August 31 - September 24, 2001

September 11, 2001 looms over all other things at this point in our lives. I have been absent on this page, not only from that, but some difficulties that have occurred here as well. On Sept 12th I received word that I had a grade 3 cancer (range 1-5) of the prostate after a biopsy was taken on Sept 7th. It had been determined that I had an elevated PSA during a routine flight physical back in July. No real other symptoms that were noticeable enough to raise any concern. My sister Carolyn had urged me to get the PSA level checked and can be credited for the blood test being done. I am scheduled to have the prostate removed on Oct 15th. Life has been anything other than normal for some time now. Our friends have rallied and attempted to keep us busy and distracted during the most difficult periods. Our problems pale by comparison to SO many others. Pat and I are now trying to get things ready for winter before I have the surgery. It sounds like I will be "out of commission" for a couple of months at a minimum even if I have a "normal" recovery. We are hoping that by Thanksgiving we will be able to resume some travel that we had planned for this fall. May God Bless American and may God comfort all in pain and grief in these difficult times.

August 6 - August 30, 2001

Since I last wrote here, the kids have been and gone. Pat and I treasured every moment. How time can pass so quickly is hard to understand. In fact Laura and Dean returned home, left for Alaska and are due back in 3 days. They went up to hunt caribou and sightsee. The trip is going very well with a successful hunt. Pat and I took all kinds of photos while everyone was here. The photos "break" our heart as we look at the smiling face of our only grandson. We have shared those on the web pages and were so happy to have had that opportunity. Dave and Tracy continue to look for a home in Corona. They have made several offers on houses, but so far have not come to financial agreement on anything that they are interested in. Pat and I played in The Courage Center golf tournament this past weekend. I had one of my best rounds ever and Pat had some great puts! Our team finished 2nd in our division. Good for a free round of golf and a meal. Not bad. The other 2 members of our foursome were new to us and were a real pleasure to play with. The weather has cooled, but other than being dry, has turned out to be one of the best summers in a very long time. The birds are largely silent, butterflies have started their migration and the hummers are "tanking up" for their long flights. The flowers have peaked and know that they are on borrowed time. Very few colored leaves but there are a few reminding us of what is to come. July 25 - August 6, 2001

The hot weather has returned in the hottest run of days that we can ever recall. Heat index of 100 degrees and the temps in the mid 90's. No real break is seen. This is so rare that we do not have air-conditioning, so the fan is running full time! We have had more and hotter weather than is usual. The tower project is complete. I have had a week to use the new tower and I am pleased with the improvements. Participated in a radio contest over the weekend and had 2 personal high scores. Yesterday we made a dash down to see Dave, Lisa and Andrew Foss. They are visiting Grandma at the lake. It was fun to see them. Dave was both Pat and my flight instructor. He now flies 757's for America West. Tomorrow will be a BIG day, Dave, Tracy and Dustin (our son, daughter-in-law and grandson) will be arriving in Minnesota. Dustin should find "the Lake" a most interesting place! Laura and Dean will be visiting for the weekend as well. We can't wait!!

July 13 - July 24, 2001

The hot weather broke last night and we are now in the 60's instead of the 80's that we have had for over 3 weeks. We did get an inch of rain last week, but the heat dried things out quickly. The flowers continue to do well and we have so enjoyed them again this year. The Blue Bells bloomed this week and the Gloriosa Daises last. Both of these are new to our flower garden. Now that the cars are being put in the garage again, "our" bunny is not to be seen. He used to stay close to the car for protection from the eagles and hawks. We have only seen him one in the last week. Pat and I "played" a round of golf at Quadna last week Monday. The course is on a major decline AGAIN and we both played poorly. We love that course so much and it was a sad afternoon of poor golf. Last Wednesday I started digging the hole for the "new" radio tower. Spent over 10 hrs digging that 5x5x6 foot monster. Set the bottom tower section and poured the concrete yesterday. The combination of age and heat made it a far more difficult job than previous similar jobs.

July 2 - July 12, 2001

The hot dry weather is back and we are as dry as a bone. Only a 1/4" of rain now in the last 3 weeks and Pat is watering the flower gardens almost daily. The yard is turning brown in places where there is foot traffic or full sun. As the �Picture Of The Week� shows, we did go out and fly some last week. We had a perfect CAVU day and really enjoyed being out and about again. AVGas is selling for $2.73@ gallon at the local airport, but we buy and haul it ourselves at $1.89 a gallon, that is bad enough! The Seci disk is showing the lake clear to 16ft, but there is considerable plankton in the water (lots of little green dots). We are trying to have a garage sale today, but all the road construction on the highway between here and town has really cut into the number of shoppers. Pat and I have spent the last 4 days getting things ready. Our main goal is to be able to clean up the garage enough to get the cars back in again and out of the driveway. Considerable building scraps, old doors etc that need to find a new home. Of that stuff, only the old screen door from the porch has been sold. ($5) Gave away a pickup load of lumber scraps yesterday to a friend to use in his woodshop. Lots of bargains :>)

June 24 - July 1, 2001

Today we got up to 63 degrees! In the 40's last night after nearly a week or dry and hot summer temps (Upper 80's). The hot weather was wonderful! It was hot and dry enough that the lake is now off the beach for the first time in a month and the dock is back out. We have the "fishing" boat in the water and have enjoyed daily trips around the lake watching the wildlife. The loons in "our" bay have a baby and we have enjoyed watching mother and daddy loon feeding and protecting the tiny ball of black fuzz. A fair number of baby ducks are being seen as well. Yesterday I finished a basswood chest for the foot of the bed that Pat has been wanting built. Now I need to focus on cleaning up the garage were we can put the car and truck away again. The problem is what to do with the wood scraps let over from the paneling of the addition. I just have no place for them and have ran out of little projects to use them on. Good week upcoming for that kind of thing, the temps are forecasted to be in the upper 60's or lower 70's for the next 4 days or so. "Minnesota summer"!

June 1 - June 23, 2001

Today we have a temp of 79 degrees! This is the warmest day this year after three weeks of cool and damp weather. The lake is eight inches over normal summer levels and the dock is still under water. We are wondering when we might be able to "use" the lake are get any boats out. We do have the "fishing" boat and trailer at home now but we must launch the boat every time we use it from the landing. We went out last weekend and counted 4 new "baby" eagles, two in each of the nests on this end of the lake. Such a shame that only 25% of these beautiful birds will survive their first year. The flowers are starting to look good again after a very slow 2 1/2 weeks with the cloudy and cool weather. The Siberian Iris's just bloomed and are beautiful beyond words. I have continued to work in the radio room on several projects as well as operating a two day contest the second weekend in June. Lots of fun and I set a new personal record which was real rewarding. I helped a friend 3 full days redoing his radio antennas and tower as well. So NO PROBLEM keeping busy. Pat and I have played more golf this year as well and have enjoyed that too. We have a golf "scramble" this afternoon, a benefit for the local public radio station that should be a real "hoot". Not your usual round of golf. Oh I hope that summer stays a while!!

May 19 - June 1, 2001

Pat is back from California and had a great trip to see Dave, Tracy and Dustin. Dustin is growing so fast. They got in a hike in the Chino Hills, another trip to the beach and hung around home. While Pat was gone we had over 4 inches of rain, rain Saturday through Saturday. That allowed me a good block of time to get the radio room cleaned up and better organized. Boy did it ever need that. We then made a trip over to Laura and Dean's for Memorial Day weekend returning on Tuesday. Another nice visit, the entire trip over, except for the last hour was in heavy rain. The weather since our return has been very cool with lots of 50s and 60s. The trees are fully leafed out and the woods is as dark and dense as mid-summer. I put the dock out on Wed, but the water is still too high to put the boats in. We must be 8 inches or more over summer levels. The Mississippi is very high and out of it's banks in lowland areas. Today makes one year of retirement! Sure not ready to go back to work yet!!

May 7 - May 18, 2001

Spring is here! The Tulips and Trillium are in full bloom and the daffys are done. The bugs (sketters) are now very bad. They have just hatched in the last couple of days. All the high water make them horrid down by the lake. The leaves are at about 50% on the trees and woods are now getting dark. The apple tree is loaded with big buds that are just starting to bloom. If the frost doesn't get them, it should be another huge apple crop. There has been very rapid progress during the last week of high 60's and 70 degree temp. It is now getting a bit dry, unless you are in the lowlands! Pat and I continue to bike, last week we went up to a bike trail north of Grand Rapids and had a 14 mile trip in about 3 hours. Pat had wanted to bike this area for many years and was game. We did ok, she would like to have been done about 2 or 3 miles before we were, but did not regret the trip at all. I have now biked a local 12 mile road loop twice. It is over to the ski hills and golf course west of us. The terrain gains almost 400 ft from here and involves some hard work as well as some nice down hill runs. Pat is currently in Corona, Ca visiting Dave, Tracy and Dustin. She went out Wed and is having a great visit. We are in touch several times a day via email.

April 28 - May 6, 2001

48 degrees, windy and rain showers today with similar conditions yesterday. What a bummer after our 2 weeks of wonderful 60/70 degree days. Pat has been very busy this past week in the flower gardens and yard. The annuals are poking up everywhere. The lily leaves are about 8 inches high or so, with the other annuals following along. Very tiny leaves are appearing on some of the trees while others only have large buds. We will need a bit more warm weather to really get the leaf canopy started. That weather is not yet in this forecast with this cool weather system expected to be here until at least mid week. The lake remains over the beach, but the water level is down 3 or 4 inches in the past 3 days. Pat and I have been enjoyed our biking during the first part of the week. I got in one 5 mile trip and am now looking forward to trying a 10 plus mile loop as soon as it dries up a bit. We had forgotten just how much we had enjoyed the bicycles. Pat thinks that the used 10 speed mountain bike that she bought last weekend will be "just what she needed". We spent Thursday through Saturday collecting and selling a radio friend's equipment since his health no longer allows him to participate in the hobby. It has been a hard thing to do, but it is something all of us will face one way or another in our lives. The return of the sunshine will improve the spirits.

April 20 - April 27, 2001

What a week! Last Sunday and Monday we had a winter storm. 3 inches of snow with mixed freezing and non freezing rain. What a mess. Duluth had ice and they had people in the city without power until Thursday. But the good news was that on Tuesday and since we have had high 60's and low 70's. So the snow is but a memory. We are getting the yard reraked and cleaned up. The ice is breaking up and we expect to be ice free by the end of the day. The lake is very high and has started to run into the boathouse. VERY HIGH lake level, the highest level in many years. I built a replacement Martin house and got it up Thursday. The one that Pat built 20+ years ago was just too far gone. The crazy swallows don't know (YET) that they should stay with THEIR modest single family dwellings! AS I STOOD THE POLE UP IN THE HOLE WITH THE MARTIN HOUSE ATTACHED, TWO SWALLOWS FLEW IN AND STARTED CHECKING OUT THE NEW DIGS! The house is an 8 apartment unit with large Martin holes for front doors. Swallows SHOULD prefer single units with smaller holes (they don't live in colonies like Martins and are territorial). Silly birdies, they are in and out of it now like a McDonalds at noon! The raccoons have returned and are cleaning out the bird feeders at night. So I am back to my summer routine of putting seed out at 6am. The remaining problem is that the chipmunks cart off all they can before the birds and squirrels have much of a chance. We also HOPE to see the first daffys today. Pat is already starting to work in the flower gardens as well. This is the latest the daffys have been in Pat's record keeping. (11 years) The spring peepers started singing for "real" Tuesday.

April 7 - April 20, 2001

We just returned from a one-week trip down to �The Farm� yesterday. It was good to see everyone, but the flu bug caught about half the group one day at a time and messed the visit up a bit. Oh well, what can you do? In Missouri, spring is late too and the trees are just starting to leaf out. Their daffys are done, the tulips were still in full bloom and beautiful and the lawns are deep in dark green grass. We saw lots of Redbirds �� they were SO pretty. It looks like spring is at about Des Moines right now. Having seen spring twice, it should be our turn before too long.
Here at home, the snow is now pretty much gone. A few remains of drifts are here and there, but that is all that remains. The driveway is much drier now and soon will be in summer condition. With all the dams all closed, trying to help the flooding Mississippi, the lake level is high and the edge water now covers the beach. The ice pack is very dark and we hope that it will melt before the wind blows the pack into shore causing much shore damage. We have a large group of Juncos in the yard since the Blue Jays and Grosbeaks have left. It is yard work time now!

March 23 - April 6, 2001

Spring is still just a dream here. The past 2 days we have finally had temps that stayed above freezing for 24hrs. We had a nice rain yesterday and more rain is in the forecast for the next 5 days. With temps reaching highs in the 40's and the rain, we should be able to get rid of most, if not all the snow in the next week. It has been real hard to return to the "land of snow" after our Florida trip. We had seen almost no change in the snow pack until about Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. On our walk down to the Little Pokegama bridge Tuesday, we spooked a muskrat off the ice at the edge of the channel. The little guy then swam right under us as we stood on the bridge. He was really working those little webbed feet and swam for 200 ft or more before he came up for air. The only other thing we saw in the channel was a school of very small minnows. The ice on local lakes remain at about 30" in thickness. We saw our first red-winged blackbird Wednesday and I saw one Junko week before last. Still no Robins in our yard yet, even though a few have been sighted in the area. As I write this, I hear a geese honking as they fly north in the heavy fog.

Feb 26 - March 22, 2001

We have now returned from a two week driving trip to Florida and Georgia. In Florida we visited Rod/Meredith Bleifuss and Phil/Trudy Jacoby. We had a great time, but had to rush our return a bit because of rain at Jekyll Island, Georgia. We had a wonderful time and want to thank all of those that shared their homes and time with us. We even stopped by to see my sister (Carolyn Jiles) in Richmond, Indiana on the return. We enjoyed sailing on "The Gulf", walking ocean beaches, visiting state parks, golf, visiting museums and historic sites, as well as spending time with dear friends. This was the longest driving trip that Pat and I have had in 20 years. It ended up more hectic than we had hoped, but we were ready to get home. It seems that we both have about a two week limit on being away from home. Spring is not here but was located near Atlanta earlier this week.

Feb 11 - Feb 25, 2001

We returned from a week with Dave, Tracy and Dustin out in California on Wednesday. We had a great visit and had the chance to be with them for Dustin's first birthday. The weather was good and 3 days were just outstanding. Here at home we "missed" subzero temps with a low of 28 below. Then in the last 24hrs we got a foot of snow. Barely got to Patterson's to get a newspaper. Thought that the plow had been through and it hadn't. 454 was really bad, only one set of old tracks and had to push lots of snow. The sun is trying to break through as I write this and more very cold weather on the way. Dreaming of California and Florida.

Jan 5 - Feb 10, 2001

We had another 10 inches of snow on Thursday. It snowed all day. It was a dry snow and blew well. We now have more than 24 inches on the ground. Rick and Burt can over for a visit Friday morning, we had such a nice visit. The birds and squirrels put on a great show and were enjoyed by all. Even two crows showed up. The weather has turned very cold again with 16 below this morning and even colder forecasted for tonight. Boy will California feel good after this! I ordered an additional 150 gallons of fuel oil for delivery Monday at $1.27@ gallon. We would be ok for another couple of weeks, but figured that we might as well get it done. These -16 degree days take a toll on the oil. Jim and Faye left for Arizona this morning.

Jan 28 - Feb 4, 2001

We had another 5 or 6 inches of snow this week on Tuesday and then the cold weather returned. On Wed morning it was 20 below and then 6 below on Thur morning. The warm weather that we enjoyed last month is no where in sight and is hardly remembered. Pat substituted at school two mornings this week and enjoyed seeing "the gang" and also some of her past students. As soon as it warms up a bit, we hope to return to our skiing.

Jan 9 - Jan 28, 2001

Our warmer weather continues and we have had little additional snow in the past three weeks. The days have been in the 20's and the nights have been close to zero most of the time. The second week of Jan we had temps just over freezing and the snow got too sticky to even ski. Pat and I have both been working at a fair number of wintertime chores. Pat has done some sewing and lots of sorting of school and home papers. A huge job, but it looks as if she IS making progress. I have been spending lots of time in the radio room. It has been a long time since I really had and took the time to enjoy that life long hobby again. I have been enjoying visiting all over the country with amateur radio friends as well as getting some maintenance and improvement projects completed or started.

Jan 1 - Jan 8, 2001

Happy New Year!! Winters' grasp has loosened a bit this week with several days that the temp has reached about 30, one day 34! What has been a real break from the many weeks of below zero temps. Pat and I even got out the Cross Country skis and skied across the lake this afternoon. I had to replace my ski boots since the old ones broke. Had to see how the replacement boots were going to work out. Cooler again today -1 this morning and a high of 18 degrees this afternoon. They are promising that it will soon be warmer again, will this be our January thaw?? The Libbys, Davis', Walters and Meyers got together Saturday over at Don and Diane's for The Viking game. We hope that they still have two more wins left for this years season. We now are feeding 30 plus finches since Pat purchased some fresh thistle seed earlier in the week.

Dec 18 - Dec 31, 2000

The last two weeks continued to be cold with almost every night below zero and most daytime temps not much better. We went out to Laura and Dean's for Christmas and had good traveling conditions both ways. We did however take the southern route (Highway 8) for the trip over. Highway 2 was still icy, 437miles instead of 380 was a bit hard to take, but we enjoyed the sun. We had a great Christmas with the kids, but Dean came down sick on Christmas eve, horrid headache, and he is still not back to 100%. Gizmo has sure changed with Samantha's passing. She refused to go outside for 10 days or so and is just now comfortable enough to be out on here own. Inside she seems to be more dependent and "hangs" around more that ever before. Pat is now talking of a juvenile male cat. Hummmm, not sure of how that might be accepted by the current "top cat".

Dec 11 - Dec 17, 2000

The sun is back and it is 9 below zero this morning after a very cold week. Most mornings were around 20 below, but sunny. We have enjoyed the sun after the almost sunless November. The blizzard that struck much of the midwest this weekend had little impact here. We picked up only about another 2 inches of snow with considerable blowing. Pat has continued to wrap and mail Christmas packages all week. She is at last done. Now she has all the returns on things that she purchased and decided against. Gizmo seems as lost as us this week without Samantha. It has been a sad and lonely week without our "little calico".

Dec 2 - Dec 10, 2000

21 below zero this morning and at 1:30pm still 10 below. This will add to the ice on the lake but not as much as if the lake didn't have 8 inches of snow on it. We have had those 8 inches this past week; 4 inches, 3 inches and then 1 inch. All of this snow has been the VERY dry kind because of the cold temps. They were calling for a blizzard next, sure hope that that misses us. The week ended on a very sad note on Friday as we had to have our faithful kitty companion of 18 years, Samantha, put to sleep. She had gotten to were she could almost eat nothing and had lost so much weight, The vet earlier had indicated that she had a tumor that was restricting her stomach. She continued to be alert and wanted to be included in daily activities almost to the end. She had a wonderful life here on the shores of Lake Pokegama and we will miss her.

Nov 19 - Dec 1, 2000

We returned Monday, from Missouri, where we attended Tammy's wedding. Tammy (my brother Chuck's daughter) and Frank Lambrecht were married in our home church last Saturday. It was wonderful to see so many friends and family at the beautiful wedding. Last week before our departure, we has 3 eagles in the birch trees north of the house one day and then the next day an adult eagle on edge ice in front of the boathouse. A real special treat to say the least. The lake is still open, even though several bays on the lake are now covered with ice. We are expected to have lows down around zero this weekend, so open water may be short lived. Our snow depth after 4-6 inches Tuesday night, now stands at about 8 inches. This week I built a TV/Entertainment center cabinet for the 2nd floor addition. Today Dec 1, is the first "Minnesota Sun" that we have seen in ONE MONTH! There is a reason for November being known as a very cloudy month.

Nov 9 - Nov 19, 2000

Snow almost every day since we have returned from California. The snow is about 4 inches deep after today's heavier snowfall. We are back to feeding 7 gray squirrels again, for the first time this winter. The bird life contains; blue jays, grosbeaks, chickadees, redpolls, finches, nuthatches and woodpeckers. We are sure enjoying all the wildlife from the porch. We eat breakfast and lunch on the porch, while being entertained by all of our wild friends. Trim on the door to the second floor room is all that remains of the construction project.

Nov 1 - Nov 8, 2000

Last night we returned from a one week visit with Dave, Tracy and Dustin. We had a wonderful time and it was so great to be able to get to spent those priceless hours with our grandson and his parents. David and I did some shopping in the big computer stores. We got in a trip to the beach. GrandMa got in lots of "Dustin time" and so did I. Dustin started crawling just a few days before we arrived and it was fun to see him zoom around. We retuned to snow showers and dark skys. We already look forward to our next visit :>)

Oct 18 - Oct 31, 2000

Work has now shifted to the interior of the 2nd floor addition. Last week I "polyed" the ceiling and we have selected and had installed the carpet. I have completed a built-in 8 ft long cedar lined storage bench/chest for the long "slanty" wall.It will serve as an additional place to set as well as storage for blankets, quilts and etc.
All of the leaves are down and we are now waiting on the burning ban to be lifted where we can burn the brushpile and remaining leaves. Locally over the past 5 days, we have had over 2 inches of rain which was much needed. The temps have spent lots of time in the 50's for highs. No new wildlife or birds and a couple of chipmunks continue to be active.

Oct 5 - Oct 17, 2000

We returned yesterday from Laura and Dean's. While we were at Laura and Dean's we had two days of rain here at home. We had a very nice visit and the fall colors over there were wonderful. They had lots of wildlife as usual. 12 deer, 6 wild turkeys and two racoons were accounted for. Prior to our trip to see them, we had spent 3 days "with the airplane". Every two years in Oct we must get the avionics and altitude indicator checked. The closest place that we can get that done is down at Brainard. So on Monday Pat and I flew down for lunch, "just to get the plane out". Then on Tuesday, we flew down again for the avionics check. On Wed, I went in to the airport and got a GPS "power problem" resolved, that had showed up right after the annual inspection. The weather was very nice and it was nice to get out and fly a bit again. On Thursday I put the siding up on the two dormers. Tomorrow I will finish the siding and staining. It will be nice to have the exterior of the addition completed. The weather forecast is for highs in the 50's and 60's this week. Great fall weather. The Juncos have returned and we have been enjoying the blue jays for a couple of weeks. Except for the chickadees and a few "woodies", there is little bird activity. We sure miss the bird songs that we enjoys such a short time ago.

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