Tuesday, May 29

Memorial Weekend '07 Recap

The last few days have been such a blur, that I'm sure I'll be leaving out some details. There is no doubt we worked hard, played some, and will need to catch up on some sleep.

On Friday night, Steve & I enjoyed a date. We dined at my current employer's, on the patio, and then launched the kayaks off their shore. We had the lake to ourselves, the water was like glass, and there was nary a bug to be found. As we headed in for the night we were engaged in a territory dispute with the lake's resident bachelor beaver. When he'd slap his tail on the water's surface it sounded like gunshot. It was fun to paddle around looking for him, only to find he'd given us the slip and was tailing us.

Saturday was spent working around the farm (as I'm told I have one now), and the new Shop site. I don't know the details of what Steve accomplished that particular day, as I was up to my eyeballs in horse fence & chicken wire, and recyclables (don't ask). Luckily my kids have great fun tagging along, and had been up late the night before at sleepovers. They all napped. Then I headed off to work, and poured myself into bed somewhere close to midnight.

Sunday morning was spent resting at church, and I don't mean catching a few winks. ( I can't believe how many people I've seen do that!) Anyhoo... we came home to lunch in the oven, which I have to say is one of my favorite things. I love having the smell of roast greet you as you open the door! Then it was nap time for me & Mudge, as I was not functioning at that point.

After nap, I wandered down to the work site to find this....



And no... our site isn't really bowl-shaped. The picture is wonky.
You're looking at the beginning of our heated floor. It was like an assembly line, so I'm told. Bud had a job, Sis had a job, and Steve & Joe scrambled for 2 days getting it from this to this:



to this:



We wrapped up our weekend with a couple hours on our local, beautiful Red Cedar River. Steve & the girls used our new tandem kayak, and Bud went solo for the first time in mine. He did very well, but had to be reminded "slow & in control".

Before we even launched the boats we were treated to the antics of 4 river otters playing & dunking each other. Then a short time later we watched a huge snapping turtle take a slide down a very steep bank into the water, ker-sploosh! Not sure if it meant to take that particular route, as I can imagine it walking along the upper bank, minding its own business, and then the dirt giving way.

We saw numerous ducks, geese, and the ever-present eagle. I've never paddled that river and not seen at least 2 eagles. One stopped escorting us downriver long enough to pose:



Steve & I were able to have a good chuckle for a good chunk of the river trip. See, Bud is afraid of bears. Not your normal, healthy respect for a large, powerful animal. No, it's more like frenzied fear. So, as we're paddling along, we hear this very loud, echoing large-animal sound and Bud gets this look of terror on his face. Steve ran with it. He said, "wow, did you hear that bear?!" Knowing full well it was just a cow in the neighboring field. LOL.

So for over 1/2 hour this cow bellowed every so often, and each time you'd think Bud was going to turn that boat around and paddle up river to the put in point. Finally we had to tell. So now Bud's fear of the Dairy Bear will go down in history. It was great, and yes... we often have a good chuckle at Bud's expense. Isn't that what kids are for?!

I'll leave you with a couple more pics, and wishing you all a great week.

2 comments:

Jodi said...

Wow, what a weekend! All that wildlife; I'm envious!

And, if you spent your weekend up to your eyeballs in horse fence and chicken wire, you most certainly have a farm. ;)

Marti said...

It sounds like you had a profitable weekend in many ways.

The shop looks great!