Fish Report

I caught the first (and my only) fish and David caught the biggest (and the most) fish. 'The most' wasn't many, seven in fact but it was fun.

Since the fishing wasn't the best my camera came in handy. I got some gorgeous sunset pictures.

Great cloud structure

Fishing and looking at his surroundings. The river is a fabulous place with something new to look at around each bend.

We cruised by these vultures, one with his wings spread wide. It took a minute to realize that they were in fact real (we thought someone had carved them) and were sunning themselves.

Around another bend this colorful mallard on just as colorful water.

A nesting pair spooked by our boat.

We spied these newly hatched goslings. If you look closely at the little one on the right you can see the egg that he just hatched out of.

And their first swim I am sure.

We are now home to weeds and a lawn the needs mowing.

Our nimble footed friend Jan is doing very well. She has had surgery and is on the mend. Lenny figures that she needs to learn the 'tuck and roll' maneuver. Good luck with that Jan!

Our Day

Told around pictures of the Missouri River, Lake Sharp, where we have been camping and fishing and spending time with our friends.

The plan this morning was for Mikey and Jan to go to 8:30 church and we were going to make brunch when they returned.

A yummy brunch of pancakes, bacon and eggs.

At about 11am Mikey comes driving up saying that they will not make brunch as Jan is in the hospital. She fell after church and hurt her arm.

I went with Mikey to the hospital to find Jan in horrible pain. She had dislocated her right elbow (yup she is right handed!) so badly that the ER doc had never seen another like it. She also managed to break the femur that goes from the thumb to the elbow right at the elbow...again, the docs had not seen a break so bad.

Because it is imperative for Jan to see a specialist ASAP once she got out of the ER (and loaded full of morphine) her and Mikey packed up the motorhome and headed back to the Mankato area to see an orthopedic surgeon this week. Now they can tow either their car or their boat behind their motorhome so I was going to drive their car back for them. Rather than to cut our week short they were so kind as to leave us their boat and their vehicle so that we are able to continue to fish for a few days hopefully catching some fish! When we go back I will take both their boat and their vehicle back. Oh such is life. Poor Jan we are thinking of you and hope all goes well tomorrow.

The Cat Is Out Of The Bag

And am I ever glad as it was not easy to keep this secret! Our friends Mikey and Jan who are full time RVers have been wishing that we were able to join them on their travels. Well we gave them a big surprise yesterday when we pulled in beside them with our mobile home. And here she is sitting at our pit stop site, Lenny and Kel's campground.
I couldn't post this on yesterday's entry because we wanted to surprise Mikey and Jan. And surprise them we did. Here is Jan when she realized that it was in fact David driving the truck pulling the 5th wheel.And the two of them with their surprise apparent.As we drove in, they were expecting us but not sure when. They had been saving a spot for us to park our little pick up camper in and were looking for it to be driving up. When the 5th wheel came in Mikey said that it looked like David's truck but wasn't because it was not with the pop up camper. They finally realized that yes it was us when David got out of the truck and walked up to their home! Here we are in our first 'real' campsite guided in by master camper Mikey.
Here we are inside our mobile hotel at our first dinner in it. Jan however did all of the cooking as she was expecting us in our little pick up camper that we are not able to cook in much less sit in to eat a meal! Oh and did I mention that our traveling companion Loi is with us?We are in a great spot in Pierre SD on the river. I will post more pictures once we get out on the water.

Our mobile hotel has a living room in the rear with two slides, one on either side. The couch and dinette slides out as does the TV area. We have a kitchen area across from the dinette then up two steps to the bathroom and our bedroom. We have a bump out in the bedroom as well. A very nice mobile hotel indeed.

A Pit Stop

We are on our way to South Dakota to join our friends Mikey and Jan for a week of good (?) walleye fishing. However we made a pit stop in Nicollet beforehand once again staying at Len and Kel's so that I could go to my regular oncology appointment.
this appointment included a chest x-ray and blood work. The doc gave me a little scare when he told me that the x-ray showed a shadow in the lower left lobe. Now I was sure that it was nothing although I had lost some weight (I have been working on that buttttttt) and of course I had that danged flu and cough for forever so it got the mind to wandering. I had to redo the x-ray and they called me this morning to tell me that the only thing in there is my lungs. A huge sigh of relief!
On to way more fun and interesting (at least to a grandma) stuff. Lenny asked me to get some pictures of their house as all of the trees are flowering and the house looks very nice. It was so windy tho that I was lucky any flowers were left on the trees!
The wind blowing the topsoil off of the field

One of the many flowering trees
And an Oriole enjoying the nectar of the flowers
Little Julia has pink eye and those teeth are still trying to come. Despite not feeling well she is still full of smiles and is such a joy.

Laying on Momma's legs
Not only does she find her own feet fascinating

But her momma's as well
Checking out the new/upgraded car seat. In no time flat she will be big enough to sit in this one facing the front. Well i t may be a while before is able to face front but she can use this more comfortable seat soon.
We are almost to Pierre and hoping to catch some nice big walleye. Update to follow and oh it will be an update to be sure. You will understand what I mean when I next post.

On This Very Special Day

I want to honor three very special mothers.
Kelly and Jen are celebrating their very first official Mother's Day. And Rachel, being the seasoned mom of the bunch, is celebrating her second official Mother's Day.
Happy Mother's Day Kel, Jen and Rachel. May this be a special day for you always. May your daughters always know how wonderful it is to have their moms and appreciate what you do for them.
Of course there will be times I suspect that you will drive them crazy but they will always love you.
Enjoy your day.
And a happy mom's day wish to the most seasoned mom, momma Loi. Can you imagine poor Loi raising David??? He and his brother Ron are only a year apart and were the first born kids. Loi does have some tales to tell.

I have to admit that I have been feeling a bit blue as I found myself missing my mom with Mother's Day slowly approaching. Mom was a special lady not only as a mom but as a grandma, an aunt, a sister, a friend and just all around person. As a life long drinker and smoker she made me so proud when she quite both. No easy task for someone who had been doing both all of their life. David and I were incredibly lucky to have her (and my Aunt Etta) travel with us for many years. As a single parent I don't know what I would have done without her support and love. And guess what, as I type this my mood changes from blue to not so blue as it helps to think of the good things and I have just done that. I am so appreciative to have had the mom that I did and I cherish every day that we had together....even when she drove me nuts!!!! HA I am now smiling and laughing thinking of the days.......

Yesterday as David, the dogs and I were walking in the woods we noticed that they are beginning to wake up here in the north land. Pictures to share
And of course Tack found a water hole. She will be 14 this October. I swear the swimming has kept her alive and as healthy as she is at her ripe old age.David has put up bluebird houses that the bluebirds quickly found. Yesterday this hawk found it as well. He did no damage just sat for a bit looking for a mouse I am sure.

Happy Anniversary

Lenny and Kelly celebrate two years of marriage today. Enjoy your day you two, we love you and are proud of you.

So the other day as we were driving out of the driveway we had an eagle about a block away perched in a tree. Out came the camera and I walked right up to the tree that he was in. Because I have loads of 'eagle in a tree' pictures I wanted to get him in flight. I patiently waited and he did take off. Click click...oop no more clicks what the hell...he flew right in front of me-I could have reached out and touched him- and my camera froze up (this is no fish tale folks, David is my witness). It turns out that my battery was about as dead as it gets. I was able to get a couple of shots however. This is the one right before he swooped in front of me...and right before my camera froze. Such is life.
My friend Mary will soon have no lawn to mow as she increases her flower beds every year. Well Mary I have put in three additional garden spots in the past three days. My tiller and I get along fabulously but our land is much bigger than your yard. I really do need to stop tilling sometime soon! Pictures of the beds as soon as it warms up up here and things decide to grow and bloom.

The Last Of The 50's

Yup David is 59. The next one will be the big 60. Happy birthday dear husband of mine. The 60's will be every bit as good as the 50's have been!

Yesterday Loi and Kelly brought Dezbah and Rachel up for a short visit.
Here she is in a Barbie Jeep that David found (yes he found and reported it to the sheriff) in the ditch. We have kept it for the grand kids. Dezbah seemed to like it and she wasn't a bad driver either!

Dezbah and her grandpa
And her and her great grandma who she obviously likes just a little...or a lot!
And with Peeko
It was a nice visit. Thanks to Kelly and loi for bringing Dezbah and Rachel up.

Earth Day

And what a better way to spend it than digging in the dirt. Now begins the season when my feet and fingernails are not often clean. I cannot pull weeds or plant things with gloves on and I despise walking in the garden with shoes on so that the dirt clumps up in the shoes...soooo no shoes no gloves and dirty dirty fingernails and feet!
I was however feeling a tad overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. There are gardens (oh there are lots of them) to till, veggies to plant, flower beds to clean up from last year's growth etc etc etc and I am thinking, 'Oh dear friend Mary how come you didn't tell me that there is so much work in the spring' . although I think you may have and I didn't believe you until I started to dig in. Then I realized it does not all need to be done in one day...phew! I did get onions, radishes, beets, lettuce and spinach in as well as a garden tilled and then that was enough of that. Cleaning last year's dead stuff out was all worth it when I was able to see new green growth coming up underneath it all. That inspired me to get the camera out, set the macros and take some close up shots.

This is the tree that was planted in memory of my mom. I find it interesting that red was her favorite color and look at the first color that this tree comes out with!
Jess, this is the PixiE magnolia, it's going to make it up here in the northland!
Another one of our newly planted trees is budding nicely.
And this is some of what I found after I cleaned out the old growth from the flower beds
Sedum coming through
Mary what is this? You gave it to me last year-Lambs Ear maybe?
You gave me this as well...what is it my friend Mary? And no I no longer have the markers by these plants. What happens to them do you think?
David spent the past three days working on the fire pit area. We...well he as I, thankfully, had the flu when he started this project and wasn't able to help him...I'm feeling bad about that...not. Anyway, he laid pavers and then sawed them (with a hand grinder!) to make the rounded edge. In the center will be the fire pit. Nice nice nice.

I had to end with this. One day last week on a walk by a local lake we found that the ice was out about three feet from the shore. Just enough for Tack to get a good swim in!

Minnesota Finally Has A Second US Senator

Or do we? Al Frankin has been deemed the winner but Norm may file yet another lawsuit. And so the story goes with Minnesota making national headlines.
On to topics that make more sense.
The snow is slowly melting here in the north land and the mud is dryng up. We can finally make it up our driveway fairly easily and yesterday I planted tomatoes, some herbs and a few flowers. Well I planted starter seeds in doors but hey I did dig in the dirt and it felt good.
Last weekend we stayed at the Leonard hotel. A very nice hotel that offers not only a room with a TV, our own private bathroom and a great supper of grilled chicken kabobs and grilled shrimp on skewers. But the creme de le creme is spending time with one of our three granddaughters. Oh how they change. Julia continues to teeth, drooling all over the place, chewing on everything she can get in her mouth, running a low grade temp etc but despite all of this she almost always has a smile on her face. She is sitting up on her own, rolls all over the place, loves to be on her feet in her walker and I swear she says momma. Len and Kel have 5 (yes 5) cats that Julia loves. The cats don't love her so much, in fact all but one run from her. She is eating new foods all of the time and seems to like most...when she isn't 'spitting it out' at her mom or dad. She finds it fun to make sounds with her lips and especially when her mouth is full of food. Oh and did I mention that she loves her grandma?
Julia playing peek-a-booGrandma having fun with the camera
When daddy found out that he was having a girl his fear was that she would be a girly girl and how was he going to handle that.....well well daddy picked this girly girl frilly, cute as can be Easter skirt out for his baby.
Grandparent-hood is the best. We just wish that we could see all of the grandkids more frequently.

April Fools 2009

As my good friend Mary says, "That Mother Nature is quite a trickster" and she proved it today.
After three days of snow..

We woke up to at least 12 inches of snow on the ground

However it was 40 degrees and the snow is beautiful. The dogs and I enjoyed trudging through the woods listening to...absolutely nothing. It was very quiet and peaceful.
Last week when the weather was nicer we took our walks at the Federal Dam Park. The geese were enjoying the warmer weather.

And we spotted this guy along with four of his friends. They had been feasting on a road kill in the ditch. We drove right up to the tree that he was in and he held his position for quite a while. We were so close that it is easy to see the feathers in his wing.
And then he flew away. This is a favorite shot of mine. I love to get them in flight, there is just something majestic about it.
I think that this is a pretty cool shot. If you look closely you can see two eagles in the tree while the third eagle flies by.
We have spotted more eagles this spring in a group than ever before. It has not been unusual to see two to four of them together.

Soon we will be able to plant right Mary?