Trottin' Through the Hood

We live so close to the edge of town that we often see creatures not common to urban central.  Look what I saw yesterday.

"Gobble, Gobble."

There were five turkeys moving quickly across the grass.  Here you can see three of them.

Teach a (Wo)Man to Fish...

Anna and Jake have recently moved into a very cool apartment!  Anna wanted help from Dad to hang curtain rods and pictures.  Rusty decided to gift them with an electric drill and some demonstrative lessons on how to run it. 

"Hold it straight. Now add some pressure.  Press the trigger..."

Dad assisting Daughter.

Anna hung the curtain rod!  Success!

Congratulations, Anna.  Who knows what miracles will happen now that you know how to operate a drill.

Construction on North 14th Street

About a mile south of our house is a big bridge that goes over Interstate 80.  In September 2011, much of 14th street was closed so that a new bridge could be built.

14th Street bridge over passing semi on I-80

Dump trucks are adding to the back-fill on the bridge approaches.

Just a few blocks south of the bridge is the intersection of 14th and Superior.  This intersection has had difficulty handling the large volume of traffic, so a decision was made by city planners to make a two-lane round-a-bout.  There is a school on one corner of the intersection, so the round-a-bout will have tunnels for both N-S crossings and E-W crossings.  In other words, this is a major project.  This intersection currently has no N-S traffic and very limited E-W traffic.  I have no pictures of this intersection.  It currently has no walking traffic and it would be nearly life-threatening to try and snap a picture while driving.

As of early this month, 14th street is now closed north of the bridge to Humphrey (roughly our back door).

This used to be 14th street.

Rusty surveys the bulldozer's work.

Water drainage issues will be addressed by the building of a large culvert under 14th Street.  Here the workers are laying forms for the base of the culvert.

I took this picture from our deck.

After the workers go home for the day, we often walk down for a closer look.

As of today, the base of the culvert has been poured and the forms are being built for the walls.  It's fascinating to watch.  I sure wish Uncle Oren were here; he'd have fun talking to us about the details of the project.

The next picture was taken north of our house on what is our only access to Lincoln (although very indirect) on the yet-undisturbed part of 14th street.  At the base of the hill, you can see the culvert construction.  At the top of the hill, you can see large trucks working on the bridge.  If you're a Lincolnite, you should be able to pick out the capitol building.

By fall, this should be a 4-lane road with a bike trail running adjacent to it.

I had to try the movie function on my new iPad.  Next time I'll try standing still.

Right now it's all a big mess and terribly inconvenient.  We have to drive a mile north, then a mile either east or west, then back a mile south in order to begin our trip to the nearest commerce.  However, the new bike trail will provide a safe and easy way for us to ride into town.  That's something to look forward to!

Nearly two weeks later, we are now seeing the culvert really take shape.  The three support walls have all been formed and poured.  The wing walls and apron are finished.  Now the workers are beginning to lay forms so the "lid" can be poured.

I'm anxious to see what kind of supports will be built to support a cement lid.

 Stay tuned for more updates.

Biking on St. Patty's Day

We joined about two dozen riders this morning for a trail ride on Lincoln's famous and fabulous MoPac Trail.  It was about 70 degrees with winds 25-30 and lots of gusts even higher.

Chris, far right, organized the ride.

This pic was taken in April, but it gives you an idea of the trail.

We rode the trail to Eagle, NE.  This photo was taken in 1908.  Eagle was an up and coming town with electricity and a street light.

Today the main street looks more modern, but I would guess has about the same amount of commerce.  We always stop at the One-Eyed Dog Saloon on main street.  Today they were serving corned beef and cabbage with rye bread and boiled new potatoes.  YUM!

On our way home, I stopped for a minute to record the peepers.

Spring Peepers are often found in semi-permanent wetlands.

First Canoe Outing of the Year

It was sunny, 80 degrees and windy.  We decided to take the solo canoes to Wildwood Lake and have our first paddle of the year.  The air smelled of spring.  There were many fisher-people on the lake.

I love the rust colors in the landscape left over from winter.

Rusty looked good in his wood and canvas canoe.

We always keep our eyes open for the gorgeous blue herons that frequent this lake.  No luck this time, but what we did see was a little surprising.

A young man pulling another saddled horse across the dam.

I assume the trailing horse was getting some lessons about the environment.  Later we saw them take several tries at the wooden bridge.  Eventually, both horses and rider made it across.  Then they turned around and did it again.

The horses hooves were pretty noisy on the wooden bridge.  It must have been a little spooky for them, but they made it.

Yes, the red on my ears is protection from the wind.  Looks a little goofy, but keeps me from having ear problems.

This is just the first paddle of many this year.  We are planning to take our solos to The Boundary Waters this May.

On the go with the Caviezels

We landed in Philadelphia on March 8, having no travel issues!  The weather was warm and sunny, the grass was green, and the daffodils were blooming.  Perfect!  When Ruby came home from day care, she greeted each of us with big smiles and a long hug.  MORE THAN PERFECT!

Thanks to Sam and Felicia, we enjoyed the Philadelphia Orchestra's performance of Tchaikovsky's Suite from Swan Lake.  We also heard Stewart Goodyear's beautiful rendition of Rhapsody in Blue.  This is such a beautiful piece, but it felt especially warm and comforting to me because it elicited memories of my Dad playing it on our piano at home.  His version was much slower and somewhat choppy, but it was fun to remember it anyway.  As we were leaving the concert hall I said to Rusty, "After hearing such beautiful music, I feel filled up with wonderful."

Felicia took us to the National Constitution Center; I encourage all Philly visitors to check out this fabulous, interactive representation of the history of our country!

On special exhibit is The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen.  I loved his 1960 Vet.

This room had life-size statues of all signers of the Constitution.  Rusty and Ben have much to discuss.

Sometimes Ruby gets to ride on the back of this very cool urban chic.

Other times she has to walk.

 We spent much of our time just hanging out and visiting.  This was the best!

Ruby enjoys her big bear.

I'm not sure who got the most out of the back scratch--Ruby or Rusty.

Ruby is enjoying her new book, Good Night, Baby Ruby.

Sam often plays music for Ruby and she really enjoys it.  Here is just a brief clip of Ruby, Bear, and Sam dancing to Rossini.

On Sunday, after church, we had a big breakfast.  It reminded me of so many Sundays when the girls were little and we all had jobs to do to prepare the big breakfast.  Felicia said her job was to grind the coffee.  Here Ruby helps Mommy prepare the eggs.

Felicia and I had fun shopping for new clothes.  We bought items for spring and summer, including a new swim suit, and of course, a new Easter dress.

We'll be watching Felicia's blog to see Ruby in this.

 Sam and Ruby took us to the Please Touch Museum in Fairmont Park.  There was much to do!

Ruby helps the Three Little Kittens hang their mittens.

Ruby put the bunny on the racetrack.

Papaw helped Ruby get a bird's eye view of the bunny on the racetrack.

Ruby offers tea to Mr. Bunny.

GiGi shares tea with the Mad Hatter.

After the ride on the carousel, I decided that future rides will need to be without GiGi.  The motion sickness thing is just too great for me.

It was a very long and delayed plane ride home, but a terrific visit!

Fun with the Fishers

We had a great weekend in K.C. with the Fishers!

It started out as a warm afternoon, so we walked to Loose Park.  Reece wanted me to catch all the bubbles he blew.
Lovable Chance came with us.

Pierce and Reece had fun on the climbing tree.

Then we went to the playground area.

I think this is amazing for a two year old!

Olivia is so good about having the boys help her in the kitchen.

Yummy chocolate.

Reece liked hangin' out with Papaw.