Father's Day gift

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nextbook-7-Tablet-with-Google-Play/22127002

Son Scott, unbeknownst to him until he gets the bill, got me my Father's Day gift early!   A $72 (with tax) tablet computer.   I already had one, but it had flaws and was a year old, so desperately needed a newer better version.

Being quite frugal, I checked this one out -- generally quite well rated online and had all the features I missed in my old tablet--nicer touch response, camera, full Google Play store, USB, SD microchip and so on.  After day 1, I am fully functional with mail, facebook, browser, bookreader, and online newspapers all setup and readable.

Heck of a deal!  One of the best Father's day gifts in a while!

Margo to finish cancer treatment Monday!

Monday, June 10, Margo will finish her last of 25 radiation treatments that followed surgery and chemo for breast cancer that had spread to the lymph nodes. 

On the way out of the treatment center, she will ring the bell announcing to everyone in the waiting room that she is all done!

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN has been very good to her and she has made dozens of friends in the medical staff there and with other patients.  

After the last treatment, the following Monday, she has her blood access port removed from under the skin and then begins the resting period to get back her strength and stamina.  

Yesterday, she was in her greenhouse re-potting some house plants and in general thinking about getting back to her hobby of growing plants each spring, and getting some flower beds in shape and so on.  

Scott, between jobs at the ski hill last winter and a local bee keeper this summer has been available to take her to the radiation treatments and let me loaf up at the cabin in WI.   They are coming up to spend father's day with me this coming weekend, after entertaining her father who is visiting a few days this week.  

She may soon have to start getting the curlers out as her hair is an inch long now and soon the days of not having to bother with it will be over. 

I think we may see her in WI in time for the Polk County fair--which you only have until Tuesday to get your entries in.  We both have entries this year and plan on helping with the old school house on the fair grounds as usual.  Last year when we were there, she knew she had cancer and was worrying about starting treatment in August.  

Always style conscious, Russ and Margo in their Sunday-go-to-meeting duds

A 12-Tick 4-morel woods walk

Stalling on finishing off the latest book I am working on, 75th anniversary of the Sterling Old Settler's picnic--due June 30th at the picnic, I took a walk in the woods on the first partly sunny afternoon in a while.  

I wasn't looking for morels, but did find 4 more and a few that I left that were too old.  I bumped into my first real mosquito attack back in the deep wet woods and since I returned have found 12 ticks--the big ones--and expect more yet. 

The thorn apples are blooming wonderfully and have their own unique perfume.  The blackcherries and elderberries are full bloom too, and the wild geraniums add a violet contrast to the green ferns along my paths. 

Maiden hair fern 

Thorn apples all through the old cow pasture

Black cherries are all through the woods, some huge.

Thorn apple trees are the last to bloom; have tiny red apples loved by the birds, deer and bears and are the first to lose their leaves in the late summer.   They have long sharp thorns to keep cows from grazing them off. 

And by the time I got these pictures added here I found it was a 14 tick walk with hints of more yet. 

Sandhill Crane video

Click to see Sandhill Crane video

Fawny Business

A short video of one of two pairs of does and fawns gamboling below the cabin.
 click
Fawn Link

The Deet T's

"Shall I take the nice large Mayo Clinic plastic bag?" I thought to myself as I prepared to head out for the woods for another morel mushroom hunt.

"Too presumptious, and such a nice throw away bag, better save it for something special."  Digging out two of the thin plastic Wal-mart bags, I stuffed them in my pockets as if I had just forgotten them from a trip to town.

Half of today's morels

Other half found today

"You gotta sneak up on those morels--if you go to the woods too well prepared you are sure to get skunked" was the advice I got from Dad back when I first started the hunt.  

Well,  I tucked my pantlegs into the thick wool socks I thought I needed this morning when I woke to 45 degrees in the cabin.  Then tucked my tee-shirt and sweat shirt into my pants and sprayed the pant legs with DEET --the bug spray to discourage wood ticks from crawling all the way up my tucked in clothes to my neck.

Not sure if it is the DEET or maybe a bad mushroom, but lately I have been dreaming of ticks crawling all over me.  Sort of like when Uncle Alvin was hitting the bottle too much and got the DT's, I wonder if this might be the DEET T's?   When you come in from the woods and pick off  the big regular ticks and the tiny bear ticks, all in a life struggle to climb the precipitous belt overhang to the pinnacle of the hairline and suck enough blood to lay eggs, the rest of the day you are sure there are ticks crawling under your pants, into the underwear, up the leg and on the back of the neck or into the beard.   Most of the time it is a false alarm, but even after I go to bed, these virtual ticks annoy me.  There are just enough real ones so every imagined crawler has to be checked out. 
  
Made what will be my last foray into the woods looking for morels.  Got enough altogether to claim this as even better than last year, and they are starting to be somewhat over-the-hill; some already broken off; some with spots of decay; slugs here and there and ants starting to hole them.  

  Was rewarded by the most yet--80 nice sized ones!   Found about half in the same place I found the others and the other half in the south woods in deep prickly ash thickets.  Filled one bag with a couple pounds and left it as I crossed the road and struggled through the prickly ash to the dead elms back in this woods.  

Both sites were south slopes in the edge of the woods near elms that died in the past year or two.  They were thick on the ground both places, probaby areas no more than 20x20 feet.  

Filling the fragile Wal-mart bag scraping through the prickly ash, hands dripping blood from scratches (proof my blood thinning aspirin a day is working), I stopped to reconnoiter and noticed the bag felt lighter than it should.  

The prickly ash had snagged it and torn a hole, so I spent the next 10 minutes backtracking the trail of morels feeling like Hansel and Grettel, lost in the deep dark brushy woods where I had struggled over downed dead elm limbs, brush and tender but potent nettles.  

Satisfied that I had all the obvious ones and wanting to leave some for spore spread, I headed for the open trail I mow into the woods.  The old cow pasture is growing in with brush--so all the open areas are ringed with prickly ash for 15 feet to scratch your way through out.   Just as I got out, the walking stick broke--I alway pick up a small dead branch for a stick to help poke around the foliage looking for mushrooms and to stablize my stumbles through the woods with my new knee--which although it is pretty darn good, I didn't quite get it bending the full 90 yet, and I tumbled down into the briar patch.

  I managed to hold the morels high and they were saved, but getting up in the prickly ash and back walking took a few minutes.   Finally I just grabbed onto a prickly ash bush, thorns and all and pulled myself out.  

The old timers thought a little blood letting was good for health, so I am probably in pretty good shape for a few days now.  

Soaking the morels so the critters can extricate themselves and will then freeze them for the winter ahead. 

Margo celebrates her birthday on June 3rd!  After her radiation treatment on that day, and a trip to McDonalds where she will get anything she wants off the dollar menu, she will only have 5 more days of radiation.  Then a week of tests and the port out and it is all done.  The radiation has been reasonable, although she is tired and needs a month or two to rest up.  She isn't coming to the cabin right away, but headed to visit her relatives as well as a stay with a friend for a week.   For some reason, she thinks that if she comes up to the cabin I might put her to work right away.  Nothing farther from the truth! Just a little hoeing, a little wood piling, some house cleaning, and maybe painting is all I have in mind.  

Gotta quit now--darned ticks crawling all over me again.  

Us with Scott, probably a year or two ago. 

Local History Societies working together

Members of several local history societies got together to talk about doing things together this afternoon. 

After helping clean up and put away the museum setup, I headed home and mowed the cabin lawn.  Made a loop out in the woods trail and found another 30 morel mushrooms in the same place as I found the last ones.   I let these grow a little more and they are nice.  However, some ants and a few slugs were already chomping on them too.  One spot with 70 morels so far!

LeRoy Hedberg

Visitation for LeRoy G. Hedberg will be Friday, May 31st 5 - 8 pm at Rowe Funeral Home, Luck, WI
Celebration of Life on Saturday, June 1st at First Lutheran in Cushing, WI at 11 am

Roller Skating   by Marlys Hedberg

    My earliest memories of The Hall above the Cushing Coop Store (later Vern's Country Market) building in Cushing goes back to the year 1947.  I lived at Alpha with my parents, Ernie and Florence Johnson, and my younger sister Virginia.  My two older sisters, Mevina and Vilet had moved away from home and had married.

    I learned how to roller-skate and found it to be SO MUCH FUN!   Louie Marek had purchased a  large supply of clamp-on steel wheel roller-skates.  He wanted to provide good entertainment for area people.  One night a week in the summer, Louie loaded his skates into a small trailer and pulled it with his car to the Grantsburg Fairgrounds. 

    The Fairhouse was large with a smooth hardwood floor which it still has.  It was there that so many young people skated to the soothing music of a phonograph and records. 

    For some, it was their very first time on skates.   I was one of those people who learned to skate in the Fairhouse.  Many a time I skated into the wall!  Skaters always went counter clockwise--probably because most people were right-footed.  To turn, you crossed your right foot over the left. 

    Louie Marek was my neighbor.  He lived east of Alpha and then south a half mile on County Road M.  Louie was married to Bernice Sazma, daughter of John and Josephine Sazma, who once owned "The Coach" a diner and store made from an old railroad car in Cushing (where Stop-a-Sec is now).  They also owned the West Sweden dance hall at one time too. 

    Since I lived only and an eighth of a mile north of the Alpha store, I could walk down to the store on Skate-Night and catch a ride with Louie.  There were others who rode with him too.   I remember one night I got there too late and missed my ride.  What a miserable evening that was!  I missed a night of skating!.

    Louie also hauled his skating equipment to the West Sweden Dance Hall one night a week.  On those nights I walked or rode my bike to Louie's place to catch my ride.  I had a headlight on my bike to help me on the trip home.  My Dad was good to me and always gave me 40 cents for skating; 25 cents for admission and skate rental, and 15 cents for pop and candy bar.

    The Grantsburg Fairhouse proved months of good entertainment, but eventually the weather became too cold to skate in the unheated building.  It was then that Louie hauled his load of skates down to Cushing every Sunday night.  The Hall above the grocery store was the best place in Cushing to hold roller-skating.  Those who lived in and around Cushing looked forward to going to The Hall on Sunday nights. 

    There was a long stairway to The Hall on the south side of the building opening on the west end.  Boxes of skates had to be carried up that long flight of stairs along with the phonograph and stacks of records.  A young man from Grantsburg, LeRoy Hedberg, drove down from Grantsburg to help Louie unload and setup for skating.  All of the skates were the kind that clamped on to your own shoes.  LeRoy's job was to rent out the skates and help the skaters get their skates adjusted and clamped onto their shoe.  There was a leather strap that went across the instep and fastened on the other side.  A skate key was used to adjust the clamp to the width of the shoe.

    We skated to the good music for about three hours, I think from 7 to 10 pm.  Now that seems to me to be a bit late, with school the next day for many of us, but no one complained.  We must have slept fast!  Halfway through the evening was the intermission.  We could buy our candy bar and pop then, or climb down the stairs and use the outhouse.  Sometimes we left our skates on and got gravel in the bearings on the trip.   LeRoy would remove the nut on the skate wheel and either put on a new wheel or replace the roller bearings in the old one.  He remembers getting about one dollar for his help each skating night. 

    With all of that skating, I believe every speck of dust was pounded out of that wood floor.  I know it left a layer of dust on my hair, but that didn't stop me from going back the next time. 

    LeRoy was the policer of the group.  He wouldn't rent skates to someone who had imbibed.  He enforced the no-smoking rule.   Once a night the skaters were allowed to "crack the whip, " forming a big chain of skaters and whipping the end ones around. 

    Roller-skating in Cushing was a lot of fun.  Many friendships were made between Cushing skaters and those from other areas.  Some Cushing skaters I remember include Kenneth and Bev Hanson, Vergil and Bernice Brenizer.  Toby Baker was a good skater!

   Some friendships even led to dating and then to marriage.   It was that way for me.   It was Christmas night, 1947, that LeRoy first took me home after roller-skating in Cushing.  We dated for a year and a half and then we married on July 2, 1947.   It was good, clean fun.  

Marlys and LeRoy Hedberg

Rowe Funeral Home - Luck, Frederic LeRoy G. Hedberg (October 23, 1927 - May 27, 2013) LeRoy G. Hedberg, 85, resident of Cushing, WI, died Monday, May 27, 2013 at the Burnett Medical Center. He is survived by his wife, Marlys; 8 children, Rayna (Paul) Delaney, Romey (Rick) Nelson, Renell Pagel (special friend Tom Sjoquist), RoAnn (Ken) Goor, Ronald Hedberg, Rachel Hedberg, Robyn (James) Austin, Raylene (Steve) Swanson; 11 grandchildren, Eric Nelson, Matthew, Caryn and Beth Chalstrom, Timothy and Travis Goor, David Hedberg, Zachary Hedberg, Carter Austin, Tony Soderquist, Ashley Swanson; 4 great-grandchildren, Anthony Singleton, Tyler and Tyson Goor, Nash Chalstrom; sister, Gwen Olson; brothers, Hartley (Alice) Hedberg, Ray (Barbara) Hedberg, Charles (Sally) Hedberg; many step-grand and great-grandchildren. A Celebration of Life will be held at First Lutheran Church in Cushing, WI on Saturday, June 1 at 11:00 a.m.  Visitation will be held at the Rowe Funeral Home in Luck on Friday, May 31 from 5 to 8 p.m. Online condolences may be left at  www.rowefh.com  or www.wicremationcenter.com.  Please refer to these websites for updated information or call Bruce Rowe at 715-472-2444 or 715-825-5550. Rowe Funeral Home of Luck and the Northwest Wisconsin Cremation Center in Milltown have been entrusted with funeral arrangements.

Memorial Day at Wolf Creek on the St Croix River

40 Morel Mushrooms

Last Wednesday, morels were just nubbins. 

Last Wednesday I found a few small morel mushrooms in the woods at the base of a few small dead elms. They were too small to pick, so I have been letting them grow a little.

Margo, feeling pretty good with only 2 weeks of radiation before she is all done with cancer treatment drove up to the cabin for the 3-day weekend.  After being  beaten down, tired and pretty quiet for most of the past year, she is getting back to being sassy and independent again.   

I figured maybe this afternoon some of the morels might be big enough to pick to have a few with scrambled eggs for breakfast and a few to share with Mom (who loves them too), but most should wait another few days or even a week.  

Well, we headed back to the spot where I had found them and warning Margo to step carefully as there were many small ones around, and insisting she only pick the "big" ones, she began to pick them while I wandered off to another dead elm patch to look.  

Margo picks small morels even though I told her to leave them for me to pick next week. 

When I got back, she had picked 40--including the itsy bitsy ones too!     But, I suppose as she is only here for the weekend, she wanted to get her share.  Maybe a bought with cancer makes a person have the short term outlook.

  We looked all around the rest of the 50 acres of woods, and the only ones we found were that one group.   Usually we find at least a few different spots.   Lots of prickly ash to wade through; lots of wood ticks, but a fun couple of hours searching the woods.  

 The wild apples are blooming prolifically this year.  I counted 10 different apple trees spread here and there through the 50 acres.  These are not thorn apples, but actual big apples (at least some of them) seeded by the birds or deer and growing here and there in the woods.  

Last year, being out of commission with Myasthenia Gravis, I didn't spray the tame apples in the orchard, and they were extremely wormy.  I managed to get all the apples I wanted in the fall from a few of these wild trees.   Scattered in the woods, away from the established orchards, some manage to be wormfree.   

They grow tall, above the reach of the deer.  If the blooms are an indicator, both our orchard and the wild trees will have apples this year. 

 Had brunch with Mom and Everett this morning.  Everett spilled his water which led us to a cleaning binge.   Mom, at 91.5 is having vision problems and achy joints and so on and is not as able to keep up with things, so Margo, Ev and I did a little helping out.  Then we tilled the garden --peas, lettuce, spinach and radishes are up and started.  Got the lawn mowed on Thursday and did some more work on the new flower beds in front of the house.  

We put two potted tomatoes on stands near the mail box where Mom can pick them as she gets her mail each day.  The mail carrier comes into the yard and makes the loop with the mailbox near the sidewalk end, so Mom doesn't need to walk down the driveway--quite dangerous in the winter.  A cherry tomato and a yellow one already blooming in big pots at chest level.  

Mom found out that her already poor vision in one eye was even worse with glaucoma taking its toll.  She has another appointment with the eye specialist this week.  One eye is still OK, and the doctor wants to make sure it doesn't get bad too.    Getting to be older has its problems.   However, Mom is still pretty sharp and was commenting that Tiger Woods has a new girl friend.  He is her favorite on Sunday afternoon TV golf.