Mission Accomplished

Slowly but surely John, Joanna and I have worked hard to makeover eight large cabins and one smaller one, inside and out.  I look back now at what has been done and think it was a lot like mission impossible.  I don't know today if I would accept the mission again, but it has been rewarding to see the changes and feel a sense of pride when we look at them. 

Just two days ago we completed the outside painting of the last two cabins.  Painting a cabin requires a series of preparation including power washing, removing and replacing rotten boards, going over every board and screwing in loose ones, finding two days in a row when no one is in the cabin and sunny days above 36 degrees.  It takes one day to paint the brown part and another day to put two coats of white on the trim around windows and doors.  Sometimes John has to spend days leveling and fixing the footers to keep them from sinking into the soft sand.  Then you have the frustrations of the paint sprayer breaking down and painting it all by hand... or opening a new five gallon pail of paint and finding it to be the wrong color and Menards is four hours away.  What fun!!

But team Oberg put their noses to the grindstone and in four days this last week we finished painting the last two cabins.  Now all the cabins look new or at least consistent.  Fortunately this paint is supposed to last a lifetime so we won't have to do it again.  You can see that I really slopped the paint on fast and furiously as a lot of it ended up all over me.  At one point the spray gun got plugged and a huge glob of paint shot backward at me across my glasses and forehead.  I ran to a pail of water and splashed myself vigorously to get it off.  What a mess! 

There are other maintenance tasks on the list for this fall for sure, but it is nice to cross this one off the list for good.

The Glorious Colors of Fall

Autumn colors of reds, oranges, yellows and greens all mixed together in the trees of the forest tickles and prickles my soul like a mini internal eruption of glory from God.  I wish it lasted longer, but then maybe I'd somehow overdose on all these wonderful colors and be totally useless for months on end.

To think I grew up in Florida and never knew this season existed except in name only as we never saw these color contrasts there.  Then I met John and he brought me to northern Minnesota so I could see it all up close.

A couple of weeks ago, we had some free time and couldn't pass up the warmth and sunshine, so John took his mother and I on a slow and relaxing tour of Indian Lake.  We meandered through some bays we'd never really explored before and I made a mental note to try fishing in some new spots that looked promising for next summer.  On our way back we stopped at the place we put the marker bouy at the end of the gravel spit and picked it up to bring back in for the winter months.

This pontoon boat is John's vacation that he takes in little parcels throughout the summer and fall since he doesn't often get the opportunity leave camp.  Everybody needs to get out and be refreshed by God's creation.  It does wonders.

Anniversary Trip

John and I try to get away together at least once a year around our anniversary, September 15th to spend some focused fun time enjoyed each other's company away from the camp.  Joanna and John's mother held down the fort for us and did a great job. 

This year we headed down to Missouri to pick up a newer vehicle since we were feeling the need for something a bit more reliable.  It just so happens that our son and his family live only two hours north in Omaha, NE, so it was a perfect setup to go visit them as well.  We were able to spend a weekend there and had such a great visit.  They took us to the bridge to nowhere, which is a suspension bridge that crosses the Missouri River into Iowa.  It's simply a beautiful bridge for pedestrians and there used to be nothing on the other side but woods.  Now, however, they have built an unusual  attraction which is a huge green field surrounded by trees and sidewalks.  They are putting together a state-of-the-art computer light show that can also be used for playing games, like trying to run away from being tagged by a light from the computer on the field.  It was all very interesting.  I'd love to actually see it in action when it is finished.  We purchased some delicious pizza and bread rolls along with root beer of course, to eat down by the river.  Then afterwards found a cute ice cream shop to polish off some cones for desert. 

Aaron and Titus are growing so fast. Reseth is homeschooling the boys and Aaron is hooked on phonics and already reading little books at the age of five.  He says he is teaching Titus to read too.  Such a sweet big brother he is.  Jonathan and John and Aaron and Titus spent half a day putting together an intricate lego military helicopter that actually had an internal winch to lift objects off the ground.  That provided hours of entertainment for the boys who love all things mechanical.

After leaving Jonathan's place, we headed up to Duluth, MN for three days of just hanging out together, relaxing, hiking trails, going to movies, shopping and eating out.  Duluth is a very interesting port city, so there's lots to do there.  We both appreciated being alone together and away from camp so we didn't feel obligated to be working on something at camp.  A big thank you to Joanna and Nona for making it possible.