April 4th and spring is really popping here. Always reminds me of our first born, Madeline, as she was born on this day and when we brought her home from the hospital it was such a classic spring day with all of life ahead of her.
Signed myself and Patrick up for a three day timberframe course for beginners. We constructed the frame for a 10×12 building using classic timberframe joints and techniques. While it was tedious, it was also fascinating. My good friend Deacon Paul D’Antonio also attended as a present from his wife Laurie.
Had everyone home for a family dinner today. Patrick has moved back from Texas in preparation for his Continental Divide Trail hike and Emily came home to celebrate her one year sober anniversary, which we are very proud of. She brought a “friend” with her, Randy.
We took a rare winter vacation to visit our dear friends Cathy and Paul Caubo at their new condo in Naples, Florida. What a beautiful place, tons of amenities, walking paths, private beaches, beach front restaurants, etc. Perfect weather and perfect company. They took us out one day on their new boat and perused the local weekend farmers market which was quite nice.
We took an extra day and traveled to northern Florida to visit with Patty’s brother and sister-in-law Bob and Anne in their new home.
We finally cut the black walnut into slabs today. That sucker was close to 20 feet long. Unfortunately I had positioned the log and sawmill in an awkward position, but we finally managed to get it loaded without causing any damage. The slabs look beautiful and are now stacked and covered for eventual making into some type of furniture. The log was my friend Deacon Paul’s, and he has been wanting to make some river tables and the like out this, he says the rotten areas will prove very interesting.
While we only received a few inches of snow, it was cold enough to make an icy crust which made for very fast sledding down the hill and into the lower field. We invited a bunch of families from St Patrick’s over and those kids just never go tired! Patty made cookies and we also had a warm fire burning inside for the Moms and babies while the Dads trudged up and down that hill all afternoon and evening. A wonder day.
A nor’easter blew through and dumped a bunch of rain quickly, overwhelming the big pond’s overflow and causing the stream to rise over driveway and pretty severely erode over the 30″ culvert pipe. If this had been snow I’m sure it would have been over 2 feet.
Here is what it looked like when I left for my Tuesday evening Knights of Columbus meeting.
When I got back two hours later it had topped the road and was hard at work eroding the gravel. I hesitated, but ended up driving my RAM 3500 through it, very large bump felt as the tires dipped into the erosion. Her is what it looked like.
The next day if got the tractor out and smoothed it all out, need to get a pile of gravel to have on hand in a situation like this.
Boy I’m feeling old now, little Maddy was married this weekend to her long time friend, partner and boyfriend Dennis.
The ceremony was held at the historic Aldie Mill, just a beautiful setting in late October. I’ve got to hand it to Maddy and Dennis, they did a HUGE amount of work for this wedding; finding the venue, planning, favors, flowers, decorations, the whole shebang! I was so impressed with their flowers especially as they were all handmade by them.
Emily flew in from Denver and Patrick from Texas. Paul & Colleen and Harvey as well as Michael was there, a nice reunion. The day was unseasonably warm, which I guess is probably better than unseasonably cold for an outdoor wedding.
Their choice of caterer was excellent, and about half way through the meal I gave the father of the bride speech, which I had worked on and memorized for many months. I’m so nervous doing these types of things, but I think it came off well. Here is the speech:
Good afternoon everyone, for those I haven't met, my name is Paul McDonald and I'm Madeline's Father, this lovely lady next to me is my wife, and Madeline's Mother, Patty McDonald. I want to thank you all for being here to help us celebrate this very special day.
Madeline is our first born, and thats always a special relationship for a parent. Holding that first child after the miracle of birth, and going through so many firsts over the years. Of course the first born always gets just a little more scrutiny then subsequent kids. And that was true when we first met Dennis. But I have to say, Dennis set me at ease right from the start; obviously intelligent, hard working, easy going, very polite. The day after Maddy had Dennis over for our March birthday celebration in 2016 I polled the family and they all said the same thing, he's a good fit, they are a lot alike. That really stuck with me, 'they are a-lot alike'.
Dennis, you've really been part of our family for quite a while, but I want to officially welcome you. We think you're a great match for Madeline too, and I knew that years ago when I saw first hand your kindness with her. We had rented jet skis on vacation, and Madeline was having some issues working it. Now some have said I can be a little abrupt or impatient, so when Maddy was having trouble I was evidently not really that helpful. Thats when Dennis stepped in, calmly told me she just needed some more instruction and time to get used to it, and it worked, and I was like, wow, he handled that way better than I did, and I realized he really cares for her.
One short piece of advice, which I heard at my brother's wedding and it really is true. From this day forward in your marriage, every single day is a negotiation. There is give and take, but there needs to be mostly giving on both your parts.
Now no one knows what the future holds in these troubling times, and I know that twenty years from now many things will have happened that we can’t predict. But whatever happens, and wherever you go, your Mother and I know you’ll always have each other’s love, and you’ll always have ours. I ask God to give you both a long and healthy marriage, remaining faithful to one another throughout all seasons of life.
I have one last task to perform, and it’s a task that is my honor and privilege. Ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses and join me in wishing the newlyweds a long, healthy and very happy future together. To Madeline and Dennis!
Best of luck to the newyweds! Below are the pictures with captions. I really loved their ‘first look’.
We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year, everyone here but Emily. Patty started early in the week making sides and generally preparing the feast, the picture below is from the evening before. Me & Patty started the day by attending Mass and giving thanks to God for everything we’ve been blessed with, which is quite a bit.
Due to popular demand we decided to go ahead and fry two of the turkeys and bake the third traditionally. Since we had the fryer out we ended up also deep frying french fries and onion rings and boy were they good!! There was also a request for kaiser buns so we ordered some from a local bakery.
While we were frying food the farmer began harvesting the soy beans, boy does that guy work hard. Short video below.
With the food prepared we sat down for our traditional meal and I made a little speech on everything we had to be grateful for, although I’m sure I missed a number of items. I didn’t realize it but Patrick was recording the whole thing, see below.
The kids brought sides that were delicious, Paul & Colleen brought mashed potatoes and Maddy & Dennis brought Mac’N’Cheese, neither of which lasted very long. After dinner we all were pretty much in a ‘turkey comma’. A few other pictures from dinner time below, click to enlarge.
It was such a nice evening we got the small fire pit going and sat out on the back hill. The Delaney’s came over and we traded stories and generally caught up.
When it was time to go in I noticed that the farmer was STILL harvesting. He ended up staying until about 1am.
We invited a bunch of folks from St. Patrick’s over for our first annual Springfield Farm Friends-Giving this past weekend. My brothers Mark & Steve came over Friday to “prep” for the first day of hunting.
On Friday we set everything up, cleaned out the barn, setup a big screen TV with chairs, kerosene heater, etc. and gave it a tryout Friday evening.
We all went out on the UTV and gathered downed wood to use for our usual large bonfire.
We started frying the turkeys at 10am with a target guest arrival of noon. This was the first time I’ve fried turkey in at least 5 years but all went well with Patty prepping the birds and my brothers assisting with the frying operation.
Folks started arriving at noon and very quickly it became quite busy, kids riding scooters and bikes on the driveway, hay rides, chowing down on a very large amount of food, folks brought some delicious dishes. And of course the bonfire, cuz, well, we’re all pyros at heart. Below are pictures of a large number of minivans parked, and people generally chowing down.
Patty hid letters around the yard/house for the kids to do a scavenger hunt and the Radel sisters helped “ride herd” on the process. Kids really liked it. Below is the result, although there was one letter I found later stuck by the garage??
I took a bunch of guests on a tour of the property, trying to give a flavor for the local history and the family that owned the property for so long. Here are a few pictures from the game camera of the tours.
Looks like Matt, Rob and their wives & kids had a blast riding the ATVs.
When it started getting dark we lit up the Christmas lights for the first time.
By the time it got dark we were pretty much gathered around the bonfire. My wife tells me I fell asleep before everyone left, but I’m pretty sure she is wrong.
