Oooh, Scary!! Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Here is a picture of Jack with his pumpkins (Haunted house carved by Nicole, Scooby Doo carved by Dan). Jack is going to be trick or treating as Scooby Doo!

Our State Fair Visit

We had a great time at the MN State Fair. We decided to take a picture of everything we ate. Here it is! We started out with a breakfast quesadilla (sausage, egg, cheese, salsa and sour cream), deep fried peppers (oh so hot and good with a beer), sausage bites with cheese, chicken wings with chipotle plum sauce (oh what a great sauce), and finished with an ice cream cone.

Water and Wind and Kids!

Northfield got over 10 inches of rain in the 14 days - this after almost no rain for 2 months! Dave has not mowed the grass since the end of June. Now it is thick and dense and almost dry enough to mow.

New Richmond got a storm last week that did damage to Joe's roof, ceilings, and trees. The town was hit hard, lots of damage to homes and yards.

Illinois was hit by storms/flooding in the last few days. No damage for Ken and Rose, but plenty around them.

On a lighter note - check out the group picture from Wisconsin for Stacy's visit with her son Aidan. Stacy and Aidan live in Florida and were here for a visit. Check out the smile on proud Grandpa Dick!! Look below for the large group picture.

Megan Marie Affeldt was baptized on Sunday, August 19th. Dave and Donna are thrilled to be her Godparents. It was a wonderful service and afternoon at Russ and Sue's. The highlight for Ryan was the cake and ice cream after lunch.

The wedding plans are coming along - Nicole and Dan are doing all the work. We are along for the ride! The wedding is on Friday, November 30 at 6 pm. The grooms dinner is Thursday, November 29th. All out of town family who are here are invited to the groom's dinner. There are rooms reserved for Friday night (some rooms are reserved from Thursday to Sunday) at the Super 8 motel here in Northfield. The church is St. John's Lutheran church and the reception is at The Grand (a former movie theater/ballroom) both in Northfield. We will get ahold of everyone and let them know the motel arrangements so changes can be made if necessary.


Chicken news - no update would be complete without news of the chickens! They now free range on the property during the day and put themselves to bed at night in the coop. We have 13 hens (they will start laying in the next month) and 13 roosters (11 of which are going to be "processed" on September 3). The hens all answer to the name "Henny Penny" and the 2 surviving roosters are Big Roo and Gillyweed.

Thursday was Dad's 84th Birthday!!! Let's Party!!

Thursday was Dad's 84th birthday - we got the group together for dinner. Dad; Ted and Erin were in town from Florida; Dick, Kelly and Jeremiah; Sue, Ryan and Megan; Dan, Nicole and Jack; and Dave and Donna. We had fajitas (the meat was our favorite from HEB in Texas - thanks to Nicole and Dan!) and Erin made dessert, individual chocolate cake stars and apple crisp, topped off with a little homemade vanilla ice cream. Yum!

It was great to see Ted and Erin. We all wish we could get together more often. How about November 30?

The boys (Ryan and Jack) had a great time together. We all wish we had the energy.

Check out the larger picture below (way below). I'm still trying to learn the ins and outs of the blog!!

Camping at the Lake

We had a great time at the lake on Saturday and Sunday. The weather was perfect - hot and sunny. We dined on hot dogs cooked over the fire for lunch, and spent the rest of the day on the water.

Sue, Russ, Ryan (4, almost 5!) and Megan (2 months) joined us, as did Nicole, her sister Julia (12) and Jack.

The gang really enjoyed playing on a tipped-over canoe (trying to stay on like log-rollers).

Dinner was teriyaki chicken, chicken nuggets, kabobs (Sue made them - they were awesome!), baked potatoes, beans and garlic bread.

We sat around the fire until the wee hours. Caitlin lasted the longest of the kids - well after midnight!

Sunday morning we had eggs, sausage, hash browns, english muffins and donut holes. The rest of the day was spent on the water again!

We left in a late afternoon after a snack of s'mores.

Mall of America Day

After a wonderful breakfast of waffles, yogurt, and bananas, we headed off to the Mall of America. We arrived right when the mall opened at 10:00. (round trip was 80 miles).

Seana thinks we walked 80 miles, and I agree with her!

We went on rides, shopped the stores, ate lunch, rode on rides (yes, on a full stomach!), shopped some more, rode rides, shopped, and went home. We stopped for pizza on the way home. Be sure to check out the before and after pictures of Caitlin.

Seana: Favorite ride: Mighty Axe. Favorite store: Journeys or Marshalls

Caitlin: Favorite ride: Mighty Axe. Favorite store: Justice for girls

Donna: Favorite ride: Watching the girls. Favorite store: Bloomies (love the bathrooms)

Dear Grandma (and Grandpa):

Thank you for buying the wristbands (for rides) for the girls. Thanks for lunch at McDonalds, and thanks for the pizza and dessert at Papa Murphy's!!!!!

Love, Donna, Seana and Caitlin and Dave

Chicken day at the Ranch

This morning we slept in until 9. Hi Mom, Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Luke! Everyone got pooped on in the chicken coop except Caitlin. We shopped at Target after a very nutritious breakfast. The girls spent all their money at the "dollar spot" at Target. You cannot imagine how many bags it took to carry $164 worth of stuff (ha ha, not true - don't believe everything you read.) Tonight we might have a bonfire and stay up all night.

Tomorrow, we are going to the Mall of America. We hope to leave early and shop all day. On the way home we will stop in New Market at the feed store and pick up the keets (Guineas).

Caitlin says, "I love you all".

Seana says, "Miss you, but having too much fun"

Aunt Donna says, "Come on baby, and rescue me (oh, oh, oh) come on baby and rescue me"

Uncle Dave says, "I need a Harley".

Pictures of Megan!

We have pictures of Megan! What a cutie!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

3 week old chicks

The chicks are growing fast! The pen is in the garage workshop area and was covered with chicken wire last week - they can fly! They are such fun to watch!

Wood Anemones

The valley floor behind the house is overflowing with a sea of wood anemones. The beautiful white flower is open during the day, closes at night and during rain. The flower is toxic to wildlife.

Gourds from last years garden

Last May we went to a flea market in Dundas and I bought a birdhouse made from a gourd. The seller said they were easy to grow so I planted some seeds. They grew fast and the vines went everywhere. I read (don't believe everything you read) that they can't survive frost, so we harvested them and moved all 100 of them into the garage. When the garage temps were going to be too low, we moved them into the house to dry. It took approx. 6 months for most of them to dry out - one is still not dry!

I went out to the compost where the imperfect gourds went (I was very picky when choosing which gourds were going to spend the winter in the house!) and saw dirty gourds. I expected them to be mush, like old pumpkins. Surprisingly, many were usable! When you "knock" on a good gourd it sounds like knocking on wood. They look bad with all the dirt and crusted leaves, but they clean up fine with some soaking and a little elbow grease. This fall we are leaving the gourds to dry in the garden.

To decorate the gourd, I cleaned the outside "skin" off, cut it (for vase, bowl, birdhouse, etc.) and then cleaned the inside. The inside is dry and papery - a bent coathanger cleans it pretty well. I use a woodburning tool to burn the design, then color it with leather dye or wood stain. A couple coats of clear enamel for the finish. It's so much fun! Our 10 year old neighbor, Annika, made a birdhouse and a vase and now she's hooked too. We doubled the seeds to plant for this year.

The chickens are here!

The chicks arrived on Monday, April 23. I picked them up after work from Windmill Feed in New Market. There are 13 silver laced Wyandottes (pronounced why-an-dots) and 14 buff Orpingtons. We will have to wait another week or two to see how many pullets (hens) and cockerels (roosters) we have. Our intent is to keep the layers and a rooster or two. Dave will be building a chicken sedan (4 doors instead of 2) in the next week or two. This weekend the chicks will be moving into the insulated workshop part of the garage.

They are fun to watch - any sound can set them off and they scurry around, climbing over each other in an effort to get away from whatever! They can fall asleep in 2 seconds! They go from zero to 50 in 2 seconds too!