The next day Brandi and I woke up early that morning at the very crack of dawn. Since we slept out on the deck of the mobile home the sun was quite unavoidable. It was cool, quiet, and very relaxing to just sit for awhile. That is until it started to get hot and we were out of there.

This day we spent time getting our things packed and taking in our last hours at the farm.

At one point my mom, grandpa, Brandi, I and the boys all went down to the farm and up into the hayloft of the barn. We went up there to let the kids play around and sat and talked.

Pretty soon I heard Debbie yell for Brian, their hired help. She did sound suspiciously close to us and her voice sounded suspiciously in our direction although it didn’t occur to me at the time.

So when it was time to leave Brandi heads down the steps to the door to get out. Turns out the door was now locked. You can’t unlock it from the inside so we were stuck; in the heat…the steaming hot heat.

Brandi started yelling for Brian because she thought he might be milking and at that point we figured Debbie was in the house cooking breakfast. Our fear was that Brian might be in there with her eating this breakfast.

As it turns out, before we arrived, Debbie had just come down from the hayloft and locked the door.

She then came back in the barn and saw the door open. She was pretty sure she shut and locked it, but wanting to make sure so she called out to Brian to see he was up there.

When he didn’t call back to her she thought she forgot to lock the door and closed it unknowingly leaving us trapped inside.

Well, after a few minutes of yelling and looking for alternative methods of escape, Brandi saw Brian go by and yelled for him. She said he looked around having no idea where the voice was coming from, so Brandi stuck a couple fingers through a hole in the door to get his attention.

He noticed and soon we were free.

Later, that afternoon, my aunt Debbie fixed us a huge…no MASSIVE lunch…no feast. It was sort of like going to a restaurant and having everything on the menu cooked and sitting in front of you. It was wonderful and the food was great. I wish I had my camera but I forgot to bring it with.

Debbie also made my very favorite pistachio dessert. She makes it for me every time we come up. I can’t tell you how much I love that dessert. I have not been able to get anyone else to make it for me so the only time I have some is at her house. Man I could go for some right now.

After lunch my Mom, Grandma, and I went to visit my brother Noel’s gravesite. We brought water for the flowers and cleaned them up.

For dinner we had brats at Grandma’s house and then after dinner we went to meet my aunt Ginny at the Norske Nook Restaurant and Bakery on 7th Street in Osseo, made famous by David Letterman who featured the restaurants founder, Helen Myhre, and when a video shot of their “rotating pies” was used as a running gag on his show.

Their pies are wonderful and it’s a chance to get pies you don’t normally come across here in Oklahoma. I normally get my standard, Sour Cream Apple Blueberry, but this time I went with the Fresh Sour Cream Red Raspberry. If you are every in town you must try one of those two pies.

The beautiful City of Osseo is an indispensable destination for tourists visiting Trempealeau County. (I didn’t write that although I agree). And you can even "Taste the Flavor of Osseo".

After we ate we drove over to Stoddard Park by Lake Martha near the middle of the town. The kids played on a great playground and we all took a walk by the pond.

We happen to see a bald eagle flying over the pond with two other eagles behind him. The bald eagle landed in a tree in someone’s backyard right on the edge of the pond and the two other eagles landed at the base of that tree. They were talking to each other like crazy.

From what I could tell it looked like maybe the bald eagle was teaching the younger eagles to fish.

Here are some photos of the day.

Aaahhh fresh air

Hay what is this?

At The Norske Nook with Aunt Ginny

The relaxation was too much to bear for Ginny and Mom

A Bald Eagle

Lake Martha in Osseo, WI

Two other eagles

Lake Martha in Osseo, WI at sunset