Tim & Vanessa Lorentzen Family!

July 2nd - What weird weather swings we are having!  We were at the lake Thursday and Friday nights and it was nice and hot!  Then on Saturday morning it was cool and by Saturday night it was around 50 and windy.  We went to the end of the month horse sale to get rid of chickens and geese on Saturday.  Had fair success.  Zion can start the quad!  Of course he could not get it in gear BUT never the less we are hiding the key now.  Haldor and his kids (Cody and Rachel) came over to the lake Friday night and went tubing with us.  John & Darcy should be home tonight from their trip to Oregon and it will be good to have them back.  On Sunday we went to an engagement party for my pal Jim!  He and Charla are getting married!  Congrats to them!

July 9th - Great fireworks display on the 4th!  The kids (except Zion)  walked in the parade to help a friend advertise his business.  Vanessa and Zion watched and I spent 12 hours on the roof!  My good friend Joe offered to help me re-roof the house (which it DESPERATELY needed) so we started on the 4th.  Actually the boys and I started Tuesday night with stripping the old shingles off one side.  The addition that is the front room had 4 layers of shingles and various other roofing stuff and was hard to strip.  We found lots of rotting wood and ended up patching some and then putting new wood over the whole thing!  It did allow us to get the valleys done correctly and is looking good!  We worked Friday night stripping the other side and then on Saturday and Sunday put in 2 more 12 hour days (in the 90 + heat) and are well on the way to winning this one!  Hope to finish the shingling tonight and then just do the little stuff - caulking the vents and chimneys - rain gutter - paint the new fascia boards etc...  Zion got a hair cut on Saturday.  Starlit has been taking quilting lessons from Nadine.

July 16th - We made our annual pilgrimage to Turtle Lake for Turtle days on Saturday.  A fun small town parade etc.  Then that afternoon we all (John & Darcy - Ross & Janice and us) went over to Nelson lake and boated and camped.  Came home Sunday morning and beat the rain!  It poured buckets and NONE of it came into the house!  What a concept!  Looking forward to the trip up to Three Hills.

July 24th - A day late because my internet server was down!  We left on Wednesday morning for Three Hills at 7:15 AM.  Arrived at 11:00 PM (midnight our time) and had a great time there!  It was good to see the whole family and celebrate Gramma Blanches 90th birthday.  We left at 7:30 AM (our time) on Sunday and broke down 35 miles west of Medicine Hat.  Spent an hour there trying to trouble shoot the problem and determined it was an ignition problem.  We then decided to flag someone down.  I stood by the road praying and watched as several pickups went by.  Then I saw a yellow one coming and waved at the guy and he pulled over.  It was a Dewalt rep in a Ford supercab and he towed us in to Medicine Hat to the Canadian Tire store.  There we proceeded to replace parts and try it out.  It would run after cooling down so we would get it hot until it quit and then try another part.  Of course it was not the coil or the module (which are easy to replace) but the stator (which for those of you who are not mechanics is NOT easy to replace, especially with the engine HOT!) and we ended up buying a puller to get the armature off the distributor shaft and while we were at it we replaced the vacuum advance (just because it wasn't working!) and finally had to slightly modify the wires on the new (obviously generic) stator and then it ran!  We were delayed an hour on the road and then another 4 hours in Medicine Hat so we arrived home just after 3:00 in the morning.  Slightly tired but all OK.  I took a nap for a few hours while Ross drove and that was a real blessing.

July 30th - More rain!  Mandan got 6 inches on Thursday (we did not get that much) and some serious local flooding.  Went to the lake on Sunday afternoon for a few hours.  The quartet sang at Crystal Springs Camp on Saturday night and Hollis, Jasper and I drove the Galaxie there.  Had a tire blowout on the way so that added to the excitement!  I got an accordion and Zion just loves it!  He calls is a big harmonica.  He really likes music.  I got Jasper a full sized guitar so he is excited about that.