Christmas Eve

This is how Larry's family spent Christmas eve after Church and opening gifts.

December 11, 2007 Snow

Phil took these pics while on his way to and from finals. The top 4 are of the lakefront. The bottom pic is in the UWM area.

December 11, 2007

We got snow, again. The first snow this season came the night before Thanksgiving. I drove through about 10 miles of the 'tunnel' snow anyone who has ever driven in Winter at night would recognize.

The next morning Cassie and I came back to the East side of the state through the most beautiful hilly patchworked white-on-white landscape I could have imagined. There were still clouds to the East. There was just enough snow to cover the ground, but not the color of the field beneath it. God must have had 5 gallons of white paint and 2 drops of all the other colors of this world that morning.

Most of the snow was gone on our return trip. Again, beautiful hilly fields and rock of variations of browns, golds and greens.

Above is a picture I took today of the height of the snow out side of our front door. The stoop is a step down from the storm door threshold. The snow is no longer a step down from the storm door threshold.
I don't clean up the flower beds in the fall. I leave the cone flowers, wild sunflowers and the Japanese lanterns for the birds who over winter. It also defines the walkway, should I wish to shovel it.
The blue spruce was given to Cassie when she was a preschooler by her Uncle Brian for Audubon day. That was the only year it was shorter than her. The light pole behind the top of the tree is about 15 feet behind it. I took the picture about 15 feet from it and about 8 feet above ground level. Do the math to figure out the height of the tree.
Above is the view outside of my front door. Click on the brush to the forefront to see the Winter colors of the Nanking cherry bush against the needles of the neighbor's spruce (?) trees.

Below is a view of the power pole without a bunch of utility guys in the yard. I was able to push open the porch storm door just enough to take this pic. Maybe someone should shovel the porch? Noooo who am I kidding. It will melt in April.

I love the subtle color contrasts of the trees in the neighbor's yard. Summer has so much intensity that the small visual differences are overwhelmed. Click on the pic and you should see the snow flakes falling from the sky.

Larry came home from work about an hour before I took this pic. Phil came home about 4 hours before him. You can see it is a snow just around the freeze point by comparing the snow on the cars.

A chill in the house

I decided today was not a productive day for me to be at work, so I came home and worked on a much needed nap. I was disturbed by someone ringing the doorbell, which I ignored and was woken by a chill. Phil explained on his way out the door to school, that the power had been cut and he might be parked in.


I was up anyway... so I took the opportunity to investigate with a camera. It is taking all the restraint I have not to start up with the 'how many guys does it take to...' ramblings, so I will end now and let the pics tell the story.

Dropping Cassie off

This is after supper and just before Cassie went back into the dorms. Phil came along and was good company on the way home. Cassie called today and said she got in a good nights sleep. Good. She had a very busy weekend.

Dad

Dad has been having shortness of breath for about a month. It finally became enough of an issue to seek medical attention. Above is one of his daughters giving him an earful for not calling her about it. Below are two other daughters and a grand daughter. The fourth daughter was the one who got him to the hospital. She was doing soccer mom duty. We will all feel much better once all the test are done and the results are in. This should take a few days. Dad is anxious to be home.

What else we did on Saturday

A utility company is replacing the poles going through our yard. This morning a flock of doves were perched on the lines. The second pole is on the ground. That one will require the temporary removal of the linked fence along the lot line. I do not know how they are going to raise that pole in the narrow space between our garage and the house next door.
Cassie helped me dig up and split the remaining iris bulbs. I have over 200 bulbs left after I replanted what I wanted. The plastic sled was filled twice during this project.

Here is Phil's new look. He posed for me on the upper porch.

Run Through The Park... The Prep Time

This is an annual run through the park. The radio announcer gave the temperature as 39 degrees. It did not feel that cool in the sun. I arrived 35.06.6 minutes before the start of the race.
Matthew is stretching as park of his warm up. His dad biked over to watch the race.
Larry brought Cassie home from college for this run and made sure everyone knew he was a supporter of her school. He brought shirts back for me, too. I wore the sweat shirt of the other UW school we are supporting this year. The one with the panther logo.
Cassie draws an audience when she stretches.

Run Through The Park... The Beginning

I stood near a tree and took these photos of the first movement with the starting gun and contiuned until the bulk of the runners passed me. Click on them to see if you know any of the runners.

Run Through The Park... The Middle

There was an area in the middle of the woods that was the 1 1/2 mile and 2 mile ends of the loop. There I stood. Above is Matthew at 1 1/2 miles in number 152. Below Cassie, at the same spot behind the elbow of the guy in the foreground. Double click for more Cassie and less elbow.

Larry at the 1 1/2 mile spot in the Platteville orange t-shirt over the Platteville blue long sleeved running shirt.
Matthew leading the pack at the 2 mile marker. Below is Larry responding to the comments from the photographer.

Run Through The Park... The End

Mathew finished the race before I found my way from the 2 mile mark. Here is Cassie coming into the chute. Her spikes caught in a root and she muddied up during the race.
Larry finished at 28 minutes +.

A view of the runners after the race commiserating. See the smiles? They did not run hard enough.

Iris bulbs

This picture of absolutely gorgeous irises is from my flower bed this last Spring. They bloomed for about 2 weeks in early June. I acquired them through a bag of a couple dozen left at Dad's 3 or 4 years ago by Bobi. I planted them on a very cold November night that was threatening snow. The irises bloomed the next Spring.
Why am I blogging this?
Today I dug up and split 1/2 the bed. It filled a child's plastic sled. I will finish the rest of the bed, replant 2-3 dozen and then share the rest, until they are gone, with whoever wants a low maintenance beautiful Spring flower. Contact me and we can work out some way to get them to you before the first snow.

Winneconne Regionals

Cassie called on Thursday to tell me she managed a ride to the regionals with a group of other CC runners. Of course, I made the trip to visit. It was a great day. It was not as windy as last week. There were clouds when I left home. I saw all kinds of geese flying in their Autumn 'V' on my drive North. There were none in sight once I parked the car. The top pic is Cassie running past me to congratulate her elite team mates of the women's team. The rest are her with the blue and orange painted on her face. She called her dad to visit while we went to the car to get her care package of the day.


Below is the early line up of the men's regional run. The banana was there for the purpose of team spirit. I met up with Cassie at the end of the men's 5 mile run and then headed home. She went back to school.