Seven Years Later...Whose Tree Grew Bigger?

On May 24, 2009, Katie, Nick and Lizzy replanted little trees from our Hinsdale yard. In that blog post, I promised to check back in a few years to see whose tree grew bigger. They were all home this summer, not at the same time, but within a week of each other, so it's seemed like a good time to check the outcome.   

 

Nick was trying to claim Katie's tree in the middle, but his tree and Lizzy's, planted close together on the end, are nearly the size. Lizzy's may be a litter taller.

No doubt about it - Katie's tree is the winner.

July 27 - 28, 2016 Lizzy & Nick add to "People's Bridge"

We drove out to Covo with Lizzy and Nick after breakfast at Mt. Carroll Cafe, where we’ve eaten breakfast numerous times over the past ten years. For the first time, I noticed the Albanian flag on the wall so Jeff asked the waitress about it. Turns out the owner Rita is from Albania. She was so happy to hear I have family in Albania, she talked our ear off. Just as my dad and family were part of the Greek ethnic minority, she was part of the Macedonian ethnic minority.  Imagine an Albanian woman running a cafe in a tiny Illinois farm town. Maybe we’ll get special treatment from now on!

The waterfall was running well, but the creek bottom was covered by a weed-like algae. Lizzy decided to pull it out clump by clump. Jeff thought she would be more effective standing in the creek, so he gave her his heavy wading boots and took off with Nick to mow with the tractor. Nick's last words to me were, "Don't let Lizzy drown." She was never in danger of drowning... being stuck in the muck was more like it. The boots were embedded in the algae and she couldn't move. I tried to pull her out from the bank but ended up partially in the creek.  The only way for Lizzy to escape was to step out of the boots, which were hard to yank out of the algae. I thought we would leave them but Lizzy tugged until the boots released and we got out of the creek. There has to be a better solution!

Work continues on the covered bridge. Jeff's goal is to have everyone take part in the construction, then it will be the "people's bridge". 

Pumpkins Day 18

July 15 - 16, 2016 Katie's Cross Beam Raised

If week one is any indication, rain and sun have conspired to create the best year ever for pumpkins.

We picked Katie up from the airport, dropped her stuff off at home and drove to Covo for a quick overnight.

Katie helped Jeff put up the second post and top it with the cross beam. The day started out cool and cloudy, but ended with a blue skies and a gorgeous sunset.

Fog shrouded the valley this Saturday morning,  Jessica and Tyler's wedding day.

July 9, 2016 First Post on the Covered Bridge

Jeff and I went to Covo on a Saturday to plant three fields of pumpkins. We used seeds from last year's crop, more specifically from the hardy pumpkin that travelled to Phoenix and stayed firm and orange until March.

More importantly, this was the day we anchored the first post of the covered bridge, reclaimed from the historic milking barn.

Flowers on either side of the lodge deck