Week of Glenn Miller Festival in Clarinda

82 degrees and bright sunshine in Clarinda, Iowa.

 Last Thursday we drove by the intersection where the Clarinda First United Methodist Church just started dirt work preparing for the 1.6 million dollar building that is to be built soon.  This is on the north side of Business 2 just on the west end of town, by John Hunter's place and just north of the High School.

Later that day Phyllis had me

use my Worx saw with a 6-foot

reach and trim some of the tree

over her flower garden.

 It really opened up the space

to the sunshine and maybe

the flowers will quit leaning

heavily to the west now. 

She put up some rope to help

them stand upright.

Saturday we put out some stuff
during the annual city-wide yard sale.
We hadn't advertised, but did get some people.

 Have gained some

space in my shop building

from the things that

we hadn't used in years.

 One of the things that didn't sell was
the collapsible Christmas tree.  Since
we are not here at Christmas time we
don't need it.  Phyllis puts up some
little ones at our Texas house during
the Christmas Season.

Picked up some wind-blown cherries off our neighbor's tree

 Saturday afternoon we went up town and looked around at the parked classic cars and tractors, then had a pizza at Jay's Pizza and Steak House.

 At six o'clock the Cruisin Clarinda Parade

started and we had our lawn

chairs at intersection where

George Crawford was

announcing info on the

units passing.

 Lots of old, re-built cars.

Lots of tractors, but this

was the only "pulling tractor"

Junior McCall

and his Massey Harris 20.

An old Model A
convertible.

The "General Lee"

I took pictures of only a
few of the various cars, trucks,
motorcycles and tractors.

Can't remember the

brand of this 3-wheeled

machine, but it is a company

that normally makes farm 4-wheelers.

Have been working most early-mornings

on trimming the hedge.  Top is above my

head and reaching over this thick hedge

is a little difficult.  It stands on the top

of a cliff-like drop so you can't work

from the back side.

Some of it is looking pretty

good.  This morning I

got the east end finished.

Will only take one more

morning--I work while one battery

lasts, and sometimes I think it

will never run down!

Sunday we rode the trikes

about 7 miles, including

around the apron of the

buildings at the airport.

This corn just south of

the buildings is 10 to 

12 inches tall.

Hay was down by the airport and

a guy was just hooking up

to the big round baler to

start rolling the hay up.

Dick and Gloria Kline

are putting another storage

unit up on the last bit of ground

by the airport road.

I have been working on the book

for the 55-year Class Reunion and have

much of it printed, and a few copies punched

and bound with the plastic spines.  Out of ink

for the color printer, but it should be in tomorrow.

We go to Omaha in the morning, taking a friend up to have her head worked on.  They can't get the wax or whatever is plugging her ear out here, so are going to put her under and dig it out.  She will do this as an out-patient and we'll be back tomorrow afternoon.  We start doing ushering work at the High School on Thursday for the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society Festival.  It runs through Sunday and we are scheduled to Ush (or whatever it is called) all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday and again Sunday afternoon..  At least we will be inside - weather prediction is for those three days to be above 90 degrees heat in this area.

More later,  Lynn

Nice Sunshine in Southwest Iowa (at the present time, at least)

80 degrees at Clarinda, IA at 7:00 pm Wednesday.

This morning Phyllis' sister and brother-in-law left for Omaha (and then Denver and then San Francisco) here they visit briefly with neighbors Bob & Carol Brown.  They (Steve & Beth) had come on Monday afternoon from Omaha.  They live near Grand Lake, Colorado.

Later that Monday afternoon,

Judy & Clay Heuer came from

here in Clarinda.

She is Phyllis' first cousin; in

photo - Judy, Clay, Beth

Clay, Beth and Steve

Beth, Phyllis & Lynn Frye from near

Lincoln, Nebraska.

And they kept coming.....
Loren and Joyce Tornholm, and
Jan Frye.  Joyce and Jan are sisters
to Judy and all three cousins of
Phyllis.

Then,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the rain came.

We had been watching the radar on my smartphone and cell after cell just missed Clarinda and slid to the north-east.  Then it hit with a vengeance and we got 1.65" in about an hour.  We hustled inside and the meal was had in

the dining room.  A little crowded, but had shut all the windows and turned on the A/C to lower the humidity a bit.  (Clay is on oxygen and was fighting the high humidity a bit.  Only had 3 fans blowing in the small (for 9 people) dining room and we got along.

Gal in the middle in this picture is LaDonna Cabbage and she arrived while it was raininghard and waited in her car at the end of the driveway (behind all the other cars) until a short break in the blowing rain (and a little hail) to come in.

Top of these three photos, the three sisters, Judy,Joyce, and Jan.  Next photo - Jan and her husband Lynn Frye, and Loren Tornholm ( Joyce's husband). Next photo, myself, LaDonna, and Beth.

Bottom photo, Steve, Phyllis & Judy. I see that, in these photos at the table, I missed Clay, Judy's husband who was sitting at my right. 

77 degrees in Clarinda at 10:30 am Thursday.  Just discovered I had wandered off and forgot to finish this!

 These three photos are of the
buffet of shared dishes
we ate from Sunday evening.

All good food.

Tuesday morning the first

order of business was

to clean up some broken

tree limbs from the

really high winds

while it was raining

Sunday evening.

Then we rode with Beth & Steve
as they went to some cemeteries
in Missouri where Steve's
relatives are at rest.

 This cemetery was
near Clearmont, Missouri

This cemetery was

near Hopkins, Missouri.

It had hundreds

of peony bushes

all in neat rows in

line with the headstones.

We had lunch in Bedford and headed back to our house in Clarinda.

 In the evening some 8 or 9 couples, friends and/or classmates of Beth & Steve's, gathered at
the restaurant on the east side of the square.  (Can't come up with the name right now)

Lots of visiting

good food over

several hours.

Wednesday morning

we rode the trikes about

a mile over to Roberta Rarick's

house here in town and visited with her.  We

will drive her to Omaha next Tuesday

for an appointment with the 

ear doctor.

Right about lunch time Walt

Pritchard came by.  He is

lining up the help for ushering

at the Glenn Miller BIrthplace

Society Festival June 9th through

the 12th and we will be

working most days.

Still putting a lot of work on the book I am making for the Callaway, NE Class of 1961 "Or 55 Years" book.  Think I about have the layout ready.  There are about 5 not reporting, but assume they won't.

Later, Lynn