The Joys of Grandparenthood!

 There is nothing that brings a smile to a grandparent's face and a glow in their heart like watching their grandchildren. Watching your lifelong dreams and wishes come true as you watch your dear sweet grandchild treat their parent just as your child treated you the day you yelled "I hope someday you have a child just like you!"

What parent hasn't thought or even said those words? I was reminded of that scenario when our daughter Jessica called to tell us a story about her precious 8-year-old little girl. Now, Jessica was a pretty good kid growing up a little sass but not too much. The most challenging thing about raising her was her competitiveness. She had to win everything she participated in. Her main sport growing up was skiing. Downhill slalom. She was good.....and competitive. If she did not get first there was no consoling her. She was not sad, she was mad. You could not even talk to her, you just had to leave her alone. Often times if she did not win she would go directly to the car get in the back seat and not say a word the entire ride home. Oh, and it was not just skiing. To this day, Barb and I will not play board games with her as we were too traumatized from having boardgame after boardgame flipped in the air when she would learn she was not going to win. Whoever owns that house now is probably still finding Monopoly pieces tucked in vents and crevices in that house. 

So, when she called the other day to tell us how frustrated her little girl is because the other girls on her soccer team were not as fast or as good as her, all we could do is laugh. And they have not even played, let alone, lost a game yet! Payback is so sweet sometimes!  

Don't let those innocent smiles fool you, mother (left) and daughter (right) both have the same competitive streaks!

We had one big project this week. Here's a clue.....does anyone know what this tool is for? If you have ever done any concrete work, you definitely know!

That is a rebar tying tool. To the left of it are the ties. The first step in preparing the garage was getting everything flat and level at an even 4". Next up is to lay out the rebar in a 2'x2' grid and tie all the sections together. Each and every one of those intersections have to be tied. Roughly 150 ties.

Once that was done I put the form board on the left side and we were ready for concrete!

The truck arrived promptly at 9:30 and backed right into the garage. It sure is nice having tall garage doors that he could back right into, saved a lot of wheelbarrow time! We poured 1/3 at a time. laying out about 10', screed it, bull float it and carry on to the next 10-foot section.  

We had the whole thing poured in about an hour. Once it was all poured Kevin bull floated it and Barb did the edging. Me? Well, the picture below speaks for itself. That's me, on the left supervising Kevin has he hand finished the entire pad. He would bounce around on two pieces of Styrofoam putting the final touches on it.(see above right picture). 

Well, while Kevin was doing some of that Barb and I led the concrete truck down to the windmill where we pour the sonotubes for the windmill bases.

Just as we were finishing up and the truck was coming up the valley is started snowing. We finished just in time! All in all we finished at 3:45, a little over 6 hours from start to finish. 

We did get a couple of other small jobs done this week. We finished the dog wash and the dogs are excited for heir first showers! 

Zoey does not mind going in there, but Dakota was less than excited. 

This week was not all work however, we did get out a couple of times to go shed hunting. The deer and most of the elk have shed their antlers so we set out to find some! I got out three times with Barb and the dogs and once with Kevin. On our trek Barb and I checked out the calving situation at the neighbor's ranch. 

Another day we jumped in the side by side to search another area.

We walked several miles in some of the most beautiful country you will find. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack but even if you do not find any sheds, it is great to get out and see the country. 

One of our adventures brought us to the border of Wind Cave NP

Alas, Barb and I did not find any but Kevin did find this beauty!

We also got out on the town twice this week! Once over to our friends Doug and Lisa where Lisa cooked up the trout Doug and I caught the week before and another night we went to the Do It Best customer appreciation event at The Beacon in Custer.

In other news, I got Barb's sliver out! Remember how Barb had gone to the doctor not once but twice in an attempt to get this yearlong sliver out of her finger only to end up with stiches and a referral to a general surgeon? Well, I did not know I was a General or a Surgeon, but I went after it with a nail clipper, created a hole, squeezed her finger and that sucker popped right out! Barb threw it away before I could get a picture of it but Barb says her finger feels much better. Well except for that hole I dug in it!

With Mother's Day fast approaching I think I found the perfect present for Barb. No, it is not a new rifle or even anything hunting related. Check these babies out! What woman would not just die for a pair of these?

She can simultaneously mop the floor as she is preparing meals in the kitchen. Genius! Dino, Harry, all you guys out there should follow my lead and buy these for your spouses. Trust me, it will make for a Mother's Day you will never forget!