Busy week

This week flew by, work was crazy busy and Frank had his appointment in Brainerd with the Pulmonologist. What a difference a clinic makes, they actually had the forethought to take him for a walk and check his oxygen. That's a first - his oxygen level dropped to 85. The Doc wanted him on oxygen immediately! The Lincair van was here moments after we got home. He's supposed to use the bottles with a carrier that slings over his shoulder if he's up and moving but, so far, he hasn't used that. He says it's too cumbersome so hopefully we can get him one of those portable concentrators. He does use the big concentrators overnight though. He also suggested Frank get a blood test for the Alpha 1 gene, may be too late to help even if he has it though but we did advise the girls to have it and, if necessary, the grandbabies.

Weather was, as usual, unpredictable this week. Overnight Tuesday we had freezing rain and then snow. The wood stove got down pretty far so it was a job to get it going with everything covered with ice. The car door was froze shut. Needless to say I was late to an appointment that morning.

When it rains, it pours. Unless you live in Minnesota, then it snows 😕

Picture of the week:

P.S. They won

Snow again

Got up this morning to snow showers - what? So, Cooper and I trudged out and put some wood in the stove. Looks like an inside day today.

We went to the memorial service for Clyde on Friday night. They gave him a fireman's final call, that was a tearjerker but very touching. There was a good turnout and the family seemed to be handling it pretty good. They knew it was coming and his quality of life was pretty diminished. His Alzheimer's was so bad they kept him heavily medicated and he didn't come out of his room anymore. It's so sad, he's definitely in a better place and the family can move on. There's nothing worse than seeing the people you love fade away slowly. 

Picture of the week: 

P.S. They won

It's official - the bears are out!

I was on the phone night before last with the oldest daughter when hubby started hooping and hollering for me to "come see", "hurry up you'll miss it", so with my phone propped on my shoulder I have my monocular in one hand and camera in the other trying to take a picture. It was quite a show! 😁

I didn't get a great pic but I got one nonetheless...

Called Eileen to tell her we'll have to switch card night to Saturday this week since we have the memorial service for Clyde on Friday. By the time we get home Frank will have had enough and probably not in the mood to play cards. She thought that would work out alright.

Dale has been finally let out of the hospital and is in the rest home in D.L., he needs to be supervised yet and go through physical therapy to get his strength back. It's been over a month since he went into the hospital. I'll say it again - he was LUCKY someone found him when they did! He pointed out that the by-laws state he can have animal visitors (hint hint) so we'll try to get Elke over there to see him...

April Showers

We are getting some much needed spring rain. Hopefully it will wash away all the allergens, like snow mold.

The dogs HATE rain. Cooper is worse than Elke - I finally got him out to do his business but he wasn't happy about it!

My back is improving, at least I can get out of a chair without as much pain.

Angie called this morning, needed cardboard egg cartons and since nothing around here seems to get thrown out, we had plenty. I'll drop them off when I head in to town today. She has a project in mind so she'll put them to better use than I will.

Still doing the de-clutter, it's a long drawn out process....

Spring time blues

So much to do outside but last Wednesday I pulled some muscles in my lower back - again. Seems like this is becoming an annual event. There's tons  of stuff to do outside this time of year and I wasn't even close to being done!

Mike, Ang, and kids went on a day trip to Mike's sisters place in Coon Rapids. They found a doggie day care for Hugo in Blaine so he could enjoy some R&R while they visited and did an Easter egg hunt with the kiddos.

Thursday Roscoe went over the Rainbow bridge, he's been failing for some time and now he can be in peace and pain free. RIP Roscoe.

Thursday a good friend passed away, Clyde Zirkle, he and his wife (Jean) are Angie's Godparents. It was time though, he's had a rough road for a few years now. Friday will be the memorial service and they are having a fireman's send off since he was on the fire department for quite some time. He was a good and gently man and will be missed. RIP Clyde.

Dale and Crystal are headed to Rapid City for the Easter holiday with Dale's family. We are just here, we're not doing anything special this weekend.

We let the woodstove go out for the year so we'll have to switch over the water heater back to electric and turn the gas furnace back on for chilly nights. My back set the date, normally we would have let it go for a couple weeks yet.

Picture of the week:

P.S. WE won!

No pictures

The air is cool tonight but it's calm and the scenery was beautiful. The moon coming up was one of those big orange harvest moons. I didn't get a picture...
The deer have started coming back onto the field. They're finding the new grass shoots and I'm sure they were ready for something green after eating who knows what all winter. I didn't get a picture...
The frogs have been quite a chorus lately too, what a great evening to live on the Sprucehaven in the springtime 😍

Will the rain come?

Been upper 60's the past couple days but I'm nervous about fire danger. We've had a lot of wind and no moisture to speak of for a while. So what does the neighbor do? Burns off his field, luckily it didn't go anywhere and the wind calmed down. I won't lie - it always scares me when people do "controlled burns"

Angie and I are planning a girls getaway in June. We decided on Brainerd since it's going to just be an overnighter. The room is booked and now it's just to decide what we want to do while we're there. When I went to Sioux Falls with Crystal in September we had almost 3 days and only had a couple things planned to do but we stayed busy and I bet the same will happen here. We're excited!

Ang and the boys were out to see us yesterday while Mike took Abbie to the Father/daughter dance at the school. She said they had Grand March and the whole shebang. I haven't seen too many pics yet but it sounded great.

P.S. They won

Spring has sprung

It's that time of year again, time to get outside and get things cleaned up. It's been beautiful weather, mid 50's above the donut and no bugs, perfect! The Sandhill cranes are back and showed up for a camera op. It was the best capture I could get.

Angie and family adopted a new dog from the shelter. He's a 5 year old and they have named him Hugo. He's huge like Cooper and Elke but not sure of breed. Mix of german shorthair pointer and lab maybe.

We spent a lazy day yesterday. Frank's been under the weather the past week or so. Good to just hang out sometimes. We did a marathon watch of Street Outlaws on Hulu. 

Abbie's Birthday party was great, she seemed to like the car so can't wait for her to bring it out to the farm so we can see it in action. Angie made butterflies for the top of her cupcakes, they turned out AWESOME - she even made a butterfly fairy for Abbie's cupcake. All in all a good day.

And now for the photo of the week...

P.S. They won