September 18, 2008

• The roofers are roofing!

  
  

  And making a lot of noise doing it!!

  
  

  They also have plastic draped over one side of the house to keep the old shingles from hitting the house when they drop them down.

  
  

  

  
  

  Can’t see out the southside windows or go out the side door.  It felt so claustrophobic at first, I escaped to the mall.  I am fine now, except for a light nagging headache—probably from the noise.

  
  

  Yesterday I said I would put up the pics from Ken’s brother’s party.  I lied—-well, not really, I just changed my mind.  I scanned in the newspaper picture and typed up the article that was written about Catalina’s birth.

  
  

  Here it is:

  
  

  

  
  

  Article on the front page of the Muscoda Progressive newspaper on Sept. 4, 2008.

  
  

   

  
  

  New Arrival at Eagle Cave Campground

  
  

   

  
  

          Catalina Marie Stuebs was born Tuesday, August 19 at 1:46 a.m.  She weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and measured 21 ½ inches.  Her parents are Jeff and Judy Stuebs of Eagle Cave Campground, Blue River—at least that is where they were at the time of the birth.  In about a week they will be calling some other location “home”.

  
  

          If you look back into the history of Eagle Cave, you will find the first wedding held in the cave 60 years ago.  But the owners of Eagle Cave and adjoining campground, Weston and Michelle Hanke, say the recent blessed event is the first birth on the site.

  
  

  In Their Own Words!

  
  

          The Stuebs tell their story in the following way:

  
  

          “We sold our home and businesses in Onalaska, Wisconsin in November of 2007 and moved into a 1982 Silver Eagle highway coach which we had converted to an RV.  Most of our traveling has been in the southwestern United States where we picked up work along the way.

  
  

          “When we found out we were pregnant in the spring, we decided we would come back to Wisconsin to be close to our other four children.  We knew we wanted a home (bus) birth.  (Gretta, now 14, was also a home birth).  No midwives were available in the LaCrosse area so in our search we found In Due Time Midwifery in Avoca.  In mid-August we moved to Eagle Cave Campground and had Gretchen Spicer and Lindsey Kross assist us in the birth of our seventh child, Catalina Marie.”

  
  

          But there is more to the Stuebs story than that.  When they were looking for a campsite for the birth, they talked with the Hankes, who were excited about the plan—which didn’t work out exactly as charted.

  
  

          The Stuebs arrived at Eagle Cave August 18^th with the baby expected to arrive in about a week.  But by 9:00 p.m., Judy was having contractions, and by 1:46 a.m. Tuesday the baby was born.

  
  

          The Stuebses, who have been married 25 yrs, are both natives of Wisconsin, Judy from a family of 15 and Jeff with one brother.  They had lived and worked for 20 years in the LaCrosse area.

  
  

          They decided to search for a simpler life.  They converted the bus to a home and Jeff, Judy, and their two children who still remained at home, Gretta, 14, and Kenny, 11, took to the road.

  
  

          Jeff, a sign painter, says with the new life, he works about half-time.  Some of their journeys are planned.  Others are the result of arriving at an intersection and deciding which way to go next. 

  
  

          Prior to the recent return to the LaCrosse area, Jeff had been working, painting signs for a PGA golf tournament at Des Moines, Iowa. 

  
  

          When they leave Richland County they will be helping move two daughters to Nashville, Tennessee.  The young ladies hope to strike it big in the country-western music business with their Katrina Rose act.

  
  

          From there the bus and family will roll on down the highway to a PGA tournament at West Palm Beach, Florida where Jeff will again be painting signs.

  
  

          From then on, their travels, which include home-schooling Gretta and Kenny, are not definite.  But that doesn’t seem to worry them as painted on the side of their bus home is Soar on Wings Like an Eagle,  part of a Bible verse.  The entire Isaiah 40:31 is painted across the rear of the bus, something that brings many honks as they lumber along at about 50 miles per hour, towing a car and a motorcycle.

  
  

          Jeff says their home on wheels, pulling the car and cycle, gets about 11 miles to the gallon.  They stay at various locations for a week, or two, or three, and then move on.

  
  

          Asked about handling the bus in traffic, Jeff says a week before last Christmas he piloted the rig down Rodeo Drive in Hollywood, towing his load and with bicycles hanging.  They attracted considerable gawking from fellow highway travelers but had no problems.  He smiles a bit when he says his brother claims he starts to hum the Beverly Hillbillies theme song whenever he sees the rig.

  
  

          Meanwhile, back at Eagle Cave Campground, Weston says he is going to name the birth campsite “Catalina” in honor of the baby.

  
  

         

  
  

   

  • 3:35 pm
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