2-Year-Olds and Their Pool Time

Whew!  Wow, it's been a little on the scorchy side in our neck of the woods!   It was definitely time to break out the toddler pool for both of my favorite two-year-olds.

I filled the pool with rural water (WOW, it was c-c-c-c-COLD) and it didn't warm up quickly.

But, that didn't slow either one of these boys down.  After a couple of seconds of "testing out the waters", they dove right in!

 The water started out nice and clear, but after our two little sweeties getting IN.... and OUT.. in, out, in, out, in, out (on and on this went), the water ended up being quite murky.  I thought I was being "smart" and placing the pool where the grass was relatively non-existent, due to the removal of the big evergreen, as to not damage our lovely greens.  Nope... au contraire.  Lesson learned.  :-)

After all of the pool time, Doodlebug was in dire need of a bath.

Oh... and of course, he also found many treasures (aka "sticks").

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband and outstanding Daddy!  We love you!!!

The day was "filled" with lots of R&R, fishing, video-gaming, hanging out, plus a dandy fish fry.

New Fine Fuzzy Friends

Throughout our ongoing projects, we've found many little fine fuzzy friends; caterpillars!  Mostly, we have found these black and orange ones with fuzzy "hair".  
I found some in my flowers and Connor found a bunch when he was moving wood chips.  He kindly made a "home" for his in the nearby ground cover.

He brought one inside to show Ramsey.  Ramsey wasn't sure what to think but he did end up "petting him nice".   Connor later brought another one inside the house to show Ramsey that was green and hairless.  Ramsey did NOT like that one and flicked it!!!

I just had to share because I hadn't seen a caterpillar in YEARS!   Perhaps I haven't paid attention to the natural glories of nature lately.

Now, if I could only get some nice pictures of our hummingbirds!!!

And the Projects Continue!

All of the tree-trimming, cutting, chipping, and stump-grinding produced more projects for us, namely hauling branches and cutting them up (some for firewood, some for kindling, and some to chip), stacking firewood, spreading wood chips, burning branches, etc.

The first day of the project for Connor (last Friday), he proved to be a CHAMP!  For nearly the entire day, he feverishly hauled large pieces of cut-up tree trunks and branches and restacked them by the garage to dry out and be split for firewood.  Eric had cut the pieces into slightly more management chunks for Connor to lug.   I was working, so I didn't get in-progress pictures!.  Connor got a lot of 'Atta-Boys' and praise from us for being such a hard worker!

He moved all of this wood from the downstairs concrete patio up to the garage niche (two neatly-stacked rows):

but had to leave the "really big stuff" (that weighed A TON!).

Here are my boys on Sunday, continuing the work:

Everyone got involved, even Ramsey and Riggs!   Riggs picked up sticks, chewed on some, and ran off with others.  :-)    Ramsey had fun "raking" alongside Big Brubby Connor.   

Ramsey's raking didn't last too long, as he was more intrigued with playing with the sticks (they were dandy light sabers) and pretending hie was "King of the Stump".   Connor, however, remained focused.

Eric and Connor burned as much as they could, to include pine branches, needles, etc.  Burning the freshly-cut pine branches created massive "smoke bombs" which, as smelly as they were, were actually quite impressive.

And, because we were busy "cleaning up shop"yard-wide, we had two benches that were in not-so-good shape.  "Demo King Connor" happily took on the challenge of annihilating them in order to burn the wood and recycle the metal.

This kid LOVES to demo.  Ever since we took sledge hammers and axes to some old wooden furniture a few years ago, he begs me to find something he can smash!  Here ya go, Bucko... I was happy to oblige!

Riggsy was helping, once again.

Here are the brubbies taking a much-needed break.

There is still more to do, as our yard is full of huge holes from the stump removal.   And, soon the ground for Ramsey's play set will be leveled out.   Ah, the start of the next project!

Lordy, Lordy... Holy #@$%, Now I Am 40!

Yes, I just basically shouted that from the rooftops, didn't I!?!?   On the 4th, with my three favorite boys, I celebrated my 40th birthday.      All I can say is... WOW... time flies!
In reality, it feels like a small rite of passage and I'm happy to own the number.

Our day was quite low-key, with some nice R&R (ok, I did do some laundry), watching a movie, and a nice supper out to indulge in some of my favorite culinary spoils.

Our first family selfie.... lol

I'm getting older, but I have many blessings to count each day.  :-)

My Buddy, My Pal... My Jungle Gym

Riggsy rarely sits still for pictures, so when I had the opportunity (and he didn't come running TO me and he just hung out instead), I took it!

I'm not sure if Riggsy is smiling here or what....!?!?

Mr. Riggsy is kind and patient with Ramsey.  They're buddies even when Ramsey is sitting on him (while playing his Kindle or with his Star Wars toys), is grabbing his tail, or climbing all over him like a jungle gym (Big Brubby Connor isn't the only one who is used as a fun piece of playground equipment!).

Precious moments.  :-)

Another Bounty from the Lake

The boys brought in yet another bountiful catch from just some straight-up dock fishing.  ~ Not too shabby!

Eric and Connor caught a nice 18" walleye, some large white bass, crappies, and... dun dun dun... a bluegill!   They are hoping that this means the bluegill spawn might be a bit early this year (typically it's the third week in June or so).   They're also pleased that the crappies seem to be coming back from the "incident" this lake had a few years ago (thousands of crappies died and washed ashore from contamination and oxygen shortages due to some major run-off).

The next night, I fried up the walleye and some of pan fish.  The rest were made into delicious spicy fish cakes.  Yum!  

Last night, Eric caught a jumbo perch and a walleye.  They're still hanging out in the fish basket in the water, awaiting company in order to keep a filleting session efficient.    I'm anticipating a fishing night out soon myself to reel in some fine finned friends!

A Better View.... We Axed for It!

Wuh wuh wuh... bad pun, right?   :-)
On the brighter side (literally), we finally have a full view of the lake now and a more manicured, less disheveled-looking yard!
After seven years of "talking about it", we finally had our neighborhood "tree guy" remove some trees, shrubs, and trim large branches.

He removed a dead evergreen from the back of the property, some volunteer trees that were mixed into the evergreens that divided our property and the neighbor's (which were also overlapping and killing our nice adolescent oak tree), another volunteer that was calling the lilac bush area home, cleaned up the back corner of the property (where there were large overgrown sucker and volunteer trees - a total mess!), and trimmed a myriad branches from our other large trees (alleviating issues with branches on the rooftops of the house and garage, plus giving our other neighbors relief from branches that hung low onto their property).

But... the "piece de' resistance" (and a seemingly daunting task) was the removal of the 30'ish foot evergreen that was located smack dab in front of our house, impeding on a large part of our lake view.   Let's call her "Lola".  She was a large, full, and beautiful tree and it was a bittersweet decision.    RIP Lola.  Thank you for your sacrifice.  Your wood will be enjoyed for many future campfires.

To put it into perspective, Nick, our tree guy, is not a small dude; he's probably about 6'2".

We hadn't ever had a view of the lake from our bedroom and most of the view from the kitchen and dining area was non-existent.    From the inside of the house, it's like night and day!  We love our "new view".

Old View:

(This picture is of Connor and his walleye in 2012.)

(Here is Eric and a big ol' carp that fought like a rock star - which, incidentally, got thrown back into the lake.)

New View:

From the Lake... Old view:

New View:

Yes, we have a flag pole!  There was never any reason to have a flag flying before, since it couldn't be seen from anywhere.  I'll be buying a flag, a cable, and a solar spotlight soon to show our patriotism (sub-project #2).

Sub-project #1: Much of our Memorial Day weekend was spent dragging large tree branches into a pile (Nick the Tree Guy's chipper broke down towards the end - darn it!), dragging the larger limbs and cutting them into firewood, and burning some of the dead branches.  Sidenote: Ramsey was in "stick heaven" with "treasures" being found everywhere.

Nick still needs to come back this week to remove the stumps (and chip the leftover branches that couldn't be burned - once his chipper is fixed) and then we can mark this project wrapped.

Next project:  Leveling ground and then installing a new wooden play set for Ramsey!  Whoo hooo!
That project is already turning into much more than we had bargained for.  But, then again, don't they all?!?!