I'm not sugar

Last weekend our daughter-in-law Robin ran in her first marathon. We are so proud of her!

After it was over and she had time to rest Chris had a BBQ to celebrate with her friends. Amongst those in attendance were 2 very cute little girls. At first they were quite shy but they got over that. Before long Terry was off collecting leaves and various other things with the oldest one. When we got ready to leave Terry said "goodbye sugar" which is what he calls all children. This cute little girls said "I'm not sugar, I'm salt." It cracked me up. I asked him about it on the way home. He said that the first time he called her sugar she said that. He has never had that reaction before. Such a cutie.

noticing

Every once in a while I notice things that happen in towns like ours that I think probably don't happen everywhere. Today was one of days of noticing.

We closed our offices at the courthouse to go watch the homecoming parade which was short but sweet. We had kids in football uniforms playing in the band.

After work I stopped to buy some fruit from somebody passing through and decided to cross the street. So right there in the middle of the street I crossed and the traffic waited for me to do so. I didn't worry about my safety and they weren't upset that I was there.

At the ballgame there was a tailgate party sponsored by a local bank. The food was fabulous and money donated to the school. The homecoming attendants came around the football field and were announced as usual, except that this year instead of riding on the front of cool cars they rode on the tailgates of very nice four door pickups. How country is that. Actally I thought it was very cool. I worked the concession stand again and people with nothing to gain showed up to work and have a good time.

I like living in a small town and on days like today I remember why.

State fair

I love going to the state fair and every year I say I'm going to but seldom do. This year I just decided that I was going to make it happen and called Theresa to see if she wanted to join me.

Friday night I had started feeling a little dizziness so I wasn't sure how Saturday would be. I got up early Saturday morning. Not as early as I wanted but early enough. I stumbled around the house getting ready trying to decide whether to go or not and decided what they hey so off I went. Once I got in the car I was fine except when I got out to get donuts in Scott or to use the restroom I was a little wobbly.

Theresa and I arrived at almost the same time and we were making plans to find each other when she discovered she locked her key in the car. Oh well plenty of time later to work on that. I caught the tractor goving rides to the gate and met her just inside. There she was wearing her "say no to scurvy" t-shirt in honor of "talk like a pirate day". We had a nice day and didn't buy hardly anything. That is good for me.

We had asked the highway patrol about the key and they gave us the number for a locksmith. When we were ready to leave we tried to call them but no answer. By this time one of Theresa's roommates was off work and after a quick phone call she agreed to meet us part way and bring the spare key. Later we took her out for brick oven pizza to thank her. It was really good!!

Yesterday after church we drove to Mulvane to eat at Luciano's a nice little Italian restaurant we have read about and seen on the news. It was a good way to prepare for shopping which was the next item on the agenda. I love shopping with Theresa. Hideous was one of her favorite words for the day.

I left much later than I should have but made it home safely having 5 minutes to get my Braums ice cream before they closed. It is always good to pull into the house. Thank goodness for radio stations that play old country music to keep me company during those 5 hours on the road.

Happy Birthday Jeremy

23 years ago the wonder of wonders that is Jeremy came into our lives.

Jeremy is an incredible young man who works hard and lives up to everything we knew he would be. He has been taking over things since he was young and that comes in handy as he runs the yard in a recycling center. He seldom does just one thing which is why it is good that he was born quick witted. He can sum up a situation in a short period of time and have a plan before I have figured out what is going on. He is at home in casual conversation with the top people he works for as well as being able to discuss any sport any time with anyone who knows anything. (Which leaves me out because I don't know anything.) He has high expectations of everyone around him and yet is understanding of those less fortunate.

I don't know what we did to deserve this fine young man as our son but we are so glad that we were blessed with him. And we are very proud of the young lady that he brings to family dinners. They make a nice couple and she gives him a run for his money. Good for her.

And by now if he has read this (which he probably won't) he will be upset that I wrote it. However he knows my motto. I went through all that stuff having you and I deserve to embarrass you. We love you Jeremy! Happy Birthday.

Terry

Don't you just love a man who is happy getting nothing for his birthday except for Frosted Chocolate Chip Bar cookies to take to work for his co-workers. I think I even surprised him which means he must have actually gone to sleep when he went to bed before me. I tried to be quiet but you know those beepers are so loud at night when the house is quiet. I left them on the stove with a note written on an old envelope that said Happy Birthday. Now how romantic is that!! He did come in this morning to tell me thanks and that he almost missed them with his early morning tunnel vision. I don't know but am betting that they went to work with a piece missing because there was some time passage before I heard the aluminum foil being torn to cove them for the trip. I hope he brings some home. He is lucky there wasn't a piece missing when he got up because I love them fresh out of the oven.

Happy Birthday Terry! 51 years of gracing us with your presence. I hope it is a good one.

Time with the kids

For months we (I) have been planning a camping trip with the whole family. Last weekend was the fruition of my fretting (not that I fret). We met at Kanopolis Corps of Engineering campground on Friday night. We picked this location because it is centrally located. Amazingly we left Leoti, Chris and Robin left Stillwater, Ok, and Jeremy and Ashley left Lincoln Neb all without discussing the time with each other and probably at different times. Chris and Robin arrived with Jeremy and Ashley following them in and we were just about 5 minutes behind!! How is that for timing. Of course we arrived at 10:30 so it was set up in the dark.

The camp area was fabulous except that there was no space that was flat. We had a whole hillside to ourselves. It was great.

Theresa arrived the next day after she got off of work.

We had a whole weekend of doing nothing. The kids went for a hike. Theresa and I got in the lake for a few minutes. We played Apples to Apples. Several of us read a bit. Mostly we just spent time together. It was one of the best weekends ever. It was so nice to all be together and not have to go anywhere or do anything.

At the end we took a picture and Terry told everyone that they had to take off their sunglasses. Here is the picture.

Notice Terry's automatically darkening glasses!

lightening storm

We had an awesome lightening storm tonight. This is a video that I shot from my back yard.




Then we went to the shop to get the pager that Terry had forgotten and took this one.

My camera wouldn't let me get the whole panorama but it was really great.

We saw the weather mod planes flying. It is the closest I have ever seen them working and it was really cool.