Archive for June, 2009

I went outside this evening after the rainstorm came through and saw a very awesome sight. There was not one, but two sets of double rainbows visible. One set was in front of our house and the other was to the side. The brightest rainbow showed all of its colors clearly. Usually I only see a part of the colors and rarely do I see the violet. Very cool!

The brightest of the four rainbows

One of the double rainbow sets.

The other was lighter and harder to see.

Dave and I visited the Big Lake Spud Fest today. We watched the parade, which had over 90 entries. We thought we were going to be rained out, but the wind and overcast sky was actually pretty nice. We watched the Big Lake Police K9 demonstration, had some cotton candy, and did some people watching. Here are some pictures:

(Click on the picture to see a larger version)

(Click on the picture to see a larger version)

Dave and I spent several days taking the children to see their father for the summer in Tennessee. We needed a place to take our miniature schnauzer, Pugsly (named after the Addams Family character!) I met Rhonda through the Sherburne County Citizen Academy. She told me that she did pet sitting, so I contacted her to see if she would be available to watch Pugsly while we were gone. She was!

When we arrived at her home, I was pleased with what I saw. She has a nice property with plenty of room for the animals to get their exercise. She was very professional with paperwork for us to fill out. While we were gone, she asked if she could groom Pugsly, who needed it desperately. Rhonda even emailed me a couple of pictures of Pugsly and her dog, Zeus getting along.

When we returned, Pugsly was a new, very sharp-looking and good-smelling dog! Usually he is very skittish around new people, but when it was time to go, he wanted to remain with Rhonda — hmmm, what kind of treats did she give him?

I highly recommend Rhonda’s services–her prices are very reasonable and I know Pugsly had a good week while we were away.

Grade: A+

I am still enduring the Laptop Fiasco. I finally got my laptop back from the repair shop and took it home. When I tried to load Windows, it froze in exactly the same place that it had before I took it in. A quick trip to the Geek Squad informed us that there was nothing wrong with the hard drive–funny, I remember saying that wasn’t the problem the first time. Needless to say, Della is on the way back to California or wherever the Geek Squad sends their unfixables. Dave will be quite happy when she returns so that he can have his baby back.

I’m sorry that I have not been able to blog much, but I will be back soon!

My first granddaughter, Raelynne Grace Bradford, was born Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 8:52 am. She weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. She is name Rae after Brianna Rae, my daughter who died at age 9, Lynne after my middle name, and Grace after her mom’s middle name. She was also born on Dave’s birthday, which makes her birth even more special.

We had to take to children to Tennessee so the timing was excellent. We got there on Friday, just as they were getting ready to leave the hospital. Mom and baby are doing well. I was able to take some photographs while I was there.

A Wildflower Tour of prairie openings in the oak savanna will be held at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, June 13 beginning at 10:00 a.m.  Dazzling spring flowers such as wild lupine, hoary puccoon, columbine, wild geranium and large-flowered beardtongue are expected to be seen.  Participants will also learn to recognize plants that flower later in the season.

This tour celebrates National Pollinator Week.  The future of wildflowers relies on pollinators such a bees, moths, butterflies, and other insects plus birds and wind.  Tour leaders will be Marv Ziner and Robin DeLong, volunteer naturalists experienced with wildflowers.  The tour will begin at the Old School House and from there car-pool to the Wildlife Drive.  This program is free and open to the public.

To register, call Nancy Haugen, Visitor Services Manager, at 763-389-3323 ext. 13.  The Old School House is located on Sherburne County Road 9, 5.5 miles west of Highway 169.

I stopped by the Zimmerman Farmer’s Market yesterday for the first time. It’s still early in the season and not a whole lot of produce available yet, but the items there for sale were very nice. Here are some pictures:

My laptop is at the Dell repair center, so please excuse the lack of posts. They said it would be 3-4 weeks, but according to their site, the laptop is repaired and awaiting the final check.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Yeaaa! Dave and I finished our three shadowing sessions with Denise, Robin and Penny, and Gary over the past two weeks.  They were all very knowledgeable. Denise is very well versed in the birds and especially ducks. Robin and Penny are the resident flower experts. They also head up the seed collecting activities at the refuge. Gary is awesome at recognizing bird calls. We learned a lot about the refuge, identified new birds, and had a great time.

So, we are now official roving wildlife interpreters at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. We met with Nancy Haugen, the volunteer coordinator, and received our hats and shirts. We have a lot to learn, but we are excited to get started!

We went on our first solo roving trip today. We had a nice day, although it was rather breezy. Our three hours went pretty quickly. Here are some pictures:

Dave and I attended our first CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) meeting at the Sheriff’s Department in Elk River. I was certified as a CERT member in Tennessee in 2005, so I am familiar with the program. Dave is new to everything. The person who leads the group here is Larry Narikawa, who has done a terrific job putting trainings together.

This evening, Larry and John Olsen, the Sherburne Emergency Services Director went over the basics of the program. I saw a couple of the guys from the Citizen’s Academy at the meeting–that was pretty cool.

This is a great program for people in the Sherburne area to get involved with–not only to help neighbors but themselves as well. Here is a description of the program from the Citizen Corp website:

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community.

Here is a picture of Larry showing us the supplies that CERT members receive after training: