the real thing...compliments from http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Trumpeter_Swan/lifehistory
and well what arrived at our neighbors house below
ever since i got the peterson iphone guide to backyard birds...seems i'm paying more attention to bird sightings in the neighborhood. i think i'm making progress.
Recently read, and now re-reading The Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere on Earth:Minneota Minnesota by Bill Holm. Jo Ann this is your heart and I so enjoyed you sharing the photos with me...now when you start wearing a kimono and working on the bonsai...that's the picture I really want...
If you would like to see the other photos go here
http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=llaw%40resau%2Ecom&AID=5888703
sometimes you just see something grand....
sometimes just a moment of peace
As usual most of our adventures involve the grandsons (the lads I like to call them)....and it's fun to look for new things to do when we have the chance to be together. Saturday June 13, 2009....this is an adventure day that we will all remember. To begin with I had did more planning than a travel agency for a world wide tour in the 1880s. I like to research things. Beginning point would be Grand Rapids...and there was this National Scenic Byway from Grand Rapids to Effie MN
http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2455/. http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2455/stories/47169
Well I studied this tour up and down and if you need anyone to be well versed on the stopping points, fauna, logging history and or possible animal sightings...I still have my planner. Then I noticed, quite by accident one night that the Town of Bigfork was having Edge of the Wilderness Days. http://www.cityofbigfork.com/celebration_news.htm with Jaws of Life Presentation at Noon, 2PM and 3PM. I thought to myself...what kid would not want to see a Jaws of Life Presentation. We meet the kids at 11AM in Grand Rapids and headed up the Edge byway and it was very clear that if we were going to make the noon presentation there would be no stopping. 11:53 we pulled into town, parked and ran to the fire department...ahhh the equipment was not working but they demonstrated removing a windshield with an axe, breaking a window with a special tool and so on and so on. So with promises to come back at 2:00 we headed out to check out Wilderness Days. I have never meet so many nice people, so thoughtful and just enjoyable. Everything was "small" no grand anything and it was PERFECT. Just enough of everything to make it fun...not enough to make the day overwhelming.
Now only I would be fascinated by this...but water runs north here and I spent a fair amount of time watching this. At 2 we were back...doors came off, more windows smashed....a very good demonstration by the Big Form fire department. Then they had a fire extinguisher clinic...and look at the lads now!
Can you imagine the patience of this man...for every kid and or adult who wanted to try he was there. What a highlight! Even Harry stepped up....
Then it was off for a quick visit to Scenic State Park which we will have to visit again. It was very nice...here we are at the beach...first just looking for rocks...then all of the sudden...swimming...then we saw the geese with little ducklings...so for about half hour we relaxed then we headed back to Grand Rapids. All in all a great day...and well a few ideas of what to do on our next visit...way up north.
It was Saturday. Jim and I were in Hibbing for a day with the lads...while John and Emily were helping another couple "save the memories"....and so off we headed to the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids MN. About an hour from Hibbing...past a lot of small towns I need to visit. Anyhow Jim tried the logging simulator and is "above average" his first try. So who knows..maybe a new job skill set....
We went here last year...sure to go again and hopefully next time climb the tower...tour the wanigan...and see some logging done the 1900s way. Thanks to all the MN History Center people for spending time with us, explaining things in detail...and an especially BIG thanks for the blacksmith who made all the boys nails for their fort.
For more photos of the day....Forest History Center
Sometimes people wonder what I do besides work. I wonder this myself. Perhaps the greatest find for me was MN State Parks. We try and go in the off season...often when the crowds are less and I need nature more. Just give me a trail...sure to find something interesting. Best yet...a good feeling of being grounded when I'm headed home. This is the St Croix River, north of where we live...late April 2009...just beginning to find spring here. Wild River State Park Photos
I often think that life holds many once in a lifetime events. When we were cousins...did we know how precious the visits at Christmas time or the gatherings in June for Granny's birthday party. Did we even care? No we just lived the day and now remember. So knowing this...we embarked on a vacation with son John, his lovely and very talented photographer wife and three perfect grandchildren to visit great grandparents (my parents) in Pennsylvania. I knew it would be a trip of a lifetime for many reasons...and well while we were doing this why not go to DC, see brother Chip and his adorable wife Jo Ann...and their now grown children Kaci and Jason. How about a side trip to Gettysburg...and a side trip to Fallingwater...and well the trip evolved....slowly but surely and surely until we decided we had crammed enough into one trip...including when we managed to secure on line tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll.
A word about the Easter Egg roll. It's a mid-atlantic state thing to celebrate Easter for kids the Monday after the Sunday....who knows who developed rolling the Easter Egg...similar to who decided you should hide Easter eggs...but nevertheless growing up this was the premier event of the holiday that I never ...well let's say "got to do"...so why shouldn't 3 boys from Hibbing MN go to the White House for this...why not? Here are some collage 4 x 6 cards I did for the lads. I see I didn't do one of Antietam...I will have to get that done. Here is a link if you want to see all the photos...Washington DC Photos
And yes cousin Liz made it to DC....brought us lunch in "The" Wegman's bag along with Berger cookies. While the boys were on the "lawn" Jim, Barry, Liz and I toured the Smithsonian butterfly exhibit (a marvelous experience) and we toured Postal Pavilion for some great views of DC. Thank goodness Barry was there...then we knew what we were looking at!
Now at this point I came down with strep and to be honest I don't remember much more about the trip! I do know Jim and Emily drove us home, through the night.
I do remember Moker coming out to meet us at the farm...he went with us to Fallingwater then he went on his way. He has found a great road out of Wheeling...Route 40! Some day a Route 40 trip is in my future.....
Sometimes I'm asked..well what do you do with the grand sons when you are in Duluth? We always try to find time for Brighton Beach. Here is just one of the most magnificent sites you could see..the ice stacking on shore. Just on the other side of this huge stack of ice is open water...Lake Superior. For more photos of the day check out here:
As if Duluth wasn't enough, Jim and I ventured close by to William O'Brien State Park to walk the trail near the St Croix River. You could almost see spring...we heard the geese and the river was open in spots...probably the best part...just the sunshine and the peaceful day.
OK cousins...you always ask...what do you sell? What does your company do? Well here you go! This is just one of our labeling machines...but it gives you an idea of how handy a label printer can bee (opps sorry but i had to throw that at ya!) This is why when you come to the house you'll find our senior housing well-labeled..no more trying to remember when we changed the filters, climbing on the ladder to see the bulb size for a light fixture and on and on....you just have to have one of these...
Well when your grandmother has a membership to the MN Historical Society...and you come to visit her in Stillwater...Well you are going to sometime during that weekend be drug to something "historical" whether you need the experience or not! So off the lads went to St Paul for the Art Treasure Hunt at the State Capitol. Considering that we had to park a mile and walk in minus 20 degrees...we spent most of the treasure hunt trying to warm up...but all the treasures were found then we went exploring! Several floors later we had found the state patrol offices, cafeteria...discussed IT requirements for the Senate and Legislature Floor...and like all adventures with the lads...just lots of laughing and checking things out.
And well we found the Perpich photo...when you are Range boys you should have your photo taken with the Perpichs! When we looked out of the window...we could
see our long walk to the capitol! Grandma says we would all make great lawyers. Here we are on "The Bench!"
Later in the morning we meet up with Moker at Cossettas for BIG slices of pizza and seeing the winter carnival Vulcans. Then to the science museum with Uncle Science is my middle name Mike. Lots of things got "explained"....but the best is always the ping pong machine in the cafeteria.
Sunday was a play at the lake day...well mostly inside...so very cold...movies, crafts, Jenga...but in the afternoon we ventured out for Kill the Man Sledding and Pick Up Hockey.....you can take the boys south but you can't take the north out of the boys.
Perhaps the best treasure is just being together.