Holy _hit - No Hit

Big excitement in Wisconsin last night. Most of it in our living room where I had to restrain JoAnne as Carlos Zambrano threw the final strike in his no hit bid in Milwaukee. When the relocated game (because of hurricane Ike in Huston) was announced Saturday afternoon the first thought was to get tickets and head east to "Brew Town". Unfortunately cooler heads prevailed and we missed the game of the year. On the brighter side, had we gone to the game, I probably would still be trying to pry Jo from the retractable roof in Miller Park. As a gesture of appreciation for her support Big Z stopped by the house for a photo-op with Jo.

Life beyond saffron

Although little Saffron is still the center of attention around here, there are a few other "Blogworthy" things going on. Sally, Uncas and puppy Sammy drove down from "The Cities" last Saturday to get a face to face with their new niece. It turned out to be quite a gathering at Saffron's place. Both Grandmas (Jo and Marlene), Grandpa Blume (me), Great Grandma Vi (the Rezabek Viola), Sally, Uncas, Sammy, Great Aunt Margit and Uncle Dale along with cousins Brad and Doug were all in attendance. Saffron performed all of her tricks for the audience. She ate, she slept, she smiled, she cried and pooped. That's pretty much all she has learned so far.
The non-Saffron part of the weekend involved a few other activities. There was the usual "Cubs win big" "Cubs lose one". There was the unusual "Bears Win". (An upset against the Colts no less) And, a little sightseeing adventure. No use talking about the Bears or Cubs, that's all on the sports pages (if you're even interested). The sightseeing part was really enjoyable. It's been a while since we have taken one of our "little" Sunday drives and there are few places in our area that we haven't visited. This weekend we found one new to us, The Kickapoo Valley Reserve. We've traveled along the Kickapoo River both on the road and by canoe (a separate long, but funny, story), we've bought apples from the Kickapoo Orchard and eaten at Kickapoo Corners Restaurant but, had not heard of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. The reserve of over 8,000 acres lies about 40 or so miles north of us just outside of LaFarge, Wisconsin. The Kickapoo River winds through the landscape (When I say winds I mean winds. The Kickapoo is said to be the crookedest river in the state. It travels 60 miles as the crow flies but is 160 miles long as the canoe floats). The area is crisscrossed with numerous trails for horseback and bicycle riding as well as hiking, cross country skiing and snowshoeing. We took a short hike through the woods to one of the numerous covered bridges on the reserve. The hike provided Jo and I with some much needed exercise and a lot of photo opportunities. It's been a while since I've taken many flower pics so it was really enjoyable. I'll post a few of the pictures here and if I ever figure out how to share my PhotoshopExpress albums with you, there will be more than enough to send you to dreamland.

One of the few straight stretches of the "Mighty Kickapoo".

Even the weeds look good on a beautiful summer afternoon.

The bugs seem to enjoy the flowers as well.

Grass going to seed is a lovely sight, as long as it's not in your lawn.

The "Belle of the Bridge".
It never hurts to bring some beauty along on a hike.

A Little Saffron Spices things up

In the past my only experience with saffron was either as a spice that made rice dishes yellow or as a part of the 60's song, "Mellow Yellow". The arrival of Derek and Jeanna's little girl sure gave a new meaning to the word. It's become a synonym of, cute, sweet, cuddly, and lovable. It's no wonder that babies take quite a while to learn to speak because the earliest part of their existence they don't hear much more than ohs and ahs from anyone they are introduced to. Last Monday she arrived at her new home with Mom and Dad. On Tuesday she got to meet her Sister and Brother (the puppies Tina and Snoopy). Snoopy gave her a once-over and tried to act indifferent. After all he was being replaced as the baby in the family. Tina was much more interested. She wanted close looks and smells. I think that she will be the ever alert, protective big sister. She howls in sympathy when Saffron cries and barks to alert mom and dad that little sis needs attention. This weekend, Aunt Sally and Uncle Uncas along with Sammy will drive down from the Twin Cities to meet Saffron. (Doesn't Uncle Uncas have a nice ring to it?) I tried to get some photos of the first meeting of Saffron, Tina and Snoopy but the results were kind of disappointing. Here are a few of the ones that I doctored up in Photoshop. I'm just not very good at shooting living things. Guess I should stick to flowers and barns. I'll try one more time when we visit her tomorrow. I'm sure that Jo and Sally will take a large number of pics that will appear on their Picasa pages. I'll post the links to them.

Snoopy meets Saffron.

Tina makes sure that Saffron is properly passified.

Tina explains the house rules to Saffron.

Introducing Saffron Viola Blume

Here's the first of many pictures of the new Baby Blume.

You'll find some more on JoAnne's photo page -

http://picasaweb.google.com/joblume24/Day1SaffronViola

Proud Mom and Dad with little Saffron

Grandma and Grandpa take turns
introducing themselves to the newest family member.

She's Here!!!

Today we welcome a brand new member to our clan.
(This time it's not a Dachshund puppy)
At about 4am Saturday (August 30, 2008) Derek and Jeanna became Mom and Dad to Saffron Viola Blume. The vital statistics are: weight - 7lbs. 3ozs. height - 19 1/2 inches. I'm not sure about the motivation for naming her Saffron. I didn't think that Mom and Dad were old enough to relate to Donovan's song, "Mellow Yellow", from the 60's so I immediately ran to Wikipedia. This didn't help much but I did learn that Saffron is a spice derived from a Crocus flower and is the most expensive spice by weight. No doubt this little 7 pound 3 ounce bundle of Saffron is just as priceless to our entire family. The middle name, Viola, is quite understandable. Both JoAnne's and my Mother are named Viola. (How's that for a coincidence?) We all look forward to seeing how Prince Snoopy and Princess Tina welcome the newcomer to their realm. Seeing as how we just received the news a little over an hour ago, no pictures are available but be assured that there will be plenty coming in the near future. In the mean time...."Here's Saffron!"

Oh Yeah!!!

That's all I have to say after last night's "come from behind" Grand Slam.

Bark, Bark, Bark!

Wow! I haven't posted for a long time. But I do have all kinds of excuses. There's been a Baptism, the Lands' End Harris Park Sale, a couple of Cub's games, a surprise birthday party, an ongoing baby wait and most of all, a BIG "Blog Block". The baptism involved one really cute kid from Seattle. Caiden, the son of Sally's best friend Lisa, was Baptized at our old church down in Arlington Heights, Illinois. (Photos at left show Caiden before and after Baptism) It was a quick one day roundtrip drive to the Chicago area for Jo and I, but a long trip back to Minneapolis for Sally and Uncas.
Although I promised myself that I'd never go back to "real" work again, I broke down and volunteered to work at the big Lands' End warehouse sale. With all of you as my witnesses, I solemnly vow to never do that again. After one day of standing in a tent hanging pants on hangers for eight hours I could hardly walk across the parking lot to my car. (Old feet aren't built for eight hours of standing.) Fortunately, after two and a half days the sale was going so well that my services weren't needed any longer. It only took me three or four days to recuperate. After adding up the purchases that Jo and I made, it cost me less than a hundred bucks to work for the two and a half days.
The two Cub's games were, well, typical Cub's games. Win a few, lose a few. Actually, win one, lose one. Nothing out of the ordinary other than a close encounter with a linedrive foul ball, a
one hour rain delay and a nonstop jabbering lady behind us. But, the trip to Chicago, in itself, was kind of special. We found a little "Boutique" hotel just off of the Outer Drive, walking distance to Wrigley Field, was accessible to wonderful restaurants and just across The Drive from the lake front. The games were just the tip of the weekend iceberg. Since around April the kids and I have been planning a surprise birthday party for Jo's sixtieth. My main job was to get Jo out of the house for a couple of days and deliver her back home on Saturday afternoon while Sally and Uncas would drive down to Fennimore on Friday to prepare food, decorations etc. and Derek and Jeanna were supposed to have a baby. Mine was the easy job. The Cub's games would take care Thursday and Friday. Friday night, my sister Mary and Hubby Jim would go to dinner with us and put us up at their house for the night. Saturday morning we visited my mom. This is where things got a little goofy. Unknown to Jo, my sister, my nephew, his wife and son were waiting for us to leave so they could head up to the party. We were delayed getting over to visit my mom and before I knew it, my stalling tactics had backfired and suddenly I was running late. In an effort to waste some time I had suggested that we go to my old neighborhood to take some pictures of the changes that have taken place in the area. But, after visiting my mom, we were already close to an hour behind schedule. Mary and her family were on their way and many of the "Surprisers" were arriving for the party. When I started East towards the picture taking excuse, I realized that I had to get home as soon as possible and going to take pictures would put us over two hours late with forty some people waiting for lunch. I wisely became violently ill and suggested that we head straight home and skip the photo shoot until sometime when I felt better. Jo went for it and even asked if she should drive. Not necessary. Besides she probably wouldn't have driven as fast as I did. I didn't stop until the "Low Fuel" light went on in Madison and while Jo was in the convenience store getting a soda "for my stomach" I called Sally to alert her of our position. We made it home just about an hour late but the party was a success and Jo was completely surprised.
As of this posting Derek and Jeanna are still awaiting the arrival of "Baby Blume".
OH! And the bark, bark thing... It seems that after the party was over and the guests had left Jo, Sally, Uncas and I were rehashing the events of the day. I noticed a baggie on the kitchen counter containing, what I thought was, chocolate covered peanuts. Not being able to resist one of my favorite munchies, I opened the bag and popped one of the little delights into my mouth. It took mere seconds for me to realize that that little morsel wasn't a chocolate covered peanut, but a liver doggy treat for little Sammy the dachshund puppy. Ich, spit, yuck!
Here's some pics to look at while I go gargle.

Traffic jams in Chicago aren't limited to the Expressways.

The unsuspecting Birthday Girl enjoys the Lake Front

It must have been something I ate!