Big Cedar & Dogwood Canyon

Violet and Evie feeding the fish at the Glory Hole!

Elvis! the big buffalo daddy!

One of the many elk at Dogwood Canyon. This isn't even the biggest elk.

Violet!

Evie and Fiona!

Family picture after the Elf visited the kids!

Evie and Fiona loved the rice krispy treat that the elf brought.

The kids loved the little racoon.

This trip to Big Cedar was so nice. I love this place. You do not have to leave the property to have fun, entertainment or delicious food. We went to Dogwood Canyon, which is about 20 miles from Big Cedar. I would imagine the canyon would be even more beautiful when the dogwoods and redbud trees are in bloom. It was still lovely. The highlight is the tram ride to the mountian tops where the elk, buffalo and long horn steer live. The driver feeds the animals right outside the tram ride. The kids touched the elk's antlers.

We went to Silver Dollar City for a short visit. Ron and I couldn't enjoy the visit because we both are having knee problems. Saturday night, we had a fantistic dinner, followed by a horse drawn wagon ride to see the Big Cedar lights. Then we all put on our Christmas PJs and had a visit from one of Santa's Elves! The Elf brought the kids a stocking with a cute racoon toy, candy and read the kids a story. That would be my highlight of the day! This was our Thanksgiving trip, and it made me thankful for simple pleasures experienced with our kids and grandkids!

Veronika petting the elk!

Evie touching the antlers!

Evie, Fiona, Tucker, Veronika, Wyatt, Jackson, Phoenix and Violet!

The kids are so precious!

More on my Knee

I guess the good news is that Ron didn't have a torn minicus. He just has arthritis. He did get the Othrovis shot, and his knee is feeling better.
I had surgery Dec 5, a minucusectomy! It wasn't too bad. I didn't have a lot of pain from the surgery. Andrea, Kay, Paula and Amanda brought us dinner. That was a bright spot in the week. It's nice having people take care of you!
I slept the first day, read the second day, and returned to work the third day. My favorite day was the day spent reading and resting! It was a little like a vacation.
The doctor prescribed 6 physical therapy sessions. The first two were pretty easy. Today, the evil therapist made me bend my knee and straighten my knee! Ouch! My knee feels so swollen! But I have to admit, I would not be able to force the knee movements. I really do want have a functioning knee, so I will keep submitting myself to the torture.

Ouch! Journal of the Knees

October 30, 2011, almost all of the family was headed to Robinson Auditorium to watch, "Shrek"!
We were about to cross the street at Markham & Broadway, I turned her heard a SNAP! And felt some extreme pain in my knee. I tried to put weight on it and carry on to the show. Amanda went back to the van and drove me to the door. I hobbled inside and asked the security people at the door if they had a wheelchair. Thankfully, they did. They were so nice, brought the chair to me, pushed me to my seat.
Sherk was fantastic! I was so thankful to be able to see the show. If I kept my knee straight, the pain was manageable. Trying to walk was outrageously painful.
Ron had a ortho appointment schedule for Monday morning, so I went with him and asked them to see me too. Unfortunately, they couldn't schedule the MRI until Friday. I would suggest anyone that has a similar incident, to go to the emergency room!
At the appointment, Ron had a shot of cortisone to help with his knee pain caused by arthritis.
That evening, Ron and I went home to load up the tractor and the straw to take the kids on a hayride. I sat in the truck while he went to the barn to load up. After what seemed a long wait, Ron called and said, we are in trouble now. He had stepped off the tractor and heard a SNAP!
I called Josh and asked him to take my crutches out to the tractor for Ron. Ron refused to go to the emergency room. I think the shot numbed his pain. He later started hurting more, so went back and was scheduled for an MRI.
My MRI showed torn cartilage or meniscus, on both sides. The doctor recommended surgery to remove the torn tissue. I have been reluctant to have the surgery, even though it is scheduled for Dec 5.
Ron finds out Tuesday the results of his MRI.
I have done research on the surgery and talked to several people that have had similar situations. The consensus seems to be the surgery prevents problems later in life, and improves mobility. I can't actually bend my knee now. My knee hurts when I try to go to sleep. When I can walk without pain, I think I can handle this without the surgery. Then I go to bed and can't even kick the covers with my bad leg.
So it's surgery for me.

Update on Ron will follow on Tuesday!

Ron's Pond and Hunting Woods

Deer tracks and a butterfly

The view of the pond across from the entrance.

The pond will be pretty deep if it fills up to the dam.

Ron drove around the outer boundary of the hunting woods.This was a testament to his Toyota Tacoma. We went places a pickup truck should not go, and a place that an old lady should not have to go, it was a rough ride! We were bouncing along and all of a sudden I saw a white bushy plant covered in butterflies.
The land that was clear cut by the timber company was covered in this white weed, I believe it is a type of milkweed.  People travel all over to see Monarch Butterflies! The Monarch migrates to Mexico for the winter. The monarch butterflies that travel to migrate, will not be the same to return, their children's grandchildren will return in the Spring migration. I was very excited to witness this migration! And I now have a reason to visit the deer camp!

Colorado Springs and Denver Colorado

I love the trees in mountain areas, they are not like our evergreens!

We visited the Manitou Indian cliff dwellings.

The view is from the Pike's Peak Cog Railroad. The railroad takes you to Pike's Peak.

We think the view from the Pikes Peak Summit was beautiful. It was too cold and too cloudy to see anything. We ran outside took the picture and had to get back on the railroad.

I had altitude sickness, Ron couldn't breathe, we were both a little distressed.

The NARSA meetings in Denver were beneficial. And we were able to eat at Pappaduex Cajun Seafood

Restaurant twice. We had Alaskan Halibut both nights.

I would prefer a real vacation, but I am grateful to have a little bit of sightseeing when we go to business meetings.

Labor Day at Gaston's

We took the kids and grandkids to Gaston's for the Labor Day weekend. Paula took this picture of Poppa and the boys. This is one I will have printed for Ron. I just shows how relaxing and peaceful the weekend was. We ate, we fished, we hiked and played games. On Saturday, we went a little stir crazy because of too much relaxing, but it was a great weekend. Steve caught his limit of trout. The kids all caught or at least brought in a trout. We ate them, they are not delicious, but still fun to catch.

Tucker's trout

Steve's trout, Violet was so brave, she stayed by the river bank all day with her Daddy, and helped him fish.

                                           Violet helped me fish too!

                            Phoenix had so much fun walking down to the river bank all by himself!

This picture doesn't do justice to the huge hill that Jackson came racing down on his bike!

He has a need for SPEED!

                                          Fiona enjoying the hill, she went up the hill, down the hill!

                                                           Andrea and Violet hiking!

 Brad takes his cooking very serious! The steaks were delicious! The trout was good, but not as good at catfish, so maybe next time, we will catch and release.

                                                         Wyatt enjoyed his trip!

                      This is how we camp out! Lots of outdoor time, without the tent or cot to sleep on!

The Green Heron

For Memorial Day weekend, we traveled to Big Cedar. On our way to breakfast, I saw this bird. I did not know what kind of bird it was. I have a iBird Explorer App for my phone, and preceded to spend most of the weekend trying to decide what bird this was. I had to get a better look to see the colors, the flight pattern, and perhaps the "field markings". I am not an experienced birder, so I have a lot to learn about bird identifications.I didn't get a good look the first morning. I had this big plan, get up early in the morning, get my coffee and take a walk down to the pond to study the bird. Morning came, and I thought no, I will not go birding this morning, I will waiting until the next day. Luckily, we saw the bird again, late morning, and was able to see the feet. The third morning, late in the morning, I had my camera ready and was able to take pictures. From the pictures, I could get a better understanding of the bird, and determined it was a Green Heron!

I learned from this experience. First, I am not a very dedicated birder. Most birders spend a lot of time in the field, in often rugged conditions. I didn't even walk down to the lake, I drove by an extra time to look for him. Early morning and late afternoon are also better birding times. I am fine with the late afternoon, but not those mornings.
I will concentrate on attracking birds to my yard. That is so much easier than hiking through the woods!

I had to crop the picture to see the feet and actually see what the bird looked like!

I am going to try and start my "Life List", more on that later.

7 Grandkids and Counting

This is a picture from last spring. I have been blogging all day. It's too hot to work outside, so I have spent the day blogging, doing laundry and watching TV. Read on down for the last few months of actitvities! 

Graduations and Closings

Tucker graduated from SCDS Pre K

Jackson graduated from Kindergarten

Awana closing

Big Cedar

We went to Big Cedar outside of Branson for Memorial Day weekend. This may be favorite place to go! There are restaurants, several swimming pools, walking trails, beautiful gardens. There were some great fireworks on Sunday night. We went to Silver Dollar City for a few hours on Sunday. We mostly just let the kids swim and play!

                                          Jackson, Phoenix, Veronika, Violet & Tucker