At the Pickin’ And Grinnin’ Music Festival 2021 near Bellville, Texas

 63º here near Bellville, TX with bright sunshine and 15 mph winds with gusts to 30 mph.  Predicted high of 73º.  Stage for this Bluegrass Festival has the audience sitting outdoors.  Was very windy yesterday, also; and, was quite chilly feeling late in afternoon with the wind.

Stage here at Coushatte Recreation Ranch Click HERE for website yesterday afternoon about 4:30 pm when the opening ceremonies began.

HERE is the Festival

At left was last night's lineup.

At right is this afternoon & evening except the Nick Chandler band won't be there as he is down with Covid-19 at the time.

And, Saturdays bill -- except they will start at 1 pm since the Nick Chandler band won't be there.

Some of the performances last evening.

When we were at Benbrook Lake, SW of Fort Worth, Phyllis got looking at the map and realized we were going to be going by Somerville, Texas, where a classmate of mine lives.  Got ahold of them to find the exact address and drove to the house in Sommerville - Lyle Erstrom was in my grade all four years in Callaway (Nebraska) High School.

He had surprised us about 6 years ago when he showed up at our home in Kenwood RV Park in La Feria, TX.  He had gotten a line on my location because I had his sister Judy (now Kleen) on Facebook as a friend.

Had a nice visit with them and caught up on the last few years.  They are about 40 miles from where we are now at this RV Park near Bellville, TX.  

This is from pamphlet here at the BlueGrass Festival.

Later, Lynn

At Benbrook Lake, Southwest of Fort Worth, Texas

 78º here at here at Benbrook Lake, southwest of Fort Worth, Texas at 12:00 Noon on Tuesday.

On a pretty good incline.  We are just a short walk away from the lake.

Yesterday morning we drove the 60-some miles to Yukon, OK and visited with Rev Ernest Baker and his wife Evelyn at their house and then they took us to Swadley's Smoke House BBQ in nearby Bethany, OK.  It is near the college where Ernest went to years ago and later worked at.  One of their sons now works at the college in sports.

An interesting   sight south of Fort Worth -- this crane reached clear up to a blade on a wind turbine.

A bit of a late breakfast at the trailer.  Will look around this area today and, if the forecast storm to come through overnight doesn't tear things up, will head out to the south tomorrow morning.

Lynn

In Oklahoma for the night.

 65 degrees here near Perkins, Oklahoma at 7:10 pm Sunday.  Was 73 degrees here when we arrived at Bixley Lake RV about 4:50 pm -- different from the 55 degrees this morning when we left the Neher's near Hiawatha, KS - some 345 miles ago.

Our route for this trip.  Was 89 miles to Neher's (1) last night; 345 miles to near Perkins, OK (2) tonight.  67 miles to a stop at Rev. & Mrs. Bakers in Yukon, OK (3) tomorrow morning; then another 233 miles to Core of Engineer's Park (4) southwest of Fort Worth, TX tomorrow and will stay Tuesday night, also.  Wednesday 231 miles to Coushatte Recreation Ranch, Bellville, Texas (5)where we will attend  Pickin'nGrinnin Bluegrass Festival Thursday through Saturday. Sunday 328 miles to our home in Kenwood RV Park (flag).La Feria, Texas.

Yesterday morning, after we had everything packed in the pickup and trailer and the house all closed up, we walked across the street to the cafeteria in the hospital for breakfast.  Then, headed out about 9 am and were at Neher's about 11:20 am.  

After eating lunch we loaded up, in Neher's wheel chair van with a ramp so he can drive right in with his electric chair, and drove around Hiawatha seeing some sites, and some of the trees turning their fall colors.

They had one tree still loaded with a lot of big, good apples.  I picked some for us to take with us and some to leave with LaRhoada, even though she has lots already frozen lots of sliced apples and apple sauce.  She offered the apples, on the tree, to a lot of people, but had no takers.

Of course, we played lots of Pegs & Jokers game after dinner and after supper.

Some of playing Pegs & Jokers is skill of the game, but a lot depends on the cards drawn.

Harold uses the electric Giddy-Up-Go all the time.

You can't beat LaRhoada's cooking and the three meals at their place lived up to expectations.

Drove in a lot of wind today.  Had side-wind from the south-east for several hours, then a sort-of tail wind.  Was a difference of 2 MPG between the two different times.

Since it was warm and sunny, with the back of the pickup to the west, the flowers got a few hours of sunshine on them before dark.

Have telephoned Rev Baker and are to meet them between 9 and 10 in the morning.

Over and out, for now -- Lynn

Ready to head south to Texas winter home

 46º in Clarinda, IA at 11:30 am Friday - with predicted high of 58º.  Some signs of frost this morning, but was light.  Looks like we will leave in the morning with no snow (as happened last year).

This photo was taken along Interstate 80 last Sunday as we were coming to Clarinda from Marengo.  Fall is definitely here with turning of the leaves.

Took this picture this morning while sitting at the breakfast table.  The construction workers were on the roof of the new surgery wing at the hospital all day yesterday until nearly dark and back at it again early this morning.  Imagine the construction will be all done and that wing in use by time we see it in April 2022.

Tore down the trikes on Tuesday.

Both trikes, folded without front wheels, will fit under the shelf in the front of the pickup.

Yesterday I drained the Softub and moved it off the deck.

When empty, rolled it into the workshop until next April.

I moved the benches up next to house, under the eaves and out of some of the weather and Phyllis swept the leaves off the deck.

Yes, I took a little break since I started writing this and got the pickup finished loaded.

And, after a little trip uptown to pick up some things, we hooked up to the trailer, un-chocked it, hooked up the lights, and are ready to pull out tomorrow morning.

GROANER'S CORNER:((   Brother John entered the "Monastery of Silence" and the Abbott said, "Brother, this is a silent monastery. You are welcome here as long as you wish, but you may not speak until I direct you to do so."  Brother John lived in the monastery for 5 years before the Abbott said to him: "Brother John, you have been here 5 years now. You may speak two words."  Brother John said, "Hard Bed."  "I'm sorry to hear that," the Abbott said. "We will get you a better bed."  After another 5 years, Brother John was called by the Abbott. "  You may say another two words, Brother John."  "Cold Food," said Brother John, and the Abbott assured him that the food would be better in the future.  On his 15th anniversary at the monastery, the Abbott again called Brother John into his office. "Two words you may say today."  "I Quit," said Brother John.  "It is probably best," said the Abbott. "You've done nothing but complain since you got here."

===================Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.  Small, large, circle, square, thin crust, thick crust, stuff crust and extra toppings.

Will be on the road for 8 days before we get to our winter home in La Feria, Texas.  Will try to check in as we travel.

Lynn

Enjoyable time with family in Marengo, IA

 77 degrees with bright sunshine in Clarinda, IA at 3:15 pm Monday.

Had enjoyable weekend visiting with kids in Marengo, IA.  Great Grandson David Long was baptized on Sunday.

 Much of Saturday was spent at Cam's and Ashley brought out David and Jessica.  Emily also came for the day.

Though only 6     

months old,

David is pulling

himself up.

Jessica would bat the balloon around, and make it squeak and David would laugh so hard he got the hic-ups. 

 Jessica helped Great Grandma make

a lemon pie.

David spent some time in his "walker"

Cam and Patty fixed some delicious grilled

chicken Saturday evening.

Sunday morning, as part of the church service at First Presbyterian Church there in Marengo, IA David Thomas Long was given the Sacrament of Baptism.

Jessica, along with the Sunday School Classes, sang two songs during the worship service.  She is at the far lower right in this photo.

At noon a picnic lunch was held at the park in the city square in Marengo.

At left is the Heath & Ashley Long family - with David and Jessica.

At right is the family with Sponsor Emily Miles (Ashley's sister) and Sponsor Amanda Long (Heath's sister-in-law -- Brother Cory also a Sponsor, but was on guard duty; but he took part in the Baptism ceremony via skype on a smart phone)

The two Grandma Greats, Phyllis and Heath's Mom's Mom.

 

With Heath's Mom & Dad and Grandmother.

Four generations with our side of the family.

Four generations on the Long side.

David enjoyed some time on a blanket in the sunshine getting familiar with leaves.

We came home Sunday afternoon and will spend this week getting the house closed up, the travel trailer loaded, the trikes packed along with all the other stuff for moving for six months.  Will leave for Texas next Saturday.

GROANER'S CORNER:((    Mary and Jane are old friends. They have both been married to their husbands for a long time; Mary is upset because she thinks her husband doesn't find her attractive anymore.  "As I get older he doesn't bother to look at me!" Mary cries.  "I'm so sorry for you, as I get older my husband says I get more beautiful every day." replies Jane.  "Yes, but your husband's an antique dealer!"

Q: What do you call a bunch of rabbits in a row all hopping backward?

A: A receding hare line.

Later, Lynn