My Week and Sunday Sign

This week we had another bad storm. I was caught off guard with this one, so I wasn't at home. I had gone down to the farm to feed the cats that I feed daily. It did look rainy when I left but not bad. It only takes about 3-4 minutes to drive there. After I fed and watered the cats and was starting to go back to the car the wind came fast and furious. I didn't want to be there under that huge maple tree so I drove about a mile and it was pouring so hard that I couldn't hardly see to drive. I pulled into the parking lot of a church and got as close to the building as I could so it kind of blocked me. It blew so hard and I could feel the car rocking, and it went on and on. This storm didn't move on fast. It lingered awhile. The basketball goal you see there was held down by about 4 concrete blocks. It blew over and went skidding along about 30 feet or so. I sat there for about 15 minutes. All the while I was praying that it wouldn't get our last Bradford pear tree.

When I got home this sight greeted me. Sigh. It's all cleaned up and gone now. Looks strange though, but I expect I'll get used to it.

Last night I went to my nephew's house to help them celebrate his birthday. His birthday is actually Monday but he'll be working then. There was lots of good food! My great niece had 3 of her little friends over to visit. They were having a great time if all the giggling means anything!

My nephew said this was his redneck water park!!

The girls were enjoying the pool to the max. There was 4 girls all laughing, splashing, and diving in the water. I wish I could enjoy the water like that. I never liked going under, even as a kid. Probably because I was afraid my brother would hold me under and drown me.

They were having a great time and I sure enjoyed watching them having fun!

Then on to the yummy birthday cake! This cake had a layer of strawberry and glaze through it, so it was like eating strawberry shortcake! Very good!! I didn't even know you could order them like that. Now I do. Don't know if that's a good thing or not!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and do have a blessed Sunday!

SUNDAY SIGN

BLACKBERRY PICKING TIME

This week I bought 1/2 gallon of blackberries that were fresh picked. I made a cobbler right off and the rest is frozen for future cobblers. As I was washing the berries I was thinking about when I picked blackberries when I was a kid. We got our buckets and usually headed for the neighbors farm since she had the best places to pick and she always gave us permission. We put kerosene around our wrists and ankles to ward off the chiggers. We also wore long sleeves and pants with our socks usually pulled up over the legs of our pants, also in an effort to keep out any unwanted chiggers and other bugs. The cows usually had nice paths through the blackberry briars and it was pretty easy picking. Sometimes you had to work yourself into a thicket to reach some juice luscious berries that you didn't want to get missed. I don't recall eating that many of them but just the occasional one. Many times my parents went with us and sometimes it was just me and my brother. Oftentimes it was just me and my Mom. I didn't worry about snakes but you did see a black snake every now and then. They didn't bother us and we didn't bother them. It was hot work and when a breeze drifted by it was deeply appreciated. After getting home and getting washed up then we'd tend to the berries. It seems like even with the kerosene that some of those chiggers would find their way to parts of the body that are not ladylike to scratch in public. That reminds me of a little poem I recall about chiggers:
A chigger is no bigger
Than the head of a small pin
But the bump that he raises
Itches like crazy
And that's where the rub comes in.
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SUNDAY SIGN

BLOGSTOCK08.....PLUS!!

I thought I was all finished with my Blogstock08 posts but there is one more thing that comes to mind that I wanted to mention. Peter would have liked to have been at Blogstock and we all wanted him there. Since he couldn't come he had sent his wishes by way of Cliff and asked Cliff to gather a group to listen to a rendition of the Man From Snowy River. This Ciff did and he did it very eloquently! I wish someone had videoed it, but we had no idea what he was going to do. There was a small group and we were all sitting around the dining room table. I know that Jerry and Nora were there as well as Ralph, Marilyn, Char, and myself. I'm not sure if anyone else was. This poem is quite long and I was so impressed, as I think we all were, that Cliff knew the whole thing and could recite it like that. Quite amazing Cliff! Thank you Peter for suggesting it! If you aren't familiar with that poem you can see it here to see just how long it is. I'm pretty sure I took this picture just prior to him giving his rendition.














And now.........

Someone sent me these questions and I had to wonder myself......



If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea...does that mean that 1 enjoys it?

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?

If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?

Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?

What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?

Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office?

What are we supposed to do, write to them?

Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?

You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.

Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn't zigzag?

Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?

At income tax time, did you ever notice: When you put the two words 'The' and 'IRS' together it spells... 'THEIRS'?
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Try this.

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your righthand. Your foot will change direction.

Have a wonderful day!!

BLOGSTOCK08 Part 3 and My Sunday Sign

(You can click on most all these photos to make them larger).

These are from the 4th.

Here is a group getting ready to go riding. It seems Jamie Dawn is having a bit of trouble with her horse and getting him to go where she wants. Jamie Dawn is a brave woman. She rode with a dress on!

Me at the Missouri River. Sorry about my red and purple, but I had on these pants when I rode the first time so I put them back on to ride again. Thank you soooo much JULIE for letting me ride!! It was awesome!




These are from Sunday July 5th.

Jim and Mrs. Jim at the brunch that Cliff cooked. It was good stuff too; pancakes, sausage, and eggs to your liking, and then delicious fruit cups. Actually, the fruit cups were made by us females prior to that day, but Cliff was the chef!

Here's Jerry listening with great intensity to someone. Have you ever seen anyone with a neater haircut?

Nora at the brunch.

Jerry and Janell picking cherries!

This is Desiree displaying the shirt for me to get a picture of. I wish now I had gotten one of those shirts for myself. Desiree worked hard in the preparations of Blogstock. She can also lift a bale of hay and toss it around like it's a peanut!

Here's Marilyn and Char in their cornfield neon shirts. These two ladies are so nice and sweet. They worked so hard getting all this ready too. They are like the energized bunny that just keeps going and going!

Finally Blogstock was over and I had to come home. On the way home I flew from Omaha to Detroit and this was taken close to Detroit. It looks like some kind of racetrack to me.

Blogstock08 was so much fun! Thanks again to all involved for the great memories!

SUNDAY SIGN

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BLOGSTOCK08 Part 2

There was a lot of work that went into Blogstock08. I wanted to show some pictures of the float being put together and some pictures I took before the parade.

Here is Desiree making yet another sign. She worked tirelessly at doing the writing for all the many signs that we made. We had signs that were like Burma Shave signs posted all along the road coming in. I do hope someone will post pictures of them eventually. I did not take any pictures of the signs. I did take over 200 pictures on this trip though!

Each blogger got a goodie bag and here they all are ready and waiting. Pretty aren't they?

Here's Char cooking up....cherries!!

This is Ralph and Cliff as they were building the float frame. Here, you can't tell it from this angle, but they were laughing so hard. It seems that Ralph was in a difficult position and was making a face and Cliff said he hadn't seen a face like that since Marilyn gave birth! Then they both got tickled.

The next pictures show the work on the float as it progressed along. Here is Marilyn and Mrs. Jim.

I'm not doing pictures of the parade. If you want pictures of that just check out
LZ Blogger's page. He has so many great pictures!
This is the back of our float!

I made two posters here at home and folded them up and put them in the bottom of my luggage. This is one of them, on the left.

The float is finished! Kind of looks like Nora is holding it up there!!

Here is Nora, Courtney (Jamie Dawn's daughter), Jamie Dawn, and Jerry. Uhhh...Jerry? Where are your beads???

Here's Jim and Janell with their great smiles!

Here is LZ Blogger and his lovely wife!

We went to this winery for lunch after the parade. It was very nice and a lovely place with a nice deck which we ate on.


I'll have a third part of Blogstock08 coming up!!

BLOGSTOCK08 Part 1

I'm back from Nebraska and Blogstock08. I must say that I had a great time. The Morrow's will certainly make you feel welcome at their home. I'm so glad I got to make this trip and meet all these wonderful bloggers! There was a lot of work that went into making this happen and I take my hat off to all involved and you know who you are!

First of all this was my first time flying so I've included this photo I took from the plane. I flew from Lexington to Memphis where I missed my next flight to Omaha, so I had to fly to St. Paul-Minneapolis Airport and then on to Omaha. I don't know why I missed my flight (I had plenty of time) but I guess I was just not paying close attention to where I should be when I should have been there! I did better with the rest of my flights! I thought I might be nervous being in a plane but it was quite an experience and I enjoyed each flight! I loved looking out at the clouds and everything below!

Here was Ralph on one of his favorite machines. I must say that after the mowing was done I have never seen a more manicured field and lawn. His mowing abilities are topped by no one! (Yes Ralph, you can now send me money for saying that). He really did enjoy mowing with this machine and if Cliff comes up with mowed areas in his cornfields then he need look no further than Ralph for the culprit! When Ralph got off this machine he was the color of dust. Totally.

Not sure what Cliff had been doing, but he has pruners and a bucket on the 4-wheeler. Looks like he's thinking about what chore he has to do next!

Here's Marilyn doing some landscaping out front.

Here is the float trailer before anything was done to it.


I have been very busy since I came home. I will post more pictures in my next part of Blogstock08. It was a real treat and I wish more could have come! You would have had a blast! Those Nebraska folks are mighty nice and friendly!