Empty Nesters!

 Barb and I first became empty nesters in 2005, I was 43 when our youngest Forrest graduated high school and went to Arizona to continue his education. As many of you know, finding yourself alone with your spouse can be a shock to your system as you stare at each other in the deafening silence. 

Our answer was to sell our house and move to a lake home starting a new chapter of our lives. Fast forward 20 years when Forrest, Somer and Lily stopped by for a visit. A 9-month visit! As one of our friends asked Barb, "You already carried him 9 months once, how does it feel to do it again?".  

It was not bad at all. We got to do things with them that we would have never been able to. It had been 20+ years since Forrest and I had been able to hunt and fish together and we got to do both several times. While we have spent time with Somer a week or two at a time in the past, these past 9 months gave us the opportunity to really know her. And Lily, our 13-year-old granddaughter, it goes without saying that the time with her (and her with us) is something that neither of us will forget. I don't recall spending one night with my grandparents let alone months at a time!

I wanted to write about and show pictures of all the good times we had, but I could not have done it better than Somer did in this Instagram post. I hope this link works!

If I were to be totally honest though, while we are going to miss them, there is a certain peacefulness having it be just Barb and I (and the girls) again. Now our lives go back to "normal". While Forrest and Somer did help with a meal or two a week, Barb no longer has to plan and groceries for 5. Yes, life will be different, we are going to miss them yet are happy for them as they carry on with their RV lifestyle adventure and wonder where they will end up next. 

They spent their last few days here packing up. Boy, do they have a lot of stuff! Luckily, they have a toy hauler to fit all their toys. 

Before we knew it, they were loaded up and ready to head to their next destination; Oklahoma for a few weeks. Hugs were tight and maybe a few tears as we watched them disappear around the corner of the driveway.....

Before they left, Forrest and I (and Kevin) got out on another adventure. It was one that we had been waiting months for and what we had been practicing for over the past several weeks. It was another archery shoot, this time at Terry Peak Ski Resort in Lead. Total Archery Challenge (TAC) is an organization that puts on shoots across the country. We had been to one in Salt Lake City (Snowbird) in the past and now this one. It is a challenging shoot where you ride the chairlift up to the top of the mountain and shoot various full size 3D targets on your way down. Here we are discussing our bet while riding up the lift...

As I said, Forrest and I had been practicing for weeks. Kevin, had every intention of doing the same, but life got in the way and pulled out his bow the morning of the shoot having never fired an arrow.  Wanting to make it interesting Forrest and I bet $1/point with a total of 264 points on the line. For example if I shot a bullseye (12) points and Forrest missed entirely, I would be $12 up. We would total up our score at the end and the loser would have to pay up. We tried getting Kevin to go in on it as it would have been easy money, but having not practiced, he wanted nothing to do with this bet!

The ride up was fun and the camaraderie was even better. For the next several hours we laughed, ribbed each other, lost a few arrows, but overall had a great time. 

When it was all said and done we sat down in the lounge at the lodge and added up our scores. For the second week in a row, Forrest and I tied! How is that even possible?!?!? To make matters worse that nonpracticing no good friend of mine beat us both by 8 points! The only redeeming aspect was that he opted out of the bet!

Now for the moment you have all been waiting for, it is photo real or is it Memorex? Remember that commercial? If you are over 60 you probably remember it. The photo below was taken with me standing in our living room with no fish in hand. Forrest then just told AI "Add world record walleye". While it did not add a world record walleye, it did add a pretty nice one. It also added the entire background and my hands holding the fish. In the original picture my hands were down by my side. 

There were a few clues, the biggest being that the fish is "too plastic-y" as one person said. Another person said that the sky is just too perfect, while another said my teeth looked "bucky". The meanest of all was posted on our Facebook page where someone said it was obvious fake as I was too good looking!

Besides proving that I caught the biggest fish each time we go out, there are other good uses for AI. The best I have seen so far comes in the form of dog videos. Specifically, this dog video.

This week was all work for us and very little play. Barb has been busy working on her camper remodel. She is not ready for me to show you anything yet, but it will not be long!

As for me, I have been a slave to the garage and made some great progress! Sunday Kevin came over with this skidsteer to drill three holes for the extension on the end of the garage. That's right, the garage is not even done yet and we are already planning an extention. Actually, it was always in the plan, now is just the time to start working on it. The siding steel arrived this week

We were only able to get down about 18" at the deepest due to the rock, but we drilled some rebar into the rock which will act as a stabilizer as well. The next day I poured concrete into each of the tubes and waited 3 days for them to harden before I put in the anchors and the posts. 

While waiting for those to harden I started on the siding. Day 1 found me about 1/2 done with the north side. Day 2 got me almost done with that side, I need to wait until the extension is up to totally finish that far end. Day 3 I worked on the west end, it was a long hot day, but I got that entire side done in one day!

No pictures of the girls this week, but I will leave you with a picture of our biggest yucca that is in full bloom. We have them scattered throughout the property. I do not know a lot about them, but what I have observed is that is that they do not bloom every year and some do not seem to bloom at all.