Didn’t get to visit Jacqui – sick kids and craziness conspired against us. This made me sad.

In the happy column: made it to my parents’ log house before noon, in plenty of time for the kids to ride Polly, dad’s wonderful sorrel mule, and to see Katie, his Morgan mare, and Extra Bold Joe, her colt, who is the color of strong coffee. Then we headed to Hardy dam, set out on the folks’s houseboat, and I hooked a 13-inch smallmouth bass, while Busia (my mom, Polish for “Grandma”) caught a couple of small walleye (one of which caused a double take as we tried to decide whether it was a baby walleye or a jumbo perch – on the hook, it was hard to tell …).

Just enough fish to get the kids excited, without the work of cleaning and cooking them. All in all, a good first day.