Carolyn's Essenhaus

This is a restaurant in Arlington, KS.Good pies, good bread and good food.

Personal cup

I bought my very own, personal cup the other day. A wonderful benefit - with each cup of coffee ordered and placed in this cup, you get ten cents off! I thought the sign said ten percent! Oh well.....
The first order I got in it was free and very luke warm. So today, thinking I would solve this, I let the water at the kitchen sink run forever till it was hot. I think I want a Rinai hot water heater but they are very expensive. Maybe if I quite buying coffee, I could save up for one. But I digress.
I filled the cup with hot tap water, screwed on the cap and took off for the coffee store.
At the speaker, I explained I had my own cup (can't forget the ten cents off) and gave my order.
At the window, I explained it had hot water in it. The barista looked at me and said, "So you want me to just pour it out." Yep, that would be nice.

Walk-over pedestrian bridge

This bridge is over K-61 at 30th Street in Hutchinson, KS.
I have never walked over it and I have seldom seen anyone walking on it.
Its days are numbered. A highway expansion is underway and new supports for a new walking bridge are in place.
We have many highways but this is the only one very close to a school. However, as we passed the school, I counted ten school buses in the lot. I wonder how many students actually walk over this to school.
What we really need are some over passes for CARS. When new highways were built in the '50's, the thinking was, that if you had overpasses, people wouldn't exit to shop in the town. How weird is that? So now we have traffic lights at all the intersections which we can watch while we burn gas instead of traveling on through - over or under the highway.

Verga

Last night we went to Arlington to eat verenike at Carolyn's Essenhaus.

After very windy trip, we paused to take a picture of the sunset. Not much color but this was a vista we don't often see - verga. The dictionary says it is moisture that dissipates before reaching the ground. The entire western part of the sky and part of the north had this vision. (Lots of V's were used in this post.)

Toad in the rocks

This little guy has been sunning himself all day today, half buried in the lava rock. Wally, the fearless hunter, flushed him out but later mr. frog had returned to his spot. I hope he sticks around to eat bugs.
Do frogs eat worms? That would be ideal!

Waiting for Wigglers

After pouring soapy water over an area, these two friends are waiting for worms to come up for air. A few did but not even enough to go fishing. We are still contemplating a way to get rid of them without poison.
I guess they are called night crawlers. I wonder why they are only in the back yard and I hope the efforts to remove them doesn't drive them to the front yard.

Squirrel on a Swing

This little "statue" was sitting on the ground when we bought the house. L. just realized it was supposed to be hanging from a tree. He always has ski rope around so that accounts for the lovely yellow color scheme. We still wonder what is supposed to be in the opening - bird seed? nuts for the real squirrels? No instructions were supplied.

Walnut Disk

Recently I said there would be no more blogs about trees. Well, here's one more. This is a cross section of the walnut tree that was cut down Friday. It is 8" x 7" and I wonder why it is darker in the center. I think we'll use it on the outdoor table for a hot casserole. . . . if someone brings us one.
Can't remember a homemade casserole from our oven in quite some time.

Apollo 13 Anniversary

Don't be fooled by the empty seats. The crowd was behind us and it was large. Nine men were there from the NASA mission control crew that was on duty when Apollo 13 had its incident. Gene Krantz is second from left and Gunter Wendt is on the right. It was great to hear the stories and how they felt - never a thought about losing the capsule and the crew. They were trained to solve any problem. Their training included many simulations of possibilities that could occur.
I wish I had the list of names of all the men there. If it is listed in the paper, I'll add the names.

Milt Windler, Gene Kranz,Gerry Griffin, Ed Fendell, Jerry Bostick,Sy Liebergat, Jack Lausma, Joe Kerwin, Gunter Wendt.

And Andrew Chaikin was the moderator.

(The names are not in the right order with the photo.)

Tree Be Gone

We had a walnut tree removed today. I think it's almost criminal to cut
down trees in Kansas. We need all the shade we can find. However, when it's a walnut tree that drops nuts and long thin twigs into the gutters because it is so close to the house, I changed my mind. There was also the possibility of wind blowing it onto the roof.
We had two men spend about an hour here and it was gone. The second photo shows the top gone and the trimmer climbing down from the remaining trunk. L. had them cut a thin slice from the trunk for a souvenir. It will make a good trivet. . .

Springtime

Even junk looks good with spring flowers blooming on it.

Marketing

Fantasy Gordita Baja












Actual purchase

Free birds

I know I'm blessed. Wonderful husband, family and a home in the country I would have chosen if I'd had the choice.













But Sunday I was feeling low - a pity party pour moi. Stupid and silly, but there it was.

Then I happened to turn on the PBS station and saw seven people who survived the Holocaust tell their stories.

I plan never to feel sorry for myself again.

Update on the mounds

When someone told L. that the small mounds in our backyard were from night crawlers or worms, he thought they were, to put it bluntly, crazy. We just returned from scouting with a flashlight and the back yard is full of fishing worms! Wonder if we could collect and sell them on the sidewalk without breaking any city ordinance.
Now to find out how to really get rid of them. . .

Window View

This is the sight I see when I look out the window of our "office." (small third bedroom) I like the crank out windows (I don't know what they are really called - casement?)
It's very peaceful. No barking dogs or noisy neighbors. A very quiet neighborhood.
If only we knew what was causing all the bumps and mounds in the yard. Right now it's a toss-up between crayfish (!) and cicadas. Whatever it is, it makes for a very bumpy yard.

What a Day

I knew it was going to be a weird day early this morning. I got up and saw that the clock in the bathroom said 6:15. Decided to stay up and read the paper, watch the early shows and have some coffee. I looked for the paper but it wasn't on the porch or on the steps.
After coming into the "office," I glanced at the clock. It was 2:30; not 6:15. We need a digital clock instead of one with hands of equal length in that bathroom. Rather than start the coffee, I went back to bed.
No sleeping so I finally staggered out of bed again at 5:00. After breakfast at 7:00, a nap till 9:30.
This is not the way I wanted to spend Thursday.

Two color tree (s?)

This looks like one tree separated at the ground but maybe it's two trees.

Whatever it is, it is beautiful and has both red and white blossoms. I think this will be the last blog about trees until autumn.

Spring blooms

We have two trees like this in our backyard. I have no idea what kind of trees they are. I think they are beautiful.

Vanity tags

Sometimes personalized are fun to see because you can tell what the owner is professing. Then there are those that are so obscure . . .
I saw this one on a Mustang in the parking lot at Home Depot. NUR Drums? L. said, Nurd rooms.
It was ony after I uploaded and zoomed in that I got it -

In Your Dreams!

With the Oklahoma Boomers frame on the plate meaning, perhaps, that they are hoping for a better outcome next year in the sports department.

Star flowers

This bush was blooming at the nature center this afternoon. In most of the centers there was a star - except for the one I got in the close-up. The fact that this is in focus is a miracle because in the bright sunlight, it is hard to see if the macro is focused. That's all the technical stuff I know about photography.

Big Bag

This purse/bag is very handy. It will hold almost anything that I want to tote.

Yesterday I took a trip to the store, was ready to pay and no wallet.

I looked in all the compartments (man, it's dark in there.)

Then I remembered...I had originally planned just to take my wallet and keys. It must be lying on the dining room table.

Told the clerk to hold my purchases there at check-out aisle 4 and I would return.

Back home, no wallet. As a last resort, I dumped everything out and still no wallet. I reached inside and there, tucked in corner, standing upright was the billfold.

I've decided this bag is almost two big. The clerk had a suggestion - a light inside. I have seen those advertised. I think I'll just carry a flashlight with me.

Wait, there is a light on my keychain.Too bad I didn't remember that.