Life's little pleasures

I was delighted to see that a bird made this snow angel on the front step this morning. We had about 8 inches of snow overnight, the world is sparkly white this morning.

I am also delighted that a shoe box continues to be the most popular cat toy in this house. Almost daily one cat gets inside while the other cat pounds on the outside of the box. Fun stuff.

Snow Day

We are having a good snow storm. Predictions range from 6" to 10". The kitties and I are hunkered in and planning to make a pot of chili. Glad I did my running around yesterday.

Girl's Basketball Tournament Game

Tuesday evening I drove to Osseo, WI (about 70 miles) to see the Luck Cardinal girls play in a tournament game. There were very few Luck fans there as it must be about 120 miles from Luck. The girls lost the game 73-27. I was impressed that the girls played hard through the entire game even though the game was out of reach pretty early on. Unfortunately the tournament is single elimination, so the Luck girls' season is over.

The Osseo-Fairchild school was impressively large. Their enrollment is about 100 more kids than Luck, and their school is fairly new. The main entrance even has a pond with large live fish. The gym is really nice and seats a very large crowd.

The drive to Osseo was a nice one, with a spectacular sunset that made me sad I had left my camera at home.

Be Safe!

Well, today (2/23/09) Andy left for his year deployment to Iraq. The send off at the New Richmond Armory was very emotional. We are proud of him for serving and especially proud of his leadership in his commander role. Please add him to your prayer list, we want all those soldiers to Be Safe and make it home next February.

Krista, Andy, Kaija & Dana

Making Tracks

The feeders have been busy with little birds today. Many finches and chickadees and whoever is making all the tracks in the snow.

Cardinals Win!

Friday night was the showdown between conference rivals, the Luck Cardinals and the Grantsburg Pirates. The game was in Grantsburg and the gym was full and loud. It was quite a game with the Cardinals trailing the entire game. I think they were actually down by 13 at some stage of the game. The winning basket came with about 2 seconds left in the game and put the Cardinals on top by 1 point. This is almost a mirror image of what happened at Luck a few weeks ago, where Grantsburg stunned the Luck crowd and walked away with the victory. Last night, the Luck crowd went nutz at the buzzer while the Grantsburg fans stood in shock. These two teams both have abundant talent and last nights' game was every bit worth the drive and the $3. I'm not sure about tournaments yet, the brackets have not been published. I am sure I'll be trekking around the country to see the games though, I just hope my heart can take it!! For another take on the game, visit http://www.wearegrantsburg.com/.

Unfortunately during the game mother nature got busy and starting dumping snow. My drive home was not looking too sweet, so I decided to head to Luck for the night. Since Iwas staying overnight anyway, figured I might as well stop downtown and celebrate with the Luckites. It worked out that we were all there past midnight so we had to celebrate Kyle's birthday too. Lojo and I made it home to her house by a little after 2 and then had breakfast. I am not good at that 3am bedtime, so am looking for a nap this afternoon now that I am back home in RL.

128TH Send Off in Rice Lake, WI

On Friday, the Rice Lake community held a send off for their local soldiers who will be deploying for a year in Iraq on Monday, 2/23. It was a nice event and well attended by family, friends and community. Andy is the Captain (far right, back row) and gave a short talk during the ceremony. I hope you'll keep a good thought for Andy and these other young men, and if you are so inclined, keep them on your prayer list.

After a nice lunch with Ryan, Camilla, Milena & Elliana, Andy and Michelle and Alyxis came back to my house for a visit. Hops was very interested in Andy's face...I can't explain it. Alyxis was working on a puzzle and Barley had to keep an eye on what she was up to.

To hear Andy's talk, click here http://www.youtube.com/user/luckywjo.

You'll have to crank up the sound as Andy chose to speak without the microphone.

Getting squirrelly

This morning I had a visitor to the feeder in the backyard. He doesn't come very often, but he was really busy chowing on the sunflower seeds today. He's a big guy and such a beauty.

Stress!

Tuesday afternoon on the couch, the kitties were getting comfy. Their lives are pretty stressful around here as you can tell.

Catch a ray and you're sittin' on top of the world

It was sunny on Tuesday and Barley took advantage of the cat condo roof to catch some rays.

Girls Weekend

This weekend 3 of my great nieces, Breanna, Payton & Jordyn, came to stay with me in Rice Lake. Their Mom & Dad, Krista & Mark, delivered them on Friday night. We all had pizza and salad and a nice visit. After Krista & Mark left, we played Wii games until bedtime...bowling, tanks, tennis, etc. It was quite fun and the girls taught me a lot about the Wii.

On Saturday, we drove to Luck to watch my brother Glenn play in the Luck High School Alumni Basketball Tournament. Nephews Kyle & Ryan played too. Glenn is the oldest Alum playing and his team was runner up to the champions. We had bleacher butts by the time we left. Gus & Lois had barbeques and snacks for us in between games, yum!

After the games ended, the girls and I came home and watched movies and had ice cream and pizza.

On Sunday, we all went to Baldwin for great nephew Jake's baptism. It was a big day with lunch after at Dana & Erin's house in Baldwin.

Jake Steven Johansen

4 Generations: Kathy, Phyllis, Jake, Dana & Jackson

Wanda & Great Nephew Jake Johansen

I'm home alone with the kitties tonight, I am tired, but it was a very fun weekend!

Wild Weekend

I am just home from spending Friday and Saturday nights in Baldwin, WI. My nephew, Captain Andy Johansen, will be leaving near the end of the month for a year long tour of duty (his second) in Iraq. This weekend, he and his wife hosted a send off party that was great fun. I arrived on Friday evening at the motel and joined Andy, Michelle & Alyxis and Breanna, Glenn & Kathy, Dana, Erin, Jackson & Jake, and Kaija, Mike, Charli & Milli for some swim time for the kids and then pizza. Andy & Michelle and I might have stayed up past our bedtimes after everyone else went home and Alyxis & Breanna were asleep. On Saturday there were more hours of fun in the pool for the kids as they arrived and then the party started at 2pm. Krista catered yummy food and lots of people stopped in, I think about 100 guests. Saturday night the usual suspects stayed up late consuming a few cold beers. All in all a great weekend! Now it's time for some R & R for me!

Great decorations in the party room!

Michelle, Alyxis & Andy. It was a long day and sometimes a little girl gets pretty tired after many hours in the pool and many photos taken!!

Andy and his beloved Aunt Wanda.

All is not lost

After the kittens knocked down the amarillys, I cut off the stem that had a bud on it and put it in water. This morning I was treated to a very pretty open flower. So, even though I was very disappointed about the plant being mishandled by the kitties, this flower is very beautiful.

I am headed to Luck again tonight. There is another basketball game and I am hoping to start helping Kyle & Heather consolidate their digital photos onto an external hard drive. Barley & Hops will have the place to themselves overnight, who knows what trouble they will get into!

Two for one baptism

Today I went to the baptism of great niece Ruby Anna Johansen (Kyle & Heather) and Anders Dakota Johansen (Kris & Lora) at Luck Lutheran Church. Both babies were very good in church and during the actual baptism. (They must certainly take after their great aunt.)

I didn't get a picture in the church, as I was taking video for Heather & Kyle, hopefully I'll get a shot to post here.

After the service, we were treated to lunch courtesy of the baptismal parents at The Wild Hog in Luck.


This is a picture of Harold Skow, Wanda, Kris & Anders. Harold and I are Uncle and Aunt of Kris and we are also his Godparents. So, now are we Great God Parents? Seems to be so.

Here is a fun video of Kris and Anders. Little boys and their daddies, what fun. Click on PLAY > even though it looks like a dark screen, the video will play, it's very short.