Preparing For Winter

                                                       Sunday 10/18/15

We finally found some time to get some exercise, so here we are on a walk. We went down our alley and saw this. Do you know what it is? At first I didn't, but then we realized it was the support of a dock. This is the first time I have seen one of these. Just rolled into the lake, take the wheels off and put on the planks of the dock.

We continued on our walk.

We found a trail behind our house that went deep into the woods. We came upon a small lake. I got my phone out and google mapped the lake, and found the lake is Mud Lake.

Then we came across Dyer Creek that empties into Porter Creek which empties into Lake Charlevoix.

The trail passed by a house, and as we walked by it, the owners of the house drove into the drive. We told them we were walking a trail behind our house, and asked where we would end up if we continue in the direction we were going. The couple was a very nice older couple who owned 80 acres. Some of the trail we walked, was on their property. We told them where we lived and they told us to feel free to walk it when ever we wanted. While visiting, the man told me, he had a cougar just outside his window last fall. That made the cougar just a mile southeast of our home. After walking for 45 minutes, my feet started to fall asleep. I told Joe I had to stop, so we found a place to sit down. After a 5 minute break, I was able to get back home which was just about a block and a half away. It was a gorgeous day for a walk.

Our Birch trees were turning orange at this point.The large Maple was turning orange at the top.

On October 20, our dock and shore station removers arrived. One of the guys drove the boat to the marina, which is a mile away, while Joe drove the trailer to the marina. Because Joe had never backed this trailer up before or any other for many, many years, he was out of practice. To top things off, the boat ramp had steep cement walls, making it more difficult for Joe. While Joe and the other guy were gone, I watched the main guy carry out all the dock sections all by his self. It amazed me. Last year, I watch 2 guys mussel them out together. This guy put the dock on his back, and had the post over his shoulders, as one would carry a person on their back and the arms around his neck, hanging onto the posts like arms. He carried those docks up the boulders rock walls. Normally he would have help from the other guy, but Joe was having trouble getting the trailer into the water, so he took out the dock on his on. Wow, he is strong, but didn't look like it.

Once Joe got back, the two guys pulled the shore station out with a four wheeler.

The dock and shore station  are on the banks, another winter job off the check list! So glad, they were finally removed, cold weather was predicted for the next few days. The next day the boat went to the shop to be winterized and then tucked away in our shed.

On a day trip to Petoskey, I got this picture of Walloon Lake.

Still some color on our drive NE.

At this point Mallery has been having subcutaneous fluid treatments daily as her veterinary requested. Then we started back to every other day. Unfortunately after a few days, we could see her going down hill so we went back to daily to maintain her good appetite.

Our fall has been exceptionally nice, compared to past falls, we have been told.

Still much color in our side neighbors yards.

On this evening, the sun lite up the north side of Lake Charlevoix.

We have never seen it look like this at sunset. It was just spectacular.

We spent our time in October, preparing for winter, doctor appointments, going for walks, and trying to pick out finishes for the renovation of our kitchen, which will begin this winter. Here is a picture of our kitchen now. When we get back next Spring, it will look different.

To go with the yellow cabinets or one of the white chip colors. To go with the almond or blue color for the walls. Decisions, decisions. This is suppose to be fun, but because we have been so busy, it has been stressful instead.

Just a pretty salad Joe made for us for lunch.

Another walk from our house down 2 blocks and up a big, big, big hill, and here we are out in the country.

There's the big hill. This is a picture after we have walked back half way down the hill.

I guess the peak color peaks in different areas. We though it was all over the week before.

Joe continues the close-down duties for winter, draining the hose and unhooking the water pump house in his waders.

Oh to be back to household chores!

The Last Of The Fall Colors

                                                               Monday 10/19/15

We had taken a drive to Petoskey, the town we go to, for most shopping, the week before, and saw that the trees were starting to turn colors, but they had not hit their peak. Looking across the lake, it looked like we were at our peak, so we decided we should take a drive.

First stop, the Harborage Marina in Boyne City.

2/3 of the boats have been removed from the marina.

Beautiful clear water at the marina, where you can see to the bottom.

Closer up of colorful trees on the north shore of Lake Charlevoix.

Even closer up with zoom.

I'd like this boat! It would be nice to have one with a potty room for longer rides when it is cooler out and you don't want to jump into the lake.

We continued our drive north of Boyne City.

Mallery enjoyed the drive too, though she didn't see much.

We found that we had missed the peak after all. Dang!

The peak was somewhere between the last 5 days, when we went to Petoskey, the last time we had been out and about.

This drive was actually near Walloon Lake which is at a higher elevation, so  the peak was earlier than back at our house I think.

Oh well we still really enjoyed the ride, and hope you did too.

There are so many trees up here in Northern Michigan, making it so beautiful in the fall.

Joe found a house that advertised eggs for sale. While he went for eggs I got a picture of a rooster. Joe came back, eggs sold out.

Love it up here in northern Michigan country! I knew I had to settle in a spot that had full fall color, since we are born and raised mid-westerners. I loved the west, but they just don't have fall foliage. Colorado has the beautiful aspens, which is about it for fall colors. We had thought of moving to the New England states, just for the fall, but then we found this place! We both knew we had found home, when we came to Northern Michigan.

Our First Snow & Our Master Bathroom

                                 Saturday 10/17/15

On October 17 , we woke up to our first snowfall.

After about a half hour, it started to snow some more, and look, the boat is still in the water. Yikes!

I have dreamed of waking up to snow. You know since we had been on the road for 6 1/2 years, I had not seen snowfall in all that time. We had drove to the mountains where there was snow on the ground, but no actual fresh fallen snow.

I have always loved the beauty of fresh fallen snow, the crisp air and quietness it brings.

I have missed it and so enjoyed this morning.

But by afternoon it had stopped snowing, and the sun tried to come out.

It had been so long, that even Mallery seemed to have forgot what the stuff was. By the end of the day, it had all melted away, which made Joe happy! He is not a snow lover like me.

OK, I finally remembered to do some before and after pictures of our master bathroom. Before........... Toilet very tight against the vanity.

Very small and tight bathroom.

Shower was on top of the toilet. Plus the shower door leaked.

Clean, but ugly and outdated.

Our new, and much bigger master bath.

The style is cottage, with a bead-board ceiling. I really like the look of the all one level counter tops, though it is not as functional as a counter top that is lower in the center for the vanity area. Love, love, love my chandelier. Every girl wants one sometime in her life!

I wasn't crazy about the accent tile as it was a very soft muted color before it was installed. Because the tiles were glass, light made it muted and soft. Once installed, surrounded in white grout, it did not allow the light into the sides and back of the tiles, making them much darker. Unfortunately, we arrived a day after it was installed and the tile shop didn't tell me the installed tile would have a darker look. The guest bath had the same tile but a different color. The guest bath is worst then the master. We were going to go for a shower door, but we wanted the European style doors, like we put in the guest bath. The European shower doors don't work well on tubs, so we decided to stick with a shower curtain until we find something we really like. Maybe in a year or two they will come out with a style that works for tubs.

I do like our cubbies, but again, I was not happy with the tile work of the white subway tile. Because we were coming that week and we told our contractor we needed water and a bathroom to be functional, the job was rushed. (he was suppose to be done May 1st, and like all contractors he was way behind- it was June 1st). He had someone come in, that he had never worked with, and told him to have both baths tiled in a week. It just didn't have the professional look we paid for.

The window had to be moved to a different spot, to the new center of the room. Our contractor put in a smaller window then I liked. It had to be changed out to a larger size This is the larger replaced window. Our contractor took the smaller one so we didn't have to buy two windows, but it cost us  money to put in two windows instead of one, including tearing the outside of the house off to fit the larger window in;  making it a costly $500 mistake.

We love the crown molding or mantel above the door and window. (For anyone new, and you notice the bed rails on our bed, they are for our little Mallery, so she won't fall out of bed, since she is pretty much blind these days).

I love my cabinet door knobs and Kraft Maid cabinets from Lowes.

We both just adore our Carrera Marble counter tops, though you have to be very careful with them, as they are easily stained,  etched, or chipped. All the electrical and plumbing was changed out since it was old, mismatched or hodgepodge together by previous do it your self owners.

I love the small vertical bead-board on the lower 2/3's and then the wider horizontal bead-board on the upper 1/3. It took many hours of looking at Cottage Style pictures to decide on this look. We love our ceramic wood looking floors also.

Just love the old fashioned facet handles and recessed medicine cabinets too.

The only negative is the spout swivels all the way to the wall, so we will have to watch the grand kids when they come. Also because the spout sticks out so far forward, it is easy to get water on the floor. I turn the spout toward the side when washing my face to avoid this issue. Things you just don't visualize until they are installed.

The laundry room use to have a hallway to the back of the house. We never used this door and it was a waste of space that was much needed to enlarge the bathroom.

Our new smaller laundry/utility room.

In the utility part of the room behind a sliding door closet, we have our water softener units. There was about a foot of space to the right that the wall was moved toward the softener to accommodate for the toilet and tub, or our bathroom would have been much narrower.

Also in the closet is the furnace which stayed the same as before.

In our bedroom, we also had to take about a foot of the side wall of the third closet, to widen the bathroom. This closet use to have wire shelving. For now, it is just a mess and useless. Next spring Joe and I will paint it and put in shelves and or rods. We are constantly in renovating progress for now. All in all, we love our bathrooms, except for the tile and tile accent, and the total cost, which ended up more then we planned. As with all of life, nothing is perfect, no matter how hard you try to plan it!