After more than a month -- 1" of rain!

Clarinda, IA 79º - 81% humidity.

We got an inch of rain overnight.  This photo was taken through the front window when the rain first started and it was still light out.  Note the really brown lawn.  (The little white area is reflection of the TV that was on behind me)

    We had a few dips in the lights, but didn't loose electricity.  Phyllis' classmate Nancy, who was at the Assisted Living place with her mother about a half mile from us called to say they were running on emergency generator with only dim lights in the hall working.  Don't know how much of the town was without lights, or how long.

Last couple of days I have been, slowly, working on straightening door from our bedroom to the deck that had shifted enough that it wouldn't close properly, or lock.  After taking off internal trim and finding no nails or screws from the door frame to the surrounding 2" x 4" I finally removed the siding and found that the door was secured to the wall with nails through a metal flange.

Due to the low eave I couldn't get to the top flange without removing all the facia above the area.  With only a small space and the nails being tight it took quite some time getting the nails out above the door.


But, I was able to move the top of the door enough to get the latch to match and the rod that runs both up and down at the end of the door into the top and floor when it locks to match.

Notice the nail hole in the weather material beside the hole in the metal flange surrounding the door.  That is how much the top of the door had to move.  This is right at junction of the older part of the house and an addition for the bedroom that was built in 1994; I suppose there is some settling in the new part.

  Closing, latching, and locking worked perfectly.  However, since I had started looking on the inside by taking off the trim and doorstop pieces, they had to be put back on.  I snugged them too tight and the locking part still doesn't work.  Will take off the doorstop boards and move them in slightly, which should allow the pins to go up above the door and down into the sill.



Phyllis will be glad when I get it all back together.

When we were riding the trikes couple mornings ago we went by the local Lied Center (Swimming Pool) and rode by this huge cement pumper that was pouring cement around a new outdoor wading pool.

More later, Lynn

Still a bit warm!

Clarinda, IA 94º Hi predicted 104º
  This weekend was all about Phyllis-------and her 50th 1962 Class Reunion from Clarinda High School.  They had 50 classmates at the supper at the Country Club Friday evening.

After the photo above, a meal was taken and then a nice program of slides showing older photos compared to recent photos was shown.

At left are the two chairmen of the reunion trying to explain where the money went and what they had done to set up the weekend.  Everybody was happy with all the events planned.

A very nice booklet containing photos and history of those who responded to request for that was handed to all class members.




Much visiting was done that evening.  The next morning many went back to the club house and played golf

 and many went on a tour of Clarinda with Bill Lisle pointing out many of the changes and improvements made in the community since 1962.  Toured the new water plant, drove around the Japanese Ball Bearing Plant NSK-AKS http://www.aksball-us.com/, toured the Lied Center (swimming pool and exercise facility), drove through Lisle Corp, toured the Lied Library http://www.clarindapubliclibrary.org/, drove through Clarinda Treatment Facility http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/buildings/clarinda/  and Penitentiary http://www.doc.state.ia.us/InstitutionDesc.asp, toured through the new Clarinda Regional Health Center http://www.clarindahealth.com/,  and toured the EZ Way, Inc. facilities. http://www.ezlifts.com
 

 We ended up at Ed Nordland's Classic Cars place and enjoyed lunch of barbequed brats and/or cheeseburgers.

Ed has many cars, inside and outside, and tons of memorabilia relating to cars, car repair, gas stations, etc.

Yes, these were old prices.

Think this might need some work!

Ed had several Mustangs

Saturday evening most of the class members met at Bill & Cheryl Lisle's place for a picnic on the lawn.  Though it was warm, the tree shade, and some big fans made it comfortable.

 Lots of good food, through caterers, and lots of visiting.  Don't imagine the truth was stretched in any of these conversations between people who hadn't seen each other for years.

 One of the classmates, from Missouri, raises, trains, and sells police dogs and he brought a couple and demonstrated attacking one of the other classmates.

They also had a caricature artist from Lincoln, NE who made interesting drawings of all the people attending the supper.  I won't post the one he made of Phyllis & myself.

 On Sunday morning most of the classmates met at the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society Museum for a brunch and more visiting and saying goodby.  Though many from Iowa will see each other in the mean time, many were from states well away from here and it may be the 55th reunion before they see each other.

We had enjoyed a visit with our friends Karen & Jack Norden who lives in our Kenwood RV Park in Texas and were traveling the Midwest this summer visiting friends and relatives.  They headed on to Joliet, IL from our place on Friday morning and one of Phyllis' classmates, Nancy Tarrant-Schaurte, from Florida came to stay at our house until this Tuesday.

Hot, Hot

Clarinda, IA 92º  Heat can't seem to go away.  All over the Midwest it is cooking.

When we left West Branch, MI we filled our fresh water tank, but didn't use a lot of it as we ate out mostly from there on.  I drained the 30 some gallon tank into buckets and poured it on some small trees, flowers and bushes.  Will see if this Michigan water helps.  Have not been watering the lawn, but have been buying water for tomato plants and a few outside flowers.

Here are a couple pictures of 3 of our tomato plants that are planted right up next to the north side of the shop which provides shade from direct sun.  First photo was taken last of June and second photo taken yesterday.  Had to prop up the plants and cages with some scrap lumber and tie the tomatoes up with the foam-covered wire thingies.

Have been watering the tomatoes each day, have some fairly good sized tomatoes on them   Phyllis bought 4 tomatoes the other day from a vendor that was also selling sweet corn - $5 for the 4 tomatoes.  Sure hope these start turning pretty soon.

Finally got the hedge trimmed that runs all the way across our back yard.  (This photo was taken when still had couple spots to do).  Note the desert looking grass by it.

 We have been riding trikes a few miles early in morning when relatively cool.  Here is picture of the corn field right by the airport.  It is much taller and greener than much that we saw in northern Missouri and southern Illinois, but it sure needs rain now to fill out the kernels of corn.  





 

This photo shows a lot of birds-foot trefoil blooming by the older hangers at the field.

Finally got around to taking off the bug guts splattered on the front of the trailer.  The front sits to the west, southwest which is the worst as far as the late afternoon sun baking those little innards onto the fiberglass.  Even though "The Solution" is a good product it took several applications and a lot of elbow grease to get them removed.  Worked on it this morning when the sun was still in the east.

     Getting ready for company Wednesday of friends/neighbors from our Kenwood RV Park overnight and the next day one of Phyllis' classmates arrives from Florida to stay with us  for their 50th Clarinda High School Class Reunion -- Class of 1962.  Think they have some events planned for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and have a pretty good percentage of living classmates coming.

All for now. Lynn

Headin' home from our 2 week trailer trip

Clarinda, IA  75º no rain.

        After having fun with Bill & Darlene on the weekend, we headed south on Monday morning.  Filled up our fresh water tank at the Fair Grounds as we left as wasn't sure what the next couple days would bring. 

Driving south we called my cousin Betty (French) and Ed LaBlanc in Marshall, MI and they drove out to a restaurant near the Interstate and we ate lunch together and visited.  We hit the Indiana line about 2:15 pm.


Stopping at a rest stop in Indiana I noted barrels of Salt -- something we don't see in the winter when we are in Texas.

We got to Marion and Ardel Finken's place in Grabill, IN about 4:30 pm.  Parked our trailer and Ford in a vacant lot adjacent to their house and they insisted we sleep in the house rather than hook up 20 amp electricity.  With their house air conditioned it did make it really comfortable.  We went out to the Grabill Inn Restaurant for supper.  Grabill is in the Amish area not far from Shipshewana, IN and is a very laid-back town.  Lots of bikes on the street, lots of horse and buggies on the street.  On Tuesday morning we took our trikes and did about 6 miles down to a park on the Cedarville Resevoir and back and also to a wetland preserve area not to far from the Finken house.  Ardel pointed out that Bill & Darlene didn't have anything over on them with their lake in the back yard as they have a water catch basin behind their house and it even has a couple ducks on it. 

 Telling Ardel & Marion we would see them this fall in Texas, we drove about 10 mile south to another Kenwood RV resident Dave & Jan Engle's place.  Visited an hour or so with them at the place they have lived in for some 50 years and then headed south and west to near Marion, IN.

I had jokingly said that part of the reason for this trip was to see where our friends from Kenwood hang their hats.  Phyllis told me not many wear hats any more; but, when we were in Harold & Imogene Williams house we could see where they hang their caps.  We enjoyed a visit with them and they drove us to Marion where we had lunch in a fine family restaurant and visited some more.  Harold drove us into the area behind their house and showed us their small pond and picnic area.  Of course, it was hot and dry through that area, as we found much of the Midwest to be.

Lee & Helen Miles

We headed west and called Helen Miles to see if they would meet us near the Interstate in Peoria. They live in Elmwood, IL and also are winter residents of Kenwood RV. We pulled into a Perkins parking lot about 7:30 pm and found that it was Helen's birthday and she was celebrating, having been at several other restaurant visiting with friends.  Lee & Helen enjoyed a pie and malted milk while we ate supper and visited.  We pulled back on the interstate in the dark and headed west. 

Phyllis, daughter-in-law Patty, and granddaughter Emily

We stopped in Galesburg, IL courtesy of a Wall-Mart parking lot about 10:00 pm and were back on the road by 7:30 Wednesday morning.  We entered Iowa at Davenport, IA and called our daughter-in-law Patty in Marengo to see if she could meet us at Williamsburg near the Interstate.  She did and we also visited a bit with our youngest granddaughter Emmy who was working at one of the retail stores.


We ate some huge cinnamon rolls and visited a bit with Patty and once again pulled back on the road.  Stopped in Atlantic, IA to visit with friend to see how her mother, in a nursing home, was doing.

Was back home about 5 pm, stopping at local airport where the city has a dump station, and backed  the trailer into the drive.

Was a fun trip, was able to see lots of Texas friends and spend some time with our daughter.

Will pull our trailer to State Center, IA in August for a week's Kenwood Rally where we hope to see many more of our Texas Family.

More later, Lynn

'Nuther installment - 2 week trip

Clarinda, IA - 93º
    Und the saga continues............We drove north and got 6 miles into Michigan when we found an RV Park and it was getting late and I was getting tired.  When pulling the trailer I do all the driving while Phyllis directs traffic, or at least directs me.  We were on the road again by 9:30 Friday morning and drove through Ann Arbor, Flint, near Detroit.  One thing that can be said about Michigan; they have good tire salesmen!

On the main highways everywhere you look there are a whole series of tires under the trucks.  Can't imagine how they turn any corners and someone did mention to me that they are really rough on roads as far as turns.

We got caught up in a couple of traffic hangups, creeping along at about 10 miles an hour on the interstate going by a couple of the bigger cities, but we got to Bill & Darlene Winslow's place around 4:30 Friday afternoon.  This is near West Branch, MI east of Houghton Lake, MI.  At right is their house, but the best view is out their living room window -- the next two pictures.  Bill feeds the ducks some corn every morning and afternoon.  They have about 12 acres of water on this "little pond" and it is such a peaceful place.

Looking south out the dining room windows.

After visiting a while and eating supper with them we settled right down to eating some fresh red raspberry pie that had been picked in their garden.  We had tasted Darlene's pie made from frozen red raspberries that she had brought to Texas so had been looking forward to this!

 Bill always has flowers of all sorts at his house in Kenwood RV Park in Texas and his house in Michigan has flowers everywhere! as well as a good sized vegetable garden.  The lake had been treated for weeds and he could therefore not use any water out of it for irrigating.  The lake is his sole source of water for all those flowers and vegetables.  He was so hoping for a rain, but it didn't come while we were there.

 I didn't get pictures of all the flowers.  He spends so much time cultivating them, watering and weeding them.  Even his grass was green from his watering it several times a week, pumping the water out of the lake.  It was starting to fade a little.  The temperature was in the 90's the first day we got there.  They were not used to this, being as far north as they are they do not have air conditioning.  That Friday evening it cooled off, though, and the next two nights were really comfortable in the trailer.  We parked it in the driveway to his barn.

 

 The dirt is so black and fine in his garden, almost made me think of volcanic dirt.  Bill spends lots of time watering, and lots of time on the end of a hoe.

 Phyllis & Bill look over the tomatoes while Darlene is at the end of the garden.

On Saturday they showed us around the area.  We drove over to Houghton Lake and found place where Bill & Sue Martin lived and got a nice visit with them.  They also winter in Kenwood RV Park in La Feria, TX.

Sunday we went to church with them after touring the Iosco County Fairgrounds.  Bill & Darlene, along with several others in the area, created the fairgrounds in the 1980's and it is all maintained by volunteer help.  This is a huge park -- some 80 or so acres -- and is busy almost every week of the year with various entities renting the facilities.  They still put in a lot of time and work in the place.  Many buildings have been built.   In photo at left Bill is beside his granddaughter and his daughter is next to

Phyllis & Darlene

her.  After church we drove east to Lake Huron and looked around.   We ate lunch at Augie's On The Bay in Tawas City.  Spent time at Tawas Point State Park and looked at the lighthouse there. 

 We played Pegs & Jokers each evening and pie each night, either the Red Raspberry or squash pie fresh from the garden.  Here are some photos from the Iosco County Fairgrounds:

We had such a delightful time in Michigan and visiting with Bill & Darlene.  We will go back up there and pester them some more.  May try to be there to take part in their Iosco County Fair in August next year.

We left their place Monday morning and headed south, visiting some more people.  Will post another blog about that.  I just checked temperatures -- Clarinda, IA 92; West Branch, MI 81; and La Feria, TX 96 right now at 6:45 pm CDT.
Lynn