February 20th

Wednesday, February 20th, 2019

Seven and one half inches later, the system has officially moved through.

I love a good snowstorm, especially when I can plan for it and not have to leave my house. Today’s storm was nearly perfect; little wind, large fluffy flakes, and even amounts throughout the day. I was able to go out and shovel out the chicken’s run periodically throughout the day and keep up on it which is always helpful.

Even still, having a driveway a third of a mile long is close to impossible to shovel.

Luckily, I have a super neat dad that brings his tractor over to plow us out. With the amount of snow over the past few weeks, dad loaded the blower on the back of the tractor to try and throw the snow out into the fields surrounding our house (and theirs) to help keep our snow piles at a manageable size.

Thanks, dad!

February 2nd

Saturday, February 2nd, 2019

Something exciting happened with my family yesterday – my dad retired!

Assured Security, Inc. was founded in 1989 by my dad and his business partner, and they quickly became the go-to specialists for commercial door, hardware, and security needs. Assured grew from a couple of employees working on doors and frames to an office full of guys specializing in security spanning from simple hardware needs like key cutting to complex video monitoring systems and similar technologies. Assured’s reputation for their high standards of quality and customer service brought in institutions such as banks, schools, cities, and a myriad of private businesses as loyal clients.

Thirty years later, my dad put pen to paper and closed on the sale of Assured.

Our immediate family has known for a couple of months that this deal was in the works, so we’ve had some time to wrap our minds around it. However, as a buyer was selected, an agreement eventually signed, and closing day set, I think we’ve all been feeling some intense emotions. But no one as much as my dad.

And when he asked me to photograph him as a part of my blog to document his journey, I was honored.

He was a little confused when I said I wanted to start by photographing him in my parent’s bedroom, but I was thinking about the light and the shelves full of photographs lining one of their walls. Generations of wedding photos, my and my sister’s seniors photos, baby pictures, and frames full of other memories. I thought it was fitting to have all of those memories in the background for this new stage. Like I said to him: The memories he was able to make happen because of his business and his dedication to our family and his success.

We started out with many smiles and laughs, but heavier emotions set in when I asked him to think about what life was going to mean now. What he wanted to do with his time, the people he was going to spend that time with, the freedom that comes with not making the decisions anymore. What he was going to do now that his time was truly his.

Then I asked my mom to come in and take a couple pictures, and when she asked why, I said to them because she was just as much a part of this journey.

After we did a few inside, we went outside (into the forty degree weather!) to take some pictures with his van (and Henna).

I then wanted to focus on my dad’s work shirt, as it’s just as much a part of him as his work van.

And the light was pretty, so we did a head shot too.

I’m so proud of you, and so excited for you dad! You deserve it! I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you and for mom.

I love you!

August 17th

Friday, August 17th, 2018

Grandma is in town!

If you’ve followed my blog, you know that my Grandma Joyce lives in Florida full time. Her and grandpa used to summer here in Minnesota, and then winter in Florida, but once my grandpa’s Alzheimers progressed to a certain point,  the traveling became too much.

Now that he’s in a memory care facility, Grandma tries to come and visit everyone up here for a couple weeks every summer. She floats from house to house, and makes her rounds seeing everyone

Paul and I picked her up from my aunt and uncle’s house this morning, took her out for lunch, and then went up to the cabin for the afternoon. Once everyone else got off work and made it up there, we went out to dinner at a local brewery.

It was a fun evening of pizza, beer, laughter, and corn hole on the patio.

July 10th

Tuesday, July 10th, 2018

My dad was my super hero today.

I hadn’t been home for long this afternoon when my dad pulled up with the tractor. I knew he had taken the day off today, but was puzzled by why he came over with the tractor.

Paul had tried to till our pumpkin patch over the weekend, but we could only do half the rows because of how wet the field still was. He has been on a trip this week, so he hasn’t been home to finish the rest of the rows now that the field is dry enough. While he comes home tomorrow, and could’ve easily done it then, our window for tilling between rows is closing rapidly. Our plants are flourishing and beginning to vine out. Once they do that, we can’t get between the rows anymore.

The goal is to get in the field right before vining, so that all of the weeds get chopped up, making a clean row for pumpkins to expand into. It also eliminates competition for water and soil nutrients for the pumpkin plants. It also helps make the field look cleaner too.

Dad had just finished tilling our outdoor arena, and was going to finish tilling the pumpkin field for us.

On his day off, he came to help us check this task off our list.

So I ran the rows and moved plants that had already started to vine out while he tilled. It only took us about an hour, but that hour will help tremendously with weed control and pumpkin yield.

If you’re reading this, thank you Dad! I love you!

June 10th

Sunday, June 10th, 2018

You know it’s summer time when the hay equipment comes out.

It’s between that and when the hundreds of barn swallows hatch their babies. But really, over thirty nests under this overhang alone. We’ve had a crazy amount of them around this year.

Anyway, it’s hay season! Even with the questionable weather tomorrow, the haybine went out today. Hopefully we don’t get as much rain as they’re saying we may get. After tomorrow, the weather looks great – sunshine with low dew points, so if we can get through tomorrow we’ll be golden.

Dad cut most of the field yesterday, but Paul finished the inside rounds. Here, Paul and Dad are switching places.

On an unrelated note, my phone died on Friday, so I finally upgraded (iPhone 5s to 8), and the camera clarity is awesome! Both this image and the image from Joyful Noise were taken on my phone.

Sometimes it’s the little things 🙂

March 21st

Wednesday, March 21st, 2018

When Paul and my dad were attempting to take down our old, dead microwave today and install our bright and shiny new one, I snuck into the kitchen to take some pictures of the two of them.

Dad isn’t super fond of getting his picture taken, so when he saw I was there, my composition wasn’t perfect, but his facial expression was!

P.S. – I had no idea that changing out microwaves would make our house look like a war zone. Ladders, jacks, drills, and miscellaneous pieces parts are everywhere. Glad I was told my help wasn’t needed!

January 5th

Friday, January 5th, 2018

Tuesdays and Fridays are my days with Henna.

My dad owns his own business, and my mom works for him part time two days a week: Tuesdays and Fridays. So I’m up to bat for puppy sitting.

This cold weather has been the pits for everyone, but especially for Henna. Poor girl can barely stand the cold long enough to go to the bathroom.  So we’ve been doing all we can to be out with her and play for most of the day, but we’re all getting bored.

So today I packed a bunch of projects, packed up Henna’s toys, and Henna and I camped out in my Dad’s heated shop for the afternoon.

I was looking through the toolbox trying to find a tape measure when I really took a good look at the windowsill next to me. I did a double take at the amount of spider webs – then looked around. Dad’s shop is spotless. The pontoon, tractors, storage… all spotless. I looked back at the windowsills and can’t help but laugh – this is how I clean at home. Big picture cleaners for sure!