Summer Update (David meets the Colfax moth man)

For about three weeks now Jon has been "on the road", this time for power line construction near Critivitz, Wisconsin. Crivitz is about a 3-hour drive from here-- 55 minutes north of Green Bay and not far from Rhinelander. So he stays in a motel during the week, and comes home on weekends. We miss having him around as much as when he works in Eau Claire, but we're glad he's making the better money that this traveling work provides.

This week he came home on Friday. We try to make the most of our family time on weekends; last night we gave the kids 3-wheeler rides and had a campfire. David even got out on the trails by himself for awhile, with the 3-wheeler. When the mosquitoes got bad enough we went inside and played chess and Scrabble.

Here's me on the swing Jon made in our back yard. Quite a spectacle, huh? Maybe my sister-in-law Hope recalls my "demonstration" of the swing during a recent visit... it was a classic Lisa moment... similar to the time I tried to show my sister how to swing a croquet mallet, though fortunately no trips to the hospital were involved this time.

Anyway! Today we had a leisurely day. Jon planned on working but ran into equipment trouble, so stayed home instead. I think it was somewhat of a relief for him to be unable to work and to have some forced leisure.

So instead of working we took the kids back to our old neighborhood in Eau Claire. We ate lunch at our favorite blue-collar pizza joint (Pizza Del Re!), and drove around on a sentimental tour of our old life... past the "big white house" and Longfellow school, the parks and shops we used to spend time at, and different friends' houses.

We stopped by and saw Jonathan at his new apartment. Since we hadn't called first we weren't sure if he'd be there or not, but he was, and even showed us around a little. He's living with three other guys his age, and recently they constructed a fire pit in their back yard. It's nice... shady, with a picnic table nearby. One of his room mates has a lot of nice furniture, so they have comfortable stuff inside and a big flatscreen TV. Jonathan's working two jobs-- a part time job doing research for a financing company, and a bar-tending job at what used to be Poncho's on Hwy 53 (I forget what the place is called now; it's under new ownership). Anyway, he seems to be doing well.

Mom and Dad visited last week. We took a walk on our new trail and discovered a couple of small trees had been knocked over by recent winds. Emma helped me prepare a salad made of couscous and fresh vegetables, with a lime juice viniagrette and fresh dill from one of the herbs Bill left in my keeping last week. The salad was healthy-- packed with vitamins and my good intentions-- but the creme-filled donuts Mom and Dad brought along with them were a lot more popular (even with me). Sigh.

We sure notice the weather out here, more so than I remember in Eau Claire. When it storms it gets very dark... no city street lights to soften the edge. Strong winds howl and whip the trees back and forth, and it isn't unusual to have fallen trees when it's over. A few days ago we heard a drumming sound on our roof, and looked out the window to see quarter-sized hail raining down. The hailing lasted only a few minutes and was followed by rain, so David grabbed a piece of hail for us to store in the freezer and show Jon.

Speaking of weather: Jon just called to say that we're under a severe thunderstorm watch again, and there's a tornado warning nearby (him and David are on their way to see the new Batman movie).

Bugs are different here, as well. If you stay up late and the house is dark except for the room you're in, hundreds of little white moths begin to gather on the window. They're harmless and somehow disappear with the daylight, but it's kind of eery nonetheless.

One night I had just gone to bed when I heard David call my name. I got up and he showed me an enormous moth that was caught in one of our windows. Obscure side-note: this is the same window that was broken by a partridge a few months ago. Anyway, the window doesn't open very far on it's own; if you want to open it wide you have to go outside and manually pull on it. This behemouth moth was trapped between the screen and the window, and after struggling to open the window in vain from the inside, David had to go outside and pull open the window. He brought a flyswatter with him "just in case" the moth attacked him (I guess), but he didn't end up having to slay the moth.

It's kind of funny because in West Virginia they talk about a "Moth Man" who haunts the local woods and people swear they see occasionally; kind of like Big Foot or the Skunk Ape, I suppose. Maybe this was the Moth Man... as you can see in the photo, it's body was as big as a hummingbird's...

Yesterday Emma, Leila and I went to Eau Claire and picked up a baby play station from Jessica. It's like a walker but not actually mobile. It helps her be in a standing position and stretch her legs out; she can reach for things and swivel around. As you can see, she likes it very much. We also picked up a nice used high chair from Jessica. Leila's a long way from eating solid food, but it's nice to be able to sit her up to the table while the rest of us are eating. She likes to be part of the crowd.

We visited at Jessica's house for awhile begore going over to Tammy's. Tammy was watching Jamison, and Jessica had Seth and Malia, so with Emma and Leila we had five (mostly little) kids running around. Still, Tammy was able to serve us some lunch and we had a nice visit.

Here's pictures of my latest project. I'm making a stained glass light box to replace one that was in the house when we bought it. The original light box had a simple geometric design painted onto the glass, and wasn't very attractive (in my estimation). My idea was to design a tree out of real stained glass, using two different color schemes for the sides of the light box. The completed panel at left is a fall scene with sun, and will light our way downstairs; the panel in progress below is the same tree at night with moon shining, and will light a wall in our family room, on the opposite side of the light box.

Fun stuff! Anyway, that's a little taste of what we've been up to this summer.

We figured out David's return trip travel plans yesterday. He'll be flying home to West Virginia; Jon will take him to the Minneapolis airport on August 2nd. The younger kids and I still plan on going to Rhinelander the day before cousin Jenny Bayer's wedding; however, Jon will join us later and meet us in Rhinelander on Saturday, the actual day of the wedding, after he drops David off at the airport. We look forward to seeing Don, Hope, and family at Jenny's wedding and in Rhinelander that weekend.

We'll miss having David but are glad for our time with him this summer. The summer's gone fast! But he'll be able to visit with family more at next weekend's Hurlburt family reunion.

Hope everyone is well! Enjoy the pictures!