Vacation Day 1

This past week Rich and I took our vacation for the summer. Seeing as we are trying to not spend a lot of money due to the upcoming wedding, and there was still some more Michigan exploring we needed to do we decided to take a 4 day trip to the Upper Peninsula. Our destination was the Porcupine Mountains, which is all the way to the west side of the UP on the Wisconsin border.

We left on Sunday in the early afternoon because we planned on stopping in St. Ignace for the night. St. Ignace is right across the Mackinaw Bridge.

We got there in the early evening. It was cloudy and raining off and on. We stayed in a place called the Breakers Resort and had a room right on Lake Huron.

This is the view from our hotel room; picture taken during a rare time when the sun was actually shining. That island you see out there is Mackinaw Island.

We didn't do much while we were there. We ate dinner and then went to the local casino where we left some money for someone else to win!

We spent some time sitting on the balcony and watching people feed the sea gulls.

 

They kept hovering by us on the balcony. Rich was eating something and they were hoping we would toss them a little snack!

Woke up to beautiful sunshine on the water. I never get tired of looking at that!! 

Had a really good breakfast at the hotel, packed up and got ready to head across the upper peninsula!

Part 2 in a few days

 

OK Sally--Here You Go!

Darn, this summer sure is flying by!

The weather has been PERFECT so far! Warm days, cool nights and low humidity! Where oh where can I find this kind of weather all the time!!!

We haven't done much but I do have some pictures  I can share.

Rich and I went to the dairy queen last holiday weekend and walked around the neighborhood behind it.

Love the flower box all along the side of this deck.

Someone lost their kitty! Boo! I hope they find it!

Spray paint the lawn for 4th of July!

I'm loving all the baby bunnies we are seeing all over right now. They are so cute!!! I want to hold them but they run away when I get close!

Our little tree in front of our house is in bloom.

I have no idea what kind of tree it is. It's rather cool looking, though!

I bought a bracelet from Amazon that was too small so I arranged to return it. I left the package in the door for UPS to pick up and apparently someone stole it because it's gone! UPS doesn't have it and Amazon doesn't have it! I personally think the mail person took it but they won't even talk to me at the post office!

It was only an $8 bracelet but lesson learned....from  now on anything I mail order I will have delivered to me at work!

That's all for now...

Two more weeks until our vacation!!!

Until the next time!

The Duck Saga and Yes to the Dress!

Remember a few posts ago I told you about the duck that was sitting on the nest right outside the entrance

to the hospital where I work? It was there for about 3 weeks and Thursday when I left work, there was several security guards and a person from pest control outside the building.

Seems that the babies had hatched! Now, the closest body of water to the hospital is the Huron River. In order to get her babies to it the momma would have to cross two busy streets and a rail road track. I thought maybe they would just follow momma and babies and stop the traffic so they could cross safely, but the plan was to put the babies in a box, capture the momma and bring them all safely down to the river.

When I got out there, they had already put the babies in a box and they were trying to catch the momma. She was having none of that!

She was spitting mad, too! See her right by the box on the right? She was strutting around squawking and every time they tried to catch her with a net or a blanket, she would fly a few feet away.  Then she would always come back to where they had her babies in the box!

I watched for about 15 minutes and then I had to leave. One of my coworkers was out there  30 minutes after I left and they were still trying to catch her! I was worried about her all night!

On Friday when I got to work there was a sign by the empty nest.

It's hard to read but it says "Mother duck and all chicks are down at the Huron River and doing fine. Thanks for carefully watching her"  Whew! One less thing to worry about!

In other news...Shauna bought a wedding dress yesterday! It's gorgeous, too and she knew the minute she put it on that it was the one.  I can't post pictures of her in it but here's a little hint...

The buttons that go down the back go all the way down to the end of the train!

Eeek! We're so excited!!

Until the next time.

The Month of June--What Is Going On Anyway?

Well, we certainly won't be sad to see the month of June end this year.  We lost three people this month alone. 

First was my brother-in-law, Tom, on the 1st

My dad's girlfriend of 10+ years, Peggy,  passed away on the 19th and then my ex-sister in law's  mother, Tillie, died on the 20th.  Sheesh!

Went to the funeral home last night for Tillie, and then I took the day off of work today and went to Peggy's memorial service. It was very nice and I hope that's the end of that stuff for a good, long time!

In other, happier news,

We met some friends for dinner last weekend in downtown Plymouth and we were laughing at this sign posted on the street. No Parking after 3:19 am. Now that's pretty specific!

I took a few days off last week to have some time for myself and to take care of some business. Plus I needed to get annual check up and mammogram done, too.

Took a selfie in my beautiful gown while I was waiting for the technician to come and get me.

Everything is fine for another year!

On Friday I met my friend Karen for breakfast. This year we are celebrating 50 years of friendship. We were 7 years old when she moved in across the street from me in the summer of 1964!

 

She gave me this beautiful card and cute little brass clock that signifies all the time that has gone by since we met! I got her nothing....because she is so much better at those kind of things than I am...so I bought her breakfast!  

Anyway, she and her husband have a condo in Harbor Springs so we probably will go up there for  few nights later this summer and do some shopping and hiking and gambling. 

Then next year we have plans to go to Vegas and meet up with another old friend. We'll see how that works out!

 I also  bought my shoes for Shauna's wedding shower next year and the rehearsal dinner. 

 

They are cute, comfortable and were on sale for super cheap so I couldn't resist!  

Now I just have to match the dress to the shoes!

And finally, this Saturday Me, Shauna, SIL Linda and Brad's mom Sandy are going wedding dress shopping! Can't wait for that!!!

Until next time.....

Birds of a Feather

I love this time of year and all the birds and rabbits and other critters that are around. Yesterday we watched 3 rabbits chase each other around our back yard. We got a kick out of it and the kitties did too.

We heard some commotion later and saw this guy sitting on the fence:

It's a baby robin..or more like a teenage robin! Calling for his momma to come feed him!!

And her she comes with dinner or lunch or a snack! As soon as she left the baby started squaking again for her! She went back an forth several times before they both flew away into another yard.

 

 "Would you please keep quiet! I think someones watching us!"

Outside the entrance to where I work there is a duck sitting on a nest.

I have a picture of her sitting on the nest but unfortunately it won't upload so you'll have to settle for the nest without her sitting on it. There is water and food for her and a sign saying that Pest Control is watching this and not to disturb it. I just hope when the time comes she can get her little family safely across the street and down to the river!

The weather has been beyond gorgeous around these parts! I wish it could be like this all of the time.

Until the next time......

Happy Occasion Sad News

Last Saturday we went  Dominics birthday party.  The theme for his  party was "Dogs".  Along with the usual hot dogs and various salads, his mom made several different flavors of "puppy chow" like Birthday Cake, Peanut Butter and Jelly and my favorite Thin Mint Cookie! To die for good!

 Anyway, I was so busy eating way more than I should have that I forgot to take pictures of it!

So in keeping with the dog theme, Dominics cake looked like a bowl of dog food.

Which he wanted to eat just like a dog!!!

Yum!!!

It was a nice birthday party!  I can hardly believe he's 4 already!

On Sunday we got the sad news that Rich's brother in law Tom passed away in South Carolina. We weren't surprised because he had been sick for a while and under hospice care for the last few weeks. He was only 71 so he died too young. He had had esophageal cancer about 5 years ago and survived surgery and chemo. Unfortunately, he smoked for 45 years and emphysema finally got the best of him. 

He was a super nice guy and we will miss him a lot! I have great memories of the times we spent with him and Judy.  Rest in peace, Tom. 

We also took a little trip over the The Links of Novi where Shauna and Brad will be getting married next year. I wanted to see what it looked like on  May 30th which is the date of the wedding. They had all the flowers planted and it looked very pretty. 

 

We've got lots of stuff to do but it's getting pretty exciting!

Until the next time.....

Memorial Weekend

Jeez, I'm so behind on my blogging! I'm going to lose all of my new followers pretty soon if I don't get going here!

So we had a wonderful Memorial Weekend. The weather was beyond gorgeous. Warm and sunny during the day and cooler at night for good sleeping! After the winter we had it is so nice to be able to enjoy being outside!

On Saturday we went to Brad's aunts house for a barbecue. We had good food and even played some games. It was nice to be there and get to know Brads family. They are nice people and I am excited to be joining our families.

On Sunday I made a bird bath using Terra cotta pots. It's an idea I got off of Pinterest of course.

I painted them using the same paint that I used on my front door a few years ago.It's good exterior paint and I love the color.

 

The we put put them together. First this way.

Didn't really like it that way.We wanted it just a little bit taller.

So we put them this way.

Much better.

The bowl is a old pasta bowl that I got at a garage sale or a rummage sale several years ago. It's been sitting in the basement all this time. I never really put pasta in it because it's a little pitted inside and it just never seemed clean enough to me!

It's  perfect for my birdbath though!

 

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Rich approves! I stenciled some birds on it and we put it together with some glue and a couple bolts.

Here it is in place in the backyard. I put a few rocks and some water inside.

And within a few hours there was a bird in it already! I love it!

On Monday we had the kids over for a barbecue. They were duly impressed with my craftiness!

It was a perfect weekend!

Until the next time.....