John's Graduation Party

"Happy Father's Day" to all those wonderful dads in our lives!!

The father of my kids, Jon Hurlburt, had to work on Father's Day:(. We called, but of course that's not the same as having Daddy right there.

Jon did not plan to work this weekend. He came home (exhausted) Thursday afternoon. Our plans were to have Jonathan over for dinner Friday night (so we could meet his girlfriend of the past five months, Lindsey). Then me and the kids would head over to Madison for my brother John's graduation party. Jon would come along if it rained, but otherwise planned to stay here in Colfax to cut hay, mow the lawn, and catch up on the work he gets behind on when he's gone all week.

We would have rejoined him on Father's Day and maybe gone out to eat. We also would have run up to Cornell to see his dad.

But, as it was, Jon got a phone call at 3:30 in the morning: "Come back to work."

Tornadoes had passed through Albert Lea, Minnesota, which is near Jon's work site in Iowa. Power lines were knocked down, some local farms had been devastated, and several people had died.

Jon's crew was needed for power line repair.


I was glad I'd baked cookies the night before; at least Jon was able to bring something home-made back with him. We scrambled to find him clean clothes; there wasn't even time to do his laundry. By 4 in the morning he was on the road again.

So Jon missed out on meeting Lindsey Friday night. Jonathan introduced her to the rest of us, though (sorry, no pictures of that; I thought I'd give her time to get acquainted with us before hauling out the camera).

I think she'll be coming along with Jonathan to David's graduation party on July 4th.

By 7:30 am Saturday the kids and I were on the road to Madison. We arrived at my sister's house by around 11. Mom and Dad were there as well.

Since John's graduation party didn't begin till 5 pm, we had time to sneak in a fun trip to the zoo.

There is no admission charge for the Vilas Zoo-- it's donation only. And it really is quite a nice public zoo. The recently restored carousel, at left, is one of many attractions. It cost only $1 to ride (there was no charge for John or Leila, so that was $1 for the three of them!).

Leila had a BLAST. This was her first zoo ever. We had the stroller along but mostly she just ran ahead and we followed. She was very interested in the animals-- probably the perfect age for a trip like this.

Dad opted to rest in the cool comfort of Laurie's house until it was time for the party, but Mom came along. Laurie, Mark, and John were also there, so I had plenty of help hauling the kids around to the different exhibits. The zoo was busy and hot, and there was lots of walking.

But the kids enjoyed melty ice cream treats along the way, and we found Mom a shady park bench to rest every now and then, as needed. Of course, Mom had to spoil her kids and grandkids by indulging their interest in goofy animal masks...

The shark at right is a PhD-??


Of course, Michael wouldn't be Michael if he could simply go the zoo and enjoy himself. No, Michael doesn't like being in big crowds. He also doesn't like being hot. And he has moral qualms about the the whole concept of animals being in cages.
To him the animals looked unhappy and cooped up.

I tried to change his perspective by saying, "At least those are nice cages" and "When people get to see these animals up close they care about them more and are more willing to donate money to save them. So it helps other animals".

Of course wild animals would be better off if we left them and their habitats alone. Freedom and fresh air and nature are always preferable to zoo enclosures and crowds of gaping people. Sigh.

Where did I get such a worried, reflective, politically correct child?

Yes, I know. It's gotta be the Jon Hurlburt genes.

Hee hee.


Well. At least the REST of us experienced the trip in the intended spirit. I can assure you there are no deep thoughts going on at left!


After the zoo we headed over to Burrows Park for John's graduation party.

John's partner, Jim, did most of the work putting the party together. But my sister Laurie also did a lot, making a picture board of John over the years and organizing a family gift to John (we got him a nice briefcase for his laptop and papers, as well as a business card organizer and other little accouterments for his future professional life.

The picture above right is Laurie and Mark with Mark's parents, Van and Judy.


Also present at the party were our brothers Bill and Bob. Bob (far left) is so busy with his lawncare business these days we don't get to see him much. Bill (center) is living in Minneapolis this summer but will start a job in Spain this fall.

Besides our family, John's party was attended by Jim's family (the Houzners), friends, fellow students, and several of the faculty who oversaw John's studies.

It was nice hearing from one of Jim's brothers that John's professors had praised him to other guests at the party. They were very impressed with how thorough and meticulous his research was, and how he was able to "bring to life" what could have been very dry historical data.







John spent 11 years studying and student teaching at UW-Madison, and his partner Jim was a big help and support along the way.

Here's Leila playing with Jim's niece and another niece's daughter. These "big" 5 year-olds were very friendly to Leila, and I caught her bear-hugging them at least once.







My brother Bob had brought along an old motor boat he recently purchased. Since we were right by water, he offered to take the kids and I out for a ride.

Bob loves boats. He's restored a wooden Chris Craft boat, but that boat is actually too large to take out on Lake Mendota.

On Sunday we stopped by Bob's place in Sun Prairie (near Madison), and Bob showed us a wooden rowboat he's building from scratch.

This "new" boat Bob bought cost him only $500-- and that includes the boat trailer, a large inner tube and tow rope, and other accessories.

You can see the boat at left, as Bob backs it into the water.

The water was kind of choppy, but it was sunny out and we had beautiful views of Madison (by water!). Can you spot the capital building?

The next day Bob took us out to lunch at a nice family-style Greek restaurant. Then he took us to the Columbus Antique Mall Museum, which advertises itself as "Wisconsin's Largest Antique Mall".



With Leila along we had to do our shopping fast, but each kid was able to pick out a small toy they wanted. Michael chose two packs of cards, one (he says is) over 100 years old. Emma picked a Beanie Baby and Leila "picked" a music box and a small Raggedy Andy. The music box is actually a wind-up box from 1972 that plays "Raindrops are Falling on My Head". I actually had an identical one when I was a child.

Pretty cool.

This last picture is a small lock that helps little boats like Bob's go from one lake to the next. The difference in water level between Lake Mendota (and Lake Minona?) is about 4 feet. Boats float inside the lock, the water level inside the lock rises or drops as needed, and then the boat moves on to the next lake.

I'm out of pictures so that's all for now, folks!!

Macey May (and more)

Introducing... Macey May!

Jon's oldest brother, Brent, has been a grandparent for awhile now-- "little" Brent and Brandon are teenagers. But this is his first granddaughter, and his son Nathan's first child.

Macey was born May 25th, weighing 7 lbs, 1 oz. She was 20 inches long.

Both mom (Shana) and baby are doing fine.

I haven't met Macey yet, but in this photo it sure looks as though she has red hair! Of course, there's no telling what her "real" hair color will end up being, but it's clear she's going to be a little beauty.

Congratulations, Nathan and Shana!


After our return from West Virginia we began planting the garden. It's just about finished; all we need now are peas (but those grow fast).

We're doing a few things differently this year. We expanded the garden so that our rows would have more spacing (crowded plants were a real problem last year). We also planted more corn; last year's harvest barely lasted us through September.

Another change is actually a bit of an experiment. Jon laid down landscape fabric over where he planted tomatoes and peppers. He cut x-shaped slits in the fabric for the plants to grow through. We're hoping this will cut down on the weeding, but we thought we'd better not try it on the whole garden till we see how it works out with the tomatoes and peppers. I'll let you know the results as the season progresses!

Another experiment involves the 12 baby chicks now peeping away sweetly in our backyard. They're yellow, soft, and adorable. But before you think "isn't that sweet", let me explain our intention is to raise these chickens for meat.

We explained this up-front to the kids, so they hopefully won't form any strong attachments. We have no intention of eating our original six egg-laying chickens; those are pets to us. The older ones are at least seven years old and may not even lay eggs anymore. We get 3-4 eggs a day when the chickens aren't molting, which just about covers our egg needs.

Our plan to let the older chickens retire peacefully was threatened last week when a fox decided to visit our yard.

It happened in broad daylight. I was sitting at our computer by the screen door when a chicken ran clucking by. It was being chased by something. Coco and I ran outside and saw the fox. We chased it away, but not before it injured our best egg layer, Pumpkin. She was missing a few feathers and had a limp, but there was no open wound and she seems to be recovering nicely.

After talking to our neighbors we learned that Johnne's chickens' egg production had suddenly dropped, which typically means the chickens are being stressed by a predator. So she had kept her chickens cooped up for a few days prior to our fox attack, hoping they would stay closer to home than they'd been. The sudden lack of available chickens at her farm was no doubt a factor in the fox's decision to visit our home.

Before running away, the fox stopped and turned, looking right at me. I told it to "Get!" and then added more quietly "Don't eat our chickens." The fox seemed to be interested in me and what I had to say. I said my piece, and it turned and vanished into the underbrush.

I couldn't help but think of a book Susan had me read last summer, "A Language Older Than Words". Without trying to explain the whole book, the premise was that animals and people can communicate with each other if they try. Think my words to the fox will work, Susan?

It's been at least a week, and still... no fox.


Johnne gets new chicks every spring, so Jon had her order a few extra for us. Of course, I got the word they were coming during the week, when Jon was gone, so had to make preparations myself. I covered the sides and roof of our summer chicken coop with tarp, and laid wood shavings down on the ground. I rigged up a reflective lamp to warm the coop, and bought the other supplies we would need. We waited excitedly; they were still in the eggs, and would be delivered to us by mail as soon as they hatched.

The first few days you have to keep the chicks very warm (90 degrees the first day, then 5 degrees cooler for each day after that, until 70 degrees is reached). When the chicks arrived Thursday morning, it was wet and cool outside (only 62 degrees-!). Our little reflector lamp hardly seemed up to the task.

So we brought them inside the house. Emma eagerly suggested her bedroom as an ideal place for chick storage. We put them back into the box they arrived in, brought their food and water inside, and set them up with a lamp and space heater. They were toasty warm in no time.

By Day 3, however, Emma's room had a distinctively unpleasant aroma. Clearly it was time for the chicks to go back outside.

They've been in their outdoor coop ever since, and seem to be doing just fine. They certainly eat a lot! They'll grow quickly, and in a few months will be ready to be butchered. We'll probably take them somewhere to have that done.

Our horse is back! For the past month Macy has been staying with a horse trainer, learning how to be rode.

Emma can ride her now (with close supervision). She's a small horse so they don't recommend anyone over 150 lbs ride her (that rules out me and Jon). But she's perfect for Emma.


This weekend we went to Cornell to visit Jon's parents. While at their house, we saw these horses walking down the road with their riders.

Leila loved walking around Grandma Jane's house, looking at all the flowers. She especially liked seeing her smiling reflection in the gazing orb.

Grandma Jane served us snacks and we visited. Then we all headed over to the Care Center, to visit Grandpa Bud.

He was happy to see us, and we were happy to see him in such good spirits. He's in a wheelchair now, but uses his legs to walk himself forward in the chair-- and can actually get around pretty fast (he snuck up on Leila a few times). Jane is doing what she can to see that he gets physical therapy and visits him daily. Twice a week she bakes treats for the Care Center staff, so they're both pretty popular there.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

Take care.

David's Graduation and Our Trip to West Virginia

I better get started with this blog... so many good pictures to post!

This week's big event was my stepson David's highschool graduation in Beckley, West Virginia.

Happily, we were able to be there to congratulate him in person.

First... notes on the trip!

The drive out was a challenge for Leila-- this was by far her longest car trip. At first there were frequent stops (she'd let us "know" when it was time), but she adjusted as the trip went on and by the end was quite the patient little traveler.

It was an epic journey for me, too. I can't remember the last time I left the state-! Most of my days are spent inside the house or around the yard... chasing Leila. So I was determined to get in as much sight-seeing as possible.

It was frustrating to spend so much time in the car, but we only had five days for the trip (and Jon wanted to whittle that down to four). So most of our sight-seeing was limited to whatever we could glimpse from the car window as we sped down the highway.

If I wrote a travel guide based on this trip, it would go something like this:

1. Illinois is a flat-looking place (viewed at 70 mph from the interstate). It stretches on... and on. And on. A powerline goes for miles till it becomes a dot on the horizon and then suddenly disappears... due to the curvature of the earth!

The wind farms are impressive, but still... if you go on a trip like ours and need a nap along the way, you might as well catch your zzz's during the Illinois segment of the trip.

2. Indiana is similar... but gettin' better. People's voices start to acquire that special twang you just don't hear here in Wisconsin. And the further you go, the more picturesque Indiana gets. The countryside turns rolling and green. There are long picket fences and idyllic-looking horse farms. We passed one for retired thoroughbreds.

3. Kentucky is beautiful. Sigh. Misty and green; more horse farms. And increasingly hilly... you know you're entering the foothills of the Appalachians.


4. Then West Virginia... and wow. Mountains. No more being passed by semi-trucks; the big rigs are sluggish and docile in West Virginia. Too busy laboring up and down the inclines to be king of the road anymore.

The mountains are densely forested, with hardly a man-made structure visible. And beyond? More mountains. The distant peaks look blue, and the shade of blue gets lighter as they fade off into the distance.

Of course, Jon the electrical worker pointed out the different kind of power lines along the way. There's a surprising variety of pole styles out there. They're towering giants around big cities like Chicago and Indianapolis.

And in the mountains of West Virginia, power lines of any sort are amazing feats of engineering. Sometimes the wire was strung so far it seemed to span across mountains. Jon surmised that many of the powerline's materials and equipment must have been flown in by helicopter for construction.

Even our highway was remarkable. It seemed perched midway up the mountains. Travelling it you could look down and see deep valleys below-- but still look up and see a wall of trees and rock towering overhead.

Our goal was to reach Kentucky by the end of the first day. Unfortunately, Leila wasn't on board with that goal... so we ended up finding a motel in Indiana, 60 miles shy of the Kentucky border.

The next day's travel went quickly, since most of it was through scenic Kentucky and West Virginia. Jon stayed in phone contact with Susan along the way, and by afternoon she, David, and Logan met us at the Howard Johnson's in Beckley.

After some hugs and hellos and getting reacquainted with one another, the kids eagerly changed into swimsuits for a dip in the motel pool.

Swimming in a motel pool is always one of the kids' favorite things about traveling. We had looked for a motel with a pool, and had looked it over before changing into suits.

Imagine the kids' disappointment when they got to the pool only to be told that it was closed for the season. It was muggy and over 90 degrees outside, but it wasn't quite June yet and this was an outdoor pool. I suppose it still needed a cleaning.

So we changed gears and accepted Susan's invitation to go on a scenic drive by the big gorge bridge.

The drive was a lot of fun. We stopped a couple of times along the way, for pictures. Then Susan took us to a nice spot where the river was relatively tame. The kids were able to wade and throw rocks in the river (which happens to be one of Leila's favorite pasttimes).

I even had a chance to collect rocks-! Susan pointed out the tiny pieces of coal in the water that had probably fallen off one of the trains that ran along both sides of the river.

While we were there a train went by on the mountain just behind and slightly above us... a thrilling, thundering experience for wide-eyed little Leila (she's lived her whole life in Colfax so didn't experience the trains we saw daily when living in Eau Claire).


Emma filled her pockets with tiny clam shells-- a souvenir for every kid in her class.

Michael had fun climbing the big rocks along the shore.

Before long we were starving. Susan suggested we go to "Dirty Ernie's", a small nearby restaurant specializing in ribs.

As you can imagine (with a name like Dirty
Ernie's), the restaurant had lots of personality and local flavor. Every table was set with a generous basket of peanuts, and as they ate them guests were encouraged to brush the shells off onto the restaurant's concrete floor. The rafters along the tall ceiling were draped with colorful t-shirts that hung like flags. There were hundreds of one-dollar bills stapled to the walls with messages written on them by customers.

After our meal we added a dollar bill with our names to it. We stapled it on the wall by the corner booth we were seated at.

Hopefully it will still be there when Susan, David, or Jay come by to eat there again someday.


The next day was David's graduation... but since it wasn't until 5 pm, we had some time on our hands. We were happy to hear that we were invited out to Jay's parents' house.

Jon met Jay's parents at Susan's graduation, but I hadn't met them yet. As Jon told me, they were wonderful. They live on a lake and invited the kids to go for a swim off their dock. So they got to use those swimsuits afterall-! (happy ending).

We sat on the dock and visited with Jay's parents while the kids swam. Susan helped keep track of the younger kids in the water, and Jay was in the kitchen... cooking us something wonderful for lunch.

Logan was with us the whole time. This visit Logan and our kids spent a lot of time together. Michael and Emma actually stayed overnight at Susan and David's house on Friday night, for a big sleepover. (Susan and David have finally reached the age when they're excused from trying to sleep in a cramped motel room with us).


It was fun to see how well Logan and Emma hit it off. He really is a sweet little boy... he took an interest in Leila, too, and helped "babysit" her a few times. By the end of the trip Emma and Logan were holding hands and calling each other best friends.

Jay suggested that he pack up our lunch so we could have a picnic at a nearby beach, just a short drive from his parents' house and inside their gated community.

The neighborhood has its own private lake with a sandy beach, picnic pavillion, and children's playground area. Even though it was Memorial Day weekend, we more or less had the beach to ourselves.

Jay's dad had grilled chicken, and Jay had made the accompanying dishes: we had sauteed cabbage, baby red potatoes (seasoned to perfection), grits (my first ever!), watermelon and musk melon... and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting. Everything tasted SO GOOD and had that little bit of southern flair that made us feel like we were getting some real West Virginian hospitality.

There was a little excitement on the beach when we started seeing shark-like fins skimming the surface of the water. I photographed one below; you can't see it real well with my poor camera, but it was big!

The fins were from large carp (4-5 feet long) lying on their sides and sunning themselves. There were about six of them nearby, moving around our beach area. It was interesting, but it didn't interrupt Emma and Logan's swimming any.

Before long it was time to go and get ready for the graduation. We said our goodbyes to the Johnstons (very warm, gracious, down-to-earth people) and headed back to the motel.

At left: Susan helping her little sisters get ready for the big event.

We met Cyndi and Vincent at the graduation site. It was the same large civic building where Susan's graduation was held.

We got there early so we could get a good seat. We had almost an hour to wait, and wouldn't you know clever Susan had brought along her knitting. She's taught herself to knit, and right now is more in the practice stage, trying out different kinds of stitches.


Here's David getting his diploma.

It was easy to spot David among the other students. He was definitely one of the taller ones. He has gotten so big-! Wait till you see him at the graduation party. He has Jon's build now.

After the graduation we met up with David, and were even able to meet a few of his friends. Then we all headed to Chile's (David's restaurant of choice) for a meal and celebration.

David will be coming to Wisconsin in July and staying with us three weeks while his mom and stepfather make a trip to Colorado to visit Vincent's mother.

We'll be having a graduation party for David on the 4th of July at the Mill Yard Park in Cornell.

I'll send invitations out for that soon.

Susan and Jay will be coming to Wisconsin in August (they're traveling by train, I think).

Well, this has to rate as one of my longer blogs, I think! So I better wrap it up. I have more good pictures to post but they'll have to wait for the next blog.


This was a great start to the summer!