A Good Rain

Large Maple - actually on neighbors property

64 degrees in Clarinda, IA at 11:20 am on Sunday.
   Had just about 2 inches of rain overnight and a great cool down.  It had been muggy and warm for the last week.

Am posting pictures of all the trees on our place here in town.

Burr Oak I planted on west side
of house about 3-4 years ago.

At the bottom is flower circle on site of
a tree taken out.  Behind is a Baldcypress

This very tall Maple is to the southwest
of our house.

Evergreen bush around and completely in front
of southwest bedroom.  At right is the Maple

Maple Tree at southwest corner of our house
and Pin Oak on right

Burr Oak (By trailer) and Big Maple tree  inbackground
- to right is Pin Oak Tree

Ash Tree between Garage and Shop

Large Maple Tree to southwest of our house

Buckeye tree (without leaves in center) - Maple tree - the tallest --
Pin Oak to the left and the two short trees to the far left
are Burr Oaks planted about 2 years ago in 2014

This hedge runs something over 200 feet along north side

Large Lilac bush and tomato plants at east end of deck

The new sealer coat on the deck seems to work with this rain.

Good pooling of water on the deck.

Until later, Lynn

Some rain

75 degrees with heavy overcast and rain surrounding our area.

Thought for the Day:

First you forget names, then you forget faces. Next you forget to pull your zipper up and finally, you forget to pull it down. — George Burns

 I have not posted for a while.

These two photos are of last Monday when we drove to Red Oak, IA to dance with the Clarinda Circle 8 Square Dance Club for an hour exhibition for the residents at a nursing home.

 Dave Riley is at the right in this photo; he called the patterns for us to dance to the music he had on.

Wednesday, after going to choir practice at the church we decided to stop at Runza for an ice cream cone.  Since we saw our friends Shirley & Jerry Joens going in, we went in and had a snack while visiting with them.  They are in their mid-80's and he had a stroke last New Years Eve and are not doing the best health-wise.

  In the six years we have lived here I have rolled the back deck with Thompson's water seal at least 4 times.  It was looking a little faded, so gave most of the boards another coat.  Did not do any of the area that is under the roof overhang as those boards have soaked up about all this seal-coat they can take.

The last time I posted in this blog I showed some tree damage to the east side of our shop building -- the lady owning that lot had that tree marked for some time to be either trimmed or removed.  Yesterday the crew came out and with an 80 foot-reach bucket truck did the trimming.  She was going to remove it, but changed her mind when they were there and said to trim it back some.  They did what she told them, but did not trim it as seriously as I thought they would/should.

This is how the tree looked this morning

This is how the tree looked this morning.

The Ash Tree between the house and shop should probably
be trimmed back before too long.

This huge tree just on the southwest corner of our house
and near the neighbor's house should be trimmed, also.
Maybe next summer.

Yesterday a classmate of Phyllis', Dennis Geer, stopped by for a visit.  We had spent time at their place in 2013 in Albuquerque.  They now live in Florida.

This morning, about 9:30 am, we went uptown to The Garrison House and met with many of Phyllis' classmates who gathered to visit with the Geers.  Left to right in this photo:  Larry Bridie, Bill and Sherrill Lisle, and Phyllis.

 Dennis and Bonnie Geer, and Mike Sell (he drove up from Arkansas to visit).

 Ruth Otte Miller is in the center of the photo.  She lives in Carroll, IA and beside her was her friend from Shenandoah, who was visiting.

In the center of this photo is Norm Scheilb.  He owns the S&S Appliance store and had to get back to work.  He is another classmate.

Last night we went to the local theater group's presentation of The Spitfire Grill, a musical.  Our next-door neighbor had a part in it as the local Postmaster.

We sat with a couple ladies from our church.

Our neighbor, Carol Brown, in the postal uniform.

Carol singing.

The whole cast, at the end of the show.

Only 3 weeks till we have everything packed for our annual move to Texas.  Starting to get things ready.

Lynn

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Groaner's Corner

Not much going on in Clarinda - here is copy from another blogger:

GROANER’S CORNER:((  The poor country pastor was livid when he confronted his wife with the receipt for a $250 dress she had bought.
"How could you do this!" he exclaimed. "I don't know," she wailed, "I was standing in the store looking at the dress. Then I found myself trying it on. It was like the Devil was whispering to me, 'Gee, you look great in that dress. You should buy it.'" "Well," the pastor persisted, "You know how to deal with him! Just tell him, "Get thee behind me, Satan!" "I did," replied his wife, "but then he said 'It looks great from back here, too!”

-------------------

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Celeste!
Celeste who?
Celeste time I'm going to tell you this!

-----------------

Q: How do you catch a squirrel?

A: Climb up a tree and act like a nut!

----------------

Q: What did the dad buffalo say to his son on the first day of school?

A: Bison

---------------

When Albert Einstein was making the rounds of the speaker's circuit, he usually found himself eagerly longing to get back to his laboratory work. One night as they were driving to yet another rubber-chicken dinner, Einstein mentioned to his chauffeur (a man who somewhat resembled Einstein in looks & manner) that he was tired of speechmaking.
"I have an idea, boss," his chauffeur said. "I've heard you give this speech so many times. I'll bet I could give it for you." Einstein laughed loudly and said, "Why not? Let's do it!" When they arrive at the dinner, Einstein donned the chauffeur's cap and jacket and sat in the back of the room. The chauffeur gave a beautiful rendition of Einstein's speech and even answered a few questions expertly.
Then a supremely pompous professor asked an extremely esoteric question about anti-matter formation, digressing here and there to let everyone in the audience know that he was nobody's fool. Without missing a beat, the chauffeur fixed the professor with a steely stare and said, "Sir, the answer to that question is so simple that I will let my chauffeur, who is sitting in the back, answer it for me."

STUFF

Some "Worth Repeatin'" taken from Callaway, NE Courier

Long bumper sticker:

Things I trust more than Hillary Clinton? 

A rattlesnake with a “pet me” sign. 

OJ Simpson showing me his knife collection. 

An elevator ride with Ray Rice. 

Taking pills offered by Bill Cosby. 

Michael Jackson’s doctor. 

An Obama nuclear deal with Iran. 

A Paliestinian on a motorcycle. 

Gas station sushi. 

A Jimmy Carter economic plan. 

Brian Williams news reports. 

Prayers for racial peace by Al Sharpton. 

Playing Russian Roulette with a semi-auto pistol. 

Emails from Nigerian princes. 

The Heimlich Maneuver from Barney Fran. 

A condom made in China. 

A prostate exam from Captain Hook. 

And finally, Bill Clinton at a Girl Scout convention. 

* * *****************************************************************

 Words from a pilot:

During a commercial airline flight an experienced Air Force pilot was seated next to a young mother with a babe in arms. When the baby began crying during the descent for landing, the mother began nursing the infant as discreetly as possible. The pilot pretended not to notice, and, upon disembarking, he gallantly offered his assistance to help with the various baby-related items. When the young mother expressed her gratitude, the pilot responded, “That’s a good looking baby, and he sure was hungry!” Somewhat embarrassed, the mother explained that her pediatrician said that the time spent on the breast would help alleviate the pressure in the baby’s ears. The Air Force Pilot sadly shook his head, and in true pilot fashion exclaimed, “And all these years, I’ve been chewing gum.”

Great weather in SW Iowa

92 degrees at 3:00 pm on this Monday afternoon in Clarinda, IA.  I wrote the heading "Great weather in SW Iowa" yesterday --  we had 3 or 4 days of cool, open-window weather with highs in the 70's or low 80's.  It changed and now is to be in low 90's or near 90 for several days with super high humidity.

Here are a couple links to some amazing comedy from a conference on aging in California in 2014:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN3031h6r7A    The first part -- second part below:


https://www.youtube.com/embed/LR2qZ0A8vic?rel=0


Hope you enjoy this guy, I did.

Had a bit of wind through the night Friday night -- this is the big tree on the neighbor's yard just to the east of us.  Much of the branch is on our side now.

 I got much of it cut up and moved, but neighbor said she would have some tree people move the big stuff.

Phyllis went uptown Friday to the Home Coming parade.  This float has her younger sister, Beth, at the front left of this picture for the class of 1966.

Beth and Steve Gregory now live near Grand Lake, Colorado.  They spent time here for her 50th high school class reunion and also some time in Omaha with their son's family.

 Weather was cool Thursday when they arrived and we spent some time on the back deck.

 Last Wednesday evening we went to the Clarinda Circle 8 Square Dance with Mike Hogan (Suit Coat and blue shirt) from Omaha calling the dance.  He is always enjoyed.

With dancing done at 9:30 pm lunch was served.

Sunday, after singing in the church choir, we went for a short ride with our recumbent trikes.

Ate lunch Sunday on the back deck -- sun was a bit warm so we moved the table and chairs up close to the house under the wide roof over-hang to be in the shade.

Getting tops on my radishes -- don't know if they are going to produce -- about 2 weeks since I put them in the planters.

Safe T Home®
GoServ Global has teamed up with Sukup Manufacturing to bring the Safe T Home® – a highly-modified grain bin – to Haiti and other places around the world to be used as compassionate housing for displaced people 

This is a display we saw at the Clay County Fair.  These are shelters that are being built in Haiti.  They have a double roof, with space between the two metal layers so heat will be dissipated 

 and a large vent in the center that draws the air through some.  The flower box in the front is filled with rocks to give some ballast to the building for wind as it is generally set right on the ground.

CLICK HERE for link to GoServGobal website
This is a non-denominational mission service that works with the people in Haiti, as well as other countries of the world.

This is inside, with an upper deck just under the roof.   I admit I had not heard of this type of construction -- transforming a grain bin into shelter.  The size is small, but it can be shipped in a container and is small enough to be put together without any large equipment necessary.

 pou·tine po͞oˈtēn/ noun CANADIAN

1. a dish of French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy.   We did not try this dish offered at the Clay County Fair.

We watched this very talented wood carver work at the fair.

 As we exited the Fair we saw, through the fence, this performance of some seals.  They did many things, including one of them standing on only one "front" flipper.  Several stood upright on their back flippers

We passed this site, north-east of Walnut, Iowa where a B-24 Liberator bomber had crashed during World War II on a training run.

 There are a lot of wind farms, generators for electricity, in central and northern Iowa.  These, to the north, are not part of Mid-American Energy, which is the largest owner of generators in Iowa, and are a steel-girder tri-pod design.  We think they are older ones.

Closer to Interstate 80 we passed this place where new generators were being installed.  This single leg is the style most common these days.  A lot of facts on Iowa Wind Power can be seen if you CLICK HERE










Well, that is about all for this time.  Later, Lynn