The Lighthouse

There was a time when I really, really, really wanted to go inside a lighthouse. I thought they were the greatest thing ever. There was just one problem, I was living in the desert. Then I moved to a landlocked state. I occasionally saw one from the outside if I went to the right beach and up at the great lakes. I finally got to go inside of one. It was a fun day.

Here is the view from my trolley car ride to get there.



Here is the front of the lighthouse.


Here is the light. It is no longer used and is not even inside of the lighthouse tower anymore. Good thing, because there were 7 of us in there and the light would have made that impossible.


They are still working on some restorations. The lighthouse was built in 1890 so most of the rooms were restored to that time.





The lightkeeper's daughter was still alive when renovations started so her room was made as she remembered it including electricity.


Anyway, it was a pretty fun day.

The Donut Brigade

Every morning, at donut stores across America, little groups of old men gather. They eat donuts; drink coffee or milk; and ramble about their past, present, and grandkid's future to anyone that will listen. I first found out about these guys as a kid when my Grandpa joined them. As an older kid I figured out that just about every donut store has a group. The one by my work is full of guys with antique cars.



I buy donuts about once a week. Enough that the lady behind the counter knows to get me chocolate milk while I decide between plain cake donuts and an apple fritter. While I wait in line I listen in as the local group talks about their past, their cars, their wives, and my favorite topic their grandkids. I can't help but smile as I am reminded of my Grandpa and the stories that he shared with his own group of donut buddies.

Another Frog Story!

So, a long time ago (about 7 1/2 years) I spent the summer at Camp Birchtrail in Minong, Wi. There are many great Birchtrail stories, but tonight you get the frog one as I was reminded of it at work today.

One night at camp we had the most amazing thunder storm ever. It poured buckets of rain and there was very little time all night that you could not hear thunder. Even better was the lightening which literally lit up the sky all night. Well hearing that much rain on a tin roof is amazing unless you need to go to the bathroom. E was 11 I think. She really needed to go, but the bathroom was a bit of a walk and she was both scared and wanting to stay dry (from the rain). We tried to talk her into using the bushes right behind the cabin but she refused and eventually had to go so bad that she ran to the bathroom without shoes as there was not enough time to put them on.

E screamed on the way back and we thought that maybe she fell in the mud, but she came in the cabin door a few seconds later shaking. She explained that she stepped on something gross on the way back. She couldn't tell what it was, but it felt slimey and gross. We thought little of it, helped her clean the mud off and finally got her to go back to bed.

In the morning, just a few feet from the cabin door we found the "something gross." E had stepped on a frog. The even grosser part was what we learned that morning about frogs, you see when a frog gets squished it's guts come out it's mouth and stay there as it is now dead. E threw up on her frog, knowing that she stepped on that pile of grossness was just too much.

Yesterday while discussing my roomie frog with a coworker the story of E came up. The really weird part was that coworker finding a similarly squished frog in the parking lot. So now all you readers can avoid using your imagination and just look at the photo below to see what a squished frog looks like. Don't barf on your keyboard :D

Well, I didn't think that would ever happen!

So... do you remember 2 entries ago I told you about my new visitor?
Well this morning he decided to move in. He must have liked the warm damp weather in my bathroom a little better than the cold damp flowerbed outside the door.


I was surprisingly calm. For a girl who still gets a little crazy over spiders and crickets a frog could have caused a very serious reaction. I thought quickly and ran to the kitchen for a glass. He was already in a corner, so capturing him was kind of easy.



Then the tricky part. This works for crickets by putting a piece of paper under the cup, but frogs weigh more than crickets so I found a postcard and carefully slid that under. He was a little scared of Yosemite, but then again for someone so small the view from half dome would be frightening.


Then I put a tupperware lid under that, no sense chancing an escape.




My little friend was taken to the other side of the building across the parkinglot and released by the river. I don't want him too close now that he thinks I am looking for a roommate. (He's jumping behind the tall green leaf in this one.)


When my neighbor started smirking at the turbie twist on my head. I told him that when there's a frog in your house you don't have time to dry your hair before you play catch and release.

MMMMMMMMMM cookies!

When I went to Utah in October my friend gave me maple cookies. I don't think that I had ever had them before, but I love them. She gave me the recipe a few days ago, and now sitting on my cooling rack are the first batch that I have made. Hers were better, but then again I didn't use the right grade of syrup since I had some here and pay day isn't 'till next week. Anyway, they are yummy! Go make some, I am willing to share the recipe if you're curious.

New Visitor

There are always lizards running around outside my home. They are hardly even interesting or noticeable anymore. I got a new visitor last night. He's a little cuter than a lizard and hard to photograph since he kept hopping away, this was the best I could get, the rest were all blurry.

Awesome Weekend

Well, that was a fun and different type of weekend. My aunt and Grandma came to visit and spent 2 nights here. They have never stayed with me before and it was a lot of fun. My grandma brought me apple crisp which was really really yummy. We visited a few local places and saw some marine life. Pretty much just ordinary stuff, nothing even cost money, but it was tons of fun just being with them.

We did a short little nature walk and saw butterflys and people.

We saw seals both in the water and on the beach.

Then we stopped along the side of the road when we saw dolphins, look close there is one fin in the shot below, tiny and just to the right of the rocks.

They left this morning and I went on 2 more adventures. First I saw the weinermobile, then back to the beach where one pelican wanted to be the star of everyone's show.

It's funny how I don't think that it was an exciting weekend, just normal except for Grandma and my aunt, then I start thinking, typing, and looking at pictures and realize that I did a lot...

AND IT WAS ALL AWESOME!!!