Denneler Custom Decks

2 Denneler brothers

2 days

95 degrees

250 deck screws

5 drills

4 saws

10 rechargeable batteries

2 pint-sized "helpers"

6 cups of coffee

68 glasses of water

10 Beers

1 pan of Rice Krispy cookies

5 pizzas

1 Happy Jeanette Weishaar

#5 AUSTIN COURT – BEFORE

#5 AUSTIN COURT – AFTER

Why do all my hobbies resemble work?

That's what Eric said the other night in the garage, as he painted some porch benches he'd built for my mom. And you know what? He's right. His hobbies include: woodworking, working out, and working on the computer. Work. Work. Work. Poor guy.

Speaking of work — this weekend, Eric and his brother, will be building a new front porch at my mom's house in Colby. (Which means the temperature is guaranteed to soar over 100 degrees.) I'll be sure to post photos of the project when we get home.

Eggplant Cake

Hey, guess what? You CAN make a cake out of eggplant! I did it this weekend. It tastes a lot like carrot cake with all the ginger, cloves, cinnamon & walnuts. Topped with cream cheese frosting, how could it possibly taste bad, right? Yum. And yes, I could have just baked it in a bundt pan, but that would have been no fun at all.

As for our other attempts at eggplant recipes, let's just say we won't be growing any more of this stuff in our garden next year. Yuck. It makes a lousy stirfry.

Twinkle, Twinkle, our Little Star.

Gus had a "Talent Show" at the YMCA Summer Camp this week. I asked him on Monday what he was going to do and he told me he was going to make paper airplanes for his talent. OK. Sure. That sounds like something he might be able to do. Go for it.

So on Friday, all the parents were invited to come watch. I sat there in the audience as Gus got up to perform, and I noticed that he didn't have any paper with him. Hummm... gonna be kind of hard to make a paper airplane without paper, I thought to myself.

Well, he stands there, front & center, smiling like crazy, and the teacher says: "Everyone, this is Gus. And Gus is going to sing for us today."

I nearly fell out of my chair. What?????!!!?? He's going to sing??!!!!??? Gus doesn't sing. He barely even hums. I swear, my heart was beating out of my chest I was so nervous for him.

But he did it. He belted out Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, loud & clear, all by himself, in front of everyone. I was so proud I nearly cried. Way to go Gus!

Now, what do we do with this?

We've lived in our house on Winterberry Street for almost 13 years. And for some reason, we've always attempted to grow something in our pathetic backyard garden. (Must be that farmer blood in Eric.) It's usually just tomatoes that we can never remember to harvest. Or bell peppers that won't grow any bigger than a grape. But this year, we got really crazy and ventured into eggplants. And guess what? They grew! Big. And lots of them. I counted six of them tonight.

Now the dilemma....what do we do with these things? They're ready to be picked, but then that means they're ready to be cooked. So send a good recipe if you've got one. Because, unless you can bake these into a cake or frost them, I don't know what to do next.

Tablerock Lake 2008

It was fun in the sun over the 4th of July weekend with the Liudahl family at Tablerock Lake in Shell Knob, Missouri. Our little lake rats had a blast. And we came home relaxed, tan and filled with great summer memories.

Fun on the 4th.

Fireworks. Fireworks. And a few more fireworks. We went to the Liudahls to celebrate the 4th of July and Gus, Abby and Austin had a great time lighting up the sky.  Bea even liked the sparklers. Until they sparked her back. And of course, you can't celebrate Independence Day without a few s'mores.

Snorkel Practice

Gus got new goggles and a snorkel just in time for our 4th of July trip to the Liudahl's Cabin on Tablerock Lake. Of course, that meant he needed to practice a little in the bathtub, just to make sure they worked. Everything tested out OK in 4 inches of  tub water.  Now let's see what happens in 43,000 acres of lake. Have a safe and jubilant holiday everyone!