I Said I Would Be Busy...

Note: 120 days until trails open! (Dec. 1st)

Note: Aug. 13th ORV Meeting @ Emmet County Fairgrounds.

It turns out I was right. :P My last post was July 17th! Here it is...August 2nd. Getting things back in line after vacation took a bit longer than I expected...and it has actually been fairly nice out so I have been spending much of my time outdoors. Since most of my pictures are now dated...I will just throw them up to my picasa site for everyone to view. They will be categorized by date...and I will try to put in a brief description of what was happening when I took them. That really kind of defeats the purpose of having the blog...but I do not have time to go through and right all the posts it would take to explain everything. My picasa site is http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding.

This weekend was fairly uneventful. My parents were up to help me cut trees down around the house so that we can get upgraded DirecTV equipment (and for fire wood of course!). Good times! So yesterday morning we woke up fairly early and started hacking them down. Everything went very well! When we were done I decided that one more tree should come down...but on my way back over to my saw I was stung somewhere in the range of 7-9 times by bees. There was a ground nest where my saw was. So my leg was a little bit sore yesterday...and even when I woke up today. I am just glad I am not allergic to the little demons. I sprayed today to either kill them or get them to move. I feel bad doing that...but I just cannot have them where I need to be. It had been many many years since I had been stung by a bee until last Sunday when I was disc golfing at Boyne Mountain. I was walking in some taller grass and got nailed on my left shin. Then yesterday I got one on the calf of my left leg...and roughly 7-8 on my right leg. We decided that was enough wood cutting...it was starting to rain by that point anyway.

So I mentioned disc golf...last Sunday was my second time out for the year. We shot over to Petoskey's course the weekend before. Boyne Mountain is a great place to play. As far as difficulty goes...it is not too easy. The course is very well kept so the chances of losing a disc are minimal. Usually you get to right the chair lift to the top...(as I probably mentioned last Fall) but this time we were shuttled by van because the lift was closed for the day. It was the first time I had seen others playing that course the same time that we were. There were two other groups that went ahead of us. I hope to get some more disc AND ball golfing in before the summer is over...Fall is quickly approaching.

I believe I am going to start my winter hobby up soon...I have never done it but I am goinig to try to make some beer. If I get good at it...my beer cost basically goes right out the window. It is also a decent skill to have so when they ban alcohol again...my basement will be ready. *laugh* In my retirement years I would absolutely love to start a small brewery. By then who knows what will be legal and what will not. Only three more years until we start deciding who our next president will be. Anyway, if anyone has any good beer making tips...post them to the comments section. :) I am sure I, along with others, would love to hear them.

That about sums things up for now...I really will try to post more frequently so I do not just give up like I did with this post. ;) My ambition level today is low due to my wife being fairly sick. She has some kind of swelling behind her ear...and it sounds very painful. She has been dealing with it for two days now...and started meds yesterday. I am really hoping that by tomorrow things start looking up so we can get back out and enjoy some August activities. Last year this weekend we were in Paradise, MI camping. I would love to try and get out to do some camping.

Thats it from me for now...watch for new pictures being uploaded.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek