backyard-mich

Weekend

2011-04-16T15:55:00.000-04:00

This is the first weekend with out extra people around and we are getting back into our new normal life. I took Beth to Chicago Ohare on wednesday so that she could go back home to Germany. This is a picture of her as she left.

On my way back to GR I stopped at the Hovings but no one was there. I did not tell them I was coming until I was in Chicago. They have a nice house and they don't need a door bell the dog does a nice job.

The weather has been rain for the weekend so I have done things in the house.

2011-02-11T17:54:00.002-05:00

This last weekend we went to a Griffin's game with friends from church. It was fun to see the game and to do something different. They lost the game 2 to 1 and they did not play very good. It was College night so there was alot of young people there and it was cheap beer night and hot dog night. I did not have any beer.

2011-01-14T21:42:00.007-05:00

This is the end!

2011-01-14T21:38:00.001-05:00

Nice hat!

Who is this person?

2011-01-14T21:14:00.005-05:00

We had a real nice time this Christmas with everyone being able to be here. I had the week off between Christmas and New Year so we had to do some things around the house. Brian and I put more insulation in the attic one day. I can tell a difference in the house and on the roof. The snow is staying on the roof and no icicles. But here are a few pictures of Christmas.

2010-09-06T17:48:00.012-04:00

These are some of the things that we did this summer. Went to the fair in Hudsonville and had dinner there and look at all of the farm aminals. The tractor is for Brian.

We had a new roof installed because the tree went through the roof. The company worked on it in the evening and took them most of the week.

When we took Brian and Beth to Detroit to go to Germany. We spent the rest of the weekend going through the two Ford houses. The Edsel and Eleanor Ford and the Henry Ford. We enjoyed going through the houses.

We had a storm come through in July that we called the 10 min. storm. We lost one of the trees in the back yard. We had the tree removed so the back yard looks bigger.

Things that we did this summer. We had a new front window installed and now all of the windows are newer to the house.

2010-05-20T18:39:00.002-04:00

These are pictures of our Cadet camporee on May 1-2. Saturday was a nice day and we were able to get all of the games in. Then we made supper and had or night events. When we got up on Sunday it was raining and was not able to have a fire. When we went to church the rain had stopped and the sun did come out. We had to pack every thing up wet. The boys had fun and so did all of the dad's that went along.

2010-04-26T18:30:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I walked in the Calvin 5k Spring Classic. I finished in 823 place out of 901 finishers. My time was 47:58 min what is my chip time. This is the time when I crossed the start line to when I crossed the finish line. There was over a thousand people that ran or walked in the race. It was fun to do and gave me a bench mark to work on over the next year to do it better next year.

2010-04-20T21:57:00.001-04:00

2010-04-20T19:05:00.001-04:00

Florida Vacation

My wife and I went to Florida for the first time ever over spring break. We went to Orlando to see friends that moved down there over three years ago. We left on a saturday and came back on friday we flew down. The part that I enjoyed the most was seeing the space shuttle Discovery lift off at 6:21 Monday morning and the big ball of fire and how it lit up the whole sky. The next day we took a tour of the Kennedy Space Center and was able to see things closer than the day before. The Apollo center was the best part for us because that is the part that we lived through and remember the best. We did go to the beach and was able to take a self tour of Ponce De Leon Inlet Light Station and walk up the 203 steps to the top and look out over the Atlantic Ocean. Then we went to the beach and walked in the ocean and found some shells. Yes we did see some gators and some other wild life. It was nice to sit in there spa in the evening and relax the pool was to cold.

2010-02-28T20:58:00.001-05:00

The birds have been coming to the feeder.

Squirrel in the feeder

2009-12-25T12:48:00.002-05:00

I put out a bird feeder this week and this is the first animal that came.

Henry Ford

2009-12-25T10:11:00.001-05:00

2009-09-19T20:05:00.001-04:00

2009-09-19T19:24:00.000-04:00

2009-08-19T19:53:00.002-04:00

Now that summer is all most over here are the answers to the pictures.
#1 flowers in the front yard
#2 light house at the end of the pier at South Haven Michigan
#3 Opa's house in Kalamazoo
#4 His grave site in Kalamazoo
We will do this again with the pictures. There was not a winner but two people did try.

2009-06-28T21:47:00.001-04:00

There are four pictures in this next post. Can you tell me where they are from? If you are right you will get a prize. Open to family only.

2009-06-28T21:34:00.001-04:00

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

Picture #4

2009-05-16T10:02:00.002-04:00

We have had a very nice spring here and I wanted to share with you some of it. The first picture is from the front yard and the rest are from Calvin and the different kind of flowering trees that they have. Not many of you are here in the spring to see how nice the place looks. The truck pictures are there for fun. The guy that did it likes to do that kind of stuff. We have many things going on so I have to get back to them.

2009-05-16T10:01:00.000-04:00

2009-05-16T10:00:00.000-04:00

2009-05-16T09:59:00.000-04:00

2009-05-16T09:58:00.000-04:00

2009-05-16T09:57:00.000-04:00

2009-05-16T09:49:00.002-04:00

This is what you can do in your spare time. One of the guys at work rebuilt this truck in 2 1/2 years. It is a 1955 body with the parts from other years.

2009-04-19T21:18:00.002-04:00

This is a sign of spring that I saw on our stop in Carmal IN. I went for a walk and was able to take this Robin in the tree.

2009-04-10T21:03:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to show you one more picture of spring from Fort Mill SC and to let you know that we missed the severe weather that is going through there now.

2009-04-10T19:09:00.000-04:00

Some of the wild life we found when we stopped in Indy.

2009-04-10T19:03:00.002-04:00

One of the places we went to was Boone NC and yes we did have snow . I thought that this was to be spring. The deer fountain was out side of out Hotel. Yes that is ice.

2009-04-10T18:58:00.002-04:00

We went to the Carolina's for spring break and I thought that you would like to see spring. We had a very good trip and had all kinds of weather. I will show you some of it.

2009-03-02T17:01:00.001-05:00

We went to the Detroit area a week ago and I saw this in the mall that we went to. You can rent this for a trip of the prom.

2009-03-01T21:40:00.003-05:00

We spent the morning teaching the boys about GPS and looking for a this box that was hidden in this tree. Yes and we did have blue sly and a lot of sun.

2009-03-01T21:31:00.005-05:00

This past weekend I went camping with our cadets. We stay is a building at the cadet camp grounds. What a difference a week makes. Last weekend snow for the snow derby and sun and blue sky for this weekend. They are eating breakfast on Saturday morning.

2009-02-22T16:13:00.002-05:00

We had our Snow Derby this weekend with our cadets. It was a real snow derby because it snowed the whole time that we were there. Our cadets came in thired place this year.

2009-02-18T16:15:00.002-05:00

Well it is time to up date this thing. This past weekend we went to Detroit and spent the day going through the Rouge Factory of the Ford Motor Co. You go through the final assembly plant and we saw how they put together the Ford F-150 pickup. It was a lot of fun. You have to go through the Henry Ford Museum to do this.

2009-01-23T19:49:00.002-05:00

As most of you know I like to take pictures and one of my favorite things are flowers. I came home from work and this what I saw in my kitchen widow. So I thought that I would share it with you.

2009-01-23T19:40:00.002-05:00

This is the kind of winter that we have had this year in my backyard. I know that the people who live closer to the big lake have had more snow. This is the second round because we had a warm spell in December and most of it melted and this is what we have now. Total for the year is around 88.4 inches.

2009-01-06T19:20:00.000-05:00

2009-01-06T19:11:00.002-05:00

Christmas Cactus flowers came this year and as you can tell I have a red one. This is my second plant that I have had. The first one was old and broke apart so I had to buy a new one.

2008-11-19T19:48:00.002-05:00

This is one of the neatest thing that I saw.

2008-11-19T19:46:00.000-05:00

2008-11-19T19:44:00.000-05:00

Three girls that let me take there picture.

2008-11-19T19:41:00.000-05:00

2008-11-19T19:39:00.000-05:00

Our first Snow of the year.

2008-11-19T19:36:00.002-05:00

Where was this picture taken and who are the people in it?

2008-10-19T19:19:00.001-04:00

This past weekend we went to Midland and I was able to go to the Auto show and see some of the fall colors along the way.

2008-10-19T19:16:00.001-04:00

You might think that this is not part of the auto show but it is. Just for you John Deer fans.

2008-10-19T19:10:00.000-04:00

Went to the Northwood auto show and look at the new cars and some trucks.

2008-10-19T19:07:00.001-04:00

This picture is from around Midland

2008-10-19T19:05:00.001-04:00

This what you can find in my backyard in the fall.

2008-09-29T21:58:00.002-04:00

We have been doing some things around the house. This past weekend I installed a new window in the basement with a lot of help. This is an egress window so if you needed to get out you can go through the window. Which means that we can have a bedroom down there if we want. The other thing is that I now have my truck back from the body shop and it looks real nice. I want to keep the truck because I use it to go back and forth to work and to do stuff around the house.

2008-09-29T21:51:00.002-04:00

This is my new truck! Hey that looks like the old one! It is! I had some body work done to take care of the rust so that it will look nice for the next five years. It was rusting from the inside out and it was starting to get some holes.

2008-09-29T21:45:00.002-04:00

This is a new window in the basement and my latest project for the house. This is on the side that some day will be a family room/office area.

2008-09-03T20:11:00.002-04:00

School has started and the kids are moving in so I thought that I would show you some of the work that was done over the summer. These are pictures of the dorm that was worked on. We redid the lobby. If you look at the pictures of early summer you will see how much was done. We also built a new front entry way with a new brick patio and landscaping. The greenhouse room or connector room was never there it is all brand new. It has a glass roof and it is neat to be there when it rains. This was all done in just over three months.

2008-09-03T20:09:00.000-04:00

These are pictures of the lobby.

2008-09-03T20:07:00.001-04:00

2008-09-03T20:06:00.000-04:00

2008-09-03T20:03:00.001-04:00

These are picture of the new front entry to NVW. The side walk is heated so there will be no snow on it in the winter.

2008-09-03T20:02:00.000-04:00

2008-09-03T20:01:00.000-04:00

The greenhouse room.

2008-09-03T19:57:00.001-04:00

This is the green house room that is in the V of the dorm. Goes from one side of the basement to the other.

2008-08-23T16:00:00.003-04:00

We went to the Hudsonville Fair this past week. We go and have dinner at the Christian School food building. Then we walk around and look at all of the 4-H stuff and at all of the animals. We don't go on any of the rides because I don't want to get sick. Then we go and have dessert and than come home. It is a nice way to spend and evening. This year is the seventy fifth year of the fair.

2008-08-23T15:58:00.001-04:00

For the flower people out there.

2008-08-23T15:57:00.000-04:00

2008-08-23T15:55:00.000-04:00

For the people that like cows.

2008-08-23T15:54:00.000-04:00

Nap time!

2008-08-23T15:52:00.000-04:00

You thought that they only came in white.

2008-08-23T15:48:00.002-04:00

For you John Deer fans I thought that you would like this one.

2008-08-04T19:02:00.002-04:00

One of the things that we try to do in the summer is go to the Whitecaps baseball games. They are a single A team for the Detroit Tigers. We have been three times and have watched them win and loose. This time they lost. We eat the ballpark food and have fun with the people that we go with.

2008-08-04T18:57:00.001-04:00

2008-08-04T18:47:00.003-04:00

Crash is racing the little kid around the bases. They start at first and end up at home. But in the fifteen years he has been doing it he has never won. He always seems to make it to third and never goes any farther.

2008-08-04T18:43:00.001-04:00

2008-08-04T18:39:00.001-04:00

2008-07-26T11:54:00.002-04:00

Kalamazoo Harbor in Saugatuck where we went for the day. Had a nice time.

2008-07-26T11:52:00.000-04:00

Down town Saugatuck.

2008-07-26T11:51:00.000-04:00

2008-07-26T11:47:00.001-04:00

2008-07-26T11:44:00.002-04:00

Went to Saugatuck for part of the day. This is Oval Beach.

2008-07-26T11:33:00.002-04:00

Out with the old. This is a 1997 Pontiac Trans sport van with over 150,000 miles that we drove for 8 years.

2008-07-26T11:24:00.003-04:00

In with the new. This is a 2004 Toyota with less than 50,000 miles. Picked it up last week.

2008-07-19T13:36:00.002-04:00

This is where we went out for lunch and had a chicken dinner. Then we went to the Christmas store and to Burch Run.

2008-07-19T13:32:00.001-04:00

The Frankenmuth Chicken.

2008-07-18T12:06:00.001-04:00

In with the new. A 2003 Nissan Altima that we were able to pick up.

2008-07-18T12:02:00.001-04:00

Out with the old and in with the new. The 1995 saturn died on us this past month.

2008-06-28T20:15:00.002-04:00

Now here is a plane. A Douglas DC-3 built in 1939. This is one of the things in at the Henry Ford that I liked the most. You can walk under it and view it from a deck. There are many more things to see at the Henry Ford.

2008-06-28T20:08:00.002-04:00

This is the Rosa Parks Bus and on December 1, 1955 she did not give up her seat to a white man. So she was arrested and that was the start of the civil rights movement.

2008-06-28T20:04:00.001-04:00

Now this is what a real McDonald's sign look like when I was younger. It has a lot of class.

2008-06-28T19:55:00.002-04:00

We went to the Henry Ford for a small vacation and this is one of the cars that you can find. It is the first mustang that was made back in 1964. This is as close as I will get to owning one.

2008-06-15T20:03:00.001-04:00

This is my office at work it might look like a truck to you but this where I spend a lot of time and get around the campus.

2008-06-15T19:59:00.000-04:00

2008-06-15T19:56:00.002-04:00

Our camper that we have had for 17 years and that was in bad shape. I gave it away and it is no longer in our yard.

2008-06-15T19:54:00.000-04:00

2008-06-15T19:46:00.002-04:00

It was Cutlerville Days this weekend and this is a picture of the beginning of the Brian Diemer 5K Run.

2008-06-15T19:45:00.000-04:00

2008-06-15T19:41:00.001-04:00

2008-06-10T19:23:00.004-04:00

This is something new for me because I like to put the pictures on and not to write. This is still about my backyard and where I spend most of my day. I work for a local college in town and in the summer we do a lot of remodeling on the buildings and I am in charge of doing the dorm for the year. We up date the electrical and other mechanical areas. We change some of the public areas and improve them and to make them nicer place for the students. One last thing I have now work for the college for 25 years this year.

2008-05-15T20:38:00.000-04:00

One of the many great cooks.

2008-05-15T20:35:00.000-04:00

2008-05-15T20:33:00.000-04:00

Camping with the Cadets from our church.

2008-04-26T08:04:00.000-04:00