Exploring a Nearby Park with my Sister

A week ago last Wednesday, I took my sister out for a short adventure at Oak Park and Fern Island in downtown Wausau, Wisconsin.

If you’ve never been there, it is worth the short trip. Easy to find and an easy walk out to the island, with trails to explore.

 

 Sisters forever! 

Two in One Museum – annual camping in the UP, Blog Post #2

Over the years, we’ve stopped at this place in Iron Mountain, walked around the grounds, and debated taking a tour. We always had Dino, the Wonder Dog, with us, and though we’d left him in the truck at other places, there was no shade to park in and a cloudless sky above. This year, as sad as it was not having our recently departed companion with us, we paid for our tickets and went on in.

The Cornish Pumping Engine and Mining Museum and The World War II Glider and Military Museum are in two buildings next to each other and display a large number of artifacts and a lot of history.

 

The Cornish Pumping Engine is the largest standing steam-driven pumping engine ever built in the United States and one of the largest pumping engines in the world.

It removed the water from Iron Mountain's Chapin Mine, which was one of the wettest mines ever worked, and the largest producer of iron ore on the Menominee Iron Range.

The next room holds the Mining Museum.

A collection of mining artifacts, which were interesting, but I didn’t feel I had to learn anything about them. 

In the next building was the World War II Glider, which was beyond amazing when you think about it.

A regular plane would fly with the glider in tow, then release it when getting close to their destination, which was often behind enemy lines. The glider pilot would land the glider where he could, delivering troop, weapons and other supplies to their allies.

Lightweight and engineless, the gliders could fly into enemy controlled areas without detection. Most of the gliders were made of plywood covered with fabric, weighing less than 4,000 pounds but able to carry up to twice that much in cargo. They were built for one-way missions and actually many of them were destroyed during landing as the glider pilots only had so much control without an engine.

It all sounds incredibly dangerous to me. 

There were also displays of military history, but I kinda skimmed over those, falling for the antique cars instead.

Wouldn’t you love taking a cross-country road trip in this beauty? 

For more information click on the following links: 

Cornish Pumping Engine and Mining Museum

World War II Glider and Military Museum

World War II: On a Wing and a Prayer: The Use of Military Glider Aircraft

The Flying Coffins of World War II

The Deer

     Then God said, “Let the earth be filled with animals, each producing more of its own kind. Let there be tame animals and small crawling animals and wild animals, and let each produce more of its kind.” And it happened. (Genesis 1:24, New Century Version)

For several weeks, I’d been seeing a doe coming through my yard nearly daily and it was obvious that she was nursing. I was getting anxious for her to bring out her fawn, hoping that the little one was okay.

Friday, I saw the doe coming out of our woods and could see movement behind her. I ran to grab my camera, and when I got back to the window, she had moved on. But there on the edge of the woods, where she had just been, was not one, but two adorable fawns.

They stood for moment, wondering what this open area was all about, but quickly turned to follow Mama down along our driveway.

Pictures, of course, don’t do them justice. I just hope they grow strong and wise and have long, safe lives. 

But this reminds me that God made these creatures. And He made them when He made the earth and us and everything else that is on it. There was no evolution; humans and whitetail deer didn’t somehow come from some creature that crawled out of the sea and evolved and grew lungs and hair.

Nope, every species of animal, as well as plant, was created by our God, the Creator.

And by the way, there are about 25 verses in the Bible which refer to deer. I know you’ve all heard Psalm 42:1 (come on, you know you’ve heard it, don’t go looking it up), but here’s just one of the other verses.

     He makes me like a deer that does not stumble; he helps me stand on the steep mountains. (2 Samuel 22:34, New Century Version)

Just a Little Project

I had planned on sharing more about last week’s camping trip, but decided to show off my latest (and only recent) project. I’ve been so lazy since the end of May, that I really am proud of myself for finishing this.

We bought this guy at Menards on sale, probably nine years ago. Adorable, right?

He’d been starting to fade and show his age. And then last fall we didn’t get around to storing him in the garage over the winter. Whatever plaster he is made of does not apparently like the snow. 

Yikes! I feel like I could be arrested for cruelty to lawn ornaments just showing these pictures.

We brought him in the garage, and I started with two coats of primer.

Then lots of coats of lots of different colored paint.

And finally two coats of a gloss spray finish.

I hope he makes it another nine years. 

I’m not much of an artist, but I think I got him back to looking adorable. 

A Few Pictures and Some Whining – annual camping in the UP, Blog Post #1

Finally, finally, finally. After months of sitting home, nursing my back, and cancelling plans, last week Hubby and I finally went camping. To one of our favorite spots – Bewabic State Park just over the border in the UP. 

Of course, I should have realized it wasn’t going to be the best vacation when this stupid bird wouldn’t even let us pull out of the yard! I did mostly complain the whole time and Hubby had to deal with me, until we finally decided to go home a day early.

But really, it was still good to get out of town. And even though we sat around the campsite more than we usually did, I managed to take some pictures of wildlife.

A doe and a fawn.

Another deer. 

A deer in our trailer’s back yard. As if I never see any deer at home

.Or turkeys and their babies.

And a stupid seagull.

The rainy, cool weather we had didn’t help at all.

But it was still okay. And we’ll go again and it will be better next time.

Rejoicing

     We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5:3-5, New Living Translation)

We can also rejoice because thorn bushes have roses (and sometimes flies).

I had a different message written for today, but when I got up in the night (except I only got up twice instead of three or four times like I’ve been doing for three and half months), the pain in my back was hardly noticeable and the stiffness was tolerable. It took mere seconds to sit up in bed instead of the long minutes it has taken since April.

And I’d had a rough week too. We’d been camping and I thought I could do it, but the pain and stiffness were such that we came home a day early. It just wasn’t any fun; I was disappointed beyond words.

Yet here I am, this morning, rejoicing. I hope that this back issue of mine has reached another plateau, but I know it's not healed yet. Now, the key is to take it easy and not overdo it. There will be other setbacks, I’m sure, mornings when I can’t get out of bed or bend over or get comfortable, but I’ll keep moving forward.

Thank you to all of you for your many prayers as I’ve fought through this.

     And thank You, God, for answering those prayers. I’m sorry for my impatience and for those moments of anger when I felt You had left me. Please, Lord, stay by my side until my back is as good as its going to get, and if it’s never going to be 100% again, let me accept that outcome with serenity. Amen