Camping out with Yogi Bear Memorial Day Weekend

Well, we got moved to our new place without any problems.  It's been a long and tiring weekend, and I have lots of unpacking to do, but I can work on that little by little throughout the next weeks.  My parents brought Michael home on Sunday afternoon, and Andy and Carrie and the kids also came for a visit.  We had a nice bbq out on the deck.  The kids fished in the ponds (they did catch some fish) and had a blast playing hide and seek in our new house.  This morning we got up and ate a nice breakfast looking out at the birds feeding on the bird feeders when my Mom exclaimed, "There's a bear!"  This mid-size fella came strolling across the lawn from the back of the house toward the bird feeders right in front of the dining room picture window.  As I'm scrambling to get my camera out of the case, he promptly stands up on his two hind feet and grabs the bird feeder and pulls the whole pole down.  He starts lunching on the sunflower seeds, and Russell runs outside to scare him off.  I start snapping pictures. 

Eating breakfast....

He spots Russell trying to scare him off and starts to retreat....

And then really retreats up the big pine tree as Russell runs toward him with a stick....

Final retreat into the woods

After all the excitement, we get back to our normal activities, and not about 20 minutes later, my mom exclaims again, "There's another bear outside; it's a different one!"  And sure enough, we look outside again, and here comes another bear, much smaller than the first (probably last year's cub), coming toward the house.  This one was much more skiddish and on guard and it didn't take much to scare him off.  Now the other one, was not very scared even with Russell outside.  Here's a picture of the second one retreating.

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day today.  This may in fact be my last post for a while.  I cannot get cable or DSL internet in the woods, so I'm going to have to go with cellular internet, and I'm first checking out my options now.  I may be back on line sooner than you think, so keep checking to see what's going on with our family.

Spring is Here

The crabapple tree in our front yard is huge and is in full bloom right now.  The hum of bees and hummingbird wings is all you can here when you stand under the tree.

And something "bigger" was in the tree one day this week when I came to the house to broken crabapple tree branches and scuffed up bark on the tree limbs...probably that crazy bear!  We did install a sodium flood light attached to the huge pine tree in our yard so at night we can see what's prowling around our yard...for safety reasons of course!

Michael likes to play on our apartment deck...I open the patio doors and let him go in and out at his leisure.  It was quiet fpr an extended period at one point, so I checked on him and found this....

And one last parting shot...

(please excuse the screwdriver I'm letting him play with)



Overdue Update

Michael turned 21 months this past week.  He's starting to get a little attitude now that he is getting older, but nonetheless, here's a photo stream of the last few weeks.

Michael loves 4-wheeler rides with his Dad

And this is what I found today in our driveway after we had a wave of thunderstorms....

Spring has finally arrived here this week (can you believe it's taken this long?).  Our woods is full of wild flowers with an abundance of Trilliums pictured above, and the leaves on the trees are almost completely out now.  We are 3-4 weeks behind schedule for the season of spring.  The large crab apple in our front yard is ready to burst with blooms, probably tomorrow if the weather stays nice.

We have been relentlessly remodeling preparing for our upcoming move this Memorial Day weekend.  The painting is completed and carpet will be installed this week.  I'll be glad when this is all over next weekend.

Russell saw the bear up close.  He was unloading the truck at dusk one evening and this 300-400 lb black bear comes strolling across the driveway to the birdfeeder pole looking for food.  Russell immediately shut the garage doors, and by the time he came back out of the house, he couldn't find the bear.  Hopefully, this won't be a regular occurence.

My Mom decided to retire from being a teacher's aide so we had her school retirement party this past weekend.  Now my parents can come a visit more often!!!

The Bear Facts

Well, I didn't think it was true, but we have bear on our property.  I have no photos to show you, but we have proof they are around.  Russell and Michael went out to our new place early this evening to find our bird feeders in front of the house ransacked and the pole holding the feeders knocked over.  Here's what my sunflower seed bird feeder looked like.

My hummingbird feeder survived the raid, but this bear did get the bottom off and all the nectar was gone.

Maybe there is a reason why the owner told me she used to take the bird feeders in every night because the bear like to annihilate the feeders.  Maybe I should listen to her?? 

Hopefully, I'll have pictures to post of the bears once we move out there for good.  Or maybe I shouldn't hope too much!!

Waterpark Fun

We just got back today from a two-day vacation to Wisconsin Dells.  Russell had a medical conference there, so Michael and I joined him for the two-day affair.  Now I've never been to the Dells before...it's a big tourist hot spot in Wisconsin for indoor and outdoor water parks, scenic boat tours etc. and honestly have never been interested in going there.  Well, I have to admit it was a pretty cool place.  The conference was at the Wilderness Territory Lodge and this place was HUGE!  It is the largest waterpark in the United States.  Guests have to take shuttle buses to get around the property...that's how big this place is.  Michael got a taste of his first water park and actually did really well and seemed to enjoy himself.  Here's a taste of our little get away.

Eating strawberries in the car on the trip down to the Dells



Having fun with Dad in the hotel room

My little boy sacked out in bed

We went out to dinner Friday night to MooseJaw Pizza and Brewing Company.  This was a very family friendly restaurant.  The kids get moose ears and the food was great!

The restaurant's delivery car (you can tell we are tourists)

Moose ears

One tired little boy on the way home today







Nose Picking

I finally landed a camera shot of Michael picking his nose.  He recently found his nasal openings and discovered there's things up there that he can dig out.  Last week we were in church for my two nephews' First Communions....he was sitting in my lap, and I noticed he was digging in his nose.  He proceeded to dig out some nasal drainage, roll it between his fingers, and then held out his finger to me with this in tact rolled up booger, and says "ick".  So funny!!!  He must have learned this from his Dad.  At least I haven't found him eating them yet!  Thank goodness...

Homeowner's Again

We officially became homeowner's again last week.  Here's a sneak peak at our place out in the woods.  Notice we still have no flowers, no leaves on the trees, and the grass is just starting to green up.  I will take better pictures once spring is in full bloom.

I had to plant some flowers!

The view looking out the livingroom window

The shed/workshop and garden (fenced in area).  Needs some work to clean it up.

Trails through the woods all throughout the property

The ponds

The happy homeowner!

The happy homeowner on his tractor!

We are in renovation mode.  Ripped out all the old carpeting and are preparing the walls and ceilings for a fresh coat of pain this past weekend.  Sorry no pictures of Michael.  He spent two days away from us at Grandma and Grandpa's...he did wonderful even though Mom was nervous and lonesome about him being away.