Critters

When we've been in the boundary waters before we are always prepared for the big critters-Bears. It's prudent to be clean--To put your food in a bag and hang it from a very tall tree. We have had contact with them before and it's never a good thing. One year, Ron woke up at the sound of his pans on the bag trap and charged a bear trying to steal empty plastic food bags. That was a treat. But usually the worst the woods yields are the mosquitoes and flies. This year our critter encounters were a bit more tame...squirrels, birds, frogs, 1 northern (that we ate) leeches (ugh. I mean really ugh. I hate those things) a GIANT spider in the outhouse...(a wolf spider I found out later) and a gazillion (seriously) mosquitoes. We were actually in the boundary waters two years ago and we were able to be outside well after dark and didn't even have problems with them on the portage trails. But this year...YIKES! We had to move indoors before the sun even went down. We had to be indoors or be doped up all day to stay away from them. I was bit to shreds. I was one mass of itching flesh. But have you ever tried 'Gold Bond'? Wonderful stuff to take away the itching. Ha! Then there were the brown bats. They were awesome. We discovered the first one on the first night when it flew into the cabin. Ron actually managed to catch it and release it without killing it. The next night we noticed one coming from behind the sign over the door. When looked-5 bats were snoozing there! Wow! Well, they eat those pesky mosquitoes, so we left them to their own devices and didn't have any problems with them. Anyway : my wildlife pictures :

On the necessities of Life

Back to work today. And here I am blogging again. I'm sure to have plenty of new materials for the next few days!!
In some ways it's good to be back into the routine. But I have to tell you about our week in the wilderness. Who would have believed northern Minnesota would be so HOT! It was blazing, and we were in the woods! There were tons of mosquitoes this year so I came back with lots of war wounds. (Did you know Gold Bond is great for mosquito and deer fly bites?) We didn't really get much canoeing, or hiking in, though we did do some swimming and that's a leech story. I have a picture to go with that, but I'll save that bloody story for later. Caught one measly fish. (I don't eat fish personally, but it was an insult to everyone else!) It was too hot for them too. At any rate, I had a chance to sit around and eat. Think. Read. Sweat. Play games. Write. Eat some more. Sleep. We had a down filled sleeping bag, but believe me, we didn't even need the sleeping bag it was that warm. Oh well, It was truly worth it. I could, and did, forget about everything that wasn't important. Funny how you really can survive without the air conditioning, light switches, running water and other such lovely things. Believe me I really appreciate them much more. Now that I'm back I'll have to forgo the mid morning, mid afternoon and mid evening snacks and naps. Hope that works out ok! So Of course here are somepictures:

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs...or rain would be good.

Oh for rain!

So we're off for a vacation from normal life here. No computers. Cell phones. Electricity. I'll have plenty of pictures to post I'm sure.

Company manners

Charlie the beagle was over for a visit this week. He's a sweet tempered dog and he and Buster get along quite well. He is not, however, used to the way we do doggie things at our house. As soon as I got home from work I took him outside and let him do his thing. He went and went and went and went so I assumed all was well in that department. 45 minutes later he planted his head on my lap and started whining. Who knew what was his problem? Hunger? Buster bothering him too much? I told him to go away and leave me alone for now. I had other things on my agenda. The next thing I knew I could hear him start watering my carpet. And he went and went before I yelped and chased him out the door. Too late for the poor carpet! He was supposed to lead me by the hand and head for the door to let me know he needed to go outside. I guess every dog has their own language but I sure wish I could have made him clean up his own mess. Boy is that fun to clean or what!? Not. I told Ron we could use new stuff in our front room. He's not the only dog to do that. A certain un named weimeraner has watered that same spot. Ha!

Learning curve and memory

Well, I'm not sure if it's age, the learning curve or if stupidity has just moved in permanently, but I certainly am racking up the mistakes-at work, at home, with friends, for meetings, for family. Maybe I have too much going on but whatever it is makes me want to crawl off somewhere and not show my face for a few months...years...whatever. I am learning a new barcoding/cataloging thingy at work. Have meetings coming out of my ears, summer reading is getting over with at the library and things are pretty zooey there right now but every tiny mistake sits like a weight on my shoulders. At least vacation is ahead at the end of the week. I can concentrate on reading and relaxing. Maybe that will help.

Potluck

I have files and files of pictures saved to CDs. I don't always know what they are, so tonight I decided to point my finger, in effect, and whatever picture my finger landed on that would be my blog topic for the night. Thus, the blogging "potluck".

So my picture turns out to be my baby brother, Tom. He's a mere 5 years younger than I am and we have always been close. He does seem to think that I'm one of those 'know it all' sisters and he loves to make sure I know that I don't really (know it all) and that in the years since he was 3 he has learned a thing or two. I have two brothers and this one seems to be the most impulsive and fun loving. He's a daredevil, outgoing, friendly and a bit more hot tempered than I am. But our personalities mesh in ways that make it easier for us to get along somehow. And lucky me, he lives close enough that we get to see each other quite a bit. So Hoo Rah for my little brother Tom.

American Tradition

What could be more American than the church potluck? We had a doozy today. Don't ever go to one of these and expect to starve. The tables are quite overloaded with food that is the best! From the snicker salad to the hot fudge sunday oreo cookie dessert the cooks around here are the best! Good thing I didn't eat any breakfast. It could have been a picnic outdoors since the temps aren't so sweltering right now. We opted to beat the heat at its own game and just stay inside to begin with. Good thing we don't do this every Sunday. Those saints from the days of ACTS where they shared everything in common including meals must have been waddling around on their jobs on Monday morning. Ha!