With all the tick talk lately we accidently did a little google image search for ticks and thought we better share the disturbng results.. so that we wouldn't have to carry the full burden ourselves :)  Enjoy  And be ready for lots of babies.  We did find one raisen sized one on the floor last year.  Thanks goodness we got it outside quickly.  

It seems to have warmed up and we managed to fit a couple hour ride into Beth's studying.  Since the trails along the river are still under water we headed fifteen minutes out of town to Turtle River State Park, the home of the only (although short) sections of single track trail in eastern North Dakota.  The weather was great and the trails mostly dry.  It was so nice the dogs swam about a dozen times and the ticks were even begining to come out to play.  So a afternoon ride expanded into a combined ride...hair cut...dog bathing party.  As You can probably tell the hair cuts still need a little work, but it was getting late.  There will be a round two with the clippers for sure.  We even got a picture of one of the first couple dozen little guys of the year for you.  Cute aren't they.

One of our new friends

There is always time for a swim

What?... Now We Look Like Labs 

Well its been an interesting spring here.  The red river valley experienced its second 100 year flood inside of 10 years and as of this writing the river here in Grand Forks has been above flood stage for well over a month now.  The adventures are never ending, from route finding when major interstates and county roads alternate going under water, to aborted attempts to reach friends houses by kayak (the ice was to thick) and huge sand bagging efforts it was truly an experience.  Other than our (mostly Beth's) sandbagging efforts in Grand Forks we are sitting behind a brand new dike system constructed over the last decade as a result of the devestating 1997 flooding and stayed quite comfortable.  As you can see from the pictures we were most impacted by our xc skiing and biking trails going under water.  The greenway just opened again this past weekend, however much of the trail system remains submerged so we continue to wait.  Roo's was even dishartened to find that the beloved dog park remains under.  However despite the sand traps being full of water the golf corse did open today.  Lucky us... We have been amazed by the clear signs of the rivers power.  Trees are all banded with stripes of missing bark, street signs are bent flat, and trees were snapped off everywhere.  Well I beter get back to the job apps, but enjoy the pics.  There are many more in our picasa album.  Take care unitl next time.