Independence Day: Getting Dark on the Lake

One of the neater things about living on the river, just five or ten minutes out of Lake Bemidji and having a boat of course, is being able to watch the 4th fireworks from the lake.

By the way, owning a boat is not inexpensive, but how can you not own a boat when you live on water? We chose a pontoon for it's heterogenous uses. It holds about eleven people, so it's good for just a slow ride down river or to visit three or four connected lakes. We can go to dinner or for a Dairy Queen at four or five places. It's great for swimming as you will see later, you can go fishing, have a picnic, pick up a pizza, it's got a big enough motor to pull one of those big tubes, ours we call Bertha, or like we often do...just go out in the middle of the lake and get some sun and be lazy. We bring along some soft drinks and/or wine and just have a fine time. Yup, it's not cheap but sure is fun. We got a lot of use out of it this year. Love being on the water.

Back to the 4th. Shortly after the Solstice, about 9:30 or so, the sun starts to set. Time to get the crew together and head up river to Lake Bemidji for the fireworks. Daughter Erin Marie dropped over just before we were to go, and Mama Barbara decided to stay back and visit. So a half dozen Houle's, and four Meuers' got on the boat and joined a parade of boats coming from down river to see the fireworks.
Just leaving port. Here we see the Meuers', there's a Houle hiding back there, don't know Houle it is. Also, sigh our puppy Wilson. Sadly he died in August. He wouldn't get in a car, but he loved to go on the boat. Wilson was a Lhasa Apso. Tibeten monks bred them for alert dogs. He would always bark if anyone came in the yard, but once he realized you meant us no harm, he would cease the barking, and then he would start taking care of visitors too. When we had parties, he always had such a big job keeping track of everyone and making sure all were okay. Wilson was a good dog, he took care of everybody. We sure miss him. We sure loved him. It's tough to look at photos of him. Sigh.
The two youngest on the boat. Young Ethan Houle and of course Wilson looking out ahead for us, making sure there's no one lurking around the bridge here.
Some more Houle's. We see them, but Dr. Seuss told me "Horton" heard one. There's Ashley, a pretty good photographer by the way, real good eye for composition, her brothers Ethan and Alexander, and Mother Rachelle.
I just love this picture. It's the entrance to the lake from the river. It reminds me of something, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Any ideas? Anyway, I think I love it.
The Turtle Lake Gang, Lizette Boyer and Gregory Meuers, husband and wife of over a quarter century. Believe it or not, Gregory was not the least bit embarrassed about the way he's dressed. Jeesh, he was hard to look at, thank goodness it was getting dark.
Alexandru, he's been living with us for about three months at this point. Lookin' pretty good. He was willing to go for a ride every time, and one who liked to drive so I could lay back and get some rays.
Papa Derrick Houle and Daddy's girl Ashley Elizabeth. Do you think she really wears a double X? Here they are watching the polychromatic sky on the front deck of the pontoon. They're great together. They took a Father/Daughter dance class at a local studio, and from what I've been told, they tripped the light fantastic. Things we'll never forget, dancing with our daughters, yup that's for sure..."In My Life". Get ready Derrick, relish her. Someday some man will take her away. Sigh.
Rachelle teaches me a new trick. How not to look fat in a photo. Lean forward a bit and put your hand on your chin. It works doesn't it? She's much younger, but she teaches me much.
The Houle Kids. Alexander, Ethan, Ashley, and Elliot. So many vowels...so little consonants, but notice...no "U". What the heck?
As it started getting darker, some Houle's got a little braver and moved closer to visit with the Meuers', now that Gregory's pants weren't so blinding and that big eagle didn't look so scary. Look at all the boats! They were uncountable, but there had to be a hundred from around two or three lakes and stretches of the Mississippi River.
The moon is full, shining on the water. Good company...lots to look at, mellow, warm. Yup, this is the life, in Minnesota's Great North Woods.
Ashley takes a photo. Here I try Rachelle's trick to lean forward to not look fat. Guess I forgot the hand on chin thing. Looks like everyone knows there's a camera exept Alex, he's texting. Surprise, surprise. He couldn't live without it. He'd be easy to sneak up on. You wouldn't even need moccasins.
Oooooo, ahhhhh. Yup, that's the moon in the "works there", not one of those big bang crackers.
Ooooo, ahhhhh, and applause. Now to head back home. A hundred boats can't wait to get back and they are speeding along in the dark, the water is just full of wakes from the boats. What a great day, what a finale. The Fourth of July, my favorite holiday for sure. Summertime. Yeah.

Independence Day

The 4th of July was perfect weather-wise, just the way it's supposed to be, mid-80's and lots of sun. Twas a Saturday, yes it twas. Gregory, Lizette and Alex were here of course, Erin Marie visited for a bit, but that was it for relatives so we invited our friends the Houle's and doubled our numbers with just one phone call. One of Barbara's co-councilors from City Government came by as well and what did we eat? Well, burgers on the grill...and some fish for Lizette as usual. Had the usual beans, and salad, and potato salad of course. Later...fireworks, the kind you shoot off at night, 'cause we all got along just fine.We always get several box or painted turtles who come into our sandy yard to lay eggs. They were a little late this year it seems, perhaps because of our lousy June. They dig a hole with their back feet, deposit eggs, and then cover again with their back feet. Then they wander off back to the river. Sometimes we even get huge Snappers, but not as much. Unfortunately, we also have raccoons living near us, and within a week or so, I do believe they dig up nearly all the egg deposits and chow down. And I might mention, they are much messier about it than the turtles, they leave the holes for me to fill back in. I'd have them arrested for any number of things, but they all wear masks and I never know which one did it.
Makwa, which mean bear in Ojibwe, comes stalking back after losing interest in turtles. He just watches them, seeming to know instinctively they might be difficult to eat.
Starting to gather for lunch. Papa and Auntie quiz Alex on when he will declare his independence.
Derrick is a counselor, and Roger is a Councilor. Here they debate on which is the correct spelling.
Pretty happy folks here. The young man, Elliot is about to teach his parents a lesson in what's in store for them as empty nesters. He's off to UND in about a month. Mom is real happy today, but she'll know soon what it's like and she won't like.
Alex watches over the grill ready to baste Mama's fish.

The dinner bell waits to be rung.

3rd of July. It's almost here, my favorite holiday

The 4th of July. Independence Day. Love it. Usually hot, which I love to sweat, the heat never bothered me, nope. But then, I like girls in summer clothes, sorry can't help it, I went to a Catholic boys school, didn't have any sisters, and on top of that...I'm a Scorpio. But back to the 4th. So full of memories, after my brothers and I moved out of the nest in Robbinsdale, we all made a point to come home for the 4th. Little by little more children came, sometimes wives, sometimes girlfriends, sometimes new girlfriends...sometimes new wives. We'd play lawn games, lots of catching up..."who's she"? The highlight was "Tops" cookin' up the burgers on the grill. He'd mix in egg and milk and some onions for everyone except brother John. He'd make them all the same size and completely round. He'd do that by flattening them out, and then pushing a bowl over the patty so they'd be the same size and round. That's what ya get when ya have a soldier for a Dad, and if I do say a bit of a perfectionist. But he was charming as a campfire. He'd play the harmonica and recite poetry by memory. Some very whimsical. Oh and Mom? She made the best doggone potato salad you ever tasted. Yummy. Chips, pickles, tomatoes, B & M baked beans, fruit salad, and corn on the cob. Now that's livin' in my book.

After dinner, near dusk there'd be 8-12 of us heading down the hill to Lakeview Terrace Park near Crystal Lake, a place that used to be woods when we were kids, and we'd have tree houses, smoke our first cigarettes, and went through other rites of passage. Ah, but now it was a park, and this is where Robbinsdale would shoot off the fireworks. The price of progress. We'd wander around waiting for the fireworks to begin, we'd see several of our old friends from the neighborhood, who would also come home for the 4th. Yeah, those days are gone, but the brothers and I still try keep it going, and if we can't get relatives here, well we find some good friends to share the celebration with. Yup, it's different...but it's also the same. Summertime in Minnesota, ya can't beat it in my view.
As part of the work we had done this Spring with the windows, included a sidewalk finally to the garage. And where the dog kennel used to be, Barbara had a potting bench made. Yup, she created a couple new gardens. Here our friend Rachelle who is such a flower freak, offered to go shopping for plants with Barb, they came back and the two of them got so into it, they planted gillions of plants in the ground and in cool pots. Here they are shown finishing up, taking a break and seem to be quite proud of their work...some of which can be seen in the photo. Got to admit, it's nice to have a woman's touch. I sure as heck wouldn't spend much time on it...although, guess who dug the gardens, but c'mon, who can say no to these two? Just the smile would get me digging.
Potting Team: Barbara and Rachelle do a fist bump? Is that like a high five? Nice job girls.
Still the third, but a trip over to Lizette and Gregory's on Big Turtle Lake, about twenty minutes north west of us. Here Barbara and Lizette enjoy some kind of beverage in some Irish Waterford Crystal.
Father and Son. Alex and I drink soft drinks out of not so fancy glasses. Somebody's got to do that. Alex is nearly always mildly amused if he isn't receiving a lecture about some darn thing.
Wouldn't ya know. A good omen for Barbara. She found this eagle (tail) feather in the yard. We see Migizhi (Bald Eagle) often flying over our property, sometimes even sitting in the trees near the river, watching closely with eagle eye for the next meal. A good harbinger for sure.

Summer Solstice

One of the nice things about Minnesota is that you know when the seasons change, unlike Hawaii where I spent a year courtesy of the US Army, where it never got above 88 or below 65. Oh sure, I'll bet you think that's great weather, but really how do you tell July from November, especially if spending time on Maui Wowie? We don't have that problem here. Well, for about the past year and a half we've been celebrating the change of seasons. Here we prep for the Summer Solstice.
Gregory and Lizette's daughter Gabriella Rose de Lima came to visit mid-June, and in honor of it "Gregory "Ah forgot my wallet again" Meuers, actually breaks down and rents a pontoon for the occasion. Little girls can talk their Daddy's into anything. Yup, that's right and the Meuers Boys know it better than most.

The lone boy child of the family among 12 girls wants to be a chef. And he's pretty good at it, here he is preparing crab dip "to kill for" along with a few other things for our Solstice party. Alex got his dream job, he's the day cook at Lueken's Deli here in Bemidji. He loves it, how many people can say they love their job? Well Alex does, and to know Alex, that's quit the deal cause he usually likes only sports and music. As Maynard G. Crebs said once "weeeerk"!
Ms. California Lizette Boyer finds a redeeming quality in Northern Minnesota known as a hammock. Looks pretty comfy to me. It is...and it's big enough for two. Try it some time. The sun and the open air. Can't beat it, stimulating, healing, yup it's wonderful
Panorama of the party area. Lizette still over on the right, tubs of ice filled with soft drinks and water on the left. The fire pit is straight out with the Father of Waters beyond. BYOB and lawn chair.
Johnny Jim and "Gregrio Gregrio Wacha Gonna Dewio" patiently await the crab dip to get a jump on the many guests.
A horrible picture, too crowded and a lot of backs, but I like backs...you? (When Barrister John does a deposition, he always adds a "bareback rider". Let's see now, left to right Derrick "the Canook" Houle, Dustin "Dusty" Prim hubby of Barb's good buddy Tonya, Alexandru squeezed in, then Johnny Jim, Barbara hiding behind the flowers, and then Tonya "Crazy T" Prim. But where's Waldo?

Graduation Weekend, Last weekend of May

I kind of think of Summer beginning with Memorial Day and ending with Labor Day. This year I believe Memorial Day came as early as possible on the 24, and Labor Day came the latest on the 7th. Well, I love summer so I was gonna make the most of it. Nice thing about Memorial Day early, is that graduation wasn't that weekend, but the last weekend of May. We had a couple to go to as usual this year. Including one at our friends the Houle's, Rachelle and Derrick. Both are only children, so they decided to have four. Three boys and a girl. You'll see more of them later. Rachelle is a local Bemidji girl and Derrick is one of those Canadians from some unpronounceable Province and City. Big changes for the Houle's, their eldest Elliot graduated this year and is off to college. Empty nest coming. Where does the time go?

So this is the end of May now. Did a bunch of posts on this silly blog, not sure it means anything. Will I go on to June? Well, we'll just have to wait and see.Barbara and I were guests of honor. We got to sit in blue chairs with flowers all around. Daddy Derrick is in the white shirt at the table watching our backs.

Just the way I like it. Surrounded by women. That's Derrick's Mom, Sweet Lorraine behind and to the left, then Mama of the grad Rachelle, and Barbara Ann apparently amused by my serenity.Another Lorraine. Our long time friend Lorraine Cecil is visiting with Gregory. We've known Lorraine for twenty years at least, and who would have known that she lived all this time just two doors down from our new friends the Houle's, Hou(le) we've known only about a year, but have become great friends with. They probably cursed our car parked in front of their house many times as we searched for parking near the University to visit Lorraine over the past 20.

I met Rachelle, when another across the alley neighbor and close friend of the Houle's Ralph Zachman (and also friend of Barb and I, Barb served on the Council with him, and Ralph and I used to smoke cigarettes together) retired from the City Council, and Rachelle decided to run for the seat. (Maybe we should have come to a block party and we would have met Houle's a long time ago) I became her campaign manager hoping to make her the fifth woman to serve on the Council in 110 years. (Shameful) Must have lost my touch. She lost, but apparently isn't holding it against me.

The House that Mikie Built

Yup. I built this house with a lot of help from my friends and relatives. Moved it from Dark Lake at Gemmell, MN 21 years ago, the same year we got married. Got some big windows, seconds, from a coop that have been there all that time. Non-operable, so we never had much ventilation. With brother Gregory's move here, I noticed he had two operable windows in a space about as big as my one inoperable. Well, my folks didn't raise any dummies. I called up my friend and carpenter David Davenport and it wouldn't cost as much as I thought, and with Obama's stimulus money, gonna save about 20% replacing windows. Well hey, let's do it.The first pair of windows are in. Wow. At the right you can see what used to be.
David and son take out the old and prepare for the new. Good thing it was May and not too many bugs yet.
One window in, and workin' on the next. We replaced four windows on the first floor with eight window, and two windows in our upstairs bedroom with four more.
Ahhh, ventilation.
So Barb gets this bright idea to finish the ceiling in the screen porch. Well one thing led to another, pretty soon we've got slate on the floor, lower walls...and the best part...no more big screens, but operable windows. No more having to put up plastic over the screens in the winter. Jeesh I hated doing that the last few years. It was much more inexpensive than I would have ever guessed, but I never thought of just storm windows. And then of course, Barb has to get some new nice wicker furniture. Have to admit, I resisted all this. But I'm so glad she pushed the envelope. It's become our favorite room, and adds about two months use. Flash, all ya gotta do is close the windows and you can be outside in a thunderstorm and when it's a little chilly. Gotta love it.
The Glider. My favorite for sure. I gave her a name, but I'm not telling.
Don't ya just love those window shelves?
How she looks from the outside now. It looks better though, cause the windows have been painted a dark brown.
Yup. Now to think of next year. What do you think, add a lower deck in front of the porch with a hot tub? And maybe we'll finish the sauna, no pun intended. For sure we'll be clean. How many friends do we want to be able to fit in the hot tub. Big decisions this winter.

More Bikini (not) Beach Volleyball

At the beach at Big Turtle in the Lair of the Greg-a-Bear and his trusty California companion Lizette. Ahhh, the beginning of summertime, and the livin' is easy.
Well, hello there. Do you come here often. I really like your hat.
Jenna serves. This time a volley ball. Sometimes she serves pizzas.
Cynthia Ann levitates the ball.
"The Kid". Alexandru Bogdan Florentin Boyer Meuers serves. See why we call him "the kid"?
Score! High Five.
The son-in-law, Andrew Clayton Jabs...er Jabs. This guy cannot sit down, he must be up and doing something, here he rakes sand? An untapped resource for sure he could be one answer to our energy problems. We've never seen him sleep. Part alien? We don't know, he is from the land of no trees, Grand Forks, NoDak
Two old friends, well not that old. Friends for a long time, and now sisters-in-law. Such good friends, they chose the same middle name. Cynthia Ann and Barbara Ann. Brian Wilson wrote a song about Barbara back in her wild San Francisco daze.
Bemidji Brothers. Gregory Virgil and Michael Douglas ponder strategy for the next point. Michael is disappointed that he can't get a return phone call from Catherine Zeta Jones.
The Bear concentrates as he prepares to serve while channeling Bobby Zimmerman. Note the tongue, careful...don't bite down.