Home again update

I got home fairly late in the afternoon on Sunday as I had a midnight shift Sunday night.

Update on the 'kids' and their apartment fire. Everyone was safe and sound. 
My son's wife had gone to the Red Cross and received some funds for replacing some clothes and some other assistance.
For the moment they are living in their mom in law's house/downstairs apartment which is now very cramped. 
With a two and three year old that are rambunctious that doesn't make this anything but a temporary spot to stay.
At the moment, they sleep on the floor.
There will be assistance for them to help pay the first month's rent and a deposit when they do find a place. That is what Sam [son's wife] is working on. Something they may be able to afford.

I went shopping early Saturday morning at places like Nice As New in Wausau. I took Lily and we did some power shopping.
We made out very well with the used clothes and got the kids prepared for an outing.

One last stop at a sporting goods store for some sleds and we were ready. 

I had a grand plan. Let them play their hearts out while mom and dad were at work and I could then take them back to the motel and sort through the donated clothing from my neighbor with them.

We could watch a movie and have some quiet time.

The plan worked.

After modeling clothes and winding down. We had some quiet time. I got a movie on the Kindle and turned the volume down so they would have to be 'quiet' to hear it.
Viola:

I can say that the next time I am asked to donate to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army, I will indeed do so.

At the moment, everyone has clothes and the donations for toiletries are coming in.
My son will be going back to see what else is salvageable soon. The building inspector doesn't want him in there until the structure above the apartment is deemed sound.

They were lucky. What do they need now for the future? Well, most of that is up to my son and his wife. They need to put their heads together and formulate a plan.

I thought I'd be helping with that or at least making suggestions, but apparently not. This is okay with me. They need to stand on their own two feet.

I'd like to jump in and give them advice, but the night guy at the motel and I were talking about that...grown children and advice.
He laughed and said, "We can talk until we are blue in the face...and still it may fall on deaf ears."

He couldn't have said it better. 
I went and helped out some.
I hugged the kids and Jer and Sam a lot... Lily too.

And I left Sunday at dawn.

I was 17 minutes from the Dells of Eau Claire, I was not going to miss a chance at seeing it with incredible ice formations.
But that is for another blog.

Road Trip

Off I went. Morris scrambled and barked in his crate as I shut the door and got into the car.
The rain was spitting down and the temperatures had suddenly become very fall-like.

Here was my 'big' trip to go see Lily and the rest of the gang.  I promised myself that this time when I crossed the Wisconsin River on Highway 21, I would take the time to pull into the wayside and get a shot of the river and the bridge.
The leaves have gone but the pines still are brilliant green against the dull backdrop of dormant trees.  Most oaks still have their leaves and the wild clouds all made for a fairly good photograph.

Although as I knelt by the river a very cold wind blew into my face. And I decided not to spend too long of a time there.

My real intent had been to go back to the Subaru and get a ND filter so I could have a long exposure of the sky, bridge, and the water.  I decided to heck with it and packed up.

I went to use the restroom and decided against that also.  The smell of the toilets were ripe even with the winds.
Note to self, the place is worth stopping at, but get a whiff of the bathrooms!

I headed east towards Coloma and stopped at the Ship Rock Wayside.  There are a few tables there and the garbage cans have been removed for the season.
I got out and was surprised that I was not cold.  In this area I was somewhat protected from the winds by the surrounding forest.

 

I went around to the backside of the 'rock' and found some exotic looking fern growth on the side of mossy rocks.

Leaves had blown into a dip in the rocks and were the nearly the only fall colors left.

I stopped for coffee before getting on the interstate and headed to Wausau to meet with my son and see Elena and Sterling before he had to go to work.

After I checked in to my motel I got a text from Lily.  Her mom would drop her off with me after she finished her CCE classes!

When Lily showed up we headed to the motel pool.  I sat on the edge of the pool .... note to self... get a swim suit!
We talked and she swam and played.
By 9pm we thought we should retire.

We watched it snow outside for a bit and tried to thing of cool things to do while I was here.  Rib Mountain State Park or Dells of Eau Clair?