It was a very quick trip — Friday to Sunday — but so worth it. The weather wasn’t that great, but we we not deterred and much of our time was spent outside. Luckily, it rained mostly at night.

There was some fishing! My Uncle Jim rigged a small ice-fishing rod with a bobber at the end (no hook) for Davy and he was the happiest of clams! It was the perfect size & gave him an opportunity to perfect his cast without getting caught on anything/anyone. Jim also took Junah out fishing, and they both caught little bluegills… not keepers, though. The water is SUPER low and fishing hasn’t been that great.

The leaves are turning — there was much more on our way out than in, and will likely peak in the next week or two. And there were chores! Junah helped Jim with some transportation needs, and they put up a birdhouse that needed a new pole.

Maddy’s friend Katy came up north, too. They’ve been BFFs since grade school, gone to summer camp together, were roomies in college & after college, and camp counselors during college summers. Once a camper/counselor, always a camper/counselor… and they’re also crafters! Katy brought some supplies, and nearly everyone made an easy & forgiving friendship bracelet/anklet. Ginny made one for her BFF, Ivy, and added beads!

Davy was rarely without his little fishing pole. 🙂

This is Jim’s 15yo golden doodle, named Bogey. He’s a big dog and those 15 years translate to 100 +/- in human years. It’s showing. Mobility is severely limited, and he’s mostly deaf. I’m afraid we all may have stressed him out a little, though he did get lots of love.

These four were headed out on a father + daughters walk. I should have at least handed my phone to someone for a mother + daughters pic!

He turned 6 on Friday, but Davy’s a little old soul. Watching & poking the fire, chatting with Jim… or JAMES as he started calling him once he learned that Jim & Jimmy were nicknames for James! So funny.

In other news, the girls & Kate were to embark on their road trip to the Badlands today, but it’s clear that Ginny’s not ready to enjoy all that a trip like that would offer, so they’ve postponed it until late spring/early summer. Her foot is healing, but she’s not walking without assistance or putting much weight on it. Oh well, I have that much more time to assemble their activity kits.

A crazy storm ripped through our area yesterday. We are all safe!!

This is looking north from outside my office, just before noon. The sky was even darker in real life — I’ve never seen it so dark! Just a few minutes later, wind & rain ripped through & visibility was zip. Then our phones started lighting up with alerts, sirens started blaring, and torrential rain was slamming into our east-facing windows… “winds from the east” is never good. I am lucky to have a basement at work — and I’m able to navigate stairs (I didn’t even bring my cane with me), so I was down there for a little while. The power was out all afternoon, but we’re also lucky to have a generator so crucial power stayed on… lights, computers, fridge. Not the microwave, though, and I had brought quiche for lunch; I’ll eat almost any leftovers cold, but draw the line at quiche! I always keep a can of tuna and/or sardines in my desk drawer, so that’s what saved me yesterday. Phone & internet were spotty all afternoon. I work for an electrical contractor, so I was inevitably fielding storm-related service calls.

The cities of Neenah & Menasha were very hard hit by a confirmed tornado of TBD strength — about five miles +/- south of work. Menasha was “closed” yesterday, as was a big section of highway — I saw footage of vehicles actually wrapped up in huge pieces of sheet metal that had flown off of nearby buildings. There is a LOT of damage and it’s going to take a LONG time to clean up & recover. We experienced an F2 tornado a few years ago that destroyed several homes in our city — one of which was only two blocks from home. That one seemed to “bounce” whereas yesterday’s was on the ground for a while, devastating a mile-wide path.

Anyway, it’s heartwarming to see our communities come together to offer help, from restaurants serving free meals to individuals making room in their storage units.

Or maybe that’s HIP-perdrive… my hip replacement surgery date is looming and, apparently, I’m getting all my summertime stuff (and them some) done in June!

I’ve been trying to write a post about “last weekend,” which is actually the weekend-before-last because… HYPERDRIVE! Time is flying.

Rusty & I went to DC for a few days! We visited the Renwick Gallery & the National Gallery & ate some great food & relaxed. I have the first post started but it may sit in “drafts” for a while longer, as I realized that I’ll have a bit of time on my hands post-surgery & can maybe get caught up then. It was a great trip!

LAST weekend, I took all the kiddos to the Green Bay Blizzard game. The “Blizz” are part of the professional Indoor Football League and, wow, that was something else! Short field, barely any sideline, lots of action — a cross between football & rugby, with a Nerf-ish football, and extracurricular antics that rival those at a softball game. So.much.going.on! The kids all stayed overnight!

The next day, I dropped everyone at home except Malina. She & I headed to Green Bay where she took part in a Blizzard Youth Camp. I was stunned (still am) that of 70-ish participants, SHE WAS THE ONLY GIRL!! She did great, too, for the first half — the second half got a little too technical & overwhelming (it may have been different if she’d started at another “station”)… so we went shopping at the Packers Pro Shop (she wanted a jersey) (and also got a cap) & out to lunch & stopped for some glorpy cookies to bring home for dessert. Then I kept her for a solo overnight, which was long overdue — we watched movies, she helped with dinner, and just hung out. Rusty took her on a hike to the studio & a park on Sunday morning. Ali picked her up at 11 & shared a photo of Malina completely zonked out in the car on the way home… “safe to say she had a great time!”

THIS weekend, on Sunday, I’m swinging down through Madison to pick up Annie & heading off to Viroqua where we’re having ourselves a short “Sister Weekend”! It starts on Sunday, so it still counts as the weekend.

In between all of the above: dentist appointment, surgery prep call, pre-op doc appointment + labs, locating & gathering equipment (cane, walker, etc.), jury duty, a run to Door County, and all the usual stuff!

I have my surgery date & all the PT appointments set for July… I’ll be working hard on recovery! Hopefully, things will really start moving along in August. I’m getting a little anxious & nervous about it all, but the pain & discomfort are increasing (regularly interrupting sleep now), so I’m also looking forward to just getting it done. I really can’t imagine how shitty this summer would be if I’d stuck to my original plan to wait until September.

Anyway, I’ll check in when I can… I’m not saying I won’t be posting until after surgery, but it definitely looks like posts will be more sporadic than usual.

I’m just not sure how it can be possible…

…that this tiny tiger is 21 years old today. My eldest “practice grandchild.”

Happy Birthday, Mack!!

Touchdown #1. Rusty didn’t waste any time getting to the beach yesterday; it’s only about a :10 minute walk from his Airbnb, and he said that it’s a really nice neighborhood. The Airbnb looked cute, too.

He’s heading to old haunts in the Seal Beach area today, hopefully doing some visiting, definitely some sketching.

(Seeing those toes in the sand would make me feel pretty jealous if we weren’t heading to DC for a long weekend in a couple of weeks!)

Touchdown #2. A perk of one of my credit cards is an InstaCart credit, which I don’t always take advantage of, but sometimes…

…the right thing comes along at the right time! It just so happens that I’m taking all the kids to a Green Bay Blizzard (indoor arena) football game in mid-June. And the next day, Malina will be attending their youth camp (she was the only one really interested). We sometimes refer to her as “Sporty Spice.” (And she’s in it for the fashion as much as anything else. haha.) Anyway, you can hardly live in NE Wisconsin and avoid football, but in reality — even though they’re aware, none of the kids really know how it works. ALDI just happened to have this amazing stadium rug yesterday, and I’ve been talking about getting out my mom’s “cheat sheet” football recipe cards… I just need to fashion some “players” and we’ll be ready for our own little training camp!