Fall Pics from Walks

 Locust Tree

Praying Mantis

Quick Update

Hey, I have to hurry because it is warm out there and going to reach 80's today, probably for the last time this year. So I must get that walk in. It has been the busiest of weeks! Something to go to, attend to, or see to every day this past week. Makes me tired just thinking about it.
Last night we had a going away party hosted by us at the casino for family. It was fun seeing everyone and having the time to sit and visit. Myrla joined us as she needed to do something to distract her from her grief. Due to her constant and loving care of Scott these past years family visits were many times too difficult for her to attend logistically so it was nice that she could this time.

So I will not bore you with the details of the rest of it...honestly, at this minute I am not remembering the rest of it! I will work on my memory while walking. Later...!

Getting Ready

Butch was wandering around the yard yesterday trying to get things put up and away. I finally told him the cart is getting ahead of the horse as it is a full two weeks before we leave. Hitch-Itch has definitely taken hold.

Trivia Night

Thursday is trivia night at Hy-Vee. Our entire group was there last night and in fine form. We came in first! The guy who wins every time he is there was absent and we came through for the win. We have two more trivia nights before we leave and it is one outing I will miss -both the activity and the people.

Scott Acklin passes

My sister Myrla lost her long-time partner Scott yesterday. Myrla and Scott have been partners for nearly 30 years. Scott suffered a spinal injury while playing baseball on a lot with a hidden old well. He fell into the well. Due to the spinal injury, Scott has been impaired in various ways ever since. Myrla and Scott fell in love nearly 30 years ago and have been inseparable ever since. She has been his full-time caretaker as well for many years now. This is a very hard time for Myrla and I am feeling deeply for her.

Trip planning

I spend a bunch of time planning our trip since we are taking a route we have not done for several years. I like to have it all scoped out down to the gnats behind. Much easier with the GPS (Google Maps). So now that the route has been established, I break it down into 300 mile increments and find places to stay overnight. That is the toughest part really. When we were younger we would fly blind as they say and find some little nook or cranny along the way. To keep the stress down it is much better to know the destination. So this morning I started working on it and have spent the bulk of it on this chair in front of the computer.
Route established-Jefferson to Peculiar MO-Peculiar MO to Carthage. Here is the trouble spot Carthage MO to Palatios TX (approximate 750 miles)
But I am tired of working on it today so will set it aside.

To back up a bit we attended a gathering at Sue Luchts house to wish a good trip to Florida for Pete and Jerrilyn. We had a very good time. A really good time! We all enjoyed seeing Pat Limburg Rusnak who has been nursing a knee all summer and has not been spotted much. Very good to see her again and she is once again steady on her feet.

Saturday Jason and Laura had a new sidewalk poured from their house to garage.
Here are some photos of the project.

Today Butch is working on the motorhome getting it ready to roll. He started to do that Saturday but discovered we had batteries that need to be replaced so this morning he is back at it with new batteries. I can see he is not far from getting it fired up and running. It is always good to make sure all the kinks are worked out a week or two before take off. Those last minute snafu's can be disconcerting.
I will be getting my last Iowa haircut for the season today. So slowly the process is taking shape.

This mornings walk ...

Abby takes her dog for a walk every morning. She carries him every step of the way. I do not know why but I do know she is very dedicated to her dog who is blind. She asked me if he smiled for his picture. Yes, she was joking!

One of my better pictures.

GreatGrandson Leo

Little Leo's Preschool picture.

Morning Fog

On weekend mornings Keri and I walk. We ride bikes if it is warm enough because bike riding in too cool weather is not all that pleasant. Today there was quite a bit of low-lying fog. Beautiful day

We have been taking small steps preparing for take-off in between our usual fun activities.
Thursday night was trivia night at Hy-Vee as usual. We came in the money in third place. We did not miss one question in the first half but completely fell off in the second. Still fun and I will miss it and the people we play with.

Friday night Mickey had us over for Taco soup and it was delicious. Mickey loves to cook and is good at it. I think it is in her genes. Her mother and her Aunt Mick were both very good cooks and were in the restaurant business a good deal of their lives.
Butch has started on the motorhome exterior. Original plan was to wash and wax. He has been working on it in between the Ryder Cup (golf tournament on TV) .

Between the two of us, we have 4 books going. In the car, we are listening to The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens. Butch is reading Star Nomad by Lindsay Buroker. I am reading Apron Strings by Mary Morony and on the trail during weekdays I am listening to All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. You might wonder if we can keep track of the stories but it really isn't any different than watching different TV shows. Better, in fact.
Till next time...

Mistake-Changed template

I changed the template on the blog and then found the text difficult to read. We are all getting older as you know so want the text size a bit larger. I am still working on getting it right so bear with me.

Last Texas Carrot

This morning I prepared my last Texas carrot. Last March I bought a bag of carrots at the fruit market up the road a bit from Magnolia Park/Village. They were dry -no moisture visible in the bag. That is the way I want them. I wrapped each carrot in aluminum foil and put them in the vegetable bin of the fridge. This was LATE March and before we left. This morning in late September I removed the aluminum foil, peeled the carrot, and sliced it up in sticks. I plan to wrap more next March.
Here are today's pictures of each step. Why bother you might ask? They let these carrots mature so they are large and loaded with all the nutrients nature intended as well as being much easier to grate and are full of the best carrot flavor.

Prep time

We start getting ready to head south a good month ahead of time. It works this way on both ends of things. All the details that need tending take time and dedication. Some are just fun. Like last Sunday when we had 14 people for breakfast (Biscuits and Gravy). That was fun. I always say after an event that we should do it more often but usually, it doesn't work that way but I always think it should.
We accommodated those 14 people well in our little house. Everyone had a place at the table with enough elbow room for comfort. We would like to do this with family too before we head off for the winter.

There has been a chill in the air the past few days. I do not like a chill in the air. I know I would adjust if I were forced to but as it is, I go into avoidance mode. I missed a few days walking because of rain. Yesterday was sunny but started off cool so I waited. I did finally get it done however the layoff does not feel good at all the next time I venture out. Those kinks get harder and harder to shake out. So here I sit this morning knowing I should be out there putting one foot in front of another but I instead am sitting here having a one-sided visit with you.

Every now and then I get the idea no one  reads this blog anymore...I wonder ...and then I run into someone who knows me quite well and it is mostly from reading my blogs. So I will carry on. In November I will be starting into my 15th year of blogging.

Proceed with caution...

This is my blog and thus I have the right to put anything I choose here within reason. I have not put much of anything controversial on it in the past. This one may be an exception.  I am making it clear that I am doing this on my blog not yours and I do not need anyone thinking they can possibly change my mind. So please do not try. It is your choice to read this or not. 

Colleen is a dear friend of mine and I think this column of hers is very important for many people, especially women, to see and at least contemplate. So read on or click out and get on with your day.

Best wishes always,

Barb

This election proves it’s a misogynist world

September 21, 2016Greene County News Online

~a column by Colleen O’Brien

In an interview with Hillary at “Humans of New York,” she said this:

“I was taking a law school admissions test in a big classroom at Harvard.My friend and I were some of the only women in the room. I was feeling nervous.I was a senior in college. I wasn’t sure how well I’d do.

“And while we’re waiting for the exam to start, a group of men began toyell things like: ‘You don’t need to be here.’ And ‘There’s plenty else you can do.’It turned into a real ‘pile on.’ One of them even said: ‘If you take my spot, I’ll get drafted, and I’ll go to Vietnam, and I’ll die.’ And they weren’t kidding around. It was intense. It got very personal.

“But I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t afford to get distracted because I didn’twant to mess up the test. So I just kept looking down, hoping that the proctor would walk in the room.

“I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional. But I hadto learn as a young woman to control my emotions. And that’s a hard path to walk. Because you need to protect yourself, you need to keep steady, but at the same time you don’t want to seem ‘walled off.’ And sometimes I think I come across more in the ‘walled off’ arena. And if I create that perception, then I take responsibility. I don’t view myself as cold or unemotional. And neither do my friends. And neither does my family. But if that sometimes is the perception I create, then I can’t blame people for thinking that.”

There were many posted comments from women who are not on her side politically but read this statement and agreed with her. One of them said: “Remove her from the picture and every woman would admit to feeling this way and living similar experiences. Large or small scale, it’s the truth.”

It is a misogynist world out there, and if a mean rich guy like Donald Trump can get this far, we women better believe that the majority of people in the world prefer men of any stripe to strong smart women who speak up.

The media is stuck on “reporting” that Hillary is standoffish or cold. The big deal about that is what? That she isn’t an emotional train wreck like Donald Trump? It’s okay for him to stamp and steam and shout and incite physical attack but it’s not okay for Hillary to be calm and cool? We who love her do wish she’d just fess up at the moment — Got pneumonia? Just tell us. Got a mess-up with your emails? Admit it.

Not that Donald has ever fessed up to his taxes, his bankruptcies, his health.

But Hillary’s early training says to her, Protect myself by being circumspect and careful. Trump’s early training says, Protect myself by being the angriest voice in the room. These behaviors are neither ideal nor completely awful. They are human, they are actions two people have learned.

Our decision isn’t to vote for who is more likeable or promises more; our decision is to choose the one who knows the most and has a logical thought process. Our decision is to pick the one who will make the best leader . . . not the best haranguer/accuser/bombaster/hater, but the best leader.

I’m 72 years old, just a little older than Hillary, and not too long ago I was castigated for speaking up about our need to champion African American equality. A friend at the dinner party told me in so many words that I should have gauged my audience a little better, asked if I was drunk and then said I was naïve about blacks because I didn’t own a television.

I’ve been in about 9,000 situations where men do not think to — or care to — “gauge” the audience. I’ve been in about 10,000 situations where the guy was drunk and never shut up. And “naïve” because I don’t have a TV? Quite the telling comment — not about me but about my accuser.

I have been dumbfounded for some time how women would want to vote for a misogynist, triple-married, sexist, yelling, pounding, angry, not too well-versed in just about anything fourth grader. This is a man who has never “kept steady,” never learned to control his emotions, as Hillary has, as most all of us women have had to do over the years of our lives. You would think there are way too many women who can say, “Oh, I was married to a Trump! Why would I want one in the Oval Office?”

I’ve been part of the talking-head media myself for 35 years, and I still don’t get why it is so hard on Hillary Clinton. I try to imagine Hillary in the guise of a candidate who swears, hits, insults, backtracks, repeats “I promiseIpromiseIpromise” a dozen time in a speech, toadies up to African Americans, talks trash behind the backs of Hispanics and hates crying babies.

I can’t imagine ANY woman getting away with the things he has.

Who wants a President like that? Everyone from mothers to war heroes has been hurt by his intentional crassness. If misogyny — the distrust and dislike of women — gets him elected, what’s a female to do?

Last fall and into January of this year, friends said, “If he gets elected, I’m moving to Canada.” I thought they were nuts. This man is playing a joke, I said to them.
I’ve had to rethink. I heard that the Canadians may be building a wall themselves to keep us out if he gets elected, so I’m considering Reykjavik, a place Trump may not know exists.
Last Friday, a friend told me she has nightmares about his being elected President. I have my own dream, a daytime dream: Angry loser skulks off to Russia to live with Putin, leaving a slightly less misogynist world behind.

Myron and Indie

Myron and Indie in their favorite chair.

My friend Norma

sent me this picture. Isn't it great!

Thursday-Painting

Went to Karla's in Ogden to help her paint her living room a very soft gray. She has a new couch on order and it will be a darker shade of gray. Her living room will be very pretty when it gets all put together with her finishing touches and a  nice calming place to come home to after a days work. We also had fun working together on a project. We finished up today. Butch came with me today and did a couple of chores. Then we lunched at The Lucky Pig and followed that up with Devon's homecoming parade. Devon is in middle school, plays the trumpet and is manager for the football coach. All this and gets good grades too! I was very impressed with the middle school band. They sounded very good and much better than the varsity band. I was surprised and I can get away with saying so because I do not know who I might be offending. It seemed the middle school students took their job far more seriously. I tried my best to get a picture of Devon but all I managed to get was one leg!

Devon is marching to the right of the tuba player.

Finally took pictures of the backsplash. I hate to admit it but this was not a pleasant experience. It kept falling off the wall and I laid awake nights trying to figure out what to do about it. Elmer's Spray Adhesive was the solution. I wished I had some on hand before starting the project. The backsplash we used from Lowes was much easier and adhered very well.

Now that the solution has appeared to work we are once again happy with the look of it

We did...

Tuesday I put the backsplash in the kitchen. We both like it very much but it is not sticking as well as I would like so the jury is still out on this one. The stuff from lowes was not a problem. We will see...
Wednesday we went to visit the Van Houwelings in Prairie City. They have a countrified high-end resort. I say high-end because they have EVERYTHING but it is in the country and takes a ride over 3 miles of gravel roads to get there. They have a big farm house, a tiny house, a pool house, a pool, a hot tub, a pond and an island! And they are the most gracious and accommodating hosts you could ever ask for. I do not know if they have a moniker for their fine place but it could be dubbed Prairie View Resort. We were very impressed!
We are here!

The tiny house-front

 The deck of the big house. The pool and pool house are behind and to the right of the garage with star.

  The deck and back side of tiny house. Pool house and part of pool is almost visible left of pond.

The backside of big house. Very comfy sitting area - note hot tub on right side.

The pond and island

 The pond side of tiny house

Indy on Myron's lap- I have a better shot of this and will post it later.

Jim Stafford Songs-Do you remember?

I Ain't Sharin' Sharon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT7XJ_OLiVQ

Swamp Witch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB0SxXTR_UI

16 Little Red Noses and a Horse That Sweats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTrFUYfyVtA

Today's walk Photo

Last nights gathering

Dee is doing some splainin' to Mickey and Sharon. Jack has heard it all before.

Dugan- our host. Larry and Butch are visiting in the background.

Jack H.,Dugan, Dee, Jerilynn

Jerilynn enjoying her birthday cake

Dee, Jerilynn and me. Pete has his back to the camera.

We all enjoyed the food and the company.

Computer story to share

Way back before we retired we played Bridge with a group of friends. We always had food involved in our sessions of course. One time Sue served a frozen fruit cup and it was special so I asked for the recipe. That was several computers ago and over the years I have had a variety of ways to save recipes. One of my ways of saving back in the day was in emails and really, saving emails as files is not something I would recommend these days. I am wanting to make this special recipe for an upcoming event so I began a search for it. I looked in my current places and it dawned on me it would not be there so I did a simple search, within my computer, for Sue's Frozen Fruit Cup and up popped an email file. I clicked on it and you can imagine the smile on my face when this is what I saw-

Recipe:    Sue's Frozen Fruit Cup        8/2/2006
Category: Desserts
Author:   

1 1/2 C. Sugar
     1 C. Water,(Or Apple Juice)
     2 cn Mandarin Oranges,Drained
     1 cn Crushed Pineapple,Do Not Drain
     2 pk Frozen Strawberries,Thawed
     5    Bananas

[Note: This is the only way I can get Butch to eat fruit. ]
Combine sugar and water  and heat till sugar is dissolved. Cool to room
temperature. Combine with remaining ingredients. Place in foil lined
muffin cups and freeze till solid.

 If you make note of the date on the recipe let me assure you that I obtained the recipe long before that date. 8/2/2006 reflects the date I saved the email as a file.

This little story started my day off on the right foot. That and getting my walk done.

Beauties

Our granddaughter Ann and her middle daughter Scarlett.

Sunday, Sunday

Keri and I rode this morning as we had walked yesterday. A chill in the air, sunshine with a few fluffy clouds. Beautiful morning! We rode to Roger's road and back. They have the new crossing finished and it looks very nice. So all crossings in Greene County are paved now on the bike trail.

Keri

 Raccoons have such delicate looking human-like hands

First tooth fairy visit

First visit from the tooth fairy and she used the same pillow her mama used for her tooth fairy visits. Little Leo looks happy for his big sister, Elise.