Heavy Hearts

I hope one of these days I can do a better job of blogging, but honestly, my heart hasn't been in the mood for writing.  After ending my library career in December, you'd think I'd be hammering out the blog post with all this extra time on my hands.  Nope!

Funny thing is, my life didn't actually slow down with retirement, but has accelerated.  I've committed to helping my husband with his volunteer work of stream and lake monitoring for the DNR, plus once a month we also collect phosphorus samples from 17 creeks in Dunn and Barron County.  Then, add in working/volunteering for the Lower Chippewa Invasive Partnership group, which is an active group that helps educate the public about terrestrial invasive plants & trees.  We also have actual work days pulling buckthorn, garlic mustard and tackling a new invasive, Amur Cork trees.

I then have about 1-2 weeks each month of unscheduled work or activities around the house, followed by one week a month in Richland Center, helping my elderly parents.

I posted this particular photo of my parents, Jack & Shirley, because it was a day I won't forget.  The day this photo was taken, we had just come back from dad's mid-afternoon oncology appointment at their local hospital.  The oncologist told my dad.....you realistically have 6-9 month left before the cancer takes you.  Your bladder cancer (of six years) has now moved into dad's pelvic area and the lungs.  All I can say is that we left this appointment with heavy hearts.  My dad held strong the rest of the afternoon and we decided to go out for dinner at a beautiful place along the Wisconsin River near Spring Green.

During that short time while we enjoyed our meals, we talked, we laughed and we even met some wonderful new people.  Can you believe we all three even enjoyed a frosty mug of beer???  Way to go mom and dad, live a little!

But now, it's back to reality.  Time is ticking.  Dad was finally placed in hospice last week and it has been a flurry for my parents.  Lot's of appointments, hospice visits, phone calls, new faces and new decisions to make about the future.

I will continue to travel to Richland Center to help my folks and will anticipate more trips for me in late fall and the winter months. Every day I tell myself I am so lucky to be able to retire early in order to help my parents.  I also have to say I am very lucky to have two wonderful sisters that are willing to help as well.....we girls all work together coordinating dates and appointments, phone calls and lots of messages by cell phone or Facebook. 

Lastly and ironically, my mother-in-law has also been in and out of hospice for several years now.  The end of her life is near for her as well.  As they say.....when it rains, it pours!

Thanks for listening and reading.

Ride For a Mission

Headed out on the bikes late this afternoon for a little country ride...or maybe I should say a hilly ride! We were on a mission this afternoon. Bike man wanted to look for invasive plants, so he could document what plant it was and then take a GPS of the plants location. Our invasive plant documentation would then be sent on to DNR, where a research program is going on in Madison at the UW.

Oh wait, we had to stop along the way. Bike man spotted a nice apple tree!

These apples were beautiful.....no blimishes! The apples were also sweet and juicy. Just a lonely apple tree out in the country.

So, here's one of our invasive plant finds. Spotted Knapweed. At first it reminded me of Wild Thistle, but just smaller. We found lots of it in one area along the road. There's many other invasive plants that are on the "warning" list. Some of these plants cause skin reactions if you touch them. Wild Parsnip is really bad.....will cause terrible blisters on the skin, especially when your skin comes in contact with both the plant and sunlight. So, I guess Bike man is taking on one more monitoring project, but just a small one. Can't complain, however, since we enjoyed a two-hour bike ride through the country hills and burned up 900 calories. (18 miles)