Independence

Just a little bit about our Circle tour to Independence. Everything went well and those that went on the trip enjoyed it. It's sort of scary planning a trip that you hope everybody will like. The trip up to Independence went fine; nobody sped on I-380 where the speed cameras are! The museum or the Agribition Center as it is called is a very nice place. Even though Joy and I had been there before there was still a lot to see. Bill enjoyed looking at the old cars; there was a very old Packard there that I love, it was pristine. The back seat has its own windshield! The guys who went (there were 4) spent some time looking at Big Bud, the huge tractor on display. Some of the women who went are taking their families up there to see it. The one room school house was so fun to see, clean and neat. We had a great lunch at the Homestead, a special for the day for $5.99 that included a sandwich, one side and drink. From there we drove past the Mental Institution (we all stayed in the car so they couldn't keep us) which has beautiful grounds and is an impressive but old building. Hazleton and the Amish was the next stop. We stopped at 2 country stores and drove through some of the Amish country. Saw little kids riding in a little pony cart; someone cultivating corn with horses; one man mowing hay with a horse, lots of laundry on the line, gorgeous gardens.

Now I need ideas for a tour for next year as I "get" to stay on the project committee. Let me know if you have a place of interest for us to see!

Don't try this at home

Wednesday at story hour at the library. Tried to make a boat using a small water bottle, some vinegar and some soda wrapped in a paper napkin. Put small pin hole in lid of bottle; put vinegar in bottle, put some soda on a paper napkin and wrap up tightly so it fits in the bottle; quickly put the cap on and put bottle in small wading pool filled with water. Reaction--bubbles released make bottle move. Our reaction--next to nothing. Then try not using as much paper napkin, works better but still try something else like putting more vinegar and less napkin. Results--lid pops off spraying surrounding kids with vinegar. Some laugh, others wipe their eyes and wonder what the heck they are doing there! Next--librarian and helper clean up kids, floor and surrounding area. Have kids use cups to get water out of wading pool so can be dumped out. Take out plastic cloths from floor to dry. Helper goes home to mow lawn. Librarian stuck there until 7 p.m.

It's Raining, Again

I woke up to the sound of more rain. It needs to stop. My lawn needs mowing!

We were invited to a birthday party for a 4 year old/see the new shed party Saturday night. Jeff and Carrie built a big shed to house hay and feed for his cattle and we got to see it up close. Since it was newly cemented out and unused the little ones had a lot of fun riding bikes, trikes and little tractors around and around. I also got to hold and feed little Emily, just a month old. Jeff fixed burgers and hot dogs for a few neighbors and relatives. Nice time.

Went to a few garage sales Saturday in Lowden. I did buy some things; all new though. I got 2 new cookbooks (I really need more cookbooks?) and some new Tupperware from a dealer that were a little below full price (make a good gift for a granddaughter who has a birthday in July) and some Watkins products from a dealer. I didn't really need anything, but was a good walk. Took the Amvets key back to Del and stopped to visit Gerald R. while walking past there. Got Mother's mail. I missed the rain which started early and then came again later. Enough already!

Long Election Day

I worked at the polls yesterday for the primary election. What a long day; we had to be there at 6 a.m. and I got home around 10:45 p.m. after taking all our machines back to Tipton. We were sort of busy, had 199 voters, the last one coming in 3 minutes before the polls closed. I am chairman of our group of 4 workers; my 3 co-workers are very good and it makes my job easy.

Cheryl & Jim leave today to go back to California. How lucky we were to have them at Grandma's house--even though I don't think they thought they would be doing what they did on their "vacation". Jim has learned how to drive to St. Luke's Hospital! At least we had a good Friday trip--it was fun and I love Iron and Lace. Sunday's family picnic was great; so many people I hadn't seen for a long time. Also got to see Greg, Chelsey & Charley and on Monday got to see Laura, Emily and Dallas. Thank you for coming; I'm sure Grandma really enjoyed seeing you all. Thanks to Shirlee and Dan for taking care of Grandma on Sunday and we hope you made a safe trip home from here.

I'm off to volunteer at the library this morning and then we will be taking the Hartley's to the airport this afternoon. Larry is here; they are loading a semi with beans from the bin. Hopefully the bean dust won't settle on the two loads of wash I have hanging on the line.

Happy Memorial Day

I hope everyone is remembering our service men and women today. We think of Caleb often as he is training for his tour in Afghanastan. We put the flags up in the Lowden Cemetery Saturday morning. It was so pretty with them blowing in the east breeze. There was a lot of help so it didn't take long to get them up. I was honored to hang the one that was in memory of Grandpa Horman. We will take them down Tuesday morning. By each flag there is a stake with a name on it in honor of the veteran. This morning we will go to the Memorial Day service at the Legion Hall in Lowden. Bill will take part in the service with the other members of the Legion and Amvets. Our speaker will be Commander Quick of the U S Navy; he is the husband of Diane Gottschalk. Does anyone remember her?

Looking forward to seeing everyone next Sunday. Church is at 9:00, pictures afterward, then picnic dinner at the Amvets Hall. See you then.

It's Hot

Whew, what weather! This is not what May is supposed to be like. Had to uncover the air conditioner yesterday but haven't turned it on yet; maybe today if it stays so hot.

Saturday afternoon was busy with 4 graduation parties and a 40th anniversary surprise party. They had beautiful weather for everything and great food too! One party had the Olive Garden food--they made it themselves but served the pasta, salad and bread sticks. An unusual idea I thought. Doesn't seem like a year ago that Ben and Caitlin graduated.

Picked a bouquet of peonies this morning, they don't usually bloom till Memorial Day. Larry is ready to spray corn starting maybe tomorrow. Everything is a little bit early this year.

Have a fun Memorial Day everyone.

New baby in the family

Congratulations to Greg and Chelsey on their new son. Hopefully we get to see him soon! Two more family members awaiting; Angie is (I heard in church yesterday) really ready to have this new baby born and Megan has a firm date of June 11th set if she doesn't go before then. Way to go girls!

We went to Houby Days in Cedar Rapids on Saturday; they had a car show so we took the Edsel and Sawyer's took the '57 and Glen took his car. Nice day for a car show; not too hot and not too cool. Deb and I walked the block where booths were set up and went into some stores. This is the area where the flood was and we saw lots of houses that were boarded up and to me looked like they were ready to be torn down. How sad. We ate lunch there--I tried a North Carolina pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw, very good. We saw the parade and the beautiful Czech embroidered clothes. One more thing crossed off my bucket list!