More Bugsy photos

Jason, Gary and Leo

 
Bugsy

Elise

 One of the Elises roles was portraying a bad opera singer

 It was very difficult to get good pictures in the theater so when I would get one it didn't matter to me who it was so this is one of the players.

 And here is another

Bugsy Malone JR. and other photos

Video's

https://www.facebook.com/amanda.sue.5/videos/10155920067916432/?t=35

https://www.facebook.com/amanda.sue.5/videos/10155920083931432/?t=96

https://www.facebook.com/amanda.sue.5/videos/10155920151761432/?t=5

https://www.facebook.com/amanda.sue.5/videos/10155920083931432/?t=0

Snipped photos:

Leo's class went on a field trip. He has a redheaded friend.

 Kindergarten Class

   Our graduate

 Leo on the left...

Borrowed sisters horns from her play

On the road today

Butch will be staying in Jefferson to help Leo when needed and Jason and I will be going to Missouri to watch Elise's play Bugsy Malone JR. So I will be back home tomorrow, late in the day most likely.
Just sayin'.

Leo's knee and Butch mowed

We went to Ames yesterday to be with Keri while Leo had surgery on his knee. All went well. He will be coming home later today to start getting his life back.
Butch caught up with the mowing before the rain started. We have had a couple of inches now so the drying out process will take some time.

Here is Butch in his mowing garb.

Birds gotta eat

Birds of Color

Sunday,Sunday

Bottled Up

House Hunting

Butch's Nemesis

Idea for Spiders and Mice

Last fall I was in an all-out fight with mice and spiders. I read that they do not like peppermint so I purchased a bottle of peppermint oil and put together the recipe of

Spider/Mouse repellant
1 cup water
1 tsp Peppermint oil
3 drops Dawn

And I sprayed it everywhere I saw a spider web as well as around all the doorways. And then I forgot all about it. Didn't think about it when we returned until today when I started some cleaning and it hit me that we did not have any spiders or webs! I am impressed with the results.
Oh yes, no mice either.
We never did have mice in the house but the garage was a haven. Not anymore!

Thursday Trivia at the Casino

Even though our trivia team as we have known it is nonoperational Butch and I decided to check out how it works at the casino. They moved it from Hy-Vee to the casino last fall. We were greeted by Chris and he found us a team to latch onto. We enjoyed the visit and get acquainted part of the evening very much but the trivia portion made us feel very inadequate. I think if we do it again we would rather go with a team we can call "ours". The questions were tough-very tough! And if you did not have a young person on the team you would not do well. I copy the questions for later use and on this particular session, there were only 7 questions I could plan on using in the future. The majority were beyond our generation by several decades. Despite all that it is fun to be a part of the efforts.

Yesterday we reconnected with some of our Yale/Panora friends. Butch has been mowing for the Tallmans and he owed them a mow from last season. We ate at the Owl's Nest in Panora and the food was quite tasty. Marv and Judy Smith joined us there and then we went to the Tallmans home on Lake Panorama for a spirited game of cribbage.

Back to my chore of finding homes for all our "stuff" is on the agenda for today.

In my own backyard

I love sitting at my computer, looking out my window, and seeing a variety of wildlife.

You had to know he could not hold himself back very long. Yes, he is also part of the wildlife-just not as wild as he used to be.

Chaos-2

Still working on the chaos. Might regain control today but the longer I sit in front of this computer the less likely that will happen.
Health update: On a scale of 1 to 10 how happy are you with the way you feel? Answer -9 All parts are mostly working and the ones that are not quite up to snuff have not been up to snuff for a long time and deserve little consideration.

Took these Cardinal photos a few days ago.

Devon Turns 16

Last night we celebrated Devon's 16th birthday. I cannot look at that boy without thinking how my sister Jayne would have been busting her buttons with pride for her grandson. And he is worthy.

We went to Hickory Park in Ames. It is a well-known and very popular eating place and employs most of the students at Iowa State for wait staff it seems. There were nine of us and we had a very good time.

Devons friend Grace

Devon's brother Zach and his wife Sabrina

Devon and his Mom Karla

Also in attendance, but not pictured were Butch and I and Jason and Laura

Chaos

So all the stuff from the MoHo is now in the house and it is everywhere! Finding its resting place is my job and right now it feels a bit overwhelming. I know from years past that it is possible and it always amazes me when it all fits. This same amazement goes both ways. I have given up on the idea of duplication because come fall I will not remember what is duplicated and what is not. Getting old is a full-time job! I will be giving the interior of the moho a thorough cleaning and that can wait. They had forecasted a full day of rain for today but they are so far off the mark. So we rushed a bit to get all the stuff moved. I can breathe a sigh of relief about that part.

Robin Hood story:
 I watched as a crow came and tried to get at Mama robins nest and a whole flock of other robins chased Mr. Crow away. Then all was well in the "hood"...for a while. Later the story turned ugly.

True Terror?

" True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country. "

Kurt Vonnegut

When I read this I thought it did not apply to me as I was a member of a very smart class...for the most part.

Elizabeth Cavazos

Elizabeth Cavazos

Lizzie has been part of the Magnolia family for over 20 years and she told me she would have 

 big news about the middle of April so I have been looking for it. A few days ago the news was forthcoming and here it is.

 https://rfkhumanrights.org/awards/human-rights-award

Elizabeth and her group of tireless workers have been the protectors of human rights and they are rightfully being rewarded and recognized for their efforts. Congratulations Lizzie!!

Miscellaneous stuff.

In Trophy Gardens there is a fox that has taken up residence. We are mostly surrounded by farm ground so we can get quite a variety of things to see and photograph. We are back in Iowa but I snipped this photo of our resident chicken from Facebook. I think it is a beautiful specimen.

When I spot photos that friends of mine have taken that are a step above the rest I snip them with Microsoft's handy snipping tool that is part of everyone's computer. Many people are unaware of its presence but I use mine all the time.  

This photo was taken in Florida by a friend I met in person for 15 minutes in Michigan. Jeannie Sparks is her name and she is a talented photographer.

  The photo below was taken by Zach Hiller on their acreage near  Jefferson. I think Zach has an artistic eye.

The view from my window.

Home Sweet Home

I am so very tired of talking about my health so I will try to keep the "health" portion short and sweet. I have had a few bad nights so today I worked on being seen again for an assessment of my UTI problems. Bottom line I was not given an adequate antibiotic for me. I am not pointing fingers at anyone because that is a waste of time and energy. Little short on energy these days. After much effort, I finally ended going to the ER in Jefferson at the hospital. They were efficient and quick and took blood samples with results forthcoming quickly. I think I was there a bit over an hour. Have a new med, was told not to continue with the one I had been taking. Their tests told me I was not in trouble- just pain. So I am once again feeling better and hopeful.

We got home Thursday afternoon about 1:00PM. We are taking things slowly making the move-in transition without killing ourselves or each other. Keri provided supper for us and we had a nice reacquainted time with Leo and Keri.

They came and activated my Internet this morning and oh my gawd is it speedy.

We had a great but short time with our Missouri kids. We went to Leo's art show and I took some pictures.  Most of these photos are self explanatory and they are untouched by me.

Little Leo's kindergarten teacher

 
Papa Butch returns to kindergarten- much different from when he was there!

Gary, Brad and Butch

 Brad had a branch fall on his head -14 staples!

 I was most impressed with Amelia's artistic eye.

Thackerville to Big Cabin

We had a good trip today. Highway 32 to highway 70 is a bit narrow for me but Butch thought it was fine. There was only 25 miles of the narrow stuff from Marietta OK to Kingston OK so we may do that again. On hwy 69 the roughest part is from Muskogee OK to Pryor OK. 41 miles. But all of 69 is 4 lane except through towns. Not nearly as bad as we remembered. It was a good travel day. Around Eufala there were 5 miles of construction barriers on both sides making for a very tight space. It took much concentration on Butch's part and as for me I just didn't look. We are in the Big Cabin diesel RV park and we have an 8:00 am appointment for servicing the MoHo before we head up to Peculiar MO.
Vanita OK is a small town not too far away and there is a restaurant that is famous and really, really good and has been for many years. https://clantonscafe.com/ It is interesting to watch how it works. They have 6 or so waitresses out front and I counted 7 cooks in the back, all male. Whatever system they have has worked since 1927. We have never had a bad meal there. We will have to wait quite a while for the MoHo so we plan to go back for breakfast.

What a start!

Saturday I knew I had a UTI and I had been treating it and hoping for the best because after all, we were leaving bright and early Sunday morning. At 3:30 in the morning I knew very seriously I was not going to be able to travel without medical help so I had Butch take me to ER. You cannot imagine how much I did NOT want to wake him up with this bad news but I was in a great deal of pain that I could not make magically go away They asked where I was on the pain scale and I said a 6 or 7. They took a urine sample., tested it and told me I had a bad infection. I told them I was allergic to Amoxicillin or at least I think I am due to my last visit to this same ER. Didn't want to go through that again. So they gave me a big old shot of something to replace it. Butch said it was HUGE. The nurse told me it would hurt to have the shot, but it would get me off on the right road to recovery. It did not hurt getting the shot but it did later. I was quite glad he had warned me and I must say I have had much worse pain than that. So they also said I must take another medication twice a day for 10 days and be checked out as soon as possible when we get back to Iowa. Now by this time, it is 5:00 am and I need to get a prescription filled. So we finally found a Walgreens in McAllen and got it filled getting back home by 6:00. Butch said we may as well get ready and go.  I was a mess as I had not had any sleep since 1:00 am, still in pain.  And Butch was going to be short on sleep as well. Butch assured me he could handle it. This is a guy who used to have to go out in the middle of the night to restore electricity and then go work a regular shift so I knew he was able and he has always been good about saying so if he didn't think it was a good idea. So off we go, headed north at 7:30 am.

I was absolutely no use to him. And then it gets worse! Everything was okay getting to our first destination except for a couple of traffic delays. We had reservations at Hof Brau RV Park near Marble Falls. We were so anxious to get there and finally be able to rest. There was no one in attendance and a sign said NO Vacancy and we drove around and it was full. And it was full of full-timers (people living in their RV). We had a RESERVATION! I plan to write a review and fully unload. It will not be pretty. So I found another one nearby and we checked it out but it was just a smaller and dirtier version of the first one. So we settled for the Walmart parking lot. We had stayed there before and we were both so tired it really didn't matter where we were. I went to bed at 6:00pm and stayed there until 6:00am. Worth every minute and I am feeling so much better. Butch slept well and long too.

Marble Falls Texas to Thackerville OK.
Today was a very pleasant travel day. Listening to a wonderful book by John Irving-A Widow for One Year. I like all his books. Good writing rises above the rest.
We have had supper, played a little at the casino and will soon be tucked in.