I never SAW it coming

Yes, it's true. There is no photoshop here; Jeff is cutting the circles for the spinner boards now using his new band saw! And yes it is true that it will pay for it's self in a short time with the savings of buying the pre-cut pieces; but...... I still get a funny feeling in my tummy.

Vickie holding Ridley. Josh and his Dad Steve Holland

Vickie and Josh hosted a Bar BQ at the Holland house on Saturday afternoon. Josh is a pretty good cook. Not only were we entertained by the adorable Ridley Dexter, there was also a little cutie, Laila. I think she liked having her picture taken. She is the daughter of Vickie's friend Steph.

Check out the Holland baby blog for some cute shots of Ridley standing and making baby sounds.

http://thehollandbaby.blogspot.com/

Sunday morning we met up with Ron and Patty Johnson and Kathy and Larry Carlson for about 150 mile ride around the country side. Of course we made a few stop. It was a very nice day for a ride. It's still sort of hard in my behind.

Have a safe Fourth of July

sorry I can't spell

Oops. Everyone knows how badly I suck at getting peoples names right, sorry to Karina and Carol for spelling your names wrong.

Fathers Day Weekend

Sorry it has taken me so long to document the great Fathers Day weekend we had in Eastern Wisconsin. Char drove out to Stillwater early Friday morning and joined us on the ride across the state. She had the back seat to herself, with motorcycle magazines and two pillows. (sweet dreams Char)

Karena Cutler
Our first stop was in the Oshkosh area where we delivered a piece of furniture (that once served in Bob and Jean's home), to Karena Cutler/Lake. She picked Rinn up from daycare so we could see her. We don't see Rinn often enough that she is real comfortable around us, but she liked Char. We believe it's because Char's an "Ope"; (some one who looks young and holds a child like appearance) and kid are drawn to kids.

Charlene Kuhl and Rinn Lake

It is always a surprise to see a child after a few months and see how fast they grow. It goes for Ridley also. The last time I saw Rinn I thought she looked like Mom, but this time there seemed to be a little more Dad in her eyes. She sure is a cutie.

We weren't able to stay too long before we had to dart off to the factory in Oshkosh that manufactures the lazy susan parts of the 'spinner boards' that Jeff makes. It saves quit a bit by buying direct and picking them up at the factory saved a lot on shipping. Gee I wonder if we can write off the gas as a business expense? And off to New Holstein....

Internet photo

Due to the diversion in our course we took a route we don't usually travel and saw a huge stand of wind mills spinning in the fields. I can't begin to guess how large of an area they covered or how many there were, but there were a lot of them all turning in the wind. I thought it was very interesting but I haven't found a project name or a story behind the crop of towering turbines. If any one has any information they can share I would like to hear about it.

We arrived safe and sound at Mothers pad where we crashed for the night. There's no place like home.

On Saturday we got our acts together at a reasonable time and headed off to Elkhart Lake Farmers Market. We weren't there to look at the produce, there were crafts and artsy stuff as well as some very cool looking vehicles. Oddly a lot like Stillwater.

We stopped at the cheese and wine shop sister Carlo work with, Kris's Cheese to Please in Plymouth and Char picked up some treats that she had discovered during our last visit. And I stopped at a scrapbook store and found a few clearance items and a little something to put together a page for our next adventure... Road America.

Thanks Doris for getting us ticket to go to the June Sprints. I feel like such a hypocrite because I, the person that states that auto racing is the biggest waist of fuel had a good time. It was exciting to watch the cars go through parts of the hilly and curvy 4 mile track. It is a pretty cool track and we went to corner 5 for old time sake. Insert "Flash back to the 70's here"

We agreed we would do that again or maybe watch the motorcycles race.
Jeff got much better pictures than I did because he has an uber cool Zoom lens that pulled in the cars right in front of him. I sure would like an uber cool zoom lens. Maybe when I learn how to use the camera better. There were a few race teams from the twin city area including Stillwater.

Not everyone stayed on the track. Two went off, one got back on. Everyone was alright.

Later in the afternoon we went to the Graduation party for Brad. There were so many familiar faces and it was nice to see some new ones. Kate and Paula were there with there guys and it was so good to see the kids. I wanted to get some pictures of Steph and her horse, and here they are.


I needed a family fix, some times I get a little home sick even at my age. Char had a good time hanging out with her cousins too.

We packed up the 20 pounds of string cheese that we acquired to fill the orders of our friends and left early enough that we got back in time for Jeff to see Vickie and Ridley as well as his Dad.
Ridley is now on the move....

And Goldie is unsure. Think she is going to work on staying out of Ridleys path.
.

Happy Birthday to Dave P.

Happy Birthday Dave.
And notice the record album collection. The bird is pretty cool too.

Happy Fathers Day

I am going to step away from the computer for a few days to visit with my family in Eastern Wisconsin so I would like to take this time to wish all the Fathers, Grandfathers, Great Grandfathers, Brothers, brother in laws, uncles and every one who has a father a very wonderful weekend and a great Fathers Day.



Vickie and Jeff Cutler



Steph, Steve Steinert with Dennis Melger and Bradley Steinert



Erv and Carol Ramminger


Erv Ramminger with Kelly Melger and Kate Ramminger




Jeff and Ridley

David and Vickie Ramminger with Kate, Caleb and Paula

Josh and Ridley Holland

Bob Cutler and Rinn

Jack - Bill - Jeff and Dad Cutler

Lori Melger and Tony Ramminger

The Ramminger brothers and sister Alice, with Leander, Tony, Alphonse

standing: Ambrose, Ervin, Randy and Edvin

Thanks guys for all you do and have done.

AML

June 19th Happy Birthday Lori Steinert

HAPPY 39TH

Happy Birthday to my Favorite Lori. I am really looking forward to seeing you this weekend and celebrating all the June events like Birthdays, Graduations, and Fathers Day, summer, etc... That's a lot of HAPPY for one weekend, I can hardly wait.

AML

Congradulations Brad the Grad

Congradulations Bradley




We are so excited and really looking forward to celebrating with you this weekend.
We're all so proud of you.





Brad the Grad; bet you never heard that one before.....

AML

Lade Slippers and Iris

A client called Sarah this week and asked her to let me know that the Lady Slipper is in bloom at the house. She knows that I like to take pictures of flowers and she has a beautiful property to photograph. It is by far my favorite place to work.

Monday and Tuesday we worked in the rain. We are very grateful for the precipitation, however, I don't care to work in the wet and cold. And I forgot to mention muddy. That was our pay back for having such a dry spring. Hopefully it will even out a little better between enough rain and the sunny days.

photo by Vickie

What a great smile; showing off those pearly whites.

Wow! Ridley is crawling!!! He is such a little man, it seems like the time is jetting past and he is growing so fast. He laughs when he sees his silly Grandpa Jeff, surprise. Jeff is so proud of Vickie and Josh and "the perfect in every way" Ridley. He is quite a special gift, and yes, cute as a bug.

Anderson's Iris Garden

On Saturday afternoon my friend Paul and I went to Anderson's Iris Garden about 20 miles north of Stillwater. It is a privet home, however it is also a business. There are catalogs and you mark the ones you like as you go throw and turn in our order for shipping later when they are divided. It is really an amazing sight the first time you drive up the long drive way and see the over 100 yard garden with iris and peonies in bloom. There is a second area that is even larger behind a line of trees. It really is beautiful. I think there are a couple peonies that I would be interested in trying. The drive there and the area is cool too and it looks like it might be a nice motorcycle ride around a couple lakes. I think Jeff would enjoy all the different colors of German Bearded Iris as well as the ride. I would like to go back when the Day Lily's are in bloom.

Iris over my shoulder.

Jeff will be home around dinner time I'm guessing from the weekend with the MS150. It sounds like he is enjoying the experience and other than one small shower late in the afternoon the weather is looking great. One of my co-workers is riding in the 150, her Dad has MS.
So until he gets home I will play in the yard and see if I can find the hosta to take the place of the iris that I can't grow. It's going to be a great Sunday, hope everyone enjoys the day.

AML

Happy Birthday Kelly

Happy Birthday Kelly Lau.

We haven't heard from you in a while but we trust you are both doing well, settling into your new house and adjusting the new jobs, people and the area. Hope eveything is going well. We miss you too .

AML

D

Happy Re-birthday

Happy re-birthday big brother. Nice having you around.

AML

photo from google clip art

I thought that living in a fairly large city would spar me from the hazards of deer invaders, but this morning I was shown that it is a false security. I glanced out the dinning room window in time to see a doe walking down the street three houses down the north of us!. At least it was heading away from my hostas. Don't think I have a live trap large enough for her!

I saw another therapist for my hand on Wednesday. They both hurts so much, but I would say the left one is worse. The right hand isn't very strong so I tend to use the left one more, which could be part of the problem. She said there is a lot of scar tissue in the right hand and I have to rub and message it more.

And the grill question is over. Yesterday we picked up a Weber charcoal grill at Lows. If for some reason we want a gas grill we have the option of getting a little one but we both agreed that we wanted to go back to the flavor of charcoal. We are going to try lighter packs to see if we can avoid the lighter fluid taste.

Well the weekend has come and gone and we got about an inch of rain. I managed to get in a Sunday afternoon nap and a few scrapbook pages rather than going to the Iris Garden. The weather wasn't conducive for garden going. Hard to believe that it is June the way it feels. There is a chance that we will get some more rain tomorrow, and that's great, just wish it would get above 70. Next week Jeff is going to be a motorcycle escort for the MS 150 bike benefit that starts in Duluth and ends in Nowthen MN (not far from Char in Ramsey MN). I'll try again next weekend while he is gone to get to the garden. Maybe I will see if the girls would like to come with me.

Well till next time.....

AML

Tut tut, looks like rain!

Tut tut; looks like rain!

I'm not sure what is going to happen this weekend with the pending rain in the forecast. We need it back and they are saying by 1 PM we should be getting wet. Perhaps a museum or some window shopping. I am thinking that we will clean the rug in the living room and maybe I'll see if the girls would like to come over for enchiladas. I've never made it before but it doesn't look too hard. With the cool temperatures, the oven will lend a hand in heating the house.

The motorcycle ride for today was postponed until tomorrow, and Jeff doesn't think he is going to go. He is working on a project in the garage that needs to be finished soon. Oh my God, he's using power tools..... We were talking about going to the Iris garden tomorrow, think it would have to be in the afternoon when the rain stops. Jeff doesn't think he will be able to go there either. I'll keep you posted.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.....

A Great Summer Weekend

Last week was so long for a four day week. Not sure what made it feel like it was dragging on for six days. When Friday did finally arrive Jeff and I just hung out and watched the old movie, 'Little Big Man', it's still good almost 40 years later. We needed to rest up for everything we were trying to cram into the next two days.

On Saturday moring while I was having my hair cut Jeff was on a motorcycle ride with the hair dresses husband. The ride was longer than the hair cut, so I got a few things done around the house. We had planed to go to Andersons Iris Garden in Forest Lake, so I called to get the hours. On the recording it said they had the first bloom May25th so peek won't be for a couple weeks. The plans were then changed to making the trip on Sunday June 7th instead. We are going to take the cameras and I'm sure way many pictures that we will later delete because we have so many pictures of iris. Luck for us it is digital and doesn't cost anything extra to take a lot of Iris pictures. They also sell iris and day lilies, and I think a few other types of flowers. I was told that it is an elderly couple that are really into certain flowers and grow them on the farm. It's around 20 miles north, so not a big trip, but I have been told that I will be wowed. I just might find something that would be good for our garden too. Well, I'll let you know next week.

Now we had this extra time on Saturday because we didn't go to the Iris Garden so we went to a garden boutique. Jeff found an orchid that he liked and I picked up just two new shade plants, an orange perennial Foxglove and a Foamy Bell. Also a new weeding tool which I do enjoy using. Or should I say it makes the job a bit easier.

Later that day we went to the neighbors for his birthday party. This was the most I think I have ever seen Jeff drink! I was quite surprised actually and very amused. No he didn't act silly or do anything rude, but I could tell that he was feeling Mic golden.

Sunday morning we picked up Vickie and Ridley and went to the Minnesota Zoo. I liked the Grizzly Bears. I was a little disappointed they didn't have hippos or rhinoceros. I will have to go back because I didn't see everything and the animals are in habitat enclosures so sometimes they don't want to be seen. We didn't take the rail either and I think I would like to check it out.

After the zoo I meet up with Char and we went to see the movie UP in 3D. I personally preferred Monsters vs. Aliens, but Char thought UP had a better story. I cried during Up and only laughed During Monsters vs. Aliens, I like the laugh better than cry. But both were fun in 3D. There were more adults there than kids.

Josh and Vickie came out to Stillwater to join us for dinner. Char hung around for a little while and then had to run. We ended up having to replace the gas grill we had for the wedding. To fix it would have cost as much as a new gas grill, so we got a Smoky Joe for now until we decide what to do about a new full time grill. The gas is convenient and quicker, but the Charcoal give the food a distinct flavor. If anyone has any suggestions or comments feel free to chime in.