Red Sox vs. Twins

Will invited me to join him at a Twins game Tuesday night. They were playing the Red Sox. At the time of my birthday a year ago, Will took me to a Twins/Yankees game, but we got rained out in the 5th inning, so I was eager to see an entire game at the new Target Field in downtown Minneapolis. It is a very nice stadium, and Will had gotten some terrific seats for us through a lottery system at General Mills. The food options were impressive too.

Here is local hero Joe Mauer at bat for the Twins. I believe he went 2 for 4 or 2 for 5 for the night. Alas, the Red Sox won for the second night in a row.

But what's not to like about having a chance to see a baseball game with your son, even if the Twins lost? As you can tell by this picture, it was a good night for the two of us. You can also tell I need to lose some weight!!

Sister and Co.

Ron and Paula came to visit us at the lake this past week. They had not been up here for several years, so it was an extra nice visit. One day, we went to town to see what kind of trouble we could get into. I had never visited the bar that displays the world record muskellunge (musky) fish, so I thought that would be fun. Of course we decided to wet our whistles while we were there, and since they had pull tabs, I thought we should see if we could be lucky too. Naturally, the winning tickets were all for small amounts, so we kept trading them back in for more tickets, and in the end, we failed to walk out with any winnings. We did have lots of laughs though.

I asked Paula to "hold up" the record musky. If you click on the picture, you can see a larger version and read about that big fish if you want. You can also see my delightful sister's big smile.

There were lots of other critters and fish on display too, so Kathie posed with this chipmunk on her shoulder.

Kathie's mom chose the ring-necked pheasant (or maybe we coerced her into choosing it).

After enjoying her first-ever serious fishing outing with us here some years ago, Paula wanted to go out again. She caught a few, including this really nice bass. I think you can tell she enjoyed that. She still needs to work on baiting her own hooks, however. She didn't much like the idea of handling leeches or worms or even minnows.

She found a new fishing hat in town. I think she said it was made of paper, which would naturally appeal to the artist in her. However, she said it kept stretching, so that by the time she wore it awhile, it was generously covering her head and ears.

Sarah and Josh came over for the weekend, while Paula and Ron were here, and they went fishing with us too.

Josh and Sarah have been married for almost one full year now, and they are as happy as ever. It can be hard to keep up with their playful banter and jokes.

Making s'mores has become something of a tradition here. This is good for me, because although I don't much care for s'mores, I do love Hershey's chocolate bars.

I couldn't resist including this picture. My sweet wife is naturally photogenic, I think. I love her and I love this picture of her and I love the way it shows how happy her retirement is.

Paula loves our screened-in porch. She played cards there quite a few times while we visited and told stories. She said that if she lived here, she would turn the space into an art studio. I said that would probably mean giving up the screens, and she sighed and said, "I suppose."

Everyone enjoys spending time on the lower deck, especially when it is warm. However, Paula didn't seem to understand that it was warm. (When she was young, she often curled up in a big purple quilt that our mother made, even on very warm days. I think she just likes the coziness.)

Here are all our guests just before Sarah and Josh headed back home. I hope we can all be together again soon.

Four Generations

I promised to post an official four generation picture. Here is the first one. I've always enjoyed photographs like this. I have one of myself with my son Will and my father and grandfather. These women all look terrific, don't you think?

Here is another taken outside.

Then we took some others just for fun. Here is one with Uncle Travis added to the mix.

And one of the twins with Maia.

And finally, one in which the proud stepdad gets to be a part.

Farewell to One of Our Red Pines

Our lake home came with a pair of red pines right next to the corner of our screened-in porch. One of them fell in a windstorm the first summer we were here, actually while we were still moving in and getting settled. That left a snag/stump and a full-fledged tree, which has done fine until recently. Last year, it started to show signs of dying. Its crown of needles became more and more diminished, and we started worrying about the possibility of it falling on our house or falling and having a root ball tear up the corner of the porch. So, we decided to take it down this year. I hated to do it, but we have lots more red pines growing all around us in the woods, and we have planted more, so I guess this is all for the better.

Here I am looking at the snag after it was dropped. One of the two men I hired is about to drag the snag away from the base of the full tree with his pickup.

Then came the main event. This sequence of pictures shows the tree being cut and falling.

Kathie made a little movie while I was snapping the sequence above.

Rather than waste the wood, I decided to have the tree cut into timbers and lumber that son Will can use in building his timber-framed structures on his property up in northern Minnesota. The logs were loaded onto a truck and hauled to a nearby mill.

A couple days ago, I picked up all of the timbers and lumber and stood it up in the garage to dry until I can haul it up to Will's property near Grand Marais, MN. The timbers in the foreground are 8x8 timbers about 9' long. Most of the rest of it is full 1" lumber that can be used for roofing and other purposes. It is fairly damp still, so the garage is very fragrant. I feel good about not wasting a resource like this. In a couple of weeks, I'll stack the lumber with spacers for further drying and to insure that it does not warp or bow. Later this month, Kathie and I will haul it north and assist Will and Sandy in erecting one of the timber-framed structures Will and I worked on a couple years ago. You can read about that here, if you are interested.

With the red pine gone, the house looks a little different or naked, but it is surely safer in the event of a storm.

Welcome Penelope

It is with much joy that we share news of the arrival of our sixth grandchild. This is Penelope Clover, who was born on July 30th to Rob and Carrie. She was also welcomed by her sister, Eleanor, who picked out her middle name quite some time ago.