Seahawks Post Game Party

All five sisters were present for the Seahawks game today. We enjoyed the game, and even more, the company. The only Erskine in the photo is Lief.

Believe me, you did not want to hear the roar during the game, with the TV audio turned up to 78, a grand nephew playing the piano, two grand-daughters, three nieces and a great-niece playing video games, and five sisters all talking at the same time. It was actually OK; we didn't need to hear the play by play anyway.

The Seahawks won again: 20-6

Winter Bike/Trike Ride

Riding a bike in the winter time requires some extra equipment, for staying warm and dry. Notice the hand warmers on the handlebars. Notice the black head covering under the helmet. Notice the wind and rain proof jacket. Then notice the yellow fiberglass fairing in the lower right corner that completely encloses me, so I don't need any of the above.

Seahawk Fans

The whole family is ready for the Seahawk game tomorrow. Everybody is wearing a #12 in this photo.

Yard Cleanup

BEFORE

The landscaping came last week and cleaned up Dad's yard in only one day. You can see here in the "before" photos, taken last May, the Lilac bushes were so huge you can't see the house from the street. The Apple tree and the Juniper bush consumed nearly the entire front yard.

AFTER

Now you can see the entire front of the house, from multiple places on the street. The lilac bushes and Rhododendrons are still rather large and will look beautiful in the Spring. The Apple tree and Juniper bush are both gone.

They took away the gigantic brush pile in the back too, from the four trees we cut down. They even cleaned up the raspberry patch.

Potato Fudge

Monya made some fudge using mashed potato, coconut oil, and sugar. It tastes just like real fudge and there's no dairy in it. Finally I can eat something that everybody else can eat and enjoy too.

Dad's Last Photos

May 4, 6:15 PM
Broken Bow, Nebraska
Barb (Zierlein) and Dahl Jungren, and Rich, family of Everett Zierlein in Broken Bow Nebraska, along with the Webers from Arnold.

Barb, maybe you can describe who is who here.

Monday, May 5, 6:28 PM
Cody Wyoming: family of Leonard Zierlein.
Frank and Glenda (ZierLein) Willis, Uncle Leonard and Aunt Carol, Dad and Uncle Bob.

Monday, May 6, 12:56 AM
Cody Wyoming: more family of Leonard Zierlein.
Dad, Kim, baby Toby, Auggie, Louis, Aunt Carol, Uncle Bob, Uncle Leonard

Obviously, Dad's camera clock is about six hours off. The first two photos were taken near noon, judging by the angle of the Sun, so the third was probably taken sometime around 6:00 PM.

UPDATE: The third photo was taken at about 8:30 PM on May 5.

Beaver Relocated

For the past several years I have seen signs of beaver along the Cedar River. Last winter he started really attacking some gigantic Cottonwood trees, cutting one down altogether, and killing three or four more by girdling them (chewing off all the bark, all the way around. Today I walked over to see how he was doing and discovered that the Parks Department has cut down the dead trees and put wire mesh around the remaining trees to stop the chewing. I also heard a rumor that they had trapped 9 beavers, or trapped one beaver 9 times, and relocated him upstream. Maybe this is the last we'll see of the beaver for a while.

Here in this first photo you can see three stumps, all that remains of three awesome Cottonwood trees.

This second photo shows the freshly chewed wood over the top of the dark brown older chewing marks. The whole trunk is now surrounded by 1/4 inch wire mesh.

This third photo shows the tree the beaver successfully cut down and then stripped of all of its bark. Notice that the beaver only had to chew away the outer layer of wood since the Cottonwood's heartwood was already rotten and was unable to support the weight of the tree.

This last photo shows a close up of the teeth marks on the log that had been laying in the river. You may have to download the full size photo and zoom in to see the teeth marks.