Joyeaux Leon...

When thinking of Christmas the word LEON doesn't often come to mind. In my family it's the first word we think of.

The tradition began over 50 years ago when my grandparents first married. My grandmother received a set of bells that were angels holding letters spelling out NOEL. My grandfather—being my grandfather—switched the angels around to spell out LEON. This aggravated my grandmother and so my grandfather has been doing it ever since.

I came along after 25 years of this constant battle over the bells. I followed my grandfather around everywhere. I did whatever he did. He taught me from my first Christmas on, that NOEL was really LEON. I would sneak up to the bells perfectly displaying NOEL and change them around. I would refer to the house with the big NOEL in lights on the roof as LEON.

Now that I am grown and married, I have brought LEON into my Christmas traditions. The first year my husband and I were married I received a set of four stocking holders that spelled out LEON. Not knowing about the tradition in my family, my husband proceeded to correct my 'error.' Now that we are coming up on our third Christmas together, he is not only accustomed to LEON being in our home during the Christmas Season, but he, too, has embraced this tradition. So from our family to yours, have a Joyeaux Leon!!!

~Rachel

Who is that Smiling New Face?

Hi! I’m Leigh. I am new here to Insty-Prints, thanks to my sweet friend Dani (she rocks).

“Who am I?”:   I am pretty much a nerd! I love music, traveling, and funny novelty calendars. The cheesier the better! I really want a calendar featuring different staplers. I am also searching for a plaid band-aid. If you find either of these things, let me know (price is no object!)!

Current Playlist: Arctic Monkeys, Chromeo, Flight of the Conchords, Cajun Dance Party, Alterkicks, Portugal the Man, and Sage Francis.

My family and friends are amazing (I pinch myself daily to make sure my life is not a dream). I am surrounded by the most incredible people that have ever walked the planet, the main one of these being my sweet 20-month old daughter.

P.S. My hair color changes all the time. In fact, this picture is not a current representation of my hair.

Sailing the Seven Seas (Ok, It Was Just the Gulf!)

A couple of weeks ago I went on my first cruise. This is something I have always wanted to do, but just never have. My husband and I sailed with a very large group of friends for four wonderful days. We had one port of call in Cozumel, Mexico, which I had never visited. Cozumel was beautiful and we did a little shopping and snorkeling and took a nap in a hammock on the beach. The people were friendly and the weather was perfect.

There were so many fun activities on the ship that it was hard to decide what to do. Sometimes the decision was so difficult that I just took a nap instead of having to choose. The food was very good and very plentiful. I think we stayed in a food coma most of the trip. There was singing and dancing and joke telling. And those were just our friends. You should have seen the professional entertainment! All in all it was a great time and we were sad to leave the ship.

As I mentioned, the trip was wonderful. In fact, it was a little too wonderful. Can you imagine my disappointment when I went to bed the first night back at home and the bed was not turned down? There was no cute little animal made out of a towel. There wasn’t even a mint! I just didn’t know what to think.

The next morning when the kids wanted breakfast I realized that we couldn’t go up to the Lido deck to eat. I actually had to make breakfast myself. We left the dishes on the table all day and no one cleaned them up! No one even picked up the wet towels off the bathroom floor and replace them with clean ones.

It only got worse. I was the only one that wore formal attire to the dinner table and the only entertainment we had was the kids fighting over the last piece of garlic toast. Though I have to admit it was pretty entertaining when, during their struggle, they dropped it and the dog ate it.

After a few days, I finally snapped back to reality and quit expecting someone to show up with a margarita on a tray. I have quit wearing evening dresses to dinner and I pick up my own towels now. I have quit looking for mints on my pillow and I have accepted that there will not be nightly entertainment, other than the kids of course.

To anyone considering a cruise, I say definitely do it. Just try to remember that when you leave the ship, the waiters aren’t going home with you.

Meet Rachel. She's new here.

I don’t often admit I lived in Arkansas for as long as I did, but merely being born in Louisiana and living here now doesn’t often qualify me as a true Louisiana Girl. I left Arkansas in 2003 for college at Louisiana Tech.

After attaining a BFA in Communication Design with a Minor in Marketing in 2007, I worked as a designer for various printing companies in the Shreveport area.  Most recently I held a ticket sales/graphic design position with the Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings.  

The BattleWings job has probably been the most fun place I've worked, so far anyway.  I may not have had as much fun with my actual work, but being around a semi-pro football team was a great experience. It was definitely a different atmosphere from a print shop.

Outside of work, I volunteer with my church's youth group. I'm their resident designer, blogger, and Web developer in addition to being a Core Team Member.  

There isn’t much else to know about me. I’m just a wife that loves to cook but hates to clean. I’ve been told that creative people typically have a harder time with cleaning. Even if it’s not true, I’m going to use it as my excuse. I enjoy movies of all kinds, music of all kinds, and when I get a chance, I enjoy a good book.

~Rachel

One Woman’s Inconvenient Journey to Going Green

“Going green” is a phrase that you see everywhere. Everyone seems to be jumping on the green bandwagon. I am actually struggling to get on it myself. I really want the world to be better for my kids and their kids (one day way down the road!). So I am trying to do my part.

Unfortunately “going green” can have its inconveniences. As a child growing up, we always ate on paper plates. My mom worked and there were five of us kids, so she did what she could to make her job easier and washing a few less dishes was a help. I have carried on the tradition of the paper plate. I work full time and have two small messy children and paper plates are just easy, plus I really, really hate washing dishes. A couple of weeks ago we ran out of paper plates and I decided not to even put it on my grocery list. I have made the decision to put away the paper plate and bring out the china. Well, it’s not really china, but it will break if you drop it. There aren’t that many more dishes to wash, but I am making everyone else in the house help out more just the same. Hey, someone has to pick up the slack.

Another “green” thing we are doing at my house is recycling. I was very excited when the City of Shreveport started picking up recycling at the curb. I had never done much recycling before so I was ready to jump in. What I didn’t realize is that there is work involved in recycling. We always make sure to rinse all of our bottles, cans, and jars with water so the recycle bin doesn’t start to smell like the trashcan. The ones that are really ooey-gooey go through the dishwasher. Yes, even more dishes. We keep the recycle bins in the kitchen so if I have a shampoo bottle in the bathroom I have to make a special trip to the kitchen just to throw it away. I know that sounds lazy, but I do know people that won’t recycle things just for that reason.

I also have gotten real big into reusable bags. I have the big ones for my groceries and I have a couple of small ones that fold up and go in my purse and my car. The biggest problem I am having with them is that I forget them! I will put the bags in my car in the front seat and still forget to bring them in the store. Most times I will leave my cart and go back to get them, but sometimes I just do the plastic. Then of course, I feel very guilty about it afterwards.

Being “green” is something that you have to work yourself into. At least it is that way for me. But if I am going to try and make the planet a better place for my kids then I am going to have to do my part and be a good example for them. It may have its inconveniences but I know it is worth it when my 3-year-old asks me “Does this go in the trash or the cycle bin?”

~Raydra

Empty Nest

Monday, June 29—just over a week-and-a-half ago—I got home and checked the cardinal nest I had been watching for the previous few weeks. And, finally, my babies had hatched! The nest is in a small magnolia tree facing my garden, so on my daily garden maintenance (you are familiar with my beloved garden if you read my last post) I had become very acquainted with mom cardinal and dad cardinal as they took care of their eggs—or, rather, as she sat on them and he kept her fed (isn’t that sweet that he looked after her while she kept those babies warm?).

Once they hatched and I discovered them, no bigger than my thumb (see photo 1), that evening there in their nest they set out on a too-fast course of eating and growing. Their mom and dad took good care of them, flitting around in all the nearby trees catching bugs and mosquitoes (thanks, guys!!!) and feeding their voracious little appetites. Mom and dad would sit in a nearby tree and watch me very closely as I worked in the garden. I’d try to be careful and not bother the nest too much, but I couldn’t help but snap a few photos whenever I had the chance—then get out of the way. I put some oranges and food around for mom and dad as a special treat, they were working so hard feeding those little guys.

By Friday I was amazed at how much they’d grown. I really hadn’t even completely realized how big they had gotten until I compared the new photo (see photo 2) to the one taken just a few days before when I’d first found them. One had been kicked out of the nest by his brothers and sisters that afternoon and I put him back in (it’s OK, I looked it up and that’s what the bird Web sites said to do). He felt about as light and small as a ping pong ball as I picked him up. I knew they would have to be watched closely for the next week and so would our dogs. The only reason I knew he was out was because our dog Dougal was curious about him. Little did I realize that by “next week” I meant “the next few days”...

In my reading about cardinal nestlings I found out that they should start their attempts to fly at about 7 to 13 days (9-10 days average). Well, by Saturday afternoon—yes, they were only 6 days old—my little überbirdies had already started to fledge. I was so proud...and stunned. Saturday afternoon my husband and I checked the nest, looked at each other, checked the nest again, then started looking around the yard. We didn’t have to go very far to find them, fully feathered with cute and fuzzy little gray plumes—yes, you read that correctly, and I know you just looked back at photo 2 taken just the day before—and sitting about 8 inches up from the ground on the lower part of the small fence surrounding my garden. You could have knocked us over with a baby cardinal feather. I wanted to take more photos but was afraid to get too close and scare the little guys (or get scared myself if mom or dad decided to take my eagerness out on my head). I figured it was stressful enough being out of your comfy little nest learning the gigantic task of flying. But I am amazed, no doubt you are, too.

It’s been just over a week since we started this little adventure, and now they are (almost) completely on their own. I still see them in the mornings, practicing their flight around in the trees surrounding “home,” mom and dad still bringing them tasty worms and bugs wherever the little guys want to land and take a rest. It is a beautiful thing, but those kids, they grow up so fast.

~Grace

Who's your momma?

As a parent of two young children, ages 7 and 3, I am starting to see the value in having mommy cards. For those of you that don't know what a mommy card is, it is a card you receive after you pass the test of not yelling at your kids in the grocery store for a whole week. Not really, though we should get some sort of reward for this!

A mommy card is something fairly new to the playground. It is basically a "business" card for mom. You have your name and your children's names with your contact information. Between school, daycare, karate, soccer, and all the other things my kids are into, I have a very hard time remembering the names of the parents of other children.

Mommy cards are perfect when you are trying to plan play dates, sleepovers, carpooling and countless other things. You aren't trying to find a scrap of paper to write a phone number on or, in my case, trying to act like you remember the parent's name!

I have seen some very cool mommy cards. You can put your children's photos on them, allergy and emergency contact information, or really anything that you feel other parents should know.

I really hope this trend continues to grow. Who knows, maybe one day we will let daddies get cards, too! Maybe :-)

~Raydra

Oh, did I mention? You can get mommy cards printed at Insty-Prints!

Spring Is In Full Force, and I Love My Garden

I wanted to write this Ink Blot over a month ago when the first signs of Spring were in the air—when I saw the first flowering tree stretch its long arms and show off its beauty. I am not a winter person; I don’t do well with cold weather. I love the idea of hibernation. Why can’t I be a bear? Why can’t I spend my entire winter snuggled in a warm spot, living off my own body fat? I run from house to car, from car to work, teeth chattering and with a constant chill I seem to pick up around November and can’t shake off until March comes along and kicks winter’s booty out of my way. And then the hotter it gets, the happier I am. I don’t mind sweltering Augusts at all. So no doubt at this point you realize, I am a happy gal right now.

I woke up a couple of weeks ago to, what I consider, a wonderful surprise. My single little zucchini plant in my lovely veggie garden had, not one, but two gorgeous big yellow blooms. I planted a small garden at the beginning of spring and have been babying it since. I’m very excited about it since it’s my first real garden since my Dad planted a garden every year as I grew up. Oh, I’ve had potted gardens, patio gardens, big planters with a single tomato or pepper plant—but nothing like I have this year. Every day after work (every day the ground is dry enough, that is) I crawl around it, up and down the rows on my hands and knees pulling up weeds, picking away the bad bugs, talking to each and every plant (speaking Spanish, of course, to my Cuban oregano plant in my herb garden), and cheering their individual growth. And now, it appears, I am starting to see the results of the time and effort. I’ve got a few fat, green tomatoes getting bigger every day, corn stalks up to my shoulder, and pea plants climbing their cages what seem like at least a foot every day. Not to mention pepper plants covered in flowers, okra plants that have finally decided to give some of the other guys a run for their money and actually become more than a little green stick, eggplants, an assortment of squashes, herbs, strawberries, lettuces, broccoli, carrots, onions, yummies, yummies, and more yummies. As I watch each fruit or veetable ripen, I can’t wait to pick it and sink my teeth into it. From the looks of things, soon I’ll get to pick a particular chubby green tomato that has to start turning red at any moment since it will be as big as my head by next week. I thought for awhile that I may, one day, get to taste on of my strawberries, but when I notice them turning red in the mornings as I leave for work, undoubtedly I come home to the Curious Case of the Missing Red Strawberry. I just figured my husband was enjoying their juicy deliciousness, but when I asked him he just laughed and said, “It wasn’t me!” So I guess somebunny—or somebirdie—is keeping his beady little eye on my garden just as sharply as I am. Someone has a sweet tooth!

So here we are finishing up May, with more Spring ahead and Summer still to come. I know that this year, for quite a while yet, I’ll have plenty of tasty veggies and fruits—if my hungry little friend decides to show any generosity—to keep my and my husband’s bellies full, and maybe even some to share! I think I’ll take a batch of fresh garden peas up to the Halls of Insty to share with my Super Family. Anyone else wanna stop by and give peas a chance? Peas, love, and happiness. Peas out, my friends. :-P

~Grace

Fish & Flicks

Friday some of the Insty GRLs decided to get together and show some support for our movie industry. You are quite aware of what is going on locally with films and this is, of course, a really big deal for our area. Insty-Prints has been proud to be involved with quite a few of the production companies, individuals, and movies themselves. One of these is the full-length feature film, The Last Lullaby, directed by Jeffrey Goodman. Jeffrey is a local and shot all of his movie locally. His local premiere was the first weekend of May and we were excited to be able to support him. I don’t want to give anything away about the film, but I must say that The Last Lullaby was well-paced and it was exciting to see so much of our area—Shreveport and the surrounding towns—on the big screen. I highly recommend that you take the opportunity to see it yourself. It was only showing a few days at Regal Boardwalk, but Jeffrey is hoping to have a larger release on more screens around the nation soon. Don’t miss out on your chance when it comes.

It’s always fun to get together with the GRLs and get out of the office. The other night we had a blast. Some of us were really jonesing for some good sushi, so we all started the night out at Ichiban. We were not disappointed, good sushi was exactly what we got. I also have to share with you the terribly mysterious little statement from inside my fortune cookie. “If you develop the habits of success, you will make success your habit.” Hmmm...I guess now that I’ve read this fortune cookie, I can consider this fortune cookie read. Apparently Yoda, after retirement from Jedi-Mastering, has decided on a stint in fortune-cookie writing: Raydra’s fortune? “Do or do not, there is no try.” Okayyyyyyyy...With our tummies full and our fortunes, umm, told, we headed out to Cheesecake Bistro for cocktails. Again, no disappointment. We had a blast!

Speaking of summer movies, call me a big ol’ nerd—I won’t deny that I am—but Star Trek is going to be the highlight of the season’s blockbusters for me! I’m also looking forward to my chance to see Wolverine—no surprise that comic book movies make the Super Family’s Amazing Grace a very happy girl. My husband has already seen it and says it was awesome. With Terminator Salvation, Transformers II, Peter Jackson’s District 9, The next Ice Age movie, G.I. Joe, and a bunch of other big ones coming out, it should be another good summer for cinema, no doubt there will be something to see every weekend. Year One starring Jack Black will also be out, another film shot locally. With so much to see and do, I’d better push away from my computer’s keyboard on my roly-poly office chair and get started. Maybe I’ll see you at the theater.

Now that I’ve finished this Ink Blot, I can consider this Ink Blot finished.

~Grace

So Long, Farewell

It’s my first time to blog on our Web site here and, incidentally, it will also be my last.  That’s right, today I have some big news to share…I’m leaving Insty!  Don’t worry, they’re not downsizing and giving me the boot because of the economy, we are parting on good terms.  I’m becoming a truck driver.  No, just kidding, I’m actually moving to Kansas to work on a farm.  OK, I’m joking, I’m joking!  The truth is, I have been working full time and going to school part time for several years—longer than I care to mention—so I am leaving Insty-Prints to pursue my education full time and finish that up, FINALLY!

When I walked into Insty-Prints—2 years ago this month—to start my new job, I knew absolutely nothing about printing.  Like many of you probably do, I imagined that there was a little tiny printer made just for business cards that spit them out at their little tiny size, someone put them in a box, and voila!  Business cards = done.  In truth, some papers come in huge sheets, some wider than a twin bed, and then we cut them down to manageable sizes that can go through a printer/press, depending on what we need.  Business cards get printed on regular old letter-size paper—10 business cards to a sheet—and then cut down to fit in your wallet.  Don’t even get me started on paper.  If paper types occupied the entire space of the U.S., my knowledge was limited to the state of Rhode Island.  Maybe just the state capital.  There are different weights, textures, colors…all kinds of things to take into account, some of which I still don’t understand. 

Probably, though, the most challenging thing I’ve encountered here at Insty-Prints is not any of the specific knowledge I’ve had to conquer, but the art of explaining these things—things that are sometimes technical and filled with industry jargon—to other people, normal people like you, who don’t work in printing.  Consider, for instance, one of my favorite memories… a gentleman was looking for pricing on business cards, where more ink colors means more cost.  He was thinking he could get a card with his photo on it and that would be a three-color card.  His rationale was that he himself was one color and then his outfit in the picture was maroon and silver, so that’s two more colors…right?  Unfortunately, we humans are not just colored in with a flesh tone crayon, there’s shading and shadowing, not to mention our eyes, lips, hair and teeth, are all different colors.  So if you ever want to get your photo printed, that’s going to be full color, friends.

Needless to say, I have had a lot of fun here. I’ve learned so many things and made a lot of new friends—fellow Insty family members and customers alike.  Saying goodbye will be bittersweet, but I’m excited to start a new chapter in my life, and I’m sure I will be stopping by from time to time to visit the Halls of Insty! 

~Dani

Dreaming in Green

With St. Patrick’s Day quickly approaching, I  decided that I would make a little confession. I am completely and totally obsessed, and I mean OBSESSED, with Ireland. It didn’t start out as an obsession, but that is the monster it has become. It actually started as an “I’m sick of American politics, what country can I move to?” So I Googled “the best place in the world to live.” Apparently, a poll was taken by lots (I don’t remember how many) of people all over the world and overall Ireland has the happiest people. I know, all the rain? I wondered how someone could be happy with so much rain. But then I thought about all of the pubs in Ireland. Maybe most people just don’t realize it is raining or they just don’t care.

So, now that I had a place to move to, I decided I better do a little research and find out about my soon-to-be home. I started looking at photos and there is definitely a reason it is called the Emerald Isle. Because of all the rain that Ireland gets, everything is green all the time. It is breathtakingly beautiful! I also noticed in the photos that ruins are everywhere. You really can’t go many places in Ireland without some history slapping you in the face. It is quite amazing.

The more I researched, the more I wanted to actually move there. Even though my original reason for moving has somewhat subsided, I still want to live there. When I informed my husband that we needed to sell the house, the cars, the furniture, the kids (just kidding, I am keeping the kids), and everything else we owned and move to Ireland, he looked at me like he usually does when I have some big crazy scheme that I am obsessed with and have to do immediately. Did I mention that I am very impatient and when I decide to do something I want to do it right now?

Anyway, we discussed it a little more and he said that we needed to visit before we decided to move. WHAT?!? I was not expecting that answer. Leave it to my husband to be rational. So I decided to make the compromise and we will visit before we move. So now I enter the planning phase of the trip. I don’t know if most of you realize it, but it is very expensive to travel to Ireland. I signed up for every travel e-newsletter you can get. I know that any day they are going to send me an email about a one-time special vacation package to Ireland that will be the deal of the century.

While waiting for my deal of the century email, I was perusing a mailer about continuing education classes at a local college. Would you believe that someone was teaching a class entitled “Discover Ireland”? I almost broke my neck trying to get to the phone to register. The class was eight weeks of absolute heaven for me. The teacher was actually Irish and had a wonderfully twisted sense of humor. Apparently that is how most Irish humor is. (Boy am I going to fit in.) I learned about Irish history, Irish towns, Irish pubs, and everything Irish you can think of. It was a wonderful experience for me and made my obsession even stronger. I have bought countless books on Ireland, I have been trying to learn Gaelic, and let me say that is not an easy task, I listen to Irish music, I bought my husband a bottle of Irish whiskey for Christmas, and it goes on and on. Everyone around me is probably sick to death of it. But that is the sad story of an obsession.

Well, the story isn’t over. I am still planning my trip. I hope to go in the fall for my 10-year wedding anniversary. I just know that once we get over there my husband will want to stay and just send for the kids!

And my last thought as I am gazing at my Ireland desk calendar is that St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish. He was British!

~Raydra

Beauty in the Woods

I’m back! Maybe this time I’ll be less wordy.

Well, we have now entered 2009 and have a few weeks under our belts…how are those resolutions holding up? This year I chose to not do the resolution thing, rather I chose to call them goals. At least I feel better about the sound of that than failing on a resolution. Goals seem to have a year-long sense, so if I slip up, I haven’t failed the resolution. Regardless of your preference, I hope you are still on track.

The upcoming year holds a few changes. First, we got a new President, and whether you voted for him or not he still needs us to support him as the country’s chosen leader. Next,
the Post Office is incorporating some more changes and a rate increase—so brace yourselves. One such change is the new move update requirement for all bulk mailings, if it is not done some of your postage discounts will be lost. Your list will have to be NCOA certified within 95 days of the list’s usage.

The local deer season just recently closed. Yes, I am a hunter (or at least I call myself one from time to time); however, this year for me was a bit slow. Even with that I feel I made up for it with some of the foliage photos I was able to capture. No, they aren’t edible, I know, but it still passes the time for a slow hunting year. Slow hunting years present the opportunity to observe things you might not otherwise see or hear. For example, one day while watching the sun creep up over the trees I began to listen closely to the day waking. It’s interesting to me that the first birds I usually hear are crows breaking the silence of the morning, clearing their voices for the day of constant chatter. Other birds soon began to chime in and move from tree to tree shaking the dew off the still remaining leaves as they bound through the branches in search of breakfast. Occasionally, large groups of cardinals will converge on the area and fill the air with the flurry of the males’ bright red plumage contrasted with the females’ more pale presentation, all accompanied by their constant chirp. Squirrels begin their descent from the tree tops and forage for whatever nuts they can secure from the trees and on the ground, barking at anything that ventures into their buffet area. As the day warms all seem to grow tired and retreat for what seems like nature’s siesta; I imagine it is the youth of the various species that persist throughout the day. Afternoon settles into evening and a second rush ensues as the daytime woodland creatures prepare to settle in for the night. And as the day began, so it ends. The sun slowly settles in for its night of slumber, then, strangely enough, the crows close the day as they began—seemingly clearing their throats…and then, quiet.

~ Jerry

Our Basketball Fan

Recently one of our wonderful customers—Candace at Cook, Yancey, King & Galloway—was kind enough to share some much-appreciated Centenary Gents basketball tickets with the team here at Insty-Prints. Thank you, Candace!!!

Another wonderful customer—Donna B from Centenary—snapped this "Insty Fan" photo of our four-color pressman, Richard, and passed it along to us for us to enjoy...and now we pass it to you. Thanks, Donna B!!!

We appreciate YOUR support. Insty customers are the best!

Fishing & Photography in Canada

When it was asked of me to write an Ink Blot for our new Insty Web site, the task seemed a little daunting. After all, I had heard of blogging and all kinds of stories associated with it but was still uncertain exactly what it was. So I decided to investigate the phenomenon to a point that I would at least have some sense of what it was and how to do it. Do you know what I found? There is seemingly no right or wrong way to do it; I found blogs that covered every spectrum of life and profession that I could imagine and some I couldn’t have imagined. So with that being said here goes…

With the start of school on the horizon—sooner for some, later for others (my wife is a teacher, and when she starts getting ready for school, it’s getting close)—I began to think about the first report most elementary school-aged kids have to write each year, “What I did on my summer vacation.” I don’t remember ever having to write a report like this but it seems to be popular, and this was the subject suggested by our head designer, Grace.

In late June, early July I was gone for two weeks. It’s been a long time since I have taken a vacation that long. The first week I went to the North Central area of Saskatchewan Canada on a father/son camping and fishing expedition. This was my second time to go with my son and his Denver-based church. I flew into Denver to meet up with our group of 23, arriving around midnight instead of the originally scheduled 9:30 p.m. We then got up at 3:30 Friday morning to begin the 23.5-hour drive to Missinipi, Saskatchewan, Canada. Yes, you read that correctly—23.5-hour drive! Why, you may ask, would I fly to Denver and then ride 23.5 hours in a van? The answer is, I don’t know! Camaraderie perhaps?

With all the trouble I had with flights getting to Denver, the last thing I expected once we arrived in Missinipi was flight delays. Yes, additional flight delays! It appears they failed to put our group on the flight schedule. Let me backup here a little; once we arrived in Missinipi we were supposed to catch a float plane to fly about 25 miles into the back country to a lake called Mountney. We were supposed to take off at 5:30 a.m., yet we did not leave until 11:00.

Eventually, we all got to the island and set up camp—we were tent camping, as you might have guessed. The islands are very rocky, mostly granite with veins of quartz running through them. I am sure there are other types of rock as well, but as I am not a geologist, this is about all can offer about them. There was also a lot of tundra growth on the islands. In some areas it can be as much as a foot deep and makes for good padding under the tents. We thought we had mosquitoes in Louisiana—when you step off into the tundra they are everywhere! In fact, you can lay in your tent during the evening and hear the chorus of mosquitoes singing in the surrounding woods. Unless you get off the beaten path, though, they really are not a bother. 100% Deet helps, too.

For years I have listened to loons on those mood, or relaxation, CDs they sell in stores. To hear them in person really can’t quite compare. I enjoyed the evenings when everything got quiet except for the hum of the mosquitoes. That’s when the loons would begin their lonesome songs, occasionally accompanied by a frog or two. During this year’s trip, much like our trip in 2006, we saw a lot of bald eagles, some white pelicans, seagulls (a different variety than I have seen on the coast), several kinds of ducks, and an otter. This year, however, we even saw a black bear. I think the bear was probably the most exciting animal I saw on this trip, primarily because in the 15-plus years this group has been making this trip, this is only the second time one has been seen.

During the time of year we go, the sun never truly sets. It gets dusky dark at about 11:30 in the evening and then the sun pops back up around 3:30 in the morning. I have glow-in-the-dark strings in my tent to find its zippers, though on this trip it only gets dark enough to see the glow for about 45 minutes during the “night”. Sunrise photos have to be taken very early and I was very excited to get a couple of those.

The weather was very pleasant, from the upper 60s to the low 80s the whole time we were there. It is very similar to being on the coast as far as afternoon rains go; in the morning it may be bluebird skies but by midday it is almost overcast. It will rain about 15 to 20 minutes and the sun will come back out. The water is still quite chilly, and with that being said bathing in the lake is quite an experience! This year we brought along solar showers to give them a try—it’s better, but if it doesn’t get enough sun, only slightly!

The fishing this year was a little tougher the first part of week, as far as the walleye go. Within the first hour, though, I caught a 39” and a 40” pike—what a way to start a trip! On our last trip Dustin, my son, put it to me on the pike and walleye, but this year the tables turned a bit. The walleye were a little harder to figure out, but that, too, finally came around.

Each day began with breakfast and Bible study time. The food was pretty good: pancakes, eggs, sausage, biscuits, and French toast for breakfast; spaghetti, fish, and steaks for supper; and even a Thanksgiving meal on the last night, turkey and dressing! After supper on the last night, we had what was called a blessing time, where the fathers bless their sons. It really is quite moving, something I think fathers and sons should do more often. We also had a military flag retirement ceremony. The first time I experienced this, it, too, was quite amazing. I didn’t know what to expect or do, but one of our trip leaders collects flags throughout the year for just this occasion. One flag flies over the camp while we are there. When the ceremony begins, the sons all gather with another one of the leaders and they fold the flag properly and then place it on a grate made of wood with the other flags that have been brought. Four of the older sons carry the flags and place them on a fire. During the time the fire consumes the flags there is absolute quiet, and not hardly a move made by anyone. I stood and observed how respectful everyone was of what was taking place and then thought of our military, where they are and the sacrifice they are making and have made both in peace time and in war. It also made me appreciate more what I have in America.

The next morning it was time to leave. The planes began arriving at 5:30 a.m.—on time!—and we began the long journey home. When I eventually got back home after my week in Canada, I had to prepare for my family vacation. My wife, Cindy, and I headed out on our trip to Ft. Morgan, Alabama. We were on the road by 7:00 a.m. Thank goodness, no airplanes! We got there on time.

~Jerry

 

Website Launch

Everyone here at Insty-Prints couldn’t be more excited to launch our new, improved, gorgeous (doesn’t every parent think their child is gorgeous?) little Web site. Just look at her, she has my eyes—hopefully, she’ll have yours! We were one of the very first printers in the area to have a Web page, this little baby’s predecessor (aww, look at her…isn’t she pretty?). But, like a lot of other sites out there, she just sat there—goin’ outta style faster than Hammer’s pants—despite us spending a lot of time & moolah trying to make something happen.

Then we got lucky.

We got some in-house peeps who were ready and willing to make some changes, recharge, and reenergize what we had started all those years ago. Our General Manager Jerry Ramsey (the super robot man—look at his “photo” on our staff page…cool, huh?) came up with the idea of developing a Web site (look at her cute little footers—she even gives you the weather…so smart!) with the capacity for anyone, anywhere to estimate cost and order a job online. That’s step 2 of our cunning little plan. We are at step 1. (She’s gotta learn to walk before she can run.) So here’s the new look, one that’ll (hopefully) make you smile. Are you smiling? It’s very becoming on you. We particularly like the way your eyes crinkle a bit at the edges.

Next we would up Raydra Hall and let her loose. (Back to the staff page, she’s that cute little redhead—pinkhead? orange? black?…what color is her hair today?) The girl’s as creative as her hairstyles (seriously, is that grape or eggplant? Have you ever seen an aubergine mohawk?) and has a lot of experience building Web sites. Raydra got to work to make our new site (shiny! shiny! shiny!) informative, fun, and attractive (you do find us attractive, don’t you?) and Jerry searched deep to find a supplier with the capacity to enable our customers to order online. He did.

So here are our objectives:
•  To help customers like you in every way we can
•  To be (always) fun, exciting, and informative
•  To enable you to estimate the cost of your job and order online (at first a few products—believe us, it’s coming—then more and more as we gain experience in this new area)
•  To prove that we are the very best (we try so hard, y’know?)

So please check us out. Come back regularly. And let us know what you think. We need your input.