Happy New Year!

The end of 2009 found us enjoying a wonderful New Year's Eve party at Carol's home along with the fantastic friends here on Loon Lake. This group gathers almost every Friday night through the cold season to play euchre and share fun and food. This traditional party is where we review the entire year via an awesome slide show of photos take throughout the year. Walt puts them all to music and we view on Carol's big TV with lots of laughs and remembrances. This year was even more fun for us after being part of this group year round for the entire year. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. The group consists of over two dozen good friends, many married couples, a set of single sisters, a few widowed men and all of our extended families. There was talk this year of a "polar bear plunge" the next day into the frozen waters of Loon Lake. We were not disappointed. A call about 11 am informed us that they had found some open water and we should come watch the brave souls. Poppy ventured out to represent our twosome and took some great photos and video of the amazing event.

Here you see the one hardy female of the group, Lori who "warmed up" with a few stretches.

Here is Lori's mom, Mar, who can always be found sporting the greatest of fashions for any occasion.

Seems the shoreline needed a little persuasion in order to free up the frozen surface. Walt did the honors while still bundled warm.

Soon the guys readied their bods for the icy plunge. Tim (x-marine) and Walt were also the last to ski the lake back on Oct. 18, donning wet suits and stocking hats in 40 degree weather. So, no real surprise here!

Who appears to be urging someone in? Go Lori! I was not there, but I think from the video below, you will see she was the first, the bravest and the one to plunged the fullest!

May 2010 be a prosperous year for all of you. We look forward to further completion of our remodel project here. Poppy has been busy working on finishing drywall in smaller areas. The upstairs bath is about ready for the final sand and priming. That will then enable us to lay the flooring we have purchased for that space and have one almost finished room! He has taped and mudded the half bath and will next move to the utility room. We also have the flooring for the utility room, so we can have two almost totally finished spaces. He is still trying to find a crew to come in and finish the drywall in the bigger rooms, hallway and stairwell. But, he is prepared do end up doing it himself if he can't hire someone willing to do this task. We will EVENTUALLY have this done. We are also working on design ideas for remodeling the kitchen and tying the old space in with the new and finishing the work needed in the existing lodge room we began to redo almost four years ago. So, our goals for 2010 are pretty lofty and we will be working hard to accomplish it all.

A Very Merry Christmas Here at Loon Lake Lodge

I sat down here on Christmas evening to write this entry, and somehow I hit a wrong button and all I had composed disappeared. I was so frustrated I just quit and enjoyed the evening. So now I thought I would share a bit of our wonderful Christmas celebration we had here. Amanda, Mike and the girls arrived Wednesday night, beating the lousy weather we were to get. The little ones were quite wound up as you can imagine. Thursday morning found us uncertain of the road conditions for traveling in to see Gary's mom at the nursing home.

Roads around the lake were icy and we had to go a ways before we decided main highways were clear enough to proceed. It was well worth it and we enjoyed a nice lunch and visit with one of the great grandmothers, who LOVED seeing the three girls.

Above you see the packages under the tree awaiting Christmas morning after we had the three little ones tucked in bed on Christmas Eve. What fun to have so many packages under the tree again, we adults could hardly wait!

With no fireplace, the stockings were hung above the wet bar with care. We just wish the other two felted stockings could have been there, we dearly missed Shell and Richard again this year! But, their stockings were hung above their wood stove in NC for their own little Christmas celebration together. Grandmommy had to go in to work on Christmas eve at midnight, so everyone was nestled in their beds by the time she left. On Christmas morning she brought GG home with her to celebrate the day with all of us.

The kiddos were all awake and eager to enter the family room where all the gifts lay waiting. Here you see the three of them in their matching PJs Amanda had made for this special morning. The room did not stay this neat very long. It was a very exciting morning!

The girls were patient only a short while before they couldn't open fast enough. Here Katers is held in amazement at all the packages. I think Libbers may have still be a bit sleepy, as she waited for Poppy to join her in his chair.

It was very special for all of us to have GG here with us for the first Christmas in many, many years. She loved the mittens and scarf I knit for her to keep warm in this cold weather. Our day was relaxing and topped off with a deliscious dinner in the evening. The next day we prepared for yet another family celebration.

We had Cathy and Pat come for dinner along with Matt and Mike. Here they crank out the fresh dough into spaghetti pasta for our feast. What fun for everyone have a part in this meal. Poppy and I prepared the sauce that morning and Amanda made delishious fresh french bread, piping hot at serving time. I had a couple huge yummy green salads and Cak brought baked goodies and peppermint ice cream to top off the big meal. A very special day with family so dear.

Cak's mom Helen came along too, so it was wonderful for the grandmothers to reconnect and spend time together. Later Saturday night the kids packed up their van and ventured back home on a snowy evening. We were very thankful to hear they made it safely and we slept tight to dream of all the wonderful memories.

Whew, It's Been Way Too Long

I can't believe it has been over a month since I last posted anything here. Can you tell it is getting close to Christmas? Hopefully your Thanksgiving was a blessing for your family. We had a wonderful time going to my brother's home. We had not all been together for Turkey Day for so many years, especially wonderful to have Mom there with us. Now we are really excited about Christmas. For the first year, Amanda and Mike will bring the girls up here to celebrate with us. That means GG (my mom) will be able to be part of our entire Christmas weekend watching her three great grand daughters, what can be better at Christmas than little children?

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Winter seems to have finally arrived here at Loon Lake. We had a few weeks of delightful Indian Summer with lots of sunshine and warmer temps. But, now we are seeing tiny snow flakes and skims of ice on local ponds. Know eventually the cold temps will take hold of the lake and provide the ice for winter sports fun.

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Our renovation project continues to progress. With Poppy busy days up at the office in Nappanee, his ability to work on things non-stop has come to a halt. Now it is the weekends when he makes his best progress. We have almost ALL the drywall hung. The only places to complete are where the old transitions into the new. We have one wall in the master bathroom water closet where we have left it open to the utility room for a pass through during construction. This means that wall in the utility room, which takes in around the furnace closest also is the largest section that still must drywalled. Last week we had a fellow come in to give us an estimate on finishing off all the walls - taping, mudding and sanding all that drywall would take Poppy FOREVER to do. So, with a crew coming in it can be done in less than a week and Poppy will save all his energy for the finishing work to do with trim, doors, etc.

Here you see the stairwell fully drywalled, all but the last section that will go over the bedroom door and connect to the front lodge wall eventually. One of those areas of transition.

These two photos taken the Friday after Thanksgiving show the front wall of the lodge room mostly drywalled. What a difference this made, the room seems so much larger now. He did this the day we hosted the neighborhood euchre group that night. Made a mess, but he did help clean it up in time for our guests!

This weekend Poppy has been working on the transition between the lodge room and the new section along the front wall. He moved the door that used to lead into the temporary walk-in closet. The door was moved to the back side of the "closet" area where we broke through that wall to access the new section months ago. This will allow him to drywall the rest of the front wall of the lodge room.

Here he is hanging the vapor barrier over the insulation.

Here you can see the relocated door to the back of the closet. It used to hang right there where the 2x4 is still on the ceiling from the framing of the wall that enclosed the doorway.

With the door open at the back of the closet area, you can see the stairwell in the new section that leads up to the bedrooms. This whole area will eventually be opened up to create the area leading to the new hallway at the bottom of the stairwell, outside our master bedroom and the half bath. Can't wait til this is ALL done!

A parting shot for tonight, this beautiful full moon seen through the bare branches of the winter trees. Later in the evening it was sparkling off the entire lake making things all aglow!

Where Have We Been?

Oh, we've been around. Just seems so busy but not with much that exciting. It is hard to understand just where the days and weeks go, time sure does fly by when you have so much on a "to do" list. The weekend after the chili cook-off party, we had the annual PPP. That is known by many around the lake as the Pier Pulling out Party (or in about April, the Pier Putting in Party). This starts with a pitch-in breakfast about 9 and then many hands make light work. Several men and a few women don waders and tackle the cold lake to remove piers, rafts and boat lifts for the winter. When it is the autumn PPP, it is a bit bittersweet, as we hate to see summer end and give the lake back to Mother Nature for a rest period. But, in the spring we joyfully gather to "take back the lake" at the official kick-off to summer fun. That was the 17th of October. Then, that following week Grandmommy took a short road trip down to visit the grandchildren for a few days. What fun to hold the new little one again and see how much she had changed and grown already. Then, when she returned for the weekend, we had two nights in a row with euchre parties to attend, another non-summer activity here with the year round folks. Last night for Halloween, we attended the annual costume party at some good friends' home. They go all out with decorations everywhere you look, each and every room of their home is decorated and there is always loads of fun seeing what costumes are created each year.

Yesterday afternoon Poppy caught this photo, which we thought looked a bit spooky and very appropriate for a Halloween day. He was outside on the deck and Sammy was inside looking out the patio door. The reflection created sort of a surreal image.

Then, when she does come out on the deck, she loves to chase the blowing leaves and eat them. Thus, she is not able to come out much. She just doesn't understand that leaves are not for eating.

Speaking of leaves, here are the hardy few that are still clinging to the one maple out by the lake. Last weekend almost all of them fell in the front yard and we spent a few hours clearing them up. It took forever to burn them, as after the heavy rain we had on Friday, they were still awfully wet. It was more like smoldering, smoking leaves most of the day.

But, as you can see, today there were still a few hardy souls of the maple variety and the beautiful sunny day made for a perfect back drop to Poppy's photo. We spent this afternoon raking, blowing and burning those that had finally fallen in the back yard and hopefully they are about all down.

The finishing of the new section continues to progress well. We are nearing the end of hanging drywall. The master bedroom is about done and then all we have left is the stairwell walls and inside a few closets upstairs. But, before we got the stairwell drywalled, we had a big project to tackle. When the contractor did the stairwell he took the stair treads right out flush with the wall studs. This makes drywalling the stairwell very tricky. So, to make it right, we tackled the big project of rebuilding the stairwell. In the photo above you can see how the treads as they were done originally. We started with the lower section of the stairwell, the first six steps below the landing where it turns.

Here is a shot of the "after" on the lower section. You can now see that the stair tread is spaced out from the wall studs leaving space for the drywall sheet to drop right down along stair edge and also allows for the wood trim board that will also be installed along the steps. It was work, but will be worth it as we finish this section off. Tearing it apart was much harder than putting it back together. But, we worked together and got it done easily.

Here you see Poppy at work as we began to tear down the top section of five steps. The spots you see are the dust particles floating in the air as he pries and pulls and hammers this step loose.

By the end of the day yesterday we had the upper section torn apart so we could begin to redo it. Today we had a bit of time after the leaf raking to install the boards that are the spacers and the stringers are back in place. So now all we must do is trim down the risers and stair treads so we can reinstall them to finish off this job. Then we will continue with the final drywall and feel like we have accomplished A LOT! Can you see why I haven't been here to blog lately? We are just so busy. Poppy has been quite busy during the day with his new job so he is not here to work near the hours he did this summer. So, the weekends see the bulk of our progress and they have been chocked full of social events we don't want to miss. Hopefully I will be back soon to share the finished drywall photos.

Fall Fun, Food and Fellowship

Fall is definitely here and last week's full moon was just beautiful rising over the opposite shore. For three nights in a row we watched as this giant orb lifted from among the trees to shine almost like daylight and reflect off the lake with brilliance so awesome.

Then, as beautiful as the nights were, one morning God's handiwork was just amazing with a sky of dozens of colors bringing forth the sunrise. Poppy could not resist catching the wonder of it for us to enjoy on those drab, gray dark mornings to come.

As you can see, the wonderful colors reflected in the water making a lake of pinks and purples, calm and still as glass.

With the cold nights our leaves are quickly changing and our red maple we planted a few years back is a great example of the fall foliage.

Since this time of year brings a halt to the fun ON the lake, we must begin to make our fun in other ways. Thus, this weekend was the first of many social events. We partnered with our neighbors to hold a Chili Cook-off at Loon Lake Lodge, followed by a Barn Dance at Loon Lake Resort, which sits right next door to us.

In this photo you can see the festively decorated barn across the road where everyone migrated to as their bellies were filled with chili. But, first we all congregated in our new attached garage. The turn out was wonderful, with over 40 guests squeezing in to grab a sample of a DOZEN different pots of chili. We were not sure how many entries we would have in the chili cook-off and were so happy that many guests tried their culinary talents on pleasing the crowd. Each person had a small bowl of each of the twelve chili pots and recorded their impressions on a ballot sheet. Then, after they had sampled them all, they were to vote on their favorite. They were all good and it was fun to realize there are so many different ways to make chili taste just a little different than the next.

Here you see the one row of crock pots as everyone eagerly dipped in to get a helping.

Folks then found a spot to sit or kept eating on the run as they visited and went back for the next helping to sample.

We were blessed by a beautiful day yesterday after two days of almost solid rain. By evening it was getting a bit chilly and only a few braved sitting out on the driveway but the chili kept us warm from within.

Once all the votes were in and the ballots tallied, we were able to announce the winner. The winner received a hand made apron embellished with his status as 2009 Loon Lake Chili Cook-off #1. This culinary genius is also an auto mechanic and real estate agent. A true jack of all trades. He proudly wore his apron for the entire barn dance and said when he got home he would strip down for bed and maybe put it back on to wear all night. What a sight that would have been!

The barn dance was fun, but there was not a lot of dancing. A few square dances with just one square, a few more line dances with everyone trying to follow those who knew the steps. There was just one "belly rubbin" song as this couple likes to refer to slow dancing. Here "Stickman" and "Two Beers" strut their stuff. It was fun watching one couple as they did some fancy 2 stepping and appeared they had done it a lot together.

Today saw us back to work as usual. After sleeping in and a nice big breakfast, we got busy cleaning up the garage. Once that was back to normal, Poppy had me holding the ladder as he got on the roof to blow the eves clean of the leaves and he eventually hauled out the power washer to clean the north side of the siding from the scuz that builds up in the constant shade. All this green mold washed right off and it looks much better now.

He followed that up with a power wash job on the deck and then he planted some spirea bushes out front to begin our landscaping. Lastly he lit a bon fire and was burning up scrapes of wood and a few leaves he raked from the front yard. It is almost 7 pm and he FINALLY came inside for a shower and supper of leftover white chicken chili I made for yesterday. I have a large pan of apple crisp to pop in the oven for a warm, yummy dessert later while we watch The Amazing Race or the football game. It has been a great, full weekend and although I hate to see summer over, I do love this time of year. We have social events on the calendar for the next three Saturday nights, so we will be plenty busy with all our Loon Lake friends!

Buttoning Up Further For Winter

With autumn in full bloom we know how vital it is to finish all the things on our list that prepare us for winter's blast. So, last Sunday we got the rest of the siding hung on the front porch wall. It looks so nice and we can't wait to get the rest of the house sided next spring. Here you see Poppy relaxing with Sammy once we had all the mess cleaned up and were done.

Today we tackled the blow-in insulation in the attic area above the master bedroom. This was quite a messy job and I think I got the harder end of this job. Here you see Poppy as he directed the hose to distribute the insulation as it blew out.

Had to laugh when I saw him, check out the close up view. Then I went inside and saw myself in the mirror. I was just as bad, we both looked a bit like snowmen from the dust created by the fibers.

Then he caught me working very hard. I had to tear open each bag and pull it out chunk by chunk. It was firmly packed in there and my arms are sore tonight after separating and dumping 28 bags! This went into the hopper and the paddles further separated it and blew it through the hose to Poppy upstairs.

Did I mention how loud the hopper was? Should have ear plugs, but I endured it OK. My bandit-like look kept SOME of the dust from my nose and lungs, but don't think it worked quite as well as Poppy's mask. It was the last one and I generously let him wear it. Didn't know he was going to catch me on film!

Tomorrow we have two walls in the walk-in closet to drywall and one wall in the utility room. Then we can move my washer and dryer back where they belong so I can do some laundry. Then we can also hang the two florescent lights in the garage, probably a full day's work. We are making great progress and know every weekend brings us closer to completion. But, we also often wonder, will it ever be all done? We'll keep you posted on our progress, thanks for coming by to check in.

Two Big Steps Forward

As autumn approaches, we are eager to complete projects that will help us prepare for winter. One BIG goal in this whole remodel was to have an attached garage, which will make winter and cold weather all that much easier. Now that the garage ceiling is drywalled, we were able to get the garage door opener installed. In the photo below you will see Poppy's initial progress last Friday. While I slept all day (I worked both Thursday and Friday nights 3rd shift) he tackled a quiet job (no hammering while I sleep is the one thing I requested this summer). He got the wiring installed for the electric garage door opener. Of course he had not thought about this wiring before we hung the drywall. But, fortunately he was able to access what he needed from above by removing one piece of drywall in a bedroom. So, all the wiring was ready to mount the unit and attach it to the door.

Here you see the button to push as we come out through the utility room to open the door. (Exciting, huh? But it is when you are used to a garage and go through a winter without one!)

This afternoon he finalized the installation. Works great and is so quiet. Now we just need to be able to put the cars IN the garage. All in due time!

Our other current project we started on Saturday. We have been eager to get the front porch wall sided to match the new section. We got started Saturday and worked Sunday until we hit a point where we needed a special piece to go around the outside electrical outlet. Today I picked up the piece so we can finish it up this weekend. It will look so much better and the whole house will be totally sided. Well, it may still be TWO different colors, but at least it will be sided and snug for winter. Our plan is to reside the old section next spring after making a few changes in windows and roof line on the existing section of the house. Again, as our motto has been this past year, "all in due time!"

Hopefully early next week I can post a photo of this finished project so you see the completed look of the porch. Our weather and days for sitting out enjoying the porch are drawing to a close and we savor every day when it is warm enough to sit and relax there watching the lake go by. This was our "living room" for most of the summer!