Climbing Trees and Eating Cones

This weekend we re-visited some old haunts in Eau Claire, including this enormous cottonwood tree along the river. It's located just off the bike trail, by the university and Water Street.

Don may recall it-- we showed it to him once.

We didn't camp as a family this Memorial Day weekend, but the older kids experienced the Great Outdoors a little. Emma spent Friday night in a camper at her friend Cienna's house, while Michael spent Sunday night roasting marshmallows and sleeping in a camper at Rowdy's.

We all went to Owen Park, which is one of many nice shady community parks in Eau Claire. Leila LOVED having Daddy push her on the swing.

Jon has been home for a week now and will be with us for at least another two weeks. Then hopefully his new job in Iowa will start.

Meanwhile we've been getting lots done around the house. Jon's cut down more trees around the garden, to let in more sunshine and hopefully increase our crop this summer. He used his Bobcat to dig up the stumps.

He also used his Bobcat to cut the fallen trees up into firewood. Using grapple hooks, he held the logs up into the air before slicing through them with a chainsaw. He says this is easier on his back-- less stooping over. When I saw this I wondered what Dad would think of this unusual method for sawing logs.

Here Jon and Emma overlook a burn pile in our back yard.

I've always admired willow trees and considered them a personal favorite. Well, now I have one of my own! We planted this willow (at right) in our back yard, near the garden.

As the tree grows it'll need more space-- they grow to fifty feet wide. Someday I'll be sitting in its shade.

Another interesting little happening this weekend was bringing Macy (the horse) over to our house. For the past month or so she's been nearby-- at the neighbor's farm up the road. Well, this weekend Jon and Emma led her down the hill on a little adventure... to our front yard!

It turns out that the grass in our lawn is very tasty. Emma brushed Macy out and Jon walked her around the house. He led her as she walked beside him; she can't be ridden yet. But she did tolerate a blanket on her back, so that's a start. He got out the saddle and let her smell it and think about it a little, but when he attempted to put it on her back she wanted none of it. So he backed off and decided that was enough new stuff for one day.

All those timid little shoots that first began poking through the ground in March and April have burst open into big leafy bushes. And now that we're in our second summer here, it's easier to anticipate which flowers will bloom next. Because they don't bloom all at once. Flowers come in ones and twos... first one kind, then another.

This year and last, the first flowers we saw were daffodils, followed quickly by tulips. After a few weeks those went into decline and dropped petals, but by then the bleeding hearts and violets had taken over.

And so it will go all summer-- an emerging procession of blooms that's revealed slowly over the course of time.

At left, an old cultivator that belonged to Jon's great grandfather, Nat Hurlburt. It still works-! Jane had this in her yard for several years, but passed it on to us recently.

Right now Susan is taking the next step toward her medical career. She has finished her classwork and began rotations yesterday. To begin, she'll be working at two hospitals in the Beckley area. For the next five weeks her focus is internal medicine; after that, surgery. We spoke to her on the phone this morning while she drove to work; hopefully the day went well for her.

Monday we went to Cornell. After visiting with Bud and Jane (and Brent and Kristen, who were also there) we stopped and said hi to friends who also have a one year-old-- Dave and Shelley DeJongh. Leila was very excited to see little Addy, who is similar in size to her though slightly more petite. They had a cute hug but then Leila started getting rough, so we said our goodbyes.

On our way out of town we stopped for ice cream and ran into Jon's sister Ann and her husband. Pat treated us to some very large ice cream cones, which made us all rather sleepy. Jon took the scenic way home, a little nicety that was wasted on us since everyone but him wasted no time falling asleep when we left town. But I did awake in time to spot this sign for "Lake Lulu", which of course reminded me of my fabulous sister Laurie, who turned 33 a few days ago. Happy Birthday, Lu! We love you!!!

Well, since Jon just proofread this blog (frown) and decided I ended rather too abruptly, let me add this pithy witticism to wrap things up: blah blah blah. The end. Thanks Jon!