Linda's Backroad Musings

An unusual tree

2012-01-26T23:10:00.001-06:00

We were driving through north Topeka yesterday and had to turn around to get this picture.

Swans again

2012-01-25T23:19:00.000-06:00

Just a short note to report Kim and family spotted the three swans on their lake this evening. Kim said there were geese there as well and the swans looked huge next to the geese. The lake was lightly frozen and the swans were sitting in small open spots with their heads under their wing. She said three years ago a pair of swans came through so maybe it isn’t so unusual. Still exciting to me.

Old Movies

2012-01-23T23:14:00.000-06:00

We have VCR tapes. A lot of them.

It seems ridiculous that we still have them. Most people have moved on to DVD, blue ray and digital. We have a dvd player and a few movies. But it’s the tapes that take up a whole shelf in the basement closet. We’ve picked up used movies at garage sales and pawn shops (who doesn’t love a pawn shop full of old movies).

One incentive that brings me back to walking on a treadmill is watching a movie. It works especially well if I make myself split the movie into two walking times. That way I look forward to what has to be the most boring walk there is.

Years back, I walked each day without fail. And, I went through that shelf of movies probably more than once. This winter, I’m trying to get back to the habit. So, I’m back to watching movies on the shelf.

Tonight I finished 1987’s Dirty Dancing with a young Jennifer Gray and, sadly, Patrick Swayze. Great music and that movie has to have the best dance/love scenes of any before or since. Another old movie worth a rewatch is 1997’s Rainmaker with Matt Damon, Claire Danes and Danny Devito. It’s hard to believe An Officer and a Gentleman with Richard Gere and Debra Winger was made in 1982. And Tom Cruise in Top Gun 1986. Other Richard Gere movies, 1990 Pretty Woman and 1993 Sommersby. And other Tom Cruise movies, Jerry McGuire, Days of Thunder, Risky Business and Cocktail and I think Rain Man is down there. At one point, I was accumulating Robin Williams movies such as Dead Poets Society, Mrs Doubtfire, Awakenings.

I can’t forget two I can’t ever watch too many times, Bridges of Madison County and The Big Chill.

Definitely, there are lots of good movies I don’t have. The library has a selection of old, old movies such as Gone With the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Easy Rider and Giant.

Old movies are great. I think there is a certain satisfaction in knowing how a movie ends. Half the time, I can’t remember how it ends. I’m sure if I looked at my stash, there would be some great ones I forgot. Add to the list if you like. I need some inspiration.

Swans

2012-01-19T22:49:00.001-06:00

Our nephew is playing basketball in a tournament in Hoyt, Kansas. On the way to his game late this afternoon, we saw these swans. Actually, it was less than 10 miles from our house.

If you followed my blog this summer, you will remember we spent quite a bit of time looking at, taking pictures of and bragging about seeing swans. Well, little did we know there would be some grazing about in a corn stubble field at home.

We’re speculating they are living on a private pond nearby. Apparently, they like it right here in Kansas.

Kaufman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City

2012-01-18T23:53:00.000-06:00

Last night we were invited to accompany friends to the Kaufman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City. We spent “An Evening with Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin”

First things first, though—food at the downtown Bristol Seafood Grill. I had the Chipotle Grilled Shrimp Enchilada and Dan, Seafood Mixed Grill with shrimp, scallops, salmon, jumbo lump crab cake, whipped yukon gold potatoes, grilled asparagus and… beer. Yes, I know, wine with fine dining. The food was delicious and we arrived early enough that we didn’t have to rush. The beer just seemed right at the time.

The Kaufman Center opened in September 2011. It is amazing. The entire south side is glass which is the lobby or Brandmeyer Great Hall. Twenty-seven cables are anchored by the precast walls and hold up the glass in the lobby. This huge glass enclosure is on the south side of the building which should provide plenty of solar heat on sunny winter days. From this area the Muriel Kaufman Theater and Helzberg Hall are accessible. (click on the link to see a picture of each, they are impressive) I see on the web site they offer free tours. Definitely, that will be something I want to see.

Both Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin have won Tony awards in addition to many other awards. They both have acted regularly in television shows. Their web site lists their many, many accomplishments including Mandy in Chicago Hope and Criminal Minds and Patti in Life Goes On and Ugly Betty. We enjoyed over two hours of songs from their Broadway shows. The most cheering and applause occurred when Mandy said he graduated from KU and then proceeded to do the Rock Chalk Jayhawk.

Hearing music live, seeing the facial expressions and having the performers share with the audience is true entertainment. In recent years, a lot of our entertainment budget has gone to fuel for travel so we thoroughly enjoyed this night out. A big thank you to our friends for giving us the opportunity.

Kansas City Day

2012-01-16T22:44:00.000-06:00

We finally got internet back today after two days down. Just in time to put up a couple pictures from Sue, Jeanne and my day in Kansas City.

The three of us have been friends for years. I’ve written about the “River Rats” before. Our families all lived along the Wakarusa River. This was a time when our kids were young and friends, which often brought all of us together socially. Sue and Jeanne no longer live nearby, but we continue to meet up once or twice a year.

Today we started with lunch at Genessee Royale Bistro located in what locals call West Bottoms which is the former Kansas City Stockyards. The owners converted an old garage into a unique dining area. Jeanne ordered Pan Roasted Salmon, served with butternut squash. Sue had Pistachio Chicken Salad Sandwich with basil, golden raisins and orange jest. I ordered the daily special, Three Little Pigs which was bacon, ham and brat with spicy cabbage on top. All freshly made, delicious and served beautifully in appropriate portions. It was good to see Sue’s son, Blake, who stopped by in time for a cup of coffee and a fresh baked cookie.

Directly across the street is the old Kansas City Stock Exchange Building. I have vague memories of this area from when Mom and I rode with Dad when he brought cattle to the stockyards.

A short distance away is the Webster House, one of the oldest remaining public school buildings in Kansas City. The building was authorized in 1885. Designed by architect Manuel Diaz in the style of Richardson Romanesque which is named after Henry Hobson Richardson whose masterpiece is Trinity Church in Boston. The school closed in 1932. More than 100 years after construction, it was restored under the direction of Shirley Bush Helzberg. It isn’t hard to imagine school children at their desks in the old classrooms, all with high windows and wood floors. Now there is unique shopping on the first floor and fine dining on the second.

Since Sue’s daughter Laura was home for the day, we decided to travel north to her rural home near Parkville. Hard to believe, but we all relaxed on her deck—outside, in January!

Three friends, six hours and tons of talk. It was a good day.

Carrington Tea – price is right

2012-01-13T00:19:00.001-06:00

Summer or winter, I enjoy a cup of hot Chamomile tea before I go to bed. For me, it works as advertised: relaxes mind and body. And, most all days I have at least one tea bag of green tea. (I tend to get more than one serving per bag.)

I’ve often wondered why tea bags are so much more expensive than coffee. Buying tea in the bulk could help some with expense, but not much.

Enter Carrington Tea. Twice I’ve been shopping in WalMart and found a 20 bag box of Carrington Chamomile Tea for 99 cents—other flavors for $1.99. This price was posted in two different stores. The packaging is lass flashy than the name brands but the taste is fine.

I don’t often write about preferences for brands. However, this affordable tea is worth a try. Possibly a top shelf tea would be superior for a knowledgeable tea drinker, but for someone like me who brews up a cup several times a day with no expectations other than a warm, familiar taste, it is perfect.

Saving on the electric bill

2012-01-10T23:42:00.001-06:00

Last night my former extension unit met at the Topeka Public Library where a speaker from Weststar energy gave an excellent presentation on how to save on the electric bill.

Most know the new energy saving light bulbs are more efficient. Here is an interesting fact: if everyone would replace their present light bulbs with the energy savings bulbs, we would save about $600 million in annual energy costs. Each bulb saves about $6 a year in energy costs. LED light bulbs are even more of a savings and I noticed today they are available at Sams. They are expensive right now, but Laura, the Weststar speaker said the price should come down. It will take a while for us to need new bulbs as we have converted most and they should last a while.

Appliances are 20% of our energy consumption. We can save 10% a year if the dishwasher is set on air dry. Keep filters clean, etc.

I was especially interested in power consumption in electronics. Interestingly the DVR uses the most power. Again, she recommends turning off, although, the DVR continues to record. Dan suggested we need to stop recording programs we never watch.

Computer--the same. For the energy savings, turn it off at night. I will need to change the program to have the virus scan run during the day instead of middle of the night.

She recommends the new digital furnace/air conditioning thermostats that program the furnace for temperature adjustments when away from home. It should be set at 78-80 summer and 68 winter. And, there is a 3-5% savings for each degree adjustment.

There is a meter on the market that tells how much an appliance, or anything plugged in uses in energy. I really liked that idea. It would be easy to see which old appliances need to be replaced. However, they cost around $30.

The rumor was that regular 100 watt bulbs would not be available after January 2013. In fact, the bill that was before the legislature was defeated. Laura expects regular light bulbs to eventually be totally off the market except for specialty type bulbs.

Well, I’m on a mission to see if I can see any reduction on our bill by implementing some of the suggestions. I’ll let you know.

Last Christmas Decoration

2012-01-07T00:29:00.001-06:00

On September 7, 2011, I posted a picture of my first Christmas decoration. Below is the picture I put with the post.

No closets to force the color, only set the pot on the porch trying to keep them in a natural light pattern.

Here is the result:

For some reason, the leaves on the sides were perfect for the Season. The top is still turning. I am thinking I had it on a low table part of the time and maybe the sun didn’t reach the top as well as the sides. It will be interesting to see if eventually it all turns red.

It really is a beautiful plant for the second year.

January 5, 2012 Unbelievable

2012-01-05T17:22:00.001-06:00

Picture taken by Adam

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

2012-01-03T23:33:00.001-06:00

by Candice Millard is a non-fiction book about the 20th President, James A. Garfield.

President Garfield was only in office from March, 1881 until he died September 13, 1881 by complications from an assassin's bullet. There were no significant occurrences during his short presidential term other than a start on civil service reform. However, his personal story, with humble rural beginnings and losing his father at an early age, is one of great achievement. He was able by hard work and dedication to attain a college education and then elected to the Senate for multiple terms before his election as President.

About midway through the book Millard begins the often gruesome yet fascinating story of the shooting by Charles Guiteau. The shot did not kill the President. As a matter of fact, Millard makes a strong case that President Garfield would have lived had he more or less been left alone.

Instead, Dr. Doctor Bliss (his first name was Doctor) insisted full command on the treatment the President. Dr. Bliss did not believe in the existence of germs. He continually probed with dirty fingers and instruments in search of the bullet. The lack of antiseptic use caused President Garfield to die a slow, painful death.

This book was probably not the best book for a cheerful Holiday season. It is almost unbelievable to me that antisepsis techniques were not universally used in 1881. There were doctors who did believe and practiced techniques promoted by Dr. Joseph Lister from England. Unfortunately, they did not treat the President.

I highly recommend this book. As I said earlier, it is nonfiction so there are no surprises. It is an interesting look at this time in our history.

January 1, 2012

2012-01-01T23:17:00.000-06:00

I like the sound of “2,012” or “20-12” as some might say. Political ads aside, I feel it will be a good year.

I read back through some of my past posts on this day (I started the musings in 2004), thinking there might be some profound resolutions that I could reflect on, achieving or not. I didn’t see any. Perhaps these types of personal goals are best kept personal. Number one, no admission of failure and number two, sometimes they really are personal.

I do have several important goals this year. They center around becoming more healthy. That would be my resolution and about everyone else who buys into the thought that setting meaningful goals on January 1st works. Why not, though. It seems like a logical time. Out with the old, in with the new.

One of the best articles I’ve read in the last few days about this topic says

"Resolutions are important because they promote goal-setting, which is critical to getting things done," said Michael Pantalon, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.”

The article goes on to say that there should be a, “reason behind the goals.” I should tell myself, “I want to be more healthy so I can delay age related problems of women my age and in doing so, look better.” rather than “I have to exercise every day without fail”.

Thinking of the benefits rather than specifics may help me stick to a program I decide for myself. It sounds good written down here, but will it as I contemplate the regular exercise program I have in mind?

We’ll see. Happy New Year. Let’s do it!

2011 one more day

2011-12-30T22:15:00.001-06:00

We are home from Colorado since last night around 10:00 pm. According to the GPS when we left Monument, we should have been home around 8:00, but we stopped by Wayne and Ruth’s (brother & sister-in-law near Junction City). It was a good visit to top off the drive.

It was an easy trip. We remarked it felt like we had a tail wind the way little red car sailed. I texted Doug mentioning the good trip & he said it was a windy day in the Springs, blowing from the west. Ahhh, it was a tail wind. Also, the regular gas in Colorado is mixed differently because of the altitude so Dan put in a higher grade. Red car liked that a lot.

Today we attended the funeral of a long-time co-worker’s dad. He was a WWII veteran with a beautiful graveside recognition.

Then I dumped all the gloves we have in the house out on the kitchen floor. Work gloves, mechanic gloves, garden gloves, dress gloves, ski gloves…. I am throwing away those without mates and with holes. Now, when we need a pair, there should not be a problem finding the right type. Reality is, gloves are like socks.

Even though all gloves are in order, there is one more day to make sure all business for 2011 is complete. I have a pile of papers to be filed and somewhere in there I think I remember something that needs to be done by December 31st. Why didn’t I tackle the pile of papers instead of gloves? This post should have been entitled, “2011 last day, no more procrastination.”

Garden of the Gods

2011-12-29T00:09:00.001-06:00

Doug had to work today so the rest of us decided to travel down to Manitou Springs and Garden of the Gods. In 1909 The Garden of the Gods was given to the city of Colorado Springs by the children of Charles Elliott Perkins, who wished that it be kept forever free to the public.

If today is an indication, it is well used by all who live locally as well as visitors. The parking lot was nearly full today with Colorado cars as well as many out-of-state license plates.

It was a beautiful day for a short hike and picnic.

Sharing Christmas

2011-12-27T23:48:00.001-06:00

Christmas Eve started with a candlelight service. I’ve always wished I could try for a picture of a whole room of candles. A camera couldn’t capture the beautiful feeling.

After the service Kim, Marc and boys along with our neighbors Tom and Christi and last minute, neighbors Bret & Paige, who didn’t have plans enjoyed food and fellowship around our kitchen table.

Christmas Day was laid back between the excitement gifts and food at Kim and Marc’s. Here are a few pictures of our Christmas.

And….

Yes, we’re in Colorado. More on that tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T00:30:00.001-06:00

May Peace, Joy and Love be with you on this day and throughout the new year.

Christmas wedding 16 years ago

2011-12-23T23:51:00.001-06:00

Kim and Marc were married just two days before Christmas. It was a hectic time that year, but a beautiful celebration of their union.

Kim was to start a clinical the first of the year in California. Certainly, Marc would want to go along. The Christmas date was their best time. We were concerned it would be too much of a busy time for family and friends as well as all the people who help make such an occasion happen.

We need not have worried. It went off without a hitch.

I am probably prejudice, but I think it was a beautiful wedding. The church was already decorated so very little had to be done there. Between classes and studying, Kim worked very hard on decorations for the reception. White lights everywhere as was garland. Many, many candle holders with pine scented candles. Kim’s dress was white velvet. It was a fairy tale evening.

This person has it right

2011-12-21T21:06:00.001-06:00

I am wondering why I didn’t take a picture giving a face to this man. I can’t even write a description. This person is all about positive attitude and that is what I see as I walk in and out of the store.

I am writing about the Salvation Army bell ringer at Sam’s Club in Topeka. If you’ve visited that store during the Holidays, he is memorable.

The bell, his voice it’s there when driving into the parking lot. It’s not that he is yelling, but his voice carries. As he rings the bell, he is telling people to have a good day, to have a Merry Christmas, that their children are beautiful and God bless them, or, in our case, to drink the beer we just purchased slowly. You absolutely can not help but smile within his outreach.

Without a Bible or a church congregation, he is the personification of the message of this Christmas season—that is to help those less fortunate, to show love for all people and to make everyone smile and feel good about themselves.

I ask the greeter if he ever has a bad day. No, he does not. He begins when the store opens and works all day with the same enthusiasm and gusto. I bet his red Salvation Army pot fills many times. How can anyone pass without dropping in a little something with a smile.

And, then pass it on.

Postagram—five star app (in my book)

2011-12-21T00:01:00.001-06:00

I can’t remember how I came upon Postagram. It might be when I was looking for a way to send postcards from Alaska with my own pictures. For whatever reason, I have used this program a lot—18 times according to my account on the site.

Watch this YouTube video to see how easy it is to send a personal picture.

I’m writing about this app now in case an Apple product is under your Christmas tree. Or, like just about every one else I know, you already have an iPhone. It is also available for Android and you can use pictures on your Facebook account.

Here is a picture I put on a recent Postagram.

We were invited to a party where I knew I would want to send a thank you note afterward. So, I took the picture with my little camera (those with iPhones could eliminate this step) downloaded the picture and logged into the site. As in the video, added the picture, wrote a short note and it was on its way. All for $1.

And, it arrives in the mailbox, which I like a lot.

Update on computer security

2011-12-20T00:29:00.001-06:00

For those of us using a Microsoft PC, there are many anti virus applications, free and to buy. I have paid for Norton Antivirus, PC Tools for the past few years.

About a year ago, I decided to download iTunes into my computer. That’s when the trouble started. It is as if it took over my computer. The computer slowed down and would sometimes “freeze.” So, I deleted iTunes and the computer improved. That led me to believe the problem was iTunes.

Then, Apple came into my life so I downloaded iTunes again. Same thing with the computer. I checked the Task Manager/Performance and the CPU Usage History was over 60%. Contrary to what it might sound like, I do not have a clue what CPU is, but I know from Google that 1 to 5% is more normal.

So, to make a long story short, I found out PC Tools does not like iTunes, or the other way around, who knows. So, I then started shopping for a new antivirus. This web site turned out to be very informative about free antivirus protection. From studying the information, I decided on Microsoft Security Essentials. It’s free and a small file. Plus, when running Microsoft, it would seem Microsoft Security would make sense.

Then came the task of installing Microsoft Security Essentials and uninstalling PC Tools. In the end, the whole process, including running the defragment, etc, took nearly the entire evening.

The good news is, my computer is running like new!

Oh, also the computer person on the web site recommended Malwarebytes, also a free program that checks for malware. However, one time fee of $24 allows it to automatically run a daily check for malware. In the long run, it might be worth it to not have to worry.

I think I am finally all set for 2012 with a secure computer, I hope!

Holton House B & B

2011-12-17T00:10:00.001-06:00

Neighbors Tom and Christi invited us to go with them to the Holton House restaurant and bed and breakfast in Holton, Kansas, this evening for fried chicken.

Tom knows fried chicken. I can’t tell it like he does, but I believe he has eaten at most every chicken restaurant in eastern Kansas and beyond. With those credentials, he says Holton House is the best.

It wasn’t too busy tonight, but our reservations were for 7:30 pm, so the rush might have been over. The service was exceptional as so often is the case in small towns.

Almost immediately after being seated, we were served, family style, a bowl of slaw, cottage cheese and a small platter of fruit. We were no sooner finished with this part of the meal when out came a piled high platter of chicken.

Although I don’t have the background to back it up, the chicken was exceptional. Since we were the last to be served, they sent two pieces for each couple home. The real test will be when we eat our leftovers cold.

For dessert we received a small piece of chocolate cake. I didn’t think I would be able to eat it, but after one bite, it was so good, it just slipped down.

There is no doubt the entire menu is based on Brookville’s well known restaurant. I think it is just as good too.

Quick, see anything wrong with this picture?

2011-12-16T00:29:00.001-06:00

Target right? And, not the store.

Doug was sighting in his gun over Thanksgiving and either Dan or Doug brought in the target and stuck it on the window. Then, somehow, it just stayed there. Here I had all those ladies over several nights ago and this target was stuck on the window.

It never fails, whenever I entertain, there is something like this that I am sure people go away saying, “Can you believe that?”

Dan scraped it off today. You have to admit, it is a pretty good group, though.

Year to entertain

2011-12-13T00:01:00.001-06:00

Every third year or so, it is my year to entertain. This is that year. And the reason why I have been a blogging slacker.

Not counting family Christmas, or we decide to have a few friends over, tonight was my last Christmas dinner party of the season. This group of 14 or 15 ladies has met for years. We usually have educational programs, but tonight was a covered dish, I furnished the ham. Great cooks, delicious food.

Tonight one of the ladies here told us this true story about her little four-year-old granddaughter. I have to pass it on.

This little girl’s older brother was picked to play Joseph in their church’s nativity play. So, she felt sure her role would be Mary. However, when the assignments came, she was to play an angel.

Last week the family visited her home. She had a little Charlie Brown figurine nativity in her livingroom. After her family, including her little granddaughter left, she noticed the angel which had been clear at the back was placed right in front, even in front of Mary.

Ulu Alaskan knife “Women’s Knife”

2011-12-08T00:06:00.001-06:00

One of the few keepsakes I brought back from Alaska is this Ulu knife. I am writing about it now because it was a bit expensive and I said it would be my Christmas present.

Translated, Ulu is Women’s knife. It is traditionally used by women for everything from skinning animals to cutting hair. Among the native Alaskans these knives are given as a wedding gift and often handed down generations.

There are Ulu knives available in almost every store in Alaska. Our friend from the museum in Soldotna grew up in Alaska so she was our go-to advisor on all things Alaskan. She said, first and foremost, make sure the Ulu we decide to purchase is made in Alaska, not China.

So, it became a quest to find a Ulu. The Francis Rose Gift Shop in Ninilchik (on the Kenai Peninsula) had several hand made Ulu knives for sale. I especially fell in love with this one. I really liked the way it fit in my hand. Francis Rose said if it felt well in my hand, it was made to be mine. The base and handle are petrified bones found above the arctic circle. The handmade blade is still as sharp as the day I purchased it.

This knife gets used almost every day. I have not shed one tear cutting onions with it. And, the rocking motion works very well when chopping vegetables or cutting meat.

We found less expensive Ulu knives that were made at the Ulu factory in Anchorage. We purchased several for gifts, but we decided on this handmade by a native artisan for me. I couldn’t have a better Christmas present.

Peanut Brittle

2011-12-03T23:54:00.001-06:00

Of all the Christmas treats, I enjoy peanut brittle the most. Good peanut brittle, that is.

My friend Sue makes excellent brittle. It is because of her that I’ve haven’t made it much over the years. When I was carrying mail, I had a customer who gave me a bag as well.

With all the family here during Thanksgiving, I decided to try making a batch, remembering the way our neighbor who lived a mile west of where I grew up. Their names were Roy and Pearl. Each holiday they made peanut brittle and it was absolutely the very best—thin and tender. One year they invited us over to help make some. I was young, but I remember they cooked it slowly in a cast iron pot and poured it out on a granite slab that they took outside to get cold, then pulled it out into thin pieces.

I have a bunch of Mom’s old recipes and I thought sure I would find a peanut brittle recipe with their name on it. I did not, but this is the one I used. It turned out very good.

Peanut Brittle

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup water
1 pkg (16 oz) raw peanuts
1 teas. salt
2 teas. butter
2 teas. baking soda
1 teas vanilla*

In a 3 quart heavy saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup and water. Cook & stir over medium-high heat until mixture boils. Reduce heat to low and continue boiling at moderate rate stirring occasionally until candy thermometer reaches 250F; about 30 min. Stir in peanuts & salt. Cook until mixture reaches 295F about 30 minutes. Remove from heat; quickly stir in butter and baking soda (I use a teas. vanilla as well) The mixture will foam. Immediately pour mixture onto baking sheets or whatever you have. As it cools, pull and turn over. (It works best to have plenty of soft butter to smear on the surface as you mess with it) Note: be sure not to let it cook too fast.

Blindsided by a Petty Crime

2011-12-01T00:02:00.001-06:00

Here is the deal. I am gathering items for a silent auction. The theme, no surprise here, is mail. I have stamps, blank greeting cards, a small Priority mailing box filled with homemade peanut brittle, KSU and KU emblems all to put on and in a new regulation mailbox.

Although we had a moderate list, it is the mailbox that prompted the 32 plus round trip to town today. We found an inexpensive metal mailbox, packaged in a box secured at both ends--$15.99.

To preserve the box for whoever purchases it at the auction, Dan carefully opened the end later this afternoon. As we pull it out of the box, it is quickly obvious we bought an old, dented, rusty mailbox. Someone purchased the mailbox, carefully pried open the end, took out the new one, replaced it with their old one and glued the ends back down. The store will stand behind the purchase, but it will mean yet another 32 plus round trip to exchange it, a loss of time and gas for us, not to mention the store’s loss.

Our sister-in-law works in the returns area for a popular retailer in Olathe. When we get together, we always ask about the latest scams used to steal merchandise. These people are clever. In the end, it is still a crime—one that is probably seldom prosecuted.

Of course I know none of my family and friends who read this would do such a crazy thing. I am really at a loss to know what actually can be done about these shoplifting type of crimes. All I know, it costs the retailers plenty, which then costs all of us.

In case it isn’t obvious, right now, I’m plenty mad about it, too.

Important information

2011-11-30T00:02:00.001-06:00

This is the time of year when insurance/Medicare decisions have to be made. I try to review what is covered. However, we don’t always know about the medical secrets. It might pay to read the fine print.

Sing Off Finale

2011-11-28T23:47:00.001-06:00

Dan and I were vegetables in front of the television tonight. Partly because of a let down from a fun week of family. And, partly because it was the finals of the Sing Off competition.

Hands down, we have enjoyed this show more than any we’ve watched in a while. The talent among these groups is phenomenal. It is difficult to tell that it is all without accompaniment. I’ve felt for several weeks that Pentatonix from Arlington Texas would win it. I was right. This isn’t one of my favorite songs they performed, but it is an example of their talent.

The runner-up was the Dartmouth Aires. They have said in interviews during the show that they are just a class at their college. They always were fun to watch. I think this Queen compilation is one of their best performances.

Urban Method from Denver was the third place group. Their music was called “rappella.” As far as I know, a new name describing their music. Rap and cappella is an unlikely mix, but they were very good.

Next Monday night some of the groups will be performing for a Christmas Special. We’ll be watching.

Beginning to end, Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T00:26:00.001-06:00

Doug, Drue, Trent and Carly are staying with Kim, Marc and family. The kids would be bored out here. They always have a good time with their cousins.

This trip, Carly and Evan are the best of companions. Well, actually, Evan thinks Carly is about the best older cousin he will ever have. I have pictures of everyone, but this best captures the day.

Everyone arrived in time to help cook the dinner this morning. We were traditional except for a tossed salad made by Kim and a pumpkin dessert made by Drue. Both were exceptional. I’ll post recipes later.

In the afternoon, we took a walk around the pasture, which is where the picture above was taken.

Then it was kicking back, watching a little football and finally a second hit at the food. The kids headed back to Kim & Marc’s. Before they left, we decided to try out luck at a little late night shopping and planned to meet again at 8:30 pm.

We went, we observed, we came home. Unbelievable. The line to get into Target met the line to get into ToysRUs. Both together were close to two blocks long. Thinking that waiting in either of these lines was not an option, we headed to WalMart. We knew it wasn’t good when the entire huge parking lot was full as well as the adjacent Barnes and Noble. The inside was crazy. They had big shrink wrapped piles of items with people clustered around them all faced toward the stack. Who ever took the shrink wrap off those items had better have an escape route in mind.

So, back home. We’ll try again tomorrow. Still a Thanksgiving Day to remember on so many levels.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T00:36:00.001-06:00

This is my annual posting of this picture. After all these years of posting it on Thanksgiving, it still makes me laugh.

Every day I am thankful in so many ways. But today, I am especially thankful for having our entire family together to share the bountiful food at our table.

May I also take this opportunity to thank all who visit, share comments and generally support my little space in this big cyber world.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Healthy fudge recipe—for real

2011-11-20T00:37:00.001-06:00

I’ve been away for a couple days because we were preparing the house and food for Dan’s family. We had 23, including four little ones. What a joy to have a chance to see them. And, we are expecting two more by the end of the year!

I furnished the meat, potatoes, bread and a vegetable. Everyone chips in with the rest. Jean brought this delicious fudge. We couldn’t believe the ingredients. Here it is:

Black Bean Fudge

1 can black beans rinsed and drained

Smash black beans with fork and heat 30 sec. to 1 minute

4 squares unsweetened chocolate and

Melt 3/4 cup butter & 1 T. real vanilla and mix

Add 7 1/2 to 8 cups powdered sugar

1 cup nuts

Put in greased 9 x 5 pan. Chill over night. Cut in 1 inch squares

Each square has 76 calories and 1 gram fiber

Guttering showing signs of needing attention

2011-11-16T23:09:00.001-06:00

This would be the first clue that this guttering is close to pine trees. Thankfully, this is their yearly healthy shedding of needles.

Austrian pines, the source of these needles, so far have been resistant to the pine beetle disease. The outlook isn’t good. We can only hope.

Virtual Library changing

2011-11-15T00:46:00.000-06:00

Last week I placed the titles of all the books I’ve read this year on a virtual bookshelf. There are 14 books so far. As most of you who follow my ramblings know, I mostly listen rather than read. It seems, especially since I’ve retired if I’m working around the house more likely than not I’ll have ear buds in listening to a book on my cheap little mp3 player. Right now I’m about half done with “Audition” written by Barbara Walters. It’s amazing how many current titles are available.

I’ve been noticing when I go to the State of Kansas Audio Books and More site that there is a notice that all books, including holds, will no longer be valid as of December 5th. This is also the same site that loans eBooks to readers in the state.

After a little research, I found that the Kansas Libraries contract with Media Overdrive, which is the company that handles the Kansas audio and eBooks, ends at the end of the year. The state will not renew this contract primarily because Media Overdrive increased its yearly fee for this service 700%. Interestingly, the past two years use of the service increased 200% each year probably mostly due to increased loaning of eBooks to more and more people with devices to read them.

Thankfully, the state has found an acceptable new contractor. As of January 1st, we will check our books through Recorded Books, 3-Ms new Cloud based platform. It sounds as if the new service will be more user friendly. Overdrive certainly did have a learning curve.

For those who aren’t familiar with how “checking out” an audio book works, I check it out, download it and when two or three weeks is up, depending on the length of time I set, it is gone. If I haven’t read it, I then have to go to the back of the line to wait to recheck it. It is the same for eBooks. Interesting technology that I don’t try to understand, but just glad it is available.

Thank you Kansas for continuing to provide this service.

Gift suggestion for a young person or a person young at heart

2011-11-14T00:43:00.001-06:00

Nanodots

Adam happened onto these one day and decided to spend his money on them. Kim helped Adam order them online. I don’t know if they are in stores—perhaps a specialty toy shop. They are educational and challenging, although a bit pricey. In Adam’s case, they are money well spent.

The web site contains a line up of impressive endorsements.

Remembering veterans in our family

2011-11-11T19:21:00.001-06:00

Dan was in college during the Viet Nam years, then was given a teaching deferment after graduation. Although he took his physical, the call never came. However, Dan’s first cousins, Fred, Kurt and Roger all served in Viet Nam, a difficult war with little fanfare for those who returned.

This picture was taken sometime in the spring or summer of 1942. Uncle Bill is the youngest of the four boys and the only one called to serve in World War II. I wrote about his service here. He was a medic and participated in D Day. (Dad is on the far right). Second from the left in the back is Uncle Lawrence. His great granddaughter, Rachel and her husband, are currently serving.

Thanks to my cousin Sylvia in Colorado, I also know that I have a family member who served our country, before it was the United States of America. Sylvie traced my Mom’s mother’s family back to the Revolutionary War. She did all of this work after my Mom was unable to understand. However, Mom’s brother, Sylvie’s Dad, did know and shared all of our pride in this heritage.

So, this is a special thank you to family members and all others who have served during war time and peace to preserve our freedom. To Carole’s Dad and Dr. Fyler who were POWs in WWII, to Ernie, a fellow post office employee who was sent into tunnels in Viet Nam, to Cheryl & Dwight’s dads, Sylvie’s Mike and Kaylene’s Kenny, Sue’s Dad, Peg’s family, including her husband and grandson, SSGT Tyler Britton, who has recently returned from Afghanistan.

And, to family members of others who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you.

Birthday parties are the best

2011-11-11T00:37:00.001-06:00

Several weeks ago, I was visiting with Evan. He was extremely excited about going to a birthday party, maybe one of the most exciting things a four-year old can do with his friends.

I know I’ve written about this before, but I’m with Evan on this. Birthday parties are fun. Doesn’t have to be much, but it has to include candles, singing and gifts.

Here is our latest birthday at our house. It had the big three.

Kim was born in 1970. I saved the newspaper from the day she was born. The Farmer’s Market commodity prices were interesting. (Today’s Chapman Alide Pearl Coop prices) Wheat, $1.37 (6.45) a bushel. Corn, $1.23 ($6.47) a bushel. Soybeans $2.70 ($11.16) a bushel. Also, there was an article saying the US was quitting the silver business that week. No wonder it’s almost impossible to find a silver coin anymore in change.

So, happy birthday, Kim---and our other family who celebrate this month, Carly and Marc

This is why we can’t have a small dog

2011-11-08T08:42:00.001-06:00

Picture taken about 120 feet behind our house. They definitely have their winter coat.

“I’m OK, You’re OK”

2011-11-06T22:57:00.001-06:00

I’ve been sitting in front of the computer trying to think of what to write about the past two days and out of nowhere, this title comes to mind.

As a refresher, this Thomas A. Harris, MD book was published in 1967 but became a popular motivational study in the early 70’s. Just as I thought, way in the back of a desk drawer, I found a cassette tape of the same title. Who knows why I bought it or why I still have it after 44 years. I think I just like the thought.

So, what’s that got to do with anything? Well….

Women of Faith has been holding nondenominational conferences around the United States since 1996. It was this conference that brought over 7,000 women to the Sprint Center in Kansas City for motivational speakers and beautiful music. I was there with about 30 of my girl friends.

WOF speakers included Andy Andrews who fit the theme of the conference perfectly—Over The Top. He presented twice, both of which were funny, high energy, autobiographical and inspirational. One thought from his presentations, “Smile when you talk.”

Patsy Clairmont benefited the most from the huge screens on all four sides of the center stage at the Sprint Center. She has superb comedic timing, which she combines with vocal and facial expressions to convey her message of turning her life around after personal psychological hardship. I bring home her thought of , “Make your Bed.”

Lisa Whelchel, Blair for nine seasons on “The Facts of Life” talked about friends. I am reminded that to have friends, I must be a friend.

Brenda Warner, wife of Kurt Warner, is a US Marine, nurse, mother of seven children and gifted speaker. Because of super bowl media, most already know, her oldest child has special needs. And, before football millions, she was poor and betrayed. She reminds us to, “Never give up.”

Music included the wonderful music of Amy Grant (without husband Vince Gill) who also brought her band, a refreshing change from canned musical backgrounds. Sandi Patty who shared using her beautiful, almost operatic voice and provided unexpected humor in the process. Deborah Joy Winans (of the famous family) and Mandisa, finalist from American Idol, season five gave us the hand clapping, dance in your place music, which everyone wanted to do anyway (Sprint Center seats are uncomfortable).

So, all of this is why the over all theme I brought back from the weekend is, yes, I’m OK, You’re OK.

There you go. Great weekend with the girls. Now, back to getting some painting done on the house before it gets too cold.

Late tomatoes worth the effort

2011-11-03T00:25:00.001-05:00

These jars, fifteen pints of spaghetti sauce, are the end result of carefully taking care of plants producing too late in the season. But, still better than none at all.

The plants were loaded with green tomatoes. But, they would not ripen. The weather was warm enough, but two problems come to mind. One, cool nights. Someone told me once, tomatoes will not do anything unless the nights stay above 50 degrees. Second, short days. They needed more sunlight.

We still have plenty of green tomatoes on the porch. We’re thinking of wrapping them in newspapers and storing in the basement. Other thoughts would be to fry them. Dan’s idea might be the most intriguing—make green tomato pickles. (He found a recipe) That ranks right up there with green tomato pie……or jelly.

Trunk or Treat

2011-10-31T01:30:00.001-05:00

Stull United Methodist Church is a community church between Lawrence and Topeka. It never ceases to amaze me how this small rural church finds ways to serve its members and the community at large.

This is one. I was not sure who had the most fun, the children who came by or all of us in charge of our trunk’s bounty.

Here’s a punch you’ll like

2011-10-27T23:28:00.001-05:00

I mentioned several days ago Kim and I hosted a baby shower. We served traditional fare, cake (cupcakes) nuts and punch.

Punch…ever think, what an odd name? Turns out sailors brought the original drink back to England from India in the early 17th century. Originally called paantsch, it was made from alcohol, sugar, water, lemon, tea or spices. The British often made it like a Wassail using wine or brandy. When Jamaican rum was added, there was no going back.

I have a recipe I use each time I need a punch type drink. I’m sharing it for two reasons: maybe someone will want to use it for a celebration or the holidays and by posting it here, I will know where to find it. Nothing worse than to lose a favorite recipe, right?

This drink is exceptionally healthy for a punch because there is no added sugar—all juices…that is, if diet club soda or Sprite is used. I actually don’t think the diet sodas change the flavor either.

Dole Sunny Holiday Punch

1 can (46-oz) Dole Pineapple Juice, chilled
1 bottle (28-0z) mineral water, club soda or Sprite, chilled
1 can (6 oz) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 lemon or lime, thinly sliced
2 cups fresh or frozen berries
1 bottle (750 ml) chilled champagne, optional
Combine ingredients in a punch bowl Makes 3 quarts

The champagne would probably be good, I’ve never tried it. The frozen fruit with pineapple/banana Dole juice found in the refrigerated section make a good ice ring.

Flint Hills in the Fall

2011-10-26T22:55:00.001-05:00

Rick and Carolyn, long time friends and also relatives, stopped by Tuesday for a quick visit. Just in passing, someone said we should make a day trip through the flint hills. It didn’t take long for it to become a plan.

By 9:00 a.m, Wednesday, we were headed west on I70 to Hwy 177. We made the decision to base our roadtrip through the eastern Geary, northern Morris Counties creeks regions: McDowell, Humbolt, Davis, Thomas and Clarks Creeks.

This area of the Flint Hills is close enough to Ft Riley, that many of the beautiful houses and barns are constructed similarly. Rick said he was told by a friend who lives in the area that the Swedish immigrant stone masons wandered out into the local ranches to use their skills after the Fort was completed. They might have even used left over quarried stone used in construction of the Fort.

At least one of the homes is a converted school. The newly settled areas took great pride in their school buildings and were often constructed with stone just as their homes.

This part of the Hills has more broken fields than those further south, part in due to the fertile creek bottom land. Note the farmstead where my Aunt Ruth grew up. Dark farm land against a backdrop of hardwood trees, mostly oaks. Then, on the upper left of the picture was the beautiful Flint Hills grass.

Rick and Carolyn have long time family friends who farm by Clarks Creek. We were able to drive down to the creek on their land. It was still running despite the recent dry weather.

We finally made our way to here for lunch.

at the Katy restaurant, named for the familiar railroad that ran through parts of Kansas, Missouri and Texas. The rail bed of that railroad runs through the state of Missouri, with Rocheport being one area I’ve written about in the past.

It was a beautiful day. Here is a slide show of all of it. Picture display uses SmugMug

Variations on a Pin Oak

2011-10-25T22:14:00.001-05:00

Great Overland Station, Topeka KS

2011-10-24T23:40:00.001-05:00

This beautiful building began as a Union Pacific railroad station in 1927. It is located at 701 N. Kansas Avenue in North Topeka—in the flood plain. So, it has survived a flood, as well as a fire and abandonment.

The Union Pacific Corporation donated the station to Topeka Railroad Days. A project team directed the renovation and it opened its doors in June, 2004.

It has been beautifully preserved inside and out. We attended Joyce and Vernon’s 50'th wedding anniversary celebration there a week ago. We were able to visit the museum currently on display while there.

Here is a little more history.

Also, there is a 50 state flay display around this war memorial on the site. Very impressive.

Showers but no rain

2011-10-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

It was a fun, busy weekend. Tara and Laura, both nieces of ours, have a baby due in December. Kim and I gave Tara a shower this afternoon with her friends, but when we heard Laura was coming back to Kansas from Houston, Texas, we decided to have another family gathering to celebrate her new addition as well.

I started to buy cute little paper plates to serve Kim’s cupcakes, but decided to drag out my glass dessert plates.

There was a time when any respectable lady’s meeting had desserts served on one of these glass trays. Most trays were like the one in the left of the picture. I received the “modern” tray on the right for a wedding gift 45 years ago. Definitely, retro now.

Maybe these will make a comeback, environmentally correct as the are. I don’t know who would still have them around, unless they are a packrat like me.

I learned today clothe diapers are also becoming popular among the young mothers. My goodness, what will be next?

Fall’s last stand

2011-10-20T22:46:00.001-05:00

Just when I’m dragging pots of flowers into the house because of freeze warnings, my last blooming plant of the season puts on a lovely show. I forgot to check whether the freeze last night got it. The plant sits near cement so many it was spared.

Our tomato vines are loaded with tomatoes. They are so close to ripening that we decided to see if we could give them another week. Dan put together this fairly substantial stand to hold the tarp.

There is a heat light under the tarp. We had a few get nipped last night, but for the most part they made it through the hard freeze. Now for tonight. It’s supposed to warm up again after tonight.

Metal detecting

2011-10-17T23:00:00.001-05:00

Dan and I purchased two fairly inexpensive metal detectors about eight or ten years ago, sure that great wealth in old coins was in our future. I even subscribed to a metal detecting magazine which featured wonderful finds by amateurs.

We never got around to spending much time at it. There are several problems with metal detecting. One, permission. Certainly it is right that permission must be granted before walking over private land, but it takes time to find agreeable owners. Second, since we do not have expensive models, we find a lot of pop top tabs, bottle caps, and nails when we do get out.

No permission is needed for public land, so last Saturday Aaron, Adam and I set off for the swimming beach at Clinton Lake with new batteries in our dusty metal detectors.

Our hopes soar when Aaron finds a quarter right after we get out of the car. In the end, that quarter is all the money we find, even though we end up with a treasure trove of metal.

The beach itself yields the usual trash. Aaron decides to wonder off the beach and around a curve. The water is down significantly right now so there was quite an area where water usually covers. In that exposed area is where our metal treasures were detected. I think it must have been an old farmstead from the evidence of concrete laying about. We found pottery chards, metal connectors for horse harnesses, and other old pieces.

Probably none is really worth anything, but all three of us were excited to actually find something old. All the grandkids will be here during the Thanksgiving Holiday. I’m trying to think of a place we can go treasure hunting again. Has anyone done much of this? Any suggestions?

Short-eared Owl

2011-10-14T00:30:00.001-05:00

Dan was driving around the pasture looking for Sirecia Lespedeza when he spotted this owl either hiding or nesting in the grass. Owls are difficult to identify because they are so often heard rather than seen. It’s hard to say if this one was migrating or still hanging around with the buzzards.

Our Audubon Guide indicates this is a Short-eared Owl. Here is some of what is said about this species.

Habitat: marshes, open grasslands, prairies; open country during migration.

Range: Breeds from Alaska across Canada south locally to California, Kansas and New Jersey. Winteres in southern part of breeding range.

Often seen in late afternoon as it begins to move about in preparation for a night of hunting.

This is an exciting addition to our list of local birds. When describing the short-eared owl, the Audubon Guide mentioned the very short ear tufts are rarely visible. I think we have a tuft sighting as well.

Fatwood

2011-10-12T23:16:00.001-05:00

Fatwood, lighter knots, lightard, fat lighter or lightwood. These are only a few names for the resin filled wood used to start fires for centuries. According to various sources on the internet, fatwood is cut from stumps or heartwood of dead pines. When the trees die, the sap or resin concentrates at the tree’s base

It helps to remember highly flammable pine tar and turpentine is most often made from the sap of pine trees. It would make sense that if these resins were concentrated that wood would burn easy and hot.

Actually, neither Dan nor I had heard of fatwood until we saw our kids use it as fireplace starter. Even though we know it works well, we use pinecones and pine needles gathered each fall.

Last week Tractor Supply had a small bag of fatwood for $6 so we decided to give it a try. It worked great on our recent trip. For sure we will be using it for a quick outdoor campfire and probably will use it more than we think to start a fire in the stove this winter. It doesn’t take much and it doesn’t make a mess.

As to how it got it’s name, there seems to be no real answer. Some suggest it is because it sizzles when started or from using a mixture of animal fat and wood as a fire starter. If anyone knows, feel free to set the record straight.

Big but not the Harvest

2011-10-11T22:53:00.001-05:00

The moon was beautiful tonight as it peeked up above the eastern horizon. I thought it was the harvest moon so had the tripod out ready to get the ultimate picture.

After taking about 20 pictures, none too good, I found out the harvest moon is the one closest to the autumn equinox. This year the harvest moon was in September.

Here is my best attempt at photographing the non-harvest moon.

Identifiable, but not much character. F5.6--1/40 sec

Here is another shot that isn’t nearly as clear, but much more interesting.

f16--6 sec exposure time.

I’ve seen some excellent photos of the moon rising. It’s a hard shot, at least I think so. I’ll keep trying.

Fall in Southern Illinois

2011-10-11T09:31:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning means breakfast at Lyndee’s in Hermann with Ray and Carole. (By the way, this little home-owned restaurant is listed right up there with the wineries for a visit while in Hermann. Good food with a friendly local touch.) Then off to Illinois.

We visited southern Illinois in May, 2008, but for some reason I did not post pictures at that time. We did not revisit the Shawnee National Forest Garden of the Gods or Pomona Bridge this time but here are two pictures from our spring visit.

We should have gone back because looking at these pictures, I can imagine how beautiful it would be with the fall leaves.

I actually got ahead of myself talking about the Shawnee National Forest. First, getting there.

It is a short drive from Hermann wine country to St. Genevieve, Missouri, an early French city on the Mississippi river. St. Gen, as the locals call it, would be a place to enjoy a leisurely ride around the historical area on bikes, which we did not bring this time. Definitely a reason to go back.

Instead we headed to the ferry, one of the few still operating on the Mississippi. I almost got the fees in the picture. It was $12 one way, not bad I didn’t think.

After the ferry ride, it’s a short drive, maybe 30 minutes, to Murphysboro and the Shawnee Wine trail.

This picture is deceiving. Shawnee wine trail is very organized with detailed maps available on line.

This part of southern Illinois has dense forest. There were many places where it was like driving through a red, yellow tunnel as we curved around to our favorite Pomona Winery.

We specifically wanted Pomona’s Apple wine. We like it with fish and during the Holidays. After tasting and visiting with the friendly owners, we load up our wine and head back. But, before leaving the winery, we marvel again at the brickwork used in landscaping.

I like the Mississippi River. So, we lingered along the River Road on the return trip. The bridge at Chester is almost as exciting as the ferry ride. The Illinois Welcome Center has a perfect place for a snack right at the entrance to the bridge.

So, here we are, as usual, driving in Missouri with darkness approaching and no place to park for the night. Then, out of nowhere, we see a sign, Hahn State Park, a park I overlooked in my State Park Book. It is located near Bonne Terra and not far from St. Genevieve.

We backed into a spot, fixed a bite for our evening meal and went to bed. What a surprise this morning. Big, tall trees with lovely fall colors.

We walked around the campground, exploring the small stream and visiting about the area with a local couple camping nearby. Then it was off for home.

We were gone 3 1/2 days, saw lots of fall color, tasted wine, but not while driving what ended up to be nearly 1,000 miles. This is a trip we’ll do again.

Beautiful day on the Wine Trail

2011-10-09T00:37:00.001-05:00

Adam Puchta Winery is one of the oldest on the Missouri Wine Trail. This year some of the wineries here are adding modern names and blends, but Adam Puchta Winery's traditional wines are still some of our favorite. Our first visit this morning there set the mark for a day of good conversation, food and, of course, wine.

A member of the Almond Tree Winery's family is a chef in St Louis. His meal did not disappoint.

In the past, we've been able to slip into the Hermann City campground even though we didn't have a reservation. There is no way this year. It is packed with tents--even a teepee. The whole scene was colorful and certainly everyone was having a good time, but no place for us.

Even though the city park by the river says no overnight parking or camping, the local authority we talked to said we could stay here. Hoping to get a good night's sleep. Seems there is a train about every half hour. Hopefully, the city has a no whistle ordinance after midnight and the Octoberfest celebrations which recently have included firecrackers settle down soon.

Fall in Missouri

2011-10-08T09:35:00.001-05:00

Maybe a little wine too

48 bags of corn, 4 raccoons, 1 skunk

2011-10-06T23:17:00.000-05:00

Small ears are about all that is left in the corn patch. Today we made two major assaults. I think the corn was just right to pick
.
Here is part of our bounty.

Dan also caught four raccoons and one skunk in his trap, all living to see another corn patch, just not ours.

He said he let the skunk go in a similar way only placed a heavy rug over the cage. Also, he let it go where it sat in the cage, no hauling. It never did spray.

FYI

2011-10-06T00:27:00.001-05:00

Have you heard of Slydial? Neither had I until today. It is interesting enough that I thought it worth a mention here. Basically, it is a way to leave a message on a cell phone without the phone ringing.

It would be handy to be able to leave a message for a family member or a friend without bothering them while at work with a ringing phone. Dan is often doing something noisy outside and doesn’t hear the phone. Text messages are an option, but that can be distracting. Dan doesn’t receive them on his phone.

Basically, you call 267-SLYDIAL or 267-759-3425. I put it as a contact number in my address book. At the prompt, you enter the number you want to leave a phone message. That takes you to the voice mailbox of the person you are calling.

As I see it, there are several drawbacks. One, the number you are calling has to be put in manually and two, there are advertisements before the number is put in. If you have a smart phone, which I don’t, you can use an application which enables use of numbers in your phone’s address book. This is an advertisement free pay per use option of 10 cents or unlimited of $2.95 per month or $29.95 a year.

One other negative might be that some advertiser would start spamming cell phones. Probably a report to the company would eliminate the contract of someone abusing the system.

I don’t see myself using it very often but it might have its niche.

Not us, thankfully

2011-10-02T22:35:00.001-05:00

This picture was actually taken in August south of Council Grove.

Dan has spotted smoke coming out of the baler several times in the past and stopped before it sparked a real fire. We have a neighbor who did have a fire in his baler. A fire extinguisher is standard equipment right on his baler. Dan has one on the tractor.

I am not sure about the newer round balers, but our older model has belts that roll the hay into the big round bales. The problem comes when hay gets stuck and the belts keep moving.

Hopefully, no one was hurt here.

Fall harvest is in full swing around our area. Backroads or highways, I believe in letting the big equipment have plenty of room.

First Frost – October 1st

2011-10-01T22:50:00.000-05:00

This one slipped up on us. All the houseplants were still out, and we didn’t put blankets over the tomato plants.

Dan quickly sprayed water on the tomatoes. I don’t know if it is true that this helps. For whatever reason, whether the frost was light, the sun warmed quickly or a still-warm ground temperature but we did not have any damage.

Maybe because we were gone so much of the summer, but it seems fall has arrived earlier than usual.

Walnut picker upper

2011-09-29T22:28:00.001-05:00

Well, actually it is a Nut Wizard.

Kim and Marc have walnut trees. This year may be a bumper crop. Evan and I were hanging out so we decided to pick up some of the bunch that fell with the north wind that came up this afternoon. Just roll this cool deal over the walnuts and they slip between the wires. Works great as long as it doesn’t get too full.

I want to pick out some walnuts this year. Last year we dried some of these walnuts and cracked them, but they were not good. Obviously, they are small, but also were “strong” tasting. Their neighbor has a tree that produces bigger nuts and I might try them. Also, there are a few trees in our ravine that produce nice size nuts.

Last year I ended up buying black walnuts at Sam’s. Very disappointing. They lacked the flavor I am used to from Kansas trees. Or, maybe it was the special touch my Dad used to give them.

Home by air

2011-09-27T21:24:00.001-05:00

Several weeks ago I received an email from Orbitz notifying me of low fare deals. After clicking around for about a half hour, I decided there was a trip to Denver I couldn’t pass up—two round trip tickets from Kansas City to Denver for $99.40 each.

The question is, how was flying after traveling so many miles on land this summer?

It was nice, but I think we both still prefer driving. For us, it is always the journey. We enjoy the things we see and do in route and back.

It took about 5 1/2 hours to fly vs. 8 1/2 to drive. That’s counting from the time we left Doug & Drue’s this morning until we drove in our garage. Surprisingly, there isn’t that big of a savings of time.

There was also the hour drive up to Denver & back twice for Doug.

Still, there were definitely some benefits. We left for the airport at 8:00 last Saturday and still had lots of time to enjoy the day in Colorado. It seemed like we had an extra day yesterday as well.

Will we fly again? Definitely would consider another trip to Colorado to visit family, but other than that, we are still four-wheel-down people.

Aspens

2011-09-25T23:06:00.001-05:00

Obviously we're in Colorado. The aspens are not at their peak, but very beautiful in places.

Caught!

2011-09-23T09:51:00.001-05:00

Can you blame it?

We decided to let it live to see another day. Dan just got back from giving it a ride.

Cindy’s Lemon Sheet Cake

2011-09-22T00:12:00.001-05:00

Driving franchise alley in Topeka or Lawrence any evening will find parking lots full at most of the restaurants.

Announce in the newsletter than there will be a covered dish dinner at Stull church and the parking lot will be full as well. That’s because there are excellent cooks there.

So, I don’t want to arrive at these events with just any ole beanie weenie casserole, meaning I am always on the lookout for something new. I enjoy leafing through recipe books so I don’t consider it a chore. When I find one I like, though, I make it over and over.

My latest favorite recipe book is entitled “Five Sisters.” My five first cousins who happen to be sisters put the book together. They live all over the country so they have regional recipes as well as the regulars from their childhood on the farm.

Which brings me to my current favorite—my go-to dessert so I make sure I have the ingredients on hand just in case someone is coming by. It is moist, refreshing and easy.

Cindy’s Lemon Sheet Cake

1 pkg lemon cake mix
4 eggs
1 can lemon pie filling

Frosting:
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teas. vanilla

Beat the cake mix and eggs until well blended. Fold in pie filling. Spread in a 15 x 10 x 1 baking pan. Bake 350 for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool.

In separate bowl, cream cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar. It calls for 1 1/2 teas. vanilla. (I am wondering about lemon flavoring in the frosting, maybe with a little lemon zest. I have been using vanilla, though, and is is very good.)

Can't get much easier and definitely delicious.

Green beetles

2011-09-18T22:59:00.001-05:00

I could swear I’ve written about these annual pests in our corn patch. However, I could not find a post in a quick search.

So, this picture was copied from this web site.

Other than this year, these beetles invade our corn patch just when the corn is about ready to pick. They are destructive to the ripened ears of corn. The patch “hums” when they are flying about. Our best defense is to catch them. They are surprisingly easy to get. I’ve gone out with a fly swatter and hit them in mid air. They also sit on the ground trying to dig a hole to lay their eggs, an easy target for a quick stomp.

For some reason, this year they did not appear—at least not before we left for Alaska.

Tonight, Dan was looking for tomato worms and picked up about 10 of these grubs off the ground.

We weren’t sure at the time what they were. Two distinctive traits were that they crawled upside down and they were extremely fast diggers. To demonstrate, Dan laid these two on the mulch and within five seconds they were almost dug in.

These are the larvae for green beetles.

The web site tells me one way to control them is to remove all mulch and turn the soil before they burrow deep for the winter. It would seem this is the year to fall plow the garden rather than wait until spring to till.

Let the cards fall where they may…..sometimes

2011-09-16T23:28:00.000-05:00

I know I’ve written about our Cards group before. We’re not too creative with names because “Cards” is the name of the group.

We met tonight with our usual, good food and good fellowship. But, for me, not good cards.

I think I had one really good hand and maybe two others that were worthy of a risk, but I didn’t take it. Just let those cards fall where they may.

Tonight Dan had a run of good cards. Good cards and feeling confident when the cards weren’t so good, he had a very good total score.

Isn’t that just the way it is. When things are going good, confidence builds and everything falls into place so much easier. When things are not going good, a different feeling.

Still, it was a fun evening and, despite a crummy score, I had a great time. Next time I’m going to concentrate harder on the game. I think I let some opportunities pass.

Visiting TSC

2011-09-16T10:53:00.000-05:00

Right after I took this picture, they both barked at once. I high tailed it to the car.

Wood Lead Pencils

2011-09-14T23:00:00.000-05:00

For some reason I’ve been on a cleaning/throwing out spree lately. I’ve a long way to go, but this fall weather has me hacking away. Today I started gathering pens and pencils stuck around all over the house, threw away half and redistributed the rest back to where we seem to never be able to find one that works.

A little used desk drawer had an accumulation of wood lead pencils, some looking old enough to spark an interest. Here’s what a Google search netted.

First, pencils are made from graphite, not lead. It is unclear, but it could be as early as the 1500s a high quality natural graphite formation was discovered at Cumberland in England. Early on, the people thought it resembled a type of lead, thus the name.

It seems England had, and still has, the highest quality graphite. So, they had a corner on the best quality pencils into the 1860s.

In the United States, lesser quality graphite was found in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Most pencils in the United States are made from graphite mixtures.

William Munroe, a cabinet maker, put a wooden case around the graphite in the United States as early as 1812. Eberhard Faber had early success in pencil production. By 1870, Joseph Dixon developed a way to mass produce pencils.

Wood was red cedar but by the early 20th century, it was running out so incense cedar from California became popular.

Starting on the bottom and moving up.

Dixon Ticonderoga is still making pencils, an off shoot of the 1870 Dixon manufacturing co.

Faber-Castell began in Germany, not has an home office in the US, but most pencils are made in Brazil. Remember that Faber was in the pencil making business early and is the oldest company in the United States still in production.

Empire Pencil Co is no longer in production. It was bought by Sanford Corp. and has probably followed the same route as Eagle.

Eagle pencil company was founded in 1856 in New York but in 1969 was purchased by Berol Corp, then Sanford and eventually bought by Rubbermade in 1992

Skilcraft is a trade name for the National Industries for the Blind. They still are producing office products.

NAPPCO or National Pen & Pencil Company was established in 1933 but have merged with Dixon Ticonderoga.

The beat up BUCKSKIN pencil was made by the Blackfoot Indian Writing CO in Browning Montana. They went out of business in 2001 after having been in business since 1971.

The top pencil is a advertisement pencil from Checkerboard Square now Purina. The reason it is in the picture is because the wood in the pencil is obviously red, although it doesn’t show up in the picture. It made me wonder if it might be red cedar.

I almost threw all these old pencils away. Glad I didn’t. Some from closed pencil manufacturing companies must be quite old. Now I have something to look for at flea markets or garage sales. I know, that doesn’t do anything for getting rid of clutter.

Good morning

2011-09-13T07:48:00.001-05:00

When I climbed out of bed this morning, the pin oak tree outside our bedroom window was backlit by a full moon. Not sure why I didn’t run for the camera.

Then, when I came to the kitchen and started the coffee, this golden sunrise greeted me.

We’ve been fortunate enough to travel far this summer, but I still love our early morning and evening views right here in relatively flat Kansas.

By the way, I wrote about this bell here and I believe it receives the most hits as any post I’ve ever made. There must be a lot of these bells out there.

Monday morning caterpillars (and none are on tomato plants)

2011-09-12T11:07:00.001-05:00

I believe the caterpillars above are Pandorus Sphinx. Here is a picture of an orange one and here is a green one. They both have the distinctive spots. Not sure about the back one. They were found on our grape vines.

This is the black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar as indicated here. Our fennel plants are covered with these. Actually they’ve about stripped the foliage.

The pictures are deceptive—the top two are almost the size of my pinky finger. The bottom two are the size of a fat match stick.

Butterfly Open House

2011-09-10T11:06:00.001-05:00

The grandboys and I attended the Monarch Watch open house this morning. Lots of educational exhibits, flowers, caterpillars and, yes, Monarch butterflies

Especially interesting to see a butterfly just about to break free This young lady was in the pavilion the same time as Aaron, Adam and Evan. The butterflies especially flocked to her.

El Divo (Divine Male Performer in Italian)

2011-09-08T23:26:00.000-05:00

Am I the only one who has not heard this group before? They have sold 26 million albums world wide.

El Divo are four multinational male singers who form an “operatic pop” vocal group. It was the idea of Simon Cowell of American Idol fame and the group is signed to his label. The singers are Spanish baritone Carlos Marin, Swiss tenor Urs Bühler, American tenor David Miller, and French pop singer Sébastien Izambard.

Neighbors and friends, Tom and Christi showed us their DVD of this performance this evening. I have never heard Amazing Grace sung this magnificently. Guaranteed chills.

Note: depending on your connection, you might have to pause the song to let it load, I know I have to.

First Christmas decoration 2011

2011-09-07T23:56:00.000-05:00

This poinsettia could also be called the last decoration from Christmas 2010. Actually there were two small plants put together into this red pot this spring. They’ve been outside on a east porch all summer.

Soon I’ll bring the pot into the enclosed porch and let the natural day/night sequence do it’s wonder. We’ll see how it looks when I post a picture at Christmas.

The Big 12 is falling apart

2011-09-06T22:21:00.001-05:00

Sounds true.

First article I read in an Oklahoma paper likened the University of Texas exclusive television contract with ESPN to Frankenstein's monster. After Nebraska and Colorado left the conference last year, Texas was “allowed” the exclusive network so they would stay and essentially keep the Big 12 conference together. Because of how this network has worked out first A&M, then Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech are leaving. This puts Texas in a bad situation. So, the contract “Monster” that started the whole thing might have to be destroyed because Texas may not be able to take it with them when they leave as well.

ESPN ran a story that says the Board of Regents prefers KU and KSU, along with Missouri, stay together.

Then a KU sports writer writes something to the effect of not letting KSU pull down KU. They have their basketball program and any conference should be wanting them—without KSU. OK, here comes the “just wait until basketball” theme from Lawrence. This makes me wonder if KU can show there is more attendance revenue than KSU adding together both sports. Of course, in all of this, fans from either school don’t have any meaning or input. I, for one, would really hate to see the Kansas schools go different directions.

This story from Kansas City is true for sure. A bust up of the Big 12 would hurt Kansas City sports revenue.

This story, again from Oklahoma, just made me mad. First, they likened Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for the Pac 12 to the Dust Bowl migration to California. Then it quoted Stoops as saying he would enjoy playing the teams on the west coast, especially his brother in Arizona. Once again, even “walk on water” Stoops won’t be coaching forever, unless the afore mentioned is actually true.

KSU, KU and Missouri have an open invitation to the Big East. At least it was mentioned in several of these articles.

Whatever….

Wednesday morning: Can you believe there is word KU and Missouri are working together to get into the same conference? If football facilities make a difference, KSU has a much better sports complex for the bigger schools.

Here’s another interesting article

It all adds up

2011-09-05T23:03:00.001-05:00

Last Friday we thought this weekend would be quiet, hot and low key. Turned out it was noisy, cool and just a little routy. But it all added up to a great weekend.

The end of last week, we got a call from Card friend Marty. She had two extra KSU football tickets! Since Marty got the tickets, I took care of the tail gate. If you’ve tailgated or planned a picnic, you know how hit and miss it can be. Saturday was a hit. We found a great place to park not too far from the stadium. We put up shade, pulled out the lawn chairs and beer while waiting on the charcoal. I made potato salad, baked beans and bought good brats from HyVee. We ate, put everything away and walked into the stadium exactly one hour early as planned. It cooled off, the fire works was beautiful, and, well….we won the game, barely. Home by midnight.

Sunday morning I got an email from Chip requesting tomato worms. He is gathering educational opportunities for the KU Monarch Watch open house Saturday, September 10th. So, the tomato worm thing because a mission. Our neighbor Skeet was here for lunch. He ended up going home and bringing back even more. There must have been 30 in an old fish tank. I kept throwing in tomato leaves in and they kept munching away. Chip picked them up last night—I should have taken a picture. Only their Momma could love them.

Today, we visited friends James and Laura to see their new home. They have always wanted a few acres in the country. Their new little 9 acre farm located north of Kansas City is perfect for them. Tour, another couple beers, lunch by their chiminea and home. We stopped by to check on Evan briefly. He’s healing. I told him tomorrow (Tuesday) will be the day he feels like new.

Oh, I almost forgot, dove season opened over the weekend. These two knew where to hide.

And, look who visited our clothesline. Haven’t seen a scissor tailed flycatcher in a while.

Fall Garden

2011-09-03T10:55:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Marc and Kim, we have a fall garden. The corn ears are setting on so we really need rain. The plants are fully tasseled and ready to help with making the ears with a little help from Mother Nature.

We planted a bunch of tomatoes before we left on the trip. The heat while we were gone set them back, but they have revived and have lots of tomatoes set on and blooms. It’s getting late for the blooms to ripen, just depends on how late we get the first freeze. “They” say the shorter days of fall don’t ripen tomatoes too well either.

The vines are sweet potatoes. Easy to grow and store. Looking forward to a crop there as well.

Right now, it is looking good that we might get some vegetables put up for the winter.

Evan is doing well

2011-09-01T22:56:00.001-05:00

A little pale is the only clue that he had tonsil surgery this morning. They left home at 6:30 am and were back home around 9:30 am. Done deal.

He’s being a trouper.

Tonsils, do you have yours?

2011-08-31T22:46:00.001-05:00

I know, crazy question. I have tonsils on my mind because little Evan is having his removed in the morning. His older brother, Adam, already had the surgery so I’m sure there have been some stories. Hopefully not too scary.

Back to whether tonsils are still in your throat. If you were born in the 40s and 50s and if you had “tonsillitis” occasionally, you probably don’t have them—neither my brother nor I do. Our kids and most of our friends’ kids born in the 70s do. By that time, removal had fallen out of favor.

I remember asking our pediatrician if Kim’s sore throat was tonsillitis. He more or less scoffed at me saying there really isn’t such an illness. In fairness, he probably called it “inflamed tonsils” or something like that. Although our kids always seemed to have a sore throat with a cold, they weren’t regularly sick, thankfully.

It seems doctors now have come full circle for those young people who suffer with tonsils.

Evan will be home by noon or shortly thereafter. Amazing the advances in surgery. I suspect they want the young patients to be home where they have familiar surroundings and germs they are used to. It won’t be the best Labor Day weekend for Evan, but I bet he’ll be one the road to recovery by Sunday. I hope so, anyway.

What is it about Storage Wars

2011-08-30T23:16:00.001-05:00

For any that have not seen or heard about this A & E channel show, abandoned storage units are auctioned off. The kicker is the bidders can only look in the units from the door. They can’t look inside boxes or most of the time see what is in the back.

The most fun about this show are the things found in the lockers. I’m not sure what is it about digging through a stranger’s possessions that is so fascinating to me. Most of the lockers have some value just in the used appliances and furniture, but it seems that there is a surprise in almost every one. Paintings, posters, antiques of all types, sometimes even money.

Maybe that’s it—the surprise factor.

I hope this show is legitimate. Wouldn’t it be its ruination if it came out some of the finds were planted? I mean, doesn’t it make you wonder why people would put valuable things in storage lockers?

Anyway, I know one thing, storage locker auctions are probably much more popular now.

Red and yellow

2011-08-29T23:42:00.001-05:00

A nice cool easterly maybe Irene generated breeze came in late this afternoon so I headed to the garden to see if there might be a tomato for our evening meal hiding under the vines somewhere.

A few nice ones. Those yellow tomatoes are ripe. Dan picked up a bunch of marked down plants late spring and a couple were yellow tomatoes. Also, we have two plants producing the tiny yellow tomatoes as well. The yellow tomatoes are surprisingly good—mild and sweet.

Dan was working on a mower and as I walked over to show him the tomatoes, I noticed the other red and yellow—or maybe golden—of the day.

Seven years and counting

2011-08-28T21:34:00.001-05:00

September, 2004, I wrote my first post on this blog. Old cliché here, but it doesn’t seem that long, especially when I go back and read what we were doing.

I was posting recipes, talking about grandkids and even writing a haiku now and then. Not so many pictures because it was more difficult to post them.

At any rate, I’m back to posting here on a regular basis again. I’ve missed it. I will say, posting almost every day on the Alaska trip turned out to be harder than I thought. For one reason, I took a lot of pictures. I didn’t want to load the blog down with too many so that took time. Then, I didn’t want to misspell or wrongly identify a place we visited so I needed to go back and check literature or my notes.

It was the best thing I could have done, though, because I remember each place we stayed and visited because of it. We’ve been on vacations before where it runs together when we get home because of my lack of journaling.

Speaking of pictures, I tried something new this time and it worked very well. Each night, I downloaded all of that day’s pictures into a new file labeled with the date.

For you Apple lovers out there, I’m sorry, but there just isn’t any program on itunes that comes anywhere close to Windows Live Writer. It allows you to write a post, including pictures, preview it and then save it until there is wifi available. Once hooked up, just hit “publish” in the desired order. So, it was not the speedy little ipad that kept the posts coming, it was my old travel computer, a little Windows XP Acer that actually worked great when the battery was charged (it had about a 30 minute life).

So, this little vacation from blogging was my seven year itch. I hope I’m around in seven more years (I’ll be 72) so I can scratch that itch again.

Thanks for checking in.

Checking in

2011-08-15T22:29:00.002-05:00

For those who follow these ramblings and didn't get a personal email about our trip, I apologize. I would have let you know, if I had your address. Dan and I just got back late last night from a six week road trip to Alaska. I blogged the whole thing, which can be found by clicking on the sunflower in the upper left hand corner of this blog or here.

I said earlier I would be taking a break until the end of August but, here I am. I can't stay away from posting when I'm right here at the computer.

See you in then

2011-07-06T06:21:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had a great 4^th of July celebration. We did, with daughter Kim, Marc, Aaron, Adam & Evan. Friends and family gathered to eat and enjoy the lake fireworks display.

I'm sure it's become apparent that as the summer heat rises my posts have dropped. After a lot of thought, starting now, I plan a break from my Linda's Backroad's blog. I definitely will be back. The seventh anniversary of my first post will be September 1st. You can count on me for sure on that date.

I value your friendship and hope you will bear with me....

Surprises

2011-07-01T00:23:00.001-05:00

I paused in a wooded draw to enjoy a break from summer today, when I spotted this surprise. It is very hard to capture filtered sun, so the picture does not convey the lovely nature of this scene. Even Dan, who often sees my favorite wildflowers as weeds, said this was nice.

While on the subject of surprises, I invite you to click on the wildflower in the upper left of this web page.

Electronics gone wild

2011-06-28T06:55:00.001-05:00

Honestly, I am skeptical about some crazy videos, but don’t think anyone could fabricate this one.

Sitting down to eat, but where

2011-06-26T23:06:00.001-05:00

Summer is always hard for me to cook. It’s hot, so no oven. Even the crock pot generates heat. Probably too often we resort to sandwiches. They can be healthy, unless it is a bacon, ham, cheese and egg sandwich like I fixed for lunch.

Since sandwiches and other light summer meals are simple to serve, it is easy for us to not eat at the table. This is breaking a strict rule of mine, meals should be eaten at a set table with no electronics, including television and phones. Mealtime is talk time.

However, this past week, we ate in the livingroom in front of the television, on each of our porches, in the sun room and at the bar. We get our plate and then discuss where we are going to eat.

We’re slowly developing a habit here and I am not sure I like it.

Hummingbird Moth

2011-06-24T22:55:00.001-05:00

We have a patch of red clover in our yard that is irresistible to nectar loving creatures of all kinds. We observe hummingbirds, honey bees, bumble bees and, today, this unusual hummingbird moth. Dan kept his eye on it while I ran for the camera.

According to this U.S. Forest Service site, we are on the western edge of the distribution. I wonder why the states all around us have higher populations. This is a better picture borrowed from the Forest Service site.

Another interesting fact about the moth:

Like most moths they have a very long tongue which they carry rolled under their chins and that they use to reach the nectar of long-necked flowers. Such nectar is inaccessible to many other flower visitors, so it seems that these flowers prefer long tongued pollinators and try to keep the others away.

It is hard to tell by my picture, but the Forest Service picture shows how the tail flares and the wings become almost invisible as they hover.

Can a turkey vulture smell?

2011-06-22T23:51:00.001-05:00

Either they can smell very good or they have telescopic vision. Read on.

Monday morning Dan caught a mouse in the garage. He threw it out back in the tall grass.

Fast forward to late this morning. He noticed a turkey vulture (buzzard to a hard core Kansan) flying low back and forth behind the house. All of a sudden, he yelled for me to get my camera. He saw the buzzard land, hop into the grass, grab the dead mouse and was eating it on the spot.

As you know, I like buzzards. Now, I am totally in awe. They regularly soar around the valley, but very high where they catch the wind currents. That bird had to catch the scent of that tiny mouse from a long distance.

Having said that, I have to wonder how the wonderful sense of smell allows them to enjoy their choice of food. Talking about bad is good. I’ve even observed them eating a dead skunk. Maybe it is the eyes….

Note: I am adding this quote from our friend in Ontario, Canada:

"Turkey vultures have an extraordinary sense of smell. They have been known to be able to smell carrion from over a mile away which is very unique in the bird world. The turkey vulture has the largest olfactory (smelling) system of all birds."
http://www.natureali.org/TVfacts.htm

Thu Jun 23, 05:00:00 AM 2011

Cabbage

2011-06-21T23:43:00.001-05:00

It should be sweet with all the moisture. I picked one yesterday but we haven’t eaten it yet.

We are looking forward to one of our favorite cabbage recipes. In addition to bierrocks, I like to slice it up as for slaw, heat up olive oil in a skillet and stir fry until tender. A little onion if available. After it gets hot, pour in some beer. Let it cook a while and add salt, garlic and a little rosemary. Serve with cooked noodles. Quite tasty to add a little fried bacon as well.

Thoughts of Dad

2011-06-19T22:30:00.000-05:00

I've thought of Dad often today. His picture is in the previous post with my brother in his younger, farming days.

Dad retired from farming at age 65, rather unusual for most lifetime farmers. It helped that my brother was there to take over. And, it helped that he could still help out when needed.

Almost right away after he retired, they purchased a RV and traveled to South Texas each winter. They made the trip for approximately 25 years. During that time, they also traveled coast to coast both directions. Dad loved to travel.

Even after they decided not to make the trip south, they enjoyed visiting with family and friends. He died just two months short of his 95th birthday and he still had dreams and plans, his heart just gave out.

His legacy to me was his hearty laugh, his pronouncements of wisdom, his dedication to the farm and his sense of adventure among many others. Most of his friends have also passed. If he were alive now, he would not be lonely because he had many friends, young and old.

I have not tagged my blog posts, but over the years, I have written something about him often. He was that kind of person, he loved stories and many of them were on him.

He knew all but three of his great grandchildren. I think he would say he had a wonderful life. I would say I am fortunate to have had him as my Dad.

Wheat Harvest late 1950’s

2011-06-17T00:52:00.001-05:00

If it stays dry, I am sure my brother, Wayne (on the truck), Rod and family (it takes the whole family) will be cutting wheat in the next few days, if they haven’t already.

Now days, the header on modern combines are probably three times wider and trucks are semi size. And, with modern farming techniques, the yields are larger. However, some things are the same—worries about breakdowns and weather So much depends on getting the grain out of the fields, both can be very costly.

Be safe out there.

British soccer camp comes to Topeka

2011-06-15T19:23:00.000-05:00

British soccer camp comes to Topeka

Watch for Adam. His first words are about "tricking the opponent."

Kansas Wildflowers then home

2011-06-15T19:21:00.001-05:00

Trent and Carly spent the day with us so we took the golf cart on a wildflower hunt. There are plenty out there right now so it didn’t take long to find them and make a bouquet.

They are with their Mom’s family now, visiting the Rolling Hills Wildlife Center near Salina. They will meet their Mom tomorrow and back to Colorado. Carly says she misses her “Sagie,” her Lab dog. I am sure they miss their folks too.

Everyone here to celebrate

2011-06-14T23:23:00.001-05:00

Every one of our grandkids is here to celebrate Evan’s 4th birthday and Dan and my 45th wedding anniversary.

This birthday is huge for Evan. He’s been planning and thinking about it for months. The actual day is this Sunday. He wouldn’t mind if we celebrated every day this week.

Kim, Carly and I went to town yesterday morning to…

and picked up the balloons. Kim already purchased the candles. Evan wanted one for each year leading up to his 4th.

After the cake and ice cream, we

waited to get shot with a water gun.

Kim

waited to pull any takers on the tube.

Dan and I

and hung out.

Symphony in the Flint Hills 2011

2011-06-13T14:53:00.001-05:00

The Sixth Annual 2011 Symphony in the Flint Hills held at the Fix Pasture, Volland, Kansas was about freedom.

Freedom for those attending to sit back and let their senses soar to the far off hills through sight and sound. More to the theme, though was the State’s role in the Nation’s history of freedom. Kansas as Freedom’s Frontier.

We were able to attend two educational programs before our duties as volunteers. Both addressed freedom of American people.

Jon Boursaw is the direct descendant of two Headmen or Tribal Leaders in the Potawatomi Nation. His tribe suffered many disappointments and hardships during the settlement of this country, including the Potawatomi Trail of Death, a forced march which ended in Kansas. As a result of an attempt to assimilate Native Americans in white men ways, they allotted land to individual tribal members. Many Flint Hills ranches have that land in past titles and many Citizen Potawatomi members still live in the region.

Nicole Etcheson’s enthusiasm for her presentation on “The Border War and American Liberty” gave new understanding to Kansas Statehood and its role in the beginning of the Civil War. The excellent 2011 Symphony in the Flint Hills Field Journal has an overlay of the flint hills over Civil War Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area. Kansas Statehood and its decision to become a free state was the real beginning of the Civil War according to Dr. Etcheson.

Kansas weather with a slight breeze and cool temperature cooperated once again as the Kansas City Symphony’s beautiful music was welcomed by a colorful audience. Familiar songs from How the West Was Won, Silverado and Gone with the Wind including Tara’s Theme were appropriate choices given the theme of the day. Lincoln’s Portrait narrated by Peter Coyote should be recorded to share with the world. Lincoln quotations set to Copeland music brought the audience to its feet at the end as did Trevor Scheunemann’s baritone singing Selections from Old American Songs.

Once again in the Freedom theme, The Symphonic Suite from Gettysburg by Edelman included a mounted color guard from Ft Riley. Governor Brownback, with his rural background, probably was not intimidated by a skittish horse more familiar with drums and bugles than violins.

Personally, I love hats. Each year the Symphony in the Flint Hills brings out the hats. In fact, it seems each time I tried to take a picture, there were hats in front of me. Then I found myself taking pictures of hats. You will find pictures taken throughout the day. Please watch to find, at the end, those who truly know how to wear their hats.

Location Location Location

2011-06-10T23:42:00.001-05:00

That’s what I’ve always heard about picking a place for building a home. Especially when it comes to resale.

At first glance, this might seem a perfect location. Even a little rain protection.

Actually a very bad location—and, even though the photo doesn’t show it, this is high.

All the drama was at the back of Kim & Marc’s house. This Flicker removed insulation and ready for his female to the eggs. Not good when the pecking starts at dawn!

Amazing weather video

2011-06-09T07:57:00.001-05:00

I am sure this is the cloud that went over our Jivaro kid’s home.

Eurasian Collared Dove

2011-06-07T23:24:00.001-05:00

Our neighbor, Chip, sent an email recently letting us know he had the Collared Dove coming to his feeder. We remembered hearing a bird call we could not identify earlier in the spring. At the time, I rushed to get my camera. I sent him the picture. He said, “Yep, they were visiting you, too.”

They look similar to Mourning Doves except for the black ring and maybe slightly larger. Also, their call is unique. Dan was working outside and it was the call that alerted him to their presence.

According to Wikipedia, the Collared Dove was introduced from Europe to the Bahamas in the early 1970’s and spread from there to Florida in 1982. While the strong hold in North America is still the Gulf coast, the Dove has been located as far west as California and north to Alaska. They are social and often feed and nest close to humans.

Chip reports that, while not unusual to the area, a sighting is still exciting. I don’t think this pair stayed around to nest. Probably the reason is our crazy bird hunting cat who regularly springs up in the air trying to catch a barn swallow.

Speaking of birds, we are setting the alarm to 5:00 am tomorrow morning. Mission is to try to get the woodpecker that is making a nest in the side of Kim & Marc’s house.

Garage Sale tomorrow

2011-06-02T22:52:00.003-05:00

Probably didn’t dig deep enough, but got some things that won’t be missed transported to Kim’s this evening, ready for customers bright and early tomorrow morning.

We’re selling all our old dining chairs. We bought them at least 40 years ago in Sabetha. They were probably considered antiques even then. They were painted and we wanted natural wood so we stripped the one pictured above. It was very nice, except it took a long time. So, we had the remaining four chairs “dipped.” This was a quick way to strip furniture. Only, they used water at some point and the pressed backs never looked as good as this one we painstakingly did ourselves. We had a round oak table and despite the bad stripping, they actually looked fairly good. Our old bodies wanted something more padded, though, so they are going down the road, we hope.
I found my old hair dryer in the back of a closet. I’m pretty sure my Mom bought this for me in the early 60’s. Back then we rolled our hair on big curlers and if there wasn’t time to air dry it, we used one of these.

This Universal dryer also had a manicure attachment as well as a place you could put perfume in the dryer air.

I cleaned it all up and was ready to put it out for sale. Then, just for fun, I checked Ebay.
There were three listed. The least expensive was $29 and the most was $49. Doubt if anyone attending the garage sale would want to pay over $1.00 for it. So, I put it back in the closet. Next winter I plan to try my hand at selling some things on Ebay.

Of course, asking and selling are two different things. I’ll probably wish I would have just tagged it in the sale tomorrow.

Banana Sour Cream Bread

2011-05-31T22:59:00.001-05:00

I am always on the lookout for recipes that use up leftovers in the refrigerator. It was sour cream going even sourer and bananas going even riper that sent me to the computer. It is easy to do a search for a recipe anymore, but this one is tried and pronounced delicious by someone you know.

Before I type the recipe, here are a few suggestions. First, it is rich. So, I would half the recipe and make just two small 7 x 3 inch loafs. Unless you have company, you’ll gain a couple pounds eating the whole recipe. Use real butter. Once you put the flour in, don’t over mix. Tastes better after it cools down and rests awhile. Finally, I left out the nuts and really missed them. Still that is personal preference.

Banana Sour Cream Bread

Grease pans then mix together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teas. cinnamon and dust pans. The recipe says this gives the loaves a “gentle spice undertone.”
3/4 cup butter
3 cups white sugar
3 eggs
6 very ripe bananas
1 (16 oz) container sour cream
2 teas vanilla extract
2 teas. cinnamon
1/2 teas salt
3 teas baking soda
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Cream butter & 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream vanilla and cinnamon.
3. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. Divide into prepared pans.
4. Bake one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

It’s a small world

2011-05-30T23:02:00.001-05:00

Aaron invited some friends from his class at school over for a birthday party Saturday.

Look closely at these two pictures. The picture on top is a grade school picture taken at Acker School in rural Geary County between Junction City and Chapman. The picture on the bottom was taken at Aaron’s party and is the grandson of one of my classmates in the picture.

If you said Robert’s grandmother is the girl on the left side of the picture you are right. You can’t tell by the picture, but Judy has red hair like her grandson. Her brother is in front of her and there is family resemblance there as well. Judy and I were the only two girls at Acker that year.

Wasa-Tusa

2011-05-28T23:15:00.001-05:00

When we visited the Eisenhower Presidential complex last Sunday, we saw the traveling exhibit of the 8 Wonders of Kansas, including the 8 Architectural Wonders. This is an interesting display and a perfect place for it. Out of state visitors will see Kansas is an interesting and diverse State. The Seelye Mansion located down the street in Abilene was chosen as of the architectural wonders.

Mr. Seelye became a wealthy man selling cure-all concoctions including Wasa-Tusa out of the back of a wagon traveling town to town. The fact that he was able to make so much money doing this makes me wonder if he actually was on to something.

So, I invite you to check out the ingredients. Honestly, I wonder if the mixture of Alcohol, Chloroform and Ether wouldn’t make a person numb and, in turn, feel pretty darn good. Don’t miss the instructions for use—good for humans and animals alike.