10 JIGS

10 of us Jefferson Iowa Girls went to Paton (pay'-ton) Iowa for lunch. Paton Iowa? A town of 230? There is quite the story in Paton with an entrepreneur hitting it big with an idea and becoming a player in the world market and then sharing his wealth with the small town of Paton where his factory began. It proves that if you build it they will come. So we enjoyed our meal at the 209 main restaurant in Paton where  a class of '64 reunion was also taking place.
The conversation was lively and the food delicious.
Janet Smith was in the class of '61 with the rest of us and she has one of the finest minds and sharpest wits of anyone I know. Janet has always been an unpretentious person and for some reason, I do not remember why, she was labeled with the nickname "Granny" way back when we were all in grade school. And it has stuck.Today she was telling us that she takes medicine for seizures but it is actually for her butt. Of course we asked why and she told us it was because she had trouble "twerking". And then added she could twerk but only on one side! That brought such a visual to me that I could hardly stop laughing. I am chuckling just reading this. Most conversations with Janet are like this. She is a jewel! I will point her out in the pictures below.

L to R,Toni Roberts, Mardel Stream and Janet (Granny) Smith.

Donna Lawson,Sue Lucht, Pat Ruznak and Mickey Starr

Andi Blume,Dona (Pauline) Bortz, Toni

Toni. Mardel and Janet

Always Racing?

Fall tripped into winter?

Colleen and I have been stymied lately on our walks due to cold and wet weather. Cold is anything less than 50 degrees. We are both hot house flowers. 

But despite that we did attend a book signing in Churdan Iowa on Thursday. Below is a picture of the book and the whole thing was very interesting. I came home and purchased the kindle version of her book. 

All I Could Be: The Story of a Woman Warrior in Iraq

Check it out on Amazon.

The above event was held at the St. Patrick's Church in rural Churdan.

Beautiful church in the Iowa countryside

 Above and below are the bathroom facilities

Confessional

My choice of pictures may give some pause for thought. It is what it is and take from it what you choose. 

Bird Watching

Butch and I have taken up bird watching now that we have our new room finished. It is a shame we have missed these deleted ones.

A drone’s eye view of Jefferson Iowa

At 2:20 into the video is a glimpse of the bike trail. I wish it would go all the way to the bridge!
Barb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9HEw6blJT0

A drone’s eye view of the depot, the bell tower and more
September 7, 2014
Greene County Development Corp executive director is working with a volunteer committee developing a county-wide marketing plan.

It’s very likely a video will be developed as a marketing tool.

Paxton explained at GCDC’s annual meeting last week that following the GCDC-sponsored town hall meeting in August, Troy Powers approached him and told him he’d like to shoot some video. Powers went out that same evening with his quadcopter drone, and later sent the following video to Paxton:

Still wet in Iowa

The sun was shining on our walk this morning but it does not seem to last much longer than 45 minutes. You have to get up early to see the sun.  And now it looks like this again. It isn't raining but looks like it could at any minute. The wooly worms are walking with us. Dark ones I have been told indicate a hard winter. I do not know what kind of winter this fellow predicts.

My paint job seems to have held up but it is too muddy to find out for sure. The temperature is normal enough now but they say cold is on the way. I am just plum full of good news today. 

Rain, Rain go away!

This morning we, Colleen and I, managed to get our walk in on the trail after a 6 day break. The sun was shining and it was perfect weather. My plan was to get the 3rd coat of paint on the steps. When I started I noticed that the second coat did not withstand the torrential rains of yesterday. So perhaps you could say I put the 2nd coat on again! I felt really good about it. The sun shining and a light breeze gave me high hopes for success. Rain was predicted but not until late in the day. Late in the day translated to 2:00 pm, a scant 3 hours from when I finished painting. Not knowing if it was a bad or good decision I covered what I could of the steps with plastic and then anchored it with some boards.And then the clouds gathered and the rain came and it has rained and rained and rained. And it is still raining.
A couple of bright spots in the day were a visit from a classmate who lives in Rippey IA, Toni Roberts. She and her husband recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Toni makes really delicious egg muffins and she treated us with some.
Another bright spot was 2 pieces of Keri's key lime pie. So egg muffins and key lime pie brightened our day.
What Butch did: Played golf and burned scraps and branches before the rain.
And he called a guy to install new gutters.

A Day at the Fair

Omelets at the Chop, Chop Cafe.

These pieces are made from discarded wood. The tall one on the right is boxelder wood.

These pieces are smooth as silk and look like stone.

Norma Cooklin Photo entries

Welded artwork

Norma C. pulled in yet another outstanding award for her winter painting..

I loved this birdhouse and planned to come back and buy it but when I did it was gone. It is made from electrical boxes and coat hooks.

These ponies were very popular. The kids can work the peddles and it gives them the feel of riding a real pony. I heard the guy say they sell for $275. Aw c'mon grandpa buy me a pony!

This guy appeared to be run by remote control but the back of his leg sure looked like a persons leg.

When you get tired at the fair you can ride the shuttles. $1 a ride or $2 for all day. We rode and rode and people watched. It was great fun.

This was my view this morning from my kitchen window. Pretty in Pink!

The ladies having fun at the fair

Leslie Cleveland, Norma Cooklin, Vickie Small and Patti Palmberg
Barb Brooker had already left for home.

Grandpa Gary says...

Elise( age 4 ) finds a way to make me laugh every weekend with how she talks. This morning she was helping me and I told her that brother helped me the same way the day before. She informed me that "you can have my help since I am the one that is available."