Antique Apples

Last weekend we went to an antique apple orchard -

 

We bought some Strawberry apples
(I LOVE these little apples)

and some Wolf River apples!!

The lady told us Wolf River apples
are not so great eating,
but delicious cooking apples
sooo I made a
Wolf River apple pie --
well it was very BLAH....
not much flavor at all...
so I'm thinking...
all those W.R. apple trees that Bob killed
really were not such a big loss after all :))))

 

Just a Bit of a RANT!!!!

So our little VW Bug has cost us LOTS of bucks

in the last few months.. We have a place in B.R.

where the guys are great and I think VERY trustworthy...

and every problem that came up with our little car that has

over 180,000 miles on it, was taken care of...

until it started to stall - they couldn't figure it out

and suggested we take it to a dealer...

I am going to make a lonnggg story a bit shorter...

we drove the car to the dealer - about an hour and a half away...
they told us what was probably wrong with it
800.00 dollars worth of probably....
we took it to our guys and they said
well, never heard of that before,
but we've heard of stranger things with diesels
so they did the work for half the price....

BUT that  didn't fix the problem -

we went back....

STILL didn't fix it...

we would have to come back a 3rd time...

BUT they were sure it would be fine to take to Canada

over the Labor Day Weekend....

 

We went home---

Bob started mowing -

I needed to run to the store...

and on the way home....

my little bug died.....

Thankfully I was only a mile and a half from home

no way to reach Bob ...

so - I started walking

and thinking....

and saying - in my head -

well, maybe even out LOUD since no one was around...

some BAD words

to that Volkswagen dealer...

(we were about to order a Pssaatt (sp??)

I wanted someone CLOSE to be available for service!!!

 

Bob and I drove back up to the car- called "our guys"

who called the wrecker...

that came and took our little Bug away...

 

WELL - the next day Bob headed out...

to our buddies...where we had the car towed

he called and  told me that the engine BLEW!!?!

and said he was at  the Chevrolet dealer...

and said come on up here....

(which I did PRONTO....)

 

SOOOOOO

what only happens in a blue moon...

we bought a new car....

2 days ago....

we picked up our Chevy Malibu....
the VW was a great car...
we just kept it too long
(the guys at the repair shop in B.R.
bought it from us and already have a new engine in it)
My daddy worked at Chevrolet ~
General Motors pretty much
fed me, clothed me and kept a roof over my head
for the first 40 years of my life....

and it feels good to look out the window
and see that Chevrolet insignia on my car....
 

 

 

 



Labor Day Weekend

Well let's see

"LOTS has been happenin"

I guess I will start with Labor Day Weekend

(already a week and a half ago)

then go backwards from there.

So on Friday Aug. 31st

I went to the book sale in Big Rapids -

they have a VERY good sale at the library

every Labor Day weekend.

Our plans to go to Wawa were cancelled...

need to save the money.....

more on that later -

BUT

Bob went to the tire store to see 

 if one of the tires on the Envoy had a leak

well, sir look at this...

the tires were cracked --

too many years sitting in that HOT Georgia sun....

2 new tires = $300.00

well I guess we aren't saving anything after all....:-0

 

Anyway--- we proceeded with our revised

Labor Day Weekend Plans...

 

Sat. morning we headed north -

to find a lavender farm that we had read about.

We know it is too late to see the flowers,

we just wanted to check out the farm.

Very cool indeed.....

we plan on going back next July...

THEN, we went to Boyne City

and discovered they were having a car show

this was a car that gave rides on the dunes -

 I rode in one of these cars (maybe THIS car !?!)

when I was a little girl !!

After the car show we grabbed out lunch

and headed to a lakeside picnic table.

 

We headed home to get some rest before we headed out on Sunday.

Sunday we went to Hart

to the POW WOW!!

Not very big this year, Gust & Stella were not there -

but I still enjoyed it -

SOMEDAY I might just step into that circle myself...

When we left the pow wow - we continued west

to the water ---PENTWATER

where we had ANOTHER picnic in the park

On Monday we stayed close to home -

went to the annual craft show in the park in Big Rapids.

Where I bought a nice WARM sweater

and a Hippie purse...

 

A very very nice Labor Day weekend -

even with the last minute change of plans.

 

 

 



Slip Sliding Away....

We are in the last days of August - -

The last days of Summer -

This month we went kayaking

in Ludington.

 

 

 

 

 

And we went boating on Lake Leelanau.

 

 

 

 

And we are hoping to get on the water again...

before the snow flies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Today.....

Well, plans today got canceled...

due to unforeseen circumstances....:-)

so....today

Bob hauled a few garden hoses out of the barn,

I untangled them and hooked them up

and YAYYYY

I can now water my pumpkins -

behind the barn much easier!

Also today, Robert got the skidster stuck

at the edge of the pond.

Joe was up, so he came over and drove the tractor

while Bob drove the skidster...

They got it out so quickly,

I pretty much missed the shot!!!

BUT the very MOST exciting thing that happened today......

WE HAD A BABY!!!!

Little Flopsy Mopsy,

who has sat and sat and sat

for so many hours -

finally got a chick,

she is sitting on 3 or 4 more eggs,

so we shall see if we get any more babies...



Grand Marais - - Again

To celebrate Robert's birthday,

we went back to Grand Marais

in the U.P.

As we were out looking around town, we saw...

So off we went --

lots of cute ideas and gorgeous flowers

At our last stop, I noticed the lady had some very cool rocks in her garden.

So I asked her about them and she said she had collected all of them in the area.

She said the boardwalk was a good place for collecting ---

but a VERY good place was about 8 miles down the road.

Soooo

off we went - down a very bumpy back road

actually it was 10 miles

THEN we had to walk to the water.

We traipsed up hills and down hills

and finally got a glimpse of

that beautiful blue water up yonder ...

YEP - we found lots of very cool rocks.....

BUT so far back to the car..

we had to pick and choose

which ones we would lug

up those hills.... and down those hills.....

On the ride back to town,

Bob asked if I wanted to check out the other "rock spot"

ABSOLUTELY!!!

Ahhh this place was a mere

hop skip and a jump from the car! 

The rocks were smaller  -

but I sure had fun playing in the water

while hunting them. 

The day flew by -

soon it was time for another

delicious whitefish dinner

and another gorgeous light show in the sky...

Pentwater Garden Walk....

Today we went to Pentwater's Garden Walk...

and YES ... we walked and walked and walked...

Whew - I have not felt this whipped

in a LONG time!!

Anyway we walked all around Pentwater,

looking at gardens...

These pics were taken from the garden that was my favorite -

I think our gardens are every bit as nice as the ones we saw today -

It made me think back to the time we were on the Garden Walk in Lexington
I really doubt that any of the gardeners from today spent
half the time that Bob did trying to get everything looking just right.



Amish Country

A ride through an Amish community -

We always see the big round bales of hay in the fields around us...

these fields were a work of art.....

 

Horses....of course

The silo..... 

and the farmhouse.....

simple living at it's finest....