Spring Is A Struggle

 Spring should be great, and it usually is, but sometimes I have a cloud over my head. There is a sense of foreboding that I can't quite put my finger on. And then it hits me. Chrissy died on June 1st. Of course I didn't forget, but in trying to navigate the loss, sometimes I still trip and fall. When I'm alone all day I get moody. Weekends are good because hubby and I are busy.

We drove down to Hartford last Sunday. Hubby said he wanted to reminisce. I actually ran into one of my daughter's former co-workers. We hugged and chatted. She had recently moved back to the area from another state. I told her we moved to Ripon. She said she might visit.

Hartford has a few changes. The BP gas station we used to go to all the time is now Citco. The company hubby worked for that sold out to the Minnesota company that eliminated his shift and all his pay is now named that company. Figures. We don't know how many people left or stayed.

So, we had our look around. We want to go back to Holy Hill. We went in late winter but there was so much ice on the path we could hardly walk. Another place I miss is Lapham Peak, south of Delafield. We walked Harrington Beach State Park but it was devastated by straight line winds this spring. They lost about 170 trees. Weirdly enough, that very Sunday we were in Hartford, straight line winds tore into Two Rivers (way north) and flattened dozens of trees there. 

So....what happened to the places to walk up here? Why are we walking down there? The South Woods trails are not maintained and are full of ticks. The parks here are small, not much for walking. Rush Lake nature area was interesting. There are more places we found in winter that were impacted by severe flooding. Hubby has a 4 day weekend starting Friday. Not sure what we are doing. In any case, it's been fun going back to places we frequented for the past nine years.

In other news, I have a new way to eat ground beef. I take an Egg Life wrap (because I don't eat taco shells) and press a thin layer of ground beef onto one side. Then I plop it meat side down into a frying pan and brown, flip over to brown the "taco" side, then remove and add toppings. I like it because its crunchy.

That's all for tonight. I'm making hubby pizza so I need to get started. 

Fixing Sad

 Hubby is getting better, and that made me feel better. 

But a part of my day has been missing, people are missing, a daily Internet get-together is missing. A year ago in April the creator of a Facebook group I joined in 2016 passed away. He was so loved by everyone. He was there every day, to say good morning, to welcome new members, to encourage us as growers, to comment on our pictures with his vast knowledge of plants, to make sure we were kind, to keep out politics, to gently enforce group rules. We would comment on each other's posts, support each other, and make friends. He was always there, until he wasn't.

The group has not been the same. People stopped posting, well, some people are posting, but many who have shared their lives and succulents for the past 12 years (the group was created before I joined) have not been posting. The group was not the same. We were like a community. So Thursday, the last day of April, I wrote, in honor of the group's creator, here are some pictures of my succulents. Let's see your plants! I miss him and I miss all of you!

People are responding! Some people are still missing, maybe they will respond later. People are thankful for my post and more are posting each day. It is a joy to see the group become more active. Sometimes recovery takes effort, and instead of just thinking about it, you need to do it.

We had some cold weather and now it has warmed up again. We still have some cold nights forecast. Today was beautiful, sunny, windy and warm.

We found an interesting place to walk. It's a wetland management area, with a network of levies to walk on. It is a large area and we will be checking the maps for more places to go. For this visit we were near Rush Lake, only a few miles north of Ripon.

As a reference, here is the Fish & Wildlife Service website: https://www.fws.gov/wetland/leopold 

The orange area on the map is where they have counties with management areas in the state of Wisconsin.

We set off for a walk. Hubby was still coughing so we made it short.

I imagine these fields will dry up after the floods recede

A broken Robin's egg?

Way down at the end of this waterway is a large tree with an eagle's nest. I also don't know what that gray dot is in the sky, slightly to the right. Dust on my lens I guess. It's only in this picture.

Zoomed in to see the nest

Cropped to see an eagle sitting on a branch!

Cool looking wooded bridge

This building must house a pump because quite a bit of water was rushing through that big, brown pipe

That big, lone tree would look neat in the morning mist or something

We headed home after this. 

Feeling Better Today

 Today is a better day. Hubby and I are feeling better. His best friends from Helgesen sent him pictures to say hello. It would be great if they could all end up working together again.

There was a big bird sitting on one of the trees this morning. I couldn't tell what it was. When it flew I didn't think the wings were long enough to be an eagle. The wings were a bit short and wide. Later it was preening itself and I could see red tail feathers, so, Red Tailed Hawk! It was probably fluffed up against the cold, making it look bigger. Also, I'm used to seeing crows in those trees, so my judgement was off.

A bad picture of the bird preening

Sandhill Cranes

A flock of geese were flying over and around and around. The geese don't migrate anymore, they just hang around in the fields. Sometimes they seem unsettled, like some hint of migration is nagging at them. I'm sure they fly south if we get lots of snow, I'm guessing. I also saw and heard a large flock of Sandhill Cranes fly over. I love how they sound.

I got some lights up on the patio. Mostly just a rehash of what was up last year. My Feit Electric outdoor WiFi Smart Plug has disconnected from my Netgear WiFi Mesh Extender, so now I need to go outside and push a button on the smart plug instead of in the app on my phone. The lights are going to stay on all night because I'm not going out there in my jammies. Will try to connect tomorrow.

Oh, now I have it connected. I can only control it when my phone is connected to 2G. Since my phone is 5G and both my phone and router don't have a 2G setting, I decided to buy the Netgear, in which I created a 2G network to connect to. I know that plug has a way to set it to go off at a certain time, But I seem to have lost that setting. Once I have it set to go on and off when I want I don't need to keep my phone on 2G.

I thought these solar LED light bulbs would be cute but they aren't bright enough

Blue lights mess with my camera. Trust me the bulbs I bought are not bright enough.

Those bulbs.

That's all for tonight. I've been doing a little painting so I want to do some of that before I head to bed.

Hubby Had A Good Interview

 We drove down to Jefferson today, in time for hubby's interview. He said it went real well and he should be hearing from HR in about a week. All the hiring is done from the Missouri headquarters but the in-person interviews are done at the local plants. Hubby is hesitant to be happy until he hears from HR but I think he's in. They told him he will be hearing from them in about a week. They didn't say "if". Of course he will pass the background check and drug test, no problem.

Afterward we stopped for coffee and then came home. Hubby worked all night and was super tired. We also got home before most of the bad weather, roads closed everywhere, lots of ice.

As soon as hubby receives and signs the digital agreement we will get some new tires on the truck. They aren't terrible but they are worn. 

I think Jefferson will be great place to move to, lots to do, and maybe I will find some friends. I had two friends here and they both moved away. One I don't hear from because she got dementia and she and her hubby moved into assisted living. They never gave me any contact information. Since then two more people have moved in and out, one was sort of friendly, the other, not. My friend with dementia gave me this. I think of her often. 

Thinking of you, Sandy

I found out that Jefferson is where the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival is every September!

I will post updates when I have more info.