Wind, Rain, Sleet, Slush, Hail and Thunderstorms...

...and that was just in the space of 15 minutes last night!

I'm a bit behind, I was going to write last Monday about the trip to the folks but here it is, Monday again already.

Last weekend I went up to the folks house for the day Sunday. Took Mercury along with me for company. I recall the days when I used to have kids and a wife but Merc is quieter and less demanding so it's not all bad.

While I was there I spent some time talking with my dad and some time working on Mom's computer to help her solve some problems. Had dinner of chicken and green beans and spent some time outside with Merc throwing the stick. Left for home about 6 and took my time getting home cuz there wasn't gonna be anybody there anyhow......it was a nice sunny day and the fall colors were just about at peak so I enjoyed the ride up and back again. Could've only been better if it'd been warm enough to take the bike instead of the truck.

During the week last week the truck decided to give me more problems, (Just spent 300 bucks fixing it the week before) and the starter started giving me trouble. After crawling underneath the truck a couple times to bang on the starter to get it to fire up I decided to take it back to floyds Friday morning and have him put a new starter on it. That cost me anouther 150 bucks I didn't have.

We had planned on going up to camp for the last time this past weekend but the weather report was less than promising so we ended up staying home. It rained most all day Saturday and Sunday until it got ugly and started raining hail last night so it was a less than ideal weekend for camping. I guess that means next weekend I'll be heading up to put things away for the winter. Crank the camper down and pull up the hoses until it starts to warm up again in the spring.

Last night on a whim I decided to shave off the beard growth that I'd been growing since July 4th. so there's somebody different looking back at me in the mirror today........According to the wife I look younger but I'm not so sure. Don't feel younger, that's for sure.

Not much else to say at the moment so no sense in forcing it.

Tc

The Last Weekend At The Castle for 2008?

Maybe, the weather outlook for the next week or two ain't looking all that good, but we're in Michigan so you never know.....

I've been trying to sit down since I got home Sunday night and write a bit but it's been a blah week and I'm still fighting the effects of the cold or whatever it was.....

It was so nice Friday afternoon, high 70's with lots of sunshine, that I decided to head up to the castle for the weekend. A last minute decision. I packed quickly and was on the road by 6:00pm with my two 4-legged buddies. Because of the time of year by the time we got up there the sun was already setting so I got lights turned on, stuffed opened up and organized, a fire started and then made a meal of baked beans and weiners. After eating it was just a sit around the fire and take it easy kinda evening. We went to bed fairly early cuz it had been a long week and I was beat.

Saturday morning we all got up about 8:00 and took a hike around for about an hour. After we got back I really wasn't hungry enough to make a breakfast so we had some orange juice and oatmeal cookies. After eating and sitting in the warm sun for awhile I grabbed my shovel and headed down to the meadow to finish digging on the medicine wheel. After a couple hours of hard labor I decided to take a break and head up to the lodge for an ice cream break. It was almost supper time by the time I finished the digging part of the project. Now the next step is the put in the seperators and start collecting rocks, either next time this year or next spring.

For supper I had a bowl of canned chili with some bread and butter. After supper I got the guitar out for awhile and did some pickin'. Once my fingers were raw I put it away and spent the rest of the evening next to the firepit listening to Cheryl Wheeler and Randall Bramblett on the Ipod.

Sunday morning we all slept in a bit and it was 9:00am before I started making breakfast of scrambled eggs and corn beef hash. I ate what I could and gave the rest to my buddies.

Then I started working on a different project, the steps from the campsite down to the meadow using some old railroad ties. I went as far as I could with that project (needed my chain saw) and then fired up the lawnmower (after about 50 trys......) did some mowing down in the meadow area for a couple hours. After I was done mowing I sat down in the chair in the sun and snoozed for awhile.

After the nap it was time to pack up, close up and head for home. It was about 6:30 by the time we headed down sippy road for home. It had been a nice two days with lots of sunshine and warm air, beautiful indian summer weather for sure.

And that's pretty much it for now. The weather cooled off monday and now they're predicting highs in the 50's for the next week or two. If the weather is still decent the weekend after this one then I'll spend the weekend camping and then drop down the camper and put everything away until next spring. If it's not nice.....well then it's just pack it all away until next spring.

Tc

Cooler Days And Hints Of Color

Well, nothing really definite or important to say but thought I'd give a bit of an update on things in general.

Been fighting a lousy cold for the last week or more and it just won't go away. Kinda takes what little energy I have right now just to ignore it and keep truckin'.

This past weekend was spent close to home for the most part. I still need to put the last coat of paint on the backside of the garage but I'm beginnning to worry I might not get the chance if the weather doesn't hold a couple days of Indian summer somewhere in there in the next couple weeks.

Last weekend, the 27th, 28th, I went up to camp by myself. I took Mercury and Bailey and we headed up on Saturday morning cuz the weather was just beautiful. Almost 80° and sunny. It felt like the middle of July. We got up there early afternoon and I spent the afternoon working on the wheel of life and did some raking and general clean-up until about 5. I headed up to the lodge at that point and had the young lady there make me a hamburger for supper and one of her great chocolate malts for desert then it was back to camp. I spent about 3 hours playing guitar, until my fingers couldn't take it any longer and then I put on some Cheryl Wheeler and kicked back around the fire until midnight or so....

I woke up Sunday morning and overnight it'd gone from summerlike to fall like. It was cloudy with a misty rain and cool, barely 60°. I went up to the lodge for some breakfast and talked to Mark E for a bit. Had the cook make me a couple extra pancakes to take back for the dogs and then headed back to camp. I wandered around a bit, not really wanting to head home but not wanting to spend the day working in the rain either. Ultimately the weather made up my mind for me when it started to rain at a pretty good pace so I closed things up and we headed back to town.

Today was a day to mark on the calendar too I guess. After 4 or 5 months of tore up road and all the hassles that entailed we came home tonight to the first layer of pavement! woohoo. They'd been putting down sidewalks and curbs the last couple weeks so I knew we were getting close finally but now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and after 20+ year of bitching about not having sidewalk where Hopkins is vacated we now have nice white cement to walk on when heading west. Too bad the kids are all grown up now and not around to ride their bikes on it. With any luck and decent weather I'd say they'll be done this week so I'll have to get out there and get a pic or two of the nice new road and sidewalks.

Time to take a slug of O.J. and head for bed. Damn cold.

Tc