Burk Family: We've Been Busy !!!

I haven't posted in a month because we've been SO BUSY !! But, here is a recap of some of our recent activities.

NEW DECK
Our deck was 42 years old. We bought our house in 1986 and the previous owners said they built the deck in 1969. Over the years, we faithfully and regularly power-washed it and sealed it with Penofin oil and did the occasional re-nailing of boards. It always looked good -- our power-washing guy always said he couldn't believe how old it was.

But in the last few years, it finally started to show its age. We decided it was time to replace it. Here's some pictures of it being built in late April.

Before construction

The old boards coming up

New boards being laid

Edges being cut off

Flower pots were also redone

Finished with new movable benches

All done -- except for
front edging on bottom

A few days later, the old
fence was power-washed

This is what Chuck hopes
to do lots of this summer!

First use of the deck a few weeks ago

Now the deck needs to dry out for a while; then we will stain both the deck and the fence.

NANCY'S 40TH HIGH SCHOOL REUNION FOLLOWED BY A FEW DAYS AT WISER TIMES

I've been working on a committee with 9 others for two years to put together a 40th high school reunion. It finally happened on May 28, 2011 and we had a great time. Two of my closest friends during high school came back and we spent several wonderful days together.

Jan moved to Florida right out of college and now lives in Tennessee. Sue also left Michigan immediately after college and has lived in Texas most of her adult life. Dawn and Gary, were also high school classmates who later got married. They still live in Michigan and were on the planning committee with me.

I've only seen Sue a few times and Jan only once since high school -- but we picked right up where we left off !

Classmates Dawn Danielson Hill, me,
Gary Hill, Jan Mayer-Rodriguez,
Sue Gallego on our way to the reunion

Everyone with their "dates"
We felt like we were
going to the "prom"

After the reunion and the class picnic the following day, Chuck and I hosted all three couples at Wiser Times for a few more days. We laughed constantly and really had a lot of fun.

Here are some shots of that visit.

Jan, Dawn, Gary, Sue, me

Dawn & Gary, Jan & Miguel,
Sue & Jesse, Chuck & me

Dinner together

And a big THANKS to the three men (Chuck, Miguel & Jesse) who were not our classmates, and didn't live in Detroit, and had never met before -- for putting up with all of our jokes and reminiscing from the late 60's and early 70's.

ANNUAL BURK PICNIC
Finally, last Saturday was our annual picnic. We had a large turnout -- approximately 40 people -- and RECORD HEAT. It was in the 90's and very humid -- quite unusual for early June. But the new deck accommodated everyone well and the rain held off. Cathy drove home from Virginia and spent two nights with us. Both girls had many of their friends over, too, so it was great having multiple generations attending.