Weekend Roundup

We had a rocky start to the weekend. It rained on Thursday afternoon and Erik had ridden his motorcycle up to the mall to see Meghan. He got caught in the rain on the way home and as he started to slow down to make the turn into our subdivision – the bike went down. He is ok except for some scrapes and the bike is rideable but doesn’t look nearly as pretty as it once did:





After he pushed it home (thankfully we only live a few feet from the entrance) and dried it all off he was able to start it again and he thinks its ok. He had just replaced a mirror that he lost when it fell while parked on the left side and now the mirror on the right side is gone! (This after he replaced the mirror on the left side of his truck and the rear view mirror on the inside fell down last week! I told him it was the universe telling him to stop worrying about the past and look to the future – I don’t know, sounded like sage advice! LOL )

So we got him patched up and then we headed down to the property for the weekend. We got a lot of rain down there too so the wet weather creeks were all running on the land. We spent at least an hour at one creek trying to figure out how to get the mule across without flooding the engine. First we tried building a rock bridge but that wasn’t going to work so we damed up one side and cleared debris out of the other so that the water would flow out of the spot where we needed to cross.

Later when we took Bill back to show him our feat of civil engineering, we discovered this clearing that I had seen on the Google Map but had never found on our land:



And just a few feet away:





And this huge boulder – it was at least 4 feet high!



Erik playing in the creek (taken from the top of the boulder)



We did quite a bit of work this weekend. We had planned to take some cedar trees down up by the house but with the rain the ground was too soft in the area that they were in so we decided to clear out the brush and trees around the house instead. It looks so much better now.

This week Bill is going to try to get our seed planted so that they can be ready for transplant outside in about a month. Even though the temperatures have been in the 70’s all week and we have had a very warm winter I don’t trust that it won’t frost once more before April 15 (our usual last frost date.) He also needs to get the cold frame built outside for the raised bed. We have some cement blocks that my sister gave us that we are going to use for the base and an old storm door for the top – the door is 8 feet tall! So we should have a nice raised bed and cold frame. I’m not sure if it is cool enough for lettuce which is what we were planning for the cold frame but I may start some in my house (if I can find a window with sun and that I can keep the cats out of!)

Look what Erik found

Erik just emailed me the link to an article about him that ran in the paper back in June:

http://stpeters.patch.com/articles/central-spartans-catcher-hopes-to-continue-career-in-college#photo-6496284

Unfortunately, he never got the chance to try out at Maryville but maybe this spring at SCCC.  :)

Grapes served in a champaign gobblet are very elegant!

One of the things we did do at the auction on Saturday was bid on some glassware and stone ware.  We ended up getting a full set of 8 wine glasses and 2 champaign gobblets as well as various tea pots, honey pots, pitchers etc all for $1!  Yes, you read that right the entire mess for a dollar!
Last night I was wanting some grapes so Erik said he would go get them for me.  He ended up putting them in one of the champaign gobblets - wow!  What an elegant way to serve grapes!  I felt all special as I ate my grapes and watched Sex in the City!  :)

Thanksgiving weekend

I had all my guys home for Thanksgiving! Erik arrived Tuesday late afternoon. He was dissapointed that he waited until after classes on Tuesday to come home since they had 20 minutes of class on Tuesday... he could have come home on the Thursday before!

Bill came in on Wednesday. He brought the turkey frier for the thanksgiving turkey.

Tom got in on Thursday at 11:30am. His friend Kasey picked him up at the airport and they stopped at Aunt Becky's before coming home. I didn't get any pictures on Thanksgiving day - was so busy cooking and enjoying all their company! But I did get this pic of Tom on Black Friday morning:



And then he decided to join the world of the living:



His kitty has very happy to see him.

Bill and I drove up to my sister's house on Friday night so we could be there for the Auction of mom's house on Saturday morning. We stopped at the outlet mall in Tuscola and I got a pair of jeans for Tom ($8.00) and an outfit for me to wear to Yule parties in the coming weeks.

We had a really nice day for the Auction even though it was a bit overcast and rain was threatening. Unfortunately, we had a lot of lookers and no buyers. No one even bid on the house! I was shocked! I don't know what we are going to do with it now. We really need to get rid of it - know anyone in East Central Illinois that wants a beautiful old victorian home on a corner lot in Fairmount?

We came home after the Auction and brought home Monicals Pizza since Tom had not gotten any in over a year. The boys started their exodus on Sunday morning - Tom left at 4:00am and got into Destin at 7:00pm. Bill left sunday evening and Erik left this morning at 4:45am.

The house is quiet again as Aubri is back at school and Austen is asleep. Just me and the cats for 3 more weeks till they all come back for Yule!

Erik's next deer

Yes, the boy got another deer this year. Doesn't quite seem fair that he was only in the stand about 20 minutes and here she came! Meghan went with him, they got up at 4:00am! Ate breakfast and were in the stand by 6:00. Just about 6:30 (daylight) he heard a noise off to his left. He told Meghan to be still and she tracked the deer till he had a good kill shot. She jumped and ran a few feet then doubled back to die right in front of the tree stand!

He spent the rest of the weekend processing her. She looks to have been a doe about 3 years old. We ate venison steaks on Saturday night and venison chili yesterday. The rest is in the freezer. Woo Hoo!

Homecoming Weekend

This past weekend was Homecoming at Francis Howell Central High School. Aubri went with her friends since she and her boyfriend ‘broke up’ a few weeks ago. Erik came home from college to take his girlfriend, who is a senior, to Homecoming. Here are some pics:



That's Aubri on the left.


All the girls that went together to Homecoming.


At the dance - she's on the right.


Erik and Meghan


Corsage time

They all looked so nice.

And here are some pictures of Erik and Meghan from a couple of weeks ago at a Cardinal game:



Go Cards!

Erik has Edmonds on the back of his shirt and Meghan has Molina on the back of hers – now I see why he likes her. ;)

In other news, my brakes went out over the weekend. Bill came up and checked them out.

The bad news – it’s the ABS sensor on the axle and you can’t replace just the sensor it is part of the entire axle assembly.

The good news, he used some JB weld and so far, so good, it’s holding. I’m hoping it can hold out at least till the end of the month when he would have time to replace it if it goes out again.

Upcoming weekend news: Bill’s family reunion is this weekend in Arkansas. I look forward to this every year so I’m excited that it’s this weekend. We will be leaving on Friday and back on Sunday then next weekend is Samhain at Brittony Woods! October is going by so fast!

What’s happening?

It’s been a lovely long Labor Day weekend and so much went on and so much is yet to come this week that I decided I would bunch it all into one post.  So, here goes:

I worked from home on Friday so I was there when Erik got home from College for the weekend.  I had made one of his favorite meals – Beef stroganoff.  He ate and we caught up on all that was going on at school and here at home then his girlfriend got off work and came over.  We sat and talked and pulled out old photo albums since she wanted to see him with blond hair (yes, he was almost completely white headed when we lived in Arizona!)

I got up the next morning and headed down to the property.  Bill had been busy putting the rest of the floor down in the shop and I wanted to see it. 

He worked on putting in more electrical wiring and putting up walls most of the rest of the weekend.

We had folks renting out the campground this weekend so we spend evenings down there with them around the camp fire.  I just love hanging out in the woods!  We put an air mattress up in the shop on Sunday night and slept there – our first night in the new place!  J  Bill also had dug the water line from the well.  We just need to get the well checked and run the pipe from it to the house.

As you can see in the picture – my car is fixed.  Bill’s neighbor John did the work.  He is very good – you can’t tell it was ever wrecked!

Saturday afternoon I was sitting in the window of the shop while Bill was working and I looked out and saw a bobcat loping through the front yard!  I didn’t want to spook it so I was trying to get Bill’s attention.  He looked out the window closest to him and could see it as well.  Unfortunately, it moved on before I could get a picture.  It’s pretty cool to think we have such a beautiful creature living on our land.  J

I came home yesterday afternoon to spend some time with Erik before he went back to school.  We went to get pizza at the place where all the kids work.  Then he had to pack and leave when we got home.  *Sigh* I do miss him.

Tom called that evening.  He was telling me all about what he is learning at AIT (well, not everything but the general coolness of it according to him.)  He really likes this and can’t wait to get to Eglin AFB to start the second part of his training.  He will have a lot more freedom on base there and will probably be taking his car and motorcycle with him to Florida. 

Aubri came in to my room last night to have me rub her back.  She has had a back ache for a few days now.  We had thought maybe she had just slept wrong but it’s getting worse and when I was rubbing her back she has a really tender spot.  We have a doctor’s appt this afternoon to find out what is going on with that.

JAVA class is kicking my butt!  I used to be really good at math but that was 30 years ago!  I did all my homework then checked my answers with the back of the book – I don’t get the same things.  I rechecked my math and I just don’t get it.  This may be a really long semester!

This Thursday is Aubri’s 16^th birthday but since I have class we will be taking her and her friends to Sky Zone on Friday for her party.  Erik is coming home for the weekend and will be going too.  I’m hoping that Bill will be able to come up for the weekend and maybe we can go up to my mom’s house and finish getting my sister’s stuff moved out so we can sell it.  We really need the money and we really need to get rid of the house.

I’m taking another week off from cooking.  I have so many leftovers I need to eat up.  Aubri bought some things to put in the freezer last week and we have to move some to the outside freezer as I had so many leftovers in the way.  J

Ok, enough rambles – on with the week.

The house is strangely empty

Erik left for college last Wednesday evening and ever since the house has been really quiet and empty.  Not that Austen and Aubri don’t make noise but when they are both at work the house is really quiet and empty.  *Sigh* I went from having all four home from April till the end of May, to now only the two are left. 

Tom’s kitty is really lonely since she had adopted Erik as her person but now he’s gone too – do I need to get the cat a depression counselor for abandonment issues?  LOL Austen has tried to take up the slack with the kitty and Aubri loves her all the time too.  She avoids me – I guess that’s because she was picking on my cat when she first came to the house and I had to discipline her (put her in her crate for time out) and I probably smell like my cat Stormy as well.  They tolerate each other now, but if Miss Kitty gets too close to Stormy, Stormy will still hiss at her.

Erik is planning to come home this weekend for Labor Day weekend.  I am going to be home Friday night but will have to get up Saturday morning and leave to go to the country as we have folks renting the place this weekend and Bill needs some help with all that. 

One flew out of the nest

My youngest son leaves for college today.  He will be caravanning up to Northwest Missouri State University with his best friend Ben and Ben’s parents in a couple of hours.  They were supposed to leave about 5:00 so I would be home before he left but Ben’s mom took the afternoon off so that they could leave early.  A good plan since it takes about 5-6 hours to drive up there from St. Louis but that meant that I didn’t get my hug this morning before I left for work.

They boy was up early enough but he and his girlfriend (yes, he now says she is his girlfriend) went out for breakfast at 5:30 before she had to be at school at 7:00.  So I had him meet me for lunch and I got my hug then.

That’s two out and two to go…. Sigh…. This parenting thing is hard.