A Tuesday Scribble: GPS, Hawks, and House Slippers!

Today we headed west to a National wildlife reserve about 1 1/2 hours from here.  We are preparing for our trip to CA this fall, and wanted to get a "Lifetime Senior Pass" to all the national parks across the country.  They are only $10, but soon will cost $80.  So we packed a lunch and headed out about 10:30 am.  It took us 2 hours because we decided to use my phone's GPS which kept trying to send us right into the middle of the Union Slough.  Glub glubbbbb.................After listening to our lady tell us over and over to turn where there were no roads.....I googled the office to find the "address" of the Union Slough and we finally drove right to it.  Yep.  Well, at least that is our story and we are sticking to it.

Gold Eagle on Slough

When we arrived, Joel stepped out of the van and started to chuckle.  It seems he had forgotten to exchange his house "slippers" for his tennis shoes.  No one could really tell the difference, but us.  Maybe he just likes to wear slip-on's, ya know?  Along with his old cowboy hat for which I have no good feelings!  I would like to accidentally sit on it, but so far Joel has kept it far away from my reclining bum.

Between the GPS fiasco and the slippers incident, we decided we need to get our act together before the trip west or our kids will worry while we are gone.  It would not be the first time.........I remember when we were going to New York City and our oldest said, "My parents are going to get on a subway and never be heard from again!"  Of course we had not traveled for many years then due to Lyme, but I'm just sayin'.  On that same trip we "somehow" got off the interstate we were on and found ourselves heading straight into Chicago.  North instead of West.  I am the navigator Joel is the driver......we both were at fault.  Sigh...  We made an "urgent" call to our oldest and asked here the best route through the windy city since she and her family had lived there for 10 years.......so maybe she has reason to worry?

While at the Wildlife Refuge today we sat overlooking the slough watching the many kinds of ducks and birds.  Seeing an eagle and a hawk, heron, terns, geese, and more.  What I noticed was just how quiet it was.  The silence really speaks loudly at times, doesn't it.  As we sat eating our lunch and observing nature we talked about Joel's 4 years of summers working for the wildlife refuge in Minnesota.  His first two year degree was in wildlife management and he spent his days banding ducks, building fences or taking old fences out...........sometimes up to his neck in the water (hoping not to get "swimmer's itch".  So many years ago, yet so many memories surfacing.

Black-eyed Susans

While getting our passes Joel mentioned he once worked in a refuge in MN.  The clerk asked Joel how he ended up in Iowa and he told her he was in the military, then the seminary and his work as a pastor brought him to Iowa.  She replied, "What an interesting life!"  When we got outside I turned to Joel and replied, "She has no idea!"  It has definitely been an interesting life ~ good, bad, and a bit ugly.  Through it all God has been faithful.

With all that has gone in the family lately........my sister's heart attack and 6 bypasses, Gr. Jo's fall hitting the coffee table, my surgery for melanoma.......I think all our kids are looking ahead and pondering what the future holds and how the heck do "things" get handled from afar.  Yeah. No one plans to trip and fall........to suddenly need open heart surgery...........to have their world turn upside down.  It is not healthy to worry continually about those unexpected things, but it is good to think about and make some kind of plan for the what ifs or eventual needs.  Unless you are like our neighbor who continues to amaze us.  At 87 she is out raking, mowing, hauling rock in here wheelbarrow, trimming trees.....I love it!  She gives us all hope!

What a day..............We can only laugh and look forward to our next adventure with God making sure Holy comes along for the ride........and learning from our mistakes.  Like, don't forget your shoes!  And bring along an atlas cuz the GPS lady gets lost too!