June 16th - Wet

Kathy flew to California last Wednesday, to attend the wedding of one of the girls she used to work with at Teen Challenge. She flew back into Kansas City this afternoon and will be home tomorrow. Sounds like she had an enjoyable time.

I haven't been doing much while she has been gone. I did pick the first of our blackberries several days ago. They probably need to be picked again but I was to lazy.

Our pond was totally overgrown by duck weed, even though I sprayed it a couple of times with vegetation killer. I think all the fish have died due to lack of oxygen. I, and Kelsey & Andy, have been removing the weeds we can reach with a pool screen/skimmer. After some research I bought 3 different chemicals, mixed up a "witches brew" and sprayed part of the weeds. It looks like it works. 18 hours after spraying it the weeds I sprayed were turning brown. Note the top left area of the photo.

I've spent over 5 hours dipping weeds over the past several day, and Kelsey & Andy have also done some. Probably 30% of the pond surface is not weed free. I may need a boat before I can spray the ones in the middle of the pond.

We have been getting some rain every day. Not steady but everything stays wet.

May God bless you and yours.

June 7th - Lydia's 3rd Birthday

Yesterday, the 7th, was Lydia's 3rd birthday. There were 25-30 people at her party. A good time was had by all. It was warm, our first day above 90, but it was reasonably comfortable sitting outside in the shade, with a nice breeze.

Kathy & Lydia checking out the swing set.

May God bless you and yours.

June 5th - Swing Set Finished

I finished the swing set today, but forgot to take a photo of it after I added the slide and the ramp. Below is a progress photo from a couple of days ago.

Lydia was here a couple of days this week. Normally Kathy and her went out and picked mulberries and cherries first thing in the morning. They are at the cherry trees in the photo below.

Kathy says that she is done picking cherries for the year. She said she had enough picked and pitted for over 15 pies. Several people from church have said they are going to come over and pick some of those remaining, and there are still a lot of them.

Duck weed has infested our pond. It started before I went to TN the last time. I sprayed it with weed killer 2 or 3 times but it didn't seem to help. The entire top of the pond is covered. Once that happens it cuts off sunlight from getting to the plants in the pond and they quit producing oxygen. A lot, if not all, of the fish have died. From what I have read since it happened you have to use specific weed killers to kill the stuff. Enough for a single treatment for our small pond is $80. It will probably take multiple treatments to kill the stuff.

It rained heavily last night and rained lightly this morning. No rain in the forecast for Saturday (tomorrow) and Sunday. Tomorrow is Lydia's birthday party. Doug & Anthony should be here within the hour. I didn't think I would have time to do mowing over the weekend so I mowed the lawn this afternoon, even though it was wet.

Good night. May God bless you and yours.

June 1 - More Swing Set Work

I didn't do much yesterday after church. We did pick the ripe cherries. There are a lot more still to be picked, when they ripen.

 The mulberry pickers/eaters were at it first thing this morning. Lydia is wearing the hat because the temperature was 57 degrees.

 Sometimes a little help from Grammy, and a lot of stretching, was required to get to the ripe berries.

Sunday afternoon Andy's Dad used his Bobcat to take the blue building off my trailer and put it on the leveling pads Kelsey & I had prepared. I added the platform at the end of the swing set today. It will have a slide going off the far side and a ramp up to it on the near side.

 

Also on Sunday afternoon Andy's Dad helped Andy & Kelsey cut down a dead tree that was in their yard. The brush pile from it is on the left and the food wood is further out in the yard, on the right.

Tomorrow we head into Jefferson City to buy hardware & additional chain, for hanging the swings.

May God bless you and yours.

May 30th - More Birthday Present Work

The blue building is now parked in Kelsey's driveway. I think Andy's Dad is supposed to unload it with his Bobcat tomorrow. Kelsey's "to do" list includes painting the inside, and maybe the outside. I think she added installing some windows to my "to do" list.

 

Yesterday Kelsey and I leveled 4 pads to support the building.

Jack, Andy's Uncle who is only a couple of years older than Andy, came over last night and we set up the A frames and installed the top beam, in the rain. The far leg on the left sits on top of the ground. The near leg on the left is in a 3" hole. The far leg on the right is in a 9" hole. The near leg on the right is in a 15" deep hole. Digging the holes allowed us to get everything plumb and level.

Today I finished "locking" the top beam in place and installed the knee braces at the top.

I thought the knee braces would provide enough stiffness but I was disappointed by how "wobbly" it is. I still have to add a 4' square platform on the left side, for the slide. (Amy & Marshall, Kelsey's Mom & Stepdad are buying the slide.) I'm hoping it will add more stability. If that doesn't work the only other thing I can think to do is remove the existing knee braces and add longer ones.

Kathy picked these cherries yesterday and many more today. She said she has enough picked and pitted for 3 good sized pies.

I hope you all had a great day. May God bless you and yours.

May 28th - Swing Set Building

We have been preparing for Lydia's, our great-granddaughter, birthday on the 7th. We have/had an unused small building at our home in Missouri and Kelsey, our granddaughter, wanted to move it to her house and convert it into a playhouse.

Building before.

Building gone.

and on trailer.

I still have to take it over to Kelsey & Andy's. I loaded it by myself. Andy's Dad is going to take his Bobcat, with forks, to their house to unload it.

Today we went in to Menards and Kelsey bought the lumber for a swing set. She and I put the two end frames together in their garage this afternoon. We are going to have to wait until Andy is available to stand them up and put the 14' long 4x6 top beam in place. Kelsey, Lydia, Kathy & I went out to lunch after getting the lumber. Kelsey bought us lunch as an anniversary present, married 48 years today.

Our dwarf cherry trees are loaded with cherries. We put up some netting but it will be a battle to get more than the birds.

 

 

We went over to Kelsey's for supper tonight. After supper Kelsey put in a movie for Lydia. Lydia was sitting on the couch in the living room, totally engrossed in the movie. We sat in the dining room and watched her watching the movie. She was so cute. I tried to get a photo but the photo was dark.

God is good! If you are as blessed by Him as I am, you are a fortunate person.

May 25th - Back in Missouri

We arrived back home around 3 PM today after our whirlwind trip to Indiana, Michigan & Ohio. It was a good trip.

Desert after lunch on the way to Indiana.

 

 

Gathering eggs at Doug & Anthony's, in Indianapolis.

Heading down to the pond at my Mom's, in Michigan.

 Swinging with Colton, my brother's grandson.

 A little wading in the pond. She wanted to pet the fish.

 

Petting one of the bears, with help from my sister-in-law, at my brothers.



 Some slide time with Colton, at my brothers.

At my sister-in-law Judy's, and her families, cottage at Hamilton Lake. Doc, the next door neighbor was fishing off the dock when we arrived. He caught several small blue gills, with Lydia watching closely. They decided to switch to balloon "fishing poles". 

More balloon fishing.

And some swimming.

Relaxing on the porch.

Back at Doug & Anthony's.

Anthony doing an "Elsa braid". She loved it.

It was good to get to visit folks, but it is also good to be back home.

Today was Kelsey's, our granddaughter, 26th birthday. After work she and Andy & Lydia came over for a feast of salad, macaroni soup & blackberry cobbler.

May God bless you and yours.