Fun Times

As is tradition, we spent the 4th of July with my wife's family at their lakeside cottage in Clear Lake, Iowa. It was great getting everyone together, and its always fun to catch up as we're all scattered around the country a bit.

Clear Lake moves at a pretty slow pace most of the year but over the 4th, almost every cottage is packed to the rafters with folks. Sleeping is sketchy at best and after a day or so, it all starts closing in on me. This year, I opted to sleep on a Girl Scout property that my daughter worked at for years. The current camp director was one of her campers when she was a counselor, and she graciously allowed me to camp where ever I pleased.

The camp is set on about 75 acres just off the lake so I had plenty of places from which to choose. I loaded up the Pug Monkey Friday and headed out to ride the property for awhile before I found the right spot. It was on the edge of a clearing on a knoll and looked out over some beautiful prairie.

The rain started in earnest Friday afternoon and went all night but I stayed nice and dry.

On Saturday, the skies started clearing in the afternoon and after a spectacular fireworks show, I headed back out to camp. My daughter and her husband joined me along with their two Gordon Setters. The skies were clear and the moon was almost full as we sat around talking and winding down. We could still hear fireworks off in the distance but the woods were quiet and peaceful.


A great weekend with family.

Cheers