Last day of June - year is half-over!

87º with a "feel like" of 91º with 52% humidity at 1:30 pm this Thursday afternoon here in southwest Iowa at Clarinda..

Well these are the five tomato plants I have.  Due to a set-back when the yard-guy sprayed 2,4D nearby they have been delayed and blossoms are

now setting on above the slightly wrinkled leaves from that time.  They are growing tall and blossoms are setting on that higher part of the plants.  And, one tomato!

Aired up the recumbent trike tires and have taken couple rides this week since getting back from our 10-day trip.

 See all the cottonwood seeds on the floor of the garage?  The whole yard was white with them a day or so ago.  If they all grew we would have a huge forest!  Month ago it was all the maple tree seeds covering the yard--guess we could just let this go back to trees!

Got up and vacuumed the skiff of stuff off the screens in the gutters over the back yard deck.  Was only a thin layer, but when raining it tended to run over the gutter, so this should fix it for a while.







Well, another month is about over.  To summarize the month:  Cut some big limbs off tree in the back yard, had yard sale, watched the "Cruising Clarinda Parade, got released from the orthopedic doctor from my "cleaning the knee" surgery, made a lot of contacts with my high-school classmates and printed a 55-year book, took 85-year old friend to Omaha for some out-patient surgery, spent 4 somewhat arduous, but enjoyable days ushering all day long at the 41st Glenn Miller Birthplace Society annual festival; where we got to listen to the Tamana All-Girls High School Band and the Swing Esquire Orchestra from Tokyo, Japan, and the make-up GMBS Band from this Mid-West area, and the Tom Daugherty Orchestra from Dayton, Ohio, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Shades of Blue Air Force band from Omaha, NE and Adam Swanson - Ragtime Piano (Most of these several times as we ushered the various presentations), went to visitation of good friend and square dance caller 84-year old Lowell Schaaf, pulled travel-trailer to Callaway, NE and stayed in it one night in yard of friends Sharleen and Lynn Stivers (who took us to an ideal Mexican Restaurant in the Elks Club in Broken Bow).  We drove pickup on to Sterling, CO where we visited briefly with Phyllis' cousin Les Kuhlman and his wife Jo who is in rehab following a stroke, drove through the Rocky Mountain National Park over Trail Ridge Road, arriving at Phyllis' sister Beth's place near Grand Lake, CO.  We stayed there three nights, getting to visit with Beth & Steve's daughter Kara and her husband Jason from Denver, and their two kids Megan and Tyler.  Went to Granby Ranch south of Granby, CO to ski lift that is used for hiking and biking trails in the summer.  Went on guided boat tour of Grand Lake where history and information on almost all the houses around the lake was pointed out.  Ate at Grand Lodge above Grand Lake in the evening and saw terrific sunset.  On way back to Callaway, Nebraska we stopped in Broomfield, CO where we visited with and ate lunch with a classmate, Rick Zoerb and his wife Donna.  He wasn't able to make it to the class reunion.  Getting back to our travel-trailer in Callaway, we visited with classmate Nancy Willis at her ranch, drove to the only hand-planted National Forest in the Nebraska National Forest at Halsey where we got to view some of the 1.1 million acres of the forest that is in central and northwest Nebraska and in central and southwest South Dakota Click HERE for info . We drove to Westerville, NE and then south to Don Ferguson's farm.  Ate lunch with him and his brother Lawrence in Ansley, NE, went to Don's daughter's place in Ansley where she runs a Day Care and stopped in Broken Bow at another brother Jake Ferguson and his wife Helen's place for a visit.  Stopped by classmate Phil Lord's house in Broken Bow, but he was not home.  One evening we took friends Monte Jo and Madeline McFate with us to Broken Bow where we ate at the Bow Cafe with the three Ferguson brothers, Helen and Don's daughter and her friend.  Last Saturday we helped at the Senior Center in Callaway where the 1961 Callaway High School Class had a noon lunch and visit.  13 members attended and two others had promised but didn't and another who lives a half-mile from town didn't bother to come.  The rest had a good visit and many went to the All-School Alumni banquet and program at the school that night.  On Sunday morning Phyllis & I went on the Trail Ride sponsored by the Severn Valleys Rodeo Association in Callaway some hour and a half to a great breakfast on top of one of the Sand Hills of Nebraska.  Afterwards we hooked up our trailer and went to Lincoln, NE where we visited a few hours and had supper with my brother Roger and his wife Carolyn Miles before returning to Clarinda about dark Sunday evening. This summary is made up from looking back at the 1,438 photos that remain from the over 1,600 that I took this month before editing.

We are planning to drive Saturday the 220 miles to Marengo, IA where we will get first site of our new great-granddaughter Jessica Lynn Long.  Will celebrate the 4th of July there on the 3rd and return to Clarinda on July 4th.   This is a "one-week" picture of Jessica and her mom Ashley.

On to the last-half of 2016.
Later, Lynn