Thanks Aunt Jackie

Someone (Aunt Jackie) reminded me that I had not posted anything on my Blog in a long time. Phew...they weren't kidding. It's been two years. What have I been doing?

Not much but keeping up the house work, taking pictures, yard work, having outings with Shawna, working, cooking, reading and crocheting. Life in General....heh, he, he.

The dogs are still rascals! I don't know how Pluto knows it but whenever someone is taking a picture he realizes it and hides. Ringo is a sweet dog and learning how to socialize nicely. Pluto...not so much.

I've added more recipes to my personal favorites. I might actually get them added to the blog site.

I'm getting ready for Christmas. Starting some projects for my loved ones. Last year when my brother died I actually, in all the chaos, managed to get a few Christmas cards sent out with a letter. It was a first. Maybe I can pull it off again.

I have to run...Banana Bread coming out of the oven.

Shawna's Graduated!

I haven't posted in ages. Lots of things going on that I'm not ready to share. But, there are a few things I would like to share. Shawna's final senior prom with her date and boyfriend Dusty. What a pretty dress. Where did you get it? Oh yeah, you mom made it. Not bad.


One of the highlights this year was Shawna's graduation.

My sister, Shawna's Aunt Dee, was in attendance as well as many other friends and family. We really looked forward to Aunt Dee and Ellie's visit. It had been two years since the last visit and it was great to see them both.

We cleaned house and worked on the yard for 3 weeks prior to the big event. Once Dee got here we did more yardwork. She brought some plants from Wyoming so we just had to get them in the ground. I now have a good patch of rhubarb growing in the garden.

Shawna wanted to celebrate her graduation with a dress made by her mother. It wasn't until we were almost done that we realized that we were making Marilyn Monroes' dress. You know the one I mean. Marilyn Monroe standing on the vent with her dress blown around. Anyway, the dress turned out well and Shawna looked fantastic. Yeah, I know, proud mama speaking so of course she looks great.




Shawna has been planning her future for a long time and now has plans to attend Wayne State College in Wayne, NE. She will be working on a BA in Secondary Education Social Studies. We recently did a tour of the place and got her all signed up for classes. We move her in on my birthday in August.

That's some of the things going on right now. Maybe I'll feel chatty and write more later.

Our First 2008 Competition, Take Two

Our first competition turned out well. After a two hour bus ride we arrived at 1:20 PM. Everyone piled out, they had to hit the facilities, don't you know:-). We unloaded the instruments, Shako's (those nifty hats with the fun looking plumes), and the kids rushed around to get changed for the practice/warm up.

Preliminaries were at 3:15 PM. It was the first time that I had seen the show in its entirety, props and all. It was Awesome. They received first place with an 88.8, this is out of a possible 100 points. This means that we hang around for Finals.

Finals also went well. We got to see some really good bands preform. Bellevue West (our immediate rivals) really improved their performance and came in with a 3rd place ranking. It was incredible. The Bellevue East Marching Band did even better with an overall score of 90.1. We rush back to the bus in order to start preparing for the return trip.

There we were waiting for the kids and they didn't show up. They decided to hang out for the scores and awards.

Bellevue East went home with the awards for Best Drum Line, Best Horn Section, the part I'm most involved with--Best Color Guard, and First Place ranking at the our first competition. What a way to start the season!

Our first 2008 Competition

Tomorrow marks the first competition of Bellevue East's Marching Band. We will be traveling to Sioux City, IA to compete. I can't wait, or is that I can wait? I will be participating this year as a chaperone for every competion. Looking forward to the School bus ride, not!

It really will be fun! The young people are remarkably behaved for 14-18 year olds. We'll be back around midnight--wait isn't that a song?

We will be traveling to four other places with the next to last competition, an over night stay, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Wish me luck!

The Dogs Made A Break For It!

The other day I was walking the dogs and guess what, they pulled really hard and yanked the leashes out of may hands. I was at the top of a large hill, nearly free of trees and covered with grass. They had a nice romp while I went chasing after them.

All of a sudden they stopped and started sniffing around the base of one of the few trees. This immediately concerned me. The last time they exhibited this behavior they had found a dead bird and were trying to eat it. I hurried over, thinking I would find a dead animal. Pluto, my little trouble maker, starts rolling around, as if he were a cat taking a dust bath . This is highly unusual behavior. I've never seen him do that before.

I approach the dogs and find out that the Pluto is rolling around in a big pile of "Shaving Cream, be nice and clean, shave every day and you'll always be clean." O.K., I cleaned that up a lot. It was Turkey Poo and it stank. Notice, that I say stank and not stink. It was rank.

Now you may wonder how do I know that it was Turkey Poo. As we walked home, I kept the dogs seperated by a wide margin (I don't need Ringo getting filthy too), I hear and then see a large wild turkey across the street and in the neighbors yard. It's yelling at the neighbors as they walk into their house. That explained a lot.

I finally get them home and wash up Pluto and his harness that was covered in TURKEY POO! Ohooey Poohey, I don't want to go through that again.

Surprise?

I received a call at work the other day asking me if I wanted some "Naked Ladies" I was so excited! I immediately said yes, "I've been wanting some for 5 years." I ran over to one of my co-workers cubicle and gushed, "I'm getting some Naked Ladies." Their eyes popped, their jaw dropped, and they responded with some rude responses. I laughed so hard I cried.

Naked Ladies are a regional name for 'Surprise Lilies'. During the spring they are one of the first plants that start growing. They have beautiful, deep green mounds of foilage. This foilage dies back and then about August out of this 'dead' ground springs tall stalks that are topped with beautiful pink flowers, SURPRISE!

For a look at the flowers follow the link on the Title.

The Crazy Weather

The Omaha area has undergone the wettest spring/summer that we have seen in 10 years. Last Friday, 6/27/08, we had some of the worst weather that I have ever seen.

As a teenager, I saw a tornado tear through the country side on the boundaries of the town where I lived. It was an incredible sight. But the weather that went through Omaha was totally different because I was actually in the middle of it.

Hearing and seeing it from a distance is a very different thing than actually being in the middle of of a force of Nature. As it hit the Northwest area of Omaha, I was getting ready to leave work. I had a 1/2 hour left when I thought I heard the sirens wailing.

I mentioned it to "J", my incoming replacement. Her response was, "I don't think so", but moments later she heard them too. The sky kept getting darker and the wind started to pick up. At about that time the phone started ringing off the hook. Several of the carriers in the extreme western portion of the area were calling their routes in late due to the extreme weather. They were taking cover in the local nursing home, stranger's houses (they made the carriers get out of the bad weather, thank goodness) and one person took cover in a ditch. There was a distinct possibility of a tornado.

Then it hit. The wind was blowing as if a 747 airplane was landing directly in front of me. The rain was blowing sideways with the force of a speeding car. The two sets of front doors that opened into our glass entry way were sucked out by the wind, blasting in a torrent of rain. The four people that were hanging out snapped their heads around as if they were attached with rubber bands that had sprung back to it's starting position.

I ran for the drawer where the manual key was kept that would lock down the handles and the doors. I asked everyone to help me with the locks. The four of us went into the entry way, which is entirely constructed out of glass and man handled the doors shut. It was really tricky. We had to pull on the door to keep it shut but we had to let up enough on the handle for me to turn the key. Three people to keep the door shut and one to turn the key, sounds like a fantasy story.

The hail hits! It was a thousand bullets hitting bullet proof glass, the pounding of a jack hammer on cement, it was scary! We all realize at just about the same time that we were in a position that could be deadly. The glass could shatter all around us and cut us to shreds.

We run for the inside. Once inside, I lock the second set of doors, which hopefully, will stop the vacuum that is formed in a storm and stop the doors from slamming open. From the inside we watch this deadly force of nature race past the windows. The hail was so heavy that a small "snow drift" forms at the L created by the entry way joining the main part of the building.

It wasn't until the storm was over that we found out that the wind speed was 72 miles an hour with gusts of up to 120 MPH. Sustained wind speeds of 120 MPH is the speed of an F3 tornado. Thousands of people were without power and the damage done will come to millions of dollars. Whole trees were blown over causing major damage to many familys and homes. Here it is Monday evening and there are still people without power.

My family often talk about the way CNN uses the TV to discuss every little thing into a major sensational story. I was actually in a major event and it totally trivalizes the coverage that CNN provides.

I still feel that CNN use the cable lines to sensationalize life, "The Paris Hilton" story immediately comes to mind, I mean, really, who cares, other than her immediate family, whether or not she seeks rehabilitation? But, now I can also appreciate the serious news that CNN airs. All in all, it was an experience I'll remember for the rest of my life.

The Neighbor's Pickup Truck

I'm sure you have heard about someone driving into another person's home. It happens periodically. It's a pretty freaky way to wind up a busy day. Well, several years ago the neighbor's pickup truck ended up in our front yard. This is quite a trick since we live on a hillside. The street level is actually above the level of the house.

We had heard a big bang but chalked it up to our imagination. It wasn't until I happened to walk into our bedroom and saw the reflected twirling lights of a police cruiser that we finally realized what had happened.

The neighbor is actually not a bad person but he did get carried away with a night of revelry. He ended his night at the local police station after he drove his truck off the road, down the hill and into the tree in the middle of our yard. As drunk driving stories go this one ended better than it possibly could have.

Ever since that happened if we hear a "big bang", we check it out. Because the one time that we didn't believe our own ears, someone had a large accident in our front yard. What do you know, live and learn.

And The Tree Came Down

My husband and I were laying down in the bedroom talking about this and that when we heard a loud crashing sound. This had us a little concerned because the last time we heard such a sound we found our neighbor's pickup truck in our front yard. We checked the front window and were relieved to see that no one was there.

We left the bedroom, hurrying to the windows, we looked out. It was dark and windy. I checked the living room window while my husband checked the kitchen. That's where we found that the tree had fallen down.

The steps that lead down to our back yard has a tree right next to it. Really, it was two trees. One of them is alive and doing fine. The other was dead and rotting. I say dead because this is the tree that had fallen down.

The dead tree had fallen on the neighbor's fence. All I have to say is thank goodness the wind was blowing into the east. It didn't land on the house.

We had the tree cleared out the very next day. Yep, that was some fast acting response. Now there is a hole next to the step. There are also a bunch of paving stones.

Who knew that there was an actual walkway under all the dirt and grass that had grown over the stones. Since all this has happened I've added dirt (to the hole), day lilies and repaved the "landing" at the top of the steps. I'm actually glad the tree fell down because I've been worrying about it for a long time. I guess that's looking at the bright side of life. Oh yeah, and there is more sun shining into my "very" shaded yard.

Obituaries

Something funny happened today at work. One of the carriers at the newspaper where I work came in and asked for an extra copy of today's paper. He wanted to look at the obituaries.

He asked me, "Where are the obituaries?" I had to admit that although I work for a newspaper, I don't always read it all the way through. I didn't know where the obits were in our newspaper.

I'm sure you are familiar with the fact that many newspapers are broken down into sections, such as "Midlands, Sports, and Living".

I commented, "Wouldn't it be kind of ironic if the obituaries were in the 'Living' section?"