Noah: High School Graduation

On Friday we headed north with two coolers of potato salad and Cheezy Italian Sausage dip.  The weather was cool.  When we arrived we helped cover tables and get things ready for the party.  Jen and Andy were very organized.

The tent was set up in their backyard.  It did not rain but the weather was cool.

We dined on hamburgers, brats, potato salad and caramel bars before heading over to the school for the graduation.

The Fisher High School Class of 2017.

Noah getting his diploma.

The students with the highest grade point average gave a short speech.

Noah is a soft spoken gentleman and so was his speech.  It was about graduations, he has graduated twice now and moving forward to be the best you can be.

Noah and his parents.

Congratulations Noah!

 

Here he is just about ready to get a hug from his Mom!

Graduation was a 7PM afterwards we headed back over to the house for the Graduation Party.  More on that tomorrow.

Flags and a wreath

I put up some new flags.

It was mid May and time for a change!

Not quite Thyme to Garden…usually no one plants anything until after Memorial Day.  

Visitors

We had a number of visitors to our yard yesterday.

There are at least three Hummingbirds.  Two large ones and one itty bitty.

My feeder is red glass the sugar water inside is clear.

This big old Blue Jay hung out for awhile.

One Oriole is here feasting on grape jelly and oranges.  We hope his friends join him soon.

This is a Pileated Woodpecker.  He is here year round and hard to photograph…I was at the right place at the right time.  He is one huge bird and loves the suet feeders.

The last visitor of the day was a Coyote in the driveway.  We are keeping Chance company when he goes out.

Blooming

A few things are blooming in our yard. 

The Purple Leaf Sandcherry is in bloom.  I need to give it a trim soon.

The Double Flowering Plum suffered with a few night time temperatures and instead of being covered with blooms it only has a few blooms.

My beautiful Dandys have gone to seed. 

The Lilac has no flower buds.  I have a number of Lupines that have come up, now that will be fun unless they are frozen.  Our weather is cool…Daytime highs in the 50’s and lows at night 30’s to 40’s.

My temperature turned into a real sore throat, and now I have some “fullness” in my ears. I think I may live.  Far Guy has it too but his sore throat is lasting longer than mine did, good thing we have a bounty of food in the freezer.  We have been staying home and resting as needed to recover.

Watery Wednesday : April 19 1997

The emails from 1997 continue.
Subject: Sat…still here

Hello everyone, we are still holding our own, Day 11 of high water.

Grand Forks is in trouble, talked to Gene’s Cousin Bonnie and Wayne, they are getting ready to evacuate.  Fargo is not in wonderful shape either, today is sunny and clear, no rain yet!

It is getting to be a really long time stranded, heard that UND closed for the rest of the semester, so there may be hope for NDSU to do the same, have not been in any shape to study.

It is encouraging to get all your messages, we appreciate the life line out of here! 

The water has receded an inch in the last 24 hours, we have two pumps going full time, two more just part time.  Everything is still pretty soggy, pray for NO rain.

Gene was really discouraged yesterday. WATER, WATER, he has never been real patient.  He got a good nights rest, I let him sleep til he woke up.  I watched TV in between dike watch, some old movies.  We had a muskrat looking for solid ground, I scared him as much as he scared me, I think he was on the dike but swiftly swam away.

Geese and ducks are going north, Gene says they are all laughing at us dumb people as they fly over.  We have many birds on our island, I am feeding them, even the poor sparrows and grackles.  We have a whole group of robins getting worms out of my south flower bed up next to the house.

We will hang in there another day, wish we could have some idea of when this will be over.  Sometimes we think it will never end. 

Hope you are all fine.  Gene and Connie

Our island home

Water flowing between us and the neighbors to the north.

View from the deck…that Mugo Pine caused us so many problems.  When the original sand bags were laid, some were laid on the branches and that cause the dike to leak.

Our Cul de sac

*******

The radio station KFGO was our lifeline, our radio was hardly ever turned off. We used our computer for email and to check river levels.

Other than a neighbor boating over,  or my parents bringing supplies we had no company…it was just us and the water…an enormous amount of water.  Water as far as the eye could see.

April 18 Watery Wednesday

April 16 Watery Wednesday

April 13

April 10

April 9

April 8

April 6

March 19

Chance: Company

I had visitors on Sunday!  My best friends ever and my sister and her husband.

The beautiful Miss Miney is losing some of her hearing and little Elvis is well…Little Elvis! He is a character. They visited my groomer on Monday morning!

I need to report that Far Side has a temperature and has something brewing…not sure what yet… she got a great report from the allergy Doctor all the food allergies she has had the past 20-30 years have disappeared!!  She can eat pinepple and strawberries again…maybe even celery and mushrooms!  The Mayo Clinic says she is allergy free!   Her allergy Doctor says to take Zyrtec for the itchy eyes she gets when the pollen is bothersome.

At the lake

It is still early spring at the lake.

Lilly Pads are waiting under the surface of the water.

 

The Trillium has not bloomed yet.

Ferns and Ribbon Grass have awakened.

The lake was reasonably calm as we headed back up the hill away from the lake there was some commotion.

The Loons were calling a distress call, a Bald Eagle circled a few times…there were terrible noises and the crows were dive bombing the Eagle as he took off with something in his talons.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I made my Mom a card for Mother’s Day using a photograph I took of one of her favorite flowers a Browellia, in fact it is one of the Browellias she had blooming last summer.

 

I stopping giving my Mother gifts years ago, she appreciates cash for flowers at the local nursery.   That way she can enjoy flowers all summer long.

We all went out for an early supper/late lunch one day last week.

There is a wonderful place way back in the boonies where we like to go for lunch/supper once a week.    It usually isn’t too busy in the mid afternoon.

I hope all the Moms out there have a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Noah: Graduation from Northland

Our Oldest Grandson Noah graduated from Northland Community and Technical College yesterday.

The Chester Fritz was packed.  We had seats on the sixth level.

Getting the diploma.

Noah and his Mom

Jen is a Professor so she walks for and with her students. Noah was an Honor Student.

Adam got to skip a day of school to attend his brothers graduation.

Noah’s uncle, aunt and cousin

After graduation there was a small gathering at a brewery.  We enjoyed Scotch eggs, wings, burgers and fries…and of course a cake.

This week College…next week High School.  We are very proud of Noah!

Dandy Lawn

I mowed the front yard yesterday.  I left the side yard because it is blooming quite nicely!

Maybe it is a Lion amongst lawns.

They are just perfect in form and color..yellow being my favorite color in a flower.

Even the little Violets seem to like their lawn companions.

I sat in the lawn a long time taking photographs and enjoying the simple beauty of the dandys!  They are about the only thing blooming for the bees.  I did see a couple of bees and a Cabbage White Butterfly….who was in a hurry to get someplace.

The ground is warm enough to go barefooted now, that used to be the rule…keep your shoes on until the dandys bloom.

First Blooms

Usually the first native shrub to bloom in the spring in Minnesota is a Pin Cherry or Prunus pennsylvanica.  The birds will eat the fruits if there are any. The trouble with being the first to bloom is that you can freeze.

It blooms just as the leaves are opening. 

We first noticed them popping out last Saturday North of us, and on Sunday and Monday ours began to bloom…it must have been warmer North of us!

It was a rough winter, especially the ice last December.  One of the Oaks bent over one of my Double Flowering Plums (Prunus triloba ‘multiplex’)…since it was stressed it is in full bloom when the others are still in bud stage. 

The blooms are resting on an old piece of driftwood.

Quick bloom before you die!

Our Trillium has one bud…in a few days it will be open.

Our lows at night are in the 30’s and the highs during the day in the 60’s.  Pretty normal weather for May.  We need rain. I finally heard the loons down on the lake.  The Ticks are out and a few mosqitoes too.  The Bluebirds are nowhere to be seen, many people report that they came too early and many froze…I hope not.  We hung up our Hummingbird feeder yesterday and will put out the Oriole feeder today.