N & N Visit

Nicki and Neena were here Monday and Tuesday.  Neena created this original card.

Frog

We had a cute little visitor on our front porch.

K-9

Police K-9 dog demonstration at the Minnesota State Fair, one of my favorite events to watch.

The Great Minnesota Get Together

Doug and I went to the Minnesota State Fair today.  Ellie and Isaac met us there and we ate a foot-long hot dog, strawberry fruit smoothie, chocolate malt, cheese curds, wild rice burger, pizza, funnel cake, chocolate chip cookies, kettle corn popcorn and John Deere ice cream and five bottles of water :)

Produce

Time to start harvesting the garden bounty.

Transition

And then like magic, there is a cocoon.

Doing the "J" Dance

Doug found this Monarch caterpillar hanging on the back of the garage.

Sunset Picture

Daylily.

Paper Circle Mobile

I finished the frugal paper circle mobile this weekend.

New Life for an Old Door

Doug made this shelf for my birthday.  He used an old door from Amy's homeplace.

Paper Circles

The beginnings of another frugal paper craft project.

Finished Craft Cupboard

Doug made some fancy new handles and pulls for my cupboard.

Just Me

O.k., here you go Doug, the picture you requested :)

Willow River Park

Doug and I took a walk to Willow Falls tonight.

Ducati

Ducati likes spending time laying on the ironing board in my craft room. She keeps me company :)

Almost Done

Craft cupboard nearing completion.  Moved back into my craft room and put some of the stuff back in/on it.  Now just waiting until Doug has a few moments to make me some handles and pulls.

Time to Sell

The Cross Camper group at Clear Lake.

Last camping trip of the season.  Time to clean out the camper and sell it :)

Saturday at Clear Lake

We went canoeing/kayaking in the morning.

Myron and Hannah try out kayaking for the first time.

The afternoon was perfect for a swim in the lake and for hours of fun playing "sink the boat" .

The "non-swimmers" group.

Jackson, Alex, Grace, Garret and Hannah feeding the fish.

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Ended the day around the campfire but had to quit early because it started to rain.

Rain

Rained on the way to Clear Lake, let up enough to set up our camper and then just poured for about 15-20 min.  The rest of the evening was nice and we spent it around the campfire with the Kempens, Tokheims and Melstroms.

High Heat

It has been sweltering hot this week.  Mid 90s most days.

Sunny

Giant sunflowers are absolutely huge this year, over 10' tall!

Caterpillars

I counted at least 12 monarch caterpillars in the yard tonight.

Beautiful Garden Fruits

Cherry tomatoes are ripening.

Namekagon River

Doug and Ben went on a kayaking trip down the Namekagon River.  They left yesterday afternoon and met Sami and Tessa, camping overnight and enjoying a beautiful day on the river today.

Shuddering

Still working on the cupboard.  One of the things I hate painting the most is shutters.  So many crooks and crannies to get into. Ugh!

Painting

First coat of flat black paint today.

Prep Work

Sanded cupboard today.  Ready to start painting tomorrow.

Repainting Craft Cupboard

Removed all hardware today.

A Bunch of Quackers

We saw this tree full of birds on our canoe/kayak trip.  We didn't know what type of birds they were until we got close and they took off and flew.  Then we could determine that they were ducks.

Willow River

We put the kayaks and canoe in below the dams at Willow River State Park.

Trout Brook Canoe Trip

Family canoe/kayak trip down Trout Brook to Lake Malileu.