Day 127, 7/21/2020, I mowed the grass while Bill worked on the cable for the deck rails, Vikki, Peyton and Isaac came

Bill started working on this side, but ran out of parts.  Should be coming tomorrow

The deck rails are looking beautiful

Isaac and Peyton

Isaac and Peyton

Took a silly picture

Bill wanted me to take a picture of him by the corn...the corn is so tall this year

Isaac in the tree...he was all the way to the top before this picture was taken

Vikki was such a great help to her dad tonight...Love this of them working together

Isaac and the sunset

Peyton with the sunset in the background

Made oatmeal, read Bible and prayed out on the deck.  Bill started mowing the grass, so I went and mowed it for him so he could work on the deck.  He told me I did a good job mowing it.  Pretty easy with a John Deere.  We went for our daily swim.  My favorite way to get exercise.  I dehydrated more Kale.  Made us BLT's for lunch with lettuce and tomatoes from our garden.  Love having the salad spinner to get the water off.  Vikki and the kids went to spend the day with Matthew.  Bill worked on the deck until he ran out of parts.  They are supposed to come tomorrow.  I pulled some weeds that were coming up in a crack under the shed garage door.  Looks much better.  We have some really nice pumpkins coming in the garden.  Fun watching them grow.  I made Salmon on the grill and it turned out so good.  Bill told me it was great when he was eating it.  We watched an old Jeopardy they were showing instead of the regular one.  Every contestant bet their whole amount and got the question wrong, so they all ended up with 0 money.  It happened 35 years ago.  Vikki cut Hailey's hair outside with face masks on, and then came here afterward and dropped off some shorts she ordered from Old Navy for me.  Bill had her help him with the deck so she stayed until after it got dark.  She sure was a great help and they got lots done.  Peyton and Isaac were so good and played so nice.  Isaac climbed way up to the top of our big tree.  Yikes!  Peyton and Isaac also helped Papa when he needed them to pick up wood pieces.  We had drumsticks for a treat.  They had fun catching lightning bugs and putting them in a Pringles can.  It was a nice cool evening, so we opened the windows and put the big house fan on.  

Day 126, 7/20/2020, Went to Aldi's & Hobby Lobby, Bill started the wire cable for the deck, Vikki came over, Peyton and Isaac swam

Bill eating his large ice cream

Mini salad spinner...works great for kale and lettuce from the garden

My medium Raspberry chocolate chip ice cream

Bill is doing a great job with the wire cable 

Got up early, ate out on the deck, then read my Bible and prayed.  Went to Aldi's and got salad spinners for Vikki and I.  They are mini's but are a great size and won't take so much room to store.  Went to Hobby and found some material and a planter.  The planter was regular 59.99 but it was 66% off, plus I had  a coupon so it ended up being 20.  Bill started working on the cable wire.  He needed a crimper, so asked me to ride to Kimmy's with him so he could try to find theirs to borrow.  We looked in the workshop, but didn't see it.  Bill said maybe they left it in the house, or the van.  I prayed for Jesus to help us spot it as we were leaving and right then, Bill saw it.  Yay God!  We checked the garden, looked over the garden and blueberries, and added chlorine to the pool floater. We stopped at the Country Creamery for ice cream on our way home.  They were real safe there and the ice cream was all packaged up in containers.  Even though the parking lot was full, there was no one in the store when we went in.  They had an automatic hand sanitizer, a spoon dispenser, and it was very easy to social distance there.  They have added a back patio, but no one was on it.  Everyone was spread out over the big yard in back.  We just went to our car and ate on our way home.  Came home and Bill started doing much better with the cable installation.  I went swimming, but prayed for him to do good and for God to help him.  I left the solar cover over the middle of the pool and could still swim easily under it.  The wire cable looks so nice now.  Vikki came over and Peyton and Isaac went swimming.  Papa went swimming with them too.

Day 125, Sunday, 7/19/2020, Went to church, Rain Storm and high winds

                                             Fun watching this cute fawn in our yard today

Bill, Isaac, Peyton and Rody...lots of branches blew down in their yard during the storm.  Bill took the trailer over to help

It was stormy out and very windy when we woke up.  Vikki sent a video of lots of branches down in her yard.  We went to church, but it was raining so hard we almost turned around.  Kept going and it at least let up a little when we pulled in the parking lot.  Really good worship and message.  Came home and had brunch.  Tied up the tomato plants more and had to straighten up the pepper plants because the wind blew them all over. Bill took the trailer to Vikki and Rody’s to load with branches.   Saw a cute fawn in our yard walking all over.  Bill and I went for a swim.  Had to skim some leaves out of the pool from the wind storm.  We took turns.  Wondering how Kimmy did in Copper Harbor.  Hope no bad storms there.  Our WiFi isn’t working since the power went out for a few minutes this morning.  Replaced elastic on some face masks for Melissa and then dropped them off at her house.  Visited for a couple of minutes. 

Day 124, 7/18/2020, Got up early and finished staining the deck stairs, dehydrated some kale, Went to see Kenzie and Travis at Vikki's, Went to celebrate Jack's 12 Birthday with Melissa and family

Stairs to pool deck all stained

The posts looked so nice today all stained

Post and steps from top view

Travis and Kenzie

Peyton

Isaac

Peyton and Kenzie

Peyton roller blading

Melissa, Bruce, Max, Jack, Evan and Hailey...ready to sing Happy Birthday to Jack

Me and Bill enjoying the shade while social distancing

Bruce, Max and Jack

Hailey

Jack with his cake

Evan and Jack while he was opening his gifts

Melissa taking a picture of Jack opening his gifts

Evan, Jack and Max

Evan handcuffed himself to the table lol!

Got up early and started staining the stairs to the pool deck.  It was a job doing the underneath part.  Happy to have that done.  Kenzie called right after I got done and said they were at Vikki's.  I changed my staining clothes and headed there right away, hair in a pony tail and all.  She and Travis were sweet and said they liked my hair in a pony tail.  I took some dried strawberries for Isaac and also some for Kenzie.  Took Kenzie some kalarabi, zucchini, and cucumbers too.  We had a nice time visiting and I sure was happy to see them.  I wore my mask and social distanced because their area has lots more cases.  I sure wish I could have gave them big hugs.  I came home and got Jack's Birthday Card ready and also a thank you note for Kim Reminder.  Took a nap and then ate nacho's with lettuce and tomatoes from our garden and also fresh green beans from the garden.  Yum!  We went to Melissa and Bruces and celebrated Jack's Birthday.  We had lots of fun visiting, eating delicious cake that Melissa made, eating yummy ice cream and watching Jack open his gifts.  Bruce had the camper set up with the awning, so we had nice shade to sit under.  They made everything so nice for us.  We went to Home Depot after we left there to get some clean stain for the part of the deck with cedar colored boards.  Bill exchanged some things he needed too.  We just made it and only had 10 minutes til they closed.  Came home and watered my plants.

Day 123, 7/17/2020, Kimmy, Jared and Boys left for Copper Harbor, Bill worked on the deck, Bill and I swam,

Jacob, Eli and Adam in front of my favorite place to get huge cinnamon rolls.  Yum!  Eli doesn't like cinnamon rolls, so just got french fries.  Can't imagine!

Adam, Wyatt, Eli and Jacob when they got in the U.P.  So happy to see Kimmy posted pictures on FaceBook, so I borrowed them

Papa teaching Isaac to use the staple gun

Nice getting to visit James outside with masks and social distancing

Bill and I got the posts all stained this evening and three of the steps.  Then it got to dark to see good so we stopped.  Will do the top rails tomorrow.  

This Bluejay was on the suet feeder so much today and really had a hard time eating.  It was huge and that made the feeder cage swing like crazy.  It was funny to watch!

Kimmy and Jared left in the early morning.  She kept me updated on their way with texts and phone calls which I sure appreciated.  She posted a couple cute pictures on FaceBook too.  I am missing them already, but am sure happy they get to go on their yearly vacation with the boys Grandma and Grandpa Russell.  I ate oatmeal and then read my Bible out on the deck.  Prayed and read my book out there too.  Picked lots of cucumbers, kale, zucchini and tomatoes from the garden.  Dehydrated blueberries and bananas.  Bill and I went for a nice swim in the pool.  I helped him a few times on the deck when he needed me.  Bill taught Isaac how to use a staple gun today.  He needed a kid to fit into a tight spot that needed the wood to be stapled.  We went to do an outside social distance visit with James and his mom.  It was so nice to see him and have him be able to come outside.  It was a nice shaded place to meet with comfortable outside furniture.  So happy to see both of them and spend time together.  We picked up stain from Home Depot and then came home and got the posts all stained before we put the wire in.  Much easier than doing it afterward Kimmy told me today.  Took the bananas and blueberries out of the dehydrated and put more kale in for overnight.

Day 122, Thurs., 7/16/2020, Went shopping,Went to Kimmy's, Went to Melissa's, Peyton went camping with Kaitlyn, Vikki and Isaac came to swim

Bill is getting the sides up on the deck

Nice little outside visit with my Hailey girl and Melissa

I woke up at 6 a.m., so looked up what time Kroger opens and saw it was 6.  I got ready and went to get some gift cards that were quadrupling gas points.  Also got some other groceries and found sanitizing wipes, so picked a big container up for Kimmy to take camping with her.  They limited it to one per customer.  I was so happy to find them, because Kimmy told me she was out.  There were only a few customers in the store so that was good.  I came home and put my groceries away and headed to Kimmy's.  I forgot my phone and couldn't get my Apple Watch phone to work so I couldn't call Kimmy to let her know I was coming.  I dropped the wipes off and talked to Kimmy for a minute.  Didn't want to stay because I know this is Kimmy's busy day getting ready to go camping.  Eli came and said hi, and Jacob came out on the deck and said hi when I was leaving.  I was very happy to see them.  Kimmy tried to call me after I left, so I could come back and she could show me where some things were so I can know where they are when I check on her place.  My phone still didn't work.  I can't wait to get that problem fixed as I'm not supposed to need my phone along to talk on my watch.  Kimmy called me when I got home and was so sweet.  I sure am going to miss her.  We got a good rain and it kept up all morning.  We got an inch of rain in the rain gauge.  I went to Melissa's and dropped off a face mask that I put new elastic on for her.  I visited with her and Hailey for a while outside.  She gave me the wonderful birthday cards the kids had made me and shown me on FaceTime.  So precious and so much love in those cards.  Their personalities sure come through when they make their cards.  They are treasures.  I took a nap when I got home, and when I woke up it was sunny and nice out.  I walked around outside and

looked at my plants.  Vikki called and Peyton went with her friend, Kaitlyn.  Vikki wasn't sure if she would really go, but Kaitlyn's mom was super nice and Peyton did.  Vikki and Isaac came swimming.  Please keep an unspoken situation in prayer for God's will to be done.  I read my Bible and prayed out on the deck after Vikki and Isaac left.  Gave Isaac a couple of strawberries I am dehydrating for him.  They weren't all the way ready yet.