Nice Day For a Wedding

We attended an afternoon wedding today. The wedding was held at a newly built Catholic church south of Eau Claire. What a cool church. The landscaping at this church was great, not too mention the architecture of the building.

I've never been in a Catholic church where the altar was all glass windows. Outside the windows was a beautiful rock waterfall, which seem to attract a lot of birds. I kept looking out the windows at all the birds playing in the water....it was simply gorgeous & peaceful.

The young lady getting married is someone Ted will be working with all summer long, as they will be doing lake monitoring throughout three northern counties in Wisconsin. It's hard to believe that in less than three days from now, the pretty bride will be out in a boat, on several lakes each day conducting tests for invasive species (and getting sweaty & dirty). No honeymoon for this young couple! The wedding was very nice and I'm glad we attended.

Something else very new to me....cupcakes in place of wedding cake! The groom owns a tea shop in downtown Eau Claire and right down the street from the tea shop is a cupcake bakery. Maybe the cupcake owner gave the bride and groom a good deal on the cupcakes. All I know is that the cupcake display was beautiful, and the cupcakes were very tasty. The cupcakes were definitely a big hit with all the little children at the wedding reception.

A Squirrel + One Library...No Way!

For several hours this morning at work, I kept hearing some kind of creature crying. At first I thought a bird somehow found it's way into our municipal building, but the crying was just way too loud for a bird.

I couldn't take it any longer, so I walked upstairs in our old municipal building and kept looking for this bird. Guess what? It wasn't a bird I heard, it was a baby squirrel. Poor thing, he was so scared.

Luckily, I have a camera at work so I took some pics of this little baby squirrel who was totally confused at where his momma was.

My part-time librarian, K, suggested I take pictures of this little creature. I had fun taking pictures of the baby squirrel, but at the same time I wanted to lure the squirrel down the steps to ground level.

In the meantime, our courier driver, Wayne, delivered our Friday boxes. I told him about our problem with the baby squirrel. Wayne said, no problem. He use to have pet squirrels so he went upstairs with us and helped lure the squirrel down the steps.

Too make a long story short, the squirrel jumped on Wayne's leg and Wayne scooped the squirrel up in his hand and took him outside. Guess who was outside in the park? Yup, the baby squirrels momma was outside waiting for her little baby. How awesome is that? The momma must have heard the squirrels cries, even though our building is totally sound prove. I just couldn't believe it....that momma squirrel must have been waiting in the park for several hours.

Commuted by bicycle today. Nice ride into work this morning with some wind. Had a cross wind coming home tonight, but overall it was a great ride home. 24/12 mph

Meatballs Anyone?

I came home tonight from work and walked into the kitchen and saw this "man-size plate of meatballs. Wow! I guess Ted is a little hungry.

I was really glad I didn't go into work until later today since I had to spend part of my morning cleaning up after yesterday's dust storm. I was able to get the bedroom cleaned this morning, but I still have the rest of the house to clean. The vacuum cleaner will be my best friend this weekend.

Everything Feels Gritty!

What a weird day. Temperatures around 90 degrees with wind gusts around 45 mph. Not a good situation when you live out in the country with nearby farm fields freshly plowed!!!!! (that's dirt you see in this picture blowing around).

No, I did not ride my bike to work today! I'm so glad I chose not too ride since all of the open farm fields consisted of blowing dirt. It looked like like a dust storm around here. I can still taste the dirt in my throat!

I stopped to gas up my car at the local Cenex and could hardly take the blowing sand into my face and nose. It was horrible.

I came home after work and realized all the doors and windows were open all day. As you can see on my hand, our house is filled with dirt & pollen....everywhere. I even had to vacuum our bed as dirt and grit covered the sheets and bed cover. What a mess. Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend....vacuuming all the dirt and grit from the furniture, windows and carpet.

Got a Good Workout Today

Everything is coming back to me now....how to lay your clothes out the night before, have your lunch packed in a ziplock bag, put your fresh bike clothes out the night before, take time to eat something for breakfast, and be sure to wake up earlier so you allow yourself plenty of time to get to work!

Yup, that's me taking off for my bicycle commute. A delightful morning with less wind and warmer temperatures. Ted rode with me this morning and did a good job of pushing me to ride a little harder.

After work tonight (5:30 pm) I had to stay for a library board meeting. Our meeting lasted one hour, but then it took me ten minutes to shut down the library and gather my "stuff."

I headed for home on my bike about 6:50 pm tonight. I was concerned about riding home much later than normal, but was shocked to feel the temperature when I stepped outside...wow. The temperature must have been around mid 80 degrees.

I had a nice surprise on my way home. Just as I crested my first hill, I noticed another cyclist coming up from behind me...you couldn't miss his orange jersey! As he caught up to me on the downhill, we continued to ride together for the next 6 miles or so. We chatted about cycling and other stuff. Then I discovered he knows one of the girls I work with because he attends her church....wow, what a small world.

It definitely made a difference to ride with another biker. Of course I was trying to keep my speed up, didn't want him to think I was a wimp. At one point I even felt a little nauseated climbing the second hill....lol, I'm such a nerd. I hung on with him and then we said our good-byes. I was so glad to meet up with this nice guy. Thank you to whoever you were, I needed the extra push.

Just Me and My Bike

Late yesterday afternoon, my husband found this morel growing out in the farm field where we were doing some more stream monitoring for DNR. I didn't pick the mushroom, but decided to just take a picture instead. What a beautiful little mushroom!

Today was my first day of bicycle commuting to work....12 miles each way. The morning ride in was cool, but lovely. The ride home was blustery with winds around 20 mph. At times when the wind hit me straight on, I looked down at my bike computer and realized I was only going 6 mph...yikes. I felt like a cartoon character where you see a person trying to ride their bike in a wind tunnel and your legs keep spinning, but your not going anywhere. Yup, that's how I felt today.

On my way home tonight I enjoyed the smell of Lilac bushes, plus lots of trees and bushes with white flowers....the smell of blossums was amazing. Then, I was surprised at the sound of crickets already in mid May. I also caught a glimpse of Trillium's blooming in the woods along the country roads. You could never notice these little treasures by vehicle, that's what I love about cycling.

UMD Graduation

Our daughter, Becca, graduated this weekend from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Becca graduated from the College of Education with a degree in secondary education in Social Studies. She still has the fall semester to complete her student teaching, which she will be doing at a middle school in Duluth. I can't believe how fast the last four years has gone, but at the same time I am glad our daughter is done with all her education classes.

After the graduation (which took 3 hours), we all went out for Mexican food and then came back to Becca's house to help assist with packing tasks. Before we left this morning to drive home, we meet Becca at Dunn Brother's (coffee cafe) and had a nice relaxing morning breakfast. I was sad to leave Duluth this morning....I love Duluth, even if they do have lots of pot holes in their roads.

Had to take a picture of our beautiful fruit pizza! Becca made the crust and filling, and I assembled the fruit pizza yesterday after arriving at her house. The fruit pizza didn't last long, as we snacked on it before the graduation ceremony and aftwards when we got back!

Congratulations Becca!!!