Friday, July 7

Visitors!


Miss Elise

                         At the park
               
Leo

             Sibling todo.
 The latest in a long line of readers.

Thursday then Friday...

Thursday I rode out to Winkleman's switch because I had to see if the Dickcissle was still in that vicinity. And it was, but decided to be a bit shy today or maybe the Wren ran it off. Wrens are feisty little things. It is an observation of mine that the little things of the world, animals, people etc have an extra feistiness to make up for lack of size. Just sayin'.

Dickcissle


 Wren


Our friend and carpenter Russ and his great grandson Hunter are here to do our siding job. We are excited!!

A new paint job will follow!

Wednesday, July 5

4th of July

Other than a mix-up on invites and wishing we could be in two places at once we had a great 4th. We partied with the McQuillens and friends. The casino and the city of Jefferson joined forces for the fireworks show and that too is a mixed blessing. In years past we would carry our lawn chairs the 3 blocks to the bike trail and watch the fireworks at the fairgrounds but now it is at the casino and that involves an automobile! So I had the bright idea of going to the Catholic cemetery and so did everybody else! We ended up in Leo's driveway and then getting home was an ordeal.

Last nights pics: L to R-Jack L., Larry J., Jack H.

L to R-Pat Rusnak, Sue Lucht, Denise Van, Mickey Starr

 Our hosts Sharon and Dugan McQuillen

Pauline Bortz and Bill Allen

The star attraction! Greatgrandson of Dugan and Sharon- Camdy

Today's Trail pics- Catbird

Runner

Early morning light filtering
 Dewy grasses

Latest projects at our house. New shelf desk. Swapped out the ironing board desk.

Enlarged the table by 2 leaves! We can now set the table for 10 people!


Tuesday, July 4

Leo's Pics

Leo is visiting his sister Marlene and family and sent these pictures.
 Bernard and Marlene taking a well-deserved rest. And below is Bernard checking out the corn height by the 4th of July. For all you farmers who will ask, this is in Northern Iowa near Lake Okoboji.


Leo picked up a few rocks while he was up there.

Primordial Churches of the Trail

Keri and I walked on Sunday so that meant Monday was a riding day. I have felt so much better since paying attention to my diet and my energy level has been high. So I rode to Winkelman's Switch. It is only a bit further than Roger's Road. Roger Conant is the widow of my cousin Sharon and thus I call it Roger's Road because he lives just off the trail.
I took pictures along the way. I have tried for years to get pictures of the "churches along the trail". There are areas where the trees and undergrowth provide a sanctuary. It is quiet except for birdsong, the choir I suppose. Sometimes even the choir is silent. If the bugs are not bad I will sometimes stop and just take it all in, traveling back in time and appreciating the nature around me.
So far the pictures do not live up to the look or the feeling. I'll keep trying.



After arriving at Winkelman's switch I took a few more photos.

Dickcissel song.


Other household news:
Butch and I bought our kitchen table at an auction and it came with one small leaf and 4 mismatched wooden chairs. When we had company recently we thought it would be nice to be able to seat more people around it. It pulls out quite far. Butch was sure it would accommodate two more leaves. And since the Missouri kids are coming this week we decided it would be a good time to increase our table size. Butch got right on the project and manufactured a couple of nice wide leaves. Yesterday I stained and polyurethaned them and today we will be able to see the results of our labor. A picture will be available soon.

While working on projects it is amazing how one will turn into more. My "desk" made from an ironing board needed some new floor protector tips and in so doing the ironing board became stuck. It was a major bummer. So after looking it over, we decided to make a shelf desk instead and it too will be finalized today. I painted the shelf and polyurethaned it as well. Butch will be able to get it together as soon as it is dry enough.

Happy 4th everyone! And as my brother-in-law Don Brooker said,  “if you want to come 4th on the 5th, don’t drink a 5th on the 4th”.

Mr Wren update

He has found himself a lady and she has moved in. However, I am not sure we can call her a wife because he is chasing her all over the backyard and keeps singing his little heart out. I have yet to see either of them sit still for more than a few seconds I think she might be stringing him along. There is lots of activity with both of them coming and going from the house. That is leading me to believe there aren't any young ones yet. On the other hand, maybe there is and it is keeping them both busy feeding them. As you can tell I have fun watching them.

Sunday, July 2

Slip and Slide

Two of Leo and Keri's grands love the slip and slide.
Brady

Jorgen

Walking Day

Today Keri and I walked the usual 2 miles we do on the trail. Lots of runners today and that is a bit unusual. No incidents to report. I like to mix up the exercise routine. We both weathered yesterday's 15.5 miles with no after effects. Amazing how much we can do if we just get out there and do it.

Jefferson is in a slot. The past few years I have noticed that when they say it is going to rain or storm, it can seem like we are right in line for it. But when it gets here it goes around us. It is the strangest thing. They will get it in Carroll, west of us, and Boone, east of us but not here. You can watch it on radar even. It will look like we are getting it for sure but then don't. We do get a shower or two on occasion but not nearly what those around us get. Weird!

I had a blood draw this past week. I had been feeling like my blood sugar was out of whack and so I expected the news that I was going to have to straighten up and fly right. I started behaving myself right away and I started feeling better right away, more energetic and normal. You can not straighten up for two days and get good readings. I know that. My blood sugar was 122 and my A1C was 5.8! What the heck!!! I guess I am going to be obliged to behave myself all the time! Especially if I want to feel good and I do. It is a plan.