Kurt takes off!

Just dropped Kurt off at church where he joined up with the other members of the Mission Mazahua team and headed for O'Hare. (He is second from the left in the back row.) Please keep him in your thoughts for the next eight days. For a look at where he is going to be and what it is all about click on http://home.woh.rr.com/mazahua/mazahua.html. We are on our way to Lake Tom. today. Happy New Year!

December 22

Just finished reading an interesting and very entertaining book, The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. The author, a self described agnostic Jew, decides to spend one year obeying the Bible as literally as possible.

From the book jacket: The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes.

I know everyone is going to be cheering for the Packers tomorrow right? And also for Carolina! Retailers in Wisconsin can't keep Favre merchandise on the shelves for Christmas - reports are that Favre jerseys and the new sideline hat are going for ridiculously high prices on ebay. You can read about it at http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/12587236.html

The northwoods is expecting 5-8 inches of snow tomorrow. Looks like we'll have no trouble doing some cross country skiing during Christmas break! I'm anxious to get up to the lake and see if the Pileated Woodpecker is still coming to the deck for suet.

Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 15

Kurt had a JV wrestling tournament today. I guess about 8 or 10 teams competed. He wrestled at 135 and earned a silver medal. He had two pins and then a loss in the third round.

This is him (on the top!) just before he pinned his second match.

Tammy was up before the birds today to take part in the Christmas Bird Count. She and three other members of the Enderis Park Bird Watching Club, Joe and Nola Devereaux and Julie Ristow, met at Jacobus Park and counted, then went over to Hart Park and counted. Because it was snowing like crazy the birds we could actually see were few and far between but we had fun walking through the parks looking and especially enjoyed the coffee break at the One Way Cafe in the village. The biggest surprise was a group of five robins at Jacobus. Also on our list were mallards, mourning doves, downy woodpecker, red-breasted nuthatch, chickadee, house sparrows, and a gull. Joe had some better luck later in the day in another location where he spotted ten cardinals and cedar waxwings and a bunch of robins all hanging out together. The Christmas Bird count runs through January 5th. For more information go to http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/. For a full report on the EPBWC results visit the web site at http://www.epbwc.com/Pages/EPBWC_CBC_Page_2007.html

Bill was in the stands for the duration of Kurt's tournament today. In addition to snowblowing, shoveling and making dinner, he started a new batch of home brew - a dortmunder - should be ready to drink by Groundhogs Day!

Tomorrow is Packer Sunday - the Devereaux's will be joining us for the game and a half-time meal. GO PACK GO!