This is what our youngest son Justin has decided upon for his future for the next 4-6 years. We are very proud of him. This has not been an easy decision for him. There have been many obstacles that have come up in his way as he was working toward this goal. He feels at this point that this is the path for his life. He scored very high on the ASVAB which is very good in choosing his jobs. He goes the beginning of next week to Syracuse to make those selections. I know that this is not the official logo for the Air Force, but I liked this one. Please remember him in your prayers as he starts on this venture.

Sickness!

Over the last couple of weeks, Rachel and I took turns at being sick. I ended up missing several days of work and going to the doctor to get medicine. Neither of us had the H1N1 virus. She toughed hers out and I ended up running too high of a fever to just tough it out. I am starting to feel some better, but still have an asthmatic condition that just doesn't want to let go. Hopefully soon I will feel 100%. We are very thankful that no one else "caught" what we had. I had today off and spent part of the day outdoors taking care of some last minute preparations for winter. I covered over my rose bush and buried some peony roots under lots of leaves and cardboard. Hopefully they will make it alright through the winter. I wanted to get them planted, but the weather doesn't always cooperate, and today I ran out of energy. Got the snowblower running and cleaned out the gutters.

Worked hard to catch up the blog for the few that even look at it, but at least I have a record that I can look at once in a while. We are having Thanksgiving at our house and I will post pictures after that. If anything exciting happens in the mean time I will probably do another post.

This gray frog has been staring at us too long!

A couple of weeks ago, my brother-in-law Kendall had an accident with his van. We gave him one of our vans to use and this seat needed to be cleaned so it sat in our living room and just sort of stared at us. Several had commented about it looking like a frog. The frog has returned to his van and all is well at this point.

Halloween

Jordan was a little elephant for Halloween. He really wasn't too excited about the head wear. Tina and Chris took him out to one of Tina's friends house and then he went and got some candy at other places. He did alright.

Rachel's Birthday October 30th

Rachel's birthday was on a Friday and we went out to dinner at "The Ole Smokehouse" on Saturday. We had cake and ice cream on Friday evening. These are just some of the pictures from that evening.

We told Jordan to spread his legs apart to hit the golf ball, he got a little carried away.

September 30th!

On September 30th I reached the grand age of 50. I was on vacation from work that whole week, so as to not get a lot of hassle there. We had a family dinner on Tuesday of that week. We went to the Goose Landing Restaurant to celebrate. Then on Saturday of that week, my wife and sister had a party at our house for my birthday. I didn't take any pictures of my own party. This picture is what was waiting for me when I did return to work after my vacation. My coworkers would not let me take it down until the end of the day. They got to have a little bit of fun at my expense.

Sorry for the delay

Sorry for the delay in putting up pictures about Rachel's birthday weekend, but I have been not feeling well and maybe if I feel better tomorrow I can get those pictures up. Thanks for your patience!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Today is my wife's ?? birthday. I just want to take the time to wish her a wonderful day. She is working right now and we have plans for the weekend. She has been a wonderful companion for the last 26 years and she is my best friend. We share so much and think so much alike most of the time. God has truly blessed my life with her. I will be taking pictures this weekend and will post more later. Love you dear!!!! Here she is with her favorite little man!

This is for you Stacy

Here are pictures of the pictures that are hanging on our living room wall. Stacy, there aren't too many of you since I don't have too many of you! We have to do something about that.

More work around the house

We started painting in the master bedroom the other day but I had to shut down my computer and was not able to use it to show you what we had accomplished. This first picture of the sort of white wall is what has been in our bedroom for seven years. It is supposed to look like cracked paint.

This is the new look for our bedroom. The upper part of the wall is a light green color and the bottom is a darker, almost sage green. The border then has all of the colors of the bedroom in it to draw everything together. I think that my sister and I do some awesome work. Maybe we should start a business. What a laugh!

Trip to Burlington, Vermont

Today we took a trip to Burlington, VT for a doctors appointment. It was a beautiful day for a drive. The weather was sunny and there was a wind blowing pretty gusty, especially as we were crossing Lake Champlain on the ferry. Chris was not really thrilled about that. Anyway, after the appt. we went and had lunch at a place called "Nothing but Noodles". It was very good! Then we decided to go to Michael's Crafts. Found another picture frame to use somewhere. When we came out of Michael's this is what we saw on the Green Mountains. Look at that snow. As the sign says, "Wrong Way". It needs to get warmer not colder.

Finished product

Here are the pictures of the living room after we finished today with the hanging of pictures and putting stuff back for the decorations. The old chair in this picture will be delivered to our son and daughter-in-law's house tomorrow, hopefully!

















As you can see Rachel is relaxing in her new rocker/recliner. She wasn't thrilled that I got her in the pictures.

This is the new reclining couch. We really like it. Above the couch are the new picture frames that we got at Michael's Craft store. I printed pictures from ones that we have taken over the years to put in them.

Vacation! After pictures

It took about 6 hours, but we got it done in a day. Tomorrow the new furniture arrives and I will take some more pictures. Hopefully, we will have some things on the wall by then also. The color is called "Pecan Sandies" from Home Depot. It is a lovely soft brown. Check back tomorrow night for more pictures.

Vacation! Before pictures

For my vacation this time, it has become a stacation. My sister came and we have started a few projects this week at home. We painted the livingroom this week and these are the before pictures.

What we have been up to lately

We have been doing some canning. Tina, our daughter-in-law, wanted to have a garden this year. She thought that that would help them to save some money and also give satisfaction of growing her own food. Her garden was somewhat successful. To go along with her garden we purchased tomatoes and one night we canned 18 quarts and one pint of tomato sauce. Then this past Saturday, we canned 19 quarts of spaghetti sauce. Oh, we had so much fun with worms and rotten tomatoes. Tina likes the added protein.

These are just some of the quarts of sauce.

This is another project that got into the mix. Tina had a lot of cucumbers. We all decided to make some cinnamon crunch sweet pickles. I just finished them up this evening. They are a three day pickle. We got 10 pints of these "delicioso" pickles. We might think of sharing them with you sometime. Like I said, we had a lot of fun and family time together. Can't wait until next year!

Late summer blooms!

Here are some pictures of the rose that I bought Rachel for Mother's Day this year. We thought that we had lost it to some kind of bug, but I dusted it with rose powder and it came back and bloomed. It had two buds, but one was only half a blossom.

I was trying to get this certain little man to stand still while I took his picture with the rose but you know how kids are.

This is the hibiscus that we have had for many years. The flowers are just so big and beautiful.



Here is the rose about two days later in full bloom. It is so pretty.

Is it time to play football????

Here we go with the first round pick! Jordan will play whatever position you want. Of course, you will have to tighten up the helmet and shoulder pads. He calls it his helmer.

This one is for you Marian.

Oops, I tipped my head up too high.

Tackled by the air.

Day off from work

Here are a few pictures that I took with my cell phone on my day off. We went with Donnie and Wendy to Lake Placid for Irma Hudson's committal service. We went early and spent some time walking on Main Street and then went and sat by the water of Mirror Lake. It was a very beautiful day. Sorry the quality isn't the greatest.