Holidays

I hope your holiday celebrations were filled with happiness, friends, and family. Our was very nice although David and I did not spend it together this year. I believe it is the first Christmas we have spent apart since we have been together... for geez... what is it now 7ish years or so?  Sumthin‘ like that.  We have the golf course right now and that is traditionally an active day on golf courses if the weather holds out.

People are off of work, out of school, and have family visiting.  So David could not leave it. 

 At the same time, I was so close to my family I could not pass up the trip to see them this holiday season since I have missed the last few years... and in particular I wanted to see my daughter and wily Grandson.

I had a wonderful visit with the family.  Everyone is doing great. As for the gift giving part of the celebration we draw names around Thanksgiving to narrow down our shopping lists and then exchanged our gifts Christmas morning.  

My brother-in-law Jeff drew my name and with a bit of detective work he found a necklace on Etsy that I had my eye on and that was his gift to me and I love it.









I had my Mom’s name and picked her up a few things and a book she has been waiting for... she was especially pleased with the book and has already finished it. 









There was almost an international incident as the Xmas tree tried two or three times to tumble over onto the party but Grandpa and Ave saved the day!  They just propped it back up and we simply laughed about it, and partied on.  TIMBER!

 Donovan is a busy bee.  He ran all over the house and is learning to bite. I know because he bit me... he has some pretty nice chompers that he uses on me... his Mama,  and of course on chocolate raisins.  He also climbed the Christmas decorating ladder and let us all know about it ...

and had a great time opening his presents even though his favorite toy was the wrapping paper tube! 


He got some full on Jedi Knight action with that thing until it fell apart and he started eating it. 

 His mother got him a little truck that plays music and/or honks when you push buttons on the top.  Best of all one of the button plays the song... “Funky Town”  and he REALLY enjoyed that and would do the baby dance whenever he could get it going good. The baby dance at this age consists of shifting and bouncing back and forth on his feet and then once in awhile throwing in a shoulder/back twist.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 The drives down to California, and back home again were (thank goodness) uneventful and I decided to travel down Hwy 101 instead of I-5 because of the snow in the mountains.  On the recommendation of my sister and brother-in-law Jeff I also decided to try a couple of audio books.  I downloaded one off of Amazon (via audible.com) and the other from the iTunes store and found I really enjoyed listening to them on the trips.  It was super simple. I downloaded them and then burned them onto discs. 

Then for the very first time I learned just WHO committed the Murder on the Orient Express as I was driving through the Emerald Triangle.  Very exciting!

I was very glad to be home... David missed me and I missed him.  He just about overdosed on frozen burritos and Delta was starting to not be interested in eating her food.

Turns out though, Delta was not moping.... we found out after the fact but she had snuck a dead salmon out of the creek.  In case you did not know... eating dead salmon can kill dogs and is a big issue here in the pacific northwest.  She got sicker and sicker and it was getting hard to get her to eat. We did not know what was wrong at first but when she just stopped eating all together we said enough... there is something really wrong.. and took her to the vet.  Turns out she had salmon poisoning.  Very treatable if caught in time... but if not 90% of dogs will die from it.  Apparently, domestic dogs are the only critters who have an issue with salmon poisoning. Not wolves, foxes, coyotes, cats, raccoons, bears... only domestic dogs and the story is that once they get it and if they are cured they supposedly won’t get it again. 

The salmon eat a snail, the snail has these fluke egg things in them... so the dog eats the salmon and the flukes hatch inside the dogs.  And she was pretty sick.  IV fluids, antibiotics, floppy like a rag doll sick.

It has taken a couple days and we have had to become tricky with her medicine  (hiding it in a spoonful of ice cream) but she is much better and is slowly starting to eat again.  It broke our hearts to see her so sick she is really a tender sweetheart of a girl.  She gives us a lot of love.

Beautiful artwork by Artist & Author Jackie Morris

We are so glad to have her back on track now and feeling better each day that is passes.

Just one more additional story that made the holidays... oh so special.  I went to go get some supplies from the store because we had a small tournament lined up for Jan 1.  The supplies included a few cases of beer.  I set them up on the counter and with my head down I was continuing to unload the cart.  The woman behind the counter grabbed the beer, scanned it, then said “I am going to have to see your...” and I turned my head to listen to what she was going to say.  She looked into my face and said, “oh... never mind.”

OUCH! 

I wailed, “OH MAN!  The timing of that!  You could have finished the sentence... Geez!”  She said “oh no.. no.. no... that's not what I meant.  Um... you just seemed to be in a hurry so I was not going to have you get your i.d. out.” 

Not a convincing recovery but I will take what I can get. 

Beer, Brats, Boobs, and the Bible

As I mentioned I went to Green Bay the other day for some training. While I was there I noted that Green Bay is a much smaller city that I always thought (a little over 100k people) and it seems to be currently revitalizing itself.

As I have just started traveling around, I find it so interesting in different states because of the different state cultures... California definitely has one and can even be broken down into distinct Northern and Southern California differences. During my brief stay in Wisconsin, I just started noticing a bit of a cultural clue that was especially obvious in Green Bay... they have a fondness for Beer, Brats, Boobs, and Bible. I am not sure if Wisconsin is considered bible belt country but it seemed like every other radio station had some kinda religious thing going on. I drove around a bit looking for the downtown area and wandered into Olde Town. Olde Town had several breweries and 'dancing halls'... 'gentleman clubs'... 'strip joints'... whatever you wanna call them. As I was driving I even saw a gal who fit the stereotype of a stripper walking down the street towards her car. She had on some whoppin' high heels, a mini skirt, the obligatory long blond hair (obligatory for both the Midwest and for strippers), a button down white shirt, and a fedora. I was wondering when the ZZ top music was going to start.

However, to defend Green Bay, this is not particular to Green Bay. When I crossed the Michigan border into Wisconsin I had to pass through a town called Spread Eagle. There is a golf course there, a couple of bars... in a row... some miscellaneous shops, and of course a nearby exotic dance club. As I drove through these areas I was desperately hitting scan on my radio over and over to try to get away from both the mild christian rock stations to the fiery... 'you are going to burn in hell for eternity if you do ____ (enter the appropriate sin here)' talk shows. It was all very interesting and by the way...

Oh I almost forgot... they are big on cheese too! I even saw a Cheese and Candy shop! I tried to get a picture of it but it was too blurry.

Just so you all know so I don't get any crazy comments about Wisconsin... from what I saw... Wisconsin is a beautiful, clean state. Green Green Green and the people were all very friendly.

Speaking of green, when I was not training I went to Green Bay's botanical gardens. I really enjoyed it, and I think when I am in different cities for an extended period I might start looking into going to more of these. There is a great one just outside of Fort Bragg, California that our family always enjoyed. When they are organized nicely and not too expensive these can be a fun relaxing detour. Some let you bring leashed dogs, others allow picnics... find out where your local one is and give it a try!

The Green Bay gardens cost $5 to enter, it was a sunny very warm day, and the gardens are organized very well. This post is going to be mostly pictures of the gardens I saw... I have to tell you that I started taking pictures before I even made it in the gate! Their parking lot and entrance had great displays! I will put little comments here and there... maybe. I also had an ulterior motive while I was there. I wanted to get more ideas for our yard and thought a similar climate botanical gardens would be just the spot. So without further ado....

Down the garden path we will go...

Check it out below... those ferny looking things in the background are not ferns.. they are rainbow swiss chard! Very edible (Like a spinach or beet green) and pretty too! They were planted in large swaths with flowers in between. This is a great idea... on a much smaller scale of course, unless you are REALLY into Rainbow Swiss Chard.

And then below look at this contrasting planting. It is petunias and an ornamental pepper! Look how dark those leaves are! It was a cool planting there was a large grouping of them interwoven to show off the contrast. One could have the same effect I bet with flowers and the darker purple basils.

I liked that grouping above because of all the different types of leaves you can see in the picture. Spiny ones, round ones, pointy ones and then there is the different colors.

These two below were part of the children's garden area. This small bridge led to a large playset. This picture unfortunately did not do it justice. The plantings were all whimsical and wild.

The second picture is a close up of the interior of a covered bridge... it was an arched bridge, actually nearly horseshoe shaped, and the wire frame itself had tendrils so in the winter when the winding plants died off it would still look natural and plant-like. Very nice.

and then in the center of the herb garden:

and then this... and I quote from the Green Bay Botanical Garden website:

Stumpf Belvedere - The Belvedere is an example of an early Grecian Gazebo. The stars, clouds, and moon cut into its roof capture the poetry of the view as much as the quote from Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Ellen Kort.

The Belvedere was so cool!
The light showed through the top and made glowing reflections on the inside of the dome.





The poem carved into the base wraps around the inside edge of the bench:

and then my favorite... the Vanderperren English Cottage Garden:

Then finally ... I left the garden, and I left training.

After 3 1/2 long days I headed home...

As quickly as I was rolling out of town, a storm was quickly rolling in. It was getting darker, and windier, and kinda wild looking. I am not quite sure what kind of storm it was because while trying to find a radio station that was not telling me how naughty I was, I only heard the end of the radio emergency beeping thing after hearing an announcer say...

"...if you are near shelter take cover" then beeep.. beeeeep... beeeeep..

and then the christians started singing and yelling again. I was like... "what?! what did that guy just say?! what was that?!" Once again I was frantically pushing the scan button to see if the emergency notice was going to be repeated on some other channel.

It wasn't.
Well, that's helpful.

You see, I am a newby to this Midwest storm thing so when I hear an emergency signal where someone is actually talking... and it is not just a test of the emergency broadcasting system... I always think about Dorothy and Toto...

I know I know... they were fortunate enough to be in Kansas. ;)
But you never know where a tornado might pop up...
they are kinda like ninjas that way.

So, I looked around real quick to make sure that storm did not have a tail growing...
(took a picture just to share)
then clicked my heels three times and wished for home.