Seventeenth Annual L-Bird Convention Weekend!

What an absolutely perfect weekend for the L-Bird convention! We've been enjoying the overhead activities since Wednesday, when several of the planes started arriving for the convention. Since we are just a short distance from the airport, much of their flying is right over our house. Still, it's much better to see it from the airport. We went over this morning for the pancake breakfast. We picked Jake up on our way and Travis met us there on his way home from work. There was already quite a crowd for pancakes at 7:30 AM. Also going on this weekend is the Bluegrass Festival in Montrose, and Hot Air Balloons at Ft. Madison. I'm hoping to go over for at least some of the Bluegrass show later today. Tomorrow is Jake's birthday. He'll be 16, and will be home for good August 3. He told us today that he's applied for work at a few local businesses, and already has his car (1999 Mustang-black), so he really needs a job! He will be getting his driver's license as soon as he gets home in August, and then watch out! Actually, he is a careful and cautious driver, may it continue to be so!
Dennis is busy today attacking the weeds using chemical warfare! He's pulling our tank sprayer around with a tank full of GlyStar and spraying the driveway, parking areas and around the buildings. When we were away last week, the grass nearly covered all our gravel. It seems that even when nothing else will grow, the weeds thrive! It's a constant battle!
Since I have no more to say, I'll put just a few more pictures of the colorful planes on here and get outside. It's a cool 59 degrees...or was when I started this post. Anyway, I'll go out and do my work while it's cool!

Twenty-five Hundred Miles-Pure Perfection!

Well....in truth, it was NOT a perfect trip. We did make a wrong turn or two, but other than that, it could not have been better! The boys were great travelers, and I believe everyone had a wonderful time. We can't thank Don and Ada enough for their generosity. We enjoyed every bit of the time we were there. One of the highlights was the train trip from Durango to Silverton! What a ride! (THANK YOU DON!) It was beautifully scenic, and there were several places that were downright frightening! The train runs along the side of some cliffs overlooking the Animas River, and it literally made my legs turn to rubber when I looked out. If I'd dropped anything out the window it would have fallen straight down into the river hundreds of feet below. The pictures I took don't do it justice!
We crossed several bridges, and on the one pictured, the engineer blew off some excess steam. The Animas (upper portion) is a very fast moving river with a lot of big rapids. Very beautiful, but too challenging (dangerous!) for us to think about rafting on. We understand that there are folks who do, but it's not for amateurs like us!
One day, Dennis and I, along with Zach and Wyatt, rode four wheelers up the mountains. Ada encouraged us to pack a lunch, which we did, and we were very glad we did, because by the time we got to the top, we were hungry! We rode lots of the trails up there, but then it started clouding up, so we headed back down. We did get rained on just a little bit, but it didn't matter. We had a great time even getting wet. The boys thought it quite exciting!
We enjoyed seeing Cathy, and meeting Reese. She seemed to really enjoy the boys---especially Zach! They had fun playing together. Swimming in the hot tub was a lot of fun for them. They also rode bikes together, played ball, and rode the wheelers too.
We enjoyed the opportunity to attend church with Don and Ada, and left right after the service. We were heading to Kiowa for a visit with the Pickerings. Dennis met Fred while he was serving in the Army, and when he was in the Denver hospital, Frances (Fred's mom) drove down to get him out of the hospital for visits at her home in Granby. I don't really know how she knew he was there, and why she took such an interest in him, but Dennis has never forgotten her kindness and generosity....then and still! We had a nice, although short, visit and then needed to get on down the road. We were hoping to make it home early Monday night, and we did get home around 7:30 PM.
I'm happy to say that this morning, we got nearly one inch of rain. It came hard and fast, but hopefully it didn't all run off! We're glad to have it, and there seems to be potential for more yet. It's a critical time for rain here with all the corn tasseling and making ears and we're very thankful for what fell this morning.