Beautiful Day in Our Neighborhood

Finally a break from all the rain, heat and humidity.   In fact it's a beautiful day.  The sounds of lawn mowers are inching up on that one nerve cell.  But I guess when you work and it rains you have to mow when you can.
I would like to thank our former contractor who insisted we had to put on a front porch.  We saw right away how much nicer the front of the house looked but as each year goes by we appreciate it more and more.  It's so nice to sit out here when the weather isn't to hot or windy.
Of course the invention of the Kindle, Smart Phones and Notebooks helped make it more enjoyable.

The Generator Worked

Last night's storm was one more in a never-ending list.  I'm afraid we're getting to used to them and when a really bad one comes along, we won't take the correct precautions.  Don't get me wrong, these storms haven't been anything to sneeeze at.
We lost our electricity several times last night.  The Generator kicked on each time.  There were two ways we used to see if we were running on electricity instead of generator .  If I was close to a front window at the garage lights across the street.  If they were on, we were on electric,  if not, generator.  If I was close to a faucet
I could turn the handle.  If water came out we had power.  If not we were running on the generator.  Ron hadn't plugged the well pump into the generator.  The joys of not being on city water...no electricity...no water.
We thank God for His grace after each storm passes.

Summer, You Say?

June seventeenth and I'm sitting here in my sweat pants, Daymart thermal shirt, tee shirt with a wool shawl wrapped around me.  I think there's something wrong with this picture.  It was in the eighties yesterday and this morning it's sixty.

The sun is shining, sort of.  The gearheads are out trying to be organ donors.

Looks like this is going to be a Linus Quilt sewing day.

Another Saturday, Another Party.

This party was Iin Milwaukee for a nephew's high school graduation.  Mikkel is my husband's Godson besides his nephew.  To mark the occasion three out of the seven brothers (one is the grad's father) and one of the two sisters were in attendance.  Along with wives, kids and and their spouses and kids.  This nephew is close to the bottom of the niece and nephew ages.
Five of our grandchildren are older than the grad. We had a nice drive there and back with minimal traffic problems.  We've decided we found the perfect times to travel the Tristate Toll road.
We really enjoyed visiting with people we don't get to see often enough.  Cemented plans for John and Pat's visit next month.  Shopping at Yorktown Centre and dinner at The Weber Grill. Can't wait.  I can almost taste that Weber grilled steak.
The rain held off til we were home.  The big storm split when it got to us and went north and south around us.
Sloppy Joes are on the stove, thanks to Ron's assistance.  He chopped the onion and garlic and washed the dishes.
Happy Father's Day to all the Dads.

Last Night's Weather

This will be a quick blog today but I wanted our friends and family to know we've survived the big storm.  We're thankful the hype was bigger than the resulting storm.  We got two inches of rain and some wind.  The only damage was to Ron's chair.  You see we have DIRECTV and when it storms, we loose the signal.  The Chicago Blackhawks were playing the Boston Bruins in the first game of the playoffs.  Need I say more?
We didn't loose our electricity.  Been almost a year since we had the generator installed and the only time it has run is on Saturday mornings when it automatically starts up to run a test.
Hope everyone else fared as well as we did.

Catching Up with the Partying

Since we've been back from Arizona we've been to New Jersey, Missouri and Wisconsin with another trip to Wisconsin next weekend.  So it's felt good to relax for the past couple weeks and just stay home.  Until last Sunday that is.
Our son's youngest graduated from 8th grade so they had a party for her.  As luck would have it a dear friend of ours is going to turn 75 yoa on Friday.  His lady friend decided to throw him a surprise party on Sunday, too.
But they were kind to us old folks.  The granddaughter's party was from noon to 4 pm and our friend's party was from 4:30 till 8 pm in separate towns but not far apart so it worked out perfectly.
At the grad party we got to see our son and his wife and two of his children along with his in laws whom we both adore.  His mother in law and I exchange emails everyday.
At the birthday party we got to see our friend and his lady friend and his children and their spouses and their children.  We've know his children all their lives so we feel like family and they treat us as such.
While we were there we started planning for shiskabobs later on this summer.  It's a favorite meal that their mother tried out on us all many years ago and remarkably we all loved it.  Since her death we try to get together at least once a summer and make her recipe.
So now we're taking it easy this week for our one day trip to Milwaukee next weekend.  Whew, it's rough being a social butterfly.