Jefferson/Scranton High School Band. They have been very, very good for as long as I can remember

Saturday we attended the Bell Tower Parade in Jefferson Ia. It was cold!!!

Reference, Facts, News ... Free and Family-friendly Resources

An all-purpose-search-for-anything site. Thanks Joanna
Reference, Facts, News ... Free and Family-friendly Resources

I took this shot from the driveway of the new RV park. The first yellow sign is a bike sign denoting the trail.

We rode to Herndon the other day. It will be the first time I have been near a bike trail where I had a choice of going either direction.

Angel does want out once in a while but not too often. She must have become accustomed to being confined.

Looking north from driveway entrance. We will be moving up the hill a bit when things are all in place.

This is one of the hydrants in the foreground and you can see the Smith horses across the road. There will be horse boarding ability connected with this RV park. Marv & Judi travel with their horses on a regular basis and are always looking for places such as this to stop.

Looking northeast from the driveway and toward Marv and Judi's house

The work has begun on the RV park so these are the before pics. This one looks southeast from the driveway.

Judi brought me these beautiful roses and you all know what a sucker I am for flower pictures.

In Yale

Butch and I are in Yale Iowa on the Marvin Smith Farm located 1/4 mile east of the Raccoon River Valley Bike trail. We are semi boondocking meaning we have electricity but not sewer and water. Marv is very quickly putting together a small RV Park and Butch is helping him with the endeavor. As fast as Marv is moving on this it will be put together in no time. I hope Butch can keep up!!
Right now our closest neighbors are several large grain bins. I tell you that in case you want to meander this way and find us nestled amongst our neighbors.;-)
Stop on by and watch the progress of a new RV park.

Butch hits one for our team. It was a good day on the course for Butch and I. We shot an 84 for 18 holes and that is 20 shots less than last years score for us. The weather was top notch and the best of company made for a fun and memorable day.

Randy hits a long one.

Sherri waits her turn to putt.

Sherri Clark, Nishna Hills 2005 womens champ, sets up for her last drive of the day.

Picture perfect form for Jenny

In this picture we are on our last hole for the day.

Chaos

Things have been hectic, chaotic but fun the past couple of weeks. We got cleared at the doctors office and proclaimed 'good to go'. We have visited with a multitude of friends and also missed connecting with a few too.;-( Butch went with friend Bill G. to a Seniors Tour golf tournament in Des Moines to watch the big boys play. Today Butch and I play in the Faultless 2 ball tournament in Atlantic with friends Sherri and Randy. Tomorrow we go to West Des Moines to help my most long term friend Mickey move into her newly purchased home. Tuesday we go to Yale Iowa to friends Marv & Judi Smith's place to get going on a new project. There will be much more about that later but count on us being there for the summer. It has been fun with much more fun to come. 

I love trees!

At Lake Anita State Park- She didn't seem to be the least concerned about us.

Main road to Yosemite closed indefinitely - Yahoo! News

Main road to Yosemite closed indefinitely - Yahoo! News

Hmmm-May have to go see what this looks like!

We are back in Anita at the lake. We have doctor appointments in the morning and afternoon which will give us a better idea of where we might be headed from here. I am catching up on laundry and Butch is playing golf so we will be at least half ready for the 2 ball tournament we are in on Sunday.

While we were in Oakland we went to nearby Avoca and looked up my neice Angie and her husband Jeff. We had not seen them for a couple of years so it was good to get caught up on their latest doings.

The past week has been a busy one. We decided to keep a low profile over the holiday weekend and stay out of the party atmosphere at the state parks. We parked at Magnolia friends place outside of Oakland Iowa- Dick & Leslie Cleaveland. We planned to stay a short time but ended up having so much fun we stayed a week! We went to the zoo, and to a couple of ballgames, ate some wonderful meals, and played "Rats". Berwyn and Erma, Dick's folks, shared some garden radishes with us and that was another treat of the week.

Leslie's Cherry and Cream flowers

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"