Holy Moly.....Bat Man!

Quite an eventful weekend, but all in all very nice. Rita joined us this weekend for Robin & Scott wedding festivities.

We all turned in fairly early friday night, because we figured it was going to be a late evening on Saturday.

Saturday morning we all got up early and headed into Rice Lake for a little shopping for Robin & Scott's wedding. Stopped off at McDonald's for a quick breakfast and while we where sittting there Rita informed us that while she was brushing her hair this morning a bat was dive bombing her in the bedroom. While we all know that Rita can have "on" days & "off" days.....we all just chuckled and assumed that today was going to be an "off" day for her. Got back to the house and got ready to head to the wedding in Weyerhauser. Jonathan's new friend, Jessica, from Chetek decided to join us and to keep Jonathan from being bored.

Robin & Scott's wedding was very nice. She looked absolutely stuning















Robin & Scott's Wedding Party















Robin & Scott
















Robin & Bob - he cleans up well :)




















3 Generations - Irene (grandmother), Suzie (mother) & Robin




















Scott & Robin's first dance as husband & wife















Scott's first dance with his new mother-in-law Suzie
















Scott & Grandma Irene















Some very handsome man dancing with Robin......
















Ohhhh.....It's our son Jonathan (ok, I'm his mom and am probably a little bias)
















Name those hands grabbing Scott's ass?.........I think many of the women at the reception could do it! It's Octopussy Tom!!!!!!
















Jessica not looking thrilled while pictures are being taken at the church















Jonathan & Jessica





















Robin & Scott's cake - Strawbery. Vanilla & Chocolate.......Yum




















As the sign says......Congrats to the both of you!
















Cutting the cake















Mike & Maddy getting the groove on















I only have eyes for you....... January 10, 2010 we will be celebrating 25 years of marriage















We go together like Peanut Butter & Jelly........
















Can't have an event without Mike's alcohol induced rendition of "Mustang Sally".......















I'm guessing youth has got Brian on this one Tom......Give up
















Tim & Sue take a whirl on the dance floor......















with Pam & Steve whirling right behind them















My Rita - XOXO















Steve thinks Joel needs a lesson on how to smile :)

So after the reception the honda "pilot of shit's" crew member decide to go stop off at Northshore for Linda's "New Beginning's" party. After a short time we head back home to call it the day. We arrive and Jonathan's bedding is all over the floor of his bedroom. We asked him what the heck is going on.......he proceeds to tell us that a big moth flew at him and he can't find it. We tell him he has been drinking to much dew and playing too much video games and off to bed we go. Lilly had a up & down night. It seemed every hour dshe was needing to go outside. Well, one of the trips to the potty, Joel came into the breezeway and he felt something fly by him & touch him. Well, he quickly determined we did indeed have a bat in the house and that most likely the "moth" Jonathan saw........was a frickin bat. So he gets Big Joe up and the two of them go bat hunting.......and just like all of Big Joe's hunting expeditions, they came up empty. So after about an hour, Joel comes back upstairs and I asked him "what the heck have ya been doin?".....That is when he tells me I think we do have a bat in the house. Thank goodness we sleep with the door shut, because I would have been up the rest of night. So Joel gets up in the morning to let Lilly out and I wait about 20 minutes or so before I decide to go downstairs. I walked 1 step into the kitchen and froze..............






















It's.......dada dada dada BAT MAN!















So Big Joe gets the basket outside and dada dada dada ....BAT MAN, decides.....
















He was really pissed about his eviction notice.


p.s...........yes the basket got tossed in the garbage!!!

Have a great week. Next weekend it is Wayde & Shelly, Klaus & Ann and Sheldon. Hopefully we can get out for some island time, jet skiing and cocktails.

Check Back Often.....Check Back Soon

Productive Weekend

We had a very productive weekend by staying home........ stuff that needed to get done and just haven't had the extra time to do so.

Saturday started bright and early for me by getting up at 7:00 am. I started "deep" cleaning the dining room as if I was preparing to sell our house.....huh? With all the starts & stops throughout the day, it took 5 hours to clean. I did some more packing & preparing garage sale boxes. While I was doing the cleaning, Joel took off for the horseshoe tournament up at Wayde & Shelley's. I stayed back to represent our family at a couple of graduation parties.

Sunday was a VERY VERY special day for me! I celebrated 3 years of being a non-smoker. It just seems like yesterday that I gave up the shitty habit. Now if I could convince our dearest & closest friends in the whole wide world.......Steve & Pam to give it up, so we can spent the rest of our lives together, that would be the best! After my short lived acknowledgement, Joel started to work in the yard. Several weeks ago, we laid sod in 1/2 the backyard and now we are preparing to do the other half next Monday. Cleaning up the landscaping & munching in the backyard. While he was doing that, I "deep" cleaned our bedroom for 3 hours, prepared Jonathan's cabin party invites and then went out to help Joel. Joel's lifelong friend, Kevin Leiner popped in for a visit and then it was off to the grocery store we went.

All and all for not being at the lake, it was a nice weekend. Looking forward to this weekend at the lake because it is Robin's wedding. The following weekend, our other dear friends......Wayde, Shelley, Klaus, Ann and of course.......Sheldon.......are coming for some fun in the sun time at the island.

P.S........Linda sent me an e-mail to commnet on one of the postings. This is just to let everyone know that you can do a comment right here on the blog. If you have any questions on how to do that, just let me know.


Check Back Often........Check Back Soon

R*I*P

I just found out this morning that Lilly's sister who still lived in Windsor, MO with her real mother & father (and human Mom & Dad) .......passed away on July 3rd after being hit by a car :(
We are so sad because when Joel & I traveled to Missouri to go pickup Lilly, we had thought about taking her as well. This is a terrible tragedy for the family and our hearts goes out to them. It is also a reminder how fast accidents like this can happen with these little speedster.

Joel, Amy & Jonathan

Vacation is done! :(

Damm did that go fast......

Wednesday, July 8th
Well Wednesday morning we were wakened up by the the back hoe at 7 am. I swear he dug a trench to China.......and then he hooked up the pump so we now have water. As the rest of the week went by, we started to get a light orange colored water. So now we are having to get a filtration system for the house to stop it from getting worst. We meet with 2 more heating & cooling guys and are waiting for those bids to come in. The first guy came in at $20,000!!!! Which we thought was a tab bit high. Wednesday afternoon we started setting up for the garage sale. We went into town about 10:30pm to get some dinner at the B & B.

Thursday, July 9th
First day of the garage sale.......I set the alarm clock for 6:30am in order to get ready in time. I went down stairs & opened the garage door at 7:45 am to tiddy up a little and then I thought I would go make a cup of coffee before the sale started. Holy crap was I wrong......It was nonstop untill 11:00am, in fact we even "sold out". I didn't have much left to sell and was considering pulling the signs. Then we called Steve and Pam (they are having their garage sale this weekend) and told them to start packing up their shit and bring it to our house. After they did that.....garage was full again. I actually cook dinner and then we went to see the Hydroflites waterski show. We have been residents of Chetek for 3 years and have never seen the big show. I guess the hydroflites are state champions

Friday, July 10th
Second day of the garage sale and nothing too eventful. After the sale Pam, Steve, Joel, Big Joe, Finn & I went to the China Buffet and pigged out.

Saturday, July 11th
First of all.....It's my father birthday. Hope he had a wonderful day and it was free of "Hi Hi Hilter" but I high doubt it. The garage sale was finished by 1:00 pm, so that we could get out on the lake for a little boating & jet skiing. Out grand total for the garage sale was $1,391.00. While we were out jet skiing, I broke off one of the mirrors, so now I have that part ordered to the tune of $70.19 (just take that out of the proceeds of the sale) After we were done in the water for the day, we headed down to Birch Point Resort in Bloomer for a all you can eat Prime Rib, Shrimp, Crab Legs and Chicken Buffet. Holy cow was this place awesome! I can hardly wait to take you guys there.

Sunday, July 12th
Clean her up and headed home by 4:00 pm. Jonathan meet a couple kids from Chetek on Facebook, so they hopefully they will get together to hang out sometime.

Gotta go

Check Back Often.......Check Back Soon

Time to catch up

Well we have alot to catch up on.....so here it goes:

Hip Hip Hoorah......It's V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N Time On Thursday afternoon, I got off work and was heading home, 94 was was backed up, so I got off the highway so I could go through downtown St Paul. Silly me......It was the first day of Taste of Minnesota. As I made my way through downtown, I as on the corner of Kellogg & Robert Street preparing to make a right turn. The car in front of me had stopped and make sure he could turn and I did the same. As the car in front of me proceeded I followed behind him. All of a sudden, he decided to stop in the middle of his turn for no apparent reason. Needless to say, I rear end him. He gets out of his car looks at his bumper, looks at my bumper and then comes to my window. He suggests everything is fine. I say lets get out of the way and go down the street to park in a parking lot. As we do so, the man takes off. I go to the parking lot and called the police to make sure there is record of me stopping because it was my fault. The police said that the dude most likely had no insurance, was an illegal alien or an outstanding warrant. So I finally get my butt home and I get a call from Joel stating his car broke down on 35E. Lovely....... so Big Joe has to tow him in rush hour traffic. We get the Aveo home and finish packing up the car. We finally got out of town at 7:30p.m. As we head out, we were thinking that everything happens in 3's........so maybe we outta stay home & go up in the morning! On friday we worked in the garage some more. Joel set up his work bench and cabinet. He still has to bring his toolbox on wheels up, bu the has decided to keep that a the SSP home for the time being. Nothing to exciting for the rest of the day.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!
We started the morning by cementing the new mailbox post in, so that it could set. Got on the boat and headed to the island. By the time we got there, nobody was around. So we decided to head over to Pam & Steve's house to see if everybody was there. Sure as shit......that is where everybody was. Had a cocktail or 2 or 3........then headed to watch the fireworks in the middle of lake. When everybody got there......we had 7 boats hooked up together. After Chetek's fireworks display, we all headed over to Tim & Sue's house for their annual fireworks display. Their display is better than the Chetek's but maybe it's because it's like having our own private showing.

Sunday we just spent hanging out and doing odds & ends project around the house. Sunday afternoon Pam & Steve came over via their boat and we decided to go out for a cruise. The whole weekend was crazy on the lakes with all the tourists, weekender and regulars on the lakes. We hooked the 2 boats togther and just enjoyed the peace & quiet on the lake. Went to Gilligan's and ordered a couple of pizza's to go to eat in the middle of the lake. Now this is the life!

Monday morning started off very busy.......it's the day we are getting our well drilled. The drilling rig showed up at 8:00 am. The driller decided he would rather drill the well down next the pop up camper instead of the top of the hill......great for us because it saved us a shit load of money!!!






Drilling rig getting into position
















Drilling rig with the boom up
















The guys had to do a little tree trimming



















The hose of the drilling rig looks like a ........!

















After 3 hours and 39 feet, we have a well with clear, clean and refreshing water! hip hip hurray!
The back hoe will be here hopefully on Wednesday to connect the house to the well.






While the well was being drilled, we had our first heating & cooling contractor come to the house to give us a bid for a heat source. He will be back tomorrow at 10:00 am with his prepared numbers. I'm afraid of what those numbers are going to be.

Monday evening Joel & I took Pam & Steve out for all you can eat crab legs at Gilligan's to re-pay Steve for a fraction of what did did for us to get the shower house ready for Memorial weekend Bash and all the continuing stuff he helps Joel with. After dinner, we went to a relaxing boat ride into the sunset. It was absolutely beautiful end to a wonderful evening.......until we got back home and Joel & Steve decided to throw shoes in the dark. After getting eaten alive by mosquito's, we called it quits for the evening.

Check Back Soon.......Check Back Often
Joel, Amy & Finn

More moving

This last weekend we did somemore moving stuff from SSP to the lake. Rita was the only guest that came up. Saturday was rainy so we couldn't go out in the boat, so we went shopping in Rice Lake in the morning and worked in organizing Joel's garage. It finally cleared up around dinner time, so we packed Rita up on her scooter and we all went for a walk. Came back and had a cocktail and we all were in bed early. Sunday was a nice day, but very windy, so boating again. Came back early to do more cleaning in the SSP garage. Big Joe stayed up and will be home Thursday afternoon and we will be going up Thursday evening to start our vacation. Yea!

Check back Often......Check Back Soon

Officially went to the island

Last year our first official date of in the water at the island was July 4th, this year the official date was June 20th. Saturday morning Joel & Big Joe put the jet ski lift into the water and boy is that slick. No more having to hook the trailer up to Big Joe's truck and haul it over to the Pokegama landing to launch it. Now we go down to the dock and hop on. Around noon we headed over to the island to meet Steve & Pam for lunch & a couple cocktails. Mike, Suzie, Baily & Maddie showed up a little later. It was a wonderful afternoon with absolutely beautiful weather. We all left around 4:30 pm to go back and get cleaned up to attend Tim & Sue's cabin warming party. Last fall, Tim & Sue started building their log cabin garage......it is officially the garage, but they converted it into a 2 bedroom house for them to live in while they try to sell their land & trailer over on the creek off of Pokegama (next to Steve & Pam) & their home. Once they sell thoses, I'm sure they will start on the main cabin and then convert the temporary cabin back to a garage. Well, anyways the garage cabin is beautiful and Sue has done a wonderful job of decorating and putting the homely touches to it. Also we were able to visit with Sue's son, Alex. He is the window washer that fell off 6 story bank building last week and lived to tell about it.
Here is the article from KARE 11:

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. -- It is an odd feeling knowing by any reasonable measure you should not be alive, but Alex Clay, 21, has spent the past day with little else on his mind.

"I can't believe I'm actually here," he says.

The window washer was crawling over the ledge at the top of Eau Claire's U.S. Bank Building Monday afternoon, transferring his weight, when he noticed his rigging wasn't properly connected.

He tightened his grip on a metal bar connected to his window cleaning apparatus. He can't say how long he held on with his feet dangling below him, but it felt like a long time.

"I held on as long as I could, but you get to the point where you're maxing out your body," he said. "You get to the point where I can't even support my life anymore. I have to let go."

Clay thought his safety rope would catch him, for reasons still unknown, it didn't. He fell six stories, hitting a metal awning above a doorway before hitting the sidewalk. A paramedic would later tell him that awning "'could have been what saved my life."

"He was very, very fortunate," says Dr. Brad Grewe, a trauma surgeon at Luther Midelfort hospital in Eau Claire. Grewe wonders if a rope or some other may have helped slow Clay's descent. "But to fall six floors - we don't even have many six story buildings in Eau Claire."

Clay suffered scrapes, bruises and a broken foot, but should be out of the hospital by Thursday.

"Everyone's just telling me it's a miracle," he says.

Anyways, it was nice to have the opportunity to visit with him instead of the alternative of visiting about him! He is doing well and is expected to make a nice recovery.

Sunday was father's day and Joel enjoyed his day with Jonathan. I made his favorite breakfast of Belgium waffles and then he did some work on his horseshoe pits and odd jobs around the house.

This weekend is shaping up to be another lovely weekend and we are hoping to get on the boat/jetski for some fun.

Check Back Soon.......Check Back Often

Holy crap does time fly

It is already Thursday and I haven't even post to the blog yet. Oh well.....let's pretend it is Sunday night or even Monday morning:

This past weekend everyone was gone at the lake. Big Joe and Christina went to a powwow in Morton, MN. Pam worked on Saturday and hung our with her kids. Steve & Suzie were in the cities. Jeanne & Chris have put her land & camper up for sale, so I'm sure they weren't up. So that left Joel, Jonathan & me. Jonathan was flat on his back sicker than a dog, so by all reality....it was Joel & me.

We didn't want to uncover the boat and we couldn't take the jetski out for a ride, because we had no way to get it out of the garage into the water (Big Joe & his truck were gone). So we decided to make it a working weekend. After 24 1/2 years of marriage, we proved we can still do projects without killing each other. We totally cleaned out the garage, added ceiling racking to prepare for the move to the lake, added shelves under the steps for Joel to be a little more organized and totally clean off the work bench wall. It was alot of hard work, but boy does it look nice. We have been slowing moving stuff up and finally decided yesterday to rent a storage locker to storage all the stuff until we can get it figured out were it is going: the dump, the garage sale or keep it. We are cleaning out the SSP house in preparation of putting it up for sale.

Our beloved neighbor, Mrs B passed away in January, so her daughter Joann just listed her house on the market yesterday for $149,000. Boy that is scary. I hope the market turns a little more in the next month or two for when we are planning on putting out house on the market.

This weekend we are planning on having a fun weekend and have every intention of spending time at the island. On Monday we were fortune enough to have found a jet ski lift on Craigslist. Big Joe is coming home today from the lake so him & Joel can go out to Lake Minnetonka to pick it up. After last weekend of not being able to get the jetski into the water......well now that will never happen again! We are so excited.

Hope everyone is having a great summer .......talk to you all soon

Check Back Soon......Check Back Often

What a sucky Saturday :(

It is cold & rainy, but at least the wind isn't kicking up.....yet. Enjoying a quite weekend doing small projects around the house. Toilet is getting a new toilet seat (interesting fact: we have had to replace the toilet set after every Memorial weekend bash...huh!), fixing the slow draining bathroom sink, set up internet on the computer (hence why I'm blogging today), preparing for a garage sale here at the lake and planning the layout of the rooms in the basement. So not really much excitement around here.

After dinner, Jonathan & Jeromy are going to Northlakes Drive In for some ice cream and then go hang out at the bowling alley........I'm sure they are going on the prowl for chicks. Steve & Pam are coming over for a couple cocktails and to shoot the shit.

Hope everyone is enjoying their rainy Saturday.

Check Back Soon........Check Back Often

Lilly "The Dentist" Waage

We had a nice quiet weekend with rain Friday night, sun & wind Saturday and sun & wind Sunday. Overall it was a lovely weekend. After last weekend, we just took it easy and hung out with Rita. Joel & I purchased a 4 wheeled mobility scooter so Rita would be able to go for "walks" at the lake and that worked out quite nicely. Finn made a race course and was racing himself on the scooter. It's amazing he won every race. Joel finally after 2 years put his horseshoe pits in. Look out Wayde & Klaus.......he might even get some practice in before the horseshoe tournaments in July. Big Joe brought his friend, Christine to the lake this weekend. We didn't see much of either of them because they were in Hayward, WI for a pow wow. Christine entered a dancing expo for fun, so we were able to see 4 of her dancing dresses that were filled with indian beading that she does very beautifully. We didn't see Steve or Pam this weekend at all. We figure he thinks that if he comes over we will put him to work. HEY STEVE, COAST IS CLEAR........WORK IS ALL DONE FOR THE SUMMER! Now it is time to enjoy the lake :)

So here's a story for the books.......it is absolutely hilarious, now that it is over:

Rita came up to the lake for a nice relaxing weekend. We all arrived about 7:30pm and get everything settled. We decide to have a little cocktail or 2 and about 10:00 p.m., she decides to go to bed. It was a little cold for her, so heated up the bed in the guest room and plugged in a radio beside the bed, so that she would have something to do in the morning (she apparently is an early riser). I get up the next morning around 6:30 am so that I can go hang with her. I'm in the bathroom doing my hair and Joel is lying in bed. All of a sudden I hear him say "Shit" and I turn around to see him holding a set of teeth. After I shook off the disbelief, I realized they were Rita's teeth. I finish getting ready, grab the teeth & go racing downstairs to see what is going on. Big Joe is up and looking for Lilly. He saw her go racing out of the guest bedroom with something in her mouth. He didn't see where she had disappeared to. Well, we figured out very quickly what had happened. Lilly likes to check everybody out in the morning, so she raced into the guest bedroom where Rita was sleeping. Rita didn't take her teeth out, so when she fell asleep, her bottom teeth fell out. Well, Ms Lilly found them in the bed and figured she found a new play toy. She grabbed them and ran upstairs where she got back into bed with Joel and started chewing on them.......

So I put them on top of the refrigerator, because Rita obviously decided to sleep in. So around 8:00 am Rita shows up in the breezeway (Big Joe & I were having a cup coffee) in her nightgown & cane and "Good Morning". I look at her and asked if she was missing something and then went & got her teeth. She laughs and says "I didn't know Lilly was a dentist". You had to have been there......it was so funny, after we figured out that her teeth were still in working order and Joel & I weren't going to have to buy a set of teeth.

To all of you that come and stay with us in the guest bedroom........remember to put your teeth up on the dresser :)

This weekend Jonathan has his friend Jeromy coming, but other than that it appears to be another quiet weekend with nobody on the books to be joining Joel & I. So if you have an open weekend and want to toss in a quick get-away, give us a shout.

Check back soon........Check back often

Joel, Amy & Jonathan

Pictures from 2nd annual Memorial Weekend Bash

Jonathan & his backup singers singing "D-R-U-N-K" while his lovely assistant, Jolie holds the lyrics :)















I have absolutely no idea what the f*^% Mike was doing here, but I'm almost positive it was alcohol induced















Grandma Irene, Steve, Joel, Bailey's Friend, Bailey, Michael & Jolie















Group shot















Group shot















Steve & Joel















Steve & Joel - They always did make a cute couple















We are family! Got all my Sisters with me!! Savanah, Jolie, Jeanie, Suzie, Pam, Amy, Nancy & Lil Andi















Grandma Irene & Mike















Chris & Grandma Irene















Miscellaneous Group shot















Mike annual rendition of "Mustang Sally"















Steve & Big John















Steve & Pam singing "Aimee by Pure Prairie League" to Amy















Jonathan, Michael, Amy, Brandon & Steve's back















Shelley, Ann & Nancy's back















Top: Grandma Irene, Cousin Greg, Jeanie whispering to ?
Bottom: Suzie, Bailey and Bailey's friend















Robin singing with Lil Andi, Big John & Zoey















Miscellaneous Group picture with a great back of the head shot of Klaus















Another miscellaneous group shot with Sheldon


If anybody has any pictures from the party they'd like to share, follow the link on the right and e-mail them to us.

Check back soon.......Check back often

Joel, Amy & Jonathan