Flyovers

My house is about 5 miles from the Rice Lake Airport, 

so off and on, 

I'm in the flight pattern of their customers.

Today, the Aquafest Parade was scheduled to have a flyover of Airforce planes.  

I heard them going North and then grabbed my camera and got ready for them to come over.  

I was not disappointed.

How sweet!

Inquiring minds

Anders, who is 6, is curious about things going on in his world.

On Sunday night, I was visiting with his Mom and he came in from outdoors carrying a geranium bloom.  He handed it to his Mom.  She thanked him but then told him that it smelled so strong that she wanted him to take it back outside.  She asked me if I could smell it, of course, I couldn't.  But, I took the flower and held it up to my face with my nose buried in the blooms and took a deep smell.  And, I could not smell it.  I vaguely remember what geraniums smell like though.  It's weird to have a memory of a smell but not be able to actually smell the live flower.

It's called Anosmia.   Anosmia (/ænˈɒzmiə/) is the inability to perceive odor or a lack of functioning olfaction.

I've had it for about 30 years now.  It's fairly rare, most of the time it is a trauma related problem, but mine is genetic.  I remember my Mom having the same thing.

So, back to Anders.  I forget that he is a sponge and hears everything we say.

A few minutes after the geranium conversation, 

Anders went in the bedroom and wrote a note to his Mom.

Making it an official note asking Mom to sign it.

Well, I tried to explain it to him, but mostly his take away was that my smeller doesn't work.

He's my little buddy.

Welcome August

This morning, my niece Angela, gave birth to a healthy baby boy.  

It is exciting to hear that she and baby August Kirk Chivers are all doing fine.

I won't see the baby for a few days at least, 

but thanks to social media I have a few photos to share.

Posted by sister Megan on Instagram

Posted by sister Emily on Facebook

Posted by Mom Angela on Facebook

Now you tell me that social media is not an excellent tool for families to keep in touch.

Life is good, another Gussie in the family.

Or Auggie, but my money is on Gussie.

A future blogger?

Maybe Anders will be a blogger when he is older.

He seemed to enjoy keeping this list of what we were doing each day.

1.  Slept in.  Yes, he slept in again, but not quite as long.
2.  Watched Daniel Tiger.  These PBS cartoons have a message and are not bad, but this morning the exact same episodes were shown as the day before.  Those little tunes can start to grate in your brain.
3.  Breakfast.  Another morning of cold cereal, that is normally what I eat every morning too.
4.  Finished car.  Anders painted the car on Monday and then let it dry overnight.  On Tuesday morning, he put all the stickers on the car.  It turned out pretty good.

Anders with his finished race car.

5.  Ate pizza.  Yes, we did go to Godfather's Pizza in Winona for lunch.  First, we picked up Dale Rothering, I call him Uncle Dale as he is the uncle of my Rosenow friends.  Dale is going to be 91 and is a very nice man.  He lives at the Watkins Manor Senior Living Center in Winona.  We had a nice lunch and Anders really liked the cinnamon roll pizza for dessert.
6.  We went to the farm.  The three of us took a drive to Waumandee to visit John and Nettie at Roseholm Farms.

One of the baby horses and her mom and Nettie

Getting some bug spray

Walking with Mom

Anders really liked this glider.  It's an old one & John replaced the wood.
The frame is steel from an old windmill.

Pepin, John & Dale talking it over.

Uncle Dale and nephew John

Another baby horse.  

This baby had some trouble standing at first, but how it kicks up its heels just fine.

Pepin, John, Anders, Dale and Nettie and the horses

This is the hay bunker.  Interesting how farming has changed.

In the maternity shed we saw a calf that had been born that morning.  Pepin was interested.

Uncle Dale and Anders in the milking parlor.
Anders was still feeling okay here.

 7.  I puked.  The smell in the milking parlor is a combination of chemicals and manure and cows.  We stood in here a little too long.  Anders got fidgety and then puked 3 times.  It was an easy clean up with the hose, but it was upsetting for Anders.  We quickly went outside and got some fresh air, and in no time, he was feeling much better.

This one was done milking and waiting for the release.

This big girl was giving us the eye.

One of Anders favorites at the farm, the calves.

But he kept his eye on the calf, just to be sure.

Dale enjoyed getting a look at the farm and hearing about changes John has made.

Cell phones are part of farming of course.
Pepin doesn't want to be too far from his Dad.

Anders walked all around the calf pens and counted them.
52 plus the one in the maternity shed, for a total of 53.

 Dale and John took a drive to see some more of the farm.  Anders and I relaxed while enjoying Nettie's pretty flower beds.  Nettie showed Anders the inside of a bleeding heart, how complex it is and is still shaped like a heart.

Examining the bleeding heart.

There were kittens everywhere.  Some were very young, and some a little older with open eyes.

There were kittens under that bush and Anders was keeping and eye on them.

 Nettie dug me up a clump of oriental poppies, I hope I can get them to grow in my yard.
7.  We went for ice cream - On the way to take Dale back to Winona, we stopped at the Waumandee IGA store and had an ice cream cone.  We sat on the bench out front and ate our ice cream.

8.  Went to T-ball- This time T-ball practice was at the field near the marina.  It was a pretty spot to sit and watch the kids.  I had a nice visit with Claire, we read a couple of books.  Claire is the younger sister of Anders' best friend Will.

Anders in the blaze orange shorts, he is a fast runner.

I could see the bluff from my lawn chair.

Getting ready to field the ball.

9.  Went home - At home, Dad was mowing the grass.  Anders and I hung out watching him while supper was cooking.  It was breezy and I said, "next time I'll bring a baseball cap", Anders went and found me a cap to wear, so we took a selfie.

Sitting on the front steps

It was a great visit.  On Wednesday, Anders and I drove to Grantsburg so he can spend a few days with his Grandpa Larry and Grandma Lulu.  We stopped for lunch in Baldwin on the way.

Anders is a quiet car rider.  He likes to have the radio on and I could hear him singing or humming, but he didn't have too much to say.  At lunch, he liked seeing the toy in his Happy Meal, but didn't really have too much to talk about.

I delivered him to Grandpa Larry and I headed for home.  

It was a full day of driving and I was happy to be back to Home Sweet Home.

Life is Good.

Busy with a Great nephew

Great nephew Anders and I had a fun Monday.  He is writing a list of everything we do each day to show his Mom when she gets back from her visit in California.   

Anders will be in first grade next year, his spelling is very phonetic right now.

I'll explain.

Anders is writing a list about our adventures

1.  Slept in - no school,  no alarm clocks,  but he was up at 8:30am
2.  Watched Daniel Tiger - I  am getting updated on PBS cartoons.
3.  Breakfast - Anders is very consistent.  He doesn't really like to try new food & he likes the same thing for breakfast everyday,  cereal and milk, but he doesn't like the milk that is left in the bowl,  too bad my kitties aren't here, they love it.
4.  Built car - I brought a little wooden rave car kit along, glue and paint and stickers will make a fun toy.

The parts and pieces

Getting started, first he glued the wheels on

5.  Played basketball - Anders has a hoop now, lots of hours of fun will be had.  I asked him to teach me how to shoot and he explained how to hold my hands on the ball and also how to block.

It was a perfect evening for shooting hoops

6.  Lunch - Anders loves Ramen noodles, so I made a package for his lunch.  He told me that when Mom makes the noodles they are whiter, not sure what I did wrong.

7.  We went to Buena Vista Park - I  love this park that overlooks Alma and a person can see for miles.  Lots of birds singing and a wonderful swing for a little boy. 

A bright sunny morning at Buena Vista

The map points out some interesting sights from the overlook.

Anders likes this swing, it can really go high.

Anders brought his Leapfrog along and used the camera feature to take some pictures.

On the way down from Buena Vista, we saw these two yearling deer.

Those deer climbed up a steep rock ledge to get to safety.

8.  Went to Sherri's.  Sherri used to live in Luck.   She has a farm with horses, chickens,  geese and a big dog.   We didn't stay to long,  she was busy mowing grass.

9.  Went to Cheese Factory.  We stopped for ice cream at the Cheese Factory - Nelson,  Wisconsin is home to a good cheese store, and they have yummy ice cream cones.   Anders and I  sat on a bench and ate our cones.

He liked sitting on this bench, eating our cones and watching the cars go by.

10.  Went home, saw a helicopter - On the way home, Anders saw a helicopter out his window.  I couldn't see it because I was driving and it was almost right over us.  It was very exciting for him. 

11. We went to t-ball practice.   Anders loves t-ball and after a little confusion about where practice was being held, I got to watch him learn the basic skills including throwing, catching, fielding, running bases and finally hitting.  There must have been 40 kids at practice.  I was expecting chaos, but the coach had a few helpers and soon there were 4 or 5 groups practicing specific skills, the kids rotated to through the skill practice and had fun.

12.  Ate pizza.  Anders loves pizza and he surprised us by eating several pieces.

13.  Watched Ninja Warriors.  Anders favorite TV show is the American Ninja Warriors show.  He watched intently and when it was over, announced he was going to bed.

It was a full day for us both. He's a nice little boy who listens and aims to please.  How Great is that!

Growing

It is a nice time of year in Wisconsin, too early for Mosquitos as it hasn't been very warm yet, but lots of rain so everything is green and growing.  I snapped this photo as I pulled out of the garage headed for a short stay in Alma with Kris, Lora and Anders.  I almost hated leaving, it's so nice to see everything coming back from the winter sleep.  

But getting to see Anders again is very fun.  He gave me some lessons about shooting baskets.  As you can see, he is also growing!

--
Wanda from my iPad