The new rock wall

Home projects have been on the back burner all summer.  But this week Kurt finished the rock trim under the living room window.

He found all the rocks on our upper property.  Now we need Lisa and Betty to come back to lay a rock patio on the ground in front of this.

Mark's early birthday gift

While we were on vacation at a condo in the mountains with the kids and grandkids- it seemed like the perfect time to give Mark his birthday present- a little early- a 2-wheeler bike.  Here are Grandpa and Mark discussing the intracacies of bike construction......

 Grandpa doing the final adjustments...

 Mark and Grandma checking the fit

 Looks good Mark says

 Now out to the parking area for the first ride-- lots of concentration needed for those first few pedals.....

 Now show the assembled adults how you feel about the bike---all smiles

 Then ride off into the sunset.........with daddy right behind...

Wind River Canyon

Suggestion: Put a trip through the WIND RIVER CANYON in Wyoming on your bucket list. It is only 34 miles long- but it is like one of those optical illusion carnival walks where you think you are going down hill but you are really going uphill.
As we entered the canyon I had this distinct feeling we were DESCENDING but infact we were traveling up-river and slightly uphill the whole way. Of course you can't really see it in the pictures- so you will just have to go there yourself.
 

 To make it more convincing that you are desending, they have markers every couple of miles indicating the age of the rocks and they get older the farther you go...

 When you pop out of the canyon you are on a plateau with a beautful view towards the Rockies.

. 

Let a new era of camping begin!

We have upgraded from tent camping to a mini motor home.
How cute is this??!!  (It is 19 feet long, circa 1985 and gets 10-12 miles a gallon)

 Here it is at our campsite at lake Sullivan this week.  Our little MO HO was great!  Get this- it has a built in biffy and shower stall and HOT running water-- So, I had a hot shower both days and dish washing was a breeze!  And no middle of the night run to the outhouse.  Hoo Ray!

Here is Kurt enjoying a gin and tonic on the second day of the camping trip-- with fresh ice cubes from the refrigerator-- another hoo ray!

We LOVE our new fire pit ring

The kids surprised us on the day of our anniversary party with this new fire ring.  We think it is just grand!  Thank you so much!!

 Though the weather did not cooperate for a campfire at our party, Kurt and I have since had several campfires- complete with hot dogs on a stick and s'mores.
 In the evening the sun shines through the name openings

Kurt masters "Beer can Chicken"

A successful BBQ dinner last night- two chickens cooked sitting upon cans of beer.  Very tasty......and not burned a bit.....which is a vast improvement over the last time Kurt tried this recipe....

The last time the birds were left unattended for only a short while- but during that time the BBQ kicked itself into high gear-- when Kurt returned there were flames shooting out of all sides of the BBQ lid and this was the condition of the poor birds........................needless to say, we had hamburgers that night

Eureka! We hit WATER!

We own 20 acres of wild hill side.  Last year Kurt took the excavator up the hill and dug a bunch of test holes in areas that looked like natural water-run-off areas, hoping to find some surface water.  NO luck last summer.  BUT this week we took our first Spring walk up the hill and discovered a GUSHER (or so it seems to us).  One of the test holes is filled with beautiful clear water seeping out of the hill side.  It is overflowing at a rate we estimate to be 6 or 7 gallons a minute.  This has created a new water course we have dubbed Matter Creek.

Another step in the kitchen upgrade

Kurt returned from a week of work in Denver and got right back to work on our kitchen.  Finishing the drywall--dusty and time comsuming.  By Thursday he was ready to spray on the texture--

 It was a lot of work to get everything taped off....

 Good bye  terra cotta

On Friday we were able to repaint......hello Pueblo Sand- a nice golden yellow.  It looks great with the new granite countertops

Our cute Josie

Here is Josie trying to take a bite out of Kurt's knuckle- she seemed to think his finger made the perfect size teething surface....

 It was chilly the whole time Lisa and Josie visited - so hats were required for afternoon walks.  But then, she is very cute in a hat......
 It took a dozen shots to catch a great smile---here is one.
 Josie was very interested in looking around during the walk-- SO MUCH to see....

 Turns out we didn't take that many pictures- but we got this one on the last morning.  Josie in her great-grandmothers bed.  Nice to see a 4th generation using the bed

Baby Josie comes to Kettle Falls

Lisa and Josie are paying us a visit.  Here they are arriving at Spokane airport- looks like the flight went ok!

Finally a look-see at Josie- whom we haven't seen since she was 10 days old

Josie was taking it all instride- especially when Grandpa was holding her

Soon we were home and after getting a roaring fire going Lisa had to strip down Josie because it was too hot!

Lisa and Josie will be here for a week- more pictures are sure to follow!

MORE progress in the kitchen :)

Kurt was quite busy while Joanie was out of town for 6 days.  He wasted no time taking out the old base cabinet......

and bringing in the new one.....

 Lots of leveling and adjusting and then he was able to put on the countertop undelayment........LOOK knobs and drawer handles!
Then he turned his attention to mudding the ceiling drywall- some of which has been up for over a year (and some was new last month)
 Seeing this picture- Joanie was really glad she was out of town during this stage!

Today he started laying out the granite tiles for the counter top.  It is going to be spectacular!!!

New base cabinet from start to finish in two weeks!

This base cabinet was stacked playwood and lumber on March 21st.

Here is Kurt with the nearly finished project on March 31st.

Notice all the features- 10 drawers! All with automatic closures....

this is before the final sanding and staining

 Pretty cool, huh?

the stain went on on april 1 and he did 3 coats of varathane on Satuday.
Next pictures will be after the installation