Whack a What?

We have a new entertainment center in our town. Yesterday the grands visited it and among the many games is one that is a cross between swinging the hammer at the carnival and Whack a Mole. Our E. played it several times, swiping the card that one buys. The card is loaded with a certain amount of chances to operate any game in the place. Too easy and the announcement says "Too easy." Too hard and it will announce that. Well, she won the jackpot twice. When she went to the counter to choose what loot she could take home, the young man said he had never seen anyone hit the jackpot before! E. chose two of each prize and gave the extra one to L. What a nice sister! Two grumpy cats, Ninja swords, bows and arrows and another I am forgetting. Fun afternoon in where it was cool. Oh yes, bowling was involved earlier. Laser tag, bumper cars and other games waited for another day.

Albino Moth

This moth was on the screened in back porch yesterday morning. I had never seen a white one before. Usually they are a dusty tan color.

Shares!

Way back in 1948 my dad bought five shares in the Labor Temple at 5th and Main. Maybe that was the way the unions raised money to purchase the Carnegie Library, built in 1903. As a kid, I loved to go there and look for weird books to read - especially in the summer. My cousin, Marcheta, always laughed because I did find some strange books. Nothing like we have today but odd for the time.

The Bluebird of Friendship

This lovely little bird from Arkansas was given to me by a good friend thirty years ago. The date is inscribed on the bottom after the piece was fired. It's so nice to have friends!

Dad's Day

This is my dad holding me about the time I was adopted by him and my mom. . . September, 1931. Happy Father's Day, Dad. I miss you.

Father's Day Tomorrow

Our celebration will be next week when both sons and their families come to town. It's been too long since we've all been together. We'll also be celebrating a birthday - the youngest grand will be ten!

Jake the Snake

Our friend, who lives on our block, keeping us free from small rodents.

Lilies Through the Screen

They seem so much taller this year!

Dog Coming Out

We keep this old blanket with a hole, left over from puppy chewing days, on the bed in the daytime so the dogs can lounge on it.



Today, L. walked in and Jack, who is usually completely under the covers, had his head through the opening so I had to get the camera.

The flash made it look as if he has odd eyes but they are really the same - not one green and one black.

Rainfall

Sunday night we had more rain. So much moisture that we would love to have later in the summer.

Now it is interfering with the wheat harvest. Lots of flooding around the state.

A Slow Saturday

My advice: never stay up until almost 3:00 a.m. to watch the movies. I saw Captain Phillips for the first time. This necessitated a four hour nap from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Wonder how late I'll be awake tonight. The day was not completely lost, however. I cleaned a little and did some laundry and managed to fix lunch before my nap.

Rescue

The dogs were barking while looking out the front window. A large water turtle was crossing the street. We took him in a large container to the Dillon Nature Center where he immediately plopped into the pond after L. put him down near the edge.

Throw Back Thursday

A 1946 Aeronca Champion. Two seat, tandem. Paid $500 for it. I got to taxi around in it once but L. never kept it long enough to give me a ride.

Ordering Online

Yesterday all attempts at repairing the Super Duper Pooper Scooper failed. It was at least seven years old and had had heavy use. I found one online, which is where we had found the one that has broken. As I prepared to order, I was asked if I wanted to use my credit. I didn't know I had any credit. Just ignoring that, I ordered the Scoop-Up. (Some of these terms may be copy rights.) When I reached the last page of the order form, my balance was $.67 cents. What a surprise. We'll see what the credit card bill has on it when it comes time to pay.

Graduate!

This blurriness of this photo is my fault. I was attempting to take a photo on my phone of

the display that was on the jumbo screen at a football stadium in TX.

Without a tripod, I failed.

This ceremony was gigantic. All students (1400) had their photos shown on the screen before

the ceremony started at 7:30.

Many speeches and announcements were given, of course.

The awarding of the diplomas was started by the principal who shook each student's hand,

while reaching back with his left hand for the next diploma which looked like a hard cover document. He placed that diploma in the next student's left hand while he shook their right.

This continued for quite some time and I was thinking, "He must be getting tired."

Suddenly there was a shift. A woman from the school board replaced him; and later two more women

and a man took their turns. There were some hugs with the principal and that surprised me.

Maybe this is common now. I haven't been to a commencement for a long time!

I stayed with the streaming video over the internet until the grads tossed their hats.

My sister-un-law said she gave up after our Madi came across the stage,

and today Madi told me if she had been me, she would have pulled an Aunt J. too!

The fact that we could see this live from 400 miles away is so awesome.

I don't even like the word awesome. It's over used. But in this case, it applies.

 

Graduation!

This adorable girl will be graduating tonight from high school.

It  doesn't seem possible.

We are 400 miles away but we will be able to see it on the internet.

Can't wait!!

Dorothy Wood Dance School Pupils

I'm not sure what  doll buggies covered in crepe paper had to do with dancing but here we are, all lined up for the photo. Probably about 1935. Surprised to see a few boys in the class with buggies. Maybe more advanced than we thought with no discrimination as to sexual orientation which I have learned in the last few days is different than gender.

By the way, I am third from the left. After viewing this in a larger format, I believe the boy on the right has a scooter or wagon and the other boys do not appear to have buggies.

Inspiring

These words were on a sign in a cancer clinic. I thought they were very neat and found that they are from a company, Inspire.

First Moonflower

I really like these blossoms. Too bad the plant is poisonous. They usually bloom at night but I caught this one yesterday late afternoon with sun peaking through the other plants.