Ahhhhhhh

It was an enjoyable and memorable few days. As we remembered the men and women who have lost their lives to allow us to enjoy the freedoms that we do, we were also able to spend time with Ryan, Len, Kel and Julia.

Once again Ry made the trip to MN and took the time to spend 5 wonderful days in northern MN with his Pop and I. It's always great to see Ry and is especially fun to see the camaraderie that his dad and he share..... you throw Lenny into the mix and oh does the 'shit' fly. Fun fun.

David and Ry spent three days on local lakes fishing, two with just the two of them and one with Lenny. Day one saw both Ry and David with their limits of sunnies. Day two was a bit slower but still enough fish and day three was a nice time on the water with the two boys and a pop with enough fish for a meal as a bonus.

Proof that yes he did in fact catch fish

Lots of them and they were a very nice size. This is the day one catch


He even learned to clean them. There were a few bones left behind but we persevered:)
While Ry was here we picked up our new 'rig'. On our way to the cities a stop at the Pequot Lakes coffee shop was in order
Here she is the new rig. This was Len, Kel and Julia's 'suite' when they were up. They report (since they were the very first to sleep in it) that it is a very nice suite.

This night hawk built a nest, for the second year in a row, in the parking lot of the RV dealership (RV world). They put cones around the nest so that no one disturbs her.

After spending almost a week not feeling well at all it was so nice to spend time with a happy Julia. She is so grandma's girl and goodness knows I do not have a problem with that!

Here she is in the Barbie car that David found in the ditch last year. Her legs are not long enough to push the gas pedal so daddy is helping her along.
And the water fountain was a hit with her as well. She splashed and threw rocks in it for about an hour.

Daddy introduced her to grandma and grandpa's very own 'lake'. She threw rocks and Peeko tried to 'get em' as Julia says.
This was the best, her and I sharing time down by the lake or in Julia's words the pool.
It was just the best few days and as I floated in my floatie in the 'pool' while Julia was napping I once again thought about how lucky David and I are.

On that note, as I was posting this, I found out that yet another person that we know is about to embark on the big C journey. Bob Geldner has been diagnosed with lung cancer and he certainly could use your thoughts and prayers. He does not yet know where his journey will take him in regards to treatment but as he said to me this morning, "This is a journey I just as soon would not go on". Please send good thoughts his way....damn damn damn cancer damn you to hell.

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.

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...

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.

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

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.

Tis The Season

Of perpetually dirty feet, fingernails and buds and blossoms all around


In my garden (gardens) the rhubarb is looking good


My 'Wentland' Iris's are poking through

The goose and raspberries are preparing to make fruit

And the menopausal maiden is patiently awaiting (who in the heck that is menopausal is ever patient....ah well) anyway she is waiting for the mums to give her some protection
We have already eaten two batches of asparagus (gotta get it before the deer do)
And as my gardening mentor Mary laughingly says, "If you don't like it in one place dig it up and move it" Alrighty then move it I am.
The raspberry bushes seem to be encroaching on my flowers so they are being moved to their very own spot, another new garden plot.


And I am in the process of redesigning the hillside flower bed. Digging up what is there and planting things that I hope I will like better :)

Yup tis the season.

And of course since we were at the Leonard Hotel last weekend I have to share one picture of Julia. These shoes of Daddy's are hard to fill but she certainly does try. She loves shoes not only her own but whoever else's are laying around.

A New Shoulder

David went in for surgery at 12:15 and at 4:30 he was in his bed good and looped up. Contraptions, the ole boy has contraptions. Not only does he have the sling that immobilizes his arm but he has a catheter in his neck that is dosing out a Novocain type med. The medication is in the ball type bag hanging around his neck. Because shoulder replacement is so very painful they do this for pain management. He still has to take his pain pills as the Novocain only numbs the area, it does not get rid of the pain and swelling. So, we are currently at the Leonard Hotel and today David had to have his shoulder rap removed. I started to do it but became woozy at which time Lenny took over to complete the unveiling. The wound looks good it does. What in the heck am I going to do though on Tuesday when the catheter comes out. He does not go to the doc for this.....we do it. Apparently it is not such a much...for most people...but this is me that we are talking about. I will do it and not pass out, I will do it and not pass out, I will do it and not pass out, OR we will just stay here until Tuesday :)

Because he had not eaten (or had coffee) in about 24 hours the nurse ordered up supper. I brought the coffee.
What more can you ask than a good fart, food and shitty coffee after major surgery.



Later that day David was expected to get up and walk a bit. Walk we did from the 8th floor (via the elevator) outside and over to McDonalds
For an after dinner ice cream cone. Does he look like a happy camper? He is.
Day two was release day (yesterday). If you have ever been hospitalized you probably know that it takes FOREVER to get released. Here he is pacing the halls waiting for his pain meds to arrive so that we can head home.
He did finally get sprung. The ride to Lenny and Kel's about did him in. He was feeling pretty good up until then. Every bump in the road jarred that shoulder but it will get better with time.
Thanks to Len and Kel for cooking for us and letting us (David) recuperate. I got some gamma time in as well

What A 'Spot'

Any eagle sighting is a good 'spot' as far as I am concerned and seeing two or three in one place is even a better 'spot'......

On our way to Grand Rapids yesterday, as I had my nose in my Blackberry checking email, I heard David say, "Look at that". " What" I say. "Ten eagles feeding on something back there" he says. So we turned around, I put my blackberry down and picked up my camera :)Nope there were not 10 eagles but at least 20 of them on a back road feasting on something. As we approached of course they flew away from their feast but I was still able to get a great shot of the bunch of them. This is only about half of the bunch however. There were young eagles whose heads and tails had not yet turned white as well as mature eagles and of course a few ravens...very few as they usually do not come in until the eagles are pretty much done. There are only two ravens in this picture and they are on the ground.


On our way back the bunch was still there however they were more easily spooked. This fella flew away from the table as I approached

And this one was in the tree not happy about my intrusion

As I said....what a spot. When I wasn't shooting I just stood there looking, saying 'Wow' and shaking my head at the beauty.

The pond behind our house has taken on many forms.
It started out as this small pond that Tack (and Pixie too) spent much of her day in. This pond was quite small and full of clay.
Each year David would get on his bobcat and 'futz' with the pond. This is the latest development. It is maybe 30 feet across, 15 feet wide, maybe 4 feet deep at the deepest spot, has an island and a sand bottom as well as sandy shores!

The pictures do not show it well but the water is clear as a bell and you can actually see the bottom of the pond now with the sand layer. Peeko loves it but Tack not so much these days. She has gotten to the age where swimming just is no longer the thing to do. I just may take her place, get myself a floaty and spend warm days relaxing in the water of the newest pond. David also has an extra pile of sand for the grand kids to play in...what a good grampa he is.


The plan is to circulate the water with a couple of pumps. We will pump the water up to the top of the creek bed, it will then run down the creek back into the pond and circulate back up again. This should keep it nice and clear throughout the summer.

Becky's Good News

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/beckyhewitt

A few weeks ago I actually met Becky Hewitt. She is the young gal from Nicollet that is struggling through her second battle with cancer. I introduced myself to her and as she did with everyone else there, she gave me a huge hug. I cannot explain what I felt from that hug. I felt strength, love support.....it really is hard to explain but what amazed me is that Becky was conveying this to me...she is the one who needs strength, love and support but she is the person giving this to others. Becky is a true warrior and I am so happy that finally she has had some good news in her fight with this cancer.

There is so much more that I would love to say about Becky her courage and what her fight does for those of us who have walked that path and those who unfortunately are still to walk it. But fitting words do not come to me......

Hang in there Becky. You are loved by many.

As always, keep Becky in your thoughts.