5/29/09

I didn't report my .6 gain last week. Had a real busy weekend.

I lost 1.8 this week.

Abby's softball and Jacob's baseball have started so something else to do for the next month or so. Abby had her wisdom teeth pulled about 3 weeks ago and developed a surgical infection so couldn't play this week. She had a dentist appointment today and hopes to be able to play next week.

Jerry, Joe and Jake are getting Jerry's semi ready for a truck show tomorrow. I helped some today. Kind of hard to get it all shined up when it has to be on the road.

Joe has been hauling cattle for a company out of Wayne. He had a little mishap with a cow kicking him in the hand. It broke the bone on the outside. He seems to be getting along ok with it in a cast.

I had a nice lunch with Janell, Randy and Mick last Saturday. Memorial weekend is a good time to visit our hometowns. We ran into a lot of old friends.

Trees

A writer's blog on Pistols and Petticoats about hanging trees got me to thinking about trees.

The maple trees on our street are dropping their seeds. This means I will be pulling trees out of my flower beds the rest of the summer. If they would be left to grow my house would be in the middle of a forest.

The cottonwood trees in the park in Lyons are real giants. They are probably the same ones our mother played around when she was a little girl. The big tree that grew through the sidewalk on the corner by the bank is gone. In the summer time it seemed like there were always some men sitting on the bench attached to the tree. Probably solving all the world's problems. Well maybe just the town's problems.

Grandma's cherry tree also springs to mind. Picking her cherries every summer was not one of the things I looked forward to. Those cherries seemed to be too sour for me and there didn't seem to be enough sugar to made them sweet even in a pie. In the fall there were black walnuts. Even though there was a lot of work to getting the hulls off, breaking their hard shells, and digging out the meat, they are the best nuts for brownies. Squirrels must have very strong jaws to be able to crack those shells.

Mulberry trees, yum. Eating the fruit right off the tree would turn our hands and lips purple, but oh my they tasted good. There are a few trees on our golf course that I like to nibble off of when I pass by them.

Driving through Missouri and Arkansas one October was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken. The trees were every color you could imagine. Another October we drove to California and back. The prettiest trees on that trip were the ones along the Platte River in Nebraska.

On a train trip to Biloxi, Mississippi when I was a teenager what I remember most was riding for long stretches through really tall trees. I don't know what kind they were, but they seemed to go on forever.

There are two trees in back of our house. I think the big maple belongs to the neighbor, but it is on the lot line so I'm not sure. It certainly provides a lot of shade. The other is one that flowers pink every spring. If you go back a few blogs there is a picture of it.

Isn't it amazing when you think about how deep the roots of some of those big trees have to go to be able to keep them from falling over in the wind? Those roots are not deterred by sidewalks. They just push them up and keep right on growing.

I think that I shall never see
a poem as lovely as a tree

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
against the earth's sweet flowing breast

A tree that looks to God all day
and lifts its leafy arms to pray

A tree thay may in summer wear
a nest of Robins in her hair

Upon whose bosom snow has lain
who intimately lives with rain

Poems are made by fools like me
but only God can make a tree
-Joyce Kilmer-

Spring

Spring has finally arrived. Although it officially started in March, the weather didn't catch up until this weekend. Time to mow, plant, water, pull weeds clean gutters, wash windows and finally get to play some golf. The laundry can be hung out to dry. Nothing like sheets right off the clothesline. Love the smell. Too bad it only seems to last one night. Unless you want to wash sheets every day.

On the golf course. This area has had some great rains the past two weeks. The fairways are beautiful dark green. One batch of baby geese has hatched 8 in all. That will mean a lot of goose poop before they leave. Local rule is you get a free drop from a ball that finds the poop. Just don't lick it to clean it off. Use the ball washer.

A new golfer's aid has become popular. Anyone who watches any golf at all knows what a Sky Caddie is. It is a GPS device that measures distance to the cup. The golf course has to buy all new flag sticks with the chips in them. They are legal in tournaments, but only if they just show distance. Some higher priced devices show wind velocity and other factors. Now I know what I want for Christmas (it's too late for my birthday), as our course is going to get the sticks.

Remember golf is only a GAME. There are only 3 things to remember. Keep your head down. Keep you darn head down. Keep you gosh darn head down.

If it goes right it's a slice. If it goes left it's a hook. If it goes straight it's a miracle.

Just for laughter

OK, my six funny memes.

1. A similar experience of losing my van. The location was Kohl's in Omaha. When I went in I made note that the door I entered had a display of pillows just inside it, so I had to exit by the door with the pillows. After checking out at the checkout near the pillow display, I went out that door. My van was not where I thought I parked it. Standing there looking somewhat lost I said to a passer by "I Can't find my van." She said maybe you came in another door. Sure enough they had pillow displays by both doors.

2. Each morning at work the first person to arrive makes coffee. Usually me. I make one pot and leave the other pot with water for the next pot. One morning one of our very brilliant? sales people poured the water into the coffee maker and sat the pot on the burner on top instead of under the basket. It wasn't funny at the time, but it is now. I did make him help me clean up the mess.

3. A dog story. When we ran the hog confinement near Scribner we had a big white dog, Duke. We also had a pit that the waste from the buildings ran into. Also a sort of landfill for our trash. OK, the scene is set. One day we looked out the kitchen window and there was a skunk with his head caught in a jelly jar. Duke was nosing around him and the inevitable happened. He got sprayed. Duke was not a dumb dog. He ran to the pit and jumped in. He may not have been dumb, but he was a slow learner. He went back to investigating the skunk. Spray, swim and back to the skunk. Don't know how many times he did this. Eventually the skunk wandered of into a field across the road. It was hot and we saw his deceased carcass later. By the way Duke was not a house dog.

4. In a discussion about birds and bird nest, one of my legally blond co-workers asked "Where do baby birds get there milk?"

5. Did you hear about the lady that shaved her legs a wrecked them? Now say this real fast. This was a little one liner going around a long time ago. A not so bright person tried to tell it and said "Did you hear about the lady that shaved her legs and ruined them." Not the same.

6. OK, Janell, you asked for it. When Janell was little maybe 3 or 4. She passed a little gas. Her comment was "I peeped." Maybe that is why she likes the peeps so well.

R/T

This is Jacob watching the super bowl at Abby's 16th birthday party. He wasn't feeling very good so couldn't go out and play on the iced over lake.

New Car

This was supposed to be my Ruby Tuesday posting. I took my camera to work to show you my new car, but the battery was dead.

Do you like it? Seems kind of strange sitting on the floor of a Ford dealership.

Ok, so this is late APRIL FOOL.

The car is for sale, really, 49,500.00. Can't tell you the year just call me if you are interested. :).