3rd Annual Bag Toss for the Red Cross

For local readers of this blog I have some news for you.
The South Central Minnesota Chapter of the American Red Cross will be holding it's Third Annual Bag Toss event on Saturday, August 20th.
We are limiting the event to 128 teams and registrations are now being accepted.
You can register several ways. You may call the Red Cross office at 507-387-6664...or you can follow this link to find a registration form.
Besides great fun, food, hundreds and hundreds of dollars in prizes. we will be having a silent auction.
The event will be held at Ray Erlandson Park near Victory and Main in Mankato.
Here is a link to the Facebook page that gets updated on a regular basis...in fact, almost daily.

This and That

Why do I always start my blog entries out with "it has been a while"?
I guess I have been too busy with life to write about it.
All is going well. Sue went back to work last week after having both knees replaced. She is doing great and really enjoyed the 12 weeks off.
My double cataract surgery went very well....no glasses and better than 20-20 vision now.
We have been spending most every weekend out at the lake in our camper.
The sunsets have been amazing...here are a few examples.


We went out in the canoe yesterday. The water was like glass and just perfect! Sorry, no pictures. I don't dare take my camera out in the canoe the way we rock side to side. It is always an adventure!
After being out on the water we worked up an appetite so I fired up the flesh cooker and threw on the beef .

At this point, the weekend had to come to an end, so we came home to get a few chores done.
I was riding around on Mr. Deere mowing the lawn when I discovered that I had an audience.

I am sure Bambi's mom was lurking in the woods keeping track of her little one.
Until next time......

It's About Time

That statement rings true for so many reasons.
It's about time I posted a blog update, the weather has finally turned decent, I have more than one day off,get to eat really good BBQ...and the list goes on and on.
Anyway, I had not checked the trail camera here at Coyote Ridge for some time (another "it's about time"),so I did that this morning. There were 195 pictures on the digital disk.
I slugged through them and have a few to share. I won't bore you with all of them, just some of my favorites.





And for good measure a turkey made it's appearance.

It appears that the wildlife successfully reproduced this Spring. We have seen a good number of baby turkeys and deer exploring the woods out here.
Today we are off to our son Ben and his wife Anna's house for some of his special BBQ ribs. He slow cooks them for five hours on the grill and they are out of this world!
Of course we will have plenty to go with the cooked flesh. How about potato salad, fresh green beans cooked with bacon, calico beans,blueberry-rhubarb upside down cake and of course cold beer!

Update on the Eyeballs

Just a short update on my peepers.
As many of you know I had cataract surgery on both eyes recently. I could not believe that a person of my youth would need such a procedure. :)
Anyway, I had the left eye done first. The afternoon of surgery I had 20-70 vision in that eye. At the follow up exam the next morning at 8:00 I had 20-30 vision. At my one week post-op exam I had 20-20 vision...How great is that!
Last Tuesday I had my other eye done. 20-40 the day of surgery and the next day I had 20-20 vision. I have a follow up exam this Friday and am expecting the numbers to improve even more.
I have worn glasses for distance since the 5th grade and now I don't need them at all except for reading.
The reading glasses routine is getting old so I am going to see about getting bifocal contacts so I will not have to be groping for my readers every five minutes.
To make a long story short, I never knew how bad my eyesight was until I had the peepers fixed!

Catching Up

It has been a while since I updated the blog. Life just seems to get in the way sometimes.
Sue is doing so well with her two new knees. She had both of them replaced five weeks ago and has been driving for three weeks already.
Not to be outdone, I had minor surgery last Tuesday. I had a cataract removed off my left eye. It was a total success with a a HUGE difference in my eyesight. I went from 20/70 to 20/20. I fully expect the same miracle when they do my right eye next Tuesday.
No more glasses, except for reading....maybe.
We have been enjoying the last several weekends out at the lake camping. More of that action is scheduled for this weekend. Is it Friday yet?
We have been having a real heatwave here. Last Friday it was 95 degrees. Yesterday it was 99 degrees. Today at 2:30 PM it was 102 degrees. We may just get to 105 before the day is done.

Bravery and Birds

First the brave part. As you probably know, Sue had both knees replaced two and a half weeks ago. You read correctly, both knees at the same time.
She is doing amazing! The walker is history, the cane is history and she is walking on her own...that is incredible!
Her secret is good old fashioned hard work. Go to physical therapy, do all the exercises at home and put in some extra time over and above the "normal".
The physical therapist told her today that she can start driving anytime. I can't say it enough...AMAZING!
Now for the birds....
The hummingbirds are returning in numbers here at Coyote Ridge. They are warming up to us and are even sitting still for pictures. Feel free to click on the pictures for larger images.




So far the little birds have been pretty peaceful with one another. That will end soon when 20-30 of the hyper birds all compete for space at the six feeders. Let the action begin!

This is for the Birds

Many of our birds are returning to their summer home here at Coyote Ridge.
We have welcomed them back with my secret sweet recipe that fills the six hummingbird feeders on the back deck.
Sue was able to catch a couple of our feathered friends feeding this morning.



The feeders have been semi-active with our little Hummers as well. In a few weeks the hyper little winged wonders will be challenging each other for a place at the hanging sugar bars.