July 7, 2009

Happy Birthday Lou, Lou!!!!! Miss ya!

July 7, 2009
It was the best day so far because I got to talk to my Lou Lou on her very special day. I remember 12 years ago when she was born. I can’t believe it has been that long but I grow to love her more and more each year! I especially love that she loves to learn about God. We didn’t get up until later today so we did our Bible study and then did some yard work. Scott cut down trees and the rest of us hauled to the burn pile and then Mom and I each took turns clipping some little trees. Then we had Chicken Tortilla Soup for lunch. Dad, Mom and Scott took naps so I went for a kayak ride. Today I went around the island the opposite way. I saw our eagles and I scared a deer. At least I’m pretty sure it was a deer. I saw a tan butt and then heard a “crashing run” with a bunch of snorting. After I got around the far point I took out my binoculars because I thought I saw an eagle on the rock. Through the binoculars I could see that there were actually eight eagles sitting on the rock. It was really cool. About that time, Mom and Dad showed up in the canoe and we headed back to shore. When we got in Dad and Scott started chopping weeds and picking up stuff off the beach while I started to rack the grass out of the water. Then Dad, Scott and I went into Vermillion Bay to buy chartreuse jigs that are supposed to be the best walleye jigs. Richard told Dad and Scott that Dale had them at the Coop and they are so popular that he keeps them stock piled. When we get there he’s out of them! Then we went to Bobby’s and bought minnows. Mom was at home making sandwiches for our late night trip but when we got home she was trimming trees again. We also noticed that Ron and Dee were back from an entire day in Dryden so Dad called Dee and asked them if they wanted to go and they jumped on it. So around 5-5:30pm we headed out. With the extra weight it was even slower but it was fun because we visited and got our poles ready. When we got out there just north of canoe island, we all six put in our poles. It was not a very fruitful day. The weather was great. The lake was beautiful. We saw a white pelican flying. I was shocked at how graceful it was and how high it could fly in the sky. It was just soaring. We also saw 5-6 eagles flying from island to island. Dee caught a perch, Mom caught a small keeper walleye, and Dad caught two small walleyes. On the way home we trolled Tivo Island and saw quite a few eagles again. Then we ended the adventure when Ron caught a good sized northern. When we got home it was almost 9pm. Dad and Scott started a fire and Mom was watching them out the window. She saw Dad reach in his pocket and hand Scott a peanut and then they would shell their peanuts and throw the shell in the fire and start the process again. Scott took a bath in the dark around 10pm. I went to bed!!

July 6, 2009

We decided to take the floatboat out for a test run. We packed burgers and stuff to grill somewhere on an island. We invited Ron and Dee along. Dad wanted to tow the big boat behind since it was our first time out. Scott and I decided just to follow them in the big boat. Scott had to go back up for more gas so the floatboat headed out. They were stopped by Tivo Island so as we headed toward them I noticed an eagle flying, then they yelled to us to look at the eagles. It was incredible! There were at least 6 eagles, another bird that we are still arguing about what it was and about 4 vultures. They were fighting and swooping down to pick up fish entrails that someone had left. I grabbed my camera and took over a hundred pictures. Scott kept moving the boat around to get me as close as possible. It was one of the top nature experiences in my life so far. We finally pulled ourselves away and headed toward the mainland where we trolled all the way to the east side of Boat Island. Across from Boat Island was a peninsula of an island that was already setup to have a campfire and lunch. I named the Island “Hamburger Rock Island” but on the Garmin it is called Hamburger R because we grilled burgers there. After lunch we headed back and Dad decided to stop south of the reef and throw in some minnow bait. His pole wasn’t in for more than 2 seconds and he snagged a nice little walleye. Of course we had to try to get some more there so we all circled the area for a good half hour and didn’t even get another bite. Mom was driving the pontoon and I was driving the big boat. We didn’t even crash! Close to 3pm we decided to head back the wind was picking up and the water was getting a little rough. The pontoon boat went back to the cabin but Scott and I stayed and trolled around Tivo Island. Actually I took pictures. I’m pretty sure there were at least 11 eagles hiding in different trees around the island. One time I was taking pictures of eagles and looking for them in the trees and I felt something staring at me so I turned around and there was a loon about 3 feet from the boat. He popped back up about 3 times posing for me to take his picture. After his first appearance Scott discovered that his minnow was gone so we are very suspicious that psycho loon took it. As I took his picture he would turn his head for a new pose! When we got back Mom and Dad had already taken their baths in the lake so Scott and I took ours. We took the one entrails out to the rock but didn’t have any luck.

check out these incredible pictures!!!! Picasa Album

July 5, 2009

We decided to go fishing. I woke up around 6am and started making pb & j’s for the trip. Mom came out shortly and helped us. It was a day of first’s Dad didn’t get out of bed until about 6:30pm and he told us to quit rushing. After our Bible study, he and Scott went down to Deer Trail to get some hotspot tips and minnows from Richard. When they got back we got down to the boat and there was water all the way to the front of the boat. Dad turned on the bilge pump and water poured out of the boat for at least 10 minutes. So we all sat around and offered our fantastic advice as Dad tried to figure out where the leak was coming from. After messing with the plug a little it seemed to take care of the problem so we headed out a ways and walleye fished for a couple of hours. Not even a bite we headed to Tivo to troll before we went in. Scott caught a northern and we saw an eagle chase away another big bird. I thought it was an osprey, Dad and Scott thought that it was an eaglet and mom said it was a huge red-winged blackbird. I took some really cool pictures then we went home and took naps.
Mom accidently dropped the candle that I had left lit and there was wax all over the bathroom floor and shower. We had to scrap it off with a spoon. While we were doing it Dad was reading us excerpts out of his George W Bush book and then Groves called and asked when we were going to finish our tournament so we told them to give us a half hour. Mom got the vacuum out of the closet to help us pick up the wax and Dad decided to call Grandma. So we had to turn the vacuum off and wait for him to finish talking. When we had it done we had 15 minutes left to take our baths so Scott and I headed down to the lake. It was gorgeous. The sun was shining and the wind had died down a lot so we decided to let them finish the tournament because we had not kayaked yet today. Scott said we were going to go to Tivo but the wind had picked up a little and it was hard paddling so he settled on the southwest end of Paradise. I went around to the beach and decided to keep going. I paddled around the entire island and then back to Scott who had had one nibble and the sun was below the trees on the island so it was getting cold. We decided to head back. We paddled back and then took our baths in the shocking cold water. I really wish it would warm up a little!! My ankle was pretty swollen after yesterday’s adventures so I tried to keep it uncovered and out of the water most of the day.

July 4, 2009

July 4, 2009
So today we decided to put the big boat in and Scott and Dad were going to take it down there so Mom and I walked there and sat on the hill waiting for them. We waited and waited and waited and finally decided to go figure out what happened to them when they pulled in. They had Ron with them and they went out to the float boat. After about a half hour they actually got the float boat running. Dad had remembered some special instructions that the guys at the boat shop had told him. We put the big boat in and couldn’t get it deep enough so I went in the water and pushed it out. Scott picked me up at the dock and he and I took the big boat back behind Dad and Ron in the float boat.
Scott and I went out in our kayaks and tried some fishing at Paradise Islands. We didn’t have much luck but it was fun. Scott spent most of the time untangling his line from his new reel and I went into the bay and checked out the dock and then watched the eagle and eaglets as I casted.
That night Scott and Dad went out for a little casting. Scott caught two northern near Paradise and Tivo. We played Mexican train with Ron and Dee at 11 pm we still had 4 games left so we decided to continue the game the next night. Ron was in the lead with 4 games, then Mom with 3 and I had 1.

July 3, 2009

July 3, 2009
We were up early and on the road around 6 am. Mom and Dad got passed the first stage of the border pretty quickly and Scott and I flew through. They didn’t even ask us about our 5 bins of food in the back of the truck! We pulled up to wait for them to go in and pay duty on the boat, trailer and windows. When he went in Dad forgot to mention the trailer and they were talking about seizing it and everything. I still don’t totally get what happened but we had to give them my email so that we could print something in 3-5 days and then take the trailer to Canadian Tire for an inspection. So we will be heading to Dryden early next week. I’m excited to go to the library and check it out to try for email access. We hit Ojibwa Trail around 10:30am and Dad went nuts! He started driving like a maniac. It was like he saw the end and nothing was going to slow him down. I walkie talkied mom and told her I was praying for her safety. It was just funny because we couldn’t drive over 60 mph the entire trip but then he lost his mind. Actually he was going pretty fast on 502. If our Garmin was right we hit 104 km a couple of times. Although our Garmin said we weren’t on 502 most of the way. We had to change our icon to a truck with big wheels so that we could off-road with no problems!  When we arrived everything looked great and we unpacked our billion tubs of food. Ron and Dee stopped by and we visited for awhile and then had tuna salad for lunch.
After we kind of unpacked we decided to try and put the float boat in. The only problem was that it wouldn’t start. Richard had Dad’s truck backed in up over the muffler and Mom and I were sitting in the float boat going “Don’t look” but we couldn’t stand it we had to look and the muffler was blowing bubbles under the water. Mom and I finally left and went up to see Ruth and buy our fishing licenses. Then we walked home and we were going to make chili and hop in our kayaks to go see how the men were doing. We took one kayak down the hill and then went into make the chili. Meanwhile the guys came back and Scott carried his kayak down the hill. I’m a little fuzzy on what we did next but Dad and Scott ended up back at Deer Trail working on the boat and Mom and I kayaked over to give moral support. When we arrived there were 5 guys trying to figure out what was wrong with the motor: Dad, Scott, Richard, Richard’s dad (visiting from Wisconsin) and some other guy that I later learned owns the Coop in Vermillion Bay. Mom gave Scott his kayak and went back with Dad. Scott and I kayaked back. It was very discouraging because now the float boat was parked at Deer Trail and Dad was going to have to hire someone to fix it. Later on Mom and Dad went into Dryden and they said it would be three weeks and really expensive for someone to come out and that they couldn’t come out for at least three weeks. Dad was really discouraged because now he was going to have to take it back out and drive it to Vermillion Bay. Dad was telling Ron and Dee the problem and mentioned the automatic choke and Ron said don’t take it in because he wanted to look at it.

July 2, 2009

July 2, 2009
We had an interesting start to our trip. As we were getting ready to leave Alan was inspecting our trailer and noticed that a weld was breaking so we drove back to the shop and he fixed it real quick and Hannah used our blue spray paint and painted it over. In the meantime mom and dad took off figuring we would catch up with them easily. Scott and I stopped once to change drivers and check the trailer just outside of Braidwood. When we turned onto 39 N they were 8 miles ahead of us and we were gaining. Scott was asleep when I came upon a boat cushion in the middle of the interstate. It looked suspiciously like mom and dad’s float boat cushion. I pulled over as quickly as possible and woke Scott up. Scott started to walk back toward the cushion and I “beeped” Dad. He immediately noticed that both back cushions were gone. Scott walked back about a half of mile and went on the busy interstate with big semis flying by. He carried it all the way back to the truck. Mom and Dad gave me their location so that we would know when to give up looking for the cushions. We never found them and Mom and Dad got a greater lead. We finally caught up to about 5 minutes behind them when we stopped at a rest area just north of Wisconsin Dells for lunch. Dad gave us 5 minutes to eat our tuna sandwiches and we were off again. Around 6pm we arrived in Superior and Duluth. As we were going over Lake Superior I took a shot with my phone and sent it to Alan on his cell for Hannah. He and Paul were farming and they were quick to respond back with a picture of a cornfield! We all had a good laugh. We stopped at Gander Mountain in Hermantown and then had dinner at The Outback Steakhouse. Then we headed for the Super 8 in Eveleth, Minnesota where we stopped for the night.

December 29, 2008

It's my birthday. It's been very pleasant so far. Yesterday Scott and I left Kankakee for a trip to visit Jessica in Dalton, Georgia. We used our new Garmin to navigate and ended up being on a two lane highway for many miles. I think it slowed us down b/c we got stuck behind vehicles a lot and had to stop off and on at lights or stop signs. It was a beautiful drive though. It beats the scenery along an interstate! We saw cows, horses, goats, buffaloes and a lot of hawks. There were also some neat clouds and a beautiful sunset.
We stopped at Arby's to eat and then were trying to find a Walmart to purchase an fm transmitter for my iPod touch. The Garmin took us to an Office Depot the first try and then to a dead end the second try. We finally gave up and hopped back on the highway only to have it end w/ the Garmin showing us that we were actually driving in a field. Scott turned onto another interstate (after dark) only to find headlights headed straight for us. We had to drive through the grass between lanes to get back to the right side. It was God's grace we didn't get stuck which reminds me we need to find a car wash!
We did make it to the hotel in Clarksville, Tennessee finally and only lost one minute according to the Garmin! It has redeemed itself b/c it did find a Walmart in Clarksville where we got a Belkin transmitter that was on sale for $35 and some WWII Fighter Plane game for our new wii.
We spent the evening watching House marathon and went to bed. Today I went down to the hottub and found the pool and hottub in this greenhouse like building. It was freezing! The temperature outside was 28 and it didn't feel any different in the "pool room". BUT it was fun. Just like being in Colorado or Bob and Karol's deck. The hot tub was hot the air was cold. After a nice soak I met Scott for breakfast.

I have enjoyed this Fairfield Inn. One thing I'll say about Marriott is that they provide a nice chain for people w/o a lot of money that is still clean and very nice. The room had a refrig and microwave. I was also impressed by the towels available at the pool. They were white w/ blue stripes and actually real towel sized. Breakfast choices (included w/ room) were great. They had a couple of choices of Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches, 3 types of juices, waffles, biscuits and gravy, many types of muffins and bagels, toast, yogurt, milk, apples (I was disappointed by the fresh fruit selection), and cereal. There's a nice (at least 31") TV along w/ a desk and a comfy chair. It's a big room w/ a sink separate from the bathroom. My only complaint is the pillows! Scott and I both hate the pillows. They are foam pillows. I guess I need to change my preferences to feather but usually feather make me sneeze.

We are looking forward to meeting Jessica and her husband Tony today. Our Jimmy is jampacked w/ stuff for them. There are about 20 paper boxes and about 30 Breyer horses in their original boxes. We are bringing Jess her stuff that was in the attic plus I have been doing some deep cleaning so I am bringing her old decorative and kitchen stuff. I'm not sure how we are going to get our suitcase/bag back in the truck. I may have to carry it on my lap for the last three hours!