| DOW YTD -20.95% Aug -8.28%. Our retirement fund is off $300K since the market downturn at the first of the year. Bonds are up due to adding in the BCBS loans to the company. We camped this month for two weeks at Eagle Cliff Campground in Lanesboro, MN at site AA2. Cindi and Craig met us the next day after we stared and we had Friday fish fry at Burdy's in Peterson for lunch as they are only open til 2. The Fri before Labor Day Brandon and Philly stayed at a bed n breakfast in Lanesboro and the kids stayed with us at the campsite where I showed Caleb and Thomas how to use my Craftman Sawsall to cut sticks from the woods. On Sat we all went to the MN State Fair, where we met Sean, Emilie, Kiley and Kelsey. There were so many people it was difficult to get around and really overly stressful and not much fun. BEW's came on Monday (they were at Cassi and Cam's on Sat and Sun nights) and we canoed (Brandon, Philly, Thomas and Madeleine) and kayaked (the rest of us) down the Root River - the 8 mile version. Very enjoyable and great weather. I met up with Rich Goodwin at his home in Lanesboro as he'd closed his clock shop and bought nearly $800 of watches from him including a Tissot LeLoche for me, a WWII watch, a 60's watch and a very delicate watch for Lydia. He was unable to fix my dad's or grandpa's pocket watches, but was able to get Aunt Ruth's watch going. Randy and Judy Covey, Cindi and Craig and us went on an Amish tour. We also went with them to Decorah to bike the Trout Run Trail and I forgot my keys, so Craig saved the day and called a locksmith who got us going. I purchased a Dewalt Reciprocating saw, an oscillating saw and two drills from a farm fleet store in Decorah as my Craftsman saw wasn't working for Caleb or Thomas. That was around $800. We didn't make much money in the company this month due to all the expenses with new staff in Cedar Rapids starting. Then we camped 2 weeks in Crosslake. We bought a 2-room tent of Emilie and Sean at Walmart and they and Kelsey and her friend Jolee joined us. The girls biked and we all took turns Kayaking with the new kayaks MS and I'd bought. We spent a lot of time with Paul and Lynn. He gave us all a tour of his pole barn and a tour on his pontoon. We went out to dinner with them a couple of times and they were reroofing their cabin after storm damage earlier this year. Got home the end of the month a took a few days to put thing away. We hit 1000 appointments as a company in August and will this month, too. |