gratitude today

today I give thanks to those I love
Randy and Jenn
Jason and Amy and my grandkids
Jeff and his family
my sister Diane
Brian and family
friends and family

You are the best

Hermansville 4th of July Mud runs

Every 4th of July Hermansville Michigan celebrates independence in a big way. Live music, an old time car show, fireworks, lots to do and see. The mud runs rank right up there. There is a 125 feet long mud pit that is full of oozy, sticky mud. The goal is for the contestant to get as far through the mud without getting stuck. For those that do get stuck, theres a tractor and also a tow truck (though the tow truck did tear off one contestants front bumper) There's different divisions, stock which means the truck or jeep has not been modified, and then different levels of modified (tires, engines etc) The super modifieds look like they are sailing across on top of the mud, must be the racer fuel they use. Theres guard rails so no one can get hurt, and the racers have to buckle and wear helmets. Jason and Amy have mud trucks that are modified, but for this year Jason chose to use his regular long bed truck. It was pretty funny hearing the announcer saying it looked to him like it was a converted bus, and to hear all the kids saying "Wow, I never saw such a long truck!" The announcer also pointed out another contestant had "pretty fog light covers". Jason took 4th out of 13 in the stock division, he did pretty darn good. At the very end they needed to crown the Mud Queen. This honor (along with $89.00) would be good for all year. To do this, a woman needed to be at least 16 and also be nominated. The Mud Queen hopefuls (there were about 25 of them) lined up at one end of the pit and had to run to the other end, not using help or getting out. Most fell. Most needed help afterward, grabbing onto a stick to be pulled out of the muck. It was so fun!!

July 4th fireworks

We went to Jason and Amy's place in Upper Michigan for the Fourth, had a great time. Where to begin, well on the way we had to brake for the bear lumbering across the road. That was a cool sight, and the bear was big, about 300 pounds! Thats alotta bear! We also needed to watch for deer as they seemed to be everywhere. During the daytime thats when we were seeing the wild turkeys.
On Friday Jason placed 4th out of 13 in the stock division of the Hermansville mud runs (pictures to follow). We checked out the museum and car show, listened to a band that was awesome (old time rock and old time Patsy Cline country) and watched the kids and grandkids go swimming in the Hermansville Pond fully clothed. We cooked supper over the fire then went back to watch the fireworks. I have to say, this small town in Upper Michigan has our over populated area of Wisconsin beat. There were two grand finales, and the regular part was pretty darn spectacular too.
Saturday we planted a couple apple trees, took apart the well, walked in the woods (at one point I had 10 ticks on my back alone. I felt very ticky the rest of the time. We went swimming at a sandy beach and that was very refreshing afterwards. We got back to town about 10:30 pm, did another tick check and crashed into bed.
Sunday found us heading south, we went to Madison for the day. Lots of fun, lots of sun, I love summer!!