THE OVERLAND ROUTE TO COLORADO

 After Thursdays ice storm, school was canceled for Friday, which gave me the opportunity to get the car packed up for our Christmas adventure.


With another storm predicted to hit on Saturday, we wasted no time getting on the road. 

 Running just to the North and West of the storm our first stop was to visit my Aunt Virginia in Waterloo.  At 98 years old she is an inspiration to all of us.


"My eyes and ears aren't as good as they use to be but the mouth is the last thing to go on a Becker."

  Another four plus hours on the road finds us on the West coast of Iowa, in Sioux City.  Bo and I made a run to check out a VW bus while Susie and Cynthia caught up on girl stuff.

The bus deal never clicked but we'll see what 2014 brings.

 Jason, Rick, Frank and Ron joined us for a wonderful dinner which included Bo's great popovers.  Needless to say I was very impressed.

 

We couldn't have been happier with our night with our friends.













After leaving Sioux City we followed the overland route along the Platte river choosing to stay off of I 80 while enjoying the view.

 The first European Americans to explore the potential for the Road was in the 1810s.

In the years of 1849, 1850 and 1852 traffic was so heavy along the Road that virtually all feed was stripped from both sides of the river.


 We reached Denver Sunday evening and set Beau's Charlie Brown Christmas tree up and celebrated our family Christmas and the joy of being united again after several months.



Our family tradition has always been to do a Christmas Eve hike in the woods near our home before opening any gifts but the times have changed.



This year we hiked the Cherry Creek trail to the confluence of the Platte river for several hours before head to Susie's cousin Shilia's house for
 another Christmas celebration.

We actually did get a chance to see some interesting wild life on our urban hike.


 Along with all the Canadian geese and mallards, we saw several hooded mergansers diving for small fish.








And a pair of coyotes walked along the Platte looking for an inattentive duck or goose.

Susie photo  bombed this shot I was taking of a guy on his SUP board.


I must say we had a wonderful time visiting fiends and family in the on our Denver trip.  But, spending the Holiday's with our son in his new home away from home and seeing how well he has adjusted to life in the city in such a short time was the greatest gift for us. 

I think we'll be getting to know the Westward Overland Route very well over the next several years.

DAY AT THE TREE FARM.

 Cabin fever got the best of me.  I've been cooped up in the pole barn as truck load after truck load of deer hunters came through the area.





 So, I ventured out to Mart's for a little winter hike in a hunter free zone.  We hit a few of the perimeter trails.  This trail is just across the valley from one of bridges that Mart and I  made a few years back. 

The cabin got an artistic upgrade with some of the old cross country skis that I picked up last winter.

 The picture doesn't do justice to this cool little bird nest I came across in one of the multiflora roses bushes along the trail. 

 Oak and full moon on the rise.

 I did a little TSI work out in the tree farm at  sunset.  





This little cedar looks to be about the right size for our Christmas down sizing.

WOODMAN, spare that tree!
Touch not a single bough!
In youth it sheltered me,
And I ’ll protect it now.
’T was my forefather’s hand	5
That placed it near his cot;
There, woodman, let it stand,
Thy axe shall harm it not.

 Joan and Mart's little tree turned out great.

 

FALL PROJECTS

Fall projects are underway and many of them get put off until the weekend or in the evening.


First is the mailbox rehab.  Our heavy duty Sears rural mail box from the 60's was a victim of a late night drive by.  Minie's old mailbox took a point blank blast from a 20 gauge 6 shot which left the wad inside the box.

I just found this pic. of the mail box, post shot gun blast....it takes a licking and keeps on ticking or something like that.

After patching the hole Susie did a great job of painting it and embellishing it with beer caps.











I guess we all have to do our part.

Out on the trout stream, the Big Mill bank restoration project is just getting started.  The project will greatly improve water quality, erosion problems and fish habitat on this cold water stream.

The restoration will take place along a 1,000 toot stretch of stream.







Eliminating the cut banks and allowing better access to fishing. 

Once completed desirable trees will be planted along the stream along with native prairie grasses and flowers that would have typically occurred along Mill Creek.

Out at Rolly, I gave Jr. a hand with putting a massive door on the fallout shelter/root cellar.

Years ago Rush dropped a couple of old gas tanks into the ground at various places on the property.









This one and another one up on top of the world.

Back home I removed the old 2x4 panel windows form the chicken coop and upgraded to a double pane picture window.

  The old windows were salvaged from an old house in town 20 years ago and it was time for an upgrade.

The Girls seem to like it and everything is comfy, cozy and dry.

These days when people say; how are things in Bellevue ?  My reply is Dark!  ya leave home in the morning as the sun is rising and return home at night as the sun is setting.

   There's nothing like a good headlight on a moonlit night!

GUYS AND GHOULS.

MAKING JACK O' LANTERNS

Just take a golden pumpkin
 Of quite the largest size,
Cut all 'round the stem, just so,
 Scrape out the inside below,
And cut two holes for eyes.
 And now fix a nose beneath,
 And such a great big mouth with teeth,
 And you've a jack-o'-lantern!

I'm not sure what is more scary, my carving or my hair.

 With halloween falling mid week it's made for plenty of time to go to parties and get in the spirit of the spirits







We carved our pumpkins before we ventured out for the night.  Susie did a lot of dental work on Jack.

We put on our finest party clothes and grabbed the baby and we were ready for a night of  ghosts, goblins and spirits

















Chappy land had a good gathering of guys and ghouls.

The Roeder brothers (Blues Brothers) and their wives Wane and Garth had a great party with a classic local rockers, "Jammer" as the house band.

Springside was built in 1850
was built by William Wynkoop, a local merchant. Members of the Wynkoop family resided here for 51 years. This home represents the only example of classic "rural" Gothic Revival architecture in its pure form and setting in the Midwest. A Springfield, IL, attorney named Abraham Lincoln was among Springside's early guests.   But, Wednesday night it was the home of the BFA Bellevue Fatman's Association.  Dave and Penny North the current owners were nice enough to allow the boys to use their impressive gym to get a little workout in before our weekly meeting at the VFW.












The action was fast and furious
and it was difficult to draw out attention away to watch the final game of the world series.

KICKIN IT AT THE BARN!

       BARN DANCE







On our return trip from Kendo's 90th Birthday bash in Milwaukee, Susie and I made a cross country run to North Western Illinois driftless region.  Stopping only to pick up cheese in SW Wisconsin.

We hooked up with my old buddy Ron and his daughter Liv at Council Hill, a "Must Stop" list for any trip to Galena.   The folks that run the station are friendly & welcoming with their own quirks.  It used to be a rail road depot/station, & every time the train goes by the guy runs for the piano, straps a harmonica on, & starts playing this 'train is coming through' song.  He really sounds pretty good & can't be interrupted until the train's gone through.  The wood burning stove is original from the 1850s, & the wide plank floor seems solid & looks authentic.   The fridge is about 8' wide & stocked full of craft, & recognizable import beer w/ a few domestics.They have music every weekend,last weekends line up included  The Fever River String Band, The Matriarchs, and the Blackberry Bushes

Lilly keeps the beat with a couple of foot peddles and a base suitcase drum.

The Blackberry  Bushes are back in the mid west for Jakob and Jessica's wedding this Saturday.  It should be a blast!  Uniting these two great kids and a gathering of some of the best people around.  Plus, there's going to be square dance lessons to boot.

 Last night Susie and I went just 20 miles down the road to the Codfish Hollow Barn Stormer.  They built the round barn in 1954. They celebrated the completion of the barn with a barn dance. The round barn hosted live music again, 55 years later in 2009 with the first Daytrotter Barnstormer.  They host live local and national indie bands in their barn. We  took a hayrack ride down to the barn with Marvin for the show.


  Bring your coolers. (BYOB)

  The house is used for an art gallery during the summer time shows but when the girls and I hiked over to check it out last night it was more like a haunted house.  The girls really brightened it up!


















  4 On the Floor is "a rock 'n' roll kind of stomp band. Really fun,  we've caught them a few times this past year.

Dustin Smith and the Sunday Silos are a great band out of the Des Moines area that has a funky lead singer , horns and 







back up singers that
kick out  some falsetto harmony.







Hugh Bob and the Hustle

is a Milwaukee based band with a confident lead singer that has a mumford and sons sound.

 Willy Mason a blues singer song writer from Minnesota closed out the show for us.





He reminded me of a younger version of alot of the old blues guys that we checked out back in the day.