Happy 4th of July

I haven't posted in a long time. Father's Day we went for bike ride and I crashed on the bike trail about 5 miles into the trip. We couldn't take my bike because the stem was too short for Reeve's trail behind bike. I'm not a very good bike rider. I love to ride a bike, but I'm the type that likes to ride with the handle bars up high, not down low & bent over like a speed racer. Well...the bike Tom rigged up was not suited for me and to top it off the trail behind bike frame was bent which forced Reeve to ride lopsided. I switched bikes and rode Tom's bike...for me it was even worse. To make matters worse I noticed I had a huge swelling on my right wrist from pulling weeds in the garden. My hand was so sore I could barely pull the break lever on the bike...I like to go slow so I use the brakes a lot. I'm sure a lot of you are scratching your heads right now at how a little dare devil like Tommy married such a non-risk-taker like me! Anyway I tried to rest my hands on Tommy's aero bars...they look something like this:

I lost my balance and crashed. Luckily I was wearing a helmet because I hit my head hard. This was the result:

It doesn't look so bad, but remember I'm a wimp when it comes to personal injury. It hurt really bad, and I had to pick the gravel out of my hands & toe. The skin on the heels of my hands was scrapped off by the fall, so I couldn't use my hands for a couple of days. Reeve helped by doing dishes. I gritted through the pain and was all better by the end of the week. Now I will always ride my bike, wear biking gloves, wear my helmet, and wear covered toe shoes.
We're raising monarch caterpillars agian this year. Luckily I snapped some pics of them before they turned into their chrysalises. Reeve wanted to be a little silly in this picture.

They eat a lot of milkweed and grow at an incredible rate.

At the last minute we decided to go camping at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair in Custer, WI. There was a HUGE turn-out this year. It's always fun to hang out with cool like-minded people.

We were incredibly lucky that the folks who run the campground at the fair took pity on us and offered us an unofficial campsite off the trail. I promised next year we'd make reservations:

We had a great time listening to and dancing to the funky sweet soul music of Paul Cebar & The Tomorrow Sound (aka Paul Cebar & the Milwaukeeans). Kyle really wanted to get Reeve to crazy dance with him, and eventually we were all out there shaking a leg.

After some dancing the kids found some horses to feed.

The next day we woke up with the sun and had a delicious breakfast in the Organic Valley tent.

Next the kids and I found shelter from the downpour of rain in the "Fun with Animals" tent. Oh that poor bullfrog getting squeezed!

Kyle liked petting the snake.

The kids are in tennis lessons this year.

They're having a lot of fun with it.

On Monday Kyle came up to me during his lesson and asked me to get a bug away from his ear. I couldn't see a bug and he said he kept hearing buzzing. Then after the lesson we went to the library. In the library he let out a little scream and said something bit him in his ear. Then he said he heard more buzzing. Recently someone told me their son had an earache and the doctor had found two ticks stuck way in his ear. YUCK! I wasn't going to take any chances and we went to the clinic right away to see what, if anything, was in his ear. Sure enough the doctor looked into Kyle's left ear and saw a bug that looked very much like this

crawling around in Kyle's ear! The doctor said it gave her the willies to see that bug in his ear, after she composed herself she was dumbfounded because Kyle and Reeve couldn't stop laughing. Reeve was having a fit and was literally on the floor in tears because he was laughing so hard. The doctor tried blowing the bug out. That didn't work. Then the doctor tried to drown the bug and put water in Kyle's ear. The bug bit Kyle again. I had to hold Kyle on his side while the doctor, on her knees, tried once again to get the bug out with water. Finally the silly little mean bug came out. The doctor said that was the funniest visit she's ever had. I'm glad we were able to brighten her day.
We're off to go camping at Devil's Lake State Park. Everyone please have a safe & happy 4th of July.

Happy Father's Day

I feel very lucky to have one of the Greatest Dad's in the whole world! He's ALWAYS there for us when we need him, and he gives the best well-thought advice. Countless numbers of times recently and in the past we've consulted him for advice and we've always benefited from it. THANK YOU DAD! WE LOVE YOU!

Here are some family & friends pictures from our visit to Winnipeg.
I like the fact that we all separately chose to wear lime green that day.

Did you know Winnipeg has French Quarter? This was something I did not know. I wish this picture had not been so bright in the background, but behind my lovely family is the gorgeous St. Boniface Cathedral. The majority of it was destroyed in a fire in 1968 and they left the ruins up and built a new cathedral behind them.

This is my Great Aunt Louise. She is Great in more ways than one! She ALWAYS remembers to to send us a card for EVERY occasion. I don't know how she does it, but I admire her tremendously for it.





We visited with my Mom's friends in Winnipeg. They traveled from Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Texas, and Indiana for their Nursing Reunion. Everyone stayed at Sonja's. Sonja and her sisters Chrissy & Linda grew up with my Mom in the back woods of Ontario. I loved the stories they all shared.

This is truly the neatest group of women I have ever met. We had such a great time.


Reeve and Kyle LOVED climbing this tree. Reeve's been longing to climb a real tree for quite some time.

Kyle LOVED Sonja's sauna.


They were in heaven eating this cake.

After cake...snuggle time!


I took my cross-stitching project on the trip, and I finished the Summer Chair. One more season to go!

Assiniboine Park & Zoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba

We picked a beautiful day to visit the Assiniboine Park & Zoo. The park was beautiful and HUGE. There looked to be an awesome bike trail all around the park & zoo...later we found out that it connects to a 20mile (I think?) trail to Ft. Whyte Park. I love bike friendly cities.




And here is a pic of me and the boys with a statue of the original Winnie-the-Pooh. The "Winnie" part comes from Winnipeg of course :-).


Last night Reeve and Kyle survived a night in the woods with some fellow homeschoolers. They were invited over to a camp out and the boys ages 5(Kyle), 8(Reeve), 11, 12, & 13 slept in a huge army tent. From the sounds of it they didn't exactly sleep! Reeve said they talked all night and then got a little sleep. They woke up with the sun and packed there gear, hiked out of the woods, and up to their friend's house. When they got inside they noticed the time was 4:54A.M.! They then decided to go back to the tent to hang out. This was their first night away from home, and they LOVED it! They came home around 10am. They crashed at 3pm and had a nap until 7pm when I woke them up (bad Mom!)...I just wanted them to be able to sleep tonight. They can't wait to go on another camp over.

Winnipeg Children's Museum

I finally have the first batch of Winnipeg pics labeled. Here is a pic of the RV we traveled in and the Traveler's RV Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba where we stayed.

We had a smooth ride up. Our first day out and about in Winnipeg was windy, so we stayed out of the wind at the Winnipeg Children's Museum. They had a huge train replica complete with bunks, a ticket master station, and a post office. They also had a space shuttle replica. Kyle loves to dress up!

Reeve pretended he was really launching into outer space...to infinity & beyond!

If there's a computer to be found Reeve & Kyle will be there...for a very long time.

After the Children's Museum we walked around on "The Forks" historic area of Winnipeg...it's where the two rivers, the Red & Assiniboine, meet.
There we met a buffalo

and a polar bear (isn't he/she? huge!).

Tornados & Power Out

Saturday a couple of tornados were reported to touch down within 8 miles of our house. It rained most of the day. Sunday we had severe thunderstorms ALL day...they just didn't let up. Everytime I thought it was over about 15 minutes later we'd get a huge boom of thunder and brilliant flashes of lightning. We lost power at about 4:45pm and it came back on today at 1pm. We all read by candle light last night. We can't go to the library today because the road to get there is flooded, and folks in Elroy are having to navigate by boat! Everything is fine here. The ground is like walking on a huge sponge that is soaked, but the sun is finally peeping through the clouds.

Back from Canada

I'm in the process of getting my pics organized from the trip to Winnipeg with my parents for my Mom's 45th Nursing Reunion. We had a lot of fun and it was really special to meet my Mom's friends. I loved every one of them. What an incredibly diverse group of women, each unique, talented and loaded with individuality. Mom, you're at the top of that list. Reeve and Kyle were in Grandma heaven giving loads of bear hugs and enjoying every minute of it.

How about some Stinging Nettle Pie?

My friend Brenda is always telling me how she loves to cook with Stinging Nettles. She's also a fan of Molly Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook and she told me how she made the Spinach Ricotta Pie using Stinging Nettles in place of spinach. That was one recipe I hadn't tried yet, and I've had the book for over 15 years now!
I took a look at my spinach. Not many of the seeds germinated and then I haven't had a chance to weed it.

Then I took a look at all of the wild nettles we have growing in exhuberant abundance...

and I decided, what the heck! I recruited two gloved kids wearing pants & long-sleeves to help me pick 2lbs of stinging nettles for some pie.

They did a great job and avoiding getting stung. I unfortunately did brush up against the stingers...very reminiscent of a fire ant bite.

I soaked them in some vinegar water for about 10 minutes, rinsed them, then put them into the food processor. After they've been washed they don't seem to sting, so I was acutally able to put them in the food processor with bare hands. They recipe is really easy. I didn't have the needed 16oz of ricotta so I substituted with 16oz of tofu. All I did was saute one yellow onion, then set it aside. Chopped up 1 pound of stinging nettles in the food processor, then set it aside. Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl, added 1/2cup of grated organic cheddar cheese, 16oz of mashed up tofu, a little nutmeg, a little salt, a little pepper, the chopped up nettles, and the sauteed onion, and mixed it alltogether. Oh first you have to make the pie crust...super easy. 1.5cups flour in a food processor with 6 tbls. chopped up butter, turn processor on to blend floor & butter, then while processor is running add about 4-6 tbsp of cold water until you get a dough consistency. Then I just dump the dough into a greased (I use butter) pie pan and form the crust. Then I just put the bowl of mixed nettles & stuff into the crust and bake at 375F for 45minutes.

The stinging nettles are very aromatic and the pies looked and smelled delicious when they came out of the oven.

This is their second piece of pie.

Kyle could have (would have) eaten the whole pie if I had let him, but I cut him off after 2 pieces and told him he could eat some apples if he was still hungry.
The kids and I are traveling to Winnipeg, MB with my parents today for a week. I pushed myself to get my 41 tomato plants planted and I repotted my butternut squash, muskmelons, pie pumpkins, pickling cucumbers, and Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins into larger pots...it's still too cold to transplant them outside.

Tom tilled up the garden for me and I made two 4'x24' raised beds (not framed). I need to put a ton of mulch down the walking rows, so my beds don't crumble, but that will have to wait until I get back. I used scrap wood and sticks for my tomato stakes. I did have a couple of cages.

Tom helped me move this masively heavy railroad-tie looking piece of thick lumber that our neighbor gave us. This sucker was like 10" thick and nearly 12' long. It took us 1/2 the day to move from the upper front yard to the lower back garden using a truck and a dolly (we also cleaned up a lot of junk in between).

You can see it along the left side of the above raised bed. This bed is 4'x12'. I love the railroad tie because it provides a nice place to sit when I weed.
Well I'd better get packing!