Summer pics day 4

This is from the first day we went wading in the river, just after a big rain the night before. The river was deeper and faster than it's ever been, so we only ventured in at a few spots and I made the boys hold my hand. No kid of mine is getting washed away in a flash flood.

This shows the uneasy truce between Mr F and my grandson. Mr F isn't sure he likes the little guy, and my grandson for his part is not quite sure what to make of the fascinating Mr F, who is always doing something interesting but who is also loud and fast and strong.

 I had to go to a court hearing in Green Bay, so afterwards, having a bit of extra time, I drove to find where Packer Quarterback Aaron Rodgers lives. I found it, too. (It's a pretty regular-looking house in a fancy subdivision.) That house wasn't as scenic as this horse.

And this is a picture I had a stranger take, that same day, of me sitting on a bench with a statue of a man who was identified as "the Packers' biggest booster." I believe he was a reporter, but I don't remember his name and I can't find it on the website.

The sportcoat I am wearing in that picture was a gift from the boys for Father's Day. I am 5-0 in it and have never lost a hearing while wearing it.

This next one is a picture of Mr F and Mr Bunches in front of the window on the 8th floor of the Dane County courthouse, where we'd gone to file some stuff late one day:

This is a duck. (But you probably would've guessed that.)

Mr F in a solemn moment, swimming in Lake Mendota at Picnic Point, a promontory that juts out into the lake on university grounds:

I call this picture "Yep!"

Lily pads and branches, Picnic Point:

This is the eerie sky one night during a lull in some terrible terrible thunderstorms:

One of the things I get sad about is that I love thunderstorms. But Mr Bunches is terrified of them, so when they come around he is too scared for me to take any pleasure in them anymore. Mostly during thunderstorms we have to drive around in the car, because Mr Bunches is scared the power will go out. (It went out 1 time, long ago, but he has never forgotten.) This night, we drove a bit but then when things got really bad there was flash flooding and other severe weather warnings, so we had to go back home and sit in the basement where I have my home office. Mr Bunches had a terrible night.

Summer pics, day 3

Reprint from wading in the river:

Mr Bunches, explorer:

They are America.

Sunset over the "Classic McDonald's" near the end of Mr. F's nightly ride route.

Elephant statue at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens

This is at the Veteran's Museum on Capitol Square. There is a working periscope in the room commemorating the various wars Wisconsin residents have fought in. Mr Bunches is looking through it:

... and this is the view of the Capitol you can see through that periscope:

This is a diorama of Wisconsin soldiers fighting in the Pacific in World War II.

Bald eagle at Veteran's Museum:

Close up of bust from Capitol:

More summer pictures

Continuing from yesterday. This is another shot of Lake Pepin from my trip up north:

It is hard to tell from this, but that is a bald eagle. I saw 6 or 7 of them flying around that day. That's only the second time I've seen a bald eagle in the wild.

This is the sunset over Lake Mendota, looking from Madison across the lake (roughly) towards my house on the other side (and up the hill from the lake a bit.)

Sometimes when Mr F needs calming down, I take him for long rides down to downtown Madison, and we drive back through the UW-Madison campus. One night, we drove down a little dead-end street among a variety of student housing, and found it ended in a cul de sac that looks over Lake Mendota. That's where I took this picture.

This is from a park about a quarter-mile walk from our house. We walked there one night to wade, and found they'd put in a beach to swim. It was early June and we had the entire beach, and seemingly the entire lake, to ourselves.

This is my grandson; on the 4th of July we watched him, and were going to go to the beach with him and the boys. It was rainy and cold, so we went to the McDonald's nearby for breakfast and playing. He was dancing in an apparent effort to impress a little girl that was just out of the frame.

One night, while building a Lego Angry Birds castle with Mr Bunches, Sweetie was upstairs reading, and I noted that Mr F had been very quiet over by the couch; he was on the floor in front of the couch and I couldn't see him. So told Mr Bunches to peek over and see what he was doing.

"Is he okay?" I asked.

"Yeah he's fine," Mr Bunches said.

Five minutes later when I got up to get a drink, I saw that "fine" means "taking all the stuffing out of a couch cushion."

And here is that castle:

We went wadin' in the river yesterday