Beautiful day for a ride

Rode to the bridge and back. It was a nice cool morning after last night's storm and rain. The birds are happy and everything looks green and clean. I like early morning light for photos so I took a few. May look less than spectacular to most but I love every inch of the trail so it is all beautiful to me.

                                                   Raccoon River

 The rock commemorates the place where 8 railroad men lost their lives many years ago. I remember it every time I pass the rock.

 Raccoon River Valley

Tuesdays are special

Tuesday Dick and Joanne Jorgensen came to Jefferson to pick up dress-up clothes for their granddaughter, visiting and chicken dinner at the casino.
From L. Jerilynn,Joanne,Butch, Leo, Dick and Pete.

 Leo and Dick shooting the breeze .

On Tuesdays the casino restaurant offers a fried chicken dinner, potatoes and gravy, vegetable and roll to seniors for $5.34 each. They draw a good sized crowd for this. And then you can play for free in the casino if you get in on the tournament. It only happens on Tuesdays. You are required to have a players card and then register for the tournament. No fee for this. They have 8 players at a time and for 3 minutes you hit the play button as fast as you can with one hand and touch the screen to break a balloon every time one appears with your other hand. The winner with the most points wins $100 and if your score holds up for the day you win another $100.

Coordination, observation and speed!

Bang that button, Pete!

Quick Ride

This morning I took a quick bike ride down to the river and back. When I do this it takes me the same length of time as it does to walk to the one-mile marker and back. About 45 minutes. The bike makes for a bit more of a workout. At least it feels that way.
I took some pictures with my phone and didn't carry my big camera. The picture quality is startling to me now. The phone is okay but not nearly as good as the camera.

Cactus update 2017

My sons gave me this cactus as a Mother's day gift in 2008 I am guessing. It first bloomed in 2010 and I remember because we were in New Orleans when it happened. I do not know why that helped me remember but for some odd reason it did. When I received the gift it was in a tiny 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 container. You have seen those very small cacti in Wal-Mart, right? Well, that is what it was. As it grew I repotted it several times and that is no easy feat I can tell ya. This last time I chose a large but shallow terra cotta planter and that has been its home for at least 3 years now. When we still carried it in the motorhome (shower) it would get shaken pretty good and it became off center but since they are less than pleasant to mess with I left it that way. The last two winters at least it has stayed home in the house and Jason has watered it a couple times through the season.

The cactus developed a couple of offshoots making it look even more off kilter and one day I decided to see if I could take the larger offshoot and replant it with the idea if it worked okay but if not that was okay too. Leather gloves are needed for this and I have some. I cleared some rocks and dug a shallow hole in the soil beneath snapped off the biggest shoot and anchored the best I could in the hole putting the rocks back around it for support. It had a nice ring of buds on it when I did this about 3 weeks ago now.
Two days ago I noticed it was blooming splendiferously!! I do believe this baby is going to make it!

The arrow is pointing to where I removed the offshoot

Close-up

Fathers Day

The waxing has waned. Butch finished it up yesterday.
Today we, Leo, Keri, Butch and I met Bill, Jo and their daughter Barb at Hotel Pattee for lunch today. Three brothers who are fathers and grandfathers.

Perry has a big bike!

I understand that the Perry Mac is a popular choice at the Hotel Pattee.