Continuing Site Improvement

I was able to finish the assembly of the second gazebo and the site changes are looking pretty good. Below is a shot of the site as it exists following the latest addition:

 

and from another angle:

A carpet is being delivered today that is similar to the one we already have that is being used in the first gazebo. The design is a little different, but the colors are the same. We also have some furniture for the second gazebo that we will pick up tomorrow. This gazebo will be the outside eating area and will have our table and chairs. Along with these changes, we have a few pavers that I will place down today that will go under the grill and under the front steps. The site is beginning to look like a permanent setup. We only hope that everything goes according to our plan. The last item will then be the artificial grass (or other ground covering) to place around the gazebos that will eliminate most of the gravel/dirt areas that we walk on all the time.

We stopped at Michael's last night to pick up my latest cross stitch that was being framed. Below is a shot of this new one that will be my entry next year in the Teton County Fair:

(Click on picture to enlarge)



It will be re-wrapped and held until we arrive back in Jackson in the Spring. In the meantime, I have another one that I started that is more difficult than the one I just completed. I do like the Indian themes and as long as I can find interesting ones, I'll continue to do those.

Josie is off to work now for her final day this week. Her experience at the store yesterday was not as much fun as the other two days, so we will hope for a better day today...

Weather Change

Our nice, very warm weather changed yesterday. The high was "only" 71, but the low was 56 and it felt cooler than that. It made it a little bit tougher to get the work done outside with the winds also picking up in the late morning. Anyway, I did get the other chair assembled and the small end table that we purchased to use under the gazebo. I also moved the gazebo back further into the site and as Josie and I looked at how much available space was left, we decided to purchase a second gazebo to help fill the space. That, plus the fact that the money we would save not buying artificial grass for that extra space could pay for the extra (larger) gazebo.

I began assembling the other gazebo but had to wait for Josie to come home from work before setting it up for the top canopy. I didn't get a shot of the project yesterday, so that update will appear tomorrow.

My source of income for the  next several months can now be revealed - unemployment from the state of Wyoming. I discovered when we returned to the Lodge this past summer that one of the other front desk workers applied for, and received, unemployment benefits last winter. I thought I would try to do the same, and I was accepted for those benefits. Wyoming is among the top 10 states in the country for benefits, while AZ ranks near the bottom. You can actually apply for the benefits in any state you have had income during the required quarters, so it was a no-brainer to apply for Wyoming. The reason it took longer to get approved was that I had to join the local (AZ) Workforce Center before getting approved. They want to know that I will be searching for work here in AZ while collecting benefits. Sure. :)

Josie's second day at work was very good and today she will have her first day at the shop where she used to work. It looks like our winter season is taking shape and we are excited about spending the rest of our season here at Lake Pleasant...

Adding Furniture

Sunday, I finished the gazebo with Josie's help, and showed a couple photos of that project. Yesterday was allocated to assembling the furniture we bought. We got a love seat, swivel chair and lounge chair plus a coffee table at Home Depot. I only did the love seat, table and swivel chair before Josie got home from work. The other piece wasn't done since it looked like the gazebo would be too crowded if I did all the pieces. I thought maybe we might take back the other chair if she agreed it would be too much for the gazebo. Here is a shot of the way it looks now:

and a closer look at the completed furniture:

Today I will finish the other chair and figure out how to set everything up so that it doesn't look so crowded. I also took detailed measurements yesterday of the area where we had planned to put down artificial grass carpet. The cost for that project is a lot more than we planned, so we will go back to the drawing board on that solution.

Josie's first day back at work went well and she will be working 8 AM until 2 PM each of the four days she will work every week. That's 24 hours total - plus more hours over holidays - but she is back in the groove again, doing what she loves to do.

Today is another day assembling furniture and also trying to figure out where to go from here as far as finishing up the site. We'll see how that goes...

Site Additions

The work started yesterday on making our site a better place to enjoy. Following a trip to Lowe's where we investigated different "carpet grass" options, I started to assemble the gazebo we purchased the day before at Home Depot. There was another gazebo that Lowe's was selling that was a bit larger - 10 x 12 vs ours at 10 x 10 - but it was three times more expensive and not worth the difference. We found some good options for the grass, but need exact measurements before we can do anything there.

Josie did laundry while I grappled with the instructions and assembling of the gazebo. The instructions were very good and it actually came together without a lot of problems. The main issue was trying to assemble parts where I could have used a second person, but Josie had more important things to do - her laundry for starting work today.

Here are a couple shots of the current projects. Starting with the completed gazebo:

We used our existing outdoor carpet for inside the gazebo and we will place some artificial grass around the site. It should be ready to go in a few days. Hopefully, we can have another update tomorrow.

Today I will tackle the furniture assembly. This shot gives you some idea of the boxes that I need to empty today:

Josie's big day is today as she kicks off her winter commitment to Phoenix Flower Shops. She will work the Production Center today and tomorrow which should be short days - until 2 PM. She is getting ready to leave now, so that will do it for today...

Bike Ride Around Resort

We felt the need to get some exercise yesterday so we took a bike ride around the Resort. There aren't any "specific" bike trails, so we improvised. We started out riding out the entrance road and down the side street along the southern edge of the campground. The road didn't go very far before we ran into a gate that forbid any further travel, and this is a shot of the desert from this dead end road:

We turned around and headed back into the campground and rode to the southern boat launch area. There are two launches, this one and a northern one that is close to the Marina entrance. This shot is of Josie riding down the road to the launch area, where you can see the Marina and also see how low the lake level is at this time of the year:

This a shot of the Marina looking toward the northern  launch area where we walked last week:

We also rode down the street to the entrance - which was gated - to the Desert Outdoor Center. This is a building that is closed to the public except for planned/scheduled events that are mostly for schools and events such as weddings, business meetings and other similar gatherings.

The ride didn't cover as much as we wanted to ride, so we rode around the streets of the campground and ended the ride after almost 7 miles. We are going to ride to both launches next time so we can get more "physical" riding on those hills leading to the launches. It was still a good ride, and we were glad we got the exercise.

Since we are committed to this space through this winter, and have applied for an "annual" designation to use this same site each winter, we went to Home Depot to check out some outdoor furniture and enclosures. We ended up buying a gazebo and an outdoor furniture set that will definitely provide incentive for us to maximize our earnings for the rest of the winter months. The day today will be spent assembling those items and, hopefully, we will get some shots of our "updated" site for tomorrow's entry...

Dinner With Family

We received a phone message while we were shopping at Costco yesterday morning for a few items that are best purchased there. The message was from Paige Reed, the wife of our nephew David, who lives in the Portland, OR area. She was staying with Brian and Amy while visiting a friend in the area. We were invited to dinner at Brian and Amy's to have chili, and George and Cheryl were also invited. It was an unexpected invitation but a welcomed one. We have been looking forward to visiting with our family since we arrived back in AZ.

It was close to 5 PM when we arrived at Amy and Brian's and George and Cheryl had already arrived. It was nice visiting with Paige whom we haven't seen in probably six or seven years. David was home in Oregon taking care of their daughters, Kendall and Addison. We sat at the table for quite awhile, visiting, and I took this shot of the group before we moved outside to the patio to continue our visit:

It was a wonderful visit and a great way to see George, Cheryl and their family to kick off our winter visit to the area. Brian and Amy have very busy schedules with their kids - Jesse and Jason - who are involved in several sports and outside activities. They were doing their own thing while we old folks visited. We will be visiting again - if not sooner, by Thanksgiving when Brian and Amy will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner for their family, Josie and I, and Cot and Lois who are friends that we haven't seen since last year.

The day was further enhanced with the news of Josie's schedule. She will be working 4 days a week, beginning this Monday. She will work Mon-Tue at the Production center in Sun City where she worked last year, and on Wed-Thu at the store located in northern Phoenix where she worked full time before we left on our journey. It is more time than she expected, but welcome news. We will start out with her driving the truck to work each day and leaving me without wheels for the first time that I can remember. We'll see how that arrangement works.

We were awakened this morning with pretty strong winds and had to raise our awnings to be safe. Hopefully, the day will become calm and we can enjoy the outside for the last two days before Josie begins working...

Crafting Projects

Along with all of the other local activities and shopping excursions, we have been working on crafting projects. Josie has been turning out some very creative designs that are worth mentioning. Below is a pillow that she designed for the Christmas season:

It is red, white and green and below you can see the rear panel which is solid red:

I have already shown the articles she has designed that are for Halloween - the pumpkins - and all the various clothing for Barbie dolls that she has crocheted. She can make almost anything out of yarn without a pattern to work from. Maybe we should think about selling these unusual designs online somehow.

I have been working with different cross stitch software to determine how I can market custom cross stitch designs on the Internet. There are already services that will create a cross stitch design from photographs, but I would like to explore taking it a little further with some unusual designs from the National Parks.

We recently received some disturbing news from Josie's family in New Jersey where her older sister, Marie, was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Josie has contacted her and Chemo treatments will begin soon to try and shrink the lemon-size tumor they discovered in her stomach to the point where they can safely remove the tumor surgically. That, obviously, was not the kind of news you like to get from family that you haven't heard from in a long time. We will be closely following the progress of those treatments.

It looks like another beautiful, warm and sunny day ahead at Lake Pleasant in Peoria, AZ...

Good TV Again

For three hours the TV tech did a process of elimination yesterday morning. He was almost certain that the problem was in a cable that runs through the ceiling of the fifth wheel, from the component closet in our bedroom to the TV in the living room. There was no way that that we were going to run a new cable through the ceiling, so he suggested an alternative. We could eliminate the cabling altogether by placing a wireless HDMI device in each location, and transmit the signals wirelessly over that distance. It required ordering those devices from a retailer - which I did through Amazon.com, and he started putting the components back together again to use temporarily while waiting on the new devices to arrive. While putting things together again before leaving, he stumbled on a possible solution. He switched the cables to a different port on the "smart box" that is the box where the signals are transferred from the receiver to the TV and directs the signals to the proper TV. Sounds confusing, but as soon as he switched the ports on that box, the picture cleared up and was excellent once again. I quickly cancelled the order from Amazon for the wireless devices and he left by 12 noon. His time already cost us $225 for three hours, so we were thankful to save the other $200+ for the canceled equipment we didn't need. So, the problem all along was a bad port on the "smart box". It's good to have a great picture on our TV again.

We took a drive to Michael's in the afternoon and I purchased some custom framing for my cross stitch piece while Josie picked up more yarn and supplies for her projects. We're good to go now for some time on new projects.

Josie snapped this photo this morning of the beautiful sunrise:

It sure is nice when there are just a few clouds in the morning - or at night - to catch the full effects of the Sunrises and Sunsets in AZ. With perfect weather and beautiful skies - and a perfect TV - we are thankful to be here right now...

TV Woes

Most of our day yesterday was spent working on some local stuff - laundry and emails for our winter income opportunities. We also received our items from Camping World, so I installed those.

Our TV woes continue as the anticipated appointment with the TV installer had to be rescheduled for this morning. Evidently, the appointment he had at his doctor's office ran over, and he had to reschedule. It sure will be nice to get our TV fixed so we can enjoy normal viewing once again. The latest attempt will take place around 9 AM this morning. We are just hoping that whatever the problem is, it will not break the bank to have repaired.

Josie has heard from the flower shop and it appears that her time will be split between the production center where she worked last year, and the store on 19th Ave where she worked prior to our hitting the road. The actual days and hours are to be determined soon. My income opportunity is close to being finalized and will be reported after I get confirmation. That is another story that could change our winter plans for years to come. It is a hidden income opportunity that we discovered this year while working at the Lodge in Jackson, and is one that has been utilized by at least one other worker on the staff. Curious yet? Stay tuned...

Flu Shots

Each year we get the latest version of the inoculation for influenza - flu shot. This year, we went to the Albertson's grocery store and for the first time, we both got the shot at no charge. It is the first time that both of us have been covered for the shot under our Medicare Supplemental Insurance plan.

The main activity for yesterday, aside from the flu shots, was to have our TV problem diagnosed and fixed by the DirecTV technician. He came on-time at 8 AM and following a thorough check of all our connections and settings, determined that the problem was most likely located in an area where he has no authorization or knowledge to search - our satellite dish cabling. Sheesh! So, our problem still exists and I contacted the individual that performed the installation over 5 years ago and set up a time for him to come out later today to check it out. He is still performing the same job out of Happy Trails in Surprise. The biggest difference is that Moto-Sat, the dish brand that we had installed, is no longer in business. We will have to wait for our diagnosis and recommendation later today. Moto-Sat provided the dish receiver that locks onto the satellites automatically. DirecTV does not offer any automated equipment to seek and lock onto the satellites. DirecTV only provides the satellites and the programming, if that makes any sense.

Following a nice walk around the Resort and dinner last night, we had a chance to catch up on more of the taped shows we missed while on our visit to Patty's last week...

Visit to the Outlets

Another favorite spot of ours in this area is the Anthem Outlet Mall. It is only about 15 miles away and we wanted to check out any changes that have been made. Not much, if anything, is changed. We still enjoyed walking around and browsing the different stores. We did find a few items that were priced right, but for the most part it was just a walking and looking exercise.

Josie is always experimenting with different crocheting projects and yesterday she crocheted a pumpkin for Halloween. She didn't use any pattern or directions, so it was a super creative effort. This is what it looks like:

She is experimenting with a different stitch, so there may be more to show tomorrow. She is also still doing afghans in her spare time and I just finished another cross stitch which I will show after I get it framed.

Our day ended following a happy hour and we took this photo of another beautiful sunset over the boat storage area behind us:

Today is the long awaited day for the DirecTV tech to come and try to diagnose and fix the problem we have with our TV reception. There appears to be a bad connection in a cable somewhere, so we are anxious to get it fixed. We're hoping that the cost for whatever the fix may be will be within a respectable range...

More Efficient Inside

It was a day to improve the efficiency of our inside storage. That meant taking everything out of the closets, removing items that are not needed and reorganizing them to make it easier to take things out, and to put back in. We also discovered that some of the items we misplaced were tucked in the back of the closets and were rediscovered. It doesn't sound much like a very exciting day, but we can already see the results of the effort. Dishes, appliances and simple things like glasses and mugs are within easy reach now. Today, the same chore gets done in the bedroom.

We took a break during the day to go to the Walmart for the first time since we arrived. This store is one that we haven't visited before and is located on Lake Pleasant Pkwy a little farther south than the shopping center. It is about 12 miles from us which isn't so bad. We needed a few "crafting" items and we took care of that while at the store.

It is interesting sometimes to check back over the blog to see what we were doing on the same date the year before. Last year, we took a marathon drive - 450 miles - to eastern AZ where we revisited areas that had the fall colors. We also were not yet at our destination - Happy Trails in Surprise - and were still enjoying the Thousand Trails campground in Camp Verde. We are so happy that this year we are staying at Lake Pleasant. The only thing we are missing here is the fitness center, so we will have to address that issue - maybe look into a short term membership at a local fitness center.

That's about it for now as I watch the beautiful AZ sunrise...

Projects Done

All summer long we talked about a few projects that we wanted to complete when we arrived in AZ for the winter. Some of those were completed yesterday.

We went to the Home Depot and picked up the material to finish our projects. The first was super glue to repair a broken sugar dish for Josie and to glue a loose running light on the truck. Done. The next project was to find a solution - key rack - for hanging all the kitchen tools beside the oven. Done. We have had to take showers with our shampoo and conditioners on the shower floor, and we wanted to locate a "pole" solution with shelves. Done. Our water filter in the fifth wheel was due for replacement, and I already had a few extras of those. Done.

We also ordered a few small items from Camping World to solve other problems. A cover for our new grill, a tripod for stabilizing the front of the fifth wheel and a small, folding basket to keep our magazines in on the floor of our living room. We should be set for awhile.

It was so nice in the afternoon that we took a nice walk - over 2 miles round trip - to the Marina on the lake. Not much has changed that we can remember from our last visit here a few years ago, but the walk is always a nice one:

The water level is still way down, but the Marina still was operating on all cylinders. There are some shops, a grocery and a bar/grill that are popular spots. We came to a party on one of the houseboats that was moored here about ten or so years ago and had a grand time. Here are a couple shots of the Marina:

We stopped and had an ice cream sandwich and sat in the above area while enjoying all the ducks and geese waiting for handouts. They didn't get any from us.

The rest of the evening was spent catching up on some of our taped shows that we missed while in IL last week. The DirecTV guy is scheduled to arrive here on Monday, between 8 AM and noon, so we are really anxious to see him...

Kohls and Costco

There aren't many stores that we can honestly say we miss when we travel to places that don't have "big box" stores. Kohls and Costco are a couple of those stores. Yesterday, we went to the local Kohls which was having a huge sale on Keurig coffee brewers. We have had one of these for years, but it stopped working and we wanted to replace it with the mini model which takes up a lot less room on the counter and satisfies our needs for single cups of coffee every now and then. We only paid $79.99 for the brewer which normally runs $124 in most stores. We ended up next door at the Bed, Bath & Beyond where we picked up some K-cups for the new brewer at a discount.

Returning home from our visit to Kohls was not without some excitement. We spotted one of the several families of burros that frequent this part of the park. They are seen in just about every area of the Regional Park here at Lake Pleasant, and they are often seen in the area surrounding the RV Resort. Here are some shots of this particular family:

and this one as they left the area together:

We did more of the settling-in process yesterday afternoon as we assembled a hammock that we bought while we were in Jackson, and waited until we arrived here to assemble. It was on sale at our local Smith's grocery store during the summer and we just stored it in our basement until now, knowing that we would have a place to enjoy it this winter:

It folds up unto a nice small unit while not in use and will provide many hours of relaxation in the shade of the tree on our site.

I also included a shot of our new grill that was delivered when we arrived over a week ago:

That should also provide some great hours of barbecuing.

The final shot from yesterday is one of our developing space here at Lake Pleasant:

We aren't quite there yet with a final layout, but it is beginning to take shape.

Our final trip for the day was to Costco where we wanted to pick up some "goodies" that might be new at the store. We found the goodies OK, and a few items more as we ended up spending too much - as usual. Can anybody ever go to one of these stores and leave without spending at least a couple hundred dollars? We don't seem to be able to.

Our settling-in will continue today as there are closets and storage spaces that we need to organize for our stay here. Speaking of storage - we also need to schedule a visit to our storage unit in Surprise sometime soon. I'm not looking forward to that visit...

Full Circle

Our flight from Chicago to Phoenix was (mostly) smooth, and our plane landed on-time at 12:45 PM local time. We picked up our bag, caught the van to the parking lot, paid our bill and made it home to Lake Pleasant by 2:30. We have gone full circle now - drove from Jackson to Lake Pleasant, visited Patty and her family for a week, and now have returned to spend the rest of the winter here at Lake Pleasant.

One of the main concerns we had while away on our trip was how our plants would survive the hot weather. The inexpensive drip system I set up before we left worked like a charm:

We could see how the watering schedule not only kept them alive, but resulted in new growth.

Following a short time to relax outside and a trip to the grocery store to restock some necessary items, we started to prioritize our schedule for the next several days. Josie will get more details of her working schedule, we will hear from DirecTV - today - about fixing our TV problems and we will, generally, set down a schedule of how we will spend our remaining time here until the middle of May, 2014. There are lots of things we hope to accomplish while here, and there are also some trips we would like to take. We will try to find the right mix of work and fun, so here goes...

Wrapping Up a Great Week

The final day of our wonderful week in Naperville with Patty and her family was one where we squeezed in some last minute shopping.

The boys are leaving from school today with their class to take a trip to Troy, WI for two days for a retreat at Camp Timber-lee. They are all packed and ready to go as Patty will drop them off at school on the way to taking us to the airport. We had to pick up some small toiletries for them to take so we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond. Josie saw a towel rack that we have been looking for that Patty has in her spare bathroom, and she purchased it from that store, so we had to go there anyway - long story.

We then stopped at Costco to pick up a couple items that we needed and it was the first stop at a Costco for us in the last 6 or 8 months. It's a good thing that we are traveling on a plane today, or we would have had a bunch of stuff to take home that we passed on until we are able to go to the local Costco in AZ.

Mark and the boys had football practice last night so Patty, Josie and I had a nice, quiet dinner of tacos before settling down for the night. Our flight leaves at 11:10 AM, and we are ready to leave now, so we will say goodbye from Naperville until at least sometime next year. Thanks to Patty and Mark for making our week a special visit...

Shopping

The boys had their friends over for the night and as they were busy playing video games, we went to Macy's to take advantage of a Columbus Day sale. There were some good buys, and I had forgotten how many choices there were at "big box" stores that are missing in the Jackson, WY area. Of course, that also means that money is saved by not having that local temptation.

The other main objective for yesterday was to buy a new cell phone to send to Austin. When we visited with him on Saturday, his phone was so battered that he needed a replacement. The phone he wanted - the new iPhone - was not available at the local Verizon store in Kalamazoo, so we went to the local Best Buy store here where Patty bought one and over-nighted it to Austin. That about wrapped up our shopping for the day.

The twins head back to school today and we have our final full day to visit. Our flight tomorrow leaves Chicago at 11:10 AM, so we will leave with Patty - or Mark - in the morning when the boys are taken to school and go directly to O'Hare. The week just zoomed by and it's hard to believe that the end is near...

Recovery Day

Most of the day yesterday was spent doing - almost nothing. Mark was not getting any better from his flu symptoms - in fact he was feeling worse - so he went into the local health clinic for some help. It turned out that he had bronchitis and he was given several different prescriptions to take during the day. Most of the medications made him drowsy, so he spent much of the day in bed and relaxing.

All of us spent most of the day recovering from our long day trip to Kalamazoo. The boys went to a football game in the afternoon to cheer their friends on and they then went to their home for a few hours. They all came home last night to sleep-over and they are all still in bed as I write this. We went to the Nordstrom Rack to see if there were any sales that we had to take advantage of - there were none. We then stopped at the grocery store to buy snacks to eat during the Sunday football games on TV, and to make chili for dinner. Oh, and we also stopped at a local 55 community up the street to look at some houses. Not a bad offering and the homes are almost within walking distance of Patty's. She is campaigning heavily for us to move closer to her.

Mark is going to drive to Bloomington today to make a call on State Farm Insurance, so we hope his bronchitis is not going to act up today. We have nothing planned for today as we will wait to see how the boys want to spend their third day off from school today - Columbus Day. When we originally scheduled our trip, none of us knew that the boys would be off from Thursday through Monday of the week we are visiting. In some ways we are happy to spend so much time with them, but in other ways it would be nice to do some things - quietly - and without their demands.

We'll just see how things develop...

THUMPED !!

The big day finally arrived. We have been looking forward to this day since Austin was recruited and signed to play at Western Michigan University on his full scholarship back in his Senior year in high school. The fact that it was also our anniversary (42nd) paled in comparison to the excitement we felt in anticipation of visiting and watching Austin play for the first time. The team they were playing - Buffalo - was (supposedly) not one of the better teams and we anticipated a victory in this Homecoming game at the University.

We left on time at 8 AM for the almost 3 hour drive from Naperville to Kalamazoo, MI. The weather was perfect, and the drive was nice as we saw some Fall colors that were along the freeway.

It was close to 11:30 EST when we arrived at the campus:

Our schedule called for a stop at the Will Call office to pick up our game tickets before heading to the tailgate party at one of the lots near the stadium. The Will Call office was in part of the stadium where the Hall of Fame is located and I got a shot of the area where some big names in football - all WMU Alumni - were honored:

The next stop was the catered tailgate party and the homecoming festivities were "on":

It wasn't too far from where the party was that we walked to the stadium. We arrived in plenty of time before the start of the game and entered the stadium while the teams were still working out in their pre-game warm-ups:

As family of one of the players, we had front row seats on the 50 yard line for the game. What a great location to watch a game and take pictures. We all took many shots of the game and of Austin, and below are just a sample of some of the photos taken during the game:

Austin was in on most of the special team plays and he will get his chance on the offense when the time is right. That may be sooner than later, as the team sputtered and generally looked awful as they lost the game, 33-0:

We thought there was a good chance that they would turn the corner is this game during the first period when they trailed by 6-0 and were driving deep into Buffalo territory. Then there were 3 penalties on consecutive plays that killed the drive, and basically ended their momentum. They never really threatened again during the game. Austin is used to winning, and playing a huge role in winning, so this is a difficult and frustrating time for him, but he knows he is paying his dues and his time will come.

We waited outside the locker room at the stadium for Austin to shower and dress so that we could take him to dinner and visit for awhile:

The whole town of Kalamazoo was filled with hungry football fans, so we drove around a short while to locate a place to have dinner where we wouldn't have to wait an hour for service. We stopped at the Wayside West restaurant which is more of a sports bar, and had a nice visit with Austin:

It was a generally forgettable meal, but a great visit with Austin.

We ended the day by taking Austin back to his dorm and we spent a short time visiting in his room before leaving at around 7 PM. It was a terrific day and we only wish the game outcome could have been different.

Here and There

There were some odds and ends we needed to take care of yesterday. The first objective was to pick up some tickets for Mark and the boys to attend the Waubonsie/Neuqua high school football game last night. That is the huge rivalry between the two best football programs in the area and the one last year that Waubonsie lost in overtime as a result of missing a two point conversion following a touchdown. Once again this year, the game was suppose to be a tossup and both schools had identical records.

We then dropped the boys off at a local golf driving range while we went to Sports Clips where I got a haircut. Then it was off to a couple shoe stores looking for sandals for Josie - no luck there as the summer line is now off the shelves at these stores. Following a trip to the bank to pick up some cash for today's trip to Kalamazoo to watch Austin's game against Buffalo, we headed home for the day.

Happy hour was on time yesterday afternoon and we sat on the porch on another beautiful afternoon. We finally got a shot of Mark:

and Oakley did his usual routine of making Patty get up to get his dinner:

Mark and the boys went to the football game - not a good result as Neuqua defeated Austin's old team by 20 points, 40-19. We had a friend of Patty's visit to watch the game on HighSchoolCube.com on my computer.

Today is the big trip to Kalamazoo to watch Western Michigan play Buffalo. The trip is about a three hour drive and we plan to get there by noon for the tailgate party that is held before each game. The game starts at 3 pm and we are hoping for a WMU win. Our plan is to met Austin for dinner following the game. Mark is struggling with some kind of flu symptoms, so we hope he is up for the long day ahead...

Fishing Trip

The main activity scheduled for yesterday was a fishing trip to a local lake - Lake Herrick - that is located close to Naperville. We left the house at about 10 AM with a picnic lunch and all the fishing gear and chairs.

We didn't do a lot of research on fishing in this lake and, consequently, didn't know where to set up along the bank of the lake. It looked like a great lake for fishing, and the preliminary report was that there were catfish, crappie, sunfish and some large mouth bass in the lake. We walked around part of the lake looking for a good spot and ultimately ended up walking around almost the entire lake before settling on a spot:

We could see that, while walking around the lake, there were no "clear" areas in the lake along the shoreline. This is what was all along the shore:

It was so thick and full of "crud" that we decided to try another lake. Besides, there were no other people seen fishing here and it probably is good fishing from a boat, but not from shore.

We went to another nearby lake that we knew even less about. The same type fish were supposedly present in this lake, and we even saw a couple of other folks fishing along the bank of the lake. This is our location where we settled and began fishing in much clearer water. The biggest problem we had was that the worms I purchased the night before were frozen and dead, so I ended up throwing them away. That was definitely the bait of choice on this lake so we had that strike against us to start. We still enjoyed the time along the bank of this lake:

After about an hour of trying different lures and bait we ate our lunch and decided to leave. Here is one last shot as the boys crossed the inlet to the lake:

We ultimately decided to do more research into fishing spots near us and to be better prepared for our next attempt - tentatively scheduled for Monday.

We had a very relaxing afternoon and we sat outside on the porch during happy hour. Of course, this is also about the time that Oakley eats, so he wasn't going to let any happy hour interfere with his schedule. He grabs Patty's arm at mealtime and tries to drag her to the food closet so he can get his dinner. This is so funny to watch that I had to get at least one shot for the blog:

Even though we didn't catch any fish, we had a great day and Mark and the boys went to football practice following dinner. There are a couple of possibilities for today, but we will have to wait until after breakfast to see what is in store for activities today...