Landscaping at Amy and Kurt's

When we were in Washington, Amy and Kurt had a new driveway and front sidewalk put in.  It's beautiful but the contractor did kinda mess up their yard.  This is the area where they took out the old sidewalk.  Because it was under the trees, grass  had not done all that well.  Hopefully the new seed will do much better.

 This is the area that we spent close to three days working on.  There was rock mixed with dirt that was at least 20" deep or so it seemed.  Peter dug out the rock, then we screened it to get the dirt and rocks separated,  washed the rock and filled in other areas in the back yard.

 You can see who did the hard work!!

 The rock in memory of Ken, Kurt's dad.

 Almost finished.  Because this area is complete shade, we had to pick plants that require no sun - most of these came from Peter's "nursery".  Just had to purchase a couple coral bells and one hosta.

 Kurt and Amy finished the job with the mulch.  Am anxious to see the finished product.

Still have the other side of the front deck to do but that might have to wait til next Spring.  I know Amy has a couple of work days coming up the end of September so will wait  to see what she puts on her list.  We'll have a some extra workers because Amy's taking a couple days off and Holly will be with us for a long weekend.

Have a GREAT weekend and enjoy the cool weather - I know I will.

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

Family Pictures

When we arrived in Washington, they were busy harvesting raspberries.  We were even fortunate enough one day to be able to go out to the fields to watch Holly drive the picker.  The blueberries came into season while we were there - when you drive down the roads, the berries hang in clumps on the branches and almost look like grapes.

 I LOVE to take pictures of Mt. Baker and here's another scene.  No cows this time, just an alfalfa field.

 DeAnn decided one Sunday that we had to have some grampa and gramma pictures with the kids, soooooo................

deciding where to take them

 My "girl" and I with Sam thrown in

 The grandkids

 If you look, there's a sweet little lady in the woods.

See the big wood pile in the background - well that's the one we didn't get burned before the "burn ban" was put on.  We did get another pile that was to the left burned one day and had started on this one.   Fire is something that we are good at!!!

DeAnn and John with her wood carving - it's quite impressive.  Water proofing the carving was the one thing on the list that did get finished but we didn't do it - John did.  This is the first time that EVERYTHING plus a few additional chores John added were all completed plus we had several "no work" days thrown in and usually a nap about 3:00 each afternoon.

That's it for now - not sure what the next blog will entail - still some pictures left in my file from Washington.  Have a good weekend ahead - I'm going to love it because it's supposed to be in the low 70's which is absolutely perfect weather.

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

Creating Flower Beds II

Since it took several days to finish this project (like about a week), I thought I could take two days to blog about it.

 Getting the grass out of the flower beds:

 Beginning the plantings of Mom's Vision:

 A few more plants (from South Dakota) on Mom's vision:

 Plants on DeAnn's Oasis:

 The composting has begun - 6 yards in all

 The finished flower beds:

Mom's Vision by the cottage:

 The south flower beds:

DeAnn's Oasis

It looks so different  - good job, DeAnn and Dad!!!!!!

Next blog I'll fill you in on some of our "fun" activities.

Love to all,

Gramma and MOM

Creating Flower Beds - I

One of the first items on Dad's "Daddy-Do" list was to put in flower beds under the trees.  The grass doesn't grow very well under the large cedar trees.  We (really just Dad) brought a half van load of flowers (mostly hostas) with us.  In fact I wasn't allowed to bring as many clothes as I probably needed because we had too many plants!!

BEFORE:   the south bed

BEFORE:  DeAnn's Oasis

 Marking the area with a hose to find just the right look:  have to look closely to see the black hose

 Spray painting the outline

 Edging the outline

 Sharping the outline

 Removing the grass

All of this was required before a single plant could be put into the ground.  If you're wondering where I am, I, for the most part at this stage, held down the lawn chair, provided  lots of technical advise and was the water person.

Next post will be:  Stage 2 of putting in flower beds

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM 

On the Way to Washington

We left for Washington with Sam on July 10th.   We spent the first night in Sturgis with Rich and Henrietta and the next night in Missoula, Montana and arrived in Lynden about 6:30 on the 12th.  Made very good time but then once we started our trek, Sam just wanted to keep going.

South Dakota

We stopped at the rest stop in Chamberlain and it was so windy, the flags were blowing straight out.  The scenery of the Missouri River from the bluff is very nice but you had to almost hang onto something to keep from blowing away.  LOVE the South Dakota wind!!!???

Missouri River Valley

Wyoming

Montana - love the pastoral scenes in Montana.

Washington - loved how the clouds were lower than the mountain tops.

The Columbia River - lots of beautiful scenes along I90 from South Dakota to Lynden

There's even some snow on the mountain top

Welcome to the Hiemstra Hideaway - this was a slug we found the first night under the bushes in front of the cottage.

I will try to keep you a little more updated on how things have been doing since we arrived.  Have a super week!!!

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

PS:  This one's for you, Jan   Mount Baker taken from the corner just east of the Hideaway.

A Wee Bit Crabby

I just realized that I have not posted on my blog for a little over a month BUT  there has been a good reason.  When we came home from Arizona, the knee that I had surgery on in February started acting up.  One morning I woke up and could put no weight on that leg - as the day went on it got somewhat better.  May 16th I went to the Orthopedic Walk-In Clinic and got a cortisone shot which lasted all of two days.  Had to wait another two weeks to get an appointment with my Orthopedic Surgeon.  They did an MRI that afternoon and another week to get the results.  They said two big spots of arthritus - put your leg in a brace and use walker for three weeks.  (Three weeks will be up on July6).  Two weeks into the brace-thing, someone suggested trying acupunture so I am.  Have had two sessions and two more to go.  It has helped a great deal with my thigh muscle which was very hard and I think even my knee is starting to feel better.  What a lousey way to start summer - I will say, however, that Peter has been an excellent nurse.  And I am trying to look on the bright side of things??!!

Last week we picked up Sam at Dordt Discovery Days -one of the classess he took was Junk Jam which was a bunch of kids playing "junk drums" - he got the garbage can and did an awesome job.  It was so fun to watch him.

 

The next morning we headed to Pipestone to watch Chase march with his high school band and afterwards Sam was going on vacation with Aunt Amy & Uncle Kurt.  At least we had him for a few hours after his Dordt concert.

 

 It's easy to spot Chase when he marchs by - he is the tallest trombone player in the band!!!  It was a bit warm so they were allowed to wear their summer marching outfits.  Amy had put out chairs in the shade so we were very comfortable.

Sam forgot to bring a bag for candy but Aunt Amy came to the rescue.  He said he really didn't want any but since there were no other children directly in front of us, he still ended up with quite a stash.

All I wanted were a few small Tootsie Rolls - my favorite.  It was a nice parade.

Well, that's my life the past month in a nutshell.  I do have some other pictures I wish to share with you and will try to do so in a more timely manner.

Have a great weekend and a fun 4th of July!!!!

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM