My Week

I left on Tuesday and drove a long way to my sister's house in Mountain, WI.  I dropped off my dogs at my son's house so I think they had a little mini-vacation stay over also.  So fun to see them play.

This was a much needed get away with all the cancellations and celebration of my sister's birthday. 

There was a lot of road construction along the way.  Patty's camper was all set up when I arrived.  Apparently the road construction affected her drive more than mine.  She was prepared for margaritas in cups.

Sisters went ATV riding on her property and she showed us all the interesting hunting shelters.  We saw a bunch of turkeys on the ride.  I wanted to go down to the creek but the rain the night before made it too muddy of a walk.  I see we both wore yellow.

They added a recent addition of adjacent property.  It proved to be a former dumping ground.

Here's the new deer hunting tower in progress.

The bear hunting shack had a doll attached to the inside with a screw through the head.

On the way back to the house, I posed with the warning sign that there was a bigfoot in the area.

I had been warned....I am still in shock after meeting Bigfoot.

I went up the historic lookout tower all the way to the top.  My thighs were sore the next day.

My sisters did NOT to all the way up to the top.

We walked a small hiking trail at Cathedral Woods.  This was a good timing because after that it rained.

We did the tree pose with the trees while balancing on a log.

Balancing is difficult and challenging on a log while trying to hold the pose for a 10 second timer.  I did have my foot up on my calf but not long enough for the timer.

Then we saw the Gingerbread house in Lakewood, WI was completed in the early 1950s  .

I found a little history of this house here:  http://franklygreenbay.com/article/view/id/387/Gingerbread%20Houses%20A%20Magical%20Fall%20Retreat

We visited a cute little coffee shop that was more of a souvenir shop.  I picked up some insect deterring socks for me and my sons.  Sean rejected the pair I gave him.

We went to the beach at Bass Lake on Thursday for her birthday. 

My sister getting ready to go out and show us what a pro she is on the SUP, short for Stand Up Paddleboard.  We all had a chance at it. Takes a moment to get your "sea legs" going and used to the steering.  My sisters went outside the ropes but I stayed inside going in circles.

This is not the typical position but I was obviously happy to get that far.

Eventually I caught on and stood on it most of the time.  I must say I conquered a new milestone in life.

We had a real nice picnic lunch. Afterward we stopped by the candy shop.  We had some nice walks and I saw this weird figure at a driveway entry and I had to get close enough to ready the sign. "In this hole so deep so cold lies the body of a nosy soul"

She had a four flavor cake.  Very rich but then I couldn't remember the last time I ate cake. 

Ginny trimmed my long hair.  It was pretty uneven in the back.  I'm glad she did this because I'm afraid a salon would hack it and I plan on harvesting this for a hair donation to wigs for kids.

On the way back I stopped in Beloit for a much needed break.  At least the highway sign boasted of clean rest rooms.  There was gas, food and souvenirs.  Nobody was there when I pulled in but others came after while I had a much needed walk about.  One lady must have driven off with the gas pump attached the the car because I saw her holding a loose nozzel with the car pulled half way out.  It's the funny stuff you see only on social media.

The toll roads were closed to a pass only lanes.  The cash lanes were blocked off and signs indicated that drivers should pay the toll online.   The website was NOT USER FRIENDLY.  They refer me to an instructional video that doesn't match the actual website.  Even though I left the tollway at Rockford, I had to pay toll through the next plaza, DeKalb.  Very confusing since I never went to DeKalb.  Oh how bad that stop and go traffic was to get off.  Two lanes merged into one lane to exit and it must have taken forever.

I stopped by Peoria and got a tour of the new Vet Center by my son before picking up my dogs.  I got home in time to walk them and take Amber to ring ready obedience practice.

My sister downsized her stock of wine to us. She had a wine rack almost 3 times the size of mine.  Here's my wine rack before. 

after loading the re-gifted wine.

My Nissan Rouge had it's first long trip so the best miles per gallon average was 29.8 between a fill up in Appleton, WI and Chatham, IL.  This shot was taken right after a fill up because the low fuel light was on.

I must thank my sister Patty for the morning coffee.

I must thank my sister Ginny for all the hospitality and good eats.  I accused her of serving celery at every meal.

 My hummingbird can be aggressive and bold. I refilled the feeder when I got back. I no longer have ants in it.  I did spray but I also used double sided scotch tape around the pole.  There's no ants on the tape so maybe the spray worked.  This time the front door was open and my dog was staring at the bird. The hummingbird fluttered around the door. I'm sure if my dog was outside the glass, things would be different because I've already seen this hummingbird hover over a squirrel and a robin like that.  I've been looking for a nest. I only see a solo bird. There is a nest in my fir tree but it is a little big. I believe the nest is another bird that was run off by my aggressive hummingbird. That little bugger doesn't let size stop him. LOL.  I have had cardinals nesting in the fir tree in the past so it could have been a cardinal nest. That hummingbird may have chased the cardinals away.

Sunday's Gospel parable explains our outlook in a flawed world or even a flawed religious institution.   It's so bad that ministers need fingerprinted and trained for sharing the Word of God. Some of the good and obedient Catholics feel insulted because they did nothing wrong.  The parable of the wheat tells us to let two grow together.
"if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn"

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/071920.cfm

We had sacraments today at mass that are normally at Easter.
Sidney was Baptized and Mary Ann brought into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Lighting Mary Ann's candle seemed a little more difficult so Father John pulled it out of the stand and lowered it for the lighting. 

I made tortilla tacos for Sean and myself on Sunday. I mixed it with black bean salsa. In the evening I went to rally practice with both Amber and Sophie.

Monday evening, I took Amber to her first class in Nosework.  I'm told not to bring crunchy type treats.

No homework this time for a while.  Not all boxes were being used but some had some attractive food odors.  Amber should  be good at this because you can hear her sniff sniff sniff.