Friday, May 27, 2011

Ready For the Weekend?









Borchers is ready for the week-end, are you?



Our senior staff is checking off the details.








John & Alex taking care of reservations.





Ryan, Mark, and Matt finessing the yards.







































































National Safety Council

It was our pleasure to host facilitator, James, and his class this past week. Representatives of driving schools across the state came for a Defensive Driving Course presentation.




























Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Sun Came Out

What a great week-end, finally. We have all been anxiously awaiting the sun and it finally shone!

Longtime friends, Tony & Sue were up for the week-end and new guests Jim & Linda sat on the deck with the four of us Friday night enjoying the river.

Phil & Sara were also new guests. Small world, Phil works with past staffer Sean. They took advantage of the sunshine and kayaked to Wakeley Bridge.


Phil & Sara




Amber celebrated her birthday kayaking with her mom and her B.F.F.s.

Our rookie staff discovered one of the hidden perks of working at Borchers!









Amber, friends, & rookie staffers.








We also had the pleasure of having
Scout Troop 90 with us on Saturday.
Pack mom, Jessica, was great to work with
and her youngest son left a special mark on Borchers.


Orientation & Launch

















Monday, May 16, 2011

Fishermen Favorites

Do you know the song, "There Were Three Jolly Fishermen"? Well, Borchers hosted Nine Jolly Fishermen this past week-end.

David, Scott, Jim, Craig, Larry, Jeff, Chuck, Ryan, Jody, and Nate!

The guys spent some of their time wading, some of their time being guided, and all of their time catching fish! They are some of our favorite fishermen.

Speaking of favorites, I am a new fan of David Roth. David gave a concert in Grayling on 05/15/11. Awesome! We enjoyed having David & Tricia stay with us, too!


Wednesday, April 27, 2011

April Showers

This has been the worst April, weatherwise, that we can remember. The snow kept coming and now the rain.

The daffodils are getting ready to bloom, but as you can see, they are standing in over an inch of water.















The river is up almost a foot and our back driveway is partially under water with little lakes everywhere in the yard. Our sidewalk has become a tributary to the AuSable.







The fishermen had better wear their "hi-cut" waders this week-end for the opener of trout season!

Here's hoping the rain stops before the water reaches this little duck.




Thursday, April 21, 2011

Stepping Up in the World

April is always a maintenance month for us. Due to Mother Nature and all of this snow, we have had to take our projects to off site locations. Mark & I like to give titles to things, so... Here are some highlights of "Habitat for Humanity, Senior Edition - On Tour".

Mark's folks, needed some new porch steps. The old ones had thrown Dad Hunter into the bushes more than once this winter.



Our nephew, James, came to assist.
He was very instrumental in digging
five holes to set posts.
Too many engineers,
we only needed two holes
on the INSIDE of the stringers.
Once the posts were set,
and the auxilliary holes filled in,
he left for an appointment and never came back.

Notice the stringer, Mark and I measured twice, cut once, and all three stringers were perfect!








Mark and his mom checked out the steps; solid, low-rise, and a hand rail to keep Dad Hunter out of the bushes!












While we were in the area, we did some work at my mom's house. Her porch roof has been leaking and we decided to tear it off and replace it with a metal roof. I guess my sister and I watched the barn raising scene in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" too many times, because we love to get the whole family together for construction projects.















Levi, Jerry, and brother, Mark.
Mark

While this crew was destructing, another crew was priming the plywood underlayment.















Dad Hunter came over to help. Who knew he liked to paint?
Levi's wife, Stephanie, is a delightful addition to the family.


Emily ran errands and helped out where needed.
Mom made an awesome lunch with sloppy joes and chocolate cake.

This is my favorite "footage"
of the destruct phase.

Mother Nature got in our way again.
Rain & wind are not conducive to
metal roof installation.
Our project is to be continued this week-end.


Before we headed back north, Mom & Dad Hunter took us out for dinner.

That's me with the old goat!













Overall it was a successful week-end!
We stepped up in the world and raised the roof!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Time "Marchs" On

The good news is our x-c skiers were able to hit the trails through the end of March, the bad news is our x-c skiers ......

After a few warm days for St. Patrick's Day, Northern Michigan shifted back into winter-mode for the first day of Spring.















We currently have about six inches of snow on one side of the walkway and daffodils peeking through the dirt on the other. The sun has been shining for the last week and it makes the phone ring. I guess everyone is looking ahead to catching some rays and paddling down river!









Mark and I took a little time off and spent it with family.


Speaking of time marching on, Dad Hunter had a birthday.


At a certain age, you only get one big candle.


One more note in the time Marchs on theme...

2011 is Borchers 75th anniversary, our diamond jubilee! Mark & I hope you will be stopping in this summer to take a trip down memory lane. This year will also mark 20 years that our family has owned this little spot on the river, another event for one big candle!