Saturday, April 22nd - Monday, June 26th
Easter Loot from Grandma and Grandpa. Yeah, they're back!
'mon Digger, let's play!
Carter and Eamon with their prom dates, twin sisters.
Taking prom pictures at Reeders Alley April 29th.
Carter and his best girl, Mom.
Aw, 'mon Dad. Pleeease.
We took the kids to the play My Fair Lady at the Grandstreet Theater May 10th. We went out for supper at the Japanese restaurant Nagoya and to the movie Gifted on May 11th.
Vigilante Days Parade May 12th. They have floats with varying themes from fur trading, gold mining, saloons and bordellos to...
Drive-Ins that were here in the fifties and other businesses, to all sorts of activities and sports that go on at the college, including rodeo stuff.
Dallas was a little apprehensive about swimming lessons with a strange, new teacher.
But Tally got right into it.
Oh oh, Mom, am I in trouble again? So many rules! Who can remember them all?
Disney ride videos with Grandpa.
Lookout, here I come!
Splash!
My turn. This is much more fun than swimming lessons!
Yeah, pizza!
A new buzz cut and Great-Grandma's earrings. Oh no! What have you girls done to me?
I wanted to wear Grandma's earrings.
Video time with aunt Dawn. Kids all wearing their new Hawaiian outfits from Grandma and Grandpa Wald.
Fun with Great-Grandma Clem.
Best Buddies.
Capitol High School graduates marching onto Carroll College football field with Mount Helena in the background.
Jeff works in the building complex in the far left corner just about eight blocks from home. But they will be moving to an acreage later this summer and he will be about three or four miles from work, so probably won't be riding bike to work and coming home for lunch most days like he has been.
I have to brag just a little bit. Carter is one of the twenty Valedictorians seated in the group to the right of the stage and gave a part of the speech they all wrote together.
Yeah, at last! On to new life adventures. June 3, 2017.
A rare picture of Grandma who usually has the camera safely in her own hand.
Tally running in the crazy octopus sprinkler that Aunt Kathy brought.
Video time with Joann.
Princess Keira.
Proud grandparents!
"Great" Aunt Kathy!
Hey, let's build something!
Ooh, Digger, I missed you. Where have you been hiding?
Ticklers from Grandma Clem.
Hilary and Grandma Clem sitting under the only shade tree in the yard,
watching the kids play.
Putting on Tierney's pants.
Best Buddies.
Badlands scenic viewpoint on the way back to the Dakotas. Painted Canyon Overlook on I-94. Teddy Roosevelt was 24 years old when he came to the North Dakota Badlands from New York City to hunt his first buffalo. Historic Medora, among the buttes on the bank of the Little Mission River, was founded in 1883 by the Marquis de Mores. There are tours of the chateau where he lived. Medora was once home to cowboys, buffalo hunters, gamblers and gunfighters and many of the original buildings are still standing. It's definitely a tourist attraction with museums, exhibits, shops and a wonderful outdoor musical pageant in the summer. The Loop Drive of the Theodore National Park begins in the North Unit with a 14 mile scenic drive and continues in the South Unit with 36 more miles that take you to Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Cabin at the Elkhorn Ranch Unit. There is a visitor's center, ranger programs, hiking trails and the foundation stones of Teddy's first ranch home in the badlands. It is the only national park named for a person and honors his love of the North Dakota Badlands and the influence this place had in shaping his conservation ethic. If not for his efforts many iconic treasures like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite Valley and Mesa Verde would have been mined, timbered and robbed of their cultural artifacts. Custer's Trail goes through the park. Between 1864 and 1876 five military expeditions crossed here, though only a couple of skirmishes occurred in the Badlands. But their stories have a significant place in the history of the Great Sioux War. Custer accompanied two of these expeditions. Remnants of the trails, ruts left by hundreds of wagon wheels, can still be seen.
All ready for Lacey's wedding at Lake Elsie.
Lacey and Jake say "I Do."
Jodi and her girls.
Lacey and her Grandmas.
Father of the bride with next year's wedding couple. Thanks Hank, for taking a few pictures for me. I'm looking forward to next summer's wedding.
Lyla Mae at her Baptism party...
and her proud big sister Miss Kenna.
View of Brooke and Kevin's back yard.
Proud Grandma Jodi and Lyla Mae.
Feeding the goats at the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls with Julie and her daughter and granddaughters.
The Galapagos Tortoise prefers to eat, drink and sleep at the exact time and place each day, just like John! Their oh-so-predictable habits have created deep paths in the landscape, carved by thousands of them walking to their favorite places year after year. They can survive up to a year without eating or drinking due to their slow metabolism and large intestinal stores of water. They live 150 to 175 years, weigh from 330 to 440 pounds and grow from 3 to 4 feet in length. There are only 10,000 to 15,000 remaining with several subspecies already extinct.
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree. Merry, merry king of the bush is he. Laugh Kookaburra, laugh. Gay your life must be. It is famous for it's laughing song, called the bushman's clock because it vocalizes at dawn and dusk. It's lifespan is 15 to 20 years, weight 1 to 1.5 pounds and it's range is southern and eastern Australia.
The Scarlet Ibis range is in South America from Venezuela to Brazil. They live about 16 years in the wild and about 20 years under human care. The male and the female build the nest together and incubate and feed the young together. Seems like a very fair and balanced arrangement to me.
The King Vulture has a featherless head and neck which serves an important purpose. It helps them keep clean when they dig into their dinner of dead and decaying animals. The bare skin is less likely to harbor bacteria that could spread disease to the entire flock. They live 25 to 30 years and their range is South America and parts of Central America.
The Greater Rhea courts several different females at one time, up to 12. After gathering them in his home range, he builds a nest for all of them to deposit their eggs into. They lay one egg every other day for 7 to 10 days, resulting in nests that can have upwards of 50 eggs. He incubates all the eggs and provides the sole care for the huge broods of chicks for up to six months. Seems only fair to me.
Savannah Express Train with narrated tour built in Italy. They also have a natural history museum and a carousel.
20 year-old Mama Imara and one-year-old son, Komati. They have a 15 month gestation and weigh about 90 pounds when born. Father Jubba is in an adjoining enclosure. Eastern Black Rhinos are on the brink of extinction. In 1970 there were 65,000 in Africa. By 1993 there were only 2,300 left in the wild. They have no natural predators, other than humans. Rhino horn is worth three times it's weight in gold. Well organized gangs poach them, even in protected reserves, sometimes using tranquilizers and helicopters. Their funny shaped ears give them a super sense of hearing.
Bath time. The Black Bear lives up to 25 years in the wild and into the 40s in captivity. It weighs 200 to 600 pounds and is 5 to 6 feet tall. It's range is Canada, United States and northern Mexico.
They have Bison, Caribou, Zebras, Giraffes, Penguins, Pandas, Koalas and even Camel rides.
The Chilean Flamingo lives 20 to 30 years in the wild and up to 50 years under human care. They stand in water on one leg to conserve body heat. They raise their legs more in the winter than in the summer, but an equal amount in the spring and fall. Just think some guy, or girl, had the job of studying this and recording the stats. I wonder what the pay scale is for a job like that.
The Amur Tiger is now found only in the Russian Far East. It gets 14 feet long, including tail, and weighs 500 to 800 pounds. There about 500 remaining in the wild and about 1,000 in captivity. It has the lightest color fur of any tiger species for blending into snowy landscapes. Their thick fur and layer of fat protect against temperatures to -50 degrees. Individuals cover large territories up to 50 square miles.
In most parrots the males and females are nearly identical, but the male Electus Parrots are green and the females are varying shades of bright red, blue or purple.
The Scarlet Macaw has a lifespan of 70 to 80 years. All parrots have strong beaks, but the Scarlet Macaws can open their beaks extra wide to deliver a more powerful bite, for extra-strength crushing to break open the hardest nuts and unripe fruit.
Kites flying over the soccer fields in Brookings along the bike path.
Walking the bike path with Julie, Sue and their dogs June 25th?
The bike path now runs through the new Dakota Prairie Nature Park south of the softball complex. It is above the Big Sioux Aquifer that supplies Brookings with drinking water. In addition to the paved bike paths, their are also grass trails, interpretive exhibits and a mountain biking area. You can rent snow shoes, cross country skis, canoes, etc. at the nature center.
There is a fishing pier and three fishing ponds. The East Pond is stocked with rainbow trout from the Black Hills and the West and Islands Ponds are stocked with large mouth bass, crappies and bluegills. This is really a nice area. Kudos to Brookings for adding such a nice park.
More in a few days,
Tarra
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