Bears and Friends

Kathie got a call this morning from our neighbors. This big fella had wandered into their back yard, where the routinely feed a variety of wild critters and birds.

He quietly reclined near a pile of shelled corn and had his fill before taking off.

On a different note, we were invited by a sorority sister of Kathie's to visit them at their cabin last Friday evening. Paul and Betty live quite close to us up here in Wisconsin. We had a great time touring their lake while partaking of refreshments. Then we all went to a nearby bar for pizza, which was very, very good. Nice to know of another good pizza place close to us!

Betty and Kathie are involved in arranging a reunion for their sorority this coming September. Judging by how much these two enjoy getting back together, the prospects for a large group (27 at last count with more to come) to have fun over a Hawkeye football weekend are very good.

Staining the Cabin

Seems like we just did this, but it has been five years already! We are staining our cabin again; the garage was finished up last week. I had to take the shutters down, and I discovered three bats living behind three different ones of them. They had left a bit of a mess too that needed some scraping and the attention of the power washer. Several years ago, I put up two bat houses on the west side of the garage, so I had to temporarily disturb them there as well. Maybe a dozen bats flew away in disoriented fashion when I took those houses down. I think they are back safely at rest again though, now that the houses are back in place. I love having bats around, since they eat lots of mosquitoes and deer flies, but I prefer to have them in a bat house and not behind a shutter. So, I'm thinking of putting up an additional bat house on a tall pole somewhere close to the top of our dock steps. Watching them in the evening would be fun.

In the case of the cabin, we started by power washing most all of it to get dirt, bugs, and old loose stain off. With so much rain recently, we have had to allow for plenty of drying time, but yesterday we were able to stain the upper level of the lake side and all of the screened porch end of the cabin. Today, I hope we can finish the woods side of the cabin and maybe the lower level on the lake side. I'll need to borrow an extension ladder to finish the west end, since that is where the tallest peak of the roof is located.

Where the sun and weather have beaten hardest on the house, the stain is really being soaked up. Maybe we should have done this a couple years ago. I'll keep closer tabs in the future. Finally, I'll repair and restain the shutters, and then they can go back up.

Slugs

Slugs! Or, as my kids would probably say, when in a silly mood, shlugs! We don't see these guys often, but with all the rain we have had up here, they do appear on our stepping stones from time to time. Often, they don't seem to be in enough of a hurry, and they end up a dried blob about half way across. They aren't as big either as the ones I used to see regularly on a rainy day in California when I lived there in 1979 and 1981, but they are interesting.

Speaking of rain, we have had plenty, including about 4" yesterday. I'm having to pay lots of attention to keeping the boat pumped out or drained of water. The lake is unusually high, and the first three feet or so of our dock (which goes slightly uphill from the shore to the main dock level) is under water. I've not seen that before! You may have read too about the flash floods in Duluth, which is only about an hour and a half from here, where the zoo flooded and a number of their animals were drowned or escaped temporarily. It evidently hit there at 3AM, and the staff didn't have enough advance warning to save them. 

Old Truck, New Truck

Here is my Chevrolet Colorado when it was brand new back in very early 2006. It has been a wonderful pickup. It was an extended cab model, but the passenger space was a little tight.

However, out of no special need and more out of a desire just to treat myself, I today took possession of this new Chevrolet Silverado pickup that I bought up here in Wisconsin. (You have to love a pickup with a name like that! Silverado! Cowboys! Also the title of a great, old-fashioned, cowboy-western movie.) Like the Colorado, it has a lined bed and a roll-on bed cover. Unlike the Colorado, it is bigger, blue, and is a crew cab model (full-size passenger rear area at the expense of about 1/2 foot of bed length). This gives us lots more flexibility for travel to/from the lake with passengers, dogs, and cargo. It has lots of bells and whistles, and because I had the good sense to marry a woman who is the daughter of a former General Motors employee, I got an extra set of employee discounts on the price. The local dealer here in Hayward (Don Johnson Motors) was great to work with and gave me a good deal on my trade-in of the Colorado. I highly recommend them!

Here I am looking happy with my new blue pickup. Check out those special wheels, which the dealer had installed as an after-market option. I really like them!

Oh, about the Colorado...there is a highly likely possibility that Will and Sandy will buy the Colorado. That is cool, because then I can visit my old pickup from time to time. I suspect all of us have experienced affection for the various vehicles we have owned over time.

As an example, and even though I've posted this before, here I am with my very first vehicle ever—a 1963 Mercury Meteor. I think this was taken in 1965, when I was a senior at the U of I. Classy, huh? That was a great car. I wonder where it is now? Maybe it is rusting away somewhere or has been crushed and melted and is now some of the steel in my new Silverado! Anything is possible!

Dogs and Cycling

Happy Birthday to Josey! She is 14 years old today. Frankly, she is showing it, and her behavior is sometimes a little strange. Kathie thinks she exhibits dementia sometimes, because she can be quite anxious, hides, refuses to go on walks with us (very unusual), and has done other things I won't mention here. Nevertheless, the old girl has been the most nearly perfect dog I have ever known, and this is coming from someone who is not a big dog lover. Here she is surveying the situation down on the dock.

Meanwhile, Gomer (or I should say Tighe) spends time whenever possible leaping into the lake and thrashing about. Then he comes to the house all wet and seems to think it is OK to try drying off by going around the sofa and rubbing against it. Sigh....

On another topic, some of you may know that I've been working hard at losing weight since early last November. I've lost 30 pounds and am quite close to my goal weight. My doctor was very happy with me at my last physical. Part of my effort has been regular exercise. Through the winter, back in Iowa, I spent 40 minutes each day on my treadmill. Here at the lake, I'm trying to get back into cycling, which you may know I used to do avidly in the 1980s and early 1990s. I'm really enjoying my rides so far. I started slow with six mile loops, but now I've worked up to rides of 20 miles and more—I completed a 21 mile ride this morning, for example. It feels great, and there are so many pretty places to ride. I'm finding new routes day by day. Kathie is riding with me sometimes too and has already done some of the six mile rides. She took these two shots of me this morning as I got myself ready to go.

This dumb T-shirt actually makes it look like I've gained weight! You will have to trust me when I say that I've actually lost quite a bit of weight. The jury is out yet as to whether or not I'll be able to keep it off, but so far so good!

Family Art

You may recall that we had a big family gathering here recently. Rob's family spent an extra night with us, and after everyone else had left, Eleanor must have been missing all her cousins, aunts and uncles. So, she created this drawing of the entire gathering, and we now have it proudly displayed where nearly all homes keep their most important works of art—on the refrigerator.

I know that I am at the lower left, with Nana (or Grandma Kathie) just to my right. Then Eleanor shows her pop, mom, Penny and herself, all at the lower right. Above them are the various Herr clan members and the Minneapolis contingent plus three dogs. You can all figure out for yourselves who is who. I don't think we want to get into the importance of various family members based on location on the drawing or relative or comparative sizes. Love and inclusiveness is what counts here!