Winter Family Reunion

 

Let me start out by saying this has been a dream of Donnie’s older sister, Wilma for the past few years, and since she was diagnosed with breast cancer this past year, she decided it was this summer or maybe never.  So many of their family, cousins,  Aunts and Uncles, have passed and so she wanted to do it before any more left this world.  All of her kids but one were able to come. Crystal, her oldest daughter and her family just couldn’t get away, but the rest were here with all their family.  Donnie’s 2 kids couldn’t make it, and Nathan, Lois and Wayne’s son couldn’t make it.  Several of their cousins did come and their only surviving Aunt is now in the Nursing home and couldn’t come.  We had a ball with everyone that did show up, and the food and drink was abundant. 

Dennis, Donnie’s younger brother, grilled 18 chickens, his son Darin made pulled pork BBQ, and they also grilled brats and hot dogs.  We had creek fries, German potato salad, baked beans, some delicious salads that Melanie, Lois’s daughter, made.  One was a pasta salad with cherry tomatoes, and fresh parmesan cheese.  Eric, Wilma’s son, made green beans in a Dutch oven over coals, and he also made a delicious apple crunch the same way.  There was home made cookies, banana pudding, I took a fresh fruit platter, and so much other stuff.   Too many foods to list them all.  I am sure no one went away hungry.

In this collage starting top left is Eric having a water gun  fight with some of his nieces and nephews, next is Wayne ,in front of house.   The shutters on the house were hand made by my husband when he remodeled the whole place .  Next is Donnie’s two cousins, Earl and Carl, talking to Valerie and Wilma.  Another picture of Wilma and daughter, Valerie.  Next is Denny’s  wife, Beulah talking to Carl, a shot of the guys bringing the picnic tables up from the lake, and the last is Denny cooking all that chicken.

 

One of Denny and Beulah’s grandsons broke his leg jumping out of a boat.  You can see him in middle top picture, Wayne acting silly with a patriotic hat on, next are Don’s two sisters, Wilma and Lois, and bottom right is Don’s cousin Earl and wife Bertie.  They are also very good friends of ours.  We do a lot of scooting around with them when possible.

 

This is just everyone enjoying all the great food.

This is Don and his siblings.  Lois, Dennis, Don, and Wilma.  Top right is some of the young cousins and bottom is Don’s family with 3 cousins.

A good time was had by all, and for once the weather was almost perfect.  Low 80’s with a slight breeze.  I got a small sunburn, but nothing I am alarmed about.

Want to welcome my newest follower, Levonne.  She too is a very talented writer and photographer.  Check her out.  You will be glad you did.

I have been having so many computer problems.  A week or so ago my Hotmail quit working, and from looking on my own, and some help from Rick, I found out that thousands of users are having the same problems.  Still having lots of trouble leaving comments and getting into my dashboard.  May all be connected, not really sure.  I have also had some people tell me it is something Explorer 9 screwed up.  Who knows, I just know it is frustrating has hell.

Thanks for all of your encouragement and suggestions on our flooring decision. This will be a slow process , just simply because we don’t have to be in a hurry, but I will let you know how it is progressing.

Lest you think there is nothing to see here, when we get back from Colorado, I also intend to show a little bit of what Perry County has to offer.

 

Flooring Problem

The floor guy finally showed up yesterday, and almost immediately started giving us reasons why we might not be able to have vinyl laid.  His main reason for not doing it was the fact that our flooring, under the carpet, would soak up the glue used to glue vinyl down.  I said that is funny, because Donnie put vinyl tile in our bathroom, toilet room, right after we got the RV and it worked just fine.  Then he started telling us it would be a real job just getting our old carpet out.  Duh!!  Isn’t that their job???  Anyway, I finally just said, “If you don’t want to do it, Just say so”.  He swore he wanted to, but just didn’t want to stick us with a job that may not wear right.  Ok, so now Donnie and I have decided we can do it ourselves.  After all, we used our own lumber from our land and built a 1600 square foot house, so I think we can handle doing this.  Donnie is a Carpenter, and I make a damned good Carpenter’s helper.  We think all that needs to be done is after we get the carpet up, and the floor good and clean, we will paint it with some kind of sealer, and the clue will work just fine.  Nuff said…. :)

Last Saturday we went out and had breakfast with Herb and Willie.  We saw one of  our old friends at the restaurant  and talked for quite a while.  It’s always good to catch up with old friends.  Later in the day we went to Herb and Willie’s to play Pegs and Jokers.  Willie had all kinds of candy sitting around.  Two of my favorites are circus peanuts and spice drops, and she had both of them on the table.  I ate candy till I almost got sick.  We had a great time, and I did survive.

Want to welcome my newest follower, John, Life in a Volkswagen bus.  John is a very wonderful writer.  He is in Taos, New Mexico right now, house-sitting for a friend of his.  Check him out.  He has just started his blog and needs our support..

We went out to Mark and Shannon’s on Sunday for a very good meal.  She made a meal for all the Fathers in her life.  Her Dad, Donnie, Mitchel, Mark, and Mark’s step dad, Tex.  She grilled pork steaks, made a wonderful potato casserole, corn, beans, and I took a couple of fruit pies.  She also cut a watermelon up and made a fancy bowl out of it, then stuffed it with all kinds of fruits. It was great seeing everyone, and we had a great time.

Our Winter reunion is Saturday, so I have been making Judy’s pretzels to take, and I am also making a big fruit platter with Carmel dip.  My gang here in Indiana love Judy’s pretzel recipe, so have to make them when we all get together.  I also need to make some ahead to take with us to Colorado.

I may not post again for a while, unless we do something that is of interest.  I am sure everyone is getting sick of hearing about all of our family gatherings.

Thanks to Rod, I did find a Motel 6 that will let us have Rusty in the room with us, when we stop for the night in Kansas.  I had asked him a few months ago about pet-friendly motels, and he got right back to me with the info.
You all stay safe and cool… :)

Sad News For Our Family

 

My nephew, Tony and his wife, Erin lost their unborn child this week.  This is so sad for our whole family, but especially hard for my baby sister, Jeannie.  This would have been her 4th grand child.  Tony and Erin and their daughter, Leah, will be leaving for England soon, for her 3 year stint for internship.  Our hearts and prayers go out to these two great kids.

Yesterday morning Donnie and I went to a friends bar/restaurant for breakfast.  My girl friend, Marilyn’s son, Jim Bob, bought this place a couple of years back and completely remodeled it.  It is really nice now, and they have very good food.  Best breakfast we have had since we got back home.  I didn’t get to see Marilyn yesterday, but I did get to see Jim Bob and his father, Bob.  We will definitely go back for another meal. We weren’t there very long when our friend Earl came in with another one of Donnie’s cousins, Carl, so we all had breakfast together.  Good to see both of them.  Earl just had to have another stint put in his heart last week, but is doing fine right now.

Donnie’s older sister, Wilma flew in from California on Thursday night.  We stopped out at the old home place for a little while yesterday just to see her.  We knew she would be tired from her trip, so we didn’t stay very long.  She got to meet Rusty, and of course, I was afraid he would knock her down with all of his exuberance.  I sure wish he would settle down, but I seem to worry about it a lot more than everyone else does.  They are busy getting everything ready for next Saturday when most of the Winter family will be there.  It should be a lot of fun, and I know there will be lots of food and drink, and conversation. We are looking forward to seeing everyone.

We watched “True Grit” the other day, and I agree with The old Geezer, the John Wayne version is still my favorite.  We do like Jeff Bridges, but it was a case of comparing the two actors all the way through the movie.

We did a little geocaching yesterday.  I picked out 5 cemeteries that have geocaches in them, and we went hunting.  Sorry to say we only found 2 out of the 5, which is highly unusual for us.  We just about always find the majority of them, but it wasn’t meant to be yesterday.  I did take some pictures of some of the spots that I thought were particularly pretty that I will share with you.

 

This is one of the prettiest churches in our area.  St.Mark’s is where Donnie attended church, and the brick building behind the church is the school he attended for grade school.  Also our Angie is buried here.  We lost her to breast cancer two years ago.  She and Uncle Boone died on the same day, but two years apart.

The next stop was at the old sight of St. Joe’s church.  It has been gone for quite a while, but there has been a grotto built on the sight where the church once stood.  This is where we found our last geocache.

This is Lasher Cemetery.  As soon as we got under that very large white oak tree, my GPS went crazy, so no luck here, but we did walk around and read some of the stones.  We found the veteran that the geocache mentioned, but didn’t help us find it.

All of the old cemeteries are a favorite place to go.  You can find a lot of history in these places, so we will keep searching them when possible.

Just wanted to show you the proof that we really are gardening while sitting here.  Poor Herby!   The woods behind their house allowed the deer enough cover so they could sneak up and eat all  the tomatoes off of his vines.  They didn’t bother the plants, just ate all of his tomatoes off… :(

Later…

Hiking Along The Mighty Ohio River

 

Sunset Park is a small Park on the other side of the flood wall from Tell City.  It is just a nice little park with picnic tables and a small playground for the kids.  This is where the hiking trail starts and runs along side of the Ohio River for a mile or so.  Tell City has finally gotten better at making places for people to walk and stay fit.  There is also a few benches and a small parking area at both ends of the trail.  We really liked it, and there is some History of the city depicted in murals painted by local artists.

This picture shows some of the murals, and the park along the river. Also bottom right is the new Medical Clinic.

The mural in the right top, shows on the left side, the different floods that Tell City has endured.  The flood wall has pretty much kept the river away from Tell City in recent years.

It was really hot when we were down there walking, and Rusty was panting really hard, so we didn’t stay for a long time, but I am sure we will be going back.

Today we are getting lots of rain, but no storms so far.  It is much, much, much cooler also.  At 11:00am it is only 66*.  I bought Donnie the new “True Grit” movie yesterday, so I think that is what we will be doing this afternoon.

Chelsi and I did go out to the relay on Sat., but because of the B-Day party we had to go to, we didn’t stay.  It was raining and the girls were just getting their booth put together.  It doesn’t start till 2:00pm now, and is over early on Sunday morning.  The girls told me today they did manage to do $3,800.00, but they really had to work hard for what they made for the Cancer Foundation.  They said that every year less and less people get involved.  This is just my opinion, and I know we all have one, but I think more and more people are figuring out that more money is going to the people running these foundations, than to the research that everyone hopes its going to. Just sayin…..

We did go to Mason’s Birthday party and we all had a great time.  That kid got so many pool toys.  It will take him all summer to play with them.  And, of course they will all stay at Grandma’s house, cause she has the pool.  We had a really good meal of fried chicken, potato salad,  and a very large selection of fresh fruits.  Fruits were my favorite part.  And, he had a very pretty Mickey Mouse cake, in fact 2 cakes, but I only took a picture of one of them.

  

A good time was had by all, and especially Rusty.  He loves going out to Shannon and Mark’s house.  They have 3 little dogs and he just runs and plays till he is all tuckered out.  Good for him I think.

The only other news I have is about our floors.  They are supposed to start working on them in a week or so.  I sure hope so, because we are leaving for Colorado on the 30th of this month, and I would like to get it done before we leave.  I have the vinyl picked out that they will lay, so the guy laying it is the only hold up.

Stay safe and cool…. :)

Huffman Mill Bridge

 

First thing I want to do today is congratulate my beautiful grand daughter, Chelsi.  She made the honor role again for the last semester.  I am not only proud of her, but also her parents for helping her, and responding to her aid when they discovered she had a problem.  She was diagnosed with ADS a few years back.  Jon and Angie immediately took her to good Doctors, hired Tutors for her, and I must say the school system also helped them out.  Instead of sticking her in a special class, as they usually do, they put her in extra reading and comprehension classes to boost her ability to learn and understand.  It has made such a difference in her grades and her overall look at her future.  She has always wanted to be a Chef, and still does.  To say I am proud of them is putting it very mildly.

Want to welcome my newest follower, Wizard Oron.  I could find no site for you, but please share it with me if you have one.  I will be glad to post it here.  Hope you enjoy ridding along with us as we get back on the road.

We had a great time with Herb and Willie on Thursday evening.  We played games at their house until around 5, when their daughter, Charlotte picked up the grand dog.  Shortly after we hopped in the truck and drove out to Leopold, Indiana to get our chicken livers.  Again I forgot to take any pictures.  Marcy’s is where we go, and it is a nice little Bar/Restaurant, and they do serve the best chicken livers, and plenty of them. Not as many as they once put on a plate, but still enough for at least 2 meals.

Friday we put Rusty in the truck and rode out to visit Huffman Mill Bridge. The Huffman Mill Covered Bridge crosses the Anderson River on County Road 1490 North connecting the counties of Spencer and Perry.  This single span Burr Arch Truss structure has a length of 136 feet, or 156 feet including the 10-foot overhang at each end, with a portal clearance 15 feet 6 inches wide by 11 feet 6 inches high.  built by William T. Washer in 1864 for the sum of $5,700.00, this bridge was named for its close proximity to the nearby Mill that had been built by George Huffman.  Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 the Huffman Mill Covered Bridge was for many years secluded beneath heavy foliage as it carried local traffic across the Anderson River between Spencer and Perry Counties until 2004 when a new road bypassed the old structure; though now much easier to view, I’m always a bit sad when these grand bridges are no longer able to perform their designed task.

The Huffman Mill Covered Bridge is listed in the 1989 “World Guide to Covered Bridges,” published by The National Society for the Preservation of covered Bridges, Inc., as 14-62-05.  It is so sad that at one time in Indiana there were over 600 covered bridges, and now only 90, with 2 others being repaired. 

I took lots of pictures and will share them with you.

Most of the pictures are self explanatory, but let me help you with a couple of them.  The water is Anderson River, a small river most of the time, but in spring floods it is always way out of it’s banks.  The first collage is of Donnie and Rusty hiking over the bridge.  That gives you some kind of idea how long it is.  The next collage is of a small little town, Bristow.  The feed mill is very old, but I couldn’t find any info on it. In the same collage is my favorite green house.  This is where we always got our bedding plants, both vegies and flowers.  The last collage is of one of the weeds that grows all over Southern Indiana and Kentucky.  They are lilies, and I think they are beautiful, but most people treat them as a weed.

It is much cooler here today, but the humidity  is unbearable.  We are planning to take a hike with Rusty later, on another new trail here in Tell City.  I will write more about it, the Relay, and Mason’s Birthday on another day.

I really would love your opinions on this.  I have been thinking about adding AdSense to my blog, but would like to know what all of you think about that.  I have broad shoulders, so please don’t spare my feelings.  I can handle the Con as well as Pro.   Thank you, all of your opinions mean a lot to me.

Stay cool…

Relay For Life

 

The Relay For Life is held here in Perry County on this up-coming week end.  I will be going out early on Sat. Morning to walk with the girls.  Chelsi will go with me and walk too.  There are always a bunch of booths that she likes to visit, so should be a fun time for us.

After all it is for a very good cause.  I hope you all will get out and participate in your area’s walk.

Want to welcome my dear friend Judie to the land of bloggers.  She is our friend from Alabama.  They are trying to decide if they are going full-time or if they will remain part-time travelers.  Please check her site out.  She and Dick are two of the nicest people we have ever met.

I also want to thank John and Bridget for turning me on to homemade laundry soap.  If I had known how easy this is to make, and how much money I would be saving every month, I would have done this years ago.  It costs roughly 1 cent per load, and it does a really good job on the clothes, and I love the fresh scent of it.  Thanks again you two!!

We also have another Birthday party this week end.  It is also on Saturday.  It is for my Great grandson, Mason.  He turns 4 this year, and is a typical little boy.  Wild as a striped-assed ape, and just as cute. Here he is last Saturday, threatening to spray GG with his water gun.

I also want to thank Laurie for the info she sent me about my ins.  I called and talked to them about my charges, but they told me the raises are because everything you have  to fix from an accident, keeps going sky high.  He says paint, parts, labor is all going up, so how do you argue with that?  He also said our RV and our truck will hold their value longer because of what they are, and how they are made.  Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but we all need ins., so must pay it. Again thanks, Laurie.

We are going over to Herb and Willie’s house tomorrow to play games again.  They have their grand daughter, Sidney and their grand dog, Boomer till 5:00pm.  After they are picked up we are heading out to Leopold, In. for a chicken liver supper.  We love those darn things, but don’t make a habit out of eating them.  They are so full of fat, but just got to have some once in a while.  There is a nice little restaurant there called Marcy’s.  We usually go out there at least once while we are home.

Gotta run and finish my laundry. Will catch you all later.. :)

Traveling Plans Made

 

We have pretty much decided to stay here until the fall.  That will allow me to get everything settled with my Cardiologist and my Optometrist.  We will be taking 2 or 3 trips this summer, but only in the truck.  Early July we will be going to Colorado for a week or so.  Probably in August we want to go down and see my sister Dottie and her husband, Mark.  We are trying to talk Herb and Willie into going with us to Paducah. The last time we were all together, we really had a ball. I would also like to take a week end trip to Indy.  Haven’t seen my family there since we lost Uncle Boone.  My cousin called the other day and wanted to know when I was coming back up to do some garage sales with her.

Want to welcome my two newest followers: Jessica and April.  Jessica, and her husband, Harry live in New York and hope to start full-timing in 2013.  Check out their site if you get a chance.  I could not find a site for April, but if you have one, please contact me, and I will add it here.

Had to go pay insurance the other day on the truck, for six months, and the RV for a year.  $1200.00 for the two.  Will someone please explain to me why they keep charging more for insurance, but the value of your RV and truck keep going down?  Why does your insurance payments not reflect this?

We went out to eat with Herb and Willie on Wednesday morning.  Thanks again guys for a great breakfast.  After we finished eating we went to Leitchfield, Kentucky where they hold a big yard sale, with approx. 40 people set up, and there is also 1 large inside flea market and 2 smaller ones.  Donnie and I didn’t find anything, but Willie found a new piece of Carnival glass for her collection, and Herby found a car to add to his Jeff Gordon collection.

We right now are experiencing some very strong storms.  No tornado warnings, but straight-line winds again.  I knew something would be brewing because we have had some unseasonably warm weather.  Almost 100 here yesterday.  I sure hope this makes it cooler.  Our air runs nonstop in this type of weather.

Want to share a couple of pictures of our tomato crop.  We are so proud of them, and can’t wait to eat our first home-grown tomato.

I don’t know if you can see them or not, but there are little blooms all over  the two plants.

I did receive some good news on the medical front this week.  I have been going in weekly for a blood test to make sure my blood is at the right consistency, but now I only have to go in every two weeks.  Also, my meds seem to be working better, with only occasional skipping of beats.

This week my beautiful grand daughter, Chelsi had a 16th birthday, but we didn’t celebrate till yesterday.  She had several of her girlfriends out for a pool party and of course family and friends came too.  There were probably about 30 of us.

In the picture is a shot of the pool, Mason with his garb on, Aunt Shannon repairing one of the girls suits, Taco the dog in her finest, Chelsi in her Hawaiian garb, Chelsi’s mom, Angie, Chelsi in first suit, she had 3 different ones on .  The picture in the bottom right is Tony and his daughter, Leah. They are here for a visit from Calafornia. They will be going to England with Tony’s wife, and Leah’s mom in just a few months for 3 years.  This little girl is only 20 months old and not only does she talk, she also knows sign language.  I am very proud of these kids.

 

The picture on her cake is one I took when she was only a year old.  It says “Help, Mom is having a bad day, dial 1-800 Grandma”.  It was always one of her mom’s favorite pictures.  They also spelled her name wrong, but it was a pretty cake, and tasted even better than it looked.  Chelsi in second suit.  I never did get a picture of her in her third.  she received 2 new ones as gifts. The picture, center bottom is another nephew, TJ.  He and his wife Susan, and two daughter, Kayley and  Hannah were also there.

This is a bunch of pictures of everyone getting ready to sing Happy Birthday to her.  Notice in the bottom right the little girl with a finger up to her mouth.  This is Chelsi’s BFF, and you can guess what is coming next…. :)

Food fight between Best Friends Forever!!!  At top right is my silly SIL, after a few beers…. :)

It was a very fun day.  Lots of food and drink. 

Later….