ALL PERSONAL PICTURES AND TEXT ARE COPYRIGHTED BY DON AND SARA SCHULTZ. (ACQUIRED GRAPHICS AND TEXT ARE CREDITED)

THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO OUR NEW GRAND DAUGHTER PRESLEY JANE MEDLAND


The reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is that they have a common enemy. ~Sam Levenson

If I had known how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren, I'd have had them first. ~Lois Wyse

To become a grandparent is to enjoy one of the few pleasures in life for which the consequences have already been paid. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new grandbaby around the finger of a grandparent. ~Joy Hargrove


We are not sure which of the above best describes our state of mind after recently becoming grandparents for the first time. We for now feel it is the last quotation. We are, to say the least, smitten by our new grand daughter Presley Jane Medland born October 13, 2009 at 12:46 AM at St Mary Hospital in Madison, WI. Little Presley weighed in at 7 lbs, 10 ounces and was a healthy 21 inches long. Can you say, "future basketball star"? Proud parents Amy and Rick Medland are presently adjusting to a new member of the family along with their three dogs, Riley, Ruben and Chester.

Sara and I arrived in the Madison area in mid September to await the predicted birth date of Oct. 7. Madison has few RV parks that are convenient to downtown but we were fortunate to get two two week reservations at a county park just off the South Beltline and less than 5 miles from the Capitol. On the downside, mid September to mid October was the wettest on record for Madison. We saw the sun a grand total of three days during our 30 day stay, with rain on most days, but nothing could damper our enthusiasm for becoming grandparents for the first time. Not even the scourge of millions and millions of lady beetles that covered the ground, sides of the RV and everything in sight could discourage us.

Presently in Dallas, TX Sara continues to drown the little bastards in soapy water and dutifully records the daily death counts. (can you say Obsessive Compulsive). Counts in Memphis, TN numbered 66, New Orleans 42, Kinder LA 35 and now in Dallas, TX we are down 27 daily. If cornered the cute little buggers bite, yes bite, and the slightest confrontation results in the secretion of a clear brown fluid that smells like week old urine in an abandoned tire. We can't tell if they are reproducing in the bowels of the RV or that we really picked up that many in Wisconsin, and we are hopefully but slowly making progress toward their eventual extinction from our immediate environment.

Our site in Madison overlooked a restored prairie and the famous Madison Bike Trail. Unfortunately, we did not have full hookup for the RV and had to move our rig every 4 to 5 days to the dump station to empty waste water. Many of our friends in Madison are bikers and we were pleasantly surprised with many visits. The days awaiting the birth were filled with doctor and dentist appointments for Don's 99, yes 99 year old mother, Marge Schultz. New brakes and hubs were installed on the RV to the tune of $1300 (who said RVing was cheap) and we replaced our 2000 Chevy Cavalier convertible with over 129K on it with a brand new 2009 Ford Mustang convertible which cost considerably more than the brake job.

After looking at what seemed like hundred of cars from Denver to Madison, Sara refused to look at any more and declared that she "didn't give a damn what the hell we bought but as long as it went with her hair and had a good radio". A white Mustang with a Shaker 500 watt stereo-CD system was purchased sight unseen online from a dealership south of Chicago. The hair color matched and the radio rocks. We were able to visit with many old friends from the Madison area and had a chance to visit the old neighborhood and see our house in Ravenoaks west of Oregon. The thought of having to take care of all that real estate and over 130 fruit trees cured us of any regrets.

Sara and I tried to make ourselves as useful as possible to Amy and Rick by putting together baby furniture, mowing lawn and cooking meals in anticipation of the birth. I was treated by Amy and Rick with tickets to a UW football game at Camp Randall with Rick's father Mike while the future grandmas went out to eat. The Badgers won and the day was blessed with warm rays of rare, rare sunshine.

On Oct 12th we got the call that Mom, Dad and our future grand daughter were in the hospital and grandma switched into "dog sitting" mode at Amy and Rick's home on the westside of Madison. The labor was very long and the birth difficult. A suction like vacuum was employed and Presley Jane upon birth went directly to the Infant Intensive Care Unit as a precaution.

We got our first look at our new grand daughter the next day and as everyone told us, "Your heart will melt upon your first look at your granddaughter" .They did. And there were tears of gratitude that mother and baby were healthy and safe. "Aunt" Polly and her husband Eric Williams joined the welcoming party in Madison from Minneapolis and it was a time of true joy. Even Ruben, Riley and Chester seemed to want to cooperate with the arrival of Presley at home. We enjoyed several visit with Rick parents, Linda and Mike Medland and marveled at how fast Presley began to change.

As the first snow flakes of the winter of 2009 began to surround us and the lady beetles continued to mysteriously penetrate the walls of the RV like buckshot through a beer can, we knew that it was time to reluctantly head south. We don't do snow anymore. We now have a web cam so that we can watch Presley grow and prosper weekly online. We have 1600 monthly minutes on our cell phone and have established an "airplane fare" fund so that we can make more regular visits back to Madison.

Since leaving Madison, we have visited Memphis, TN, New Orleans, Dallas, TX and will spend the winter of 09 deep in the heart of Southern Texas. Christmas on the River Walk of San Antonio, January on the beach at Port Aransas on North Padre Island and February in the Valley near Brownsville and McAllen, Texas. We have moved from 180 th to 82 nd on a waiting list for a destination RV park in Southern California between San Diego and Los Angeles. We will continue to RV but plan to spend more time in Southern California and most summers in the Wisconsin-Minneapolis area to visit Polly, Eric, Amy, Rick and our new grand daughter Presley Jane Medland.

She has indeed melted our hearts. Being grandparents is grand.