Back at the patch

I got home last night at about 10 O'Clock.  It sure is nice to be back in Rice Lake.  The trip Out West went great, I got to see many many Colorado pals.  The retirement party for my good friends Mark, Deb & Mimi was big fun, many Coors folks and many cold beers.  

Laila and I had a good couple of days at her place too.  We had a blast at 'the ponies'.

Travel both ways was uneventful, which is just how I like it.  Now that I am learning which routes are a little shorter, I find that it is only 110 miles home from the airport, so not bad at all.

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The cats did great under the care of 2 of my neighbor kids.  The cats don't seem to be that excited about the fact that I am home but that the windows are open again, and that they really do like.

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While I was gone, the tomatoes shot up another 6 inches, at least.  The top 2X4 in the tomato patch picture is 4 feet off the ground.  I can see some tomatoes on the vines too, so that is exciting.

Good visit with Laila

Had a great visit with Laila, wore out the Princess Cleopatra, she is napping now that I am outta there.
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Spending the day with 2 year olds

Laila and I came to the racetrack yesterday and had lots of fun for about $20. We decided to come back today and already won $16 on the first race. We had thought about going to Central City for the day, but this is way cheaper, a very short drive and really lots more fun. Comfy seating and a waiter who remembers us from yesterday, so Life is Good. Hopefully our ponies run fast too.
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Having a great visit Out West! Weather has been great and am catching up with lots of my Colorado pals.
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Bears Win! Bears Win!

I was gone to see Dad and Ev at the cabin last night, and while I was gone, the bears were back.  They licked up every bit of seed that was in the trail from the stolen bag of Cardinal's Choice the day before.  They also wrecked the last feeder that I had.  They ripped the platform feeder right off the screws on this 2X4.  And then they left 2 big piles of scat in the yard...that was totally unnecessary.

Must have been quite a party here last night, $%#@$!!!

I'm headed to Denver, hopefully by the time I get back the bears will have moved on.

Probably Raccoons

Last night I chased the raccoons out of the back yard 3 times and I'm sure that as soon as I was back in bed, they came back.  I had been feeding the birds from some platform feeders sitting on the landscape blocks because the bears and bent the support poles in half.  Well, I guess the raccoon family that that was easy pickins' for them.  Raccoons are so bold.  I tried to blow a whistle at them, they just looked up at me with that look on their face like 'seriously, are we supposed to be scared?'

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This morning, I was not too pleased to see that the raccoons, or I suppose it could have been a bear, had demolished a storage box that I had a bag of birdseed stored in.

I had noticed,and just mentioned to Laila last night, that the edge of the cover was chewed, I was thinking squirrels until this morning.

The thing sort of snaps together, so once it was on it's side, it was easy peasy.

A nice trail of seed across the yard where they must have drug the 50 lb bag of Cardinal's Choice.

I scooped up as much as I could, but it will be a buffet for the birds and animals for awhile.  No sign of the bag, I'll probably find it if I drive around the neighborhood.  Pretty sure it was a bear as I just noticed that the hummingbird feeder in the back yard is on the ground, the shepherd's hook bent in half.  I'm starting to have quite a pile of scrap metal here.

Eventually I will learn how to live here in the country, event by event the animals are teaching me.

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Happy Father's Day to all.

Chilly Cheese Days in Clayton, WI

Chilly as in cold!  The weather was pretty unstable and leaning towards cool and rainy.

  The girls looked great at the tea before the parade.

Parade wave

Our float looks great.

Owen didn't want to "sunburn his eyes" so he thought he should wear his Mom's glasses

The weather got pretty sketchy shortly after the Luck float passed us, so we packed up and slipped away before the end of the parade.

I got a promotion!

The Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum  have promoted me to Volunteer Chairperson for the museum.  I have been scheduling the volunteers and they decided they liked what I was doing.  It's pretty easy, and as all of you know, I am such a geek that I am online almost 24/7, so it is easy for me to update the group on our schedule.  I told them I would do it for a year, and then re-evaluate.  I'm reluctant to commit to anything for the long term, and they understood.  I think I avoid commitment due to my 20+ years of working on the Coors United Way campaign because of a 'volunteer opportunity' in the first year.  I enjoyed working on, and am very proud of, all of those campaigns, but now I want to keep my options open for anything that comes along.
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I worked at the museum all day today and we had about 11 guests.  The day went by quickly and I enjoyed chatting with our visitors.

Here is the front of the museum, next time I work I'll take some pictures of the exhibits.
One of these days I'm going to have to get into a canoe, I've never been, but don't tell....

An inch in an hour

We have had lots of rain lately, but tonight's rain was very nice.  

Straight down, hard rain, no wind and tonight I'll be able to sleep with the windows open again.

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I took a walk around the yard after the rain and here are a few photos.

My roses took a beating in the rain.

My pansies are loving the cool, rainy weather.

Impatien

The first lily of the season.

Lilies are not the prettiest, but they are easy to grow.

The geraniums have had enough rain, I think they will like the sun tomorrow.

I love the leaves of the bleeding heart plant.

Pansies after the ran.

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After taking these pictures and posting them here tonight, 

from just a moment I forgot that there is an oil slick covering the Gulf of Mexico and all the plants and animals there.

Pea Soup Days

I met Angie in Somerset for the parade today.  It was cloudy and cool but the rain held off until after the parade. The Luck girls looked great in their red jackets and they were the only float with royalty in the whole parade.

Little Miss Luck Emily Chivers, Little Miss Princess Addie Musial, 

2nd Princess Michelle Tomlinson, 1st Princess Morgan Pullin and Miss Luck Krystal Ouelette.

Before the parade, Owen and Megan got to have a cotton candy.  The servings were huge!  And messy.

Angie, Megan and Owen (he doesn't like loud noises like fire trucks)

The celebration in Somerset is Pea Soup Days. The boyscouts were selling pea soup by the cupful, but I didn't get any, the rain started and we headed for the car.  The weather was kind of 'pea soupy' too.
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Two parades done out of the 20 scheduled for the summer.

Week Two Entries

Week 2 entries for the Kodak Gallery Photo Contest.

Interesting topics this week.  

I like the format, scavenging for photos!

 Requirement #1 - White Flower

Daisies dripping with new rain, Spring in Wisconsin!

 Requirement #2 - Something with 1999 printed on it

I don't remember much about 1999 other than the hype about Y2K. 

Looks like this penny was not affected.

 Requirement #3 - Zoo Animal

Miles and miles to a zoo, but only a keystroke away is the Denver Zoo and this big guy. Took the picture of the computer screen with my blackberry.

 Requirement #4 - Footprints

The rain, the concrete and two big feet, plus a dash of color.

 Requirement #5 - Fruit Tree

A few apples have formed on the apple trees in my yard in Rice Lake, but already they are wormy, sigh...

Velvet

I saw this little guy on the way to The Barrens just West of Cushing, WI yesterday.

I love the deer when they are this color and in-velvet, as long as they stay off the hood of my car!

I shot these through the windshield so are not the best, but he wasn't really acting like he was going to hang around very long.

Generations

Recently, at a birthday party for Wynni Vanasse at Big Moon Lake, I took some 3, 4 and 5 generation photos for Kathy with her Mom and the kids.

Dana and Erin had already left for the day.

Kathy Johansen, Granddaughter Linsey Loyas, Great Grandson Vincent, Glenn Johansen

5 Generations of Seversons: Krista Loyas, Linsey Loyas, Phyllis Severson holding Vincent, Kathy Johansen

4 generations: Kathy Johansen, Milli Vanasse, Kaija Vanasse, Wynni Vanasse, Charli Vanasse and Phyllis Severson

4 Generations: Kathy Johansen, Andrew (there's one in every family) Johansen, Alyxis Johansen, Phyllis Severson

Sad News

A few weeks ago my niece, Angie, found out that her pregnancy was twins. It was a great joy and the news spread quickly through family and friends. Sadly, this past weekend, one of the twins died. The doctors say that sometimes this happens due to chromosomal defects as well as other health problems.

The hope is that Angie's body will absorb the fetus and that the remaining twin will do fine, but nothing is for sure right now. As you can imagine, Angie and family are devastated. I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason, but dealing with a loss like this is must be especially hard for Angie and Aaron. Their little girls were excited about the idea of twins and for them to have to now understand this is very hard. Luckily their son Owen is a little too young to really understand, so he will be a good distraction for all.

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It is one day at a time now.

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Work Weekend at the Sandcastle with the Nephews

This weekend, 4 of the 5 Sandcastle owners got together at the cabin to do some work.  We had a list of partially finished projects and one major project that needed done.  The biggest project was putting 1/4 inch bead board paneling on the ceiling.  26 sheets of 4X8 paneling were needed.  Each sheet had to be sealed first, so I was the painting department.  The boys did all the really physical work of installing the new ceiling.  We also have some rock to put on the walls behind the wood stove.  The first (and hardest) part of that job got done, the rock will go on another time.

Kris and Andy while they are putting on the scratch coat.

The rain really made our lives miserable up there, trying to keep Andy's saws covered, get the sealer to dry and just generally having wet feet is not that fun.  Friday night we had a fun visit with Craig and Mary Jo who live in Gordon and a pontoon boat ride.  And, we scored big time when Mary Jo offered us a table of theirs that they had in the garage, she knew we were looking for just exactly this table!

We love our new table, Thanks to Craig and Mary Jo!

Then we had a late supper at The Y-Go-By tavern.  Yummy fish fry and some hydration.

Kris & Andy were having Bloody Marys and a 'snit' of beer.

Saturday everyone busted their butts to get as much done as we could.  The ceiling panels look great, but it's a chore.

All this overhead work is really tiring.

Dana, Kris & Andy

It was really fun for me to spend the weekend with the nephews, I guess that was a first.  The only time I got sick of it was when Dana instantly fell asleep last night and then proceeded to snore.
Lucky for me, I carry earplugs. 

 Packing up in the rain this morning was not that fun, but the cabin sure looked great all clean and tidy as we were leaving.

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The worst thing this weekend was that our 'hot water on demand' Coleman unit had a bad battery.  It showed charged when you had it plugged in, but as soon as you unplugged it, the battery showed that is was low.  So, this meant now nice showers.  Twice I took a 2 gallon bath/shower and it is amazing how you can learn to adapt.  The second one of those 2 gallon showers actually was quite refreshing!  Although the shower I took when I got back to Rice Lake reminded me how much I love running water!!

Kohl's in Rice Lake, WI!!

Yippee, the new Kohl's store is almost done...well, at least they have started. It sure will be nice to have a Kohl's store so close.
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Something different

I entered a little photo contest via the Kodak Gallery.  

The pictures won't actually be judged, so it is basically a drawing for the prizes.  But I thought it was a little fun to take the required pictures and thought I might as well share them here.

It's a little like a scavenger hunt to find these items to photograph each week.

I included the photo descriptions that I used on the contest page.

#1

Although I live in Wisconsin now, my heart still belongs to The Colorado Rockies, not a fair weather fan!

#2

The sunset can be overlooked beyond the trees unless you take time to watch for the end of the day.

#3

Sometimes cupcakes just have to be celebrated, in all colors.

#4

The star of the show for summer is our American Flag, long may it wave.

#5

A gift bag of goodies for a June birthday connects the family and the dots.

~I'm not sure if the rules require that the photos to be taken within the contest deadlines, but that's how I intend to play the game.~