Storms in SouthWest Iowa

59 degrees and storms moving through the area here at Clarinda, IA.  Reports on TV of tornado about 12 miles north of us near Hepburn, IA and Villisca.  Sitting at home in easy chair; have such sinus problems that have no energy at all.  Hoping I get over it before next Tuesday when have some work done on my knee.

Don't recall if I put this no before or not.  Lilacs Phyllis cut from back yard.

Picture off the internet;

Cam is at a meeting in Washington, D.C.

Took this shot last night as storms went through.  Phyllis dumped 1.5" of rain this morning which, I think, was from 2 days.

I did get up a day or so ago and clean

out the valley and gutters on

the end of the deck.

Have choir and square dance tonight, though at this moment I don't think I will be able to make it.

Later, Lynn

Slow week, visit to Hiawatha, KS

66º in Clarinda, IA at 9:45 am with predicted 79º as high today

Not a lot going on since last blog post.
Here is something that caught my eye.



Just talked by phone with son Cameron.  He is in car just north of Mount Pleasant, Iowa heading for the Amtrak station there.  Train is about an hour and 45 minutes late - will be coming in around 11:45 am -- was to have left there at 9:56 am -- for Washington, DC.  He is on Iowa Bankers Board and going, with some 1500 other bankers from around the nation, to meetings this next week, including meeting with Congressmen.   Today is his 51st Birthday, so was wishing him a Happy Birthday.

Thursday we drove to Hiawatha, KS and spent much of the day with LaRhoda and Harold Neher -- our next-door neighbors in Texas -- and on return Phyllis found a few blooms on the Lilac bush on the back yard.

We enjoyed visiting with Harold & LaRhoda and played some pegs & jokers, also.

Mowed the yard yesterday, had been raining or overcast for last several days.  Today is first day of sunshine for some time, and I am in the basement writing this.  Will head out later and probably get the recumbent trikes out for a ride today.  Got literature from tour company about a trip in Panama, which includes going through the locks and an hour or so on the lake to the west of the locks--both on small boats (one comment was that you could see close-up the 6 foot thick doors open and close.  Huge.

Anyway, thinking about doing that 9 day trip sometime the first of December.  Will see.

Later, Lynn

More rain

61 degrees and overcast here in Clarinda, Iowa at 3pm as I start to write this.  I measured .75" of rain in gauge this morning.

Phyllis bought two Serapes when we were in Mexico and sewed them side-by-side with opening for her head.

-She can wear it either way.

We went with Clarinda Circle 8 Square Dance Club to a nursing home in Shenandoah Monday evening.

Most of the club members and quite a few visitors were present so we got a group photo.

We have a lot of little oak seedlings coming up so I took one and anchored it in a bottomless 5-gallon bucket several feet over the bank behind the hedge in our back yard.

This gives a little better idea of how far down the bank it is compared to the hedge.  I had tried to grow 2 different pine seedlings we brought home from Grand Lake, Colorado a couple years ago, but they didn't make it.  This time I planted it in some dirt that I got from the farm, along with potting soil, so maybe it has a better chance.

Brought the dirt from

the farm in 5 gallon

buckets.

Used some of the dirt to plant four
tomatoes in raised boxes
by the back deck.

Here you can see the one tomato plant that is still putting on tomatoes that we brought home from Texas sitting on the deck with the new young ones planted below.  I put all the tomato cages I could find together and will tie them together to give support when these Better Boys get bigger.

This shows that we watch photos from the

last 9 months while we are at

the breakfast/dinner table.

With a 32 Gigabit SD card

I was able to load photos clear back

to before we went on our summer

trip into Canada and the

New England area along with

all of the winter pictures at Kenwood RV

Park.

Have  been trying to get info together on all my classmates from Callaway, NE High School class of 1961.  Have requested they send me story of their life and I intend to put a booklet together to share when we get together in Callaway on June 25th for noon meal and visit after the Annual Pioneer Picnic parade that morning.

More later, Lynn

Rain possible

Clarinda, IA 66 degrees with rain moving from west, maybe some tonight or tomorrow.  Been dry here, can use some rain.

 Took the recumbent trikes down to the Lied Center and Baseball park where Clarinda has recently completed a one-mile walking/bike trail.

Local gas price raised to $2.06 the other day.

Went out to Henkyville Greenhouse 

east of Clarinda Saturday and

got 4 tomato plants and several

flowers for Phyllis.

Lots of stuff and color

in a lot of buildings and we

only saw where they

are for sale.

 This morning the Westminster Presbyterian Choir sang with us at the Methodist Church and then we went to their service and sang at their church.
16 from Methodists - 9 Presbyterians.

Looking like we might get some rain tonight.  We need it.  Have been watering some spots where I put down some grass seed.  Have done the walk-around each day getting about 1 to 2 dozen dandelion plants each day.  Mowed the yard Saturday.

Later, Lynn

Another day in Clarinda, IA

57  degrees, no wind and clear day in Clarinda, IA

Driving uptown today saw
gas price in Clarinda rose
to $2 a gallon.

Not sure what kind

of tree this is, but

it is blossoming

out.

to

It is just

a small tree and I 

wouldn't even have seen it

except I was dumping a cart load

of leaves and twigs through

the big hedge in the back

yard and there it was!

Clay Heuer

Stopped at Judy and Clay 

Heuer's place to visit with

Phyllis' cousin Judy and her 

husband Clay, here in Clarinda.

Phyllis & Judy

Some of Phylllis'

handy work with

a needle and sewing

machine.

Latest quilt she has made.

Gradually getting things put away from our latest move (from Texas).  Got electricity turned on in the garage/work shop this morning so have the table saw and chop saw working now so can start some planned finishing in the shop (insulating wall and ceiling on the half that isn't done yet).  Most days I plan on doing nothing...................and don't quite get finished!

More later, Lynn

More later, Lynn

Windy, windy in Iowa

25 degrees at Clarinda, IA at 7:30 am on this Saturday morning.

Phyllis thinks the bushes that have budded along the deck probably will not bloom this year as this probably nipped them.  It was a good night to sleep indoors!

  We drove to Omaha Thursday—very high winds all day.  Was reported 25-35 mph with gusts to 50 mph!  Really glad we weren’t pulling our travel trailer.  We did lot of grocery shopping at the Council Bluffs Aldi Grocery store, then ate lunch at Panda Express and some more shopping at Sam’s and Walmart.  My appointment with the orthopedic doctor had been at 1:30 pm, but they called and advised the doctor was running late with surgery so to come in at 3:00 pm.  Got there about 2:20 pm and waited until almost 4 before was sent to a room, had x-rays taken and a PA visited us and finally, close to 5 pm Dr. Goebel came in.  I had a partial knee replacement in 2006 and then Dr. Goebel had “repaired” it in 2008, finding the glue had come loose on the top portion of this 1/3 partial knee replacement.  At that time he stated he thought it would be good for at least 6 years and I took it to mean it would be worn by then.  He explained Thursday that actually when a partial is done, due to wear, the other portion of the knee becomes worn in about 6-8 years and then a total is due.  In my case, the original surgery was not for a worn “bone-on-bone” situation, but rather was to remove some “honeycombed” bone from the lower end of the upper leg bone.  At any rate, he said there was no wear showing on the remaining portion, but stated arthritis was visible in this knee, but not in the other one.  He said that it is possible some of my pain could not be from torn meniscus, or the arthritis, or scar tissue that builds up following this type of surgery.  He felt that some good would come from doing an arthroscopic surgery to clean up any meniscus damage, scrape what arthritis he could and that I would get relief from this.   This sounded better than the total knee replacement I had thought might be coming. They have set up to have this done at 7 am on May 3^rd at Nebraska Orthopedic Hospital at 144^th & West Center in Omaha.

Will put in here photos from Clarinda Circle 8 Square Dance Club’s 60^th Anniversary on April 5, 2016.  We were on the road so couldn’t attend, but think some readers might find them interesting.

Saw this “half & half” at the grocery store.  If it has two halves, shouldn’t it be called a “whole”?

We went from the Doctors office to Villisca, IA where we met Mary Jo and Oliver Herzberg at D&D’s for the Thursday night fish fry, then on to their place for some “Hand & Foot” cards.

This is their welcome sign at their front door.  Oliver has several antique Allis Chalmers tractors.

 I picked up a lot of sticks and small tree branches from the yard yesterday, got the hot tub set up and reconnected to the pump (kind of surprising after 15 years) and filled with water and the pump turned on.  It has no heater, warms the water by recirculating the water in small copper pipes around the pump and heats the water by the heat from the pump.  It will take a couple days to warm up to 100 degrees, and then it just runs periodically.  Was 86 degrees when I looked at a bit ago, stepping over some ice that was water from a hose I had left on the deck.    I went uptown and bought a new kitchen sink faucet and installed it.  We had put a new one in our Texas home a year or two ago that had a spray head come out of the main head and liked it so got a similar one here.  Think Phyllis will appreciate it.

 

On Wednesday evening we had returned to the First Methodist Church choir practice.  They will be singing for a few more weeks before retiring for the summer.

More later, Lynn