Basement Phase 1

We have started the process of finishing our basement. It will be a very slow process...but we are excited to have it started. We are going to finish it in phases. Phase 1 includes framing, having electricity put in, and heat or plumbing (we are still deciding). When the basement is all finished it will give us another bathroom, bedroom, family room area, office and storage area. 

The crew has arrived...  

storage 

bedroom wall before it was up

bedroom wall once up

storage room

bedroom

It's Back!!!

On Easter we noticed that there were no longer two geese in our pond. Just one. Now, Dan and I are completely innocent. We did nothing, I repeat NOTHING to the missing animal. However, we were glad to see that we were only dealing with one now, not two. We out numbered it. However, that does not seem to stop this one. In fact, after being alone it seems to have gotten an attitude and is pretty much fearless! 

 I hate to admit this, but we lost (as of now). We had been geese free for several days and then one afternoon before leaving for work I happen to look out in our back yard and to my disbelief, IT was there. It sat there eating away at our green grass and enjoying the sun. I immediately ran downstairs and opened the basement door and started to yell at it and walked (OK, ran) into our back yard. It sat there for a second and then flew into the pond honking. This animal had figured out how to get over the fence. It flew in! NOW WHAT??  We pretty much can't win if it will just fly into the yard. I have creatively placed a second row of fencing to hinder it and for the time seems to be working.... but we are not so sure. 

If anyone has creative ideas on how to keep them off the lawn we are more than ready for suggestions. Be creative!! 

Pictures anyone?

Hi. See your pretty face on our picture wall?? If not, please send us pics. We would love to have pictures of all of our friends and family. Remember to also send us updated pictures. It's a great way to remember each and everyone one of you daily. 

Happy Easter

We hope that everyone had a nice Easter. This year Dan and I were able to host Easter dinner. We had a great time with my family, Dan's parents and my friend from Stout Erin. I got so busy with dinner that I forgot to grab some shots once everyone was there. Guess there is always next year! 

The Table is set and ready for everyone

What would Easter be with out watching the Masters? 

Sweet tooth anyone?

Happy Easter.

Birthday Celebration

This past weekend Dan's parents came to celebrate Easter with us. It was nice to spend time with them. The last time there were here was right when we had moved in, so lots had changed around the house and it was fun to show them. However, we also were able to take them out for a surprise dinner to celebrate their birthdays. We took them out for a night on the town... we had dinner at Ichiban's in Minneapolis. If you have never been there you are missing out!! It is a Japanese Steak house. They cook all the food in front of you and it is VERY entertaining. Steve and Carmen were surprised, but everyone enjoyed the food and atmosphere.  If only we would have remembered the camera! 

Attack of the Killer Geese

I must admit right away that Dan and I are on  a mission and will stop at NOTHING to ensure  that our nice newly sodded lawn stays clean and pretty. After all, my favorite part of summer is being able to walk barefoot on the green grass.  However, there are two geese that don't see things this way. We love our new home and have enjoyed having a pond in our back yard until two weeks ago. Two weeks ago we started being woke up at 4 am by the honking and squawking of wildlife in the pond. For those of you who grew up watching Little Mermaid, the best way to describe this noise is the scene when the prince and Ursula are in the boat and the animals are trying to hinder the kiss. Welcome to our free daily alarm clock.

We have handled the alarm clock and now most days don't even hear it. What we can not deal with are two geese who have decided that our backyard is now their home. They eat, poop, eat, poop, eat, poop, nap, eat, poop, eat, eat, poop, poop, and eat on it ALL day long. 

We have tried many tactics. Dan's personal favorite is taking grill tools and running out into the lawn with his arms up yelling to scare them into the pond... not a long term solution. We also like to bang on pots and pans and hit the window to scare them. Unfortunately, they don't seem to notice us now due to their ever increasing comfort level in OUR yard. 

So, last Sunday after getting tired of watching them come into our lawn and my fear of what our neighbors were starting to think of Dan. We decided to go to Menards and buy a fence to hinder them from coming up on the lawn. We weighed all the options and I talked Dan into little wooden fences instead of the huge snow fence that Dan wanted to buy. We came home and quickly put it up. We were so proud of our new fence. However, joke was on us... between the high winds and the determination of the geese, they plowed right through it that next morning!!! 

We have had lots of people telling us they would be more than happy to "help" us out with our issue. LOTS of creative ideas and to be honest we are almost ready to take you up on them (you know who you are... be ready for our call soon)!

Back to the basics.... I went back to Menards and stood and stared at all the products. I must have been looking pretty intense due to two different sales men asking if I need help. Finally, I found the perfect fence. I raced home and set it up. One neighbor who knew we were getting pretty upset by these beasts... laughed at our determination to keep our lawn poop free. I set

 it all up and called Dan. I told him we had won the war and I had fixed the problem. He just laughed at me and said, "We will see...."

This morning we woke up to the geese trying to figure out how to get into the yard.... they tried for well over 5 minutes and then finally gave up and waddled their sorry little pooping butts back to the pond and swam on to their next victims yard. 

I was ecstatic! This has become a betting game between Dan and I for who could figure it out first. I WON... (a little healthy competition never hurt a marriage right??). I happy to report we have now been 24 hours geese free and counting. 

Funny part of this whole thing, is that those stupid geese could just fly into our yard if they really wanted to! The sad part is, the fence is not so pretty... but at this point I can handle that.

                                                                                            Our sad looking fence