OBSERVATIONS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR

THE FIRST MONTHS

Here are some things I remember about our first months in Racine.

1. We were in Sunday School about two minutes THE VERY FIRST SUNDAY when Kelli came up to get me - Jeff had thrown up. (Poor Jeff, he inherited his mom's easily upsettable stomach.)

2. We collected a LOT of colored glass at the beach.

3. The people who had offered to send us off from Michigan with a kitten - showed up WITH THE KITTEN. We named her Tussie and we had her about eight years, then she lost her happy home because ... well, we'll get to that someday.

4. People started visiting the church and coming back again and again.

5. I prayed for families to come who had children the same age of our children (who were often the only ones at any evening servies or special events except for one much younger girl).

6. The Marsch family started coming - with a daughter the same age as Kelli! Someone who is still a friend - right Sue?

7. We registered the kids for school - they would be attending a school only five houses away - even closer than the Tuscola school, so close we could hear the bells and the kids on the playground. That was great!

8. One day, my parents were in the area because my dad was speaking at a conference. After a day playing outside, we headed back to Racine. We were scheduled to visit a lady from church, a well-to-do lady who was quite proud of her well-to-do house. About five minutes from her house, Jeff announced that he didn't feel good. We told him NOT TO MOVE but just sit quietly when we got to the house.

Oh, my, the living room was decorated all in white - white carpet, white furniture, white lamps. The only color was her Dresden china collection.

I don't remember any visit moving slower in my entire life. I kept glancing at Jeff, who was sitting absolutely frozen on a huge, stuffed  WHITE chair.

Somehow we made it ...

9. Ken said he didn't want any help from the big church. So I quickly became church secretary and the bulletins and the lady with the white couch bought me an IBM memory typewriter which was at that time, super cool, and the first step toward me learning computers.

10. I substituted for the preschool Sunday school class a few weeks, but told the superintendent I wanted to teach junior high or high school. He said there weren't any kids. And I said, "Well, there's one girl that comes to church sometimes. I'll see if I can get her to come."  And so the class started. One of the ministries on top of my joy list.

THE WEDDING

 

Well, life in Racine quickly got better - after we got some sleep. But after we were there for just a week - we left for Pennsylvania. We weren't running away or anything - this was a preplanned trip that everyone knew about - Ken was to marry his cousin. No, no, not literally marry her - but perform the ceremony.

This was a good break for us. Gave us a chance to catch our breath and get excited about the ministry in Racine.

I don't remember much about it except for the wedding guests.

There were about a 100 ... 150 at the wedding. Ken's family was large and the groom's family was fairly large, too. Afterwards, we all drove out to Ken's aunt's house in the country. The reception was held on her large front lawn. Everything was delicious and everyone ate a ton of food, including one lady and her two kids who liked the food so much that they went inside and asked Aunt Mary for some extra helpings to take home for a couple kids who didn't make it. She gladly gave them some.

Not until everyone was looking at the pictures and the bride said to the groom "Who is that?" and the groom said, "I thought she was in your family!"  And the bride said, "I thought she was in your family!"

That was when we realized that the lady had crashed the wedding and show up at a private reception at someone's house!

Truly, this happened.

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Anyhow, above Kelli, Heather and Jeff enjoy cake. Now between the three of them - they have nine kids of their own - each has two girls and a boy.

WHERE RACINE IS ...

SOME REASONS I LIKED LIVING IN RACINE 

1. The lake

2. The library overlooking the lake

3. Hearing the foghorn from the lake at night

4. Living less than a mile from the lake

5. Walking along the lake

6. Collecting sparkly, smooth-edged glass from the lake

7. Stopping at Burger King after preschool and going to the lake with Ken and eating

8. Finding a cool spot by the lake even on very hot days

9. Watching fireworks over the lake

10. Wading in the lake

11. Watching the many colors of the lake

12. Going to the lake on cold, winter days and watching the waves wash over the wall and hit the road

13. Taking our out-of-town guests to the lake

14. Eating at the restaurant overlooking the lake

15. Going to the harbor and walking among the boats at the lake

16. Going to the free zoo by the lake (which, I have heard is no longer free)

Yeah, I kind of liked living by Lake Michigan - can you tell?  The picture above is of me and my father-in-law (who liked the golf course by the lake) hanging out at Wind Point Lighthouse

NOT A GREAT DAY

As days go, the day we left Tuscola was not a good one.

Ken and Jeff headed for the highway with the U-Haul. Kelli and I were in the car - heading out to a friends' house - we needed to drop something off in their mailbox.

I have not seen before that day or after that day fog any worse than it was in the predawn of that morning. This was a road I had not only driven hundreds of times, but had also biked. The fog was so bad there was NO visibility. I literally had to get out of the car and walk along the roadside ditch to determine where the turnoff was.  Instead of taking me five minutes to get to my friend's house, it took me 20.

Then I had to go the other ten miles or so to the highway.

Let's just say that by the time I met up with Ken at the gas station - an hour and a half had gone by (instead of 20 minutes). He was totally panicked. I was  emotionally drained and now after navigating through the fog I was already exhausted and had a horrible headache. I remember Hilda Blasius had frozen a gallon freshly-make iced tea and now, the icy liquid was a lifesaver.

But we had to get on our way - we had eight hours in front of us. 

Then somewhere down in southern Michigan, I lost Ken. If you've ever driven the route around the bottom tip of the lake - you know it's not fun, even on the best of days - and this wasn't the best of days. Trust me. I had driven it before - but only a few times, I was alone with my eight-year-old and a car full of boxes packed with the fragile stuff we didn't want to put in the U-Haul truck and a four foot fig tree (which I still have).

And that was before cellphones, so I had no idea how to contact Ken.

We kept going. I actually don't remember how we ever connected again - I think we both intuitively stopped at the rest stop over the Wisconsin border -  but I know when we pulled into the people's house in Racine where we were supposed to have supper - we were more than three hours late.

Everyone was worried. We ate a well-warmed supper and then headed over to the parsonage where some men were waiting.

They had stocked our refrigerator with lots of food and the table was stacked with Johnson's Wax products which you always had plenty of in Racine since you always knew someone who worked there and could get the products at a discount.

OK - I admit it - THIS IS THE VERY WORSE MOMENT OF MY PREACHER'S WIFE CAREER.

A very nice man (who is still a friend) said to me, "Hi, Linda, how are you doing."

And, with all the class I could muster - burst into tears and said, "I want to go home." (Translated, I want to be back in Michigan.)

I then proceeded to go into the house, go into an empty room, closed the door, sat on the floor and cried.

Could I just say, I was actually fairly young? And I was very tired. And I had a headache. And I was emotionally drained.  (Well, I have to find some excuse for my embarrassing behavior.)

Fortunately, the man whom I said it to, is sanguine and when many years later I mentioned it to him and apologized for it, he didn't even remember.

One of the church ladies showed up and I pulled myself up from the floor and went back into friendly mode.

Of course, I didn't know this at the time - but we had just moved into the house with our 7yo and 8yo - that we would be living in until they were halfway through college.

FRIDAY NIGHT AT GRANT PARK

THE LAST MONTH

(I've been trying to scan some pictures but being that I'm still working on two computers - both my pc and mac, I'm having trouble, so we'll skip it for now.)

Ken resigned. 

And it was early summer in Tuscola. Nights were spent wandering down to the ballpark where everyone who was anyone was at and even if you weren't anyone, you were down at the ballpark, buying popcorn and soda and cheering on whatever team was playing.

Kelli played that year - she was a member of the Bears. She had officially been inducted into the Tuscola ball league as EVERY single kid from age 8 up has been for ... well, maybe for centuries. (Four years ago, when we stopped in Tuscola one night, half the people we wanted to see were - still down at the ballpark - 26 years later.)

Ken's parents came up for two weeks. We went golfing. We went to people's houses to eat. We had a good-bye party at the Smiths.

And I cried - like the entire month. Ken was stoic, but said nothing about my crying because that's the way he felt deep inside. 

And then the last Sunday came and the U-Haul was packed.

And Roses tried to give us a kitten - but we said "no" - it was only two weeks old.

And we said our good-byes and promised to remain friends.

Which we did and still do.

WHAT ABOUT RACINE?

Recently a blog reader in Racine reminded me that I had stopped doing our history BEFORE we got to Racine - what happened to Racine.

So here are some Racine posts. :)

We first heard about Racine in early winter. Out of nowhere, the interim pastor called and asked if Ken would come speak. Ken said "no," everything was going well at the church where we were. The pastor said that they had been looking for a long time ... Ken still said "no," but said if they didn't have a pastor by summer to give another call. In May they called.

We had already had a vacation planned to Nebraska (so I could meet with the editors at Back to the Bible) and so Ken said he would stop and speak on the way home.

We headed out to Lincoln, reading Tom Sawyer to our kids each night at the hotel - and then stopped at Hannibal, Missouri where we visited Mark Twain's house and took a tour through the cave. I visited with the editors and Ken took the kids (about 6 and 7 at that time)  to a city park - where for some strange reason, they were offering elephant rides. They rode elephants, I talked writing.

We headed back to Chicago, where we dropped the kids off with Roger and Sally and then headed north to Racine. 

The very first thing anyone ever said to us at Northside was a man who greeted us, by saying to Ken, "I expected you to be a lot older." (He was 31 or 32 at the time.)

The church was beautiful - all pristine while woodwork and pews and soft blue walls.

But there weren't very many people (30?) and a total of three families with children. Everything seemed quiet and staid - the music, the breeze blowing through the windows, the people. The bulletins were delivered from the "big church" and the special music was provided by people from the "big church."

And then Ken spoke. Funny. In all the years I listened to Ken speak, I have never heard him preach a worse message than that one. He wasn't himself. He stumbled over words and just couldn't get going. It was the one message, I heard him truly destroy. (We often laughed about it. Don't know what happened - maybe simply stopping in the middle of a vacation to speak? Even he couldn't explain it.)

Afterwards there was a pot luck dinner and then we went to someone's house. Ken spoke again that night and definitely redeemed himself, but we were sad to see only one child at the service (and she was quite a bit younger than our two.)

We picked up our kids and headed home.

That Wednesday night, the board called and asked Ken to come back and candidate.

He said, "no."  We weren't planning any more trips. The board said, "ok" and hung up.

The next Wednesday they called again and said "Well, we had a vote tonight and you've been unanimously voted in as our pastor."

Ken had been concerned about being complacent in Michigan. Everything was going well. We knew everyone in town. "The Lord didn't call me to be complacent," he keep saying. "He called me to be challenged."

I knew we would be moving.

DIRTY CARS AND STUFF

I've been "up north" twice in the last month and my car has started a dirt collection all its own, with layers of dust from the backroads of Wisconsin. So while, it was sitting in the driveway at Jeff and Cindy's the car became an easel for any grandchild who happened to be walking by. I had happy faces and autographs and squiggles.

Across the back window was a tribute to Flat Sparky who has been driving around with me this summer - with a cry for help that read something like "Sparky trapped inside!"

Cool.

But not as cool as Scott Wade, a man who lives down in Texas and has taken dirty car art to a whole new level.  Check it out - http://www.dirtycarart.com

TIGER LILY AFTER SATURDAY'S STORM

PLACES TO TAKE THE KIDS

WHERE: Willowbrook Wildlife Clinic

WHEN: Open 9-5 daily

WHAT IS IT: Willowbrook in a wild animal hospital where people bring injured animals and birds. Some of the birds/animals have lived there for a long time; others are cared for until they're healthy enough to live on their own. (Lots of babies who have been abandoned.)

COST: $1.00 per person suggested donation

WILL MY KIDS LIKE IT: Animals are housed both inside and outside and the staff is extremely friendly. This isn't an exciting amusement park, but if you or your kids like animals, you'll enjoy this. 

Inside, however, everywhere-signs remind visitors over and over to be quiet and not tap on the glass.  A big sign admonishes everyone to whisper. Many of the birds and animals are skittish and nervous about being housed in cages. Today we saw an especially frantic kestral.

WHAT WILL I SEE: I enjoyed seeing common birds such as bluejays and cardinals close up and personal - the blue jays are in a center cage and you can look at them eye-to-eye. When these birds are in your yards, you see them and identify them, but here they're RIGHT HERE.

The girls especially liked the three-legged fox (a permanent resident) and being able to touch the snake and rabbit. We also watched a baby raccoon (super cute) and a baby squirrel be fed by feeding tubes.

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I passed this gem of a place last week when taking my mom to buy a mattress. Seeing a full parking lot and a lot of kids, we stopped to explore. Today I went back and took the two girl munckins, great animal lovers, whose life goals center around someday working at Petco.

_________

The 6yo stares down a turkey vulture. Not sure who won.

These two raccoons were raised by a family the first few months of their lives - now, unfortunately, they're too tame to live in the wild.

Not a very good picture - I was at an awkward position and of course, behind a fence - but this is a sandhill crane (often associated with the Platte River in Nebraska).

FUN AT WILLOWBROOK

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL AT WILLOWBROOK

After wandering around outside, we went back inside because we hadn't seen the snakes. I started talking to one of the friendly volunteers and when I told her the girls wanted to see a snake before we went, she said, "Oh, ok, I'll get one out so you can touch it." So this was a first for the munchkins - they got to touch a snake.  This is a fox snake and he is at the clinic because a cat bit off his tail.                                                                                                     

TANK, THE RABBIT

Without a doubt, Tank, the rabbit was the hit of the day. Our friendly, personal tour guide next told the girls they could pet the rabbit. I wasn't sure we were ever going to leave ...

THE ANT

FUNNY VIDEO

My pastor husband didn't do this to me - but my pastor dad did it a few times that totally embarrassed me as a kid.

But the video is hilarious. I haven't quite figured out how to get YouTube directly on my site yet - so I'll have to just give you the link. (Also my typepad link box isn't working right and I DO know how to do that, so that problem isn't me.)

But I don't want to wait to share.

Take the time to look at this, you'll laugh.

http://smalltownpastor.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/day-19-pastors-wives-hilarious-video

KINDERGARCHY

Kindergarchy is the word coined to describe children ruling the world.

And kindergarchy has arrived.

Many examples, but here is one that says it all. 

The parents in a Japanese school gathered in the auditorium to watch their precious children in a production of Snow White - only problem is, there were 25 SNOW WHITES AND NO WITCHES AND NO DWARFS.

Seems all the parents thought THEIR child should be Snow White, so that's how the school solved the problem - just let them all BE SNOW WHITE. Not sure how you tell THAT STORY.

Yeah, I'm serious. Not sure how you tell THAT story.

Times Online UK- Bullying Parents Get 25 Snow Whites

DEAD MALLS

Here's a strange and rather sad website: dead malls.

It's not weird or anything, just talks about all the malls that have come and gone with people writing about their memories.  If you're older than 15, you'll probably remember some of them.

MY BEST BEAR STORY

Take one camp. 

Take 160 fifth and sixth graders.

Mix in two bears.

That's exactly what happened one year when we were at Clydehurst Christian Ranch. (We were out there eight or nine times, and the years kind of get mixed up in my head, so I can't remember if this was the Robert Redford/Brad Pitt year or not - and THAT'S a whole 'nother story.)

Yeah, right after supper one night those bears came lumbering down from the mountain to methodically go through the incinerators, tossing aside ice-cream and candy wrappers to get to the GOOD STUFF like the corn cobs and leftover half-camper-eaten hamburger patties.. The staff at Clydehurst knows how to keep their area free of garbage, but the bears hit before they had a chance to burn and dispose.

Think about it. How would YOU like to be responsible for 160 kids with two bears roaming around? And, if you know anything about fifth and sixth-grade boys, you know they can egg each on to stupidity at times. They HAD to get rid of those bears.

The DNR (can't remember what you call them in Montana) brought out a bear trap the next morning - a huge barrel that banged and clanked as the pickup trucked towed it up the dirt road to camp. The idea, of course, was to put sardines or some other deliciously-appealing-to-bear food at one end of the trap and wait for the bear to walk through. Clang, the trap shuts.

But the day passed and no bears.

The next night was the camp out night. (Even though the camp was an hour from town - WAY out in the foothills of the Rockies and the ONLY WAY out of camp, was to drive BACK to town - they always took the kids even further down the road to sleep under the stars on Tuesday or Wednesday night. The girls went to one state park camp site - the boys to another.)

After we had done our visit to the camp sites and I told the kids a scary story as they sat around the campfire - Ken and I went back to our toasty cabin.

The camp was empty that night, except for some of the staff members. We went over our lesson for the next morning and went to bed.

About one o'clock in the morning, we were awakened by someone pounding on our door. "The bear's back and the DNR is here to get him, if you'd like to come watch," Someone shouted.

Having never before been jolted awake to watch the capture of a bear, Ken and I quickly threw on our jeans, sweatshirts and winter coats (those Rocky Mountain nights get COLD) and headed up to the action - in the field behind the dining hall.

Most of the other on-site staff members were there, too.  The ranger guys hadn't actually CAUGHT the bear, but they had her cornered and she was now up a tree on the other side of the field. We could hear the rangers rustling around in the leaves and brush and see the light from their flashlight bouncing up and down.

Suddenly, one of them yelled, "We got him with the tranquilizer gun!" They had shot up into the tree.

Within minutes, we heard a PLOP as the bear fell OUT OF THE TREE! After making sure that the bear was truly "asleep," they manuvered him into the trap and hooked him up to the truck. They drove over to where we were standing and allowed us to get a close-up look! We all stood around looking at the bear and talking about how so-out-of-context it was to be standing in the middle of a Montana pasture at two in the morning, looking at a bear. 

Finally, the ranger got ready to leave and we all went back to our cabins. We had just gotten our clothes off and were back in bed, when once again, someone pounded on our door. "Quick! The other bear is there and they're about ready to shoot it with the tranqualizer gun."

Once again, we grabbed jeans and sweatshirts and coats and headed up the hill to watch the same process all over again.  Seems the first bear was in heat, so the second bear came after her without even putting up a fight. They took them off to a deserted mountain somewhere away from people.

Truly a unique experience even though all the staff members were rather zonked the next day.

And yes, we do have picture of THIS ONE!  I actually have video of it. We always especially liked the video Ken got from across the field.  All you hear is the low mumbling of the staff talking. All you see is blackness with one light (the ranger's flashlight) bouncing around. Then you hear the ranger yell "I got it."  Then blackness and then the sound of a bear falling out of a tree.

Not something you see EVERY NIGHT.

ALL STARS OR BEARS

Well, I was planning on writing about my best bear story, but kind of got wrapped up in the All-Star Game - especially that beginning with all the Hall of Famers. (Go, Ernie!) That was cool! 

So, I guess I'll have to do the bear story tomorrow.

THE THIRD AND WEIRDEST BEAR STORY

No, I don't have pictures of this bear, either. And my photo library doesn't have any pictures that would begin to illustrate it.

A few years back on an August Saturday we all went to Steve's parents for a picnic. They live in northern Indiana and had invited our family to their home: Roger and Sally, Steve and Kelli and Ken and I. My mom was with us, too. Because of schedules, we took three different cars.

After several hours of swimming, eating and talking, we all began to  gather our stuff to head home. Then we noticed that the sky was growing ominously dark. That made us hurry. We had church the next morning and didn't want to get home too late - maybe we could beat the storm. The others had the same thought - Roger and Sally left about ten minutes before we did (they had further to go) and Steve and Kelli left some time after us. 

Although it was still sunny when we left (with the dark clouds in the distance) we only went a few miles before buckets of rain poured down on us. Lightning streaked across the sky and the thunder seemed unending.

Even on a good day the going-around-the-southern-tip-of-the-lake-from-Indiana-to-Chicago is a mired mess, slowed even more because of miles of construction (they've been fixing the road since I've been a kid) and now with the unexpected explosive rainstorm - traffic simply stopped.

We were bumper to bumper and side to side with hundreds of cars and trucks and vans and SUVs and - a BEAR!  Yes, there in the darkness and the rain was a truck pulling a cage housing a very much alive, fairly good-sized black bear. Seeing the bear crammed between two cars on 294 with rain pouring down on him -  was truly weird. 

Then again, that must've been rather scary from the bear's point of view, too. 

The weirder part about it was in comparing notes, even though our cars were about 30 minutes apart from each other, we had all SEEN THE BEAR!

A HAIRY SITUATION AND A HAIRY WOODPECKER

I had just gotten off the phone with my Mom yesterday. She was telling me how she had to go to the cellphone store and get new minutes added to her phone. (She pays by minute rather than plan since she only uses it in emergencies.) They gave her a new phone and new minutes. (Don't you wish we could do that in real life? Buy time. "Ok, I need 20 more minutes to finish this project, how much will that be?") Anyhow, she got the phone home and decided to try it, but it didn't work. Immediately she took it back only to be told be a rather rude young girl that under no circumstance would they give her money back to her - because it says that right in the contract. She stood her ground and finally got to talk to the manager who okayed a new phone. Unfortunately, straightening out the situation (and she still doesn't have her replacement phone) took a lot of time.  Anyhow, we were talking about the annoyances of life that interrupt us when we could be doing something worthwhile.  I hung up and walked to the mailbox to get the mail.

And there was a letter from the IRS saying I hadn't paid my taxes in 2006. Now, being a law-abiding, patriotic citizen of America, I of course, DID pay my taxes in 2006.  But letters like this make you panic, you know?  So immediately I went to the closet where I keep my tax documents and sure enough - there it was - my copy of form 1040 for 2006, the very form they said didn't exist.

But then I calmed down some and read the letter again. That's when I realized they weren't questioning me (although my name was on the joint account), they were questioning why Ken didn't pay his taxes. This letter was all about him with HIS social security number.

Ah ... there's a reason he didn't pay taxes in 2006. He didn't make any money, for obvious reasons.

But then I thought, they know he died in 2005. The accountant who did my taxes went out of his way to make sure he submitted the right forms (including a death certificate). Did they miss the deceased part?

Au contraire.  They didn't miss the deceased part - the word was written RIGHT THERE in the same line as his name. Except they had it written as his middle name. Seriously. I mean it was right there BETWEEN his first and last name.

Hello, people!  I know you deal with a lot of wacky Americans with a lot of wacky names, but how many people have the middle name of deceased?

So, I sat right down and wrote them a letter kindly explaining life and death.                                                   

We'll see what happens.

.

After that little interval in my life, I decided I wanted to think of something peaceful. So, I thought about standing in the beautiful weather in the beautiful north woods and taking a picture of this hairy woodpecker in Jeff and Cindy's yard.

BEAR STORY #2

Once again, our family went on vacation out west. This time we headed for Glacier National Park and once again we were bombarded with safety rules for getting along with bears.

Usually we camped in our tent, but if the weather was bad, we slept in our car (the kind made to fold out into a bed) at the campsite.

This particular night we did the car thing. (I slept in the front seat and had the habit of hitting the horn in the middle of the night which I'm sure our neighbors enjoyed.)

After supper, we carefully cleaned up all our food (per bear safety rules) and snugly tucked the rest of the food in our cooler which (per bear safety rules) we tied to the top of the car.

That night, as we were peacefully sleeping, my parents felt the car start to shake. They woke up (though Roger and I didn't) to see the back window of the car totally covered by bear skin. With one swipe he knocked the cooler off the car and feasted on our hotdogs and eggs.

Like I said, Roger and I never woke up - but we had the cooler for years and we'd always point out the scratches on it from where the bear knocked it to the ground and my parents always talked about the shock of seeing your car window totally covered by bear.

No, I did not have any pictures.

BEAR WITH THE BEARS

#1 - A YELLOWSTONE BEAR STORY

A few years after we moved to Des Plaines (when I was a kid) our family took a trip out west. My parents hadn't been west before and they were anxious to see this part of the country for the first time. They wanted to show Roger and me the plains and the mountains and the geysers.

Dad, being interested in all things outdoors was quick to point out new wonders - such as sage and prairie dogs. For the first time we saw tumbleweed tumbling across the long, straight roads ahead of us.

One of our stops was Yellowstone National Park and of course we were given tons of literature about KEEPING YOUR WINDOWS UP AND NOT GETTING NEAR THE BEARS!!!!  Dad, being the nature lover that he was, repeated the warning to Roger and me about once every 10 minutes or so. (Dad was extremely thorough in whatever it was he was currently teaching us. In Yellowstone, he was teaching us NOT TO GET NEAR THE BEARS.)

But we did see bears, LOTS of bears. Back then, people still sometimes FED the bears in spite of the plethora of bear-safety literature. So as Mom drove through the park (my mom did ALL the driving because of my dad's eyesight), we would stop when we saw a bear along the side of the road (with our windows up) and stare in awe at seeing such a wild animal in person (or "in bear" depending on your perspective).

One afternoon we were meandering through the park - (I think we actually  might have been leaving), when we saw a bear on the left side of the road. Mom slowed the car and we stared at the bear as it lumbered along the edge of the woods. Mom, of course, following all safety rules, had her window up.

What we didn't realize was the cub was on the other side of the road - my dad's side. Not knowing there was a bear anywhere around, Dad had his window down. We were all staring at the mother bear and no one saw the cub walk up to the car and then put his paws up on my dad's door looking for food.

When Dad turned his head away from looking out my mom's window, the cub reached in and scratched him across the face, missing his eye by about a quarter of an inch. At which point my dad frantically rolled up his window, yelling "That stupid bear," which was the beginning of a family legend - since we weren't allowed to use the word stupid.

At first Dad was upset about the whole thing. I think he felt a little foolish since he really was smart about animals and yet he had fallen victim to a bear (after telling his kids 1341 times to be careful). He also didn't want to take the time to go to the park clinic to get the cut cleaned and cared for and to get a tetanus shot, but he knew he had to do so.

While Dad and Mom were in the clinic, Roger and I walked around, probably looking for license plates in the parking lot or something. Finally, they came out and Dad's upsetedness had turned to a little bit of pride - after all, he was now a statistic - one of the people who could say they were scratched by a bear at Yellowstone.

And THAT'S bear story #1

And no, I don't have a picture.

OBVIOUSLY I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY

 

Just been a crazy couple days ...

Maybe if I wasn't tired, I could write sometime amusing about how life is like a marshmallow - all squishy and messy on the outside, but firm in the middle. 

But I am tired, so I'm not going there ... 

Actually,  even if I wasn't tired - I don't think I'd go there.  :)

DAISIES

CONTEMPLATION OF A 4YO

AND OF COURSE, FIREWORKS

Our busy day was coming to a close - but everyone had a super good time - even my mom kept up with the little kids - well, almost - she didn't jump out of her seat quite so often as they did.

FOURTH - PART 3

Take couldn't-be-better-weather and a bunch of kids who have spent the day collecting candy at parades and put them in the front row for the Minocqua Bats water ski show (a show that was packed) and you have the ideal Fourth of July . Here we are overlooking Lake Minocqua. Notice the picture of the dog - not the clearest picture, but he was cute - he had a mohawk. The 8yo asked the lady if the hair was real - the lady said "yes," but she had dyed it black. Think about that a minute - a dog, standing around waiting to have her  mohawk dyed.

INDIAN PAINT BRUSH ON A DAISY WALK

THE FOURTH

THE FOURTH - PART ONE

THE RHINELANDER PARADE

Our first stop was the Rhinelander Parade.

Jeff has a desire to be in the center of every picture I take - I usually ignore him - but this time that was difficult.  :)  Here we're waiting for the parade to start. 

So finally the parade started  - we were kind of seated at the end and after about 15 minutes, it stopped again for another 15 minutes - kind of funny. I guess some martial art kids were putting on a demonstration, so everything got backed uo,

The big draw for the kids was the candy they were given by the different oranizations that had parade entries - but once again we were at the end so lots of them were out of stuff.  The day could not have been prettier - mid- seventies and sunny.

We actually knew one of the marching Hodags - in fact, her parents were sitting with us. 

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THE FOURTH - PART TWO

THE MINOCQUA PARADE

A few hours later, we arrived at the Mincoqua Parade - this time we were at the beginning when all the candy supplies were abundant.  This parade also started off with a bang - or at least three airplanes flying overhead - I know, I know the picture has one airplane - but my picture of all three was messed up with phone lines. And this was NOT the end of our day - still more Fourth of July.

A

A WALK TO THE STINKY ROCK

So the southern munchkins were at the hotel with their parents and the northern munchkins kept talking to me about the Stinky Rock. We could walk around the block and they would show it to me.

Now, a block in the northwoods is not like a block in the city. The big danger here is fast cars - the big danger there is the neighborhood bear ... well, except for this time of year when 30,000 people invade the quiet north with their 30,000 RVs for the BIG Hodag Festival. The Hodag Festival has the distinction of being the only music festival in the state where not only can you BUY beer, you can also BYOB. Trust me, it's all about getting drunk and not so much about the music.

But on this beautiful evening - the munckins and I headed around the block to see the Stinky Rock.

This is why it is called the Stinky Rock ...

1. Once something near the Rock was Stinky, and therefore it became the Stinky Rock.

2. Moss covers it or at least part of it.

3. When you wander in the woods, naming Landmarks is a fun and creative thing to do.

Thus the name - Stinky Rock.

When we got to the Rock, all three crawled on top so I could take their picture. So - HERE it is - the Stinky Rock, just in case you ever want to go there.

But the funniest thing about this walk were the daisies. Daisies are everywhere and daises are fresh and summery. So the girls and I each put one in our hair. Not to be outdone, the 5yo decided he wanted a daisy too. So he stuck it in his Cubs hat, where it somehow took hold and for the rest of the walk, he had a daisy bouncing in front of his face. Very cute and funny.

FUN FOURTH IN THE NORTH

Once again I am back from the north - and what fun we had!

We arrived at Jeff and Cindy's on Thursday evening for the annual cookout. (This is something my two kids and their families have done for several years, but it's been awhile since I actually was present at the festivities.)

From the word "go," the cousins went, starting out with a super soaker battle that was boy muchkins against the girl munchkins. And this was SERIOUS BUSINESS.

Oh, and my absolute favorite picture - the girl munchkins huddled together, warding off the boy munchkin attack.

 Everyone was having so much fun, a visitor showed up to ask if she could play, too.

Meanwhile my two precious children caught up on the news as they cooked hot dogs for the kids.

And then Jeff grilled some "other stuff" for the adults.

Mmmm ... good.

STREAMS FROM THE ROCKY CRAGS

 Psalm 78:16 - He brought streams out of a rocky crag 

       and made water flow down like rivers.

JULY 4, 2008

HAVE A HAPPY FOURTH!!!!

ALL THINGS

JOHN 1:3 - Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. 

My NIECE'S CHURCH

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