Flying Time!

Ha! That's actually meant at least two different ways. First, it's hard to believe that October is already half over! Indeed time does seem to fly. Secondly, Saturday morning Zach will be attending the Iowa Youth Aviation Camp at Lindner Aviation. It's three hours of learning and some actual flying experience as I understand it.
I've taken the time to catch up on reading some of the blogs of friends, and (no big surprise) Kathy's Pumpkin Patch seems to be the most popular place to visit. I've actually been there twice myself. The first trip was with Wyatt's class, and I drove the bus. The second trip was just this morning, as I was the bus driver for the Kindergarten class trip. They went to visit the Fire Station first, and then the pumpkin patch.
Last Friday, Zach and I went to Quincy to see the Booth Brothers in concert. It was great, and they sang all Zach's favorite songs in the first set, so we left about half way through the second set, because he was so tired he could not stay awake! I figured we better leave, or I'd have to carry him out. He's way too big for that!
I'm sure I could go on and on, but it's pretty dull. I know we've been busy, and there are probably lots of things I could tell about, but I can't remember them! And I've not been taking pictures. Sometimes I think I take the pictures for me, so I can remember what I did yesterday.
Travis and Dennis are back to the field today. They're nearly finished with the corn. In fact, they might be finished with corn by now. I've not talked to Dennis since early morning. I'm thinking I'll fix some kind of food and take it to them. I expect they'll work pretty late.
Well, sad as it is...that's it for this post.

Bluegrass Fun!

Zach, Wyatt and I went to Hannibal to hear the Lewis Family, expecting to be in an air conditioned auditorium. Surprise, surprise, surprise. It was outdoors, under a tent....HOT! Never the less, we did enjoy it very much. We expected to see and hear the Lewis family, and we did, but we also heard several other groups as well! One group (Arlington) was exceptional. They were a family group, four kids and their parents, plus one cousin. They were really good. Kids ages 6, 7, 8 and 10 and they all sang well and played at least one instrument! Zach and Wyatt shared their toys with one of the little girls when she wasn't on stage performing. They were so cute, and have a lot of talent! I expect we'll see and hear more of them in the future. The Lewis family put on an outstanding performance, even exceeding our expectations. In spite of the heat and humidity, they really put on an energetic show.


We had a really pleasant and enjoyable time. We arrived early enough to eat lunch at the Golden Corral. Both boys seemed to enjoy their meal, although Wyatt went through a couple plates just figuring out what he likes. He ended up eating two chicken legs, a biscuit, grapes, a tiny taste of meatloaf, sausage, pizza which he didn't like, and ice cream with gummy bears. Both Zach and I were really surprised that Wyatt didn't like the pizza, so Zach tried it. He said, "he's right, it tastes funny." Zach rushed through the "good for you" food to get to the desserts.

A Most Unusual Sight!

Those of you who know my Dad well will realize what a unique picture I have posted! I went over to help Mom save some pictures on her computer, and when I got there, Dad was working on Betty's car. He was putting a new thermostat in...or something like that. Anyway, I just had to get a picture because it's pretty unusual to see Dad under the hood of a car.

I was able to get pictures of our "new" additions to the growing goat population yesterday. The old bearded gray goat is Bully. We'd thought to call her Nanny, but she's so mean to the others that we just call her Bully. She has settled down some since Saturday, but she's still a bully, and may be leaving here because of her inability to "get along well with others". Barney, on the other hand is very sweet and I think she's cute. She's young, so we're not sure how big she might get. She's actually our tallest goat I think, but she's still lighter than Buttons. They have been here long enough to recognize the hand that feeds them. They follow Dennis around like puppies.

Dennis had taken down the old fence that was around our pond a while back, but he'd not taken the posts out. Monday, I went out to help and we got that job done. Of course, I did the easy part. I just ran the backhoe, raising and lowering as needed. Naturally, I got some pictures of him doing his part. Once the posts were all pulled out, I went back to school while he filled the postholes.

Is There Really a Pot of Gold at the End of a Rainbow?

If that's true, then the pot of gold is on our place! This is the rainbow I saw as I was coming home this morning. The end of it appears to be right on our place. I'll be out looking for that pot of gold today!
In other weekend "news"...Snowy went back to the sale barn. We sold him and bought a cute little nanny kid. Wyatt named her Barney. We should have left then, but I like to stay for the whole thing, and ended up buying another very nice looking nanny for a very low price. We got her home and think we've discovered why she went to the sale barn. What a bully! She's so mean to Buttons and Barney that we're thinking she's going to have to find a new home!
That's it for now. Dennis brought the backhoe down from Travis' house, and we're going to work on taking out some old rotted fence posts. I better get out there to help before he comes looking for me.

Meet Buttons and Snowy!

Yes, I went to the sale yesterday with Zach and Wyatt along, and our first buy was a couple goats! LOL! The boys are so excited to have goats, Wyatt kept saying over and over, "I got a goat!" I thought he was saying "I gotta go", so kept trying to take him to the bathroom, but he finally said it slow enough for me to understand....He's tickled to have a goat! I have a picture of Wyatt with Buttons. They've made themselves quite at home, and their favorite place is right beside the house under the west deck. Snowy is actually Wyatt's goat, but as of yet, Snowy is a little timid and not wanting to be handled as much as Buttons, who seems to enjoy the attention. Snowy is also a young billy, and black as coal. Wyatt chose to call him Snowy, for who knows what reason! Since we'd not really planned on goats, Dennis is spending his Sunday afternoon building a pen that will (we hope) contain them. Last night I put them in the tightest fenced pen we have, and this morning we woke up to find them munching on our bushes in the yard. We actually went to the sale looking to get either a couple cows or some calves. We did buy two very good looking white (I realize they're a particular breed, but I can't spell it!) heifers. So, when we got them home, we put them in the pasture, with Lucky...the horse. Lucky had been a companion and friend to Burger King until he went to the locker, so we figured that would work well, but apparently Lucky has some racial issues or something. She saw those little white heifers, and started running, bucking, kicking and snorting. She chased them all over the pasture. We now have "segregated" pastures for Lucky and the calves, and at this time, the goats are roaming at will.
Next week, we're getting rid of the horse, and maybe getting more goats or calves! LOL! What an adventure.

National Quartet Convention 2007

What a great time! We left home very early on Friday morning, arriving in St. Louis for rush hour traffic! Had we been thinking about that, we'd have arranged to get there earlier. It took us about an hour to get through the city! However, we never missed a turn, didn't get lost once, so it really wasn't that bad! We then arrived in Louisville at 1:30 central time. Since they're on eastern time, we were able to check into our room.
I thought I had ordered a 2 bed/2 persons room, but alas! what we got was a room with a King size bed. We were a little disgruntled, but it worked out just fine. We weren't there that much anyway. We hurried right out to the convention, and wandered around to get our bearings and just see what we might like to do. There is something going on at all times, from morning to late night. We enjoyed concerts from 6PM to Midnight both Friday and Saturday as well as the showcase spotlights and other activities. One thing we did learn is that you should be prepared to either carry your own drink or pay $3.50 for a warm bottle of coke! Ever tried drinking warm Coca-Cola?
We saw and heard so much great talent while we were there, I couldn't begin to name them all, or even to pick one favorite. They were all great! It's pretty well decided that we'll be planning to attend NQC 2008. In fact, I just bought my tickets today! If you'd be interested in going, let me hear from you soon (and show me your money...LOL!) because I'm planning to be there Thursday through Saturday even if I must go alone!




If you'd like just a tiny little bit of the show, here's a clip of the harmonica and piano duet from Triumphant Quartet.

At least, I think I got the video clip in here. It's not showing on the preview, so if it's not here when I publish, I will (again) look really stupid.
Anyway, as soon as I returned from Louisville, I found that the boys (Zach and Wyatt) were waiting for me to get home. They were planning to spend the night with us, and had been playing with Popo until I would get here. I also had a class, so rushed off to that leaving the boys with Dennis for another hour and a half. Finally, when I got home to stay, the boys were so happy to see me, and we had a fun night, and morning. They stayed here until it was time for me to leave. I drove our Volleyball team to the Holy Trinity Classic tournament. They made it to the semi-finals and played well, but we got to leave early...which was fine by me!
That brings me up to date I think. I'll be driving our cross-country team to Mt. Pleasant this afternoon, so really need to get going!

National Quartet Convention!!!

As I am typing this post, I'm listening to the National Quartet Convention live via computer! And it's great! You can too, just go to www.solidgospel.com and click on listen live. If you don't have high speed, it probably won't work for you. But as much as I enjoy listening, it's going to be even greater still BEING there! And I am going! I'll be leaving Friday very early morning, and planning to enjoy an entire weekend of great music! I'm so excited about this trip. I've wanted to attend NQC for years, but just never made the arrangements. This year I started planning my trip way back in January, and I'm thinking it might become an annual event for me. I will certainly have stories and pictures to post when I get back! This year is the 50th year of NQC!

In Case You've Not Noticed

The Rag-Weed is in full bloom! Those who have allergic reactions to ragweed have no doubt noticed! In spite of the fact that Dennis is allergic to it, I still think it's a beautiful weed.
The woolly worms are running about 80% very dark. And, I have also been noticing that they are mostly moving from west to east. Now, what does this mean? Absolutely nothing! I just wanted to beat Heidi in posting that observation! Ha! Of course, it just might mean that winter is coming, the heating bills will be higher, and spring won't get her until March 21, 2008. I had planned to stop and get a photo of one of those woolly wigglers, but I'm afraid I squashed him with my big yellow bus tires. If I find one willing to pose for a picture, I'll certainly add it to this post.


WELL....HERE is the promised photo...such as it is:

Happy Birthday Dennis! And Lynn Too!

Yes! Today is a big one for Dennis! He'll never be 50 anything again. The year we were married, Dennis turned 24 and Lynn turned 12 on the same day. That was the one and only time Dennis would ever be twice as old as my brother. So happy birthday to both Dennis, and Lynn!
Well, we had a wonderful (but short) weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks. We arrived on Friday night well after dark.
Glen and Suzy welcomed us into their home and we so enjoyed their hospitality! After a "tour" of their gorgeous home, they took us boating on the lake. It was fabulous. Actually the word most accurately describing the whole experience....fabulous!
We stayed up way late Friday, sitting on the lakeside deck just visiting and enjoying the cool night, the moonlight, and stars. Saturday morning we watched the sun rise from the middle deck. The steam was rising from the water. It was beautiful. Saturday morning we rode Sea-Doos and played in the water for a while. Then we met Katie and Michelle with Jade and Lane at Tupelo Honey's for brunch. Mmmm! Delicious! After eating, we went to see the other properties and went for a pontoon boat ride. I can't tell everything, so will try to let my pictures do the talking. I have never figured out how to add these pictures in a particular order so, here they are....however they load up is the way they'll be! As I said before, it was a great time, and Suzy and Glen, if you're reading this...Thanks SO MUCH for having us!

Sum Ting Wong!

Yes, indeed! Certainly there is something wrong. I have tried several times to load the video mentioned in the previous post, and each time it uploads but an error occurs, so I am giving up on that one.
The first week of school has gone well. Tomorrow all the little Kindergarten and Pre-School age kids will begin, which means that if they all ride the bus, I will have seven little ones getting on for their first bus ride to school.
Other than that, not much to post.
Not sure yet what our Labor Day weekend plans are.
Dennis is thinking it might include baling some hay. I prefer a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks...LOL! Monday will be his 60th birthday! Woo Hooooo!
That's it for this evening!