Monday, July 27, 2009

Hope this finds all of you in good health and spirit.

The weekend a lot got accomplished around here. New doors went into the barn and the painting was finished. The garage got siding on it. The ice machine was installed in the garage kitchen and is working good.

Landscaping was done where the wedding will take place. The lists were gone over many times and changed a couple.

This is the last weekend to get things done. Hopefully by Friday the garage floor will be painted and dry. However, with the humidity it might take longer to get it dry to paint. I did put fans out there along with the dehumidifer from my basement. So I'm hoping that will do the trick.

Next week will be a busy week but hopefully we will have a little down time also. I've made my lists, checked them twice made up a calendar with a schedule. This is all for me because I have that Old Timer's Disease "Can't remember S---" I know if I'm responsible for it I had better have it on a list.

I'm wondering how many trips to town next week. Last Saturday between the 7 of us here I think we made 10 trips to the Mini Store. We were starting to wish Rochelle was old enough to drive. She turned 11 today. Hard to believe that time has went that fast.

I've been so busy with wedding preparations that I haven't heard of anything going on around town.

August 15th is Christmas in August at the Community Center, The Lutheran Ladies are having their annual luncheon, bake sale etc the same day. Max Mini Store will be have special sales and of course the Mini Max Flea Market will be open for business. So there will be lots to do and see in Squaw Lake that day.

Will write more when I can.

Julie

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Well, as you can see I haven't been on here much. I took the weekend off and left town and went to a family reunion. Jimmie's sister Audrey and husband celebrated 50 years of being married. It was a wonderful weekend.

Now we are getting down to the crunch. Art has the barn just about done. Adam (grandson) will be up this weekend to put new doors in. Randy (sil) will be here tomorrow with a friend to plumb the garage and finish wiring etc. Steph will be here later tomorrow and will work on the flower beds etc. Also she will be going through the list on decorations and food. It is all coming together and hopefully by the end of this weekend we will be majorily done. It would be nice next weekend if we had just the misc. stuff to figure out and do.

I've been so busy here that I only go uptown usually on Monday morning and Friday morning to work. So, I'm not really sure what is going on.

Tonight the Community meal will be at the Community center from 5 - 7 . They will be serving sloppy joes. This is always a good meal, hope you can come and help support the Free Water for Life that they do this for.

This is the last week for the Showboat performances in Grand Rapids. I've heard this is a great thing to go to. I've never made time in my life to do it.
Mississippi Melodie Showboat comes around the bend of the Mississippi River at 8:30 pm and it is SHOWTIME!!
Thursday July 23 is Family Night - 1/2 price for those that live in Itasca County
Friday July 24
Saturday July 25
Prices: Adults - $10, Seniors - $8, Children $4

A pre show is held 30 to 45 minutes ahead of the show. Handicap parking is available about 50 to 80 feet from the seats. Wear long pants and coat maybe a fleece blanket as the evening are quite cool.

For more info: Diane Stay - 659-2606 (H), or 218-259-0164 (cell) or email: jonalioliuri4@hotmail.com.

Well, it is getting warm enough to go outside and do some work. It is almost 9am time to quit goofing around. Hope all of you are in good health and spirit. Talk to you when I have time.
Julie

Monday, July 20, 2009

Northern Minnesota Artists Wanted

If you are an artist or artisan within 100 miles of Squaw Lake the managers at First Week Boutique located in the Squaw Lake Community Center want to talk to you! We are looking for people interested in consigning arts and craft work, including but not limited to, bead work, birch bark crafts, photography and paintings, original clothing designs, accessories, and more. We also accept gently used and new clothing.

Some basic need-to-know info:

You keep 80% of the sale price on all handmade products. We do a 50/50 split with the consignor on used clothing with automatic markdowns if items do not sell. Ask about a tax deductible donation of your unwanted items.

We are open the first week every month year around and on some special "high traffic" days like the "Christmas in August" craft fair and St. Urho's Day.

No table fees!

Call the First Week Boutique office at Eagleview for more info or to set up an appointment. 218.659.4254, Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:00-8:00 and Fridays 4:00-7:00PM. You can also reach us via e-mail at firstweekboutique@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you,
Shelby, Michael-Anthony and Margaret

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Events in July and August

July 18 the First Week Boutique will be open at the Community Center from 10a to 3p.

July 20, baby shower for Isabelle Adams, daughter of Angela and Chad Adams. Again I forgot to check on the time.

July 22, Community Supper at the Community Center, serving from 5 to 7. This is done by St. Catherine Ladies and Centennial Lutheran Ladies and all proceeds go to Fresh Water for Life. This time they will be serving a Sloppy Joe Supper. They always put on a good meal.

August 8, at Hemphill's is the Michelle Woods/Mertes and Adam Puncochar wedding. If we missed you with an invitation and you'd like to come. Come on and join the fun. They will be getting married at 4pm with dinner and dance following. Just give Julie Hemphill 659-4239 or Mary Mertes 659-4274 a call with how many are coming. We want to have enough food for all but our families don't want us to overcook like we usually do so they have to eat leftovers for weeks. Help them out. Thanks.

August 15, Christmas in August from 9am to 3pm. Squaw Lake Community Center. Crafts, flea market. Snack bar.

August 15, Centennial Lutheran Ladies will have their luncheon to help raise money for fuel for the winter. Usually they have a bake sale and other items for sale as well. I think their luncheon starts at 11am.

I will check on a couple other things that is suppose to be going on that day but haven't got the real scoop yet so will talk about them later.

Labor day is the Rubber Ducky Race sponsored by Ducks Unlimited. Don't forget to buy your duck.
Hi everyone,

Wow, what a nice rain today. Already the grass is looking better. I hope we get some more tonight so that the grass will look even better and I won't have to water for a few days.

I went to town today to buy grey paint and red paint. Now I didn't think this should be too hard a task. Well, let me tell you I've never seen so many shades of grey and red paint. First of all I wanted to paint my barn red now I'm talking that red color like a crayon or the color barns used to be 30 years ago. Barn paint now comes in brown red color that is call barn red. It is more of a rusty brown red. Not what I wanted. Of course I always wait til the last moment to get stuff so ordering what I wanted was out of the question. I went to L&M, Home Depot, and Menards they all have barn red but it is the brown barn red so I said to heck with it (notice how my language is cleaner on this) and painted the barn white. Well, Art said you need trim paint for the barn and I said what color and everyone said red so I go back to Home Depot today to buy red exterior paint. Now there are pinky red, orangey red, browny red, but no red the color of a red crayon so I ended up with candy apple red. You should be able to see this barn from a long way away! As for grey paint there were at least 10 different shades of grey. This really tells the story of my age when I can remember you had white, black, grey, red, green, blue etc kind of like the primary colors and didn't have to look for hours to get the color you wanted. You could of sent anybody back then to pick up a gallon of paint for you.

Sooo, since it was kind of a gloomy day and all I wanted to do was crawl in bed with a good book I did bookwork instead. I was going to scrub the floor in the garage and get it ready to do something to it. I've looked at epoxy and decided that wouldn't be as durable as I wanted. Also, I think paint would just come off. I've thought about stain because I figured it would soak into the concrete and be there but the lady at Home Depot today said oh no it will peel up sometimes. Now I'm not sure what to do to the floor in the garage. All I can say it will be clean for the party for the wedding but will it have some color other than concrete color who knows. If anyone out there has tried staining their old concrete to make it look better let me know because I am out of ideas for this floor. Or at least ideas I can afford.

Looks like it is going to windy for the next couple of days. More thunderstorms tonight but clearing off tomorrow. By the weekend suppose to be nice. We sure needed this rain, actually hope we get some more before it is over.

Some of you are probably laughing when I say I'm getting old but I remember when County 4 between Max and Squaw lake was gravel. It was great when they tarred it. I learned to ride bike at my Uncle Nat's place. First thing I did was run off the tar and ended up in the ditch. That wasn't so great but once I learned how to ride it was much better than the dirt road I lived on.

Have a great week and I'll try to write again unless I get too busy.

Julie

Monday, July 13, 2009

Squawk

I hope everyone has had a great week. It was some nice weather over the weekend. A very busy weekend around here. Seemed like everyone had a project and things got done.

The house got painted even the trim work. Then landscape fabric and mulch got put around it. Looks pretty good. All those elves around here this weekend got the job done quickly.

Just a little more painting in the ceiling in the garage and scrub the floor and decide what to do with it and the cabinets can get hung the next time the son in law comes up.

The barn has been primed and one coat of paint put on it.One more to go and then the trim. Tomorrow going to town to buy trim paint for the barn and a few other things.

The old garage has a new face lift with a roll up door and siding. Next time will be finish the siding.

Things are coming together pretty good. It's been alot of work but the end result will make all the effort worthwhile. Tonight my knees are disagreeing with me. To many trips up and down the ladder over the last week. I'd forgotten how bad they used to hurt until today.

Hopefully, we will get some rain tonight. I can't believe it but I've been watering the lawn everyday and it is still crunchy in places. Usually this time of the year I cut it off short and let it turn brown so I don't have to mow. But i would like to have green grass for the wedding so I go and water it each day.

The hay has been cut and baled on the place. I keep looking to see if there is any deer but haven't seen any. Not sure where they all are but there hasn't been many tracks on the road either.

Hope all of you have a great week.

Julie

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

July happenings

July 11th - Bridal shower for Michelle Woods-Mertes at the Community Center from 3 to 5p.

July 11th - Retirement party for Wendy Muntean from 1 - 4p, but I don't remember if it is at the Sand Lake Hall or Sand Lake Alliance Church. Will let you know.

July 14th - Max Town Board Meeting at the Max Town Hall at 7p.

July 20 - Baby shower for Angela Adams and baby daughter Isabelle. I've forgotten the time for this also.

July 22 - Community Meal by St. Catherine and Centennial Lutheran Ladies from 5 - 7p. I haven't heard what the menu is yet.

Squawk

My how time flys when you're having fun.

It has been a busy week since I last posted. Thank goodness for the Firemen's auxilliary who did so much of the preparation for the pig roast. We had a good crowd and had way to much food. It was a beautiful day so I'm sure alot of people had fun outside.

Besides getting ready for the pig roast we've been busy as bees here on the farm trying to get everything ready for the wedding. Steph and Randy are here every weekend working hard to get stuff done and leaving late on Sunday evening. I'm not sure how they manage that trip back to the cities so late after working as hard as they do on the weekend. Art and Mary Mertes have been here everyday helping to get stuff done. My sister Nancy came up Monday and Tuesday and we painted most of the house. Just the high ends of the house didn't get it and Art came over tonite and finished that. The ceiling in the garage has been painted and ready for the boards that will go over the joints of the sheetrock. All of the trim boards have been painted with poly. This weekend should finish the inside of the garage and then it is get the floor cleaned and install the cabinets.

We sure need rain. Walking across part of the lawn today and it was crunchy. I've been watering that part all week and it still is lacking water. Boy it takes a lot of effort to keep plants alive in this weather. Maybe that is why I've had a black thumb I just didn't water enough.

I know working on the ladder isn't good for my knees. They've really felt good since I've lost weight but they have been hurting like the dickens since I've started going up and down the ladder so much.

I hope all of you are enjoying this lovely weather we've been having. I heard we are suppose to get some heavy rains tonight. We need rain but I don't think we need heavy rains.

Wes Nestberg just pulled in with the haying equipment. I suppose that will ensure that we get rain tonight. I watered the plants and lawn, Art painted, Wes wants to mow tomorrow. Maybe I should of left the window down in my car that usually makes it rain.

Take care and I will try to write more often.

Julie

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Hi,

Do any of you close to Squaw Lake have any rhubarb you'd like to part with? My 2 hills aren't producing enough for me this year. Give me a call at 659-4239. Thanks, Julie

Squawk

Today turned out to be pretty nice. When I first went out at 6 this morning I thought it was kinda cold, but it warmed up nice.

I stopped in at the First Week Boutique today and they were having some nice things for sale. They are still looking for things to consign.

Well, tomorrow the Auxillary for the fire department puts on the big push to get everything ready for the Pig Roast on Saturday. They are a great bunch of ladies willing to work to get stuff done for the fire department.

A big Thank You to the WOW women who stepped forward and made pies to help out for this big fund raiser for the fire department.

We hope to see all of you at this fund raiser. It will be a great meal and you will see people to visit with that you haven't seen for a while. It is suppose to be nice on Saturday so it should be a fun time.

I'm not sure what I've done this week but it doesn't seem like I've accomplished too much. I did manage to dig out my house a little. Housework usually gets left behind here when I'm busy on the other stuff. I figure that dirt will be waiting for me and it usually is. I'm such a pack rat that every available surface is piled with something. Usually another craft project.

Happy Birthday to Isabell Knudson (Kathy Peterson's Mom) who turned 85 today. She is one spry women who loves to play cribbage. I've gotten my butt beaten more than once playing cards with her.

It's a long weekend for some. I hope everyone is traveling safe and waiting until they reach their destination to start the partying.

Evy Oja reported a good weekend last week at the flea market. She said alot of stuff went out the door. Then on Tuesday I saw the vendors bringing more stuff in so there is alot of new things again at the flea market. If you have been there you must take the time to go and see all the stuff crammed under that roof. She should have a good one this weekend where it is a 3 day weekend.

I heard that the volleyball games they have at the Crow Bar on Thursday nights are alot of fun. Both for the players and the crowd.

The lady slippers have been out for a while. County 4 had a nice bunch along it when I was driving that way the other day.

I've seen 2 fawns so far one a nice size one and the other looked like it had just been born.

I haven't seen any bears yet.

It seemed like the lawn slowed down just a little with the cold weather this week. On Tuesday I built a wood fire. When the gas furnace kicked on I figured that I could build a fire. It sure took the dampness out of the house.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I've got people to help and lots of things to get done so I probably won't write until Monday.

Take care,
Julie

"First Week Boutique" Seeks Local Artists

The "First Week Boutique" is a consignment shop open the first seven days of each month, and during special area events. The shop is run by youth, for youth, and profits will go to support the Eagleview Community Technology Center and other programs at Eagleview- like the Boys and Girls Club.

We are still accepting consignments from area artists and craftspeople. Stop in at the shop in the Squaw Lake Community Center on Highway 46 (2:00-7:00 weekdays, 10:00-3:00 weekends except this Saturday when we'll be open 1:00-7:00 PM for a Grand Opening during the SLFD Pig Roast). You can also contact us at 218.659.5254 or at firstweekboutique@gmail.com

Youth artists and new artists, we're looking for you!

Marg, Michael-Anthony and Shelby