North Dakota Surgar Beet Harvest 2016

 We saw this brain looking fruit at the closest grocery store in Fargo.  The sign says you don't eat it but that it will keep insects and spiders away.  Despite their green color, they’re oranges. Osage oranges.  Apparently you can eat them but only the seeds that are hard to extract.  And they rot quickly.  The insect repellent is a misnomer too.  So I guess what they are really for is to throw.

 The Sugar beet harvest job touts making $2400 in two weeks.  But, it's 12 hour days no day off.  The pile here is about 30 feet high.  By the end of this job there was 180K tons of sugar beets on the ground.  They are up to the size of a watermelon in size.  Muddy and sticky too.  I had to scrape the cement after every semi.  I threw away the shoes and pants I wore during the harvest.  Just not savable.   It's one of those jobs you hear about and give it a try then promise you'll never do that again.  Yep.

This picture was taken just before the beginning of the harvest.  I got a fun try at operating the piler  but my main assignment was ground helper.  Non stop semi's pulled into the left and right hand side to dump their load fresh right out of the farmers field.  Quite an operation.  This site is just one of many sites in North Dakota and Minnesota.  The harvest started October 1st.  We completed the harvest by October 21st.  There were some days off due to the temperature being too high.  So we worked in the cold.

Very pretty sunsets every night in North Dakota.  Oh, and wind.  Lot's of wind.

HAYWARD, WIS KOA 2016

 A pretty decent sized snapping turtle took a stroll

through the South end of the Park one afternoon.  The

legs were as thick as my wrist.  

 Wrestling sized frog in the pool today.  Kind of a 

challenge to catch as the pool is 75,000 gallons.

 I'm officially old now.  Half way to 134.

 After many inches of rain a local creek over flowed

it's bank and washed over the main street through Hayward.

 Giant bbq with giant briskets on it.  And no

I didn't get any.

20 miles from Hayward in the town of Trego is this fish cemetery.  

You can barely see the tops of crosses in the grass.  Come on,

you've always wanted to know.

SUMMER 2016

 Because.  If you have to ask you wouldn't understand.

 I grew up in San Diego.  There are no Sand Diego Chargers

ice cream sandwiches.  

 Where else but Green Bay, Wisconsin are the trash

cans in Packer colors.

 Us enjoying a "date" at a Mexican restaurant

in Green Bay.

 Friday night perch fry dinner.  A G.B. classic.

 Families of geese heading down to the Fox river

right where we were camping.  The young ones

were especially cute.

Fox River skyline across from our camping spot.

The "hallowed-halls" of Packer stadium.

SPRING 2016

 Our home

 You know you are in Arizona when the grocery store

stocks the latest issue of Cowboys-n-Indians.

 These tracks appeared one morning close to the entrance

of Distant Drums RV Resort, Camp Verde, AZ and is

purported to belong to a Puma.

 Native's just prior to joining in the Ghost Dance.

 We visited these Emu's in someone's back yard.  We had

a follower the whole time were were there.

 Old guys rule!  This belonged to a retired couple who were part

of a deaf rv association.  His wife uses a step ladder to get in it.

 I always thought pepper trees looked different.

 We started off with one thistle bag.  Then had to get a second.

THEN it turned out all the sparrows and finches were eating over $8 a week.

Plus we had to add a hummingbird feeder. We enjoyed every minute of it.

 After leaving Arizona on our way to Green Bay, Wis we stayed at this

rv camp ground where I got this picture of a very unusual religious figure.  

Those are horns all around the edge.

 What's a Jackalope and Pheasant combined called?

Jackphealope, Jacksantlope or just plain messed up?

 Here's a 1963 beauty on displayed at Fish-n-Fry campground

in Deadwood, SD.  Wings are cool.

 Adult geese taking the young-un's on a stroll through

Brown County Fair Grounds in De Pere, Wi.  That's

the Fox river in the background.

 These are RED hotdogs.  RED???  Did I say red?

I was very entertained at Festival grocery store in Green Bay, Wi.

Several inch think T-bones.  Oh My!  You can also see the beginning

of a mountain of Prime Rib slices on the right.  

Museum of the Rockies, Billings, Mt.

 We took our grandson to the Museum of the Rockies at Montana 

State University in Billings, Montana.  Can you guess what

they are known for?

 We saw such a wide variety of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaurs 

that I never knew existed.  I always thought there was just one kind.....  tri-ceratops.

 It's a probably a good thing that homo-sapiens came way after

dinosaurs.  We would have lost if you know what I mean.

 Now, THAT's a box of chocolates!

We also visited the American Computer & Robotics museum.  Did anyone else

out there need to have their own Robbie the Robot suit as a kid?

Summer 2015 at Winchester Lake State Park, Idaho

 About 340 people live in Winchester, Idaho.  It got its name in 1900 during a

 town meeting when a stack of Winchester rifles were observed by the door.  

This giant Winchester rifle spans the entire street.

 You drive over this upon entering the park.  I had to ask what 

guberif was all about.  You read it backwards.

 I love catching better that fishing.  They were delicious.

These are about 14 inchers I got right off one of the docks.

 A nice lazy afternoon.  I did find out that this 

spot is where all the little tiny fish are.  

 "Harry Potters" Snowy Owl is the coolest.

 We had a fledgling Bald Eagle by our lake for a couple of weeks.

This is about as close at Cathy could get before the eagle began "talking".

Did you know that they don't get their distinctive white heads till they are 5 yrs old?

 One of the many benefits of camp hosting is being

able to observe local wild life.

 Here Don (left) and Stuart are preparing the campgrounds 

float for the towns 4th of July parade.

Here's Cathy viewing Winchester Lake.  Great place for PMA (positive mental attitude).

Le May - America's Car Museum. June 2015

 Located in Tacoma, Washington this museum 

houses over 350 vehicles spanning over 100 years.

If you love classic cars make this a must stop.

 I love classic cars.  And thanks to those who keep these beauties.

 The art of the hood ornament being a distinctive styling

 element is soooo lost on today's car manufacturers.

 Very striking paint.  I recommend going and seeing it for yourself.

 I was lucky enough to own a XKE coupe back in the 70's.  Yellow too.

It was sold for $2000, haha!  Oh well what are you going to do.

My first car was a baby blue '57 much like this one.

Good times.  Who doesn't remember their first?