Spring has been taking its own sweet time about arriving. It got nice and warm, the snow melted, and we saw a robin in the back yard ...
And then the snow returned. We had a big storm last week in the U.P. Most of the snow missed us, but it was very windy
But we saw a flock of some pretty strange birds for this area. I don't have an explanation for this one. One of those mysteries of nature ...
A few weeks ago, my wife and I drove down to visit my mom. On the way home, we stopped at Pizza Hut for dinner but got full before we finished the pizza. The final two pieces rode home with us, we stuck the box in the fridge ... and forgot about it.
Until my wife came upon it and decided the pizza was just too dried out. So she knew what to do: break it apart into tiny pieces and throw it on the back lawn for her bird friends.
It wasn't long before a crow discovered the feast in the back yard and called all his friends to come over for a pizza party ...
Some of the little birds that hang around our place also heard the call and swooped in for a snack ...
But the crows were a lot bigger and had first dibs on the snacks. This guy picked out some of the biggest, nicest morsels ...
... And flew off to the roof of the garage next door, where two of his cohorts were waiting ...
After a while, he'd return for another piece. It went like that for a while until the leftover pizza was snapped up. Between the crows and the little guys, it didn't take long.
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A little news now. It's been very busy here, for a number of reasons. Too busy to write for fun lately. Hopefully it lets up soon.
In short: (1) Working on articles for special sections, plus lots of regular news work; (2) problems with the stat service for the fantasy baseball league, which occupied a lot of my time last week--things seem straightened out now; (3) finishing up the state and federal income taxes--those were sent out today.
On Easter Sunday, we drove across northern Wisconsin to visit my father-in-law, who had just returned home from the hospital after a bout with pneumonia. He was asleep when we arrived but woke up, and we visited with him for about two hours before driving back home. It's about 175 miles each way. He said he thinks he'll be feeling better in a couple weeks. Right now, he's resting a lot. He still has a lot of recovery to go.
He described what I interpret as a near-death experience, when he was so sick with pneumonia last week. He said he had chest pain (from the antibiotic that had the bad reaction on him) and then he felt himself up in Heaven, which he described as a very beautiful place, and his late wife ran up to him and hugged him tight, and he said, "No, Jeannette, not yet. I'm not ready yet. I didn't do everything I needed to yet."
Then he felt the chest pain again, and he was back in the hospital room with the doctors over him.
Finally, I've been feeling pretty down all week. We got word over the weekend that a young man from our area was killed in Iraq last Friday. When only 13,000 people live in the entire county, news like that hits close to home.
He was a Navy Seal and was the only one killed in the incident. I knew his dad pretty well--he's the District and Probate Court judge here--and I can't imagine how much he and his wife are hurting right now.
I'm going to be covering the military funeral on Saturday. Nearly 3,300 Americans have been killed in Iraq so far, but he's the first from our county.
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One other distraction now: The Stanley Cup playoffs started tonight. I watched the Sens beat the Pens earlier tonight, and now the Stars' game at Vancouver is going to overtime. So I've got to wrap this up and I can focus on the OT. The time now, by the way, is close to midnight, and I have no idea how long I'll be staying up.
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