The Beauty of the North Woods

I just had to post these photos. It's so beautiful up here in the North Woods. We have all kinds of creatures. Some that swim, some that cruise the land and some that fly.

This photo is of a small island across from my home--it's part of my daily view. It's approximately 1/2 mile out in the lake. Up in that tall tree is a nest for Bald Eagles. Every year they come and create a new family.



Here's one of the adult pair taking off from the nest to look for food.



Here's the same bird in flight looking down at the lake in case a fish makes a fatal mistake and becomes dinner!



Sometimes they fly so low over my head I swear I could reach out and touch them. Ah, but those talons wouldn't be too much fun to feel. But they are so beautiful! Enjoy!


P.S. Tomorrow afternoon Wild Blue will come to hook up my satellite broadband. That will certainly be better than this crummy dial up!

Phone test

Ok I'm testing this text to blog stuff. This what happens when one gets a new phone toy. LOL Yeah, it works. Geezez, I'm like a 12 yr old with this new phone.

Quick Post: Aggravation

Yes, here I am in the woods and aggravation is the word for the day.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and it was beautiful here and we got right to work. The whole weekend was beautiful...until. Until I turned on our tv and discovered that someone at Dish Network screwed up our account and did not connect all the channels we pay for! So I called them. What a royal pain that turned out to be. You see, I'm having Wild Blue satellite broadband connected up here because this dial up that I'm using right now SUCKS! 26.4k SUCKS! lol Anyway because we are getting wild blue through Dish they told me I could only get the tv mess fixed if I canceled the wild blue date for connection! WTF!!!?? I said you've got to be kidding. They weren't. So, in order to get tv we canceled. Dish network's jackassery policy and inability to have an open work order and fix a problem THEY created ticked me off royally. So I yelled and told them that was insane but that they'd better fix the tv situation. Well, they fixed it. I have all the tv we pay for and got HBO and Showtime and TMC for free for 3 months and Cinemax for 1 cent per month for 12 months. Heh. Then they connected me to the Wild Blue rep and now I have to wait until Saturday for them to come out and connect my broadband. Grrrr, but worked out in the end.

Next bit of insanity was that I ordered a new washer and dryer for the house here---just like the set I recently purchased for the IL. home and it got delivered today. Of course we discovered a problem when I tried to do one last load of wash with the old set---The sump pump died! Arghhhhh. So that led to a mad dash--a 45 minute one-way dash-- on a holiday weekend to the nearest town to get the parts we needed. Geezez. Ok, new sump installed and working. So today when they delivered the new machines we discover the door to the dryer is F'd up. Geezez! Anyway, we got it to function but now there is a service order in for a new door on a brand new machine! Can we say AGGRAVATION!!?? LMAO

The third bit of just shoot me nonsense was the boat battery. Brand new battery...the second one mind you...dead as a door nail and with a bad cell and won't charge. So now we have to buy a new battery. We got the shore station in the water but have to wait until next week to launch the boat. AGGRAVATION! LMFAO

Other than all that insanity all is well. I already caught 2 bass off the dock but tossed them back because they were just under 15 inches. I got all my plants and seeds in the square foot gardens and all looks good. Today it's raining a bit but that's ok because I need a day of rest from all the AGGRAVATION!

I'll post again after I get the broadband connected since it was a real pain to even post this at 26.4k.

Take care all.

Preparing For...

Sad news and our trip to the woods.

This coming Wednesday will be the last day we have with our 16 year old awesome cat, Samuel.



This photo is Sammy when he was healthy. He's now simply skin and bones. It's a metabolic problem brought on by a malfunctioning thyroid gland. He's been on meds for nearly a year but they have stopped working. He's pretty much refusing to eat anymore. So my hubby and I made the agonizing decision to euthanize him on Wednesday. It will be a horrible evening but we wish him safe journey to cat land to rejoin his friends Chiba and Terra and Champagne.

I found him on my patio in California when he was 3 months old and he's been with me through all kinds of life changes ever since. He traveled 2200 miles with me to Illinois to a new life with hubby. He's been a treasure. Friendly, does tricks and loving pet. I will miss him terribly. 16 years of love is what he received return.

Our next agonizing decision comes in August when we must do the same for our blind and dying 12 year old Chesapeake Bay Receiver Cinnamon.

Animals bring such joy into our lives and leave us with much sorrow for a time but wonderful memories.

Since all this is happening in the next couple days I will not be posting until next week when I'm in Michigan. I'm getting satellite broadband! Wooohooo! Take care all and I'll post after I get Wild Blue connected.

Now, I must finish packing some things and spend time with Sammy.

Just Because It's A Beautiful Day

Yes, it's lovely here today. A light breeze, loads of sun and all the bees fighting over the lilacs.

And one comes in judging the flowers for a perfect landing:



Yep, successful landing:



Symba no want! He stays inside when the bees are out! Smart boy:




More:





Peek-a-boo through the fence

Saddam Loyalists/Taliban Interview Comedy

Oh man, this is hilarious!



Comedy. It makes my day!

Welcome the Goposaurs

The name is so fitting: GOPosaurs. Out of touch, out of ideas and out of power.

The new GOP mascot:




And now for something humorous. Jed Lewison does a great job in this video. I give you:

Goposauric Park



Too funny and sadly too true!

When You Have Nothing Left...

You use fear. Seriously, that's all the Republicans have and once again we see them prostituting the horror 9-11. Do they really believe that if we move these GITMO detainees to a supermax prison we will somehow become less safe? Come on, how many times has Cuba been attacked since they've been residing there? What do they think will happen? An escape? How many of our now resident criminals, that have committed heinous acts, have escaped? Why aren't the Republicans demanding we fear them being imprisoned on U.S. soil?

So what do they produce to attempt to keep us all in fear mode? Well, check out their latest "OMG, we'll all die if GITMO really closes" video. Complete with requisite scary music.



Please, Republicans, find a message that resonates with more than the loony 21%. A 2 party system is healthy for this nation but these people aren't even 1/4 of a party anymore. Partly because they continue to produce crap such as this garbage.

Another Beautiful Day

Today is going to be a great day to be outside. The sun is shining and the blue sky is incredible. I have another Cardinal visitor. This guy was arguing with the other male over the female. The female flew away leaving the 2 males to hash it out. This guy in the photo got chased to the top of this tree in my yard. I love watching them.



Most of our animals are thrilled that they can go outside now. I only let my oldest cat out because he never goes anywhere outside the yard. He actually lounges half in and half out of one of our dog houses. The second oldest, named Shadow, is an escape artist. If the door is opened a crack---ZOOM out he goes! He's such a scaredy cat though. He doesn't stay out long. So besides having cat towers near a couple of windows I bought them a platform to attach to the window in my office so they can argue over who gets to lay on it. So far this morning Shadow won. (It's only up temporarily for now as I just got it yesterday)



I have to mow the grass but I hate that. I wish I could just let the natural flora and fauna grow but the village has other ideas. Silly since Illinois is a prairie after all. I mow and lose my pretty yard weeds. This year the violets are not just purple but also white.



Oh well, I'll be in the woods soon. Enjoy the day.

Morning Cards

Yes, cards as in cardinals! It's a beautiful, sunny day this morning. I've got a breeding pair of cardinals that love to sit in my trees and sing. So I decided to try and get a couple photos.

The male is a total ham



Yes, he wants you to see his "good" side too!



The female is much more skittish so this is the side she shows you.



LOL. Well, how dare her not turn around! The whole time I was out there she refused to turn around. That's ok, I'll capture her front side one of these days. Beautiful birds though. I love seeing them and their incredible red hue against the sky and trees.