"Last Friday's Happy Hour....."

Jamie and Zack joined us for happy hour last week, bringing along their month old daughter, Maddie, who as you see, I was allowed to hold.

A close up of Maddie...........with open eyes no less!

I felt sorry for Zack.....he was pretty quiet, due to be very tired I'm sure. Geoff and Barb attended, too. They made an important announcement......they plan on getting married this Fall! Congrats and best wishes to them both!

Charlie and Griffin, alongside Elspeth, also made an appearance.

I was gracious and gave Geoff the opportunity to hold Maddie as well. ;)

Ex co-worker of Don, Sarah (red top) stopped by as well, bringing along a friend of hers, Eve.

Krista and Jacob, with twins, Zoe and Kai, also stopped by for a bit. Here are Krista and Zoe with Lonnie and Griffin.

Zoe made her usual trip back to check out the chickens, taking Ruby along with her.

A very nice happy hour.......not sure if the weather will cooperate for one tomorrow.

"The Bloomin' Iris......"

I brought these iris plants over from Michigan a number of years ago. "If" I remember correctly, they are from my parents yard. I do believe this is the first time they have bloomed.

I happened to look out just as the sun was hitting the blossom and quickly grabbed the camera for a photo.

Here it is in a close up......beautiful, isn't it? I do believe that iris's are my most favorite flower.

"Hardy Dam, MI"

I drove back to Michigan prior to Memorial Day, to help my sister, Sandy, spread our parents ashes. We'd decided on 2 places......the 1st place was Pentwater, MI, and the 2nd was Hardy Dam. Unfortunately, I did not take any photos of where we spread them in Pentwater, but did when we were at Hardy Dam.

We'd spent many good times up around the Hardy Dam area as kids with my parents, and my Dad had spent times there with his family as a child, teenager, young adult, and continued the tradition by bringing us there as well.

This bayou with its boat launch and permanent slips for boats is right next to the Dam on the west side of the Muskegon River.

My memories of seeing houseboats on the river are many and I have always wanted to own one......

The area with boats docked, seen across the river, is where Sandy and I will be spreading the rest of our parents ashes.

A view of the great expanse of water that the Dam created.

Just another view of the river with the boat docking area where we will end up......

When we were young, our Uncle Wayne and Aunt Jean (Dad's brother/sister in law), docked their pontoon here in this bayou.

A view from the east of the river showing where the 1st photos were taken (tip of Pirate flag). We used to camp about 100 yards towards the Dam from where this was taken. We weren't allowed to go that far along the shore, but we were allowed to go closer to the camp site to spread their ashes.

A close up so that the swan can be seen easier. When it saw us, it began swimming closer. I would venture to guess that the "boat people" from this bayou feed it. ;)

I hope our parents would approve of what we did.........

"Memorial Day-Part 3"

After returning from our bike ride, Don and I went out to have our late afternoon coffee on the deck. As happens many times, we also began having visitors. ;)

Charlie came over with Griffin and Don took this really nice photo of them.....it did take a few shots to get them both looking at the camera. ;)

Another pleasant surprise was when Erin, Seth, and Nevada drove up to visit, too. And what kind of a gathering would it be without our good neighbor, Rob? :)

Daddy Seth with Nevada. Nevada has grown so much over the winter months! She has no fear and with a personality to match, too. ;)

What a great Memorial Day!

"Memorial Day-Part 2"

Our 2nd activity of the day was a bike ride. We took our "usual" ride from our house, through Vilas Park, Olin Park, along John Nolen Drive to Monona Terrace, taking the bike elevator up to Martin Luther King, down State Street, across Union Terrace, along Lake Mendota, and then cutting back to the SW Bike Path and home again. I believe it was about 11 miles or so.

After getting off the bike elevator at Monona Terrace, we saw our 1st Madison B Station. Before reaching the station, we had seen someone riding one of the bikes, so when we realized the station was right at the corner of MLK Drive and Wilson, we had to check it out.

Unfortunately we didn't see anyone actually accessing a bike, but the directions seemed clear enough.

We also decided to stop and eat along our route at "The Coopers Tavern" , on Mifflin, across from the Capitol. They're seating area outside was perfect for us since we had our bikes.

While there, a couple of guys drove up and parked this little number, called an Amphicar (http://www.amphicars.com/acfaq.htm), across the street before coming over to The Coppers Tavern. Do you recognize this car from the 1960's? It is boat as well. :) As a teenager, I saw one actually drive down a boat launch ramp and into the St. Joseph River, in Benton Harbor, MI.

It was quite the hit with passers by....several people stopped and took photos of it.

Of course, Don was no exception....after all, I "always" need blog material. ;)

"Memorial Day- Part 1"

Memorial Day was a gorgeous day! Don and I decided to take the boats out again, with this being the maiden voyage of my new Native Ultimate 14.5. As expected, it worked very well, especially given the windy conditions on Lake Wingra.

I am one happy paddler! I did become "aware" of a few new muscle areas the next day, too.......that's because I am in such "tip top" shape. ;)

Don had a good time with his kayak, too. At one point when he went over to help a couple of boys who'd tipped over in their kayak, he got more than he'd bargained for......they'd gotten back in their kayak by the time he reached them, but did retrieve their paddle, then offered them his bilge pump to get the water out of their boat. One of them proceeded to pump out water from their kayak.....DIRECTLY AT HIM! No, not by accident......the kid thought he was being funny. Hmmmmm......neither of us thought it funny.....is this a sign of age? ;)

A few more minutes out paddling and he headed for the dock.

After watching the "Quiet Waters" DVD on beginning kayaking, which former neighbor, Darren Bush, owner of Rutabaga's, is in, Don exited his kayak perfectly, using his paddle for stability.....and once again, I mention the windy conditions, because that means it was no small feat!

A great day with many more to look forward to.

"An Overnight Visitor......."

Earlier this month, Don noticed a little "commotion" over at Mary and Made's. Being the good neighbor, he went over to see what was causing it. ;) A baby squirrel had been following their dog, Cole, around the yard. Surprisingly, Cole put up with it and didn't try to hurt it. The baby squirrel fit right in amongst the cement birds, don't you think?

Somehow, Don with his magnetic personality, managed to lure the little guy away from their house over to our house. The fear of leaving him at Mary and Made's was that their cat would kill it when it got outside. Thankfully, the cat had not been allowed to come outside prior to their discovery of the squirrel. Here Rob is allowing him (for this post, I will be referring to the baby squirrel as male) to climb on his arm.

He was a curious little guy.......I mean the squirrel! ;)

Resident veterinarians Tracie and Bridget were called over for their professional advice.

Sanjaya, Mary, and Jahan came over to see how the little guy was settling in.

He tried unsuccessfully to get past the elastic on my sweats. We all agreed that he wanted to "nest", so Don went to find a box that he could fill with some pine shavings, adding some dried fruit and nuts, too.

He was quite the little climber.....all the while trying to find a spot to go "inside"...

Thus, my temporary attempt to cover him as in a nest, which did seem to appease the franticness of the search.

Once the towel and nest were brought, he settled in and slept through the night. I checked on him at 6AM the following morning and he was still inside the nest box. By 7AM, when I left for the weaving workshop, the nest was empty and the baby squirrel no where to be seen. Hopefully, it was a happy ending and it is now finishing by his being raised by adult squirrels. :)