Here we go......

O.K., O.K., so it's been a while!! Lot's going on in the last weeks, I'll try to relate the main things and fill in a little about them. A while back, sister Liz called and asked if I could build a pergola for her wedding. Hell, I didn't even know what a pergola was... let alone could I build it?!


So she emialed plans and such and off we went. To the lumber yard that is. We mortgaged the house and bought a small quantity of cedar lumber. Well it wasn't exactly that bad..... We cut a bunch of sizes and shapes, sanded and screwed things together.

Peg was a big help with the project and I feel lucky to have had her help.


Eventually the thing started taking shape and we started considering if it was of the proper size for the use it was going to have. You see, it was going to function as the archway seperating the hall into two section, and also be the place that her wedding ceremony would take place.



I figured it needed testing to see if it provided a preachable area. Seemed O.K. but we added a few inches height and some width to the structure. Then we forged ahead with sanding and fastening parts together. We put it all together, took it apart and loaded it in Peg's van for the trip to Milwaukee......



Hunting this year has been not so productive for me. Venison wise anyway. I still have no venison in the freezer. The weather certainly has been mild all fall/early winter, and lots of things to look at in the woods. Ivan hunted at Ottertail one evening and saw a bird he recognized as the 'red bellied woodpecker' that I had been mentioning.



One night I saw that woodpecker AND a pileated woodpecker not only at the same time, but in the same tree!! What a night. Saw no deer.
Hunted with some of the other crew last week, some of us had the week off for hunting. The only deer we got is the one in the picture. Oh, well...... And yes, Liz, these are some of my 'stupid friends'.


On to other topics, you know by now that Peg has attained the exalted position of Granny!! Here is her son, Chris, with his brand new daughter, Hailee. He seems to be quite taken with her, which is a good thing. But he's missing the rut season bow hunting, which is a bad thing (which can be overlooked in a situation such as this :-) ).



As you can see, the little nipper is healthy looking. She is lucky for a good pair of parents and I'm sure she will grow and prosper in their care.


On the other hand, she may become spoiled rotten by someone.... but I guess this won't be the first time that happened. I will refrain from giving this child any mis-information or such. Maybe. I do read Pickles in the Sunday funnies....



On to the WEDDING!!! Here we see the hall decorating in process. John Noble did the entire "white paper globe suspension" project. And there were lots of them! It looked great, but I didn't recognize the constellation it was supposed to depict.



The hall is a pavilion right on the shore of Lake Michigan. It was built in 1936 and had some very unique features. A great choice of locations! And a lot of work was put into the preparations.



The pergola was decorated with a ton of miniature white lights and some grape viney things. Liz' sisters, mother, neices, etc all helped with the decorating (Peg, too). Some trees about 8 feet tall had been gathered from somewhere and placed in buckets with stones to hold them up. White lights went all over them, about six of them, I think.



Kate was sort of in charge of the table decorations. Each had a center decoration of stuff (not sure what it was) with fruit and other items blended in. If anyone wants to comment on what that consisted of, feel free.


So here are a few shots of how the place looked with the preparations complete.




















Now we go to Liz and Dennis' house, where final preperations were going on. Or goofing off, more likely. We got to see the new bike that the sisters chipped in together to get for Liz.











The rest of these photos speak for themselves. I'll try to get all of them loaded up somewhere that you can all access, as this is just a sampling of the day. Enjoy!!!





















Oh, yes, how do you like Liz' shoes??????