7/15/15-Wed.-Frances and I are about 250 miles from home, on our way back after a seven night visit with Linda, Scott, Trudy, Jay, Violet, and Cheryl. Our trip destination had been Turtle Lake, WI, where Scott and Trudy have a nearly 300 acre farm with lake frontage and where, the long weekend of 7/10-7/12, there was a big gathering of nature nerds, a bio-blitz, for which Fran was the main organizer. Linda, who is Fran and Trudy's mom, came up mainly for the bio-blitz, but did seem some of the time to enjoy social interactions with her grandkids. Though I think some, Scott particularly, were disappointed that the nature enthusiasts did not stay on much at all past Saturday night or share much their keen interests in natural history to the extent of significant interactions with the farm folks or giving them lots of positive feedback on the place, overall the gathering probably was a big success, both for those looking to make more in the science community and those wanting to do research or nature photography or to add new species of plants or diverse fauna to their life lists. I did appreciate the sandhill cranes, ground squirrels, frogs, turtles, deer, a bald eagle, a marsh harrier, various hawks, an osprey, ducks, loons, and red-winged blackbirds. The several horses on the farm were as well pleasant to admire, photograph, and pet. On our last full day in the area for this trip, Fran and I took the Scott and Trudy family out to eat at a buffet place they like. The sunset during our drive there was interesting and gorgeous. On our way back, we got a thrill on seeing a black bear racing across the road and nearby cornfields. It was (mostly) fun interacting with each of the kids. Much to Puff's distress, two stormy times made things more adventurous, first a wall cloud, high winds, and thunderous deluge near Emporia, KS, as we were driving to WI, then a severe lightning, rain, and wind storm that started Sunday night, 7/12. It resulted in several downed trees or broken branches and loss of power for half a day at the farm. Perhaps bothered by unruly big dogs and kids, Linda chose to make herself relatively scarce but did enjoy engaging a little with family and participated in most of the bio-blitz activities. Fran's and my return trip has so far been rather uneventful. We did, after getting settled with a motel room, go out for a pretty good buffet last night. I talked yesterday by phone with my Alanon sponsor, our weekly contact. Have used free time during this vacation in refining an investment strategy. The first part of this vacation, once we had gotten as far north as IA and beyond, has been nicely cool, with low to high F temperatures in the 40-50 and 60-70 degrees F ranges.

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