Busy As A Bee

And that's exactly what we've been.

Between the two of us, we have been so busy, we barely have time to turn the TV on in time to watch the 10 p.m news before hitting the hay each night.

Bill has been busy putting in a new garage door with automatic opener for our neighbor across the road. He and his lady have not stayed a winter for very many yrs. and they soon were reminded that their slide doors do not work too well when they are snowed and iced in for the winter, much like they were this year. Next winter, they will not have to worry about that problem anymore.

Another project Bill had worked on was getting the ' potato ' field prepped for the May planting. He is having a ball out there playing with his tractor, plow and disc. Another day and he should have it looking just like it was tilled with a real tiller, something that he will be doing later, after the ground dries a bit more. In the meantime, he gets to play with Lil Blue, his New Holland Tractor. He's had it awhile but is still like a kid with a new toy, checking to see what else it can do.

Nine of the 30 cords of wood is cut, split and piled for another neighbor that put in his winter firewood order. I helped with that. We have a ways to go to finish his order, and then there will be ours to make. Always, every year, no matter what, firewood must be made. We are so grateful to have the wood to make, to burn for our heat, or we would be in a sore spot for fuel. There is no way our budget could handle the high cost of fuel oil and other alternatives.

I have been running all over, getting the arrangements made, groceries bought, etc., to put this Retirement Party together for My Man, Bill. He deserves to celebrate a bit. He had a great work crew to work with the past 40 yrs. and he wants to thank them. So, is the reason for the party. A thank you, of sorts, for his crew. Also being from such a large family, the menu is huge. I'm doing all the cooking, so I started early.

The past couple of days, I prepped, seasoned, cut, pulled, the meat(s) for the event, plus some salads that needed time to appreciate it's ingredients.

We are having a big bite to eat. The guest list is well over 120...but I'm used to cooking for a crowd. I just have not done it for awhile. My rememberer needs reminding on portions and how many cups or quarts or gallons of this or that. I have a great memory, but it's short ... Thanks Mel and Mom.

I made the comment to my daughter that it was like preparing a meal for a wedding, for petesake! She said, " Well, Mom, it is like he is re-marrying you, now that he gave up work." Huh, a truer statement was never made. He has been married to his job all these years. Now that he's always home, we are having the time of our lives. Just knowing he's coming in for lunch each day, I do look forward to it. My sister-in-law said, " Let him work as long as possible. Once he retires, he will be under-foot all the time and you won't get any of your stuff done."

That has not been the case, so far, and besides, I think I would not mind it at all.

I never realized how much I missed him during the day. I missed the visiting, the most. We always have talked about everything, toss ideas back and forth, but when he was hard at work at that mill, he'd come home so tired, he'd eat and go to bed. Then I'd miss him at night, too.

Retire-ment, for us, so far, has been a picnic. Speaking of which, Gotta share one more thing before I go visit Bill. I was truly not going to bother with a ' theme ' or colors, decorating, etc. for this party. It just sorta happened.

We are having an indoor picnic, of sorts....without the ants.

Gotta Re-tire!

BlessYourHeart

Berry Nice

Can you believe this weather?

It has been so beautiful out.

No snow!!!

Just warm sunshine, hot sunshine,

And sweet air.

The Spring Peepers are singing in the hollow.

The warmth surrounding me feels so grand.

The Robins are back, having no trouble finding a worm.

Even the Bluebirds have returned early,

To check out their nesting boxes, and

It's Only March!!!

Who can ever complain about way above normal

Temperatures that we are experiencing here

In our Great Northern Wisconsin.

It's one more reason to call this

God's Country.

Have a Berry Nice Week

and

BlessYourHeart

Woe is Me

Woe is Me.

I have so much to be grateful for

But ZZZZZZ'not

This dreaded code'n'my'node~

~~~~~

I have a retirement party to get under way

My health's going south

No rest for today,

To get anything done,

I must breed' thru my mouth.

Lordy, Lordy, This won't be fun.

I will get it all done,

Fear not, I'll survive...

Under clouds and the sun

At least I'm alive.

Though the day was unwelcome

With feeling so crappy,

Floors shine, dinner's eaten

And everyone's happy.

The sneezing, eyes water,

Kleenex are soaked,

Steeped tea makes life better,

Don't tease me, no jokes.

This is the end,

There won't be any more,

Don't wake me, Don't touch me

Or there will be war.

Until further notice~

BlessYourHeart

Sweet Amber Maple Syrup

We are at it again.

We are in the process of setting up for another sweet spring.

The maple trees are being tapped as I make this entry so I cannot

stay with you long. There is maple syrup to dream about.

There is a Dark Chocolate Cake in the oven, (sorry Sherry, wish you could be here for a hunk with Peanut Butter Frosting).

Coffee's due to perk,

And Pork Chops to brown and set in the slow cooker

with potatoes and carrots, for supper.

By 5 p.m., the guys will be hungry and ready to retire for the day.

Well, Maybe.

Until next time ;-)

a wink and a smile and

I'm on my way to the woods.

Break time is arriving fast.

You're welcome to come along for the ride.

BlessYourHearts

In An Instant

I'm always taken back a step or two, not because I'm off balance, though my family may choose to disagree, but because some things just happen.

It's day three of a wasted weekend for me. I didn't plan it that way. It just happened. I was shopping, minding my own business, finished, headed for the parking lot when, out of the blue, my body screamed a painful tear from my backside, around my hip and straight down to my knee. I was so surprised.

I did not fall, or twist wrong. I was just getting on with my day when my bod decided it had enough.

Two days with my very best friend when these things happen, ICE, Aleve for pain and plenty of rest AFTER my son helped me into the house and got me into the recliner with lots of supportive pillows everywhere.

Finally on day 3, I was able to get my day going almost back to normal.

A trip to the farm, rounded up my Grandmothers old cane, she looks rather goosish, don't you think,... and I was off and running.

You can't keep a good man or gal down, as Pa always used to say. I now understand how Dad's cane and Grandma's were their best friend, always there to support them when they needed it. It's amazing how a little piece of wood can be so useful. Today, I was grateful for that.

Then, as if things weren't stressful enough, we got bombarded with flying ants today.

They were everywhere, but all coming out of the hole left in the kitchen ceiling where the water damage took out several ceiling tiles due to the ice dams we had on the roof after the quick thaw of our two feet of snow. Oh, yes, we do love the thaw., and oh, yes, we do hate the intruders. B l a s t dem varmints! I must have swept up 300 of them. Look out ants, you will not be safe here...

Bill is a very happy man. Andy's old truck that he has been working on, is finally out of the garage. Yipee!!! And, it runs., dropping a bit of rust, but it runs easily from point A to point B.....so good~

But, look closer. When I took this picture this evening, I see he has a Ghostly Ford Friend in the passenger seat.

eeeeeeeeeeeee:(

But Bill is happy his Lil Blue New Holland has it's rightful place back inside the garage.

I see Bill's up to something again., oh but always. He loves his freedom to complete a project uninterrupted. I think he plans to do something sweet with that big, flat pan.

I'll bet it's going to taste pretty good on pancakes.

After all, it's that time of year again.

until then~

BlessYourHeart

Retirement Rocks

I suppose it wouldn't be fair to just leave and not say goodbye,

But we did.

The morning after a small gathering of work-related friends

( of which there are no pictures ),

We passed Butternut Creek,

and the Old Homestead grounds,

( the house looking very renewed ),

past this gorgeous well-used red barn,

and to the Redemption Ranch for breakfast

with one of the boys and friends who were home

to ride their sleds on the 2 feet of snow we got a week ago.

I'm holding this picture, for proof, that my GrandLove, Josh,

DOES know how to wash dishes. His mother will want to know.

Sorry, Bud, but chores first, then the fun.

We took a roadtrip to our daughters a couple hrs. away,

to find her walking,

and walking her sick horse, Windy.

Windy had gotten a bad belly ache with Sand Colic which was a

near death experience for her. She had to be medicated with pain killers,

antibiotics, and tubed into her stomach to be treated with a gallon of

mineral oil, then continually medicated for 5 days.

The following day the vet returned to treat a blood clot the size of a

grapefruit in her throat., poor thing. She is eating cookies again and doing so much better.

On to Bill's responsibility as a Grandpa.

He was busy the week, teaching Austin how

to make Scrambled Eggs. Good job, Dude.

Most of the time was spent here. The kids are finishing off a part of their old farm house that was never done. The room is huge, twice the size you see here. When finished, this will be a master bedroom and bath.

Do you thing these little Kings on the Mt. were glad to see us?

Love It!!!!

The very first thing done when we returned home, was

Fix the broken recliner. Bill almost flipped backwards into the window

when he sat down...no longer a problem thanks to my Mr. Fixit Man.

Bill spent two days moving heavy snow just getting back to the cabin.

Normally, he finishes this job in less than half a day. We are glad to see the weather warming and melting some of this stuff.

We are so ready to be done with this knee deep snow and move onto

a new and exciting adventure.

Are you ready for this? Brace yourself, for we are going to~~~~

ready?~~~~~

grow potatoes.

What?, you say?

There are 48 varieties, and so much more.

Not often does opportunity literally ' knock on your door,'

but it did.

It seems a seed company from WA. state wants to lease our tiny

field for a test garden to grow different cold weather varieties of potatoes.

After a lengthy discussion of how this all works, we had a gentleman's/gentlewoman's handshake to seal the deal until the paperwork is complete.

We are excited to see how this all comes out.

So~~~

To be continued~~~

It's been an exciting and busy first week.

Here's hoping yours was productive and fun too.

Now, on with the plans for a Retirement Party for My Man Bill.

BlessYour Heart

Switchin' Hats

After 40 years at the paper mill,

Bill is hanging it up.

He says he's ready to switch hats.

As of today, he has retired his lunchbox,

that box that no longer comes clean.

It's time to relax.

Our first road trip will not take us far.

We have GrandLoves to hug, and their Mom's and Dad's.

We will do as little as possible at first.

We will watch and just enjoy the view

as we boggy-on down the road.

We will have a few laughs

Lots of laughs.

We will go fishing. That 'cat ' sure was good.

It jumped right in the pan.

We hope to see this again sooner rather than later.

One of the road trips of our future.

Naaaa, it isn't time to leave just yet.

What's the hurry.

We really do not know what is in store for us.

We do know one thing. We will probably continue to do

whatever we did on our weekends together.

No matter what it is, I'm sure we will work hard,

eat healthy and just continue to love our life.

We are fortunate to have nothing but time,

time to just pick up and go if we want.

That starts tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping.

Now, I have to throw a travel bag together.

Hey, where's my hat?

Have a great weekend.

and

BlessYourHeart