Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet, Give Me Something Good to Eat!

We missed these "trick or treaters" tonight!  Zade, just like his Dad; and Ashlynn, Catwoman!  Thanks Darin for sharing the photos.

We joined Trisha, Jeff, and the boys tonight at their house.  The teen aged boys just roamed the neighborhood finding people they knew.  They have outgrown costumes but had a great time greeting everyone. 

Trisha sits in a lawn chair at the end of the driveway to give out the treats.  What a great idea; no getting up, opening the front door a hundred times.  All of us enjoyed see all of the young ones in costume.  There were princesses, butterflies, pirates, Ninja, a wee little one-about 18 months-was a goldfish!

Are you ready for this?  Glen and I did some......ta da! Christmas shopping this afternoon.  Halloween and Christmas shopping all on the same day!

Cherishing the Family Moments

Monday and Tuesday have been spent with family as much as possible.

Monday we checked Tanner out of school 30 minutes early to take him to eye doctor.  Tanner has been saying that one eye is blurry.  The optometrist said his eyesight is right on the border of needing glasses; reading glasses may help him but there is no need to have prescription glasses now.  Trisha met us there. 

We spent the day at Trisha's house today.  Glen worked on another project for Trisha. I washed the clothes worn for the four-wheeling outing. 

Tonight Trisha and Glen grilled burgers and brats for dinner.  Jeff's dad and his lady friend joined all of us,  Jeff flew to "Big D"--Dallas and back today.   

We are thinking especially of our friends in the northeast corner visited by Hurricane Sandy. 

Sunday Fun

 

Getting Ready

Tanner

Brady

Landon

Jeff

Jeff and Trisha

Landon

Tanner

Brady

 

 

It was a fun Sunday afternoon.

The skies were blue,  and the temperatures crisp....just right for some four-wheeling along the Arkansas River.

Everyone shared the four-wheelers; we all got to ride!  There were even some mud holes to go through! 

Visit by Jack Frost this Morning

The days are swiftly passing.  We are spending time with family.

Glen hung/installed some storage racks for Trisha in the garage. 

Do you remember we are parked on the county fairgrounds?  Today there was practice for a junior rodeo which will be held tomorrow afternoon.  Our neighbors tonight are some sheep--"mutton busting", some small calves--"team pinning", and a few horses.  I am sure there will be many more horses tomorrow. 

Jack Frost was in the area this morning, leaving the telltale cold white crystals of frost all over everything!  Low this morning was 32 degrees.  High temperature was 61 degrees. 

Routine Days with Family

We are enjoying the time spent with our family.  

Tonight was "parent/teacher" conference, which means a day off tomorrow. 

I am not sure what they have planned for the day off.  Trisha and Jeff are having a deck added to the back of the house.  Glen has spent some time with the builder and done some errands related to the building project.

I caught up with laundry yesterday. 

Trisha didn't come home until 8:45 tonight so Glen and I took care of dinner.  Glen grilled a pork tenderloin, I prepared corn casserole, steamed carrots--just for Brady, his favorite, baked potatoes, hot rolls, and brownies and ice cream for dessert. 

Brady and Tanner each have a friend spending the night.  Two teenagers and two pre-teen (12yrs) boys!  Lots of wrestling on the floor, teasing each other, games on the screen, etc. 

The strong wind finally blew in a rain shower and lower temperatures.  Shortly after midday the temperature reached 81 degrees, and it is now 50 degrees with a light wind. 

Have a great week end.

I Am The Student

Things I learned tonight from/about our 9th grader grandson, Brady.

• Brady knows all things wireless.
• Brady downloaded the following on my Kindle Fire:
•       Pandora--a music ap
•       Words with Friends
•       Facebook
• Brady beat me in Words with Friends--Scrabble--by just two points.
• Brady speaks "computer-ese".....gigs, mega bites, etc.
• He always does his homework at school.
• Brady loves his cat!
• At 6' -plus he is still a growing boy.  He will eat anything--anytime.
• Brady loves to play games.
• Brady is very good on the guitar.

Earlier in the school year Brady was inducted into the Junior National Honor Society.  It's okay to be proud, isn't it. 

We spent the evening with Trisha, Jeff, Willie-Jeff's dad, Landon--Jeff's son, Brady, and Tanner.  It takes a big meal to feed a 16-yr old; a 15-yr old, and a 12-yr old--all boys. 

It is still summer; high of 86 and low of 66 today.  We are enjoying the nice weather as it isn't going to last long.

More FamilyTime

It has been a quiet day.

We prepared taco salad for the extended family. 

Glen drove Tanner to Kook Sol Wan and picked him up two hours later.

Trisha went to dentist and learned she has to have a crown attached? installed?Go  back in three weeks.

We enjoyed spending time with Brady, age 15, and his best friend, also age 15.  Brady played with the Kindle Fire and worked with the settings.  He knows so much more than we do about all things electronic.  Of course he has had at least one class a year that teaches computers and how they work. 

Trisha doesn't have a tv in the living room so wasn't able to watch Cardinals.  Except we are now home and are sad to learn they are behind 7-0 in sixth inning.  I am not giving up hope but it doesn't look good for the St. Louis Cardinals

Riding with Student Driver

We went with Trisha and Jeff to pick up Brady and Tanner this evening.

Brady is 15, and has his learner's permit to drive.  Sigh.  Time is going by so quickly.  15 already....

Brady got behind the wheel to drive home.  Learning to drive in the big city is so much different than learning in the country--on gravel roads with no traffic.  Glen and I were sitting in the third row of the Tahoe.  It seemed as if he was going "fast", but traffic was going around him.

He did a great job; not ready to be driving by himself yet.  I think the biggest thing to learn for him is directions/where to go.  Brady has always gotten into a vehicle and turned on whatever electronic game/gadget he had, never paying attention to "where" he was or going. 

Brady just needs practice, lots of time  behind the wheel.  When he does get his license, he will be a big help to his mother, being able to get to school, church, practice for his brother and himself. 

Have a great week.

Cross Country *Greenwood AR- Fairgrounds*

Saturday
We left Cape Girardeau at 10:10 a.m. after getting hugs and kisses from the grandchildren.  We arrrived at our daughter's home at 5:35 p.m  Arkansas is a w-i-d-e state!  Interstate 40 is mostly rough.  Glen and I always say we wish a highway engineer would ride with us in our motorhome across those kinds of highways just to see how bumpy they are!

There was very little color in the trees as we crossed Arkansas. 

Our daughter met us at the motorhome when we pulled in.  It is good to see her.  Her boys, our two oldest grandsons, are spending the week end with their dad. 

Sunday
I haven't mentioned that we arrived back in summer-like weather.  The low was 59 degrees this morning; and it is already 80 degrees and 88 percent humidity at 11 a.m. 

We have been out for a bike ride and the humidity made for a stiffle-ing ride. 

We are looking forward to seeing Brady and Tanner this evening.

***Left Cape Girardeau, MO; Arrived Greenwood AR; Sebastian County Fairgrounds***

More Sight-Seeing

The four of us...Gary and Evelyn, Glen and I, headed to Trail of Tears State Park about 13 miles north of Cape Girardeau.

The trees are alive with color!  These were taken from a pull-over in the state park.  The second picture was taken with the "fish eye"setting on the camera.

These two are from a view point looking over the Mississippi River.  Glen, Gary, and Evelyn in the picture.

.
Below is "Tower Rock" which sits in the Mississippi River, Altenburg, MO.  "Tower Rock" is about 12 river miles north of Trail of Tears State Park and rises 90' above the river. See the tug and barges approaching Tower Rock from the right in the first picture.  The second picture shows the front and back of the tug/barges behind Tower Rock.

Below is Bollinger Mill State Historic Site, Burfordville, MO.

Below is a tribute to "flour sacks" displayed inside the mill.



This is Glen, Evelyn and Gary on the front porch of the Mill.

 This is a covered bridge located at the Mill site. It is being painted.

It was a beautiful drive through the countryside.  The colors were somewhat muted because of the cloudy sky, but nonetheless brilliant.  We took turns pointing out especially outstanding trees/views.

High temperature today was only 59 degrees.  Jackets and long-sleeves were definitely needed.

After a quick trip back to Sarah's office for an adjustment on Gary's hearing aids we came back to the RVs.  Glen and Evelyn enjoyed their two-hour musical jam session. 

Tomorrow will bring a close to this stay in Cape Girardeau.  Gary and Evelyn are heading back to their home in the morning.  We will be right behind them heading to the Ft. Smith Arkansas area.  We will spend a couple of weeks visiting with daughter Trisha and her boys.

We have made memories and stored up hugs and kisses and laughs from Darin/Sarah, Ashlynn/Zade.  It has been great watching soccer games and St. Louis Cardinal games with the family. 

Mini Tour of Cape Girardeau

We chauffeured Gary and Evelyn around Cape Girardeau this morning.

Gary, Evelyn, and Glen along the Mississippi River at the flood wall in downtown.

We were amazed to see the river levels up about 8-10 feet from when we were there a week ago.  The rain in the north is helping the river levels.

Gary, Evelyn, and Glen.

 

Tugboat pushing several barges north on the river.

 

 



Murals on the riverside of the flood wall.

Looking south at the Bill Emerson Bridge leading into Illinois.

Watching the river from Cape Rock, the setting of the first Cape Girardeau settlement.  Today's "Cape Girardeau" is 2 miles down river.  The size of the sandbar is a good indication of the river level.

 

 

Beautiful maple along the river.

 

It was a beautiful day to be out and about although a jacket was needed most of the day.  More touring of the area is planned for tomorrow.

 

We had dinner with Sarah/Darin, Ashlynn/Zade at a Mexican restaurant; we were then invited by Zade to watch the Cardinal game with him at his house.  Zade's bedtime arrived about the fourth inning.  We came home and are finishing the game here. 

 



 

"We Got Company Coming Up the Road!"

Company's Coming
Evelyn and Gary arrived the middle of the afternoon!  It is about a 5-6 hour trip from their home on the western side of the state to here.  They pulled their fifth-wheel rv and are parked next to us.

They both have appointments with Sarah, our daughter-in-law, who is a Doctor of Audiology, tomorrow afternoon. 

Beautiful Fall Leaves
Gary and Evelyn both commented what a beautiful drive it to here was with all of the brightly colored trees.  They had been to Branson last week, and said the drive this direction had many more colors than SW Missouri.

We drove to Poplar Bluff and back this morning and admired all of the fall colors in the trees.

About six o'clock this evening a hard wind from the west brought a couple of hours or so of hard rain.  I am sure the combination of wind and rain brought down a lot of the leaves.  The best part of the evening was 1.44" of rain in those two-three hours. 

St. Louis Cardinals
The same rain storm that was here delayed the St. Louis Cardinals' game in the seventh inning.     After the restart the Cards held on to the lead and won the game.  They are ahead in the series 2-1--just two more wins!

Bath Towels
Obviously I have not shopped for bath towels for many, many years.  We had decided that the ones we were using were worn out!  Ouch, the prices for new ones shocked both Glen and me! 


Last Soccer Game

Ashlyn's last soccer game

Zade, cheering on his sister

 

 

 

Trisha's News  





 

Our daughter, Trisha

 

Trisha, who lives near Ft. Smith AR, shared with us the past few days that she is taking flying lessons!  She sounds so excited when she tells us what she is learning.  





 



 

A Great Day For.....Anything!

It has been a great day for anything. 

Glen chose to wash the truck.  I was the rinser and dryer!  It does look better.

Of course, it is supposed to rain tomorrow.  If it does, remember Glen gets the credit. 

Today from 3 to 8 p.m. the local Burger King restaurants dedicated 10? percent of all sales to the elementary school that Ashlynn attends.  Yes...you know where we dined!  The Burger King play area was filled with students, K-4, and their families and shrill screams and laughter of students/friends greeting one another. 

Tomorrow Evelyn (Glen's sister) and husband Gary are arriving in their Fifth Wheel RV.  They will be here until Saturday.  We are looking forward to spending time with them.

Last Soccer Game

Tonight was the final of two "make-up" soccer games.  Season is over.  Ashlynn does a great job since this is her first time to play.  She understands the concept of "defense" and "offense".  Ashlynn's team won tonight 3-0.

There was no "winner" trophy for the season, just a trophy to each of the players, which was enough to make them happy.

As you read this, please notice on the right side there is a gadget that says "enter your email address" to be notified by email when there a blog entry. 

I would be interested in knowing if this works.  If it doesn't, I need to do more work on the gadget.  As I understand it, the blog automatically notifies you; I don't have to do anything.

Also, leaving comments has been made easier.  There is no "identifying these letters" box; just sign in and leave a message.

Blog Arrangement

My sister pointed out to me that I was no longer notifying her by email when I posted. 

Hopefully I have added the gadget that allows that to happen. 

Sunday was routine, deserved no special blog entry.  Except for....

The Cardinals won again!  Hurray.  Just three more wins and bring on the World Series.

If there isn't a place to sign up for "notification by email"  I will try again.

Crayons and Coloring Books

It is special time spent with Ashlynn and her crayons, markers, colored pencils and coloring books.  Part of the time we are doing "homework" if she is practicing her letters and spelling words. 

"Mimi," "how do you spell your middle name?"

Or, we might be coloring pages from a coloring book.  Coloring books all have themes these days.  This morning we worked in "Rio" from the Disney movie of the same name.  Sometimes she tells me "Mimi, you are doing a good job."

Zade and Poppy Glen played "catch" in the living room.  Zade does a very good job of keeping control of the ball--no lamps tumbling!  He--Zade--keeps score of the misses and then declares "I have 8 and you have none.  I am the winner!" 

This morning he was watching college football.  It was Ole Miss vs. Auburn.  His mother and dad are graduates of Ole Miss so can figure which is "our team."  Football is more complicated for him but he is learning about four tries to get the ball moved, point after a touchdown, etc. 

Zade had to go to bed last night when the Cardinals were behind 0-6.  His dad Tivo-ed the game and he watched the rest of the game this morning.  He was beaming as he told us "the Cardinals won 9-7." 

It was a great fun time keeping them company this morning while their parents went to Sarah's office to move furniture. 

Hope your Saturday was as much fun as ours.

Non-Eventful Day

In other words, there was not much accomplished today.

Okay, because we did laundry I can now go out in public tomorrow properly dressed!  :}

We made a stop at a jewelry store in Jackson Mo to pick up a repaired bracelet that I had left there Wednesday.

I can now officially tell you that I very much like the Kindle Fire that I have been using and learning about.  It is user friendly--important to a novice computer user.  I like that games and book covers and the web is in color; makes things more read-able. 

Glen is using Kindle One (the first one).  He actually is doing quite a bit of reading. 

Have a great week end.

It's a Large World...as opposed to Small World

It's a Large World....
this afternoon we drove across the bridge to Illinois to admire the few colorful trees, be amazed at the low Mississippi River level, and maybe see a few birds.

We were successful at all but finding birds.  Of course I forgot the camera so will have to go again to take pictures of the Mississippi River.  There is an abundance of sand and gravel bars with hardly enough water for  barges to go north and south on the river.

While at a viewpoint on the river at Thebes, Illinois, a young man...age 28 or so...driving a car with New York license plates struck up a conversation with Glen.

He is from Switzerland.  He has a three month visa, traveling/driving from NYC to Chicago, to St. Louis, down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, through Texas and on to San Francisco. The visa expires December 3, then if he isn't tired of traveling he is going to go on through Mexico and South America.

He was amazed by our lifestyle but we told him in some ways he was doing what we were doing---no schedule, no daily destination, just not in a motor home.

He is traveling alone.  He works from his computer as a web designer.  He spoke very good English.  He didn't realize the Arch was in St. Louis but saw it as he approached St. Louis from the East.  He had seen the Arch in movies.  He stayed overnight in St. Louis so he could go to the top of the Arch the next morning.  He had such happiness on his face as he talked about the Arch. 

Another thing he was amazed about was the flat land/fields.  He said in Europe there is no flat land. 

He said everyone he has met/talked to has been "so friendly and helpful."  Isn't it a great thing that he has such a good impression of our country. 

Zade Celebrates

Zade celebrates one more St. Louis Cardinal's win today.  One more win tomorrow gets them to the next series...the National League championship.  Zade is just happy for each and every win.

Glen also took Zade to the barber shop after school. 

Darin and Sarah both worked a few minutes after normal quitting time so we stayed with Ashlynn and Zade until they got home.

Since then it has been a quiet time at home.

Forgive Me For I Have Sinned!

"Down Under, Chocolate Thunder"...."Outback"s sinful dessert.

But, oh, my, how delicious.  Warm chocolate brownie filled with pecans, scoop of vanilla ice cream covered with chocolate curls. 

I told you it was  sinful.

Other than this wonderful dessert it has been a great fall day filled with routine!

Sweatshirt Weather

39 degrees in the morning and a high of 65 degrees means dragging out the sweatshirts. 

Ashlynn had a soccer game tonight.  Definitely needed a coat watching the game. 

Glen is still working on/at the front door awning project.  He sprayed -painted the awning cover and it is a near-match to the color of the coach.  The awning is now installed.  The final touch will be the installation of the stick-on plastic conduit which will cover the wires running through the hole in the wall to the end of the new awning.  He tried and tried to hide the wires but wasn't succeessful at getting it through a metal wall stud.  The conduit will do the job quite well.

Of course needing the conduit meant another trip to Menard's, Glen's newest favorite store. 

My project for the day was to get prints made (at Walmart) of the photos I took at Ashlynn's birthday party.  That can now be marked off the list. 

Like most Sundays when we are parked near family, today was typical.

Church with family; lunch at the Olive Garden, read the Sunday paper; a short nap; watch the Cardinals try to win the first game of the play-off series---emphasis on TRY--not successful.

We spent a few hours with our son and family this evening.  Ashlynn and Zade are a joy to be with.

Br-r-r-r! It's cold outside!

We had to bundle up to watch Zade's last soccer game this morning!  It was 38 degrees when we got up this morning. 

Zade was very happy to get a trophy (he didn't realize that everyone got one but that's okay).  He had a great game; there is no score kept but we know that Zade scored 6 goals for his team.

Both Ashlynn and Zade are spending the night.  We are watching  the "Strawberry Shortcake" movie.
"Strawberry Shortcake" was elected the new princess!

The birds have found the sunflower seed feeder.  There are still two hummingbirds coming to the sugar water feeder.  There are white breated nutchatches, Carolina chickadees, tufted titmice, downy woodpeckers , purple finches, Carolina wrens, and sparrows of course. 

Have a great Sunday.

Ready to Go

At least the motor home is ready to go...when we are. 

Glen changed out the two "old" motor home starting batteries this morning.  There are now two new batteries installed, purchased from the NAPA store. 

Glen also did some sample painting from the new can of paint.  He says the color is a much better match to the motor home color.  He will be applying it to the front door awning and get the awning installed. 

Last week we learned there is a culinary arts school at the Career Tech School, part of the high school.  The culinary arts department serves lunch three days a week to the public.

Today we went there for lunch.  We each had a cheeseburger, our choice of sides--tater tots for Glen; 'tater skins for me--a cookie and drink....all for $5.

The cold front blew in this afternoon, complete with rain (1/2"), wind, and dropping temperatures.  It is currently 43 degrees at 11 p.m.

Short and Sweet

Only one thing on the schedule for today....and that didn't take long---a haircut for me!

What took longer was what wasn't on the schedule.  Glen is pricing chassis batteries for the motor home.  There was a hint that the batteries might not be full power when Glen started the mh the other day.  Of course these batteries are 7 years old. 

This means a stop at Sam's where the price was less than what Glen expected, but only one year warranty and no pro rated extended after the one year.

Next stop was NAPA's Auto where the same battery are three dollars more, but 18-month full replacement and a six year pro rated warranty.  I don't know if he has any more places to check or not.

We took dinner items to Darin/Sarah's and prepared the meal there.  We came home when bath preparations started.  Zade was super tired as he didn't have a nap today at school.

Doctors and Rain

We made a trip to Poplar Bluff to consult with the family doctor regarding blood pressure--mine.  It has been slowly creeping in an upward direction.

Today the Doctor changed medications.  I am now challenging myself to get back to riding the bicycle regularly and slow down on or eliminate desserts---a very difficult task for me. 

Glen and I also got the flu shot!  Stay away, flu germs.

We got back in Cape Girardeau in time to pick up Ashlynn and Zade and take them to their house.  The last scheduled soccer game for Ashlynn+team was tonight.  Well....a big thunderhead popped up and dropped significant rain over the soccer field and the south end of town.  Game cancelled!  It did not rain on the north end of town. 

Thursday looks to be a quiet day. 

A New Toy

It had to happen.

Glen wanted to read on MY Kindle! 

The solution.  We had a whopping $15 reward credit at Best Buy.  Yes...we bought the new Kindle Fire HD--7" screen.  Kindle Fire means everything is in color.  It uses wifi for web connection.  And, lots, lots more things. 

I have played all evening with it.  It is user-friendly.  At least I activated it and set up the second Amazon/Kindle account, and activated email.  When the Kindle Fire was registered the books downloaded on the first Kindle automatically showed up on the Fire. 

I am going to enjoy using this device.  It is going to be easy to read a book on it, as well as everything else it is capable of. 

There is a camera.  I am not sure how much I will actually use that. 

If you have a Fire, let me know your favorite aspect; what you like (beside the books).  I need all the helpful hints I can get. 

Glen spent some time this afternoon trying one more time to find someone--a body shop--who is interested in matching paint for the new front door awning to the body paint.  So far, not much luck. 

Rainy Days and Monday(s)...always get me down!

All morning it looked as if it could rain any minute; all afternoon and evening it did rain...okay drizzled.  The slow drizzle added up to 0.13" of rain. 

No rain in St. Louis where Darin and Sarah and friends Jason and Ashley went to the evening St. Louis Cardinals baseball game.  They saw a winner.

We stayed with the kids.  They are a joy to spend time with.  Ashlynn was extra-tired by bedtime and wanted her "mommy and daddy", but it didn't last long.  Birthday party yesterday, followed by her other grandma and grandpa spending the night and all day with them made for a tired girl. 

I can now make an official announcement that as of today Cape Girardeau has a new business owner.  Sarah has purchased the business previously known as "Audiology Associates".  The previous owner/audiologist retired and sold the business to Sarah.  We are confident that the business will flourish and grow with Sarah at the helm. 
 
WARNING:  shameless plus....
If you are in the southeast area of Missouri, or nearby, and in need of audiology care, contact Sarah.  I think the new business will be called "Audiology Associates, Inc." or something close to that.  The phone number will remain the same--573-651-4650.

The agenda for Tuesday is empty but I am sure something will pop up to fill the day.