Getting Squirrelly at the Hollow

The beginning of October was simply gorgeous in Iowa, mid-70's to low 80's, beautiful sunshine, and mild breezes.  One particularly dazzling Sunday morning the sunlight burst through the curtains with every gentle breeze, I felt a yearning to be outdoors.  As I looked around the house at Bug on his computer, Anthony on his, and Nan sound asleep I thought this is no way to waste this gift of a day away!  So I packed up a cooler with sandwiches and as soon as Nan woke up I hollered at the boys.  We were going on a picnic!  I just didn't know where we should venture to since I'm still not completely familiar with the area.

Anthony solved that small dilemma.  He drove us to Squirrel Hollow, a state park along the Raccoon River, about 10 miles from our door.  It was the perfect setting for our little out of doors adventure.  We enjoyed the sunlight filtering through the colored fall leaves as we took a short hike before lunch to acquaint ourselves with the park.

Nan and Bug were enjoying some Uncle/Niece bonding time as they posed for this picture on a wooden bridge spanning a small ravine & even smaller creek.

Always the adventurous 10-year-old Bug tried to shimmy down to the bottom of the ravine.

Pausing to look over the river Nanbaby quietly took in the scenery.

Bug and Sam were curious as only a boy and dog can be to check out this cabin, which turned out to be an outhouse.

We stopped for lunch at a little play area. Anthony pushed Bug on this Merry-go-round a few times before Bug decided to take a more leisurely spin.

Nan was quite taken with this leaf she caught skipping across the picnic table.

She had to explain her find to PopPop in great detail.

After lunch we wandered down to the river.  Bug and Sam climbed this fallen tree (the same one that Bug investigated when we were at that spot on New Year's Day).  I have only ever known one other dog to climb a tree.

With Nanbaby loaded up we trekked down the river.

Bug and Sam took off ahead of us to make sure there were no sharks in them there waters.

Bug toyed with the thought of taking a swim but settled for just dipping his toes in instead.

We found a bar of beautiful white sand.  Nan wasn't sure what to think of this new substance at first.

But she finally decided she was impressed and this new stuff was pretty neat although not very tasty.

Bug had a grand time running up the small dunes of sand and rolling down the other side.

"Hey PopPop!  How about we take some of this stuff home?"

Even Sam seemed to enjoy the sand.

I'm sad that the weather is changing and winter will soon be upon us.  I can't wait for spring to make her appearance so we can continue our explorations.

Hangin' With the Good Guys

You would think that with my job at the dealership I spend so much time around cars that I wouldn't want to see anything with wheels on my time off. However, during the long Independence Day weekend Anthony and his mom took me to see the Good Guys car show at the state fairgrounds and I have to admit that I was impressed. 

In an effort to pick up the speed of my blogging in order to catch up to the present I'm not going to bore you with the lengthy details of souped up engines and specs.  I am mostly just going to post a few photos of the vehicles I found most interesting.  I had a great day watching people, talking about engines and paint jobs, and admiring the unique artistic touches and mathematics behind these creations.  I did discover that I have a new interest and admiration for the rat-mobiles. Although, for some reason I did not come home with a photo of a single one.

Who ever would have thought of making a mustang into a four-wheel drive?

Stay tuned for photos of our end of summer picnic.

A Photogenic Personality

At the end of June Nanbaby and I went to visit my friend Chris of Photography139 fame to have him shoot her 6 month photos.  I've said it before and I will state it again, Chris has an amazing talent in photography.  I have heard him wander aloud why his friends choose him to photograph the babies in their lives.  I obviously can't speak for all of them, but I had many reasons for asking Chris to photograph Nan.  I love the artistic spins, the angles, the way he can capture emotion and personality.  Chris doesn't pose the children as so many do, he captures them being their normal happy and occasionally fussy selves.  But I will let you be the judge, below are a few of my favorite shots from that evening.

Nan was getting a little tired and fussy at this point and I was trying my best to liven her up.  I wasn't even aware that Chris had aimed his camera towards me as I tried to induce giggles from the little one.  This photo now graces the desktop of my laptop.

As I said above, these are only a few of my favorite shots. There were so many fantastic photos to choose from I had a very difficult time deciding which ones to display at home & at work.  Chris has conveniently given me a link for friends and family to view the gallery of photos in the Photography139 Store.  

Thank you again for sharing your amazing talent Chris!  Look for me to discuss Nan's 1 year photos with you before long!

The Final Kick in My Ass

On June 27th, just days before Dad passed away, Anthony thought I needed something to pick my mood up.  We had been talking about adding a new furbaby to our household for several weeks so it was no real surprise but still a huge joy when he brought me home a 5 week old Siamese-mix kitten.

At that time I was reading The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.  I decided to give the young kitten the same name as the lead character, Lily.  Oddly prophetic?  You decide.

Lily snuggled right in to our little household.  She spent her days cuddling with Sam on the couch and her nights curled up in the towels I had folded up in a box for her bed.  Except for that very last night.

I'm not sure if it was because she just wanted to be close to me, perhaps she could sense my sadness at Dad passing away just a day & a half before.  Or possibly she wasn't feeling well herself and wanted my warmth and comfort.  We will never know why Lily climbed under the covers in the middle of the night, if that was her undoing or if she knew her time was already approaching.  I woke up on the morning of Lily's 5th day with us to find her dead beside me.

The week between Dad's passing and his funeral became even more difficult for me.  Thank you little Lily for the joy you did bring me during those hard days after I put Dad into Hospice. R.I.P.

Rest in Peace Now Dad

I'm not going to lie, this is going to be a difficult post for me to compose.  I have had 10 years to prepare myself for June 29th of this year but there are certain stages of grief that you just can't go through until the time actually comes.

This photo of Dad, Bug, and Nanbaby was taken just a couple days before Dad told me he was done fighting.  It was difficult to hear him say that he was tired and ready to go "sleep" with his wife (my mother who passed away 15 years ago).  It was difficult, but I understood, he had held on for 10 years for me and it was time to let him go. 

It saddens me to think of all that my father gave up when he tried to end his life so many years ago.  I still grieve for the grandfather that my children never really got to know.  I still miss the father that was strong for me so many times as I was growing up.

It took me ten years to get past my anger at my father for attempting to kill himself and for the state that his attempt left his mind and body in,  But now I realize that those are ten years that I cherish.  That was ten more years that I got to spend with my father.  Even though his brain was very damaged from lack of oxygen and he wasn't able to have in-depth conversations any longer, I came to realize something that I wasn't aware of prior to his self-imposed life sentence, my father did love me and was proud to call me his daughter.  There were times when we butted heads as I grew up that I would've told you differently, but after the last ten years I can tell you without a doubt that I had not given him enough credit as a father. I did not know what he was dealing with.  I did not realize that he had a treatable illness very similar to mine.  Looking back I can now see the signs, but they were never glaringly obvious.

Depression is a serious illness that some people can hide a lot better than others.  If you know someone that you think may be depressed or having a difficult time please reach out to them.  If you are feeling down yourself or confused about life, please reach out to someone. There could be someone out there that needs you more than you realize.  I was lucky to have the time to repair my relationship with Dad (the best I could given his limitations), and I realize that, but I also realize how many times I could have benefited from having my Dad be his full, capable self over the last decade.  I guess a girl never out grows needing her Daddy.

Daddy I love you.

Breaking It

For Memorial Day weekend Anthony & I decided we needed to take a little break from our stresses and have some playtime. Anthony had heard of a 4-wheeling club called MIOBI (Make It of Break It) in Southern Iowa that sounded like the mini-vacation we needed. We loaded up Swamp Thing and made our way to the grounds just North of Albia.

I was surprised at how many people filled the campground. This was obviously not the small affair I had imagined.

On our first run through an area aptly named the Playground we discovered that Swamp Thing was not quite as up to the challenge as we had originally thought. We found that her carburetor had a tendency to flood on steep inclines. This was not a convenient problem to have when traipsing through a 400 acre former strip mine full of steep hills and rocks.

After we were pulled to level ground and gave Swamp Thing a chance to recover we attempted to climb the West side of an area called the Rock. Halfway up we encountered the same problem.

The break while Anthony operated on Swamp Thing gave me the chance to play around with my camera.

Once Swamp Thing was up and running again we decided that she would be better suited for running through the mud than climbing rock walls. We set off along a muddy forest trail not paying much attention to the twists and turns that we were taking. That would prove to be our undoing but also the beginning of an interesting adventure.

At the bottom of a steep gully Swamp Thing found a challenge she could not surpass. We were buried up to the bumpers in mud and not able to move more than an inch in any direction. MIOBI requires that every vehicle in the park be equipped with a working CB. Anthony hollered across the air waves for help but we didn't know our location. We tried to talk our would be rescuers through the path we had thought we had taken but it took them nearly two hours to find us. It seems that we had ventured down a seldom used dead end path that many didn't even know existed.

We were pulled out of the mud and backwards up the steep hill by two buggies strapped together.

As it was nearing dark (closing time for the park) we were told to follow the buggies to the campground. They had to go rescue another vehicle on the way so we were taken down a path meant more for buggies and rock crawlers than old, heavy and big 4-wheel drives. The buggies had to hook together again to pull us up another steep rocky incline before we once again entered the muddy forest.

The mud in this part of the forest was deep and that morning's rain had filled the deep ruts to their brim. A little ways down the path we slid in the mud into the wall of one of those ruts. The impact popped the bead off the passenger side tire. It was getting dark and we did not have a spare tire with us. There was nothing we could do to limp Swamp Thing to the campground so we accepted that we were there for the night and hitched a ride back to the Tahoe.

The hospitality back in the campground was amazing. We had people offering to help us in the morning, sharing their dinners and beer with us, and inviting us to enjoy fellowship and warmth by their campfires.

Early Sunday morning Anthony set out with several of his new friends and a borrowed trailer tire to perform their magic and rescue Swamp Thing. I was given the opportunity to sleep in (a rare occurrence) and read my book while snacking on our small supply of Lunchables. It took the boys from 6 am until 2 pm and working through a thunder storm to bring Swamp Thing back to the campground. During this time I watched with amusement as the tent across from me blew over sending several people scrambling out into the cold rain.

When they returned with the disabled truck we had another challenge to confront. How were we supposed to reseed the bead without running water? Anthony adapted with the only liquid we had left.... beer.

I watched with amusement as the beer foamed from the air filling the tire. In all my years around vehicle repairs I have never witnessed anything quite like this.


It worked like a charm though and we had Swamp Thing loaded on the trailer before 4:00.


I played around with my camera for a few more minutes while Anthony said his good-byes and then it was time to hit the road.
Swamp Thing has developed a few more issues since our little weekend jaunt, so it doesn't look like we will be taking her out again anytime soon. It was definitely a different experience that we both enjoyed despite all of our obstacles.

Bittersweet

The beginning a May brought many changes to our quite little abode. Sis decided enough was enough and she left her boyfriend of several years. i won't go into the details of why, as that is not my story to tell.

Sis, Nan Baby, and I had a lovely reunion the day after they came home and spent the afternoon at the park.

It was good & heart-warming to see the girls enjoy a day of giggles and love.

Nan Baby was a slight bit apprehensive when it came to the slide.

She was a trooper though and didn't fuss as the went down.

Sis moved out a few weeks after that but made the loving and mature decision that Nan needed more emotionally and physically at that time than she could provide at this time. Nan Baby has been living with us since and is thriving in her new environment. Sis is working on bettering her situation and we wish her luck and strength.