Josie's bath faces

Here are some pictures of Josie in the bathtub recently.  You can tell she is a character by all the faces she has.....

This one is my favorite:

 This one is as corny as she is:  

 Tongue out......a family trait:

 Unlike some other grandchildren I know, Josie loves to get her head wet....

 and get shampoo in her hair.....

 Here I am, all clean and shiny...

 PJ's on, bottle in one hand, belly in the other....soon it will be off to bedtime.

New series coming..... What is a grandparent to do with all these cute Grand kid pics????

We have tons of cute grand kid pics.....so why not share them??  You can indulge us! ......or come back later when we have more pictures of our life and times. 

Annual appearance of Matter Creek

For the second year in a row we have water flowing above ground on our upper property.  On March 25th our little pool was bone dry.  But one week later we had water flowing at about 10 gallons a minute.  (Of course that might have something to do with the record rainfall we got during that time)
Here is the water springing out of the hillside

 The water flows into an 8 foot long pool that Kurt dug out with the excavator last year...

 And then the pool overflows down the hill. 

We had hoped that by digging out the area we might encourage a year round spring-- But last year it dried up so we expect the same this year.  Though it is still fun while it lasts.

Amy has a vacation

Amy, Mark and Lilly came for a Spring Break visit.  Amy brought along work to do and of course watching the kids is full time work--- but she also had some relaxing times...
On the ONLY day the sun was shining- they all got to go in the hot tub

There were also trips to find fossils, throwing rocks in the river and visits with old friends---none of which I have pictures to show.

Mark Helps

Amy, Mark and Lilly came for a Spring Break visit.  Mark quickly figured out that bringing in the firewood was an important daily job----and he claimed it!  

Some pieces were pretty big- but he didn't mind...

 Of course, bringing in the firewood requires wearing Grandpa's gloves...

 And you have to wear a baseball cap, like Grandpa, when you are working...

And, like the good big brother that he is, Mark lets Lilly help too..... with the smaller pieces of wood... 

Lilly Helps

Amy, Mark and Lilly came for a visit over their Spring Break.  They left sunny Denver and came to rainy and cold Kettle Falls.  The wet weather required us to think of inside projects.  The kids were more than happy to "work" with Grandpa.  One big ptoject was to make a spice shelf to go under Grandma's new kitchen cabinet.  Lilly helped with the staining and painting the sealer.  Then it was time to install the shelf.

Here is Lilly Helping Grandpa with the final measurements.

 OH, then it was time to re-check the plans...

 And then Lilly was all smiles when it was time for power tools- which she DID get to operate- but all adult hands were busy so we don't have a picture

And here is the finished product....

TA DA- the upper cabinet is installed

Upper cabinet under consturction

Now that winter is almost over......Kurt is (finally) working on what was supposed to be his "winter project"....... a new upper cabinet for our kitchen.
Here is one last picture of the old upper cabinets.  They have served us well.  Kurt built the original cabinet and Jeff Howat made the doors.  You can still see the original 30 year old+ kitchen wallpaper on the back wall of the cabinet......
Here is the new set taking shape in the wood shop.  Plywood back and center shelves.  Tamarack fir sides and side shelves.  When complete there will be two glass-front doors in the center and solid doors on the two side sections.  

they are a little taller and a little wider than the old set.  And there will be some open shelves and a plate rack to the left of this unit-coming later.  I am looking forward to more storage space.

 He does nice work, doesn't he!

Finally! Fish for dinner!

It has been a lousy fishing season this winter.  But Kurt still enjoys the break it gives him to go stand on the lake bank for a couple hours every couple of days. 
Out of the blue.....he caught a fish last Saturday!  This one was a native rainbow trout.  Quite a beauty.......

We shared the fish with company that evening and all proclaimed it was delicious!

Truck news

We can't manage our rural lifestyle without having a pickup truck.  There are 1001 needs- from going to the dump, to the lumber store and hauling manure or other garden supplies.  Sadly, we sold our trusty "ole yeller" 1966 Ford pickup when we lived in Sequim (as we had regular garbage pickup and a Buick station wagon that could haul a 4x8 sheet of plywood).

 When we moved back to Kettle Falls we needed a pickup.  Kurt found this one on craigs list-- an upgrade for him-- to a 1967 Ford pickup.

The new ford pickup turned out not to be as reliable as ole yeller.  Within a year it was parked with a blown engine.
Fast forward to the mild winter we are having-- perfect for doing engine work. 
So Kurt pulled the engine and sent it out to be rebuilt.  He couldn't be happier with the work the machine shop did.  Here is what the engine looked like when it came back

With the engine out he has been cleaning up the engine compartment

The engine got reinstalled this past weekend

Now he is awaiting the return of the carburator and it will be time to start 'er up.

Getting out in the snow

Since we chose to move back to snow country we made a pack that we would embrace the cold and snow-- by not complaining about any of it from onset until mid February.  (And after that we are free to wish for warmer climes.)

This year it hasn't been too insufferable since we only got our first dose of plow-able snow on Friday.  So, before we miss the opportunity, we went snow shoeing today.  The measly 6" out our back door wasn't worth the effort so we drove up the mountain pass across the river and found a place to walk in 2 and a 1/2 feet of snow.  We had to break our own trail and it turne out to be a little more exercise than we intended--- In hindsight, we have decided that walking in 6"would have been just fine.  Anyway, here are a few pictures...

Catch-up time- First, Fall projects

Between our failing camera and really not that much going on, we haven't posted for a while.  So here goes a little catch-up on projects and life in general..


SHOP UPGRADES:
In October Kurt installed a new beam to carry the weight of the car-shop roof and eliminate the need for a center post.  Here are two pictures of the new beam in place.  For those that don't know, this is the original shop that Kurt built when we first lived here.  At that time he labeled the shelves for where items should be stored.  When we moved back in 2006 it was funny to be able to put tools and supplies right back on their old shelves.

 One of the reasons for elimnating the post was so the TR3, that came back to KF in October, could be parked inside and still leave room for working on another vehicle in the other side of the shop.  So here is the triumph back in his old home. The little scraped area on the cement near the drivers door marks the location of the old center post in the shop- so you can see how it's removal has benefited the use of the space.

 Another shot of the triumph.... and notice the new garage door on the right in the background- that was Kurt's November project...see next pics.

When Kurt built the car shop in the 80's, all we could afford was home made swinging doors for the big opening.  They were heavy, leaked a lot of cold air and couldn't be used in the winter when the snow piled up outside. 

 So you can imagine that Kurt is a happy camper now with this new, insulated garage door that he installed in November.  And, doesn't it improve the look of the old shop!

And finally- Kurt's 2011 Christmas present was a Parts Washer.  Now, instead of 5-gallon buckets or an old bathtub being used to de-grease car parts, he has this official tub on legs to do the work.  Of couse he had to raise it on a box to make it a comfortable height for him. 

New (to us) furniture

Ever since we moved into our remodeled living room last fall I have wished for a leather couch.  Especially since our wood stove is so dusty and I figured leather would clean up better than fabric. 

I have been perusing craig's list for 12 months- often seeing a set I liked but always they were too far away to bother checking them out.  And then, this week, a leather couch and chair shows up on craigs list and the seller was 15 miles from me.  I was an easy sell.....

The pictures don't show very well that they are actually navy blue leather.  I am delighted.

Triumph on the move

October sure flew by. Kurt worked intently to get everything around the KF house buttoned up for winter- alas no pictures. 
Then he spent a week in Denver helping Amy and Tim get their new house move-in ready- also no pictures. 

At the end of the week he drove the TR3 from Denver back to Kettle Falls. Here are the few pictures from that event.....

First the car made the trip to the new house.  Lilly and Mark immediately wanted to drive it... and for some reason Lilly has no clothes on....

(well, she is 2) 

BTW- that is Lisa's and Betty's front yard behind Amy in this picture...'

Mark, on the other hand decided to wear grandpa's sweatshirt-below.

(and this is Amy and Tim's front yard in this picture)

Then Josie had to have a turn in the drivers seat....

 Then it was time to say goodbye to Grandpa. 

 Let's see... do I have everything.... 

 Kurt left Denver to head north on a sunny and warm afternoon.  Here he is driving along and he has the top down and he isn't even wearing gloves.   

 Later you can see in the odometer reflection that he is a little more bundled up-- and you can't really tell that he is in a 40 mph Wyoming side wind. 

 Nice shadow....

 The next day he went with the top up- but it didn't really offer much more warmth.

 This was the disheartening last picture of his trip--- heading into snow clouds.  Turns out he made it over the Rockies (17 degrees and light snow falling) without a hitch.

and now the TR3 is safely parked in the KF garage where the Denverites can visit it

until they have more than a one car garage.