Tom and Friends

Tom and one of the herd.

Living up in the woods we have given up big box stores, brand name restaurants, and convenience of getting anything fairly quickly.  We have gained an appreciation for nature, God's beautiful handiwork, the ability to be to at one of the most beautiful bodies of water in the time most of you drive to work, and a realization that you can survive without having any of the amenities mentioned in the first sentence (although I drooled at a picture of a menu from Hickory Park).

As we drive through the woods it always is fun to see the herd of deer on the side of the road.  In Montreal we have well trained deer and they generously wait at the bridge by the river to cross as travelers on the highway zoom on by.  We have seen a bald eagle sitting on a carcass by the side of the road and also in their nest up in the Porcupine Mountains.  We watched the black bears cross the highway  as we were traveling.  

Along with seeing these critters along the road, I have gained an appreciation to feeding the birds as they migrate and some that winter here in the woods.  This winter with the feeding of my feathered friends I have attracted a few new critters to the group, 2 gray fox, and a rogue turkey.  The deer still come to graze under the apple trees for dropped seeds.  The woodpeckers, finches, grosbeaks, nuthatches, blue jays, and turtle doves also are normal visitors, but Tom the turkey has made me smile, watch in wonder, and laugh out loud.  

Tom seems to be a fairly young turkey, but very bold and quick on his feet.  He knows the deer highway well as he ventures between our house and 4 others.  I don't see ears, but as soon as I have filled the feeders he waddles up the path and hangs out on the deck eating my spills.   Surprisingly  the deer herd gives him wide birth and hop off the highway as he moves from house to house.  I have be told that normally there are several turkeys together, but Tom seems to be alone.   I am hoping he hangs around through Easter so that Cayden and Levi will get to see him as he comes up to visit.  

There is give and take in every place you choose to live.  I feel we have definitely gained more than we lost with the wonders of nature that are all around us up in the UP of Wisconsin.

New hound ... maybe or not

I know we can never replace the little one that we lost.  It would be a mistake to even try, but that does not mean that I don't miss the pitter patter of little feet around the house and the wet nose and big doe eyes.

There are my winged pets that squawk in the morning when I don't have their favorite treat tore up and laying on the deck for them to eat, the woodies that like the suet and don't mind me watching as they eat, and all the other little feathery folks that stop by.  Along with the birds I have my own personal herd of deer that faithfully come up the deer highway in the backyard to look for dropped seeds and maybe corn or other handouts.  These are all fine, but they do not replace the unconditional love that comes from a hound. 

My friend in Minneapolis has 4 chihuahuas, all adorable.  I would get another chi in a heartbeat.  They are independent, loving, and funny.  A friend in Ironwood has one that is a spring, but loves to be held.  

Not that I am against other breeds.   Yes Barb, if I would switch a basset hound would be my next choice.  I don't know how they would do in the woods, but if a chi could make it so would they.  Maybe that would be the ticket, a little something different.

So don't tell my other half, but a hound is on my mind.

Little Things That Make Me Smile

Sometimes I get too wordy (so I have been told by the man of the house) and I was sitting here thinking of my good mood and what made me smile this week and decided I would share my list.

A beautiful redheaded woody woodpecker looking at me through the glass while he sat at the feeder on the suet log.

Hearing my son's voice on the phone saying "love you Mom" as he says he is in Superior, Wisconsin heading up to Copper Harbor and will see us Sunday.

Sharing some time with friends that I don't see enough while we made cards for sick children.

Receiving cards from Iowa friends.

Getting a hug (I am a hugger...).

Watching a little buck in the backyard stomping his foot at me to get off the deck while I shoveled the snow.

Sharing devotions via e-mail with a friend.

Remembering that February 1 will 21 years shared with my guy.

Lots of things made me smile.

Best appendage ever

If somebody would have told me saying goodbye to my little buddy would be so horribly hard, I don't know that I would have signed up for this.

What a treat it has been being this little guy's "mama".  A 3-pound little bundle of love and joy.  My protector, my comforter, my confidant, and appendage.

Pablo was Jeff's hound.  He picked him out, named him, and in the beginning took care of him.  Shortly after Pablo's arrival in our home that all changed.  I was home for 8 weeks following surgery.  At first Pablo went to grandma's during the day.  He loved her and terrorized her cats.  He learned that he was definitely a lap dog with blankets to keep him warm.  He knew when he was turning the corner on Grandma's block and would get excited to get out of the car.  First business was always to let the cats know where they could be or could not.  What a treat it was seeing the little one boss a 19-pounder and a 23-pounder around. Eventually he decided the 23-pounder was okay and that cat was allowed to sit with grandma and him on the couch. When I was up to taking care of him he came home and the pampered pooch continued and our bound became permanent.

He has numerous names, Pip Squeak, hound, Boo Boo  Peewee, Sweetie Pie, and big guy.   When I was not giving him the "proper attention"  Jeff would tell him about his  bad mama and he should pack his bags and head down the road always threatening to make him a nap sack.

Throughout the years there have been a few people he connected with, otherwise he was strictly a mama's boy.  Shelley, my crazy friend, there was not an animal alive that did not like her. Charlene, Pablo decided she was a great place to stop for "coffee".  She broke her no dog rule when we rented from her and he loved the lazy condo life and made her one of his chosen friends even liked being called Paco.  He also connected in a very special way with Kim and sitting with her was a treat he enjoyed. Jerry was one of the very few guys he liked. Pablo was spoiled during his stays at BluffView often getting house privileges as he was her smallest boarder.  During the summer he would camp in the trailer with Paula's parents.

As we say our final goodbyes this afternoon there will be tears, but when their little bodies get sick and they are hurting, saying goodbye is our responsibility.

Thank you Pablo for 13 years of unconditional love.

Heaven has a new angel.

She fought a brave battle, non Hodginkin's lymphoma, breast cancer, total body radiation and chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant,  graft verses host disease, broken bones from the disease, and blindness.  She no longer has to fight. 

I know we all have that one friend that you can say you have had forever and ever, the one that you lose contact with, but when you touch base again there is no getting reacquainted it is like putting a comfortable pair of slippers.  That was Shelley.

Wild, crazy, domestic, caring, give ya the shirt off your back type of girl.  We met when we were 15 and 16 (she was the older and wiser(?)) at the Ritz Supper Club.  She showed me the ropes and we became friends that summer, unseparable.  Our folks would tease us that they did not know  they had twins.  She was the oldest in her family of 3 kids and I the youngest of 2 kids, both having just brothers.  I was the city kid.  She was the farm kid. We were both daddy's girl.  Life became the best of both worlds that summer.

We have come and gone our own ways and reconnected over the years.  Each time we were back together like comfortable old shoes.  Through our college days we partied like rockstars. With the birth of my son, she became the crazy friend that every child wished they had.  She was the bread butter when my son graduated and made sandwich after sandwich while I had a migraine and Jeff had the flu.  When my dad died she was my rock.  When her mom died, I was hers.  Through her chemo and total body radiation we became computer chatters and when she got home we had great hopes that all that she fought for would give her a new start.  Unfortunately that would not be the case, but through it all she tried to be upbeat and positive. 

Some called her the animal witch of Ventura because the strays would show up at her house and never leave.  She loved them all.  She had a green thumb and taught me a lot about gardening and started me on my love of canning. 

I will miss my friend, but I know she was tired of the fight.  She told me so during our last phone visit.  She was not able to learn the braille or how to get around her home without somebody being there any more and that was very hard for her to accept.

She is driving that fire red mustang and Fred the one-eyed red frog is in the back window, go get em girl!

A trip with memories

Today Jeff and I will head down to Gays Mills for a fun weekend with his sister.  On the way there we will talk about all the other times we have traveled there from Iowa with our parents and son.  Memories...

Nervousness of my first "date" trip with Jeff.  Shaking the chicken box and have our lunch end up on the floor of the car. Getting to know each other and finding we had a lot in common. Enjoying sitting down by the big river, walking through antique stores, enjoying the nature that surrounded us there. That was the first trip to Gays Mills for me.

Soon after that we included parents and son.  We will remember the trip when Shirley was on "bus patrol" and "toilet stops", Gaylord eating so many concord grapes they should have weighed him before and after he went to pick,  Dain eating his way across Iowa and Wisconsin, stopping at Fort Atkinson for a buckskin rendevoux on the way, always eating lunch in the park by the river in Praire De Chen, Shirley having Dain climb an apple tree to fetch her a "fresh" apple, and Mom getting little sweet treats every time we would stop and buy more apples than she could ever eat so that she could share with us during our lean years.

As Mom and Shirley aged and they battled with cancer the trips became harder to make, but we continued the fun fall trip every year while we still had them with us.  At Mom's last trip she was content to sit in the car at almost every stop and smiling because she just enjoyed the view and spending her time with us. She had her apple cider donut, cheese curds, apple cider, and queen's apple (kind of an apple sundae) with Dain generously helping her finish what she could not. She did manage to go to the riverboat casino to play the nickles and have a buffet lunch.  When I took her home she was tired but so happy that she made her annual trip with us.  Six month's later she was no longer with us.

As cancer took over Shirley's body, we worried about her at the orchards as there were always people and she was so tiny and frail, in fact Jeff questioned whether or not it was a good idea.  Shirley wanted to go.  We only did a couple of orchards as Shirley tired quickly and she bought treats for us to stop and eat at the rest areas along the way home.  We drove by where they camped at Fort Atkinson and other stops she wanted to see on the way.  Next spring she joined Mom and Gaylord.

We did not go to Gays Mills the next fall, but Dain starting doing the trip with his family as he had enjoyed the trips he made with us.  Traditions are fun to pass down. 

We actually did not think we would do the river trip again as it was a special trip we did with loved ones who were gone, but two years ago we met Shelley there.  The whole trip was different, full of laughs, new memories of Shelley never buying an apple, but her car filled with pumpkins, haybales, apple tarts, apple pies, apple donuts, soup mixes, jellies; dinner on the riverboat in La Crosse and happy birthday being sung. 

I am looking forward to revisiting those memories today with Jeff as we leave the woods to head to the river and the orchards. It will be wonderful to spend time with Shelley again and just enjoying the mini holiday.  I might even have to have an apple cider donut and some cheese!

Happy Anniversary Me!

Four years ago I had gastric bypass surgery. Funny thing, when I was born I was a runt, sickly child.  My dad would make me special milk shakes with eggs in them so that I would grow and get a little "meat" on my bones.  The tiny me hung around for quite a few years and then the tinier me left.

 

Being overweight is a combination of things for most people.  Genetics, nervous habit, enjoys food, etc, etc, etc (sorry love musicals).  If it is in the "genes", it is a battle you will fight all of your life.  If it is a nervous habit, it is one you will have to battle to keep under control.  If you enjoy food, well I have no good answer for you as being a foodie it is not easy when you truly enjoy food. 

 

The final tipping of the scales for me was when I was no longer able to move comfortably.  The knees were worn out, but surgery was not going to be a good answer because I was too heavy for the surgery. Luckily I had not become diabetic.  Sleep apnea, yes.  High blood pressure, you got it.  Cholesterol on the rise.  All signs that my health was deteriorating.

 

Dieting was a yo-yo exercise for me.  Atkins, Weight Watchers, Mayo Clinic all would work for a time period and then I would fall off the wagon and be back on the gaining spree.  For every 20 pounds I would lose, I would gain 30 back.  Not a pretty picture.

 

Weight loss surgery is not the "easy out" that you will hear people talk about.  After much research I traveled down to Grinnell, Iowa, and met with Dr. David Coster to see about having a lap band, my preferred method as it was not as invasive.  Jeff came with me to learn all that he could from this visit.  I was comfortable with Dr. Coster and his assistant Stephanie from the beginning, which is a good thing because you see a lot of these folks.  We watched movies, heard the pros, cons, good, bad, and ugly. We found out that I would be going through a lot of testing, meetings, appointments with other specialists before this surgery would happen and the surgery was going to be a gastric bypass as I was not a good candidate for the lap band.  This meant a lot of trips to Grinnell.

 

Before my surgery Jeff and I went on vacation to the UP of Michigan. We did a lot of soul searching and visiting about whether this was the right decision for us and it definitely was a surgery that affected both of us so we both needed to talk through it.  I was pro and Jeff was con, but still very supportive if I chose to go that route.

 

Back and forth to meet with Stephanie to discuss surgery more, meet the nutritionist to learn how to eat all over again, to meet with the physical therapist to learn about movement and how important it would be.  All of these trips were made with Joyce, my "sis".  Joyce is a dear lady who my mom brought into my life to be there for me once mom was no longer with me and be with me Joyce was cheering me on all the way. 

 

The surgery day came and it was a success.  Down 200 pounds it was like finding a new person under there.  Now it has been 4 years and I am able to walk, hike, ride bikes, snowshoe, and enjoy life.  Food choices are something I have to be careful of as different things are not tolerated.  Dehydration is a battle because I don't like drinking water.  Coffee, tea, wine, you betcha ya.  Water not so much. Then the back aches and I know it is time to get on the water bandwagon.  Kidney stones are a little bothersome problem that pop up from time to time as a side effect of the surgery. Iron deficiency is another issue (even with our water up here in the mining country).  This is not a surgery I would recommend to everyone.  In fact I would say research, think long and hard because it is a life changing surgery, and remember it fixes the weight issue not all of the other problems in your life.  You have to like you fat or thin as being thin does not change that.

 

I still have the best support system around, Jeff, Joyce, and my friends.  Jeff watches my.food intake faithfully daily (I tend to get busy and to forget I need to eat).  He packs my lunch for work, buys snacks that are healthy for me, and pampers me.  Joyce is still the best sis anybody could ask for, always there with her ear and her heart, now unfortunately far away in miles, but still there.

 

On the upbeat since the surgery I spent a wonderful day with my grandson that would not have been possible before.  We went trout fishing and then sightseeing to Bond Falls, climbing all of the way to the top and back down.  I was a little more out of breath than he was and a little slower, but I made it!

 

Four years ago, wow, it does not seem that long ago.  Happy anniversary and now go get a glass of water please!