New Tractor Lights on John Deere X360

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted an update on my blog. Between work, play, family and life, writing has sure taken a back seat.
I have been trying to figure out a way to add some lights to my tractor because the stock lights leave something to be desired. They shine right into the front snow blower and are basically worthless.
Here is a youtube link to see what I did to fix the problem.
Now if we would just get some snow. Last December we received 36 inches. This year..maybe two inches.

Getting Ready For Winter

It is almost a daily task to go out and chop up the leaves with Mr. John Deere. It is a task that I don't mind at all.
I needed some more light for winter snow blowing to I rigged up an extra light for the top of the canvas cab I install for the winter weather.
With the two headlights on the tractor and the spotlight up top, I think the dark country lane will be a bit brighter this winter.



Do I dare say, bring on the snow?

Random Trail Camera Pictures

It has been a while since I checked the trail camera out in the back forty.
I had close to 100 pictures but edited them down to just a few.
There were lots of raccoon and deer pictures, but I tried to pick out the better ones of the deer with a few turkeys thrown in for good measure.





All is well here. You know the drill, work, work and more work. No complaints from me in that respect.
We spent most every weekend down at the lake in our camper and had a blast.

Busy and Busier!

What a busy time it has been this summer. Between work and work, there has been no free time....except for today.
But first, yesterday.
We held our Third annual Bag Toss for the Red Cross. It was a huge success with a great crowd that had a fantastic time.
KEYC TV was there covering the event. Two of their news anchors even competed for the famous Red Cross Golden Bag Media Award. They looked good, but not good enough to beat the team from Hot 96.7 Radio. KEYC news story.
It was great to hang out with Stunt Monkey from Hot 96.7 and Annie, Mallory and Lisa from KEYC.
Ok,fast forward to today.
The airport hosted a fly in breakfast for vintage aircraft as well as experimental aircraft.
There must have been at least 100 planes that flew in for the event and I determined that each one of them turned out to be my favorite.




I saw nearly a dozen vintage planes that I had flown in the past. That was cool, but because of that, am I also vintage?

3rd Annual Bag Toss for the Red Cross

For local readers of this blog I have some news for you.
The South Central Minnesota Chapter of the American Red Cross will be holding it's Third Annual Bag Toss event on Saturday, August 20th.
We are limiting the event to 128 teams and registrations are now being accepted.
You can register several ways. You may call the Red Cross office at 507-387-6664...or you can follow this link to find a registration form.
Besides great fun, food, hundreds and hundreds of dollars in prizes. we will be having a silent auction.
The event will be held at Ray Erlandson Park near Victory and Main in Mankato.
Here is a link to the Facebook page that gets updated on a regular basis...in fact, almost daily.

This and That

Why do I always start my blog entries out with "it has been a while"?
I guess I have been too busy with life to write about it.
All is going well. Sue went back to work last week after having both knees replaced. She is doing great and really enjoyed the 12 weeks off.
My double cataract surgery went very well....no glasses and better than 20-20 vision now.
We have been spending most every weekend out at the lake in our camper.
The sunsets have been amazing...here are a few examples.


We went out in the canoe yesterday. The water was like glass and just perfect! Sorry, no pictures. I don't dare take my camera out in the canoe the way we rock side to side. It is always an adventure!
After being out on the water we worked up an appetite so I fired up the flesh cooker and threw on the beef .

At this point, the weekend had to come to an end, so we came home to get a few chores done.
I was riding around on Mr. Deere mowing the lawn when I discovered that I had an audience.

I am sure Bambi's mom was lurking in the woods keeping track of her little one.
Until next time......

It's About Time

That statement rings true for so many reasons.
It's about time I posted a blog update, the weather has finally turned decent, I have more than one day off,get to eat really good BBQ...and the list goes on and on.
Anyway, I had not checked the trail camera here at Coyote Ridge for some time (another "it's about time"),so I did that this morning. There were 195 pictures on the digital disk.
I slugged through them and have a few to share. I won't bore you with all of them, just some of my favorites.





And for good measure a turkey made it's appearance.

It appears that the wildlife successfully reproduced this Spring. We have seen a good number of baby turkeys and deer exploring the woods out here.
Today we are off to our son Ben and his wife Anna's house for some of his special BBQ ribs. He slow cooks them for five hours on the grill and they are out of this world!
Of course we will have plenty to go with the cooked flesh. How about potato salad, fresh green beans cooked with bacon, calico beans,blueberry-rhubarb upside down cake and of course cold beer!