Trick or Treat

2 days till Halloween and we have 5 mondo pumpkins sitting on our front steps waiting for the knife. I have carved pumpkins every year can't remember a single on when I haven't. In the past few years they have been sculpted with accuracy using a pumpkin masters pattern, each one taking about and hour or so, never minding the time it took. The kids would long be finished with theirs as I continued to " saw" out the intricate pieces. I'm not using a pumpkin master pattern this year. Danny will be over on Thursday night to assist in the ritual. I can't wait because for a few hours the kitchen will be a magical spot. How does this look?, Do you think we can roast these seeds? The eye broke out Mom how do I fix it? I reach into the cabinet and pullout the trusty toothpicks and all is well. The back ground music will be some kind of thumping rap, BUT it's all good. Just as long as it takes a long time so that I can hold on to the moment. But sometimes pumpkin carving can take on a whole different twist.....STORY.......Several years ago 17 or so Kate was 10 and Danny was 6. Dennis and I were dating and he was invited over for Carving Night. After dinner we cleared the table and covered it with newspaper, pulled out the markers and knives and began the task of cleaning out the pumpkins. Everyone knows it takes a bit of time to complete a pumpkin. Well, Dennis is usually all about getting the job done fast. He excuses himself and says he needs to go home and get something. Moments later he returns with a jig saw. The kids eyes got big and when they saw how fast and easy the carving could take place they were delighted, each wanting a turn at the electric power tool. After that night the jig saw was a part of Carving night. For me, and this year there will be no jig saw I want our night to last as long as I can.

No football...what's a girl to do?

This is Iris, a very charmed Irish Setter we rescued. When we walk in the mornings she will go out of her way to avoid a puddle, BUT toss a rock in the lake and she's all about getting it.

Check out the colors on this tree. Absolutely stunning. We saw this tree on a walk around a new trail in the area ( no football remember) . It is an oak, we only have maples in our yard so it is nice to see some of the dark reds. The best part of this is no raking up these bad boys. I really missed no football yesterday, I like everything about it, the hits, scores and the sounds. It's funny how we evolve as we grow up. It should be no surprise that when I was younger I didn't care much for the game. Grew up with football playing in the bar. Didn't like it, remember my little bro had an electric football game with small helmets, and I do recall hearing great players names ( Bart Starr .....) I did have the opportunity to attend a Packer game at Lambeau with Big Dan. What a shame I did not get the game at that time Holy Cow there's a regret. This is what I remember of that game IT WAS FLIPPING COLD. My drink froze in the cup, and after making a trip down to the bathroom ( to warm up) I didn't pay close attention to our seat location and as I stood at the bottom of the stands searching through the crowd for Dan a nice, helpful worker asked if he could help when I replied I'm looking for my husband.....he's wearing blaze orange. The well meaning kid gives me a look that definitely said dumb blond as he pointed out the crowd (over 50% wearing blaze orange). Well I did find him, the Packers lost and at midnight my thighs were still red from the cold. Years later Dennis figured out how to get me to like football....with gambling. yup a simple football board and the chance to win hundreds taught me how to score and anticipate what was needed to be done so I could win. ( I did win 500 on my first game only to have the fridge die the very next day). I'm sorry about that Dan, I wished I would have like football. BUT the best part of that trip was going to a theatre and seeing for the first time Christmas Vacation, we own it and watch it every Christmas eve.

It's good to be a cheesehead

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh another wonderful fall sunday in cornland. It's been a good day here. The weather is fantastic, the leaves are turning and falling like crazy. When I lived up north I longed for any tree but a pine tree. ( If you don't have them then you don't know that grass will never grow under them....., most are too tall to put christmas lights on them and they just dont drop colorful leaves on the ground) Now where we live we have a bunch o hardwoods and this is what we have......tons of leaves ( what do you do with them?), can't really burn them as they make neighbors mad, and sometimes when you burn them they start mini fires....STORY....One day years ago on or about our first fall I head out to the back yard all reved up and commenced to yard clean up....raked up a big pile of leaves and proceeded to set them on fire. Yup I carefully checked to see that I was far enough from the house as not to catch this 112 yo barn on fire. It was a beautiful day, bit windy but I had a handle on it, I watched it carefully and when my pile had burned to ashes I noted there was still smoke.......There on the other side of the fence was a fire FIRE my brain screamed, the fence was on fire.......I ran to get the hose and crap I had disconnected it, quick I thought what do I do......And in the corner if the yard with what I thought was a beem of light about it was............the dog water, quickly I ran over and got it, ran back and threw it with every thing I had. It's now out with exception to smoke....but it's really out. Now my next problem....how do I hide it from my beloved????? I just kicked leaves over the charred area forgetting all about it till next spring during clean up when I heard Teriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii what happenened to.... More on leaves another day

Another wonderful day in cornland......

Wow if your reading this diddy it means I have finally entered the modern age. We here at 607 have never been with the times, as a matter of fact we just just got a DVD player 2 years ago. In our defense really, the VCR worked just fine. Our computer is 6+ years old, has a new hard drive and yea it works just fine. (slow) but fine. BUT I have a brand new mack daddy digital camera and after paying a comp wiz to load the stuff in I am now ready to show ya'll my fam. I hope to update on monday nights. TV stinks. It will be a challenge for me as I have to balance my time between this, TV, Tiger Woods and my new best toy........ROCK BAND. Ok so much for uploading pictures. It was supposed to be a pic of Dennis and the girls (for future ref....Iris and Rosie our dogs). This girl is our granddaughter Tess. Doing some kinda I'ma hot chick pose. What you can't see here is the trully magical girl she is with a good soul. And cute toboot. Ok for another shot at a pic. And there you have it.......in the wrong spot and totally weird it's our girl Rosie. She's a rescue pooh and she is the sweetest girl ever. I'll work on this, promise ado Teri