The Critter Cafe May 29, 2009

My mom and dad have a bird feeder that sits quite close to the house.  They enjoy watching the birds from the picture window while they sit at the dining room table.  Many people over the years have enjoyed the wide variety of feathered friends that are attracted to the sunflower seeds that my dad keeps the feeder stocked with.

Lately however, the clientele at the feeder has changed.  My parents have seen deer, raccoons, fox, turkey, and most recently a bear at their feeder.  This bear has become somewhat of a menace around the neighborhood.  My parents have had two bird feeders demolished by the bear in a week’s time.  He has bent their shepherd’s hook and slurped up the grape jelly from the oriole feeder.  Talk around the neighborhood is he has done this to several feeders in other people’s yards.

The other day my mom looked up from the riding lawn mower to see the bear standing under her clothesline.  She went to the house to grab her camera and it ventured closer.  After much banging on the windows and hollering at the bear he finally walked off in his own sweet time.  He’s definitely not afraid of people.

I have perennial flowers planted around my bird feeders, so for now I am not refilling my feeders for fear the bear will trample my poppies, hollyhocks and peonies.  I have also decided not to walk the trail between my house and my parents.  I would like to eventually see the bear but not up close and personal like my mom did!

 

Memorial Day Fishing

For as long as I can remember ,  our little family has spent Memorial Day fishing.  We pack a picnic lunch and head to the lake.  We fish for a while and stop for lunch before we head to another lake fishing.  We have included various people in our tradition throughout the years but we have never wavered from it.  This year we hit three different bodies of water with my brother-in-law and 2 of my nephews.  It was a beautiful, sunny (although a little windy) day.

Usually at the end of the day we head home to clean our catch and have a big ol’ fish fry.  I can only remember there being one year where we actually had to buy fish because we did not have enough for friends and relatives.  This year we did really well and the weather was so beautiful we didn’t want to come home.  We left at 9:30am and didn’t get home until 9:20pm!   Needless to say, the fish fry was put on hold.  Fish tastes better fresh but we knew we’d be too busy this week to eat them so they were moved to the freezer where we will enjoy them this weekend.

 

Highlight Reel May 23rd-29th, 2009 May 25, 2009

Saturday- Got up at 6am and got busy.  I did 2 loads of laundry, washed dishes, baked Rhubarb Crunchy Topped Muffins for us (click on Favorite Recipes tab at the top of the page to view recipe) and Peanut Blossom Bars and Princess Cookies for the church bake sale.  When the muffins came out of the oven I took some nice warm ones over to mom and dad for breakfast and visited them for a while.   At 10am I woke the boys up and we went to Little Falls for lunch and then I took them down to the dam to go fishing.  When we got home I sawed off 33 low hanging limbs off the pine trees on the edge of our yard, then took a shower and got ready for church.  After church (which Monica joined us for) we came home and made supper and picked up the limbs and hauled them away.  Jeff and Zach escaped to go fishing before I could find any more work for them to do and Monica and I took  trip into the woods and dug up some ferns to replace the ones Holly killed by sleeping on them, and a maple tree.  We  got those planted, did some raking, and hung up one of my two new birdhouses.  It was a very full but oddly relaxing kind of day.  A great start to my 9 days of vacation!

Sunday- I don’t usually have the luxury of enjoying Sunday as a day of rest (laundry and housework needs to get done sometime) but since I’m on vacation this week I decided to take full advantage of the sabbath.  After a trip to town to pick up Memorial Day flowers and a trip to two cemetaries we stopped at Gander Mountain for bait for tomorrow’s fishing trip and home to relax the rest of the day while Jeff & Zach went fishing.  I popped some ribs in the oven for supper and laid in the sun and read a magazine.

Monday- Packed a picnic lunch and did our traditional Memorial Day fishing trip.  Had such a good time we didn’t get home in time to fry up the fish we caught like we normally do!

Tuesday- Had a retreat and Potluck at Father Tony’s tonight for the Tri-Parish council.

Wednesday- Tyler had the day off and wanted to do something so we went to St Cloud for the afternoon.  Did some shopping, had lunch at the Olive Garden and had a great time.

Thursday- Janeen and I don’t get to see each other very much anymore since her schedule changed so we got together today and putzed around in Nisswa.  We shopped, had lunch and before we went home we stopped for a margarita.  (It wouldn’t be a Janeen and Angie get together without a margarita or two!)

Friday-Went to town early to pick up our paychecks and then went to a few rummage sales.  Picked up some flowers just in case I got ambitious enough to plant today (I didn’t, but I did get some work done in the beds).  I laid in the sun with a book for a while and then dropped Zach off at the motocross races while Jeff and I went out for supper.

Lake Amnesia

My husband and son are avid fisherman.  They go fishing every opportunity they get, and it takes them a lot of research and time to find a sweet spot.  But when they do, they are very protective of it and keep it a tight lipped secret.  Most of the time I don’t even know where they catch the big ones. 

Often when showing off pictures of their prized catch someone will inevitably ask where they caught it.  Instead of telling the opportunistic fisherman where they got it they will often say they caught it on Lake Amnesia.  “Lake Amnesia?” the befuddled sportsman will ask.  “Where is that?”  And my husband and son will answer- “I don’t remember!”

Here is a picture of the latest walleye caught on Lake Amnesia.

Highlight Reel May 16th-22nd

Saturday- camping…see previous blog

Sunday- after we get home from camping and took long showers (which felt incredible!) we went to a benefit dinner for a girl from our church.  Then headed home for a nap before I start overnight mods tonight.
Monday- worked overnight mods…can’t get my body to function because of lack of sleep but they went really well and we got a lot accomplished.   Zach had Court of Honor where he received 4 new merit badges: art, aviation, leatherworking and fire safety.

Tuesday- mods again, still overly tired.

Wednesday- I think I finally got caught up on my sleep from this weekend and working overnighters.  I’m definitely functioning at a higher capacity.

Thursday- last night of overnighters now that my body is getting used to them.  After I woke up this afternoon I went and spent almost 4 hours on the lawnmower.  Tomorrow I will be trimming trees and hopefully getting into my flower beds a little.  We’ll see…

Friday- Working at the normal time felt good today!  Zach went to the motocross races tonight and with Jeff getting home so late because his truck broke down on the route we didn’t do anything tonight.

Patrol Campout May 19, 2009

Friday 15th, 6:30am- Closed the car door with everything packed for this weekend’s campout.  I’m very excited.  I love to camp!

12pm-Getting antsy.  When will work be done?

2:30pm-Hear the rain pouring down on the roof at work.  All of a sudden I’m not so excited.

3pm- Dodge puddles up to my ankles as I run to the car.

3:15pm- Pick up a wet looking Zach from school.  It’s still raining.

4pm- Barely sprinkling, we start setting up the tent.

4:05pm-Downpour.

4:15pm- On hands and knees inside tent wiping up the floor with a towel.  Note to self: next time you pack away the tent close the windows.

7pm- Mark, Eric and Andrew join us and we finish setting up camp kitchen and screenhouse.

8pm- supper and a campfire.

11pm- Bedtime

2 ish – vaguely remember waking up shivering

3am- wake up to the sound of snow/sleet pelting the tent

Sat. 16th 7am- finally convince myself to get out of the nice warm sleeping bag.  Zach starts the fire.

9am- Breakfast then football, baseball and kite flying.

12:30pm- Head to the beach to do a community service project.  Rake and pick up sticks then a quick game of beach football.  There for 4 hours.  Wind up extrememly windburned.

5pm- Boys go biking and fishing while supper slow cooks in the dutch oven.  Jeff joins us.

8pm- Pork chop and potato bake with green beans, bread and cheesecake squares for supper.  Yum!

11pm- Bedtime again.  Colder tonight but no wind so it feels warmer.

Sunday 17th, 5:30am- Jeff gets fire started.

6am- trying to figure out what to do with my funky hairdo that was a result of me sleeping with a hat on all night.

8am- Breakfast of pancakes and sausage.  Clean up and tear down.

11:40 pm- Pull out of camp with a contented sigh.  What a great weekend!  Can’t wait until our next one.

 

Highlight Reel May 9th-May 15th

Saturday-  Zach and I went to the zoo and spent a fun afternoon in Little Falls.  Zach was home in time to babysit Aiden and since Jeff had to work late I ended up going to church by myself.  The Knights of Columbus handed out carnations to all the mothers after church which was really nice.  Tyler’s day was not so nice.  On top of being really tired today, he tore his pants at work and after his shift was ended he went out to his car to find his car had been leaking gas.  His friend Josh drove him around to get parts and they went back to try to fix it in the parking lot.  Thanks Josh!

Sunday- Happy Mother’s Day!!  I had a beautiful day with the family.  This morning Tyler gave me a beautiful card and a gift certificate.  Then Jeff and the boys took me out for lunch at China Buffet.  After lunch we went to my mother-in-law’s house and spent the afternoon with her.  It was nice to see she’s getting along so well.   We left her house I went over to my mom’s house and brought over her gift and spent some time there.  When I got home there was a nice message from my brother in California wishing me a Happy Mother’s Day so I called him back and talked to him while I was making supper.  I couldn’t have asked for a more pleasant day!

Monday-  Scouts tonight was very busy.  We continuued with the Personal Management merit badge and finished up Fire Safety and Leatherworking all in time for next Monday’s Court of Honor.

Tuesday- Book club discussion tonight was Water for Elephants.  An excellent book! 

Wednesday- Had another Catechist Aprreciation dinner but opted not to go.  I already went to one and one was enough.

Thursday- finished packing the car for the weekend camping trip.

Friday- left work for camping (watch for my blog on this coming soon)

A Trip to the Zoo May 11, 2009

Zach and I had a free afternoon so we headed to Little Falls with the intention of going to the art co-op so Zach could finish his Art Merit Badge.  However, after piddling around with some shopping we got there at 2:09pm only to find out they closed at 2.  So instead we went to the Pine Grove Zoo.  It has been years since I went there and they have changed a lot.  Instead of having small 10×10 cages they now have big fenced in areas for the animals to roam in, a small gift shop and a little education center.  While it is still a small zoo, you can tell they are working to improve it more every year.

Zach had fun feeding the animals in the petting stables and we watched the bears wrestling around.  He was fascinated with how big the turkeys could fluff out their feathers and how skinny the legs looked on the big bison.  The prairie dogs were a hoot!

Zach and I then went to the dam to watch the water and the fishermen there.  We walked through Maple Grove Park and talked about plans for this summer.  When we finally had to get going (Zach had a babysitting job this evening) we got in the car and blew our kazoos (which we had purchased earlier at a gift store) all the way home.  It was a fun afternoon that I got to spend with my youngest son who is growing way too fast.  I know that in a few years there won’t be many of these afternoons left.  He’ll be too busy with work, friends and girls- just like my oldest- to spend very much time with me.  That’s why on this Mother’s Day weekend I really cherished this time together.

 

Highlight Reel May 2nd-May8th, 2009 May 9, 2009

Saturday-  Zach and I went to Mr. Esperson’s tree farm for Boy Scouts  to replant some of the trees that died over the winter.  It didn’t take us as long as we thought it would since we only had to plant about 250 trees.  After planting, Mr. Esperson took us on a hike around his 40 acre tree plantation to see some examples of old and new growth.  Then we went to the Merrifield Lion’s Park for a picnic lunch.

Sunday-  After church today we had the Teacher Appreciation Brunch.  We were served 3 different kinds of egg bakes, fresh fruit, toast and donuts and juice.   We were also given a nice gift of a jeweled cross that sits on an easel.  I’m very glad this year is over.  I had way too big of a class so next year it will be nice to have a smaller class size.  Tyler and Monica went to the flea market in Wadena and Tyler was excited to come home with an Alpine Subwoofer that he got for the very low price of $3.00.  He offered to pimp out my Trailblazer but I think I like it without the BOOM BOOM!

Monday-  Went to Don’s house for Boy Scouts to do a little yard work as part of a community service project- but really more because we wanted to help Don out in his time of need. (read previous post).  After we got done in Don’s yard our patrol went to the park to finish up our Aviation and Fire Safety Merit Badges.

Tuesday-Cinco de Mayo!!  Nope, not Mexican but yep did the whole Cinco de Mayo thing tonight.  You know me…I can’t resist working with a theme.  We had tacos and I made some new mexican rice side dish and we had creme caramel flan for dessert.  I offered to add to the atmosphere by singing La Cucaracha and doing the Mexican Hat Dance but I was immediately shot down.  Spoilsports!

Wednesday-  While Zach and Jeff went fishing I worked outside in the yard for a while.  It was such a nice day!

Thursday-  Mowed the lawn and it looked wonderful for about 15 minutes and then all the dandelions started popping back up again.  I made a new recipe my friend Patty gave me for Warm Toasted Marshmallow Smore Bars.  Yummy!  I took some over to my parent’s house and stayed and played cards.

Friday- Monica and Gracie stopped by the office today to give me this super huge Mother’s Day card.  And it even sings!  Tyler and Zach went to the Smelt Fry at Fort and I opted to stay in and wait for my sweetheart to get home from work.  His longer summer hours are starting so he didn’t get home until 7:30 again today.  😦

Spring Yard Cleanup May 5, 2009

Tonight I did some yard work…but not in my yard.  Our Boy Scout Troop decided to help out Don,one of our Scout leaders that has been sick with cancer and unable to get his yard work done.  When Bob called Don to see what night would be best to work on his yard, Don was amazed that we would think to help him.  Why would we not?  Don has done many things for the Scouts.  He has been our Committee Chair and our Sponsor liason.  He has been to summer camp with the boys and cooked them up his famous macaroni and cheese.  He has also taught them the Citizenship, Communications, and Reading merit badges.  So it was a real pleasure to give back to Don tonight.

We had current and former Scouts there as well as current and former Scout leaders.  In just  1  1/2 hours we raked his yard, cleaned out his flower beds, dug up his garden, cleaned his gutters, blew the pine needles into the driveway so they could be swept up, took down storm windows, sawed off some dead branches from his trees and swept out his garage.  I was very proud of the hard work the boys put in tonight.

After treating us to cookies and soda, Don and his wife joined the circle for Scout Vespers.  It was a very emotional evening.  I’m glad we were able to help out.