Reading

Reading was and remains an Olympic sport at my parents' household. G never got into the Nancy Drew series when she was younger, but is now up to book 33 because my dad bribed her to read them since he has all 56 of the yellow-spined volumes from when I was growing up.

First day there

Last day

We're Back!

G & I are home after three weeks on the East Coast. We were fortunate enough to come back to a superlative Wisconsin day -- blue sky, white clouds, green fields, no humidity -- which made it that much easier. After saying "hello" to Maike, Cocoa, Grandpa and Luna (pretty much in that order), we headed straight for the pool, which wasn't open when we left.

Away Message

Where feelings not reasons

Can make you decide

Ian Broudie

End of Year

School is out! This is Dan & G before the last concert -- a reschedule from "Swine Break '09."

Concrete

Dan poured concrete in the lower barn today. He also patched up a slab by the upper one.

Memorial Day Weekend

We went camping Memorial Day weekend with friends at Buckhorn State Park. So did about 6 bazillion mosquitoes and a few ticks. Fortunately our site was right by the water so there was some moving air, which helped. We were able to set up a perimeter using bombs, sprays, coils, incense sticks and candles -- as Dan said, it was a cheap vacation, except for the $250 we spent on pest control. Despite the unwanted guests, we had a great time. G did an afternoon kayak trip with our friends out to an island. We heard several types of frogs and owls, plus whip-poor-wills. The red-winged blackbird that patrolled our campsite chased off a juvenile bald eagle for us, which was quite a sight. Plus I got to mark the adding of another year with my family and good friends.

Our campsite was right on the water

Moving Cows

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a beautiful day here. We did some yard work in the morning. Cocoa supervised my weeding/mulching of the raspberries. There's an elm tree that sprouted up, and we're just going to leave it, so that when all the ash trees (which we put in because of Dutch elm disease) are overrun with emerald ash borers, we've got something else in the yard. Dan & G spent the rest of the day with me doing household errands and then fun shopping.

Update

Farnsworth usually showed up in the front yard in the morning






It's been a while since I posted because we've been busy around here. Here are the headlines ... "Swine Break '09," as it's know around here, was a bust. The protocol for quarantine was changed and the kids were called back to school on Wednesday the 6th, much to everyone's chagrin. ... The pheasant, who I named Farnsworth, continued to make his home here until about two weeks ago, when, after a kind of crappy day as it was, I came home to find that he'd been hit by a car in the road in front of our house. There was nothing I could do for him and I was beside myself. A few days later, G & I spotted a new pheasant, who, though not a beautiful as Farnsworth, has taken up residence here. I am allowed to listen for him (he's not as bold as Farnsworth and doesn't come into the yard), but I am under strict orders not to name him. ... Dan, G & I jockeyed to read yet another book -- The Sorceress, the third in the series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. ... Only four more days of school -- YAY!

SC Day 5: The Last Olympian

Dan, G & I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the last Percy Jackson book. I was at the book store when it opened at 8 a.m. so that I could pick our copy up.

When I walked into the house, I promptly handed it over to G, who immediately delved into it. At my 11:15 check, she was more than halfway through it, so I may get to start it before Dan gets home tonight!

(1:15 p.m. Update: G is finished and has passed the book to me!)

SC Day 4: Bees

Dan & Jamie put the new bees in yesterday. We had to replace both our colonies, because one did not survive the cold weather and it looks like the other one may have succumbed to Colony Collapse Disorder. Jamie had better luck and only had to replace two of his six. I didn't get more pictures because after six months of going strong, the battery on my new camera finally died.

Ready to go with a new colony

SC Day 4: Potting Plants

Our "gardening" has evolved into a rooftop garden, ever since cats and chickens wouldn't leave our flower boxes alone. Instead of buying everything at once, G & I are going to plant in phases this year. Since it was a beautiful day, we decided to visit the garden center to start this year's garden.

A start on the season

SC Day 3: Hiking

We hiked part of the Ice Age Trail, which included exposed Silurian Dolomite of the Niagara Escarpment, a geological formation that runs from New York (and Niagara Falls) through Ontario and Michigan to Wisconsin and Illinois.

SC Day 3: Geocaching

We went geocaching with friends on Sunday. One of the caches included a Big Chicken as a clue. It turned out to be more of a Wild Goose. We ended up ditching the search to go for custard at LeDuc's, which was conveniently nearby.

SC Day 2: Four-Wheeling

We took the RAV4 four-wheeling into various corners of the farm. Here's a view of our cows on the ridge.

SC Day 2: Pelicans

We'd been seeing a moving white line in our neighbors' flooded pasture ...

It turns out it is a pod of pelicans, including at least one nesting pair.

SC Day 2: Yard Work

I finally feel comfortable letting G use the rider. With an assist from Dan, we got most of the yard done in two hours.

School Closed Day 1: Incubator

Grandpa has been collecting eggs from the yard hens. On Friday G put them in the incubator. In 21 days we'll see how many of them yield chicks.

H1N1

We got a robocall around 11 a.m. today informing us that three schools in our school district, including G's, were being closed because of a confirmed case of Influenza Type A H1N1. All middle and high school students now have a week-long holiday thanks to HHS. Since we've been instructed to limit social contact during that time and it's still too cold to open the pool, I'm not sure what we'll be up to. G's default mode is Gilmore Girls and Webkinz. Thank goodness we have all those new Scholastic books piled around ...

Book Fair

Didn't do much of anything but the Spring Book Fair this week. The Twilight and Diary of a Wimpy Kid series were the two big sellers -- we couldn't keep them on the shelves. G and I managed to keep our tab under $200.

Anniversary

19 years on 4.21.09. Thanks to those who remembered, including my loving husband!

Parting Shot

Teepee

2004

2009

Yard Work

Easter

Dakota gets an Easter treat

Ring Neck

We've been hearing this pheasant's vocalizations for about three weeks now. While there are wild pheasants around, we think he is an escapee from either a stocked hunting ground or a farm that raises them for restaurants, both of which are in the neighborhood. During the past week he's started to come into the yard and to shadow our chickens as they make their rounds. Maike doesn't seem perturbed by his presence and the rooster hasn't run him off yet. It will be interesting to see if he sticks around.

State Tournament

Yesterday G competed in the Middle Level Forensics Association of Wisconsin's State Tournament. There were over 1,500 middle schoolers from more than 100 schools around the state. She did very well in the first two rounds and made it to the Power Round, where the top third from the morning sessions vie for trophies. G placed third in the Informative category with a speech about Krakatoa. Dan and I are so proud of her! She's not sure what she's going to do with herself now that the season is over.

The hardware from her first Forensics season

Thirteen Years Ago ...

Hail to the Chief

After serving in various positions with the local library's "Friends of" Board, my dad was elected President. His first order of business was to set a 90-minute limit on meetings (with a 15-minute "sudden death overtime" provision for pressing issues). He's been really dedicated to the library since his retirement, so I'm glad he's in the top spot now.

My dad setting up for his favorite activity -- the book sale

Forensics Season is Over

Good luck to all who are going on to the State Tournament! (G qualified in the Informative category with a speech about Krakatoa.)

Frische Luft is Gesund

We had some spring-ish weather, so G (who has been home sick) & I opened the glass door sans screen to let some fresh air into the house. Luna was even happier than the two of us, because the birds are back!

Under the Milky Way

On super-clear nights like last night, the cloudy band that is the Milky Way is easily seen right over our house. (On some nights in the summer, it is so evident that I like to say that it looks like we're an exit off of it.) We had an extra treat last night: the Space Station was visible around 7:50, with the Space Shuttle chasing after it about 20 minutes later. The Shuttle looked like it was in a higher orbit and was moving much faster, passing right through Orion, which was above the southern horizon. G wasn't too impressed, but Dan & I, true children of the Space Race that we are, lingered until it had faded into the northeastern horizon.

Another March Cake

Darn Good Chocolate Cake for Grandpa's birthday

Signs of Spring

Daffodils on the south side of the house

Lily lounging in the sun

Maike playing fetch

Oops!

Yesterday we got quite a surprise. Dan went out to give the cows hay, but there was a newborn calf there as well! Since the cows are bred to calve in late April through early June,* this heifer is more than a month early. While she's a little small, she's not premature, which means that the bull and Honeysuckle managed a secret rendezvous early last summer. Given the circumstances of her birth, I think she should be called Immaculata, but because of the weather at the time of her birth, Dan's choice is Vanilla Ice.

(*Note for Inquiring Minds: The nights as well as the days are typically warmer then. Even when we have warm days in March and April, the nights are cool/cold. It's just easier for everyone later in the spring.)

Windy Moon

The Cherokee called the March full moon "Windy Moon." With the weather we had overnight, it is clear why.

3/11 @ 6:11 a.m., over the flooded & frozen west field

Birthday Pup

Maike turned 10 yesterday. It has been a harsh winter and she is really starting to show her age. As you can tell from her expression from the various pictures on this blog, she is a good dog and a smart one too. When we got her, that was difficult for me to believe. It was obvious early on that she was never going to be "my dog." She and I flunked not one but two puppy kindergarten classes because I could not assert Alphaness. While she still regards much of what I say as optional, she loves my kid with such intensity that all the other stuff stopped mattering to me a long time ago. She is just the best.

G made an Alpo Chop House Prime Rib cake with Milk Bone garnish for Maike

Winter Break

G had Friday off, so we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum to see the Titanic exhibit and IMAX film. On the way into the exhibit, a docent gave each of us a passenger profile that we could check against the survivor list at the end of the tour. G and I pulled women in first class (mine even stayed in one of two grand suites), while Dan got a man in third class. You can probably guess who made it and who didn't. The underwater technology used to bring the artifacts up and make the movie was truly incredible (and no doubt extremely expensive), so the trip was worthwhile just for that. We hadn't been to the rest of the museum in a while, and that was fun too.

Posing because they have to

Ring of Fire, one of G's favorite subjects