There’s just something about the North Woods!

  Last Sunday, MacGyver and I drove 6 1/2 hours to Hayward, Wisconsin to “play” with our family.  We are now back home and ready to check into “detox” for a day or two ..JUST KIDDING!  Terrie, Tim and family, also Chris, John and family went up for one week.  I must preface this by saying that our family (or some portion of our family) has been vacationing in Hayward for at least 30 years or more.  It just so happens that MY family also vacationed there back in the 1950’s…My Grandma and Grandpa had a cabin there…but that is another whole story which I will tell in the next blog….

  There are also some extended family that go to Hayward..Tom and Leanne, (my hubby’s niece and nephew), Mark and Brenda,(another nephew and his wife…and 2 kids), Big Fluffy (we call Den’s brother-in-law that), Steve and his fiancé, (another nephew).  Also a good family friend, Gene Frieders and his wife and 3 kids go too. Years ago Den’s Mom and Dad went also…(MAN, that took lots of time to get on paper!)

  Dennis and I took our kids up a couple times when they were little, but then we started to go to Disneyworld and that became our summer vaca.  The past couple years, Den and I have been going to Hayward for just 3 nights to be with the family.  As I stated before, it is all we can handle.  Those kids can hurt us in no time flat!!

To save space I will post a couple photos and then a couple collages…

Here are 3 ways to hurt yourself..Den and I stayed clear of all 3 ….Three of the families in our group have boats, so we can all pile in and go to dinner at one of the gazillion resorts or bars/eating establishments on the Chippewa Flowage!

Above, left pic is our 2 daughters…Then Dennis and his beautiful girls….and me with the same two beauties….I can NOT keep up with these two!! Where EVER did they learn to play this hard?

 

This is what it’s all about “Up North”…Getting “the big one”.. This huge musky is the world’s largest…a whopping 67 1/2 lbs and 60 1/2” long…It was caught on July 24th, 1949, which makes him 64 years dead..He is hanging in the Moccasin Bar, the oldest existing saloon in Hayward,  founded in 1900.

 

 

 

 

My family always went in this bar for burgers and beers..I was very young then, but can remember “going to town” and all 5 of us having lunch there..my brother, sis, mom, dad and me…It is nostalgia time whenever I go to Hayward, Wisconsin. This was a huge part of my very young childhood.

So….Dennis and I planned to leave very early Wednesday AM…and Tuesday evening about 8PM, we said our good-byes to all the kids, grands and friends.  Ter, Tim, Chris, John , Leanne and Tom were going to go out on the lake fishing that evening.  Our 2 son-in-laws had gotten fishing licenses and they wanted to try their hand at fishing in the boat..All 3 couples piled into Tom and Leanne’s boat and they waved good-bye as they motored away out onto the Chippewa Flowage…MacGyver and I stopped and picked up a pizza “to go”, headed back to our room and hit the sack about 10PM. 

We got up at 5:15AM on Wednesday and were on the road by 6AM…I have to add here that there is almost NO cell phone service up there…You are lucky to get any signal at all…So after about an hour on the road, we finally got into cell phone service and Den’s phone notification signal went off…He checked the message and it said…”John caught a 44” Musky last night…”

Yep….sure enough…John Wolff got himself a very nice Musky. I cannot imagine the bedlam that transpired in that boat of 6 people when that fish was landed…

They don’t let you keep the fish…It is “catch and release” only, so they took the photo and got the measurement…and let Mr. Musky live to swim onto another lure…

As you might imagine, this was a whirlwind trip for us..but what a great time with all those kids…Our son, Kelly and his wife couldn’t go this  year and we all missed them..Maybe next year..  Right now, it is cocktail hour..Let’ see…Do I think I dare drink a Rum and Coke again after Hayward??? Oh..What the Heck..My de-tox period is over…Let the good times roll!!!!

Quick note..

Busy day here..parade for the 4th ( yes, I know…it’s the 6th)..Last night we attended another waterfight in Newark IL…Our son, Kelly, was on the Oswego Fire Dept. Waterfight team..Here is a quick link to the photos..

Oswego Water Fights

We are leaving for a 3 day family trip to Hayward, WI. tomorrow..I will post when we get back about THAT Cave-a-palooza!!

A visitor stops by..with a band!

  This last week the Cave Dwellings has had a strange new visitor “hanging around” the house.  Actually, he prefers our front roof, and is not bothered by me peering out our upstairs window and snapping his picture…

 

Now, this dude has a face only a mother could love…This face sort of reminded me of the Turkey Vultures that follow Dennis and me on all our walks (waiting for one of us to become carrion, no doubt.)…I do believe this little guy/gal (no ribbons or lip beakstick) is a homing pigeon…right?? He comes complete with 2 bands and a feathered ensemble…

This pigeon was here for about 4 days while our Indiana grandkids were here…He stayed mostly up in one corner of the overhang on our roof…Then, just as fast as he appeared, POOF!, he disappeared…I guess this wasn’t “home” to him…and I wish him well on his journey. I was beginning to feel very much like Harry Potter,who had an owl that delivered his mail.

 

 

 

 

Things have been pretty busy these days…We have been taking Aunt Jeanette up to the Alden Rehab to visit Uncle Jr.  He is taking physical therapy there and will be living there at least 20 days, and no more than 100…

Uncle Jr is the one to Jeanette’s right in the wheelchair.  The other gentleman in the wheelchair is his roommate.  You know, we can learn so much from the elder populace if we just take the time to listen…Uncle Jr.’s roommate worked for Shell Oil and helped develop the fuel for the planes used in WWII…Notice how Jeanette and I took over Uncle Jr.’s bed with our suitcase size purses???..and just for the record, Jeanette doesn’t look her 97 years!

When we took Jeanette  home that day, she decided she wanted her rotary dial telephone put back up..We had gotten a touch pad phone for Uncle Jr. because he wanted one, but now that he wasn’t around, she chose to go back to the old phone.  It is much easier for her to pick up due to numbness in her fingers…Above is MacGyver, re-hooking the old one…How did we ever use those darn things??

Last weekend we went to our nephew’s daughter’s graduation party in Spring Grove, almost to the Wisconsin border..They have a lovely home and we had a great time..

Left is the graduate, Jordan..Middle is our nephew (her Dad) Mark…and as you can see, they have a lovely home and pool.

They just remodeled their family room and put in hardwood floors…and he bought his wife a new Mercedes…(in my dreams)…

  I have been fighting the squirrels on a regular basis  here…

…they insist upon getting into my suet feeder that I just hung up….But, I do have a remedy for this…

OK,OK!! THIS IS JUST A JOKE!!! PLEASE DON’T SEND ME HATE MAIL FOR CRUELTY TO SQUIRRELS!! My Ya Ya Mary gave this to me as a joke and I hung it on our deck as an example of what just may happen if they insist on their evil ways!

So….You all know about my reputation for my outrageous ensembles in the evening…

….However…I can clean up every once in a while…….

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!!!!!

Just trying to help…

  This last month has been very active for Dennis and me..As you may remember, we have an uncle and aunt, ages 89 and 97 respectively,  who we have been  helping in their daily living…We have been assisting in grocery shopping, physical therapy twice weekly, fixing faucets (MacGyver), helping clean a flooded basement, and “you name it”.. About 3 weeks ago Uncle Jr. fell and hurt his back. We took him to the hospital ER where they did an Xray and said nothing was broken. Well, he just kept getting worse, and his 97 year old wife was no longer to take full care of him. So last Monday, I called their Dr. and he said to take him to the ER for admission to the hospital.  He stayed there 3 days, where they did an MRI, and discovered a fracture in the T-7 vertebrae of his back..No wonder he was in pain.

He was moved to a rehabilitation and physical therapy facility where he will stay for anywhere from 20 to 90 days…His wife is still home…I know, I know…We cannot get her to go into an assisted living place…We are taking her to see Uncle Jr. a couple times a week, and some friends have been helping take her in between. They live about 25 miles from us, so we are trying to stay on top of what is going on.  I have fallen behind on some of my blog reading, so bear with me…As they say, make all the plans you want and then watch life get in the way..

When Den and I drove home Monday evening from seeing Uncle Jr., we got into some very interesting weather clouds….heading toward us…

…the closer we got to home, the worse it looked…I took these with my cell phone from the windshield, so there are some reflections in these photos..

I am constantly in awe of the power of Mother Nature, who occasionally spanks us to remind us that we have NO control over  her will…

These last two were taken on the road headed into Sandwich…and the one of the right I took leaning forward and looking straight up into the sky above us…AMAZING!..and this was just with my cell phone!!

You are NOT going to believe this but as I was typing this blog , the weather was getting pretty dicey again around here…I stepped out to look at the clouds, and as I did….the tornado sirens went off AGAIN!!!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? Just about that time, our electricity went out….and that is when I busted my arse to get into the basement….Yep, took my cell phone and did the “Cave Ditch”…Fortunately, that is where the wine and beer are……After a couple minutes, I realized I HAD to know what was going on…so I came upstairs…Man, it was windy, and our neighbor has a pretty large tree precariously hanging over the Hiker…YIKES!…Luckily it held its ground…I have just about had it around here with the weather..NO WONDER WE DRINK!  Oh, and I’ll bet you are wondering where MacGyver was during this last storm tonight…Well, from 4PM-6PM is his “guy time” at Conveyor Eddie’s for a cocktail ( and MY time to get on the computer!!).

Last night after we got home, we made it inside the house just as the rain and wind hit…This never deters Dennis from starting a campfire..albeit just outside the garage so we can “tailgate”…After all, we belong to that group that can be considered the King of the Tailgaters…CHICAGO BEARS FANS!!

 

 

THIS IS MACGYVER CHECKING THE WEATHER RADAR ON HIS CELL PHONE …WE HAD CHICKEN WINGS MARINATING TO COOK ON THE WEBER…ME THINKS HE MIGHT NEED AN UMBRELLA… Just after I took this photo,……our electricity went out..SAY WHAT????

 

 

 

 

 

Took this from the tailgate of our truck…That white truck is Com Ed…the electric guy…See that yellow pole he had up in the air to the transformer??? He knew the magic handshake because when he did something up there…our electricity came on….Did Dennis get to cook the wings on the grill????…..

He most certainly did…No, he didn’t set our deck on fire…He was just dumping out the hot charcoal into the grill from our chimney lighter…

So, as as you can see, out life is certainly NOT dull lately..busy, yes…dull, never!!!

“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”
― Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

A Very Proud Moment For US…

A short post to tell you that we went to the public debut of the Oswego Fire Dept. Pipes and Drums at the Oswego, IL Prairie Fest Parade last Sunday…Here are the pics I took.

HERE THEY COME!!!!

WOOT! WOOT!…THEY GOT THEIR COMPLETE “OUTFITS” TO WEAR…KILTS AND ALL…LOVE IT!!

KELLY IS SOOO HANDSOME IN HIS KILT….BROUGHT ME TO TEARS…

LOTS OF PEOPLE THERE TO SEE THEM….THEY SOUNDED GREAT!!!!

……AND THERE THEY GO!! WHAT A GREAT DAY TO SMILE ….HELPED US GET THROUGH A SLIGHTLY STRESSFUL WEEK WITH OUR ELDERS…MORE ABOUT THAT LATER…

Dia dhaoibh!!

(Gaelic for “God To You”, and Irish Greeting)