Saturday, November 11, 2006

Veterans Day

Happy Veteran's Day. Dennis went to breakfast this morning at Hy-Vee, because they were offering free breakfast to all Veterans. I didn't go since Zach had spent the night and didn't wake up until about 8 AM. Zach and I made cookies again, and he rode his motorcycle. It was 33 degrees when he went out to ride, and the puddles on the ground were iced over. Nevertheless, he rode for almost an hour. When he came in, we had eggs, hash browns, sausage and bacon. After eating we played Trouble before he left to go skating with his friend.
This afternoon, Dennis went out to tear out more of the old fence, and worked at cleaning up the area where he is thinking he'd like to put a new building. This little shed has been used for many things. We bought it at an auction way back in '82 and Dennis dragged it home on skids. It served as a playhouse for the boys and then we used it for bottle calves, hogs, and most recently a doghouse. Today it was consumed by fire! It was still a decent little building, but of no use to us. The skids that were used more than twenty years ago had rotted away, so there was really no good way to move it to a different location, so the firebug torched it.
I stayed out there with a rake to make sure the fire didn't spread and was amazed at how quickly it burned! I told Dennis that there must be about a hundred pounds of nails in that pile of ashes.



Friday, November 10, 2006

November News

Since the last post, we've enjoyed Indian Summer and are now headed back to more normal weather. In fact, it's snowing in northern Iowa, and we're expected to see light snow or sleet. I say, bring it on!
We've really been keeping busy so far for the month of November. We started off on November 2 meeting friends at Ogo's for supper and then staying for the music. If you've not been to Ogo's on a Thursday night, you just don't know what you're missing! It's "Chicken and Pickin' Night", meaning all the chicken you can eat and music from 6-8PM all for less than $6! What a deal!
Friday, November 3rd was the first time Zach had come to stay overnight with us in four weeks. We enjoyed having him. We played "Walkie Talkie Hide and Seek". Each of us had a walkie talkie, and we took turns hiding. When you were the person hiding, you had to tell the other person what you could see from your hiding place, and then they tried to find you. It was fun. We also baked cookies, painted and rode the four wheeler and motorcycle.
Sunday night Wyatt stayed overnight. We had a great time with him too. He's funny without even trying! He played the PlayStation racing games, and although he can drive pretty good, he prefers to go into the infield and crash. He also likes to go the wrong way and run into other cars. Hopefully, this will not carry over when he drives a real car on the real highway. He played and played, and fell asleep on the kitchen floor!
We've been having lots of work too. So far, we've had eight burials for November. In addition to that, Dennis has done a couple small excavation jobs, plus we're trying to tear out the old, falling down fence on the north side of our pasture, and replace it. All the crops are out, but they still have a lot of ground work to do. And of course, there are lots of things we can help with on the house building project.
Next week looks to be filled! Today is Friday, and is the beginning of a long weekend for me. I'll be going to Iowa City Sunday to meet friends from New York. We'll go to lunch and just hang out for a while. There's no school Monday, so Dennis and I made an appointment with our attorney to update our wills and get things in order. We're not sick, but just figured that it's better to make decisions now rather than let someone else (like the state) decide who gets what when we're dead. On Wednesday, Dennis has an appointment in Iowa City. Several years ago, he had a melanoma cancer taken off, and he's way overdue for a complete checkup. Then I'll be going to Iowa City (well, Coralville actually) Saturday to meet up with the "Nelson girls". That's sure to be a good time. Before we know it, Thanksgiving will be here! I've been stocking up on the groceries in preparation for the big feast.
My, oh my....how I do tend to ramble on and on! I think this LOOooooooonnnnngggg update should suffice, so I'll quit for today and try to keep up better in the days to come!