Off to Tanzania

Two suitcases, one 50 lbs and one 40 lbs, a backpack and purse....are all packed.  The alarm is set for 4:00 AM and I guess that is as ready as I'll be!

This is my 7th trip and I'm just as excited as the first.  My blog from TZ is

http://ilgss.blogspot.com

We've gathered over 100 lbs of medical supplies plus 4 laptops.

And so this adventure begins.

Parkinson Support Group

Last spring my friend Carolyn from Spencer asked if I knew someone that might organize a Parkinson Support Group in Storm Lake.  The group provides information for those diagnosed and also caregivers.  She has hosted one in Spencer for 5 years…and it grew from five to 15 or 20 with some were driving many miles and even from Storm Lake.

I said I knew nothing about Parkinson’s disease and she quipped right back, “Can you talk?”  Had to admit I can talk.  And of course we now have Parkinson Support Group in Storm Lake.  St Mark Lutheran offered facilities with no steps and easy parking, two others agreed to help host (and now we’ve added a fourth).  We “joined” the Iowa and national chapters and have had two meetings.

Our first was organizational and idea generating with 10 attending.  Our August meeting had 15 there and a pharmacist presented on the medicines prescribed, side effects, and how the medicines work.  With ideas from the group we have scheduled a physical therapist for our September meeting and a speech therapist for our October meeting.

My Little Prairie Patch

I have spent both quality time and sheer sweat time at my prairie paradise. 

I’ve cut back many many cottonwood seedlings and attacked the invasive white prairie clover and mowed my prairie path.  I’ve also enjoyed spotting yellow cone flowers, evening primrose, big and little bluestem, and some liatris starting to bloom. 

There are milkweeds and one plant is used as a trellis by a morning glory .  With the drought the mosquitoes haven’t been a problem although flies have a nasty bite.

As I walked the lane I marveled at the multitude of swallows line up on the power lines.

Vacation July 22-26, 2012

July 26, 2012 and four nights at Loon Lake…the most this summer.  It was hot, hot, hot, and of course humid until day 4.  Swimming provided a cool relief.  Between our dock and the neighbor's dock is 37 paces and so each day I swam between the docks…using every stroke I know and worked up to 12 laps….which by my math is about a ¼ of a mile.  Of course I also did some floating, too.

The lake is down, earlier this summer when I jumped off the end of the dock it was over my head.  Now I can stand with head and shoulders above water….which made last night’s ½ inch of rain very welcome.

Our neighbor here was in Hinton last night and called about hail warnings of which we were oblivious ….and offered a place to put the pickup!  Good neighbors are a gift!  Fortunately no hail here.

Mike has had “the fever” for a car project.  He bought the present pickup two years ago (when I went to Tanzania with a group)  and has given it the Last detailing and also some not so detail…such as a seat reupholstered, and the rust repaired… I’m going again in September and he’s decided to trade the pickup for a suburban to detail. What conclusion can be drawn from this?

Friend Ray figured out how to fix the wire that connects the mini solar panel to the pump for the garden fountain.  Apparently a critter had chewed through the wire in a couple of places.

We took a boat ride Monday and of course Sneakers had to be on the bow with ears flapping.  Except this time she either leapt in or fell!  So around we came and he was dog paddling for shore.  It took both Mike and I to get him back in the boat.  He still likes the bow!

April 2, 2012

Another Monday and another trip to Loon!  Our neighbor’s asparagus is peaking out…I didn’t touch it! 

Path on the other side of creek

We had Marinus, our 7 year old sweetie with us.  Our goal for this Monday was to mow a path on the far side of the creek before the grass was so tall that it was impossible. 

I ended up finding 4 ticks on her.  Needless to say…we checked everyone and carefully showered and washed hair when we got home.  Amazingly Sneakers was tick-free.

Warming up in pickup

Mike also pulled out an evergreen that had died.  The evergreens that we’ve planted and replaced hoping for 14 are down to two.  This was part of our mind set that had to change from a north woods lake to a prairie lake.  Evergreens are possible but where we tried to plant is apparently too wet much of the time. Our neighbor has a great windbreak with many evergreens and cranberry bushes.

March 26, 2012

Today was our first drive to Loon Lake in 2012.  As we headed north…the wind picked up, the temperature dropped and the sky clouded over.

Our purpose was to burn paper lots of it.  I had spent the last three days cleaning my office.  And so I discarded notes, articles, and essays from my masters.  Papers about writing, reading, listening, speaking, linguistics, pronunciation, cooperative learning and jigsaw groups…and much more…some nostalgia so I didn’t spend too much time looking again! 

We also loaded our compost drum into the pickup and emptied it on the prairie.  As opposed to lawns that are now greening up, the prairie is brown and fall looking.  Prairies tend to sleep later in the spring and stay awake longer in the fall.

The creek (a drainage ditch flows into it) is high.  We also checked the replacement for the bridge that was built last fall.

rebuilding the bridge

completed culvert system




Many Canada geese complained about our presence…or maybe it was Sneakers!...but after awhile Sneakers just ignored them.  They moved between the shore and the lake.  The wind created white caps and the geese rode the waves.

We ate our lunch standing in the cabin…with our little cast iron stove putting out heat.  With the wind it wasn’t prudent to burn outside.  We both did some pruning and walked the lot.  The wind blew water on the shore so I didn’t get too close.

My soul was fed.

This really happened!

Aaron graduated from college and found himself working “part time” jobs often for 18 hours a day with two different sleep times of 3 hours each.  He managed to put his nest egg together and moved to California to pursue acting. 

After living again for a time with part time jobs he finally landed a job with benefits!  Coincidentally he had noticed he’d get a cold/cough about every three months.  So with his new insurance he headed to the doctor.  The doctor listened to his chest and ordered x-rays.  The doctor came in and said there must be a mistake and sent him down to the lab for another set of x-rays.

The doctor called Aaron into the office and asked if he had been abused as a child!  He showed Aaron the X-rays and there were two pins in his lung.  Aaron promptly asked the doctor if this was the latest medical joke!

An appointment was made with the ENT.   Aaron of course called his mother about his abuse!!

He started on medicine.  Later at home he starts coughing and hacks up a rusty pin with a white head.  Aaron’s cogs start turning…one of his jobs in the twin cities was set up and take down of displays…involving using pins with white heads to attach the skirts to the tables.

And the true story ends as he is driving 60mph and coughs up the second pin!