This year is the 5th year of my 10-year freshwater mussel monitoring project. This is an effort to collect, identify, tag, measure, and photograph the diverse group of mussels (see photos above with 4 or 5 species in each tray) living in the Sangamon River in Illinois. While I call it “my” project, there … Continue reading “Mussel Monitoring Project, Year 5 – 8/16-17/2025”
The saying “no good deed goes unpunished” became very true for our family this year. This time specifically, Corvin came home to St. Louis to visit us. I was feeling generous and offered him money to fix the air conditioning in his car. Its been broke since we purchased it several years ago. This all … Continue reading “Car Swap – 8/10/2025”
Corvin came home and was at the finish line of the MR340 this year. It was a lovely surprise getting to see him back in St. Louis. He was only here for a week. He definitely missed the cats! Its still up in the air if they missed him… Part of the reason he came … Continue reading “Corvin’s Home – 7/11/2025”
Today we left for my third MR340 river race. Don’t worry, I would never do this solo, I’ve enlisted Hogan and a second couple, Scott and Dot Merritt. If you have been following along, we’ve been doing races together this year preparing for the big race. We packed our trailer with all of our gear … Continue reading “2025 MR340 – 7/8/2025”
We started our holiday celebration on the third. Danelle was invited (with the family) to the Audobon Center to view Alton’s fireworks. There was a nice gathering there. We started by viewing the sunset over the river and it didn’t disappoint. I was busy teasing Sonora while we waited for the fireworks to start. It … Continue reading “Fourth Of July – 2025”
We took lots of cat photos this month. Coatrack looking exhausted is my favorite. We also continued our paddle training. We had a trip to Minnesota to start our team out. We also tested out the sleeping arrangements in the boat during our weekly 5k race. We each took a turn for about 200 yards. … Continue reading “June – 2025”
Nearly three years ago, we went out and paddled the “Dalbow Loop“. This 9 mile loop around an island on the Mississippi river was a wonderful way to paddle and swim a bit near the end of the paddling season. Today felt like a great day to recreate that adventure. We brought the same C4 … Continue reading “Dalbow Loop Fail – 6/29/2025”
Later this year, Danelle and I will have been married for 25 years. Not surprising, I’m still quite fond of her. In fact, I’m still doing my best to impress her. This is difficult to do as Danelle has some sort of internal GPS cause she always seems to know where she is when I’m … Continue reading “Date With Danelle – 5/22/2025”
I wanted to go paddling today. We also needed to get Carol (Danelle’s mom) out of the house. I called and asked if she would like to go paddling and she said yes. The boats were packed and we were off to pick her up. At Carol’s house, she came outside with sweat pants on. … Continue reading “Simpson Lake – 5/11/2025”
We were in the thralls of a bad week. We purchased a car recently for Sonora and learned that it needed major repairs. Today was just about trying to get some progress on our lives and get ahead. Danelle had been missing her wireless earbuds for a while. I decided to find them. My first … Continue reading “Roof Fail – 4/14/2-2025”