Turn Baby Turn

Evidently little Leila is breech and they would really like to have her turn before she makes her grand entrance. Come on little Leila----TURN!

Waiting For Sunday



This is what our house looks like on Sunday afternoons/evenings.



Wood Ducks

More pictures from our friend's trail cam.

They are so beautiful they almost don't look real!

I was really impressed by the colors on these guys.

Ready, Aim, Fire

It was such a nice day on Saturday that I decided to take a few shots at a trap shoot instead of sitting inside waiting for the men to get done shooting.

It took me a while to be able to stand out there without flinching everytime someone fired their gun. Barry gave me some ear plugs that helped.

Barry loaded most of my ammunition for me. I shot about 12 times and hit a clay disk twice.

I tried firing this sort of large pistol just for the heck of it but almost got hit in the nose. The thing has quite the kick. No more of that.

The gun was harder to hold and heavier than I thought. Why did I do it? You gotta try everything once right?

Tales of a Clean Pantry

A few weeks ago I decided our pantry needed a good cleaning. Technically its not a pantry since the definition of pantry is "a room where food and provisions are stored" but we call it a pantry anyway.

In the middle of the job I decided it would be nice to have new contact paper on the shelves so I ran over to Kalona in search of contact paper. I ended up at the Kalona General Store.

I felt a little like I had stepped back into the 50's or 60's upon entering the store. I found few choices for contact paper but settled on one just because I knew it would be clean and fresh looking. I also grabbed the game Operation for Laina for her birthday. When I went up to check out my total came to $70 some dollars. What!?! Evidently the contact paper was $48. I decided to do without the contact paper and the game and said thank you very politely but put my items back and left. Ya, I felt a little dumb.

When I got home Elsa had let herself into the dining room through our french door but forgot to shut the door behind her.

I resumed cleaning and found these trivets that the girls made for me in Brownies or Girl Scouts. They must be about 20 plus years old. 

And now I have a clean pantry and will live happily ever after.

Bee Lucy



A few weekends ago we were dog sitting Lucy while Bridget and Jeremy were out of town. Laina and I were "decorating" the house with Halloween decorations from a big box when we came across this old Bee costume that we used for our previous Rhodesian Ridgeback Scout. We couldn't resist putting it on Lucy and she didn't really seem to mind. I like the way Elsa is standing in the background staring at Lucy.



Hawkeye Tailgate

Sarah and Erik invited us all over for a tailgate during the Iowa game on Saturday. Malin is sporting her hawkeye hat.

Bridget and Terri digging in to the tailgate food which included some delicious green beans. Some of us felt a little guilty eating taco dip, hot dogs and smores so we threw in some strawberries and green beans.

Laina Monkeying around.

Malin waiting for her squash and apples.

Laina patiently waiting for her food.

Hudson thought it was pretty funny to eat outside in the dark! Thanks for having us over Sarah and Erik! And Malin.

Chimney Fire

The roof of our neighbors roof after a chimney fire. The fire department cranked up a chainsaw or what sounded like a chainsaw to cut this hole in their roof and pull their wood burning stoves chimney out. Five fire trucks were about 20 feet from our house for 3 hours in the middle of the night.

What's left of their chimney the morning after. Luckily our young neightbors, their one year old daughter and two dogs all got out safely!

Fairy Houses at the Farmers Market

A few Saturday's ago at the Farmers Market. You have to look hard to see Malin. She kind of blends into the blanket.

Laina with a monkey on her back.



Hudson thinks everything is great!



Laina has been into making fairy houses. She and her friends do it at recess. She had Hudson hunting around for fairy house materials and Hudson didn't disappoint.

Scarecrow for Charity

Laina and I attended a workshop at Iowa City Landscaping to learn how to make scarecrows.



For $15  (which was donated to charity) you could choose jeans & shirt and stuff away.




Laina didn't need much help. She tied all the knots by herself.



And buttoned all the buttons.

We got pretty hot and the staff lady brought Laina a bottle of water!

Getting the head on.

Nice job Laina.

Mystery Guest

This stanger came to our house on Sunday.

Barry and I didn't know what to think. Who is she? Where did she come from? Will she come back?

Wrestlemania

Wildlife Wonderland

Our friend George got these pictures on his trail cam on property south of Riverside that we own with a few other couples. Does this guy spot the camera?

George likes to keep track of who's doing what on our property.

This was my favorite.

My, quite the party!

A new visitor.

Don't be thinkin our turkey's are for Thanksgiving!