Dog Days of Summer

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Each morning, noon and night, Yuma, Fergie and I take walks down our road and sometimes through the corn.  Yuma loves hunting for shrews, grasshoppers and even butterflies as we walk.  We could get lost walking the drainage paths through the 8 foot corn growing for acres near our home.  It has been a rainy summer, so everything is green and growing.

I’m thinking that we won’t be traveling to Glacier National Park this summer.  Our son, Steve wants to run the Boston Marathon next spring and we plan to go with him to see him run and visit the Boston area.  This will be our second visit.  Steve ran the marathon there in 2010 and we had a great time so we will do it again.  He has run so many marathons over the years I lost count a long time ago.

Our plans now are for Dolly and I to visit the southwest again this winter and then go to Boston in the spring for a week.

Our two grand sons, Lane and Nick play on the city baseball league.  Steve has been an assistant coach for the team since the beginning.  They are sponsored by Meatheads restaurant, so they are the “Meatheads”. 

It is play-off time and they are still in the it.  They have played baseball together for six years now.  Amazing the difference in their abilities since those first years when it was a miracle when someone hit or caught a ball.  Almost every base was made from a walk because of the terrible pitching and lack of hitting the ball.  Games would end in the third inning because of the two hour time limit.

Now they can do everything with many fewer mistakes,  Pitching is good and the guys can catch the ball, throw runners out and hit it a mile. 

Unfortunately, this is their last year.  Next year they both start high school and Lane is more interested in wrestling and Nick is into football.  Neither plans to continue baseball into high school.

See you later.

Have a Great 4th

July 4th, 2015

See you later.

Search for Missing Tuber

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

On June 4th, I wrote a blog about a missing kayaker on the Mackinaw River.  On June 6th, his body was found by his family near where he disappeared.  It was an unfortunate and needless tragedy.  This certainly has been a very wet and deadly spring for many parts of the country.

We have had quite a bit of rain this last week, and unbelievably, a group of men decided to ride inner tubes down the swollen river Monday afternoon.  As they tried to maneuver around a massive log jam at a bridge, one of the men slipped off his inner tube and disappeared.

Again, Yuma and I went to the river and here are photos from the same bridge we visited last week.  The river is much higher and flowing faster than when we last visited.  The area where the tuber was last seen is about 25 miles down stream from this location.

The river is moving so fast and is so dangerous, searchers cannot use boats on the river, nor can any divers get in the water.  Because the 48 year old man was behind the other tubers and did not go past the log jam nor them, the search has been declared a recovery search.  The only searching being done is along the banks of the river.  Unlike the remote wilderness area the kayaker was lost in, the area the tuber disappeared in, is fairly populated.

It was very hot and humid today, so when we returned home, we stayed inside most of the rest of the day.

Here is Yuma giving me his pitiful look while I am eating my lunch.  It works.

Fergie loves to walk with Yuma along the road in front of our house.  I finally bought a harness, so Yuma no longer wears the choke chain.

See you later.

Search for Missing Kayaker

June 4, 2015

Last Sunday, two young men from the Bloomington area went kayaking in the Mackinaw River.  We had quite a bit of rain last week and the river was running high and fast.  The area they went in is near Congerville, about 15 miles northwest of my home.

All the facts have not been revealed, but one of the young men overturned.  It is reported he was seen climbing to shore, but he has not been found.  The authorities believe he may have gone back into the water to retrieve the kayak.   They have not identified the other kayaker or what he did to help.

For four days, the search has been in progress by land, air and water.  Trained searchers have covered more than 330 acres and boat teams have searched more than five miles down stream.  A helicopter with thermal sensor equipment checked 18 miles of the river.  There have been no clues found from all these searches.

Today, Yuma and I decided to try our hand in the search.  At 10:30, we headed up hwy 150 past the wind farm toward the small town of Carlock. 

Carlock has a population of a little over 550 and is on the road to Congerville.

Congerville is even smaller.  No real town, just a farming community on the railroad tracks with around 400 people.

Went through Congerville and came to the Mackinaw River about two miles west of the village.  Right before the bridge was the search team headquarters at a farm house.

I stopped there and talked with one of the search team to see what I could do.  While there, a helicopter came in and landed.

The number of searchers has dropped in numbers.  They asked if we would go about five miles south to the Mackinaw River Conservation area and keep a watch at the area canoes and kayaks enter the river.  Off we went, heading under the railroad tracks and down the road heading for our search area.

Following the signs, we finally reached the small bridge over the river.  Yuma and I walked onto the bridge and searched the fast moving and swollen river in both directions

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We then continued on to the canoe access area.

Here is our watch headquarters.  Yuma watched the river very carefully.

We tried walking the river bank but as you can see, it is very dense.

Yuma and I watched the river for several hours until our replacements came.  I wish I could say the young man was found today, but unfortunately another day without a clue as to where he is.  The river level continues to drop and I fear that soon it will give up his location.

See you later.

New Grandbaby

 

Thursday, May 28, 2015

A new grandbaby was added to the Laning family on April 18, 2015.  Our youngest son, Jim and his wife, Sarah had a baby boy.  His name is Keaton James Laning.

This makes grandbaby number four for Dolly and me.  The baby is perfect and Jim and Sarah could not be happier.

 

Photo taken this morning of Keaton at just over one month old.



The day after Mother’s Day, Tracie could not take the pain in her side anymore and went to the emergency room. She was immediately taken to the hospital with kidney problems. 

Tracie had received a kidney from Steve back in November, 2013 and for some reason it was failing.  She was in the hospital for 16 days and had all kinds of tests but they could not determine what was happening.  She underwent dialysis several times and finally the kidney started functioning once more and she was released this past Tuesday.  Hopefully, all is okay and this is a one time occurrence.  Only time will tell.

Yuma and Fergie are doing fine.  Fergie does not trust Yuma and still does not accept him in her home, but she is getting a little better.  She will walk with us once in awhile, but Fergie is not big on walking.  She would rather be carried on her walks.

Yuma loves our walks up the road.  He is always hunting for shrews in the grass.  I don’t know how he knows, but he does.  He will pounce into the tall grass and on occasion he comes up with one in his mouth.

He makes himself right at home in my chair when I leave the house.

 

 

 

See you later.

Yuma Loves it in Illinois

Friday, April 17, 2015

Yuma is settling into his routine at our home here in Bloomington, Illinois.

The other day, I was cleaning around the motorhome and noticed that Yuma would not come close to the motorhome.  When I called him he would go to the grass and lay down with his pitiful look like he did when he didn’t want to leave the grass at Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs, California.

I hope he doesn’t become too domesticated and not want to travel with us later this summer.  I think he just got tired of the long days of travel at the end of my winter trip this spring.  I’m sure he will be ready to go by summer.

Yuma and our grand daughter, Erin met for the first time on April 12th.  They got along great.  They are both hams in front of a camera.

Several times a day, we walk up the road and I let him run.  He loves being free and running through the grass and into the open field.

He loves to chase rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels and birds.  He thinks he is a hunter.  This little guy was watching Yuma from the safety of his little wood pile.  The other little guy is a Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrel and was feeding himself below our bird feeder.

Hard to keep enough food for the birds on the feeder with these guys around.

The willow tree is blooming and the grass is green around the house now.

I still worry about our little Fergie.  She has still not adjusted to Yuma being in her home.  She misses all the times I held her and talked to her.  I can’t do that now because Yuma is very possessive and will not leave me when I hold her.  I don’t want Yuma to get jealous and hurt Fergie.

I am sure we can work something out in the long run, but I hate to see her so upset.

See you later.

Yuma is Home

Monday, March 30, 2015

Yuma is adjusting to his new home and family.  I can tell he has become spoiled being with just me and living in the small area of the motorhome. 

The first time we left him alone to go to the store, Yuma ransacked the kitchen.  He knocked over Dolly’s rocking chair in the kitchen and knocked over several plants and just in general made a mess of things.  Nothing serious, but we could tell he did not like being left alone.  We now put him in an empty bedroom and shut the door when we go somewhere and that seems to work okay.

We have three older cats and Yuma has been cordial around them.  He has been home for a little over a week now and gets along with them okay.  Pretty much, he leaves them alone and they stay out of his way.

As for Fergie, she still wishes he would just go away, but she is slowly adjusting to the fact that Yuma is permanent.  She still barks at Yuma from the safety of Dolly’s lap and she will not get on the floor yet.  But, she is used to being carried everywhere anyway.

He thinks he is a small dog like Fergie.  He always wants to climb in my easy chair with me and sleep in my lap rather than on the floor.

Yuma and I have been taking walks up the road along the empty farm fields several times a day.  I still keep him on a leash during our walks.  The weather since I have been home has been horrible.  Today finally feels like spring.

I took Yuma to the back yard and let him play with his favorite toy today, and he had a wonderful time running at a hundred miles an hour and throwing the toy all around the yard.  He just loves being off his leash.  He certainly didn’t need me to throw it for him.

There are two dogs behind an electric invisible fence to the south of us and those two dogs bark at Yuma.   He met them the first day we got home.  He just looks at them, but does not bark or try to run after them.  He is a very smart dog and knows I don’t want him to chase after them. 

Yuma has become very attached to me and I am certain he will not run off.  Still nervous about the first rabbit he sees when off leash,but I feel certain he will return.  Yuma and I are the best of friends.

See you later.