Doin' some travelin'

Grand Lake, CO     We left Clarinda last Thursday morning

and went to Lincoln, NE where we went on a very interesting guided tour of the Nebraska State Capitol.  I was born in Custer County, Nebraska and had been to the Capitol several times in younger years, and Phyllis thought we maybe had been there shortly after we were married 51 years ago.  We enjoy not only seeing the various state capitols but hearing the history of them and the state they are in.

 Nebraska's capitol is quite a building.  I am posting random photos here.  All the photos I took this weekend can be seen on my Picasa at Click here

We went up to the 14th floor after the guided tour and looked out over Lincoln, NE.

Nebraska is the only state in the union that has a Unicameral.  There is only one body - no Senate and House of Representatives - and they serve without reference to party.

Got to Lynn & Sharleen Stiver's house in Callaway about 4 in the afternoon.  Lynn had gone to school in Callaway in class ahead of me.  We actually got well acquainted at our Kenwood RV Park in south Texas as they winter there and now have a permanent mobile home there in Texas several doors down the line from ours.

Friday night we ate at the Steak House in Clarinda.  Madeline and Monte Joe McFate, who live there in town and also spend some winters in our RV Park in Texas are at left.

Sharleen Stivers is at the left in the photo at right; Don Ferguson, who has a mobile home in our Kenwood RV Park in Texas and lives near Ansley, Nebraska, is next to her.

In Photo at left is Lynn Miles, Phyllis Miles and Lynn Stivers.

   After finishing dinner we all returned to Stiver's house and played Pegs & Jokers.

 Saturday morning, start of Pioneer Days in Callaway, had the parade.  My brother Darrell in red shirt was on low-boy with CHS class of 1964.

Got a chance to visit with Phil Lord, who was in my CHS class of 1961

Later got to visit with Lee Ann (Nansel) Young, who was also in my 1961 class.  She is now living in Kearney, NE.  She lost her husband a few years ago.

We went to the Alumni Banquet Saturday evening and then the program after.

Sunday morning we drove about 8 mile west of Callaway and went on their annual Trail Ride.

On the trail.  In Photo at left, Darrell Miles, Jonathan Miles, and Sharleen Stivers.

A really good breakfast was served in short order.  They had two trailers set up frying scrambled eggs.

 After the trail ride we drove out to Jr and Nancy Willis' ranch and visited with them and Nancy's mother Lucille.  Realized as we drove away I had forgotten to take any pictures.
We then drove through the country on to North Platte, NE and got on I80 and went to Sterling, CO where we visited with and spent the night at Les & Jo Kuehlman's place.  Les is a cousin of Phyllis'.

Monday morning we went to Estes Park, CO and visited and ate lunch with Allison & Gary--she is the activity director at Kenwood RV in Texas and manages an RV Park in Estes during the summer.




We drove Trail Ridge Road through Estes Park and got to Phyllis' sister Beth's place about 4:00 pm.

Click the photos to make them larger to look at:; and go to My Picasa 2014-06 to look at any of the photos I have taken this June.

Later, Lynn

Pegs & Jokers and Manipulation

 Clarinda, IA (Current temp 73º and sunny)
Well, Monday was June 23rd, so was the time for some Kenwood RV Park people to come to our place to play Pegs & Jokers.  Harold & LaRoahda Neher from Hiawatha, KS drove in mid morning and Bob & Bobby Raab from Minneapolis, MN came in the afternoon.  Butch & Dorothy Geisking were coming, but had called Sunday night that Dorothy was suffering from a cold and they decided not to drive down from Titonka, IA.  Doris & Lyle Winter from Browerville, MN had considered coming, but weren't able to.

 We spent much time visiting, playing Pegs & Jokers, eating and laughing.  In top photo are LaRoahda, Bob; middle photo Bob, Phyllis & Harold; bottom photo Bobbi and Lynn.

Monday evening it was cool enough we fixed hamburgers & brats on the grill and ate on our deck.

After more Pegs & Jokers we ate lemon pie Phyllis made from lemons we had gotten in Texas.  (She squeezes them, puts the juice in ice-cube trays and after frozen puts them in zip-lock bags--3 or 4 cubes makes a pie just like from fresh lemons)

Tuesday morning we ate at Vaughn's Cafe uptown and then drove around the area showing them the town and where we used to live in the country west of Clarinda.  Back to the house and after visiting they went back to the motel for naps.  By 3:30 in the afternoon we were back to Pegs & Jokers after having a late lunch.  We then switched to Manipulation and by about 5:30 Patty Steckelberg from Shenandoah had joined us.

By 8 pm we were back on the deck to enjoy home-made ice cream, rhubarb pie, fresh strawberries and warm chocolate topping.

And, all too soon, it was over.  Both couples were heading back home this morning.  We sure enjoyed our time with them, and Patty.

Monday morning I had added some screening to the guttering on a very long run on the north side of our house where it turns.  Almost every storm the leaves and debris had built up at the corner and water overran the guttering.  Will see if this helps.

Sunday evening we had driven, with several other carloads of Clarinda Circle 8 Square Dancers, to dance at Savannah, Missouri.  It was the clubs regular dance night, but our club member (and theirs) Ron & Cynthia Pederson were celebrating their 35th Wedding Anniversary.

Good time was had by all.  Got back a little late (62 miles from Clarinda to Savannah).







We are heading out to the west for two weeks tomorrow.  With car only, no RV.  Will spend 4 nights in Callaway, NE where we will attend my All-School Reunion on the weekend.  Hope to visit with my brother Darrell & his family while there who are coming up from Miami, FL; and see some old childhood friends.  Will then go on to Sterling, CO to Phyllis' cousin and then to Estes Park where we will visit with our Activity Director from Kenwwod RV (she manages an RV park there in the summer) and finally on to Grand Lake, CO where we spend a week or so at Phyllis' sister's place.

Don't know how much WIFI will have, or how much data I want to use up on my Verizon Account to do much posting while traveling.  As always, you can view any of my photos at my Picasa

Later, Lynn

Mid June and the The 39th Annual Glenn Miller Festival - June 12th-15th, 2014 - Clarinda, Iowa U.S.A.

Clarinda, IA  Bit warm today (Tuesday) - almost 90 degrees, with very strong southern wind all day.
Phyllis & I both volunteered at the Glenn Miller Festival last Thursday through Sunday.   We were taking tickets, ushering, helping people as needed.  On Thursday we guarded the doors as contestants for the various scholarships did their best.  In the morning were 10 instrumentalists, and afternoon 9 voice (1 was not able to come).

Click Here for GMFestival Website

The Tamana Girls High School (玉名女子高校学校 Tamana joshi kōkōgakkō) is a girls high school in Tamana, Kumamoto, Japan.They performed Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  These young girls (some 69) perform at the level (or better) than any professional band.  We did ushering at each of the performances and they were very well received.
Click Here for a YouTube of them practicing at their school earlier this year.  Remember, these are high school aged girls.

We also ushered at the two Glenn Miller Orchestra performances.  Click Here for website   

This photo at left is off the GMO website.

On Thursday evening The Band of Mid-America SHADES OF BLUE performed a free concert to the public on the Court House Square downtown.

The Tamana Girls Band attended the Air Force performance -- lots of energy as they bounded around.

On Saturday morning we ate pancakes served by the local Lions Club and the band from North West Missouri in Maryville played while we were eating.

 Here is the vocal group with the GMO - the leader did not play an instrument but did many solo vocals and also with this group--can't remember what they called the group.

Our Grand-son-inlaw Heath (facing camera) is a high school band director in Eastern Iowa and he was happy to talk with the GMO director and visit with some of the band members in the hall after the concert he and wife Ashley attended.

This group of 4 guys, Tonic Sol-fa, had nothing but body sounds and vocalizing to put on a great show.

Tonic Sol-fa   Click at left to go to their web site.

When we came back from lunch at home both Saturday and Sunday, the Tamana girls were spread around the high school campus practicing.

This is Walt Pritchard with Phyllis.  Walt did all the coordinating and lining up ushers for all the events.  He has done this for many years.

One band I did not get a picture of is Glenn Miller Birthplace Society Big Band made up of local musical people, mostly from Iowa.
Also, we did not attend the dance Saturday evening where Lonny Linn Orchestra from Lincoln, NE so have no pictures.  Was told they were great.  We were pooped after long day and rested at home.

After the Sunday performance by the Tamana Girls Band there was an ice-cream social in the commons area of the school.  Phyllis got to talk with Tomoko Tanove who spoke with the band as Vice-Principal of the school.  Phyllis knew this lady had been a math teacher at Tamana school when our daughter taught English as a Second Language in the late 1990's for one school year, and we got to visit with her.

    Back at the house --  last year we had two large boxes shipped in that had a lot of sheets of Styrofoam.  This "free" insulation ended up costing about $20 for styrofoam caulking to glue it to the door, but have almost half of the door covered--in case I ever finish insulating the last half of the shop it will make it warmer in the winter; if we ever stay here in the winter.

 The hedge that goes nearly 200 feet all across the back of our level property (another 25 feet or so behind the hedge is a steeply inclined bank down to an old railroad right-of-way) grows quite well.  Here is photo of after I had started working on trimming it.  The back of the hedge can only be reached from the front and is hard to reach with the trimmer.  If you go through the hedge you are standing about 4 feet below the bottom of the hedge and can't reach the top.

 I have been continuing to catch a few hours most days (after the Festival) wielding a "manual transfer device" commonly called a paint brush.  Amazing how the brush knows when to grab the paint when you stick it into the paint can and then knows to release the paint when you rub it on the wall.  Pretty smart little device when you really think about it.

 Phyllis was given nearly a full van load of material and crafty things by daughters of Mrs. Art Greenwood, who passed away a year or so ago and they are finally going through the house to dispose of things.  She sorted and took much stuff to the sew and share group at the local Methodist Church and will take some to one of our Kenwood RV neighbors who lives near Omaha, NE; will take a bunch of stuff to the sew and share bunch at Kenwood RV and also some material she is using herself.  Here she is sorting and storing that which we will be taking to Omaha and to Texas in our small trailer in the garage.

     One of the things I had to take off the garage wall is this poster.  I had bought it for my sister Louise a while before she passed away some 6 years ago.  She had it hanging in her room for some time in  Westridge Quality Care & Rehabilitation where she lived the last several years of her life.


Well, it has only taken me most of a week to get this written.  Believe it or not, I worked on it several times, but got interrupted or diverted and not finished.



More later, Lynn