A June 21st wedding.

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We headed to Arkdale, Wi, to witness the wedding of Christopher and Ashley. A beautiful day, a little hot, but not bad. Lots of friends and relatives gathered for the occasion.



Hey, there, Kristi!! Looks like you're enjoying it so far.... Adam, how did the kabobs turn out last week??



Hailee looks like she's taking this quite seriously! She did a great job of marching up the aisle, standing where she was supposed to, until she got tired and walked back to Ashley's mom, where she layed her head on grandma's lap and took a little nap standing up....



Here is Ashley walking up the aisle with her mom and dad.




And here she and Chris are reciting their vows. It was a very nice ceremony and it went off without a hitch. Oh, wait, there was a hitch!!




And here are the newly-weds! Both looking happy and ready for anything.




The greeting line was long and noisy, with lots of talk and laughing. Here Bryn and Rose are congratulating the couple.




Outside the weather was great, the bubbles were many and we were moving into phase II, the 'photos'.









Back inside we did a little photo session of our own. Hailee seemed to be having a great time.




Bryn, Donna and Rosie.


Here's a good place to stop for now, more to follow later. Thanks for a great day, Chris and Ashley!!

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Odds and Ends

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Here are a few views from around the place this spring and other things tossed in for filler....
The mock orange bush was covered with blossoms this spring, and the aroma was awesome. (Expand these photos....)



Bryn decided to get rid of the Honda Rebel that she was riding a few years ago. It was a cool little bike, but bills and debts.... you know what I mean. So the little Rebel is now in Athens with an enthusiastic new owner.



The Peonies were prolific bloomers this year as well. This deep red one was right next to the house. The ones in the south bed bloomed a little later and did well.



We were well into spring and I was sitting in the living room one evening with the windows wide open. I almost fell out of my chair when this guy gobbled REALLY LOUD about ten feet from the house. He slowly made his way across the yard to the woods with a gobble about every ten yard of travel.



These yellow day lillys have been blooming in this spot for as long as I can remember. Lots of them this year.



I stopped at Subway, parked ARE car, used ARE checkbook to pay for ARE meal. I decided that I needed to use ARE camera to get a picture of THERE sign..... good grief.



Just another bloom....




Here my GPS shows that I am 14.5 miles from Phillips in my plane. I was on my way home from my bi-annual flight review, a requirement to keep my permit valid. In late June I flew to Merrill to meet with Steve, my instructor, for this review. We spent an hour reviewing rules, procedures, safety and all the things one needs to be aware of to be a proficient, safe pilot. Then we needed an hour in the air as the second requirement for this review. We decided that we would use the time to fly to Central Wisconsin airport in Mosinee where I could perform all the requirements for a class 'D' airport endorsement for my permit. That required me to contact the control tower with my intention to enter their airspace and land. When they tell you something, you need to repeat it back to them so THEY know that YOU know what they are talking about and you know what you are supposed to do. Other than that, you don't talk on the radio during all this as all other planes are also doing exactly what the tower tells them. Anyway, I needed to do three landings, park, and depart. We did two touch and go landings on the really wide, long north/south runway. On the third landing I said it would be full stop, so we stopped and requested parking at the terminal. He told us what taxiways to take, I repeated the instructions to him and off we went to parking. We regrouped and went over the departure request protocol, I called the tower and asked for a north departure. He gave me instruction, we took off into the wind to the south, climbed out with a left turn and headed towards Wausau. About five miles north I called the tower and informed them that I was leaving their airspace. Now I have the endorsement that allows me to land at the smaller towered airports. In Wisconsin, I think their may only be Eau Claire, Mosinee, Oshkosh and maybe a of couple others. I'll check on that.



We got some gravel hauled for the driveway. Four BIG loads, I hope we don't have to do that again for a while...



We also had Chris Meyer bring his skid steer loaded to our place so he could move, grade, smooth and pack this stuff down. He did a great job of crowning, sloping, etc and last time it rained we had NO STANDING WATER.

Anyway, I gotta go, Carlo
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Da Palace.......

I mentioned the "palace" being built in the Wintergreen area, showed the start of the digging and the footing forms going in. A number of days later and the block work is almost done.
Double clicking photos will give a better view.



A few days after the walls were done, we poured the basement floor. Good thing Ivan knows about block work and concrete.....




Brothers Dan and Pat Lord, brothers Lee and Todd Fisher and Tom Lochner (no brother good-in-law) are building a new hunting lodge.... I mean palace. Here we see the walls all in place and the loft floor built.




We built a really tall, cathedral style roof. Lee and Todd were up on vacation and the others went up each afternoon and they really got a lot done. We put the plywood on the entire roof on a Saturday.




It's starting to look quite official.....




I went to help on the roof one day, and Ivan had this nice scaffolding in place. Fortunately, it was too hot to work on the shingles so we went to the resort for a burger and some other items.




Peg and I stopped up at the palace on the 4th, the guys were done and gone already. They got the wrap on, the doors and windows installed. Ivan had done quite a lot of shingling as well.




So, it's moving along nicely for a bunch of people with day jobs. Ivan reported that on the weekend, one gable end wall had been built, the wrap on it and the curved, sunrise type window installed. Shingles quite close to being done, so that means I can show up there again, because unlike Tom, I DON'T LIKE shingling.......


I'll put some photos on here next of Chris and Ashley's wedding! It was a nice day, a good wedding and I found that I had no competition for the champagne that was at our table. I don't like champagne..... I LOVE champagne.

I gotta go, Carlo