything seems to come in at once and we have to eat so many things at once.
We are already planning next years garden and where we are going to move the rhubarb bed.

Season's Change

Nana's flowers never looked better than at the end of summer.

















We are ow in the season change, it was 51 degrees this morning and tomorrow it is suppose to be 48.
We have a new crop of mushrooms right now. It looks like we have maybe 2 pounds of them on the logs.

The blueberries are all but done and this year we had 6 bushes and got 30 cups, a bumper crop for us.

The trip within a trip

The trip was to Mount Hood and Timberline Lodge. We got a glimpse of the mountain early in the morning just before we left. (most of the time we were in the clouds)





The lunch and breakfast were enjoyed by everyone. After eating we just kind of hung out around the fireplace and played with the kids.

A Busy Week

Jonesie got to be the driver this trip, driving MS. Katie and Miss Em. to work and school each day.
Miss Em was always ready to go on to a new adventure at school each day.





Of course one of the highlights was to take the training wheels off Evan's bike. He was a little surprised at how easy it was to ride without the training wheels.






Emme ready for the ride to school.

Summer Vacation

The week started out with Jonesie and Evan going to Oaks Park for some morning rides. We did the big slide, the gun boats, Lewis and Clark expedition and the rocking boat. Of course we had to end it with a snow cone.














Little Miss kept Nana and Jonesie busy for most of the week. She was a great help getting the mail and feeding the cat.

I'M OUT

I did manage to escape the island unscathed, but not without some excitement. We boarded the plane and 15 minutes later were told that the american airline flight, that had just left, had blown some tires on takeoff and had returned to the airport. I looked out my window and sure enough there was the plane sitting there with smoke coming out of it.

We were later told that the brakes had welded to the wheels so it was impossible to tow off the runway.

Three hours later we left, missed my connection flight in Newark, and my first class seat, and am now sitting in the worlds club waiting out a thunderstorm that has delayed the NWA flight from landing.

When will it ever improve.

It is getting closer

Since the last blog, Laura from the "travel people" has found a flight for me on Fri. morning. There still may be hope that I can get out of here.

It's Not Over Yet

After the last blog this morning, I learned that I DID NOT have a flight on Monday. Seems after the reservation was made, american airlines pulled the reservation.

Now I am in a panic. I called the "travel people" and informed them but they were already working on getting me a flight out of here. I as informed there was a flight that would take me to Panama then to JFK and finally to Minneapolis. Not the preferred way to go but better than the alternative of staying here. That flight left at 5 in the afternoon and arrived in Minneapolis at 11 the next morning.

A few minutes later Laura from the "travel people" called and she did get me on a flight Friday morning thru Newark.

I have been checking this reservation once an hour to make sure it is still there and it is confirmed.

Here We Go Again

1. 
   

I was told by the plant manager to make a flight and go home. Great news I will be home for the weekend.
Not so fast kemosabi. I called the "travel people" and found out that there are no seats on any plane out of this country until Monday. And on Monday there is just 1 seat left. I was so frustrated that I hung up on them before I said something I shouldn't say. I instead worked with Nana to have her talk to the "travel people" and make the best arrangement for getting me home. It was for the Monday flight.
Today I have another travel agent working on getting me out of here a little earlier. This is not my idea of a vacation spot.

The Beat Goes On

The never ending saga of Trinidad continues. All day yesterday it was discussed, what to do next. This process took until about 3 in the afternoon, then they began disassembling the generator.

I don't get it. We knew it had to be taken apart so why did they wait all day to start? Your guess is as good as mine.

As of today I have 5 days at the plant and 6 in the country. Thank goodness for short visas.

Escape is not in my future

It doesn't look good for me to escape this island anytime soon. I did walk into the office this morning and said that I have to leave in 7 days as my visa is about to expire.

This has been a tough job to figure out as the generator that we are working was made 25 to 30 years ago and no one has any experience on them anymore.

Each time we try to fix something, and we think it couldn't be anything else, we are bit in the ass by some unforeseen problem. It is getting a little tiring and frustrating.

Plus, I have to eat at the hotel and they think they are the 4 Seasons Hotel by what they charge for food. Last night it was a, small, tuna club sandwich with fries and H2O. Cost, $26 and change. I can get a club sandwich at the local sub shop at lunchtime for $4.

I NEED TO LEAVE THIS ISLAND. As of yesterday, they have had 362 confirmed murders here. That is why sometimes I have to stay in the hotel and eat.

Lovely Trinidad

I have to tell you about my stay in Trinidad. Sorry no pictures, dead batteries

I am staying at the Crown Plaza hotel in Port of Spain. The hotel is okay but the interesting thing is what is posted on the 10th floor, where I am staying.

It is posted:
Welcome to The Quiet Zone

No Housekeeping will be done between the hours of 9 pm and 10 am.

The following are not allowed on this floor:
Children
Leisure Groups
Marching Bands
Circus Animals

We Need You Cooperation by:
Keeping the sound down on your tv
Do not slam the door
No loud singing in the shower

The above is really posted on the 10th floor, I didn't make it up.

The Battle Continues

The Set Up.








The Catch.








The release.








This is the 11th one I have caught since the second week in July. Will the insanity ever stop? Whoa is me! Anyway, the coons never stop coming around to the farm. I have been baiting the trap with some of Nana's delicious cupcakes, actually they are the only ones who will eat them.

Other than trapping, Jonesie hasn't been doing much except waiting for the office to call and send me somewhere. The last I heard was a trip to Trinidad for a while but that has not been finalized yet.

Busy Time at The Farm

I have been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest on the farm. It started out by being gone last week to Venezuela. During that one short week the work piled up on us.
First it was the task of catching the crapping coon. We had, (I think I did catch it) a raccoon that would come up the stairs from the pond, get to the top landing and take or leave a bug pile of crap for us. So the trapping started on Monday night with the entrapment of two babies at the same time. Over the next 3 days I caught 1 more baby and 2 adults. The last one just barely fit into the trap. I think it was probably close to 40 pounds, and so I think the last one was the crapping coon.

Next on the farm was the repair of a crack in the foundation of the house. The crack has been there since we bought the place but I just have never gotten around to fix it. My plan was to use a post hole digger and make a small opening in the ground , down to the bottom of the crack. I was then just going to seal the crack and fill it in again. So you know how the best made plans work out. I did dig the hole but then did not have enough room to clean out the crack and fix it. So one shovel full of dirt after another and I have excavated quite a hole in the ground. Eventually I did get the crack sealed and all put back together.

Next on the agenda was to finish hauling in wood for this winter. Mr. H. and Mr. E. started hauling when they were home this summer so I just had a little more to haul in. After hauling all of the wood I had cut I still needed about 2 loads to fill the shed. So it was back to the woods with the chain saw and cut some more hickory. So that is what has been keeping Jonesie busy this week.
It is time for the harvest to begin at the farm. Today we picked the first cucumber's and tomatoes.

We have been picking beans and one row of carrots. So far everything has tasted fantastic.








The blueberries have been off to a great start with Nana picking 13.5 cups so far. As a matter of fact we entertained Big Tom and Moscow Mary for one night and this morning we had fresh fruit, OJ, bacon, coffee and blueberry pancakes.

The Fair, The Fair

On Friday all of gathered up at the farm and headed out for the St. Croix County Fair in Glenwood City. This included Katie, Kallie, Peg, Nana, Emme, Evan, Jeff, Rick, and Jonesie.
Nana and Evan led the way to the first barn which was the chicken and rabbit barn.









As you can tell Evan didn't think much of the smell of the first barn, and that thought did not improve with any of the other barns.
He was a trooper though and went with all of us thru all of the barns.









He was a very enthusiastic participant when it
came to games at the fair. He tried the "pick up
the duck" game and won a Spiderman blow up
hammer, which he proceeded to use on
everyone's behind.

Miss Em in on the Action

Miss Em had her picture taken a few times while in Wisconsin - maybe about 2000 times. If Em and E don't develop cataracts by the time they are 20 years old it will be a miracle.









All of had a very nice time with the new baby and she was never lacking attention. With a face like
that and the smiling that was always across her
lips, it was impossible not to have a good time
with her.












She was always a willing participant when someone wanted a photo of her.