The road in the state park to the Cedar River was closed due to fallen trees. If you crossed the barrier with your motorized vehicle, a $116 fine would be imposed. We were wondering why $116...an odd amount, we thought. But we dared to walk on through and down the road and found.....






....massive flooding. There was no beach to comb for rocks. There was no beach!





Overlooking the flood as it covers the concrete and steel barriers and the rocky area we where we like to look for rocks of interest. Not happening this day. However, as we were hiking back up to our car, we noticed a sheriff's car parked behind ours, blocking us in. We had parked next to a red pickup. Found out that a couple of guys had kayaked (yah, in the flooded Cedar with wildy swift currents)and were being questioned for burglarizing a house up on the cliff. We had seen 2 men carrying kayaks in the timber while we were walking on a trail and thought they were nuts to be out in the flooded Cedar in kayaks. Never heard how it all turned out, though.

Last Sunday was a day of conflicting weather conditions...
It's been cold for so long, with soooo much snow. But we were blessed with warm temperatures in the mid 50s to 60.
Bethann, Kevin, and I went for a walk in the snow....



....in deep snow (deep for walking on trails) and T-shirts and fleeces






Kevin enjoying the short-sleeve weather while it lasted



Mom and Maynard stopped in yesterday since they came up to visit a friend in the hospital. So..we went out for lunch.





Then we headed back to our house so they could check out the family blogs. (Notice Mom's new haircut. She looks really cute in it.)

Belinda turns 50!
It was time for the birthday celebration...a big one for Belinda! But that morning, I woke up with red creases under my eyes, and as the day progressed my eyes worsened. Work was too hectic to give my eyes any attention. I noticed they were itching, but didn't realize they looked so awful. By the time I arrived at Beth's for Belinda's big celebration, my eyes were a distraction to all of us for a while. Beth offered a benadryl (which I had to wait to take until I arrived home), then offered a cool wash cloth (which I held under my eyes for a long time), then Beth brought out her blue ice eye mask. It felt good, plus it covered up my monster eyes. So I went with it for a while. We wanted a group picture and my pride would not allow one without the mask, thus the photo below:




Beth and Belinda look so great!







Beth is trying to be kind and not laugh (yah, noble attempt)





But Belinda just let loose! Can you hear her laughing?




.

So Beth loaned me some of her cool shades and this is the final photo.

We had a wonderful time catching up and just being in each other's warm company, blessed by the tie that binds.