Happy Birthday My Little Girl!!
Well, our little Jordyn Alexia is 1 year old today. I can not believe how fast time flies when you are watching it in kid years!!
It seems like just yesterday I found out we were having another baby and hoped against hope that it was a boy!
God has his ways of proving to us that we don't know whats best for us doesn't he!
I have to say, I love me litter girl and I wouldn't change her for anything in the world.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOO!!!
Wolf Update
Well, two down and I don't know how many to go. Abraham was here on Monday morning to check his traps. Rumor had it there was a wolf in one of them. Kenny's cousin road his 4-Wheeler down the logging road and saw it caught in the trap. Anyway we made Abraham promise that he would let us see it.
He brought it back about two hours later. Not a pretty sight. Apparently it had gotten caught shortly after he had checked the traps on Saturday and fought hard to get itself out. But, in the 90 degree heat, it didn't last long. By the time we seen it on Monday it was not pretty and very, very stinky.
It was another male, (hmmmm...I wonder why all the males are getting caught in the traps??? Abraham said, "Typical, just like humans, send the guy out to do all the work and sacrifice his life!") It had been a very beautiful animal, big, Abraham said it would have weighed in at about 100 lbs. This was not the wolf that got Buddy, this wolf was dark, lots of browns and blacks.
He has since checked his traps yesterday and there wasn't anything in them. He says that he will probably have to pull his traps this weekend, he will have to see what his boss says. We are hoping he gets a female or two before then.
Just a little trivia for you in case you are on Jeapordy or something like that. I asked Abraham what they bait the wolf traps with and he showed me a bunch of sticky bottles of all kinds of smelly things. Most of the bottles didn't smell bad, they smelt like spices of sorts. But there was one jar that he kept saying you guys don't want to smell this one and then he opened it up anyway. Kenny and I both tentitively put our noses towards it. Kenny was up wind, and I, unfortunately, was down wind and got a pretty good smell. It was ground up Bobcat! Abraham said that during Bobcat season trappers that get Bobcats have to turn the hide in to the DNR. They in turn take the hide and grind it up for traps. He says that he actually catches alot of Bobcats in the traps. Isn't that Cannibalism?
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Somehow I just don't think Mist is as happy as Jordyn about this situation!
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Wolf Update #2
When David and Kenny went out last Saturday they didn't find any signs of wolves, but they did see bear tracks. My brother-in-law mentioned that he hadn't seen a bear track that big ever.
Friday morning Abraham Wolf came out and he said that the bear stepped pretty close to the trap and that he couldn't believe how huge the print was. They figure the bear will dress out around 400 lbs. So when does bear season start? Jenny tell Larry we got a big one for him!
Anyway, Abraham came out yesterday to check the traps and found that he had caught the male wolf! He said he was a huge animal, but that he had mange which made him skinny. The wolf that took Buddy did not have mange (I have no idea what that is, but I get the idea that it means they are loosing their hair for some reason), so they figure that was the female that took Buddy.
He caught the male in traps that he had set a ways behind our house on Bunker Road (it runs parallel to Anderson and it is the road that John Holman lives on whose calves were killed by the wolf). I guess he got the male and then left there to come check these traps and then went back there. While Abraham was over here, John saw the female go across the road when he went out to get his mail so she is still hanging around the area. No sign of the pups though.
Hopefully all will be well soon!
Wolf Update
Buddy was never found. We walked the woods and searched with 4 wheelers Saturday, but never seen any sign of him or any blood. He was wearing a collar with a tag with mine and Sandy's phone numbers on it so it will be interesting to see if some day someone finds the collar in the woods and calls.
Sandy is doing OK, just missing her little friend.
Day before yesterday Dan Bergan came out and interviewed the family. He was going to run the story in yesterday's paper, but tried all afternoon to get ahold of the DNR to get their side of the story and no one ever returned his call so the story ran this morning.
Then, today a nice young (good looking for you young girls) guy showed up from the USDA. His name approprately enough, was Abraham Wolf! He went out back behind our house and all around the trails and fire roads back there with his 4-Wheeler. He came back saying there were a pair of wolves and pups back in there and that they had had a den in one of the gravel pits. I guess wolves are not in dens this time of year, they just wander. He said that although wolves taking family pets is not uncommon, this was. He said that usually a wolf will attack a dog for territorial reasons and those dogs are usually Labs or big dogs. Buddy was a weiner dog, I don't think that fits. He also said that sometimes it is because it is an easy prey. However if that was the case here, he would have grabbed Buddy and headed right into the woods to eat. This one walked a 1/4 mile down the middle of the road. So, he said that left him to the conclusion that Buddy was taken back to feed the pups.
After finding out where the wolves are and where there den was, he said he had to call his boss. He said there are many rules that have to be fulfilled before they can set traps. Usually the wolves have to be on the property of the person that is missing the pet (it is not) and the den has to be within so many miles of the occurance. He never told me what that was. But anyway, he got off the phone and said he had permission to trap them.
So he set out with traps in the back of his 4-Wheeler. I guess he set the traps along the road that the wolves had walked earlier today and he will come back tomorrow to see if there is anything in them. Timberwolves do not relocate well, so they have to kill any they trap. He will trap the parents and can not kill the pups if it is before August 27th. I have no clue why, my guess is that they probably will not survive on there own before that date, but after that date, they can kill them.
The whole thing is very sad. On one hand I feel bad about killing such beautiful creatures, and leaving pups to fend for themselves, but on the other hand, we can't have them stealing the family pets.
Last night Lilly Ann just about drove me nuts. There were dogs or brush wolves or coyotes out in the yard last night and I didn't dare let her out so she growled, wined and scratched on the doors until 2:00am.
Hopefully all will be back to normal (whatever that is) on Anderson Road.
Here is the question of the day, if there are so many Timberwolves, coyotes, brush wolves and Mt. Lions around here, how did Bill's body lay there for 15 months without being disturbed at all???? HMMMMM
God's Protection on My Family!
God's protection on my family was made very apparent to me today. David and I took Chance down to Minneapolis to go to Valley Fair and the Children's Museum. We left Friday morning so my sister came over early Friday morning to watch Jordyn for the weekend. We had a blast at Valley Fair, Chance loved it. Anyway this morning my sister walked out the french doors down on the lower level of the house to walk over to my sister Sharon's house. Meanwhile my mom let our dog Lilly Ann and my sister's Weiner dog Buddy out the front door. My sister Sandy turned around just in time to see a huge Timberwolf who had been standing between the driveway and the front door grab ahold of Buddy and head down the driveway. Sandy set Jordyn down and my sister Sharon who had been standing by her back door and heard Sandy scream ran to get Jordyn while Sandy went running down the road after the wolf. He never ran, he just trotted down the middle of the road while my sister and Lilly Ann were running after him. A couple of times he set Buddy down and Buddy would try to get away while he looked back at Sandy and then he would pick the dog up and go some more. My poor sister ran and screamed until he finally ran into the woods with the dog about a 1/4 mile from the house and then she just colapsed. My mom rushed her to the Dr. because we were afraid of a stroke. Thank God she was just in severe shock. All she can do is cry because she says she just keeps hearing Buddy screaming and she keeps thinking it could have been Jordyn.
David and I left the cities right away and headed home. By the way there is a great room at the Sheaton Bloomington for tonight that is already paid for if anyone wants it!
I can't even count the times I have brought Jordyn out the front door and sat her down on the grass in the same spot the wolf was waiting while I ran into the garage or the house. Or the times I have told Chance to go play in the woods or down by the river. I am so thankful for the times that God watches over us when we don't even know we need it. I had seen the Timberwolf standing in the middle of the road down by where he went into the woods a month or so ago, and my brother-in-law seen him last week. Kenny says he has never seen one that big. The thing that scares me is that he is not afraid. To come into the yard in broad daylight with people going in and out all morning and take a dog especially when there are chickens in the yard by where he went into the woods.
We called the DNR and they, I'm paraphazing now, said, "well, they are protected so you can't shoot them, if they kill a calf or a cow or a child you can call us within 24 hours so we can come out and prove that it was a timberwolf. Then they can be killed." Well, guess what, my bother-in-law and David are out following the trail that we think he took into the woods right now with guns!
If you think of it, say a prayer for my sister, it was a very sad thing for her, I can't even imagine.
Goodbye Rastus
The Dunham/McCormack Family is down to 4 cats. We said Goodbye to our boy today. Rastus was somewhere between 24 & 26 years old. The hardest part about the whole situation was that there was nothing wrong with him. He was not sick and he had no physical problems. But, he was starting to not use the Litter Box. We made the decision that it was time.
It makes me the most sad because my dad loved him more than anything and I can still see the two of them sitting in the rocking chair watching TV. I don't know if animals go to heaven, but if they do, Rastus say hi to daddy!
Waiting for the Parade to start.
The smile says it all!!
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This camping is really hard work!
A Day of Firsts
Saturday was a day of First's for Chance.
Saturday morning we headed for Howard Street for the "Fit City Run" which I wish they would have just left as the First Avenue Mile but anyway. Chance, David, Jordyn and I ran (well Jordyn got to ride in the jogging stroller). I was so proud of Chance, he actually ran 3/4 of the Mile which at almost 2 strides to our 1 is a really big accomplishment. I am hoping to get him interested in running so he and I can do some races together in the future.
After running we came home to clean up and get the camera and then we went to the Lincoln Field for a Helicopter Ride. Chance wasn't to sure, but by the time we got there, he was really excited. Thanks to my sister Sandy who came and held Jordyn so both David and I could go with him. He got to sit in front with the pilot and David and I sat in the back seats. We all got to wear headsets with microphones and so we could talk back and forth. He had a blast and I am so thankful that we were able to take him. That is one of the joys of having children, is watching them experience things.
Of course Saturday afternoon was the big parade. I am happy to say that my son is not greedy. He was sitting in his lawn chair, bag in hand, and we had to push him to get up and get candy. Sandy was teasing him that nobody was going to come up and put it in his lap. But then along came the WTBX/WNMT van and Craig and his daughter Bre. And, somebody put candy right in his lap!
Thanks to Brooke for taking such good care of my children. She goes down in the baby books as their fist babysitter. Thank you Brooke!!!!!!
Happy Mines and Pines Everybody!!!
20 Years Older, 20 Pounds Lighter, & 20 Gray Hairs
It is amazing to me that so much time can go by so fast and you can experience so much happiness and sadness and be such a different person and yet walk into a room and be instantly transported back in time 20 years.
Yep, it was Class Reunion time for me. Obviously the 20 Year Reunion. I will save you all the math, that makes me a whopping 38 years old!
What a blast. It was so much fun to go to the Classmates only night Friday night. We all met at the Algonquin Club (yep it exists and it is a door on Howard Street) at 7:00pm. It was so much fun to walk around the room talking to people that I see often and some I haven't seen since walking across the stage on June 6th, 1986. Some people were hardly recognizable and some I swear hadn't changed and some looked a whole lot better.
One of the girls in my class has a 24 year old child (yep, she got pregnant when she was 14, talk about a scandle in 1982) and one of them has a 2 month old!. Nothing like being spread across the spectrum hey. I was pretty much in the lower end, most of my classmates have kids in the 10-15 year old area.
Saturday night was Classmates and Spouses or Significant Others I should say since two of my male Classmates are very openly Gay! David and I had fun visiting, seeing who was married to who and eating. Then everyone kind of came and went walking down Howard Street for the evening festivities. My husband was amazed that they would actually have the Class Reunion and then give you wrist bands so that you could come and go as you please. He just couldn't believe that. To me it wasn't odd because Hibbing always has their Reunions in conjunction with Mines and Pines for that reason. He is from Michigan (sorry Jenny) so that explains it.
Reunion time gives you a time to sit back and reflect on who you are, where you are and what you have accomplished. The gave us a sheet to fill out with questions on it about where we are now, how we feel we have changed, and what we hope to accomplish by our 30 year Reunion. Then they put them in book form and gave one to each of us. It was great to read about everybody. I think I have changed greatly since High School and I am definitely happy with where I am at. As far as my goals before the 30 year, I simply put "to raise my children to be a man and women of God and to accomplish what the Lord has for their lives. I think that is success!!!
Happy 20th to the Class of 1986, see you in 10 Years!!!!
My little, big girl starting out on her own!
My Big Girl
Jordyn took her first steps today!!! I can't believe how fast time has gone. I am almost certain that it was just yesterday I was walking across the Duluth Clinic parking lot calling David from my cell phone telling him the baby was coming and he had to get to the hospital now!
And here she is starting out on her own! I don't know if I like it, but I guess I have no choice hey!
