Solier

A sad day in Norfolk yesterday. A soldier was buried. The little church is not far from where I work. Before the service the patriot guard escorted the hearse to the church. There were probably about 50 of them. The riders had double duty yesterday as a soldier was also being buried in Bellevue. I happened to be out for my noon walk when the procession left the church for Prospect Hill. The procession went down Norfolk Avenue which is the main downtown street. There were 2 riders in front of the hearse and 3 behind. There must have been 300 to 400 cars in the procession. I think all the people that work on main street were lining the streets. Many of them were holding flags. The patriot guard know what their mission is. While there are always the protesters from some "church" in Kansas, the Guard helps to keep them from interfering with the ceremonies. While they were singing protest songs the riders revved up their engines to drown them out. At the cemetery they surround the grave site with flags to keep the protesters out of sight. A lot of these riders have served their country themselves. Others have lost loved ones. Some just want to do their part to honor and protect the fallen heroes. They are a very impressive sight.
GOD BLES AMERICA AND OUR TROOPS.
Sue

Golf

Now I am going to bore you with golf stories. If you are not interested, you can skip it.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - NWAGA held a 4-ball/best ball tournament at El Dorado in Norfolk. I don't know why they call it 4-ball because it only involves 2 people and 2 balls. The format is you play with a partner (mine was Joy). Each person gets strokes taken off according to their handicap. Each team member plays her own ball and records her score minus the handicap stroke or strokes allowed on each hole. The lower of the two scores is the team score. On Monday and Tuesday I played really well. We were in 3rd place after 2 days. There were 50 teams playing. I think I might have gotten a little nervous on the third day having never been in contention for so high a ranking. Our net score for Monday was 64, on Tuesday 62. On Wednesday we did not do so well. We ended up with a net 70. This is still below par 71, but not enough to keep us so close to the top. We did end up in 9th place. They paid down to 16th place so we did get back $100.00 each. Since this is considered an amateur tournament, cash cannot be paid. Our entry fee was $120.00. Even if we had not won anything, we played 3 days of golf, had 2 continental breakfasts and two lunches for our $120.00. And I enjoyed 2 1/2 days of vacation. I was disappointed in my play on Wednesday, but glad we hung in there fore something. (I now know how Sergio felt on Sunday). After play on Tuesday, they had a putting contest. A little putt putt course was set up on the putting green. There were 6 holes. I tied for first with 11 putts. I did win this portion of the tournament and got a little golf statue.
Bored yet? On Wednesday evening our Fairplay golf league had a member/guest tournament. This was a 2-person scramble. My partner, Kathy, and I shot well enough to get 3rd place in 2nd flight. Just enough to get our money back.
Still with me? On Thursday night 3 other ladies and I went to Wayne to play in a 4-lady scramble. We did not win anything, but had a great time.
One more - tonight Jerry and I plan to play in a couples scramble.
Sue

driving

On Saturday morning we went to Jacob's ball game. He played 2nd base and made at least 3 outs for his team. He never got to score, but did have a couple of hits. He is still in the coach-pitch league. No one ever strikes out and if they can't hit the pitched ball, the tee is set up for them. Lots of fun to watch the little kids and see how much they learn and improve each year.

Sunday. Jerry had to leave in the morning and it was predicted to be really hot and humid. There was a ladies scramble scheduled at Fairplay, but had to be cancelled due to lack of teams. Since I had a lot of golf scheduled for this week, I decided to burn some cheap gas and go for a drive. After I washed sheets and mowed the lawn, I showed and took off for Sioux City. There are 2 reasons for this drive. 1-I love to drive across Hwy 20 for 81 to SC. The scenery is just beautiful this time of year. The corn is tasseled and the beans are a lush green. Driving with the air conditioning on it even looks cool outside. The wheat and oats are all harvested and the stubble is a patch of gold among the green. Hiway 20 has a lot of hills and is kind of curvy. Coming over the top of some of the hills you can see a long long way and it is one of the most scenic drives in Nebraska. OK, #2 - Shopping. Summer stuff is on sale and I can buy stuff at the sale prices that I feel are too high priced at regular prices.
Good weekend.
Sue

7/20/07

Pretty quiet week this week. We had a couple of nice rains so won't have to water so much. The farmers should be happy for awhile anyway. We had some wind with the storms on Wednesday night so will have to pick up the twigs before I mow.
We had a small gas grill that was by our back door. (It came with the house) I had it taken out last week. Now have to fill the small hole before someone steps in it. I guess about the only one that goes out that door is me. We also had a really old grill that we have had since we lived in Oakland many, many years ago. We bought a new grill last fall so now to get rid of the old ones. The guy that took out the little one asked if he should take it for disposal. So that took care of that one. I made a sign that said "FREE", added a little note that said the valve needed to be replaced with a safety valve and set it out in the front yard. I put it out Saturday morning and it was gone before noon. Probably saved myself $12.00 dump charge. Never saw who took it, I just hope they don't bring it back. Now I have these 2 old chairs, Hmmmm!
Sue

Geese

The goslings seem to be all grown up. The older batch has flown away. Can't wait until the second ones are gone. They are really starting to mess things up. They sh** all over the place and now that they are grown up it is about like dog sh**.
Last week they even pecked around the cup on the 18th green. Don't know what they were after unless it was the sand for the gizzards. It has been fun to watch them grow up and see how the mom & dad teach them how to do goose things. The two families seemed to stay together most of the time. They would be in the same area around one of the ponds on the course. Each family would be separate, but in the same general area. Even though the babies are almost grown, the gander still watches alertly when anyone gets near. I guess the instinct to protect your kids even after they are grown is the same for birds and animals as for humans.
A little funny about a goose. Our parts manager lives on an acreage and has some animals including a goose. He also has a 3 year old granddaughter that spends a lot of time with them. One day the goose took after her and of course she ran screaming from him. Terry stepped between the goose and the little girl. When he picked her up and dried her tears she said "Papa Terry, if that goose does that again I will cook it."
I remember being chased by a rooster when I was real little. Dad was the hero at that time as he kicked him away before any physical harm was done. The mental part wasn't so lucky. I was always afraid of the big roosters on the farm. It seems they knew it too. It was a sprint from the outhouse to the house when one was around. I never liked to gather eggs either. It looked easy when Grandma Gatewood would reach uner the hen and steal her eggs, but I just didn't have the nerve to do that. I would get a corncob or a stick and poke at the hen until she flew off the nest.
So much for this fowl blog.
Sue

Friday the 13th

No black cats, no spilled salt, no broken mirrors, didn't walk under any ladders. So far, so good. I'm not really superstitious and don't know anyone who really is.
I don't even forward all the e-mails that threaten bad luck if I don't forward them to at least 275 people. Does having Friday the 13th just 6 days after 7/7/7 offset the luck/bad luck theory? I once bought Jerry a polo shirt on sale. I bought it on 7/7 and the sale price with tax came to $7.77. It didn't seem to help his golf game.
He did like the shirt because it was a light color which is always good when you are out in the sun. It did seem to get more stretched out every time I washed it. It eventually went to the Salvation Army for someone else to get some use out of it. Most people have some little thing they are superstitious about. One year my bowling team had little key chains with bowling pins on them that we wore on our jeans belt loops when we bowled. It turned out they were more for decoration than luck because we didn't do any better that year than any other year. How about "the luck of the Irish"? Do you think they feel very lucky on March 18th after drinking green beer and eating corn beef an cabbage? The Ides of March weren't very lucky for Ceasar. Good luck and God Bless all of you.
Sue

7/6/7

It seems as if the 4th of July is the halfway point in summer. The days start getting shorter and there seems to be less time to do all we planned to do "this year". I do like watching the fireworks displays, BUT I do wish the neighbors could be a little more considerate of those of us that get up at 6 am. In Nebraska fireworks can be sold and ignited for 10 days prior the 4th. In Norfolk they can be shot off until 11 pm those 10 days and midnight on the 4th. On my street they start every night at dark and go on way later than 11. Last night I got the best night's sleep I have had in 10 days. Norfolk has a REALLY BIG display on the Saturday before the 4th. It is called the Big Bang Boom and cost in the neighborhood of $30,000.00. (all donated). People come from miles around to watch the display. I have never battled the crowds and mosquitoes to see the display at the lake. There are a lot of places near the park that we can see most of the display. Donna had us to her house for Kabobs supper and we watched the display from the street in front of her house.
On the 4th we went to Wayne to play golf at one of our favorite courses with some of our favorite people. Then we stopped in Carroll for a cookout on the way home. Thanks, Bev & Hitch. Coming home from our outing, we could watch more fireworks. A lot of people were having their own Little Bang Booms. All in all it was great fun.

Playing golf is more than just a sport. It is a social outing. We have met a lot of people playing golf. Some of them have become really good friends. Golf is a sport that brings out the best and the worst in the players. Whatever your interests are, you usually find some really nice people with the same likings.
(there may be some you would like to avoid). I often wonder where we would have met new people if we did not play this silly game.
Hope 7/7/7 is lucky for all of you.
Sue

7/2/07

This year is now half gone. Where does the time go? We look a the changes that have happened in our lifetime and wonder what will our children and grandchildren see in their lifetimes. We have men and women in space. Our grandchildren probably give no notice of this since this has been happening all of their lives. We have seen great strides in medicine. Are we on the right road to finding a cure for all the cancers that seem to afflict so many today? After watching our mother go through the stages of Alzheimer's, a cure for this terrible affliction would make a big impact on the nursing home population. Watching a young man go from very athletic to a wheelchair with machines for him to breath and eat because of Lou Gehrig's disease makes us hope for a cure for all of the debilitating diseases that afflict way too many young people. How many of these terrible diseases will go the way of polio and smallpox in the next 50 years? How many of you remember standing in block-long lines for the Sabin Polio vaccine?
Are children learning math and spelling or are they just learning to run computers?
Do they teach manners in school. I remember in my little country school having a session on good manners. I suppose these things should be taught at home, but having a little class at school can't hurt. Now we have bigger problems in the schools with all the shootings. I truly believe this comes from the violence that they see on television and in the movies. I remember my mom saying she didn't like the "shoot 'em up shows" on television. The Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers were mild compared to what we see now. Also the sex that is in almost every TV show any more. What kind of message is it sending to our kids when they see every one jumping from one partner to another. It is shown as a sport. The consequences can be devastating, but this is not shown in most programs. How can we convince our young people not to mess with smoking and drugs? Even with all the ads showing the affects of both, they are still major problems of our society. When will there be enough support to ban smoking in all public buildings?

OK, Ive rambled on again. I had an uneventful weekend. Did get two projects done. I scraped the old adhesive off the front step so we can put down new outdoor carpeting. I aso had to rewash the windows in my sunporch. We had a real bad year for Moths and the windows looked like a windshield after a long nighttime drive. Today my back, arms, legs, shoulders, and hands hurt.
Sue