It's starting!

Lots of water...

I love driving home the back way so that I can see the water level in the Sugar River watershed, especially after we've had some rain.  it's always amazing to me how this marshy creek area can manage the enormous variety of water levels!  Here it was today...

Hail yes!!

A freak storm this afternoon created a huge change in the temps and dropped this on to our yard!

Lucky the cars made it into the garage in time... and us!

Fall Bounty

I don't know what happened this year, but all of our plants flourished!  The latest representation of the bounty of our plants are our rose bushes...wow!

Sights of the state

I took a little drive today and was struck by the charm of the farm buildings that surround us...

Harvest happenings

We have many beautiful black walnut trees around our home and at this time of year they provide an abundance of nuts (as if we didn't have enough of that!)

Today they also provided a pathway to an after school treat for a few neighbors of ours...

Ben update

Here is a picture of our buddy at school with one of his friends.  He is very popular (especially with the ladies) and he already has his harem attending to him at all times.  He is well loved and happy at his new day center.

A perfect day!

When your day starts with this...

and is followed up with this on a little walk at lunch time...

you know it was a wonderful day!!

Goodbye Kitty :(

One night 14 years ago Kristin prayed for a kitten, and the next day Kitty popped out of a corn field in front of us while we were on a walk.  We've always said that God taught Kristin about prayer with our little kitty.

Kitty was a champion hunter, often bringing us presents (especially Becky!), played with Goldie and the rest of us, and snuggled with in his old age.

This week Kitty started getting sluggish and had a distended belly, so today Frank took him in to get checked out.  The vet said he had a large tumor, so we had to say goodbye. 

Kitty was a wonderful member of our family for many years, and we'll miss him!

I love UW-Madison!

I teach an intro course in a large lecture room in the animal Science building on campus.  Today when I walked into my classroom this message was on the board...I could barely teach my class!

They're back!

It must be fall again because here come the turkeys!

God's landscaping

Really, I don't know how some people can call these weeds!  Just look at how beautiful they are!!!

My yard helpers

We love our neighbors and lately they've been coming over to help with projects.  They especially like burning things...they even provide the "things"!

My new route

As I revise the number of times I take Ben to and from school each week, I am also experimenting with the possibilities for making a bike ride a part of the trip. 

Today's route took me around wingra...beautiful!

She's off!

Well, we did it!  With help from the well-oiled welcome machine provided by River Falls students and staff, we got Kristin moved into her new home.

We got to meet her new roommate and her mom...great people who helped us to feel much more comfortable about driving away.

 We had a little fun...

 Bought a few pieces of River Falls advertising...

 Checked out the building at which Kristin said she'd be spending most of her time.  (We had to drag her out of here even today!)

 Said our final goodbyes...

 And returned home to some of the weirdest sites we have seen in a while...
No Kristin shoes...

 Kristin's floor...

 No friends in the basement...

 An empty counter top in the bathroom...

We miss her already!

On our way to River Falls

Bobbie generously offered us her home as a stopping off place on our way to River Falls, and to care for Ben while we took Kristin to move in.  We took full advantage and enjoyed our time with Bobbie, Becky, Bud, Rita, Carol and Paul!