Insanity

 It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This, in a nutshell, describes my deer hunting season. Day, after day, after day, I set my alarm for 5:45 and go to bed. But I do not really need the alarm, my body is like a finetuned watch. Sadly, it is not tuned like a Rolex, it is like a 1970's Mickey MouseTimex that has been dropped in the water. Instead of my alarm going off at 5:45, my internal alarm clock goes off at 3:45! I kid you not, 5 out of 7 days a week I wake up within 5 minutes of 3:45, the other two days, if I am lucky, it will be after 5am, but never does my phone alarm actually go off. 

I then sit on the couch, have my caffeine and watch the news as my body wakes up. A half hour or so before sunrise, I walk to my blind sit down and watch the sunrise. Day, after day, after day, after day. Oh, I am not complaining, it is a great way to spend the morning. Okay, maybe I am complaining a little bit as we did have two days where the highs were in the teens. 

Did I see deer? I see deer every day. Did I see bucks? I see bucks every day. Did I shoot a deer? No. With two weeks left in the season, I have come to the conclusion that I probably will not get a deer this season. 

Then came Thursday and our world stopped with a phone call. Our niece Alana, who I have talked about many times had a medical emergency. We dropped everything to rush to Rapid and be with her and Ryan. Alana's sister Tess drove up from Denver, her mom and dad flew in from Minneapolis, and her brother flew in from Paris. 

She is not out of the woods yet, but we are seeing positive signs. It has been almost a week, and it will likely be another week before she can go home, but we are hopeful.  We went to their house and picked up their dogs who will be spending a few days with us. 

And just like that, we went from a 2-dog household to a 4-dog household! Let the chaos begin! Feeding times are the worst, Loki is three years old(ish), but a lab, and they take several years to settle down. Most of the time he is fine and just lays around, but other times the pup in him comes out and the chaos begins. 

Loki thinks he is a lap dog which is often sweet, sometimes annoying. How many pups do you see in this picture?

Barb is reading her iPad, but the dogs want some attention, and Loki gives her a big kiss!

So, just for you Harry, here is a video of the dogs playing. Those little ones have jaws of steel!

Dakota just hangs out, not wanting anything to do with either of the other dogs. She has been having a hard time getting around, as her hips are super weak. We give her injections which seems to help. Her mind is happy, you can see it in her eyes, ears and actions when we go for walks, but the struggle is real for her. 

Life is weird, the world can totally stop for one person, or family, as the rest of the world goes on like it is just a normal day. I know all of you have experienced it, some of us more times than we like to recall. Each time, I just find it surreal; as you watch others going about laughing, working, living life as though nothing has happened at all while you walk around in a stupor barely able to function. But even for us, life goes on and we feel guilty for it. I still work on the garage, Barb still works on the camper, we still watch football. We go up there every other or every few days to visit, but in a nutshell, life really sucks sometimes. 

Speaking of the garage, I am still working on the OSB in the workshop. I borrowed Kevin's sheetrock lift to do the ceiling. Talk about a back saver! I got the last piece up on the ceiling and should have the last of the wall pieces up in the next day or two. 

I have also been wiring the new fuel tank Bob and DeAnne brought down. I had it filled with 250 gallons of gas the other day, so I hope I get it going soon! (Update...I finished this project yesterday and it is all good to go!)

Barb has been trimming the edge of the flooring, tedious work. She struggled on what to do with the rounded corners and after many trial and errors she came up with this solution: a 45° piece sandwiched between two 22° pieces. 

The weather has been a roller roaster, from snow and single digits to mid 50's in just a few days. All of our snow is gone now, but just two days ago it looked like this. So beautiful. 

A couple of you asked for a picture of the Christmas tree after it was all decorated, so here it is. 

It does not look like this anymore, however. Saturday night, Barb and I were having a quiet evening on the couch watching a Hallmark movie, when all of a sudden there was a 15' tree laying on top of us. No warning, no one shouting "timber!". Just a tree on our heads. Barb was trapped under the tree. I was able to get out from under it and lift it off Barb. Water everywhere, broken bulbs everywhere, dogs everywhere barking and confused. I tried standing it up, but with the water, the stand just slid across the floor. Barb came over to help and stepped onto a broken bulb. We finally got it standing back up and started the cleanup. 

What happened? We don't know for sure, but Loki was back there when it happened, and we think he got tangled up in the lights. The dogs went back home two days later. With everyone staying at Ryan and Alana's house there is plenty of people there to take care of them now. 

That was our week, not a good one, but I write this blog as a journal of our life, so I write it as it is so years from now our kids, grandkids or even us, ourselves and look back and read about it and reflect.