Monday, May 24, 2010

It's Been A Strange Week

Last Tuesday I traveled to Nicollet as my dad had to have an angiogram. It turned out that he has no major bloclages but would benefit from an internal defibulator, which he may have done on June 21st. Once we got him back to his apartment I came to the Leonard hotel only to find that Julia was not feeling the best (103 temp-crabby-not eating or drinking). She went to the doctor on Friday to find that she has an ear infection. You know something is amiss when this usually happy chatty go a mile a minute gal just sits around. By Sunday she had not eaten or drank enough to keep a bird going so off to the ER she went. No dehydration-yet- just an awful ear infection that had gone to her lymphnodes. We also noticed that when she did get up to walk she was pretty unsteady on her feet. Her equilibrium was off due to the infection so she was given some anti nausea pills. Phew she is finally on the mend but no school yet today, gamma is still here. Her first good food intake was a strawberry ice cream cone yesterday.....oh the healing powers of ice cream:)


While she is napping I am futzing with my pictures just for fun. And just for fun I am sharing. I have some shots of an ordinary milk weed.....




There really is nothing ordinary about a milkweed to my eye as they are quite nice to photograph.....

















But when you play with the coloring you can get a burst of yellow amongst the reds


And what appears to be one floating in the night




Or an iridescent flower against a bright blue background

Yup the milkweed, a great flower to 'play with' as long as you don't get the 'milk' all over your hands.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

It's Running


Since David has not been able to run the bobcat (due to his surgery) he has been doing some other projects that have been on hold. The most fun is our water feature. It sits outside of our living room window so we can not only watch the water flow but we can hear it as well.

The water that makes this feature comes from the pond/swimming pool. That water is pumped up to the water feature, it then runs down the creek bed and back into the pond. This actually will help the pond stay clean and fresh as the water is recycling constantly. Our rain gutters are also piped so that the rain from the roof goes right into the creek bed as well helping to fill the pond.

Turn on your sound and enjoy. We sure do...

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I Had To Do It

It has been raining all week and I have things that need to be planted. When you mail order plants and bushes and they come as a bare root you just can't wait for Mother Nature to come out of her funk. So I mucked in the mud and clay and got most of my stuff in the ground while dashing through the rain drops.
I have decided to do roses this year. Have not ever tried them before but if they bloom the front of the house will not only be gorgeous but fragrant as well.

And three Potentilla bushes by the dry creek bed. Planting these was interesting as it is total clay. At least when clay is wet it is much easier to dig although really heavy to haul away!


And when it was all said and done this is what I had to deal with. Eeewwww....

Because our woods is too wet to walk in we have been taking the dogs on parts of the North Country Trail. We found that one leg of this trail had been logged. Logging is a great debate. It really is good for the forest because it promotes new growth. However when they 'clear cut' they chop down everything including what they don't use.
And they let the scraps lay where they fall.
This is not the trail. It is a swath that was cut through the woods. The trail is alongside of this clear cut.
A surviving woodland flower.
And a family of ducks made this walk extra enjoyable.
Dear Mother Nature, please let the sun shine for a few days.

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Happy Mother's Day

To all of the mom's out there no matter how you fill the role. Whether it be a Mom-mom, step mom, mom in law, bonus mom etc this day is for you. Enjoy it and your children.
I miss you mom........
I 'stole' this from the Dood's Brood sight and had to share it. Thanks cousin Lisa......


You can shed tears that she is gone,
Or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back,
Or you can open your eyes and see all she’s left.
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her,
Or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can remember only that she is gone,
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.

~~ David Harkins

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Not the best photo of you my dear but you were post surgery:)
And what a fine 'Gampa' he is so says Julia



Dezbah
And Abigail
Today David entered his 6th decade. Yup he is 60. And not only is he a great gampa but is a fabulous friend, husband and soul mate.