Day 11: Spirit Lake, IA

Quiet day here in the beautiful Iowa lakes region. Had some lunch, then headed out to check out mattresses for my new adjustable bed frame. Unfortunately, Snook’s of Okoboji, the furniture store we tried, doesn’t ship to Mississippi. (On the upside, the salesman was a cutie-pie!) We learned that Englander mattresses like Auntie Barb’s are only for sale in Olive Branch — not Jackson… weird! — and so I have to figure out how to get a mattress from (basically) Memphis to Jackson. On another negative note, got home to find an email from Amazon saying my order for the adjustable bed was cancelled, as that item is out of stock. Seems I may not be getting my new bed as soon as I wanted!

[UPDATE: Got a reply email from the Englander.com (mattress people). There are 15 locations in Mississippi that sell Englander mattresses, and one of them is Miskelly Furniture in Pearl. Now I just need to find the adjustable frame again!]

After a yummy dinner of broasted chicken from Pizza Ranch, went out back to see Uncle Roger’s back garden. Quite an impressive setup! All prairie plants and native grasses, plus lots of bird-friendly hidey holes, feeders, and baths. While I’ve been here we’ve seen Cooper’s hawks, redwing blackbirds, dozens of Robins, Harris sparrows, white throated sparrows, song sparrows, house sparrows, Canada geese, vultures, swallows, grackles galore, blue jays, a pair of mourning doves (“Margaret” and “Melvin”), several woodpeckers, a hummingbird, and the merest flash of a Baltimore oriole, which Auntie Barb says are due to arrive any day now. Also some fat brown squirrels acrobatically scaling the various trees and poles to reach the bird feeders, and evidence of deer or rabbits — some of the plants had been nibbled.

A justifiably-proud Uncle Roger in his garden

Jack in the pulpit

Dwarf iris plants in the side yard (transplants from Gramma Hoffman)

Wood sorrel

Finished a bowl of Cherry Garcia with dad, now off to bed. Good night out there!