Another round of Birthdays

Boy, it seems like I no sooner get one round of birthdays done another set comes flying by.

Happy belated birthday to Nicholas! Nicholas good buddy I hope you had a fun party.

Happy belated birthday to Martha H. Martha I hope your day was filled with fun times and lots of cake and ice cream!

Our trip to the boundary waters went very well. We all had fun. The weather was OK, it was mostly overcast, we had a few times where the sun would shine through, we had a couple times we were caught in the rain while paddling around.

On the second to last day we decided to move to a campsite closer to our take out point. Unfortunately we had to battle a head wind to get there. After our last portage we headed to our campsite, but the head wind was particularly strong, and we had to battle it to get to the backside of an island that had more protection to get a break from the wind. Daniel and I were paddling and it just seemed like we were paddling, but we were not getting anywhere. I looked over at Matthew's canoe and his partner, and they were paddling and their canoe was not moving even though they were paddling fast. I thought "Oh Boy! this is not good" and then it started to rain. Well the rain stopped and we finally made it behind the island where it was easier paddling. We did make it to the campsite that we wanted, so we set up camp, and we went swimming.

The next day we had a mile left to paddle to the take out point. The head wind was stronger and spitting rain again. We had to keep the canoes pointed into the wind so they did not go sideways into the wave troughs, which could cause the canoes to tip over. We made it and it was fun. The shower we took before we left for home sure felt good.

Philomena is at a week long camp at camp tanglefoot, and she will be canoeing this week!

Sarah is busy painting the inside of her house that she is renting in Sumner, IA

Hopefully Matthew will finish up his Eagle project this Thursday evening.

I had lunch with a couple of our summer officers today. One of them stated that his parents and sisters will be coming up to visit for a week and wanted suggestions on what to show them around the area.
I mentioned the tour of the Winnebago plant in Forest City, and to go see the Bill Baird puppets at the McNider Museum, the ones that were used in the "Sound of Music" musical. He looked at me and did not have a clue what I was talking about. He never heard of the Sound of Music! I then quizzed him about "The Music Man" Meredith Wilson, how that is based on Mason City, I asked him about the Bill Riley talent show? Buddy Holly, the surf ballroom? He did not know any of those people, musicals or events. Fortunately the other summer officer did know all of those things so there is some hope for remembering the classics.

I will be working the State Fair in the afternoon starting at 2:00 PM on August 20, 2009 at the DNR Building.

I have now finished two of my MPA Classes I have 8 more classes to go to get my masters degree! So far I have a 4.0 GPA!

Summer is rolling along real fast now.

take care and have a good week!

Posted by Randy