It is said a young man went off to war and the Oak tree grew around the plow he left in the field.

Plow in the Oak between Brayton and Exira Iowa.

Hitchcock House- near Lewis Iowa...see previous post.

Librarians' Internet Index

Librarians' Internet Index

Our motto: "Information You Can Trust." Librarians' Index to the Internet (LII) is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 14,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. LII is used by both librarians and the general public as a reliable and efficient guide to Internet resources."

Dragon Horse- Henry Doorly Zoo

Taken at the Lied Jungle at the Henry Doorly Zoo

Pine tree in the park at Hancock Iowa

Brother Leo has new kitties at his house.

Sister Myrla sent me this shot of her new puppy Hewy (4 Mo) making nice with Tippy the cat

Butch and I went to The Embers restaurant in Avoca to meet cousin Georgia Bair who was traveling home to Oskaloosa from her daughters place in Sioux City. It is always good to touch base with family.

Hitchcock House on the Underground Railway

Hitchcock House on the Underground Railway

If you are in Southwest Iowa make the Hitchcock House one of the area attractions to see.

Update

We are staying at the Dick and Leslie Cleaveland farm at Oakland Iowa and being treated like royalty. First night here we were fed some great Iowa steaks. It had been a very long time.
Yesterday we went to the zoo. It had been a very long time since we had done that as well. There have been many changes at the zoo in the six or seven years since we have been there but it is still recognizable as the great Henry Doorly Zoo we know and love.
My Internet connection is good enough to bring in the mail but not good enough to work with the 130 pictures I took at the zoo so look for them on the Webshots site a little later.
We are having a great time with Dick and Leslie and will be here a few more days.

Carla's Column

The Offenburgers may be the best thing to happen to Greene County in many,many years. Read Carla's top twelve
Offenburger.com

Best Buddies

Lexi and Gloria at Leo & Keri's house

Stormy weather

Last night I was deep in sleep about 11:30 PM while Butch was less so apparently as he heard someone knocking on our door. I got up but had difficulty getting my wits about me to open the door for a park ranger who informed us storms were on their way and would arrive about midnight. Strong winds (70+MPH) and lightning, posssible hail and we should secure things. I was rattled but tried to go back to bed and sleep...It didn't work for quite a while. It was a good drill for us however as when someone comes to the door in the middle of the night we should open the window to talk to them rather than the door in case they are unsavory characters. I will try to remember that next time. Also, the storm wasn't much. The knock on the door and the subsequent stress was far worse than the storm.

TODAY'S QUOTE

"I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one
hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult."

--E. B. White

Wiley Brooker of Lees Summit Missouri longs to go outside.

One of the local kitties

The view from our window as we are parked in Leo and Keri's driveway

Iowa's state bird the goldfinch. This one happens to be in Leo and Keri Brooker's back yard

Gary, Susan and Amanda

I took this picture of my cousin Donna last Wednesday.

Dilemna: We would like to stay in central Iowa for awhile preferably in an RV park but they are few and far between. There is one at Waukee that is $480 a month with electricity on top of that...sorry folks that will not happen! There is one west of Jefferson but that means driving EVERYWHERE because it is totally rural. There is a Cutty's in Des Moines but they quickly informed me they are a members only park. The Don Williams park at Ogden was going to be the one until we found out they do not have sewer hookups and when we are parked for any length of time we consider it a necessity SO it is beginning to look like we will be in Jefferson at the same mobile home park we have stayed at in the past. That is if we can get the electricity hooked up without costing a small fortune. The bike trail is still a big draw for me and there are two inexpensive golf courses nearby and there are a few other things Jefferson has going for it. So we will see... Now about our Internet connection...we have been using WiFi and other ways of connecting than our Verizon connection for 6 months. I have kept putting it on vacation so I would have it for back up but I am almost ready to take the leap and do away with it entirely. So things they are a changing...a little.

Myrla in RC Iowa says,"Stray cat that likes 2 sleep in our tree !! Anyone know a little old lady that needs a nice cat ? lol"

Sleeps in Tree

 

Myrla's new baby and she says, "Hewy growing like a weed !!"

Wired for Books



For many years, most of the best writers of the English language found
their way to Don Swaim's CBS Radio studio in New York. The one-on-one
interviews typically lasted 30 to 45 minutes and then had to be edited
down to a two minute radio show. Wired for Books is proud to make these
important oral documents publicly available for the first time in their
entirety. Listen to the voices of many of the greatest writers of the
twentieth century.

This is Fantastic!!!!!

Hometown for funeral

After 10 months of travel we have made our way back to hometown Jefferson Iowa. It was a little ahead of schedule due to the death of my cousin Sherry Conant. We will be attending services for her today. Slininger-Rossow Funeral Home

TODAY'S QUOTE

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can
steer yourself any direction you choose."

--Dr. Seuss

Baby Eagles

See baby eagles in their nestHere's something you don't see everyday -- a close up live webcast of an eagle's nest, complete with baby eagles. Check in here during the day to watch the progress of these youngsters and their parents in a nest somewhere in British Columbia. You may need to watch awhile: the tiny birds can look like a blob of bird feathers when they're asleep.

We purchased and installed a drawer for the basement. Some higher end motorhomes come with them but us po'folk have to buy our own. They are pricey but we can make much better use of our storage this way.

See Ya Down The Road

There is an enormous amount of info on this site for anyone considering the full timing lifestyle or even those who are merely curious how we 'git er dun'. They pretty much do everything we do with similar equipment.
See ya down the road

Our house...it is a very fine house.

Friend Peggy's grandson Austin

Sister Myrla's new baby

We are in Peculiar MO once again and paid up for two weeks. Butch is hooking up as I write this. From here we will be headed to SW Iowa to get caught up on our annual doctor stuff. Butch and I each take one prescription medication so we must get re-upped for the next year. And Dr. Berry will look us over and proclaim us "Good to Go" for the year.

Goatsbeard with Ladybug...The following pictures were all taken on my walk yesterday.

Mountain Laurel

Cows cooling their heels

Crown Vetch

These three women each drive their own motorhome and have traveled together full time for the past seven years. Starting from the left their names are Lee, Flip and Phyllis. They are in Carthage for a time because Lee's daughter bought a place near here and they came to help her get it livable. They have not planned their next move but I am sure this adventurous threesome will come up with something new and exciting.

I am easily entertained...this program I use to post pictures on the blog also lets me send a picture of my computer screen so I am showing you my current computer wallpaper.

I have an appreciation for beautiful trees.

A gaggle of geese with goslings...say that three times fast!

A new friend I met on my walk today. I assume it is a green snake? Sure was a vivid green!

This has been our view a good deal of the time last few days.

Good friend Shirley Franey took this picture of Butch and I last winter

Yesterday we had a very dark wet day pretty much all day. I managed to get a walk in on Thursday but missed it yesterday entirely. This morning we had a window of sunshine and Butch went with me for our walk. He kept wanting to cut it short. I said we could've really cut it short and stayed home!! It always feels good to get that walk done for the day. Clouds are once again rolling in so outdoor activity is likely done for this Saturday.

I'm a Porsche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win. Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Drug Interactions

Here is a great website where you can list all the meds you are taking (even OTC drugs) & get a report on whether or not any of them interact badly with each other.
http://www.walmart.com/pharmacy/drug_search.jsp?adid

Computin'

We are still in Carthage Missouri, waiting for parts. We are paid up for another week so we are taking care of a myriad of little tasks. Feels rather good to get things caught up and taken care of. The parts we are waiting for are a new automatic sensor for the awning, a new leveling jack to replace one that leaked a little and a new radio because the other one would only play about 6 tracks on a CD before giving us an error message. I have been getting inquiries as to what we are doing and where we are so figured I best do some catching up with the blog. It is GREAT to hear from those of you who wonder about us and fill me in on your activities.

Current Swedish Weaving Project

Red Monks Cloth-Southwest Memory Pattern using Turquoise, Black and white Yarn