Thanksgiving Cleanup

Mild temperatures and an ambitious brother-in-law meant the opportunity to continue the cleanup of Cedar trees in the rear of the property. With loppers, hatchet, and ax in hand for a few hours we managed...

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Woodworking: Finished Bedroom Set

It has been done for awhile, but I realized the finished master bedroom set that my wife & I worked on was never posted. I have a prior post which discussed the bed frame and headboard, but since...

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Mid-November...

It may only be mid-November, but since Halloween has passed and the Fall decorations are already on the downward slide to be removed post-Thanksgiving my wife decided that the Christmas tree can be assembled....

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Throwing Leaves...

With a fantastic Fall day the youngest boy enjoyed some time outdoors this morning playing in the leaves. With our abundance of trees in the yard the boys finally have some they can play in; Our prior...

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Fall Sunset & Our 'New' Truck!

A couple of weekends ago we made a quick trek up to Iowa to make a big purchase, our first truck! It isn't anything special, but it will be great to have at least one 4WD vehicle as we head into winter...

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Halloween Costumes

My wife Alyssa loves the opportunity to use her crafting skills and creative ideas. Halloween has become one such opportunity to get the entire family into an ensemble of costumes, and the planning comes...

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Halloween Pumpkin Painting

My wife has had a few of the Fall and Halloween decorations out for a few weeks now, and we've had a few bouts of Fall-like weather during that time. The trees are nearing peak with numerous yellow and...

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Football, Telescopes, and Pumpkins!

It didn't seem like it was that busy of a weekend, but looking back I guess we did quite a bit during a regular ol' weekend. We started off attending another high school football game, and saw our Royal...

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Anniversary Weekend...

Todays marks 7 years of marriage for Alyssa and I, and 12 years of 'officially' being together after I asked her to be my girl at 12:15am on October 3, 2004. We've ventured off to Kansas City for my first...

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Manual Labor...

With the most recent bout of heavy rain last Friday night we saw our driveway deteriorate as water ran down it towards the ditch. While there is new 1.5 inch rock near the end of the driveway next to...

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First Day of Fall

While meteorologists and climatologists often refer to Fall beginning on September 1st, the Fall Equinox occurred this morning and brought the first day of Fall. With sunny skies and a high temperature...

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Friday Football, House Guests, & Antenna TV

Wait, it's Wednesday... But I'll post a bit about last weekend and look forward to the next weekend anyway. We started off heading to the local high school for the Friday night football game. The team...

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More Water...

We have came upon another wet pattern with 3.66 inches of rain within the past 48 hours; 2.87 inches of that occurring this morning. The nearby creek overflowed its banks again, and managed some water...

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Labor Day Festivities

The three day Labor Day weekend meant a trip up to Iowa for the family to take in the longest running Labor Day celebration in the state. Yes, Graettinger, Iowa has been celebrating the holiday since...

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Wildflower Identification: Button Blazing Star

During our adventure through the mud and back the pond we came across a few of these flowers, most of which were just starting to bloom. The plant photographed below was the most mature, and thus offered...

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A Full Pond...

It has been a rainy latter half of August here at the house with 8.12 inches of rain since 19 August. All of that rain has led to some tall grass, soft dirt, and a very full pond. We ventured back this...

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Puddle Jumping

A slow moving cold front and disturbance to the west has left us in an active pattern of showers and thunderstorms. Strong storms Tuesday night provided 1.85 inches of rain, and another thunderstorm Wednesday...

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How old are our trees?

We've got plenty of trees and tree varieties on our 3 acres thanks to the nearby lowlands and creek. We cut down quite a few dilapidated or dead earlier this summer, and have been trimming more to ensure...

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Weekend Work...

A successful weekend of accomplishing tasks is complete! We finished up our bed frame and headboard on Saturday, which if you haven't seen you must, check it out here: http://severeplains.blogspot.com/2016/08/woodworking-bed-frame-headboard.html Today...

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Woodworking: Bed Frame & Headboard

My wife & I needed a new mattress as we were sleeping on one that was at least 15 years old. She has always wanted to get a king size bed, I said we didn't really need a king size bed, so we got a...

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