Road Trip South #1

Our road trip by car consisted of many miles,

warmer weather, sunshine

and some long hours.

Our first day was 17 hours in the car and
we finally reached the State of
Louisiana.   Shreveport, close to the airport
and one restaurant - a Waffle House (this
is the first time we have eaten at
a waffle house). 

Missouri

Arkansas River


In the morning, we slept in a little,
then headed a few more hours to 
our final destination.

We arrived!

The sun was shining (which was grand)
and it was pleasant out.   It was only
17 degrees warmer than at home 
but it will work.  You can see the
green grass in the background.

Welcome Creativity ~ Cricut

Last fall, I finally made the decision and

purchased a Cricut machine (an Explore

Air 2)... I have had a couple of Cricuts in the

past (many years ago) and used them but

not to a great extent.  A Cricut is a die-cutting

machine used in scrapbooking and craft making.

More projects with the Cricut machine ~ 

Finished this up for hubby - all pictures

Arctic Cat snowmobile related.  Hubby's uncle

many years ago owned an Arctic Cat business

in our little town - We have an old newspaper

advertisement in a frame like this - so these

will be hung together (place yet to be determined).

"Arctic Cat" done with Purple Glitter Vinyl!

Hubby along with his brother and cousins

were sometimes in the parades... 

(Tom, Steve, Bill and Uncle Ken)

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I finished a couple of small signs which I

had purchased from the Sign Lady and then

the "Home Sweet Home" was my actual

first sign done with stencil vinyl. 

Next a metal tray... which started out

all metal looking.   Added a little bit of 

paint, covered the handles with jute and

added some words ~

Then Valentines Day came upon us....

And I did festive cups, candy dishes and

heart signs (which are my favorite).

And then to celebrate Mardi Gras Fat

Tuesday ~ I made shot glasses  :)

Those Mountains...

We were thinking back to our very first
trip in the winter to the Bighorn Mountains.

The mountains are majestic, the snow is
as bright as can be and the sky is never
as blue! 

Our first trip to the BigHorns, here

Such memories!!!

My Story Book

Some time ago, I gathered some

pictures that were just lying around in

no such order... 

A few pictures from when I was an infant

and toddler which are "my story"....

I made a Shutterfly book and mom has

made some notes in it - (then it went

back into storage)

This is on my "to-do list" to get

finished up. 

k

My birth story February 21st during a 

snowy Minnesota winter.

I was born on a Tuesday, February 21st

at 6:18 a.m.

February Weather

We have snow and a lot of it... plus we

blow the snow out of our driveway and

yard so some places we have mega snow!

The pasture is very quiet - there must be

too much snow that the horses have not

come over to our part of the pasture - they

have been sticking real close to the barn.

We have winter roads here - sometimes a 

little snow covered and almost always

a little bit icy in spots.

Winter 2019-2020

A Birthday

Saturday we celebrated a birthday... 

he is a very kind man, my father-in-law,
who turned 87 years young.

We celebrated with other family members
having lunch at one of the local
restaurants and then in the
evening had icecream cake.

As always there is a little reminiscing
going on and I usually have some
questions about a location or some 
people in the past.

This time we talked about the Andrews
School, the Linnell School and those
who attended.   He ran around with the
Tretbar boys going back and forth
to school.

Happy LOVE Day

Happy Valentines Day the day for 

sharing your love! 

It was another cold morning below zero
this morning, hopefully now it will
start warming up.

This year Valentines were sent out -
I made them somewhat with the 
Cricut (I forgot to take a picture)
they were a cute Lion face.
I wasn't completely satisfied with 
them, I am trying out different
paper glues (I will be using a 
different one on the next paper projects).

Not sure of any weekend plans, we have a
birthday to celebrate too! 

Looking back ten years ago we were
busy doing about the same thing

Read here


Happy Valentines Day!

Brrrrr

Today is a cold one - thankfully it is

suppose to be short lived and not

go on for  days!!!

This morning we had -29 fahrenheit

with a feel like -41   and it says

that it is VERY COLD!!     :) 

Tomorrow we should be back above

zero and then we need to get some

outside things done again.

Stay warm!

Weekend Snowmobiling

A weekend full of snowmobiling (a little

staycation you could call it) - 

Day #1 - we headed north and stopped at

the usual gas stop to top off.  Didn't see

too many humans around but did see 

some deer out on the trails (with all this

snow they can get around better using

the man-made trails).

We headed  north and west trying to get

to Elbow Lake Store (and not going our

usual way).   The trails were awesome but

as we got closer and into a different 

snowmobile club trail area the trails are

not marked well so we went quite a 

ways out of our way (now we know how

we can head to the casino if we ever 

want to).

We were the only sleds at Elbow Lake

Store with a few more coming in while

we sat there.   Sounds like there was 

a fun day run day going on - would have

thought we would see a lot of sleds.

80 miles done and a good ride - perfect

day (weather, temperature and trails).

And my rides have been good so far

this year - making progress (sometimes 

I think I have to relearn how to ride).

Day #2 - we got going before lunch so we 

could go farther and still return before dark.

Stopped at the same usual gas stop - and

headed north and east this time, the trails

were good (saw deer and squirrels) and a 

few other sleds.

We were on trails for the first time (nice 

area)  only one rough trail for the day so 

that isn't too bad.   We made it to Nevis, ate

and headed back west and up through 

Emmaville and home.

100 plus miles today.

The trails were overall great - many of these trails

 consist of a lot of ditch highway riding so 

not what we usually do (it makes us really 

appreciate the trails we have closer to home).

And, of course, it is hard to compare to the

trails in the Black Hills or the Mountains (they

always call because they are so good)  :) 

But for our area, the amount of snow and the

work that the local snowmobile clubs put in

our local trails right now our Superb!! 

We hear we have some snowy and cold 

weather coming in this week.  We will see...

Cleaning Ditches

We have lots of snow this year - the 

county did a ditch clean up this week. 

Apparently this helps in keeping the

roads clear but it doesn't look

very winter like.   

In some areas they moved the snow out of

the ditches (our entire road north)  so that when the 

winds blows the snow hopefully stays 

in the ditches and off of the roads.

This is what our road looked like

last week.

Beware -- if you are riding snowmobile and

get in one of these areas beware of the

fields and ditches there may be a 

sudden drop where the snow has

been moved.

Dinosaurs, Quilts and a Barn

My Mom was busy another pre-Christmas

season again sewing... she sews so many

things with her little sewing group and

then her own projects...  It would be amazing

to actually know how many hours.

For the great-grandsons she started with

doing quilts... dinosaur quilts that will

fit in with their age for some time.

Then she thought each one needed an 

actual dinosaur to play with, no patterns for

huge dinosaurs so she created her own

each one different.

Voila!    giant pillow dinosaurs!

 Great Grandma and boys

Here are the three grands with their quilts

and dinosaurs.

It sounds like the dinosaurs were a hit and

one even came back for some minor repairs

--- a friendly dinosaur wrestling match

maybe  :) 

Last years' Martin Houses evolved this

late summer into....   toy barns

Dad started designing and building a

large barn for playing farm.   He now has a 

pattern with more barns to be built.

This barn was made a replica of the old

barn that  recently was taken down, it

even had wood shingles and the inside

looked like the old barn.

Great Grandpa and boys

Each end has a drop down door for the hay

mow and windows just like the real barn.

   

 We keep wondering what dad will keep 

busy doing when he retires - it looks like he

has some projects line up.   

How thankful I am that Mom and Dad are

young at heart and able to do these things

plus it keeps them busy.

Grandparents, young and old, are

a blessing! 

Looking Ahead to 2020

Looking ahead ~ what will 2020 be...

January was a pleasant month with only a 

few days of cold (not even a week) so we

were fortunate.

We did go several days without sunshine

though.

2020

Some adventures, we know of one 

planned adventure to warmer weather.

Adventures with family will be grand ~

some camping or day trips yet to plan.

Health is always important -

Time spent with the grands - as they 

are growing, changing and learning.

We have some birthday and anniversary

celebrations - yes some "big" ones!

We have been delayed in discussing 

ideas for all those things we want to

do this year - but we will get that done.

There is a family reunion planned again

so that will be fun.

And of course, some relaxing and 

enjoying this adventure we call life!

January 2020 - What a Month

January 2020 ~ it was a great month for

January in Minnesota.... January is usually

full of several below zero cold cold days, I think

this year we had a long weekend of cold 

weather but otherwise it has been 

a very nice winter  "for Minnesota".

That makes it much easier on our livestock, 

the heating bills and on us Minnesotans!

We have snow and have been snowmobiling

since December 23rd, usually we are just

waiting for the January cold to be done so

that we can get out and enjoy the snow.   So this

has been a nice year for getting outside - that

certainly doesn't mean that the cold won't

come, we can about bet that it will.

Lineman Son and His Gal celebrated their 6th

Wedding Anniversary.  Time sure does fly by ~ 

we remember their wedding like it was

yesterday, a day full of love and celebration!

We are Minnesota Vikings Fans and once again

we were very excited for the playoff games.

We enjoyed watching them in two playoff games

before getting sent home.   Maybe next

year the purple will go farther.

January finds baby pigs arriving at

Dad's Farm.  He is being kept busy checking

the new moms at all hours of the night.

Grand #1 and #3 were out and spent

some time playing..... while Mom and

Dad were on vacation 

(that was the one cold weekend)

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This month we remember our four-legged

family members that are no longer

with us:

Rudy (2011)

Lenny (2016)

Jack (2017)

I also celebrated my 3rd WOE

Anniversary which is my new "Way Of

Eating" - three years hard to believe.

Not so new any more but it still

works and I am determined to continue

playing with my grandkids, hiking and

being active.  It definitely isn't always

easy and  I have to do some

occasional restarts but it works.

Let see what February brings!!