Trail walkers

More Raspberries

Raspberries are abundant and ripe for the picking. Bring your berry bucket!

Donn Gordon, Jason Brooker, Peggy Gordon

My good friend Peggy Gordon!!

Sister Myrla's baby Hewy and cat tippy

Friend Sherry Pitzen from rural Hamburg Iowa sent these pictures of her husband Tony feeding the local deer.

It has been a busy week with activities every day. Today I dropped off my bedspread to be drycleaned. Only in a small town do you drop off your dry cleaning at J & J Meats & Catering! That struck my funny bone! I may even go back and buy some meat!! Peggy and I picked some raspberries along the bike trail...Butch and I bought two flat panel tv's to replace the head bangers we have in the motorhome. Like I say it has been a busy, busy week.

We enjoyed a wonderful rainbow a few days ago

Jason and Donn check out the iceberg

This is a figurine that spent many years at the bottom of the ocean aboard the Titantic. They gave each of us a ticket of one of the real passengers aboard the ship. It was interesting to find out the fate of the passenger whose ticket you were holding.

Jason, Laura, Donn, Peggy, Butch and I went to the Science Center in Des Moines to see the Titantic Exhibit. We started off with the IMAX presentation and the screen is the largest I have ever seen. Here Donn, Peggy and Jason are presenting the weather while Laura looks on.

At the Science Center in Des Moines

We got ever more creative with this feature at the Science Center in Des Moines. Jason is listening.

This is Butch if you can believe it!

Angel 

Class of '61 PHOTOS

I have put a Class of '61 folder on the Webshots site with the best of the pictures I took throughout the reunion and if others will send me their pictures I will add them as I receive them.
It was a great reunion and I enjoyed it more than any other
I have ever attended. We are all older and much more relaxed with ourselves and each other...or maybe it's just me!;-)
This reunion was spread out over three days and some might think that would be too long but with time comes a more relaxed connection and a better chance to learn more about each other. It was well planned and executed by all those in charge while the rest of us enjoyed all the fruits of their labors. Top notch in every way.

Class of '61

Jolene and Rozetta at the Jefferson Iowa Class of '61 Reunion -Friday Night at Johnny Hamiltons beautiful home. I will take more pictures today and if any of my classmates have pictures I could post please send them to me at keep.movin.on@gmail.com

Linda and Roger

Janet Smith and Linda Baker Wiley

The long and the short of it- Steve Melson and Michaele Patterson Bonenberger.

Kay Snow Taylor with John our host in the background

Sites 1 & 2 are open for business

We are located on site #3 at the Trailrider RV Park on the east side of Yale Iowa.

Mickey's Pita- Stands for Pain In The-A--.

Trailrider RV Park

The Trailrider RV park is a reality and we are in site number 3. We have electricity and sewer and we will have water soon. We have a different point of view from this spot. To the East is a cornfield and across the road we can see Marv and Judi's house and their horses; to the south and southwest is a farm and cattle and off in the distance, a mile away, I can see traffic on highway 4; Directly west is the town of Yale, the bike trail and the local farmers co-op; And north are grain bins and more cornfields. We are situated on a knoll which affords us a pleasant rural view all around.
Today we are headed back to Des Moines so Butch can finish up some electrical work for brother Leo. I will once again visit with Mickey while he is busy.
Tomorrow I am conducting a Swedish Weaving Class in Panora at the Ben Franklin store. Friday we will pull out of here and take our happy home to Jefferson for my class reunion. We will be boondocking at Leo's for a few days and then we will make our way back to Yale. So as you can see we are not doing too much that could be considered exciting but we are going about the business of living in an ordinary way...at least for us. If everyday were a party there would be nothing to look forward to. Till next time...

Waiting for rock

Sheeting goes down before the rock. It takes much less rock this way. Austin is in the picture and he has been much of the muscle to get this RV Park off the ground.

Marv's hoe is usually much larger than this one!!

Yesterday Marv, Judi and Butch and I went to Guthrie Center to help members of the Extension Service plant a garden at the local nursing home. We got to keep our tools.;-)

Biking

Went into Clive (Des Moines suburb) to visit friend Mickey while Butch did some electrical work for his brother Leo. Mickey and I found the Greenbelt bike trail and rode some. It is very close to her house, very canopied and runs along side Walnut Creek. It was a beautiful ride. This trail ties in with the Raccoon River Valley Trail that is 1/4 mile from the new RV park in Yale. So conceivably Mickey and I could hop on our bikes and visit each other instead of driving. That is if we could handle a 38 mile ride one way! I do have plans to rally my biking friends and plan some sort of bike outing. Maybe a a ride from Yale to Jefferson, have lunch at the Tea Garden, yes, in our stinky sweaty biking clothes, and then return to Yale. It would be a total of 36 miles. I think I can handle it. Tell me if you can.

Raspberries- There are oodles of raspberry bushes along the trail. They are not yet ripe but when they turn I will be there with a little berry bucket.

Iowa's Prairie Rose

Mulberry's-There are oodles of Mulberry trees along the trail

Lamb's ears

Trail Sights-Dill weed

Trail Sights-Babbling Brook

We are still boondocking in Yale. I may have to break down soon and go to a laundromat. We have a few more days of clothes yet. I could go buy new underwear!;-) Butch and I have been riding the bike trail going about 12 - 15 miles a day. Yesterday a deer spotted us and ran alongside the trail in front of us for a fair distance. She finally stopped and looked back at us to see if we were still in pursuit. She finally veered off but it was neat to have the escort for awhile. I have been escorted by butterflys before but never by a deer.

RV Park Progress

The RV park is coming along. We have been hung up a bit on water. For some reason we were not getting water in the well and Marv was perplexed as to why but finally decided perhaps he had dug too deep. It turns out he was correct from the conversation I am hearing out by the well pit. So it seems that obstacle has been overcome. We are also waiting for the electrical pedestals that were ordered last Wednesday. They should arrive very soon.Things are looking up.

Plastic bottle AFTER explosion

It took too long to explode so Jason helped it along by shooting it with a BB gun. LOUD

Take one plastic two liter bottle, fill about 2/3rds full with water, add dry ice and put the cap on very tightly, place in yard and get back. It will explode eventually and make a very loud noise

A little dry ice makes its way to the bird bath

Making Root Beer. Dry Ice is one of the ingredients.

Mike and his friend Cody computing. A going away party was held for Mike. He will be going to New Jersey to serve as a YMCA Camp counselor for the summer.

Jason saw this idea and copied it. I thought it made a clever "water feature".

After the parade we went to Boone IA to see 'the kids'. Jason and Laura have several nice displays in their yard this being one of them.

The pooper scoopers

It was cold but bearable.

Threshing Bee July 29th/30th