Ready for Glenn Miller Birthplace Festival here in Clarinda, IA

68 degrees with hard rain right now at 5:51 pm in Clarinda, IA.  Had a high 87 earlier and some warnings of wind and/or hail with this storm.

For only 14 years now I have been intending to straighten, level up these tiles around the A/C Condensor.  I finally did it a day or two ago.

Will be able to mow closer to the unit without getting into it now.  Imagine the rain now falling will flush the little bit of dirt off the tiles.

I think I put a photo of the muddy gravel road I drove on near the farmstead I grew up in Custer County Nebraska last week.  Realized after we had returned that the wheel wells of the pickkup were quite laden.  I knocked all the sand/gravel/mud loose and had just over half a 5-gallon bucket. Spread it along the street curb where I have been gradually building up the lawn area ever since the street was creaated some 12 years ago.  Imagine it is getting wetted down as I write.

Photo of sky a couple days ago.

Rose bush in front with whatever
that fusia-colored plant is in front

Some color east of the parked trailer.

We trimmed this old lilac bush a few days
ago, thinning out several branches.  It
seemed to lop, so I coralled it with rope.

Well, the Glenn Miller Birthplace Festival begins Thursday.  We attended a meeting several days ago since I had been volunteered to go to Kansas City to pick up some of the high school seniors or college freshmen that will be competing for Music Scholarships.  At the meeting was informed that instead of picking up 5 kids, one guy would pick up two (at Kansas City, MO airport) in the morning and I would ride with another guy to pick up three ladies mid-afternoon.  Phyllis made contact with the 3 girls and arranged for them to call me when they arrived at a pickup point and we would drive from a designaated cell-phone waiting parking lot.  Well, the guy driving the car called yesterday and informed me that his wife was going to accompany him and she could do the contacting and helping get the girls and did I really need to go.  Of course, I wasn't excited about it to begin with.  So, now we will wait tomorrow afternoon for one of the 3 girls to call us when they are about to get to Clarinda (a two-hour drive from the airport) and let us know where they will be.  Two of the girls, one from Connecticut and one from a town near Dallas, TX, will be staying with us Wednesday and Thursday nights.  They are both vocalists and they were to be with our good friend Linda who plays the piano for some of the vocalists, at 3 pm and 5 pm in the afternoon.  Since their flights are to get in just after 2 pm and nearly 2:30 pm, they will probably have to reschedule their practices because of the 2-hour drive from the airport.  They, and we, are to be at a meeting at the Museum at 7 pm along with all the other contestants and their hosts, and many who are helping with the festival and will take them to the church to practice with Linda afterwards if that comes to be.    We will start with the ushering and ticket taking early Thursday for the instrumental competition and at some point get the two girls to the auditorium so they can compete sometime after lunch.

      Thursday evening will see a performance

by "Shades of Blue" an airforce band on the square at the Courthouse.  Hoping for good weather that day--forecast is for sunshine all day with 80º as a high and 74º at 8 pm when the concert is to begin.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday during the day will be working in the High School Auditorium with air conditioning and a roof.  There is no further rain forecast here unil next Monday.  We will be busy at all the venues inside and will probably attend but not work at the outdoor concert by the Iowa Military Veterans Band at 1:00 pm at the Glenn Miller Birthplace Museum here in town.

Will be an interesting several days, looking forward to them and looking forward to them being over.

A young man asked his grandfather, "Grandpa, how did you live in the past without technology . . .  without computers, without Internet connection, without TVs, without air conditioners, without cars, no cell phones?"                                                 Grandpa answered: "As your generation lives today . . .  there are no prayers, there is no compassion, there is no respect, no real education, there is no personality, there is no shame at all, there is no modesty, there is no honesty.

We, the people born between the years 1940-1980, were the blessed ones. Our lives are a living proof."

* While playing and riding a bike, we have never worn a helmet.

* Before school then we played and again after school until dusk and hardly ever watched television.

* We played with real friends, not virtual friends.

* If we were thirsty, we would drink tap water, or water from the hose, not mineral water.

* We never worried even as we shared the same cup of juice with four friends.

* We never gained weight by eating plates of pasta every day.

* Nothing happened to our feet despite roaming barefoot.

* We never used food supplements to stay healthy.

* We used to make our own toys and play with them.

* Our parents were not rich. They gave love, not stuff.

* We never had a cell phone, DVD, game console, Xbox, video game, PC, internet, chat . . . but we had true friends.

* We visited our friends without being invited and shared and enjoyed the food with them.

Parents lived nearby to take advantage of family time.

* We may have had black and white photos, but you can find colorful memories in these photos.

* We are a unique and the most understanding generation, because we are the last generation that listened to their parents.

And we are also the first ones who were forced to listen to their children.

* We are a limited edition!

Take advantage of us. Learn from us. We are a treasure destined to disappear soon.

LCM