Pleasantview Spring Celebration

 

A friend, Linda, and I went to Pleasantview this morning. Every year they have a celebration with all the businesses located about five miles southwest of town.
We visited the furniture store (homemade cookies), Glenn's Bulk Foods (samples of dried fruit or soy snacks and pencils)
the fabric store, Bill's Sewing Machines shop, the travel agency, and finally, the bank which is pictured here.
Folks were lined up for free root beer floats (all day) and a  spin on a wheel that was loaded with one dollar, two dollar, five and tens and I think I saw a twenty and a fifty!
Linda spun and won a two dollar bill.
I spun and landed on a five.
The prize for the five was a gold dollar. We both had a lot of fun, didn't spend a dime and came out ahead in the money department.
I just heard that someone in Kansas won part of the megamillions lottery.
It wasn't either one of us but we felt lucky with our "wheel" winnings.

Red Eye

Today my eyes look more bloodshot than usual. No, I'm not drinker - just seem to have red rimmed eyes.

Well, they are a little more red today. Our son on the Left Coast started helping me (doing it) set up the new netbook! The hour was about 10:00 CDT. We ended with my asking if he needed me to do anything else ( I had done next to nothing) about 1:30 a.m. I went to bed and slept until almost 9:00. That is very late for me.

And my eyes are still red rimmed.

I certainly appreciate the gift and the work to set it up with the latest virus  protection etc. Two very thoughtful sons!

Happy Birthday

 This arrived in the mail yesterday morning! I can now surf on the porch or all over the house. Anywhere there's WiFi.

Climate Control

We've had a mild winter and now a lot of nice warm days - warm enough to open windows. I was glad to get some fresh air in here. I imagine if someone walked in, they would smell dogs and old people.

 I don't care for room spray fresheners. They are a little too strong and artificial. Candles are all right if they don't burn too long.

So today it's warm enough that L. wanted to see if the air conditioner is in working order. Windows are closed. Air conditioner is working and it's colder in here than it has been all winter.

Advice for Dogs

 Most dogs I have known did not need advice on any of these three things.

Trees Under Cloudy Skies

 

 

 

If I had waited until a sunnier day, these colors would be more vivid.
This is about the extent of the florals in our backyard this year.
The rose bushes are gone; the lilac bush is trimmed to ground level; the jonquils bloomed and have died; the irises are dug up; all the moon flower bushes are gone.
L. discovered a lot of these were poisonous so we are flowerless.
It is too early for the peonies but they may have to go too.

So glad we still have the trees.

Sixty years but not retired yet

 It's odd how something out of place seems to make the brain do a double take.

No disrepect meant....

Bridge near Clemments, KS

 I really like the style of this stone bridge. It's on a little used dirt road but I imagine when it was built, the road was a major one.
The small yellow dot is my husband and gives you an idea of the size of the thing.

Watermelon

I've been enjoying some watermelon lately. For many years, since I was a little kid, in fact, I did not eat it.
On a summer evening when my cousin, Marcheta, and I were about 4 and 5 years old, her dear grandparents (my Great Aunt Lizy and Great Uncle Fred) took us for a ride. This was always a treat. To get to go out to the country and just see horses, cows, hay stacks and farms was fun for us "city" kids.

Well, they also let us pick and eat a bunch of mulberries. After that we were probably thirsty so we begged for root beer. A nickle a mug was reasonable. More riding and an ice cream cone each - also a nickle. After getting back to the house, there was a lovely big watermelon.

As you can tell, that was the last thing we ate and to put it delicately, it was the first thing back up when I was ill later that evening. My mom always laughed when I claimed it was the watermelon that made me sick.

So it's been a while, but I do like me some watermelon now!

Dogs

In the first photo, Miss Jill is waiting her turn for the bone. Even though there are two available, they both want the same one. If she can't have the one Jack has, she'll just wait her turn.

 This shows her underbite. I'm so glad we don't have to "do" braces for puppies.

Good Old Betty Crocker

 

 

 

 

I found this old (1957) cook book in some files the other day. They were really pushing Bisquik.
One of the recipes had tuna, cheese, onion, celery, eggs and milk.
It sounded interesting and L. likes tuna.
We made it but I failed to make the "Tuna Sauce" to serve over it so it was a tad dry.
Seeing all these recipes of pies, biscuits, cake etc. I wonder why we weren't heavier in those days.
Maybe because we were more active,
Click on photos to enlarge or as one of my favorite bloggers says:
Embiggen.

Phone Books - On the Way Out?

Will these eventually go the way of the Encyclopedia Brittanica? I know I seldom use them anymore. All the numbers I need are on my cell phone.
For the past several days we have been receiving some marketing calls on our "landline." (Yes, we still  have one of those.)  even though we are on a no-call list, we received calls daily from a Wichita number that showed up on our Caller ID. After ignoring quite a few calls, I finally answered it. They are selling something I'm not interested in and I politely told them so.
The calls continued. Finally this morning I answered and told him we are on the no-call list  and please do not call again. He apologized and said he would remove our name immediately from their list!
Two hours later, he called again. "Tom, you called earlier and I asked you to remove our name. You stated that you would do so immediately."
He hung up on me.
Now, was that nice?

Pear Trees

These are the pear trees that bear no fruit in our yard. This is the first year that they have bloomed so early. It's been 80 here for two days and many days of high 60's and low 70's. I dare not think of August.

A View

 Isn't this a lovely picture? I had coffee this morning with a friend that I don't see nearly often enough.
We have promised to fix that and I can't wait to see the grass when it is green!

Yes, We Have No Bananas

Yesterday we had seven of those overripe bananas. Time to bake.
So the bread didn't rise in the middle. Maybe it was the nuts the recipe called for.
Anyway, the cupcakes are nut free and they taste ok.
One banana left for a smoothie? 

Saturday morning chores

Although it's too early to mow, L. had the machine out. Since it didn't do the job, he tried the vacuum.
Why use the vacuum on the grass?
The dogs found my rice filled neck warmer. I believe I left it on the bedside table. In the backyard it was located - ripped to pieces with a lot of rice being consumed by said dogs and a lot still on the ground.
That rice had been nuked many times so it was very crunchy on the tooth. I hope they didn't eat too much of it. We'll see how this plays out.

Aeronca Champ 1946

This is an airplane we owned briefly in 1953. I never got off the ground in it but did taxi around the airport at Russell, KS, on one occasion with L. at the controls. He did all the flying. . . one cross country before selling.


I think we paid $400 for it and with our record probably sold it for less.

The other hairy headed dog

And this is Jill who also has some hair issues. She is larger and seems more aggressive of the two.
She will come when you call if she feels like it; and retrieve a tennis ball if nothing else more intresting appears.
In the second photo you can see her underbite.
These dogs are not related but they were sharing the same "crate" at the shelter and we hated to separate them.
And in October the shelter had a deal - if the dog had black or orange coloring, it was half price to adopt. So we got two for the price of one.

Stand-up Hair

 I wondered if our pup, Jack, had what is called a mullet.
The online dictionary was no help. It's answer for mullet was a fish.

Finally, Google had the definition and a whole lot of pictures.  Hair cut short in the front and long in the back. Popular in the 1980's.

So I guess Jack just has a top knot that is spread out. He also has an overbite. When he sleeps he appears to have some buck teeth. We like him anyway and will like him more when he quits "puppy chewing." His partner  in crime will be featured tomorrow.

Memorial Hall

The large building is Memorial Hall, formerly known as Convention Hall. Some folks wanted to tear it down a few years ago. Instead, smarter people prevailed and the buiding was refurbished.
Of course, they had to rename it  Memorial Hall. They felt that people might think it was a location for conventions. Horrors!
In the foreground is Cow Creek. This area was a mess just a while back. Luckily, the city used some employees and cleaned up the creek (even though it is still muddy which is common in this part of the country) but the trash is gone and the new concrete retaining walls along with fencing and landscaping. It's a pleasant little park that also contains a gazebo. That will be the next project because it is need of repair too.

    
Below is a post card found on the internet taken from approximately the same spot several years ago! It was taken before the concrete walls had fallen into the creek.

First spring flowers

These few buds opened up this morning in our backyard. They are really bending over. They look as tired as I feel! No nap today and I'm trying to get away from that habit so I can sleep better at night.

Walking Home From Work

I love this picture. This is our younger son with his two girls. They met him at the bus stop and their mother took this photo.
He is the one who started in with computers in about 1978. Then he (and perhaps the rest of the family) bought my first computer in 1989. The refrigerator magnet I have above my monitor says it all: "Everything I know about computers I learned from my kid."
And I enjoy using my computer every day and thank him for teaching me how to use it!

Continental Airlines - RIP

Yes, our small town of 45,000 used to be serviced by the good old DC-3's of Continental Airlines.

With progress, we now have to drive 45 miles to the nearest airport. We still have flights come in with student pilots on cross-country; people over from the Air Capitol test flying their new purchases; army helicopters; private planes coming for business meetings and various other flights. But now not even a "feeder" flight to get us to a major hub.

When our oldest son was about 18 months old, we bought a a ticket for me to Wichita (45 miles) and I held him on my lap. His dad drove over in the Buick and picked us up. This was so M. could have his first flight.
That trip may or may not have influenced him, but he's still flying today and not as a passenger.