March Musings...

This sits on the lake every winter...right in front of the beach area...and no, it's not ours!  It's the neighbor's plane, but it always sparks that question when someone comes to visit in the winter...Mike puts skis on the plane and parks it on the ice and flies on beautiful sunny days.  It's always fun to watch the plane take off and land on the lake. 

These are Nathan's dogs eating dinner with Wrigley...Nathan thinks he doesn't like Wrigley, but he sure wants his dogs around her!  So we got new dog dishes at Dollar Tree and the pups enjoyed a meal together.

Jillian turned 3 this month and her Mommy and I had a fun day making cakes and decorating them with her dolls...thanks Pinterest!

The Lodgemaster was finally able to get enough snow cover to burn the huge pile of lumber left from tearing down the barn last year!  Within days of this photo, the snow was gone...

I ordered some really fun soy candles for the lodge this year...and they smell as yummy as they look!

Here's a new "old" sweatshirt for the summer...this style was so popular I had to order it again...in pink and...

yellow...I needed a new one!!

Also got the same design on a red jacket...

and a pretty aqua color.  Waiting patiently for the other new clothes to arrive...stay tuned!

And to end this post...these kiddos were kind enough to pose on my new log bench...a door prize from a buying show...now I need my friend Jim to make a kid-size table to go with it...I can see this in the lodge with little ones sitting on it having their ice cream treats all summer long!

Happy spring!  The ice will be off the lake early this year...the earliest in our 25 years!  Bring on this warm weather!

Happy St. Pat's Day! ....and a "Wild Game Feed"!

      We really don't celebrate this holiday...but I went to St. Patrick's Grade School way back in the day...and it was a holiday...no school!  So I always liked March 17th when I was a kid! 
       It's a special day this year for our church...Blackduck Evangelical Free Church....we're having our first "Wild Game Feed" tonight...a community ministry with a speaker, meal and prizes!  Steve and I are going to help serve...and I'm sure we'll get to sample some of the foods offered.  Our church gave away 250+ tickets to this event!  The cost is a free will offering to fund this specific ministry and hopefully make it a yearly event.
       We've had a busy winter at our church...we built a huge addition that is now finished...and the project continues as we gutted the old part of the building and are re-building it!  This project should be finished in the next couple of months.  Here's a few pictures...

This is our wonderful new kitchen...so much space and beautiful!

2 new stoves and another oven in the center...if you cooked on our old stove, you would be so in love with these new stoves!

Commercial refrigerator with lots of room!

We never had a dishwasher...now we have a dishwashing room!

Pantry/storage closet off the kitchen...room for everything!

And this is the "mother of all coffeepots"...we should never run out!

Here's the guys in the old part...cutting the old copper into 3 foot lengths to get the best price when they recycled it.

So...that's our church progress so far.  We're off to pour coffee and clean tables for the evening! 

74 degrees in this northern MN town today!  Is it really only March??

Catchin Up for February!

     So...I'm a little behind in my postings...bear with me and see what we've been up to.

I made my own laundry detergent...trial & error and only about a penny a load!

Baby Olivia came to visit with her family...she's grown by leaps and bounds since this picture was taken in February!  Such a cutie, but we are biased in that opinion!

Jill trying on Nana's wedding veil...she felt like a Princess.  Her Mommy had her hair rolled with that headband around her forehead...see next photo...

The result was wavy curls all over...very cute...

We celebrated this little guy's birthday...

and his sister's too!

They had a "pirates & pixies" birthday party together...their Mommy is very creative!

Nana with Will, 9, Greyson, 5, and Miss Tate, 2.  Papa and I are going to Disney with their family very soon!  We can't wait to experience all that fun through their little eyes!

We went to our state capitol in St. Paul with 40+ other resort owners in February to lobby for issues important to our industry...here's the lodgemaster taking a break with a crossword while we waited to chat with another legislator. 

And...wrapping up February with this peek at Olivia's quilt in progress.  My cousin beat me with her finished blankie, so I know O is staying warm while I finish this one!