Fall

The leaves are starting to turn here in Rice Lake.
  Here are a few pictures of the color in my yard.

The backyard is changing from summer to fall.

A collage of leaves around my yard.

More to come.

Those Cats

Those cats that live here don't get much blog time, 

so today (Sunday) I have a couple of photos that I think they would approve of me using.

♥♥☼☼☼♥♥

Yesterday, Hops was content to be snuggled under a blanket on the couch.  

That's where I've been for almost a week, so I get that.

Today, Barley was catching some sun and keeping an eye on the front deck.  

She usually finds a spot in a corner, always interesting to see where she curls up.

Then there is Tigger.

Tigger is a male cat who lives a couple of houses away.  His parents let him out of the house during the day when they are home.  He always comes over and lounges on my deck and acts like he owns the place.

Today he was sitting up on the deck railing looking in the living room window acting like I should let him in.

Tigger (or as Dad says 'Trigger')

♥♥☼☼☼♥♥

It's a nice sunny, fall day, I'm headed for a drive to Glenn's lake, 

hopefully I'll have some fall pictures to share tomorrow.

PS
Here is a little cat who Laila lives with in Colorado, she needs her 15 minutes of fame too.
Introducing The Princess Cleopatra

Finally, a new posting

The last two weeks have been interesting.  I caught a bad cold and then made the trip to Davenport, IA for Dad's Navy Seabee reunion.  When I got back, I was pretty sick so have not felt much like posting.  But now, I am on the mend (better living through chemistry) and have a few photos from the weekend in Iowa.

Glenn's kids all came to Iowa to honor the Seabees and their little ones loved the pool.

Grandpa Glenn was a good sport and played in the pool with Charli & Jake.

Charli's idea of fun in the pool is to jump in, swim over to the stairs, climb out, and then jump in...repeat endlessly.  

Eventually Jake got the idea that jumping in was fun as well.  

He said several times "I'm not scared".

Charli asked me over and over to take a picture of her jumping in, here I caught the two of them having a blast.

The older girls got in the pool too and everyone was quite pruny by the time pool time was over.

Payton is so good with the little kids.  Wynni & Milli just love their cousin Payton.

Tomorrow I'll work on some photos from the Seabee gathering.

59th Reunion of the 62nd Battalion Navy Seabees

This year the Seabees gathered in Davenport, IA in September.  

It was the 59th reunion and planned as the last.  

These brave men served in WWII and survived Iwo Jima.  

My Dad is a Seabee and I have come to think of the other Seabees & their families as my extended family.

It was a bittersweet gathering this year, knowing it might be the last time we see one another, but with the aging of the veterans making it more and more difficult to travel, the attendance has become more family and friends than actual Seabees.

So, it was planned as the last and it was a celebration of 59 years of friendship.

Friday evening we were entertained by a magician that kept us guessing and gave us some good laughs.

Saturday was for visiting.

One Seabee, Anthony Canova, who couldn't travel was hooked up via Skype to talk to a couple of his mates.  His daughter Theresa managed the hook up and coached the guys on how to Skype.

Dad watches as Roy is talking via Skype to Anthony Canova (Theresa's Dad)

Dad on Skype with Anthony Canova.  An interesting experience for both.

Meanwhile, the Johansen kids had lots of fun in the pool on Saturday.

Jumping in over and over again, playing with Grandpa Glenn and getting pruny.

Jake, Glenn & Charli

Charli, Jake, Payton, Wynni, Jackson

Breanna, Wynni, Milli, Payton, Jake & Jackson

Saturday evening, everyone had fun playing the usual frenzied Crazy Bingo.

The littlest kids were a little confused about the stealing of prizes, but eventually they got into the swing, only a few tears were shed.

Johansen clan gearing up for the crazy bingo;
Andy, Alyxis, Kathy, Milli, Payton, Charli, Dana, Erin Jackson, Kaija, Breanna, Krista & Glenn

Once the stealing of gifts starts, it is mayhem. 

Dad, Howard, Gary, Crystal, Jennifer and Emma

 All the 'valuable prizes' are revealed to the lucky winners.

Afterglow...

Dad & Ev are well known in the family to enjoy a last cocktail or two after the main event and we all call this Afterglow.

Dana & Erin, Andy & Michelle, Dad & Ev joined me for the afterglow this year.

Andy had a special commemorative bottle of Jack Daniels that he got after his last tour in Iraq, and he wanted to share a drink of it with his Grandpa & brother.

This sequence of photos makes me laugh, as I see them being serious and then totally cracking up over something.

Yet another successful Afterglow.

Sunday is always the business meeting and a memorial service.

This year was even more emotional than most as we prepared to depart for the last time.

The 4 Seabees who attended this year.
John Hartford, Wally Johansen, Roy Raeber, and Ed Crowthers
Friends and fellow WWII veterans.

J Men:  Glenn, Dana, Dad & Andrew

Wally & Alyxis

 As people were packing up to leave, my great niece Alyxis was finishing off a donut,
or at least the frosting on the donut.

Alyxis & her Mom, Michelle 

Couple of silly J girls.

This year's reunion was a nice Seabee reunion and even more fun because all of Glenn's kids and grandkids and even a great grandson were able to attend.

While You Were Out

There used to be a show on HGTV where a home DYI project would be done while the unsuspecting homeowner was away from home.  On Monday, while Kris, Lora & Anders were at school & work, I painted Anders' room for him.  The paint was left over from my bedroom and was exactly what I needed to paint his room.  It went well.  I find out how out of shape I am when I do projects like this, but that's not all bad.

So, here is a little before, during and after.

Anders was pretty fun when he got home.  He was very excited to see his room. He led Lora and I in to see the new blue room.  He seemed pretty happy.  About 15 minutes later he came and got Lora and I in the living room so we could look at his blue room.

He was so funny, kept saying "Oh Gosh" over and over.

He seemed amazed that his room was yellow when he left for Fig Tree and blue when he got home.

So, a very successful While You Were Out project is completed!

This was not a true While You Were Out project since everyone knew what I was doing, but it was pretty fun to have the big reveal when it was done at the end of everyone's day.