Tuesday August 30th 2011

I am having trouble getting onto my Google account so I am posting this early to see if I can get in that way.  Will write more later…

OK, I figured it out. I don’t get on gmail very often and I forgot what my password was.  Been a couple of days since I’ve been on it and I forgot, so what’s new???

Work today was kind of hard.  Had a mobile home to clean and I think it is ready for renting out now.  The water wasn’t turned on and I didn’t have any water but there were nine cans of beer in the refrigerator which I put to good use, well, I thought it was good. I cleaned the kitchen sink, bathroom sink and tub and then used the last five cans in the toilet.  No water and beer has suds so I figure it would help clean a little.  Looked good to me.  I still have to clean the toilet though.

After cleaning I did a little weed eating, spraying Roundup, trimming some bushes and I’m tired!

Had to get a picture of our sun flower.  I think it looks pretty good.

They aren’t really big but they sure are a nice yellow color!

Take it easy tonight and rest up for tomorrow, have another trailer to clean and probably a lot of other things to do..Night Y’all…

Monday August 29th 2011

Beautiful day today, just beautiful.  It is cool enough that I opened the house again this morning and  turned on the fan. Dropped the temp in here about four or five degrees before I had to close it up again.

This is a new day today, I will be working all day, Monday through Friday for the next six or eight weeks.  I am going to be the “gopher” for the carpenter.  Well, not exactly but I will be helping when they need it.  Today I finished mowing the mobile home park after sharpening the blades on the mower.  Didn’t have much left to do.  After mowing I sprayed Roundup and I sprayed more then I sprayed more.  I figure I sprayed about twenty gallons of Roundup today.

I had to take a picture of Sparky eating his sweet corn…

He really likes sweet corn, he shucks it and then just eats the corn!

I also took a picture of our tree in the front yard.  Hate to say it but the limb on the right doesn’t look very healthy, hopefully it isn’t dying…

For some reason it just doesn’t look like the rest of the tree.

Linda fixed a turkey casserole for supper and it was really good, a little spicy, but very good.  She just used a can of tomatoes and chili in it and that was enough, it was really spicy!

Rested up tonight, watched a little TV and then bed time…Night Y’all

Sunday August 28th 2011

I was going to try to go to Puxico to church.  Our neighbor, Larry is the pastor there and I didn’t realize that until the other day when we were talking.  They are having their homecoming today with a group called the Pullen’s singing.  Linda wasn’t feeling up to it so I went on into Fellowship for Sunday School and church.

This afternoon I figure I may as well take a nap, this is usually the only day I can take a nap.  I didn’t sleep long but it was refreshing.

Tonight I went back to Fellowship and the were having “Teen Challenge”  at the service tonight and I figured it would be a bunch of teens doing something, I was wrong.  I don’t think any of the women were teens, well, maybe one but I don’t think she was either by her testimony. The lady on the left is the oldest of the group and she is forty two years old and they all have addictions to drugs or alcohol but are on their way to recovery…

Even the director has been through the program which is thirteen months. Sad how people get caught up in these kind of addictions.  The service wasn’t long, they sang three songs and the director, the girl on the right and the girl on the left all gave their testimonies.  Very interesting! Sounds like Teen Challenge is a very good program.

Not much going on again tonight so I will sign off and say Night Y’all…

Saturday August 27th 2011

We did go into town today!  I wanted to get a filter for the refrigerator. Stopped at Lowe’s but wasn’t sure about the filter so we went to Sears. The lady almost sold me the wrong one but after checking she found the right one which was the one I had picked out.

Stopped at Aldi’s for a few things.  I like Aldi’s because the have pretty good prices and most of their products are good.  Not sure where they are made though.

I wanted something a little different for lunch so I found a package of Jambalaya  and added smoked sausage, okra and zucchini to it and it was very good…

I wasn’t sure about the zucchini or the okra in it but I think it sure tasted good!!

Work went well again today, lots of spare time to start another book. Got out of work almost on time but had one come in just before quitting time and it took me awhile to get everything back to the way it should be.  I wasn’t’ but a few minutes late getting out.

Went to see Larry, our neighbor, and got an address from him for the church that he goes to.  We may try it tomorrow but not for sure.

Time to take it easy again tonight so I will just get this ready and probably publish it before bed.  I am starting to fall asleep so….Night Y’all

Friday August 26th 2011

We didn’t do much today, thought about going into town but really didn’t need much of anything, will probably go into town tomorrow.

Work went quite well today, very slow so I got to finish my book.

Can’t hardly believe it, I don’t have much of anything to say. Guess it was kind of a boring day!

I did get an email from LaVon that had quite a little thing to think about called “to pee or not to pee”.  Doesn’t sound very nice but it says things that are things to think about.  Kind of a way to sum it up is, we are required to submit to a drug test to work but others are given money for not working and how much of that money goes for drugs???  I also received a picture of a waiting room at the Social Security Office and the title was “how many do you see with grey hair?”  These were all young people that were there for the SS Insurance.  Wonder who pays for all those freebies?

Not much going on tonight, tomorrow is another day!   Night Y’all…

Thursday August 25th 2011

Looks like another nice day!  Sunny and probably will get warm even though it is nice and cool right now.

I will be mowing again today and it looks nice enough that I will probably mow all day…yep….mowed all day!  I guess it is a good thing I like to mow! I mowed Russell Street first because it has been two weeks since it has been done, glad I didn’t wait another week it was in pretty bad shape. I also noticed that I am going to have to take the weed eater over and the Roundup! There are mobile home tie downs that are very hard to see in the tall grass so I will spray them and weed eat around them.  If I have the right tools I may try to remove them, that would be the best solution. The steel tie downs don’t do lawn mower blades any good at all!!

When I got back to the park Mark was waiting, it was time to EAT!!! I didn’t realize it was that late.

After lunch I started the mobile home park. I worked until around 5:30PM then headed for the shop.  I was really dirty, it is very dry out and very dusty.  I still had about seven or eight lots to mow but they will still be there next week!

At home I decided to mow our lawn and Daniel’s lawn.  I really like the John Deere!  Larry, the neighbor, helped on Daniel’s lawn so I had to mow about an inch lower than I usually do.  It looked pretty good. After talking to Larry I found out that he is pastoring a little church about 35 miles from here.  We may go there next Sunday just for a visit, it is their homecoming and they are having a singing group in for the afternoon.  Not sure yet but we may go there this Sunday.

We rested the rest of the evening, had some pork burritos for supper. Had them frozen and they are still really good.

Well, guess it is that time….Night Y’all…

Wednesday August 24th 2011

It is thundering this morning and it sure looks like rain!  I have to go into work at 9AM and will probably mow today if it isn’t raining.

It rained here before I left but Mark hasn’t called so I will go on into work to see what is happening today.

By the time I got to work it was dry and the wind was blowing but not raining.  First thing I did was fill up the gas cans, $118 worth of gas.  This usually lasts about two weeks.   I started mowing and it was pretty decent out, windy but not real hot.  The longer I mowed the clearer it got so looks like I will mow all day. Yep, I mowed all day.  I finished the campground and started on the mobile home park but didn’t get much done.  It takes less time in the mobile home park I think than the campground.  I don’t have to move fifty eight picnic tables and then move them back.  Not a hard job but it does take some time.

Before I left I got the push mower out and did a couple of spots that are really hard to get with the riding mower.  I think it looks pretty good now but the way the grass is growing I will have to mow again next week.  The grass wasn’t growing for awhile, in fact a lot of it had turned brown.

Linda gave me a haircut tonight.  I really needed it. I should be cooler now and don’t have to worry about trying to comb it as much. That may sound funny but my hair starts to curl and I don’t think it looks very good with curls on my neck!  Needed the haircut!

We took it easy tonight, I’m sure I will be mowing again tomorrow if it doesn’t rain. 

Linda seems to really like her new Kindle.  She is doing  a lot of reading!

Time to turn it off now….Night Y’all….

Tuesday August 23rd 2011

Looks like another nice day out.  It is kind of cool this morning but it is going to get pretty warm.

Not much going on this morning, Sparky and I walked around outside and just looked at things.  Summer is going fast, corn fields aren’t green like they used to be, they are dying and they took up the irrigation plastic yesterday from the field across the road. Another couple of weeks and they may start picking the corn.

Things were really slow today at work!  I had noticed something in the kitchen but didn’t pay any attention to it…

It is an egg! That is so exciting! Oh come on, who gets excited over an egg?  The little chicks that Mark got in May, one just laid an egg on August 22nd!!  They aren’t much over four months old, maybe five. He said most of the eggs will be brown but some will have a blue tint to them. I think that is amazing!  Doesn’t take much for me to get excited does it?

Well, the grass is really growing at the park as well as here at home.  Lots of moisture and had a couple of cool nights in the 50s so that re energized the grass.  If it doesn’t rain tomorrow I will have a lot of mowing to do.

Mark hired a carpenter to fix his mobile homes and asked it I would work Monday through Friday for a couple of months until the mobile homes are finished.  Guess that will work.

When I got home we talked to Bren on the phone for about an hour and she was telling us about the kids and what was going on in San Diego. Had a very good visit with her.

I fixed another bowl of Ramen Soup for supper and Linda had one of her little dinners.  I put Okra in mine, I like Okra….

The Okra plants are starting to produce again, not a lot but enough for me and maybe a little left over.

We watched America’s Got Talent tonight. Some people really have a talent for things, I especially liked the bike rider.  He can do things on a bike that very few people would even try to attempt.  He is good!

Well, except for a sunset picture that is about all.. Night Y’all…

Monday August 22nd 2011

Looks like it is going to be another pretty nice day, little warm, little humid but nice.

Lots of things I want to do today but can’t start until it gets a little dryer out. I have a leak in the garage roof that I want to fix and I need to get another row of sweet corn taken out of the garden and I would like to mow the lawn. Everything is wet though so I am going to wait for a couple of hours.

I started looking for things to download on Linda’s new Kindle.  She likes to read the USA Today but it is a little expensive, I was hoping that we could get one paper at a time, when she wanted it, instead of one everyday. Guess that can’t be done.  The reviews weren’t all that great either. The paper can be downloaded on the computer cheaper and it is exactly the same as the real newspaper and it is cheaper. Probably won’t do that either.

It is about 11AM and I guess it is time to go to work.  I got up on the roof of the garage and cleaned off the place I wanted to caulk and got that done. Then I cleaned out the row of sweet corn and got out the roto tiller and messed up the grass in the garden. I think it looks a little better but it doesn’t look “pretty”! The grass doesn’t look dominant now.

Time to mow now, the grass will probably stay wet all day so I will mow it anyway.  I like the mower, it does a good job and is easy to steer. The reverse when the mower is going is something I don’t care for but I am starting to get used to it.  You need to push a button until you start backing up, every time you want to back up. It is kind of a hassle but I guess it is a good safety feature.

The neighbors gave us some ribs, already cooked, so we baked some sweet potatoes and opened a can of pork and beans.  Really good ribs! We also had some of our garden fresh tomatoes!  They are good too.

Well, other than watching some TV and Linda reading stories on her Kindle we didn’t do much of anything else today.  I did get to take a nap before going to bed!!!  Night Y’all….

Sunday August 21st 2011

Looks like it is going to be a beautiful day, warm, but a nice day. I got Linda up so we could go to church with Don and Peggy.  We went to Miner Baptist Church.  This is the one they usually go to when they are here.  Had a pretty decent service about missions.  I’m not real sure what they are doing but I think it is praying for  and helping out in a certain area of the mission field.

After church we went to the Chinese Buffet in Sikeston.  They have really good food but I always eat to much.  Had a really good visit.  Peggy had to go to Wal Mart and stock up for the trip tomorrow to Chicago and Don had to get some stuff to fix a leak in the roof of their RV..

Don and Peggy bought a house in Sun City CA and they are taking their camper to their son’s place in Chicago and leaving it with him. They are ready to settle down now and ready to quit working.  They have been working in Santee CA at a city park where they worked for a long time, even though they could only work six months and they had to take time off.

I’m not sure if it was because we ate to much or what but Linda and I both took a nap this afternoon! 

Before we came home we stopped and talked to Bits about the Kindle and how to do certain things with it. She showed Linda how to order books with just the Kindle.  I use the computer to order them.

I went to Friendship Baptist Church tonight.  They had an ice cream social after the service but I didn’t stay for it.  I had to stop at Wal Mart and get Sparky another collar.  He chewed his off!!  Naughty dog!  They didn’t have the harness that he is used to so I kind of fixed his old one and got him a collar just in case.

We watched HGTV tonight.  I really like to watch that, I think it is one of my favorite stations.  Holmes on homes is a good one and the ones where they look for houses or apartments is also good.

Well, time for bed (again)…Night Y’all….

Saturday August 20th 2011

This morning it isn’t really cool but it sure is humid!  The dew is really heavy this morning.  Hate to walk on the grass it is so wet.

I had started a fire around the stump and the large piece that I had cut off the stump probably five days ago and it is still smoldering!  The stump and the large piece are getting smaller so I started another fire next to the last piece from the tree, it isn’t nearly as big as the other and it is still smoldering so hopefully it will be gone in a couple of days then I can figure out how to get that part of the yard leveled out and looking a little bit better.

Work went pretty good today, a little slow but ended up having a pretty good day.  I fed Bo and let him out three or four times and Mark and Kim made it back about 6PM, give or take a few minutes.  Got a picture of Kim with Bo…

He was sure glad to see them, I don’t think he like staying there by himself.

Linda fixed another pizza…..looks good…

Tastes good too!

I had to take a picture of an Okra blossom.  I think they are pretty… If you look just behind the blossom there is an Okra and the bunch to the left is going to be more blossoms…

I guess each blossom has an Okra behind it.  Sometimes I have to take the dead blossom off the Okra itself.  I really like Okra, really different.

We made plans to go to church with Don and Peggy tomorrow at Miner Baptist Church then go to the Chinese Buffet.  I think the last time we were there it was with them also, been a couple of years.

Got out of work on time tonight.  Oh I forgot, since I got a new lawn mower Linda got to get a new Kindle (electronic book reader).  We worked on it tonight and I downloaded a few books for her except that I’m not sure if what I downloaded is actually a book or just one chapter of a book, I think I will stick to the paper version.

Quiet night tonight, not a lot of time when I get off at 7PM.  Worked on the computer getting her books downloaded and then figure it was time for bed… Night Y’all…

Friday August 19th 2011

This morning I wanted to go to town to get Sparky a different kind of food. He seems to like eating grass clods from the mower.  Not sure if it is good for him but that’s what he goes for when he goes outside.

We filled up with gas in town and went to the cheapest place I could find and it was $3.38 a gallon.  It is going down slowly and probably won’t go down very far.

Work was slow today but it was OK.  Don and Peggy came in about 2:30PM for a little visit…

We worked with Don and Peggy about 10 years ago and we have stopped to see them out in California a couple of times and when they were back here we visited with them.  They are from Northern IL and lived about thirty miles from where I grew up.  We enjoy their company, we seem to be on the same wave length.  (Don and Peggy bought a house in CA)

I had to feed Bo, the dog, at five and take him out.  I think he would rather be home.  I let him out just before I left at 7PM so hopefully he will be good the rest of the night.

When I got home I decided to look in the garden.  Picked a bunch of zucchini and some yellow squash.  Found a rather odd yellow squash…

Linda isn’t really smiling maybe because I am going to give the odd squash away??  I’ve never seen a double one and it’s on a single vine.

I took a picture of the Kubota lawn mower that I spend about two days a week on…

This is just a forty eight inch mower but it sure does a good job and it just keeps on running!

Not to much going on tonight, I took the zucchini and yellow squash over to Larry’s and they liked them, hopefully they will come in handy.

Going to watch a little TV tonight and will probably take a little nap on the sofa… Night Y’all…

Thursday August 18th 2011

Beautiful morning, kind of cool and breezy but will probably get kind of warm, not to worry though I think it will be OK.

Mark wasn’t at work again this morning but Bo, their dog was.  Not sure if they have left yet or they have something else going on.  No one was waiting so I put a sign in the window saying “be back at 1PM”.  (They are taking Grant to Springfield MO for college).

I stopped and asked Meirlen and he didn’t know anything either. Oh well, I have work to do so while I was getting ready I let Bo out for a little bit.  Filled the mower with gas and greased it so I am about ready.  I put Bo back inside and took off.  Every thing went well for about forty five minutes then I had a flat tire.  I am about as far away from the shop as I can get so I have to walk back, get the things I need, take the golf cart back, repair the tire, return the golf cart and probably walk back again. Luckily Grant was there (after my second trip) to take me back to the mower.  Guess what?? The tire stayed up the rest of the day!  Guess the green slime does work pretty good!

I had to go get a container of gas after lunch so I could finish mowing. After about five hours my rear end started to get a little sore so I had to get off a few times to stretch.  The seat isn’t the most comfortable seat in the world but then I get sore sitting in the car after a few hours.

After I got home I thought I would mow the lawn but Daniel had different plans.  He wanted to move his gigantic TV which was on rollers so it wasn’t to bad but I think it is a 52” projection TV and it stands almost five feet tall and probably five feet wide and two feet thick and probably weighs in at 150 pounds or more.  I could lift one end and fortunately it rolled almost everywhere, had to lift it over door jams(?), I can’t remember then name of the part under the door, getting old I guess. (Thresh hold!!)

Got a picture of Daniel and Kiley’s new abode…

The bushes on the right side are dying and they used to be where the trailer is sitting now.  I think Daniel is going to plant something different there.

Well, I didn’t get to finish mowing, the clouds were coming in fast and there is a lot of lightning so I decided to wait until next week.  It doesn’t really look all that bad I just wanted to use the new mower.

The corn field across the road is starting to turn now, fall is on it’s way and corn picking time will be here shortly.  There are some fields that look like they are almost ready now…

This field looks pretty good, it was irrigated and I think it will probably have a very good yield.

Linda fixed some cheese and potato Pirogue's with pizza sauce.  I think they were very good.  We have never had them before, they look like ravioli’s to me.  Don’t taste like them though.

Well, I think I’m about finished for today, it was hot today and I’m kind of tired so I guess it’s bed time..Night Y’all…

Wednesday August 17th 2011

It is cloudy and cool, looks like it could rain.  If it rains I won’t be mowing today, but wait, the clouds are starting to give way to blue sky!  Guess I’m going to mow today. It is supposed to start getting warm today but that is OK I don’t mind the warm weather.

When I got to work the office was locked and the lights were off!  Mark is never late!  I tried calling him and couldn’t get an answer.  I had people waiting to get into the office to pay for last night’s camping so I worked the office until I got them taken care of then I called Grant.  He answered!  Sounded like he was asleep but they were at the bank, guess they had a meeting this morning. I went ahead and got the mower ready then had to fill a tank of propane, no that was yesterday, I had something happen but I can’t remember what it was, not to important I guess…

It was really a great day for mowing. I got all fifty eight sites mowed and all around the fences and then used the leaf blower to clean off the grass from the cement. I felt good after getting done and thought that when I got home I would mow the neighbors front yard but after looking at it (when I got home) I figured I may as well wait for tomorrow afternoon and mow everything. Sounds like a plan to me.

Well, this is another evening where we aren’t going to do anything, I am kind of dozing in front of the TV which isn’t really very unusual! Saw the weather though and looks like tomorrow will be another good day to mow. If everything goes well I can get all the mowing done tomorrow except for Russell Street and I couldn’t do that if I wanted, I don’t have any way to get the mower over there, soooo, guess it’s bedtime…Night Y’all…

Tuesday August 16th 2011

WOW!! Another really cool beautiful morning!  I love this weather.  I know we have more hot weather coming and it is supposed to be here about the time I am supposed to work outside, oh well, I think I will probably be mowing if it doesn’t rain.

Sparky and I spent a lot of time outside this morning.  I had some bushes I wanted to trim, really hard to mow around.  It is hard to work and hold on to Sparky even though he is doing better, he just doesn’t want to go the same way as I do at times.  I took a picture of the fire I started after loading up the burn pile with limbs.  I really like this picture…

I was surprised that the pile of green limbs burnt so well, but then I had some corn stalks that were dry underneath so I guess it was OK.

I took a picture of a hummingbird and thought I couldn’t get it but if you look real close you can see it about and between some branches…

There were two hummingbirds and I’m not sure where the other one is, it may be between the branches of the pine tree.

Work went well today, very slow so I found a book in the trunk of the car and started reading it.  It is one of Linda’s books, definitely not a Clive Cussler book but I think I will probably like it OK.

Back to the pizza, we finished it tonight, we ate the WHOLE thing!!  I had to take another picture of it.  The crust is really thick, I don’t think I’ve ever had the crust rise like this one…

I think the pizza tasted better tonight than yesterday.

Just going to take it easy tonight not much of anything going on.  Night Y’all…..

Monday August 15th 2011

Very cool this morning I can see a little bit of my breath, guess it is in the upper 50s maybe lower 60s but feels really cool.

Well today I want to go to town and look at lawn mowers.  I had called a place in Dexter about the Cub Cadet.  I think I have it narrowed down between the Cub Cadet and a John Deere. After Linda got up and we got ready we took a ride down there.  The salesman was very nice and helpful also.  I didn’t like the Cub Cadet riding mower.  For some reason it just didn’t seem right so I looked at the Cub Cadet zero turn and then the Toro zero turn.  Came close to buying one of them but thought I would hold off to see the John Deere mowers.

Went into Sikeston to the implement dealer there and looked at the mowers.  I had a big decision to make between the D140 and the X300. Well, the decision was pretty well made for me.  The X300 had a problem and they couldn’t sell any of them.  They didn’t know why but they couldn’t sell ANY of them.  I liked the D140 though, has two cylinders and three mowing blades and is a LOT cheaper than the X300, so guess what??

If this mower will last for fifteen years I’ll be eighty two years old and probably won’t want to mow anymore!  We will see..

Stopped at Wal Mart for groceries, spent a lot of money today!

Linda and I fixed a pizza today, we were going to give one to the neighbors but they had a meeting going on and took a rain check. I think I made a pig of myself eating way to much but boy was it gooooood….

Let me see if I can remember what Linda put in it… hamburger, turkey (burger), Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and about three different kinds of cheese, yummy!

After making a pig of myself on the pizza I had desert later on, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich..  I made bread out of the rest of the dough I had left..

I used a little of the whole wheat flour.  I have been using it for the last couple of loaves that I’ve made, works pretty good!

Well, after they delivered the mower I had to give it a try. I mowed our lawn and half of the neighbors in less than an hour.  This tractor really goes in the forward gear and the lawn looks very good, I don’t see any places where the mower may have left some grass standing.  I think I’m going to like the mower.

Well, I am tired again tonight but will try to stay awake and watch the weather.  Sounds like it could rain on Wednesday or Thursday.  I know that I am going to have a lot of mowing to do at the park because Grant is getting ready to go to school. The grass is really growing at the park so it really needs to be mowed.  I’ll do what I can do!!   Night Y’all….

Sunday August 14h 2011

Went to church at Fellowship Baptist this morning. The special music was Marvin and his granddaughter. He played the guitar and sang and she sang also.  I think she was nervous but she did a really good job, going to be a good singer!

The person sitting is Pastor Joe.  He usually has good sermons. He is preaching out of Ephesians about the “Light”

When I got home from church the neighbors were packing up to move to Matthews.  Going to miss them.  We are going to make a pizza (homemade) for them tomorrow night.  They are staying at their new place tonight. They like their new place and the kids have plenty of other kids around to play with so I guess it works out pretty good for them.

Tonight Pastor Joe preached on the “The Great Marriage Supper” it was good, again, but I wondered what we were going to have to eat at the Marriage Supper!!  Am I a Baptist or what???  I didn’t ask but if we “need” food at all it could be Manna, but I think that all we will need is to see Jesus and to praise Him.  He will be our nourishment which we may not even need.   HMMMM, oh well,  we will see later!

Quiet evening at home.  I did have to get up on the roof and adjust the antennae because the TV was getting to the point where you couldn’t see it because it would get “boxy” or what ever you call it.  We have had a couple of storms in the past week with winds around fifty miles per hour so I imagine it jiggled it out of sync with the satellite.  Works OK now, hope I don’t have to do that again.  Night Yall….

Saturday August 13th 2011

This will probably be a short one, not a lot happened today, nice and quiet!

Work went well until the end of the day and then it wasn’t to bad, had a person call in about 7:30PM and asked about the rates and they were only fifteen miles away at a Pizza Hut.  I figured they would wait until after the office closed to come in and then not pay, am I bad or what???  Just don’t trust some people I guess.

It was a little warm today but actually not bad at all, the humidity was down so the day actually felt very nice.

I guess I should explain that this is Monday and I can’t remember what I did on Saturday…

Got a picture of Sparky, can you guess what he is doing??

Yep, he’s begging.  Not sure sometimes what he is begging for but usually he is begging for something and he can sit like this for a long time and not even move.  What a talented dog!!

Now here is a picture of a tomato that is the first one on the expensive Heirloom tomato plant…

Now I had to get within about a foot of the tomato to be able to see it.  I think it is about the size of a pea.  I don’t see anymore on the plant either. The other tomato plants are producing already, not much, but producing. I would take a picture of the garden but it really looks terrible now.  The grass has about taken over the whole garden, sure haven’t given it enough attention!

Well, that’s about it for today see you on the next go around…Night Y’all..

Friday August 12th 2011

This is Friday August 12th and it is the first day of school for the neighbor boys.  Can’t believe school is starting so early!! This is Landon..

Here is Wesley and Keaton…

Yes they are twins and no I don’t know which one is Wesley and which one is Keaton.  It is hard to believe that they are going into the fourth grade and Landon is going into the seventh grade. The twins were in Day Care when I first met them!

I’m not going to do to much today.  I’m using the computer and getting caught up on some things.  Such as looking for a new mower.  Mark wants me to get a Kubota and I’m not sure I want to spend the money on one but they are really a good mower.

I decided to grill out today, Grant gave us some corn yesterday and I put that on the grill, Linda is making sweet potatoes and broccoli.  We had a couple of steaks we had bought in South Texas at this great little store, so I popped them on the grill.  Linda had a filet mignon and I had a rib eye.  Very good and we have enough left over for tomorrow!!

Rodeo week so the campground is pretty busy.  Fortunately the campers were pretty spread out in there timing.  Mark helped me with the first group of three then everything else was OK.

It took me until 6PM to get the bathrooms cleaned, not because we were busy but the men’s shower was really busy!

After things settled down the sky started turning dark and a little later the wind started blowing. Had a nice little storm!  I think it rained until 10PM so we got a nice little soaker, sure will make the grass grow!

I didn’t really stay awake all evening, I think I dozed a few times.  Time for bed now though….Night Y’all…

Thursday August 11th 2011

It is very nice out this morning!  It is cool and looks like it is going to be a gorgeous day!

When I go in to work at 9AM it doesn’t leave much time to do anything around here except play with Sparky which he kind of demands every morning but then he is young and still has a lot energy.

At work Mark decided it was going to be a nice day and we will  cool seal two mobile homes if all goes well.  On the first one it had some leaks so I took a gallon of tar and sealed everything that looked like it could leak. I think I did find where it was leaking though and tarred it up really good.

I started on the other one before lunch and it was kind of a mess.  The old cool seal was flaking bad and whoever did it before used duct tape on the seams and edges.  Guess that is OK but I had to remove some of it then go over the bad spots with a steel brush to get the lose stuff off so we could seal it.  Worked out pretty good and hopefully it won’t peal like the last coat.

We finished the second mobile home about 3PM and after getting all cleaned up and putting stuff away I got the mower out and mowed for the next two hours.  That was refreshing.

When I got home I wanted to mow our lawn and Daniel’s.  The grass has really grown the last week!  I made a couple of rounds and the mower plugged up.  I had to stop and we hoisted the tractor up so we could clean the deck.  I finally got the pressure washer out and cleaned it to a certain point.  Before I finished mowing it was plugged up again and the only way to clean it is to get it up off the ground and either pressure wash it or use something to pry the plug out.  Either way it isn’t fun and now I’ve decided to get a new mower.  An hour of mowing and an hour of cleaning the deck isn’t right.  Hopefully the mowers will be on sale later this fall.

After a shower and a little supper I took it easy again for the rest of the night.  I was going to grill out tonight but it was after 8PM when I finally made it into the house.  Larry finished mowing my lawn and half of Daniel’s lawn.  He has a small John Deere that works quite well so I may end up getting a John Deere also.

Well time for bed..Night Y’all….

Wednesday August 10th 2011

Early this morning it is a little cooler but still humid.  The grass is dripping wet and so is most everything else.

I forgot to wash my work clothes so I put them in the washer early so they would get done.  I have a couple pair of khaki pants that I wore at Beech Bend so I think I will get some use out of them before I throw them out.

I left my jeans hanging out on the railing outside hoping they would dry. Linda brought them in later and they hadn’t dried so I put them in the dryer when I got home from work, which brings me to work.  I worked on the golf cart again this morning, didn’t get it running.  Grant and I were going to cool seal a mobile home roof this morning but I think it is going to rain so Mark told us not to do it.

It did sprinkle after lunch, enough to get things wet but that was about all. I sprayed a lot of Roundup this afternoon and did some odd jobs around the park.  Today is the first day of the Boot heel Rodeo and the campers are coming in already.  Mierlin and I checked in five before 1 PM.  It slowed down after that though.  Mierlin didn’t require anymore help.  I think he did good for not doing this for over a year!

After I got home I thought about mowing the lawn but the grass was still kind of wet and I usually like to mow on Thursday.  Think I will wait until tomorrow and hope that it doesn’t rain.  The grass is really growing again after all the rain and now it is getting a little cooler.

Nothing going on again tonight, sounds boring doesn’t it?  Well, I did a lot of walking today and I’m tired so a little relaxing will be in order, maybe a little closing of the eyes???  Night Y’all….

Tuesday August 9th 2011

Can you believe it???  This summer is going fast and won’t be long before the snow flies, well, that’s what we used to say back in Illinois.  Here it is mostly ice settling on the trees and power lines etc..

It is supposed to be a beautiful day today, a cool front, or dry front, passed through and it is supposed to be in the high 80s today which will be very nice.

I put the chains back on the chain saws this morning and now they are ready for, well, sawing I guess, haven’t got anything to saw but they are ready!

I have also been trying to figure out about our camper.  It would really be nice to have a building to park it under but I’m looking into a cover for it.  I called a place in California about one so I will see what they have to offer.

Work went pretty good today, had a lot of nice people come in and that makes the job nice.  I’m glad I don’t work in the IRS, I think even nice people come in there upset, just because.

Well, I got out of work on time tonight and when I got home we had a little to eat, fresh tomato sandwiches and a bowl of soup.  Tomatoes out of our garden!  Home grown tomatoes are sure good!

Watched America’s Got Talent tonight.  They got acts off the internet for tonight and some of them, well, actually all of them were very talented. They had a Gothic Dance Group which I didn’t care for but they did dance good and the kids seemed very nice but it sure looked Satanic to me.  The judges all loved it.

Time to call it a day….Night Y’all…

Monday August 8th 2011

I have today off and don’t really have anything planned.  I know that we have to go to town for a few things and I left my chain saw chains at Delta Growers to get them sharpened and they should be done today.

I picked some more corn today and took out the first row of corn that I planted and I found out that Sparky likes sweet corn!

He took one of the ears that I had laying on the ground and he shucked it and ate all the corn off of it!

We have locusts also…

These are just the shells and it looks like they just stop and drop their shells where ever they happen to be.  Amazing.

Some of the corn that I picked I grilled and it turned out quite well except it is a little tough, kind of beyond it’s prime…

It tastes pretty good and looks good but with the hot dry weather we’ve had it is just a little tough and chewy.

This afternoon it seems to have cooled off just a little.  I think our hot spell is over for awhile. The weather forecast says that it won’t be in the 90s now for the next week.  I can handle that.

Well, for today that is about it, guess it will have to do until tomorrow.  Night Yall…

Sunday August 7th 2011

Today is Sunday and I’m going to go to Fellowship Baptist Church again. I like the preaching and the singing also!  I taped the Youth Pastor’s wife, her father and not sure if the other is a member of the church or her mother, guess I should ask…well I took a little video of the special but the video won’t download I guess, or maybe I don’t know how to do it!

Here is a picture of Josh the Youth Pastor…

I’m going to leave this picture small because it is kind of blurry.  He had a good sermon and it was actually the same as the Sunday School lesson. It was on love and he did a very good job and really didn’t use much of anything from Sunday School.  He used the 3 P’s… Passion for what you do and for those you love or those who need Jesus.  Pride, well, pride is what keeps you from the love of Jesus. Perseverance….keep on keeping on, don’t give up under pressure.  That was  a nutshell of what his sermon was about.

This afternoon I went to Morehouse Baptist Church.  The lady that sang the special was Ms Payne and I forgot her first name but I’ve seen her at Fellowship Baptist Church….

My pictures are really getting blurry for some reason and I can’t tell what they look like from the viewer.  I won’t even guess how old Ms Payne is but she has a beautiful voice!!  I was talking to our old Pastor from Harvest Time up in Rock Falls and I had mentioned about the singers they have down here.  She is one of them.  They really have a lot of great singers down here!!

Here is a picture of Paul who preached tonight.  He is just filling in for the regular pastor.  He did a great job.  I guess he is a regular pastor and attends church at Trinity Baptist Church in Sikeston.  Not sure but I think I’ve been there.

Well, this picture isn’t so blurry.  Turned out pretty good.

Tonight is a finale “Falling Sky” on some channel.  I’m going to watch it so I’m going to go now.   Have a great night Y’all…

Saturday August 6th 2011

Well I had a good day at work yesterday and hopefully it will be as good today.

Didn’t do to much this morning.  A guy from a metal building came to see us (about a metal building). This is what I would like to have…

Yep! This is pretty much what I would like to have.  I have to wait though to see about what kind of neighbor moves in next to us because I would need to use their driveway to park our camper.  I took this picture down in Mississippi when we were there last year.  The ones the guy was trying to sell was different looking with sides on it and that is the only way it comes. The ends can be open but the sides are part of the wall structure.  They did come up with one that was sixteen feet by forty feet which would work and the price wasn’t to bad but we can’t do it right now not knowing about the neighbors!

Well work was pretty easy until I made a mistake!!  Can’t believe I made a mistake!  I was about to pull my hair out until the people came in that I was worried about.  It all worked out but I was about a half hour late getting home, had to stop for gas though so that didn’t help.

Well, I need to relax tonight and let the stress go!!  Going to watch some TV and relax…..Night Y’all….

Friday August 5th 2011

We got a little more rain last night but I think part of the garden has already bitten the dust!!  The tomatoes are still doing pretty good and hopefully they will perk up and give us a few more tomatoes.

Got the lawn mowed just in time (yesterday) for it to rain and now it will probably turn green again and do a little growing.  It is still hot out and the grass needs some cool weather.

Work went OK today, kind of slow but when I parked one of the campers I just happened to notice the golf cart, it looked like it was camouflaged, looked just like a dirt ball sitting there so I decided to was time to wash some of the dirt off.  Doesn’t look to bad now.

Got a call from a place I called about a steel building for the camper. They are coming tomorrow about ten in the morning to show me what they have. It would be nice to be able to park the camper under a roof. We will see what they have to offer and of course the price.

Well, this was an OK day, not exciting for sure but it was pretty easy.. Think that is about all for now….Night Y’all…

Thursday August 4th 2011

We got some rain yesterday!!  It rained pretty hard and the wind blew a lot. We really needed the rain but I don’t think it will help the garden a lot, it is pretty well over heated now and the corn is dying. The tomatoes should be OK and the Okra also.

Well, Mark looked for the needle valve that I dropped somewhere and he couldn’t find it either.  I called the golf cart place in Neelyville and the guy there said he would send us a couple needle valves free.  The whole carburetor  would cost $186.  We will try the free parts first.

Mark and I drove through the park to get a few things for me to do today because I will be on my own again.  He will work at the cell phone store again for C.W. who took another vacation day.

Throughout the day I think I got every job done that he had listed plus a couple extra ones.  I kept busy all day and the temperature is only about ninety today so it isn’t to bad.

When I got home the electric bill was in the mailbox.  Not looking forward to this.  We’ve had to run the air conditioner all month because the heat and humidity were so high.  I figured $250, our home is all electric, and Linda of course made me guess. it was only $126!!!!  That is amazing!!!  We do run our air a little different than most other people though. During the day if it is really hot we set it on 81 degrees and then at night we keep turning it down until we get to 77 degrees.  May sound a little warm but for some reason we are both very comfortable.

Well, I had picked some sweet corn the other day and tonight I had a couple of ears.  It tastes good but it is getting pretty tough.  I think I should have picked it sooner.  We still have corn coming on but I planted it later. Hope it will be OK.

Mowed the lawn tonight.  There are only a few places that need mowing. I mowed Daniel’s back yard, for some reason it is really green and growing like crazy.  I mowed our front yard and part of the back yard under a tree where the roots are starting to sprout little trees, lots of little trees!

Well, another night to sit back and relax, did enough today I feel like I need the rest.  Oh, Bits made some goodies and I brought them home, not good for Linda’s diet but they were excellent.  I had to ask what was in them because I couldn’t tell.  They were made from crescent rolls, cream cheese, sugar and cinnamon.  I love cream cheese!  These were excellent for adding inches to your waist line!

I missed the weather forecast tonight, guess I had my eyes closed!  Night Y’all…..

Wednesday August 3rd 2011

Today is supposed to be one of the hottest days of the year! A little water on the garden won’t hurt anything. Not sure it will help either though.

Wonder what I will be doing today at work.  It is almost to hot to do anything outside.  I worked on the golf cart again this morning.  I know it is leaking gas so I have to figure out where it is leaking from and you can’t see the engine and run it at the same time.  The only way is to lift the back tires off the ground so that is what I did.  It took a little while but I can see the leak now.  HMMMM, I’m not a mechanic but I figure the carburetor  has a little problem so I take it apart, again. Yes there is a problem.  I lost the float valve. I lost that the last time I took it apart. I also lost the float and the pin that holds the float.  I found the pin and the float the last time and replaced them but I guess there was a valve that goes in there also.  I took another carburetor apart and saw what the missing part looks like and tried to find it but that has been a week ago and no telling where it could be. I think maybe it landed on the chassis which you can’t get at and it has a valley in it that is a catch all and really hard to get things out of it.  Well, we need to order the valve I guess, we will see what Mark says.

This afternoon I did some odd jobs, used the leaf blower for awhile, pulled weeds and picked up trash. Almost to hot to be working outside.

When I got home and watched the weather, the weather forecaster said Cape got up to 103 and it seems we are always warmer than Cape. I drank a lot of water today!

Going to take it easy and rest up tonight.  Just to tired to do much of anything else.  Night Y’all….

Linda made some bacon and tomato sandwiches for supper!  Tomatoes are from our garden, they are starting to come on a little faster now but not real fast.  Hopefully we will get enough for us to give some away…

Tuesday August 2nd 2011

OK I’m a day late on this one, I was to tired yesterday to do it but now I will try to remember what all happened today??

I know I got up this morning, let me think now, I’m sure that it is really going to be warm today, it’s been warm every day.  I have to go to work this afternoon but I am going to do a few things around here.  I got the tiller out and went down a row of grass (in the garden) and tried to get most of it tilled under. It wasn’t hard to do. I got the weed eater out next and got some of the grass that is way out of control.  Out by our mailbox, where I can’t get with the mower, it is almost as tall as I am, well, not quite but it sure doesn’t look good.  I got that done and a few other spots that really are not looking good.

Work this afternoon went pretty good, very slow in terms of campers coming in for the night.  Got a few but not many.  I think it is just to hot to travel.  I’m still amazed that most campers are very friendly, some, well, maybe they just had a rough day.

Got out of work on time and headed home.  I thought that I should water the garden, it’s look really parched.

We didn’t do anything special tonight.  Guess that’s about it!!  Night Y’all…

Monday August 1st 2011

Got the day off today and will probably do a few things around here like water the garden.  I figured it would rain but it didn’t, at least not here. We have a little running around to do, I want to get the oil changed in the car, it’s about that time.  Getting close to fifty thousand on it now.  Got new tires for it before going to Illinois so that is taken care of.  Got the car washed to, that is part of the oil change here.  Now I have to clean the inside and make it look presentable.  I had dropped Linda off at Wal Mart while I went to the Quick Lube place.  I also had to stop at the bank.

We didn’t get much at Wal Mart, I wanted to go to Lowe’s to check out a tank for the well and just look around.  Things are sure expensive!  Found a nice twenty gallon tank for $150 but didn’t buy it, just looking!

When we finished at Lowe’s then we went back to Wal Mart to get a few groceries.  We spent quite a little bit of time in Wal Mart and we didn’t get home until after 3PM.  Sparky was ready to go out but he sure was good. Nothing torn up and no accidents!!  I think that he is pretty well trained now.

Linda keeps losing weight, but she gains a little when she fudges on her diet.  I just don’t like the Nutri-System food, I think it tastes terrible. I guess she is OK with most of it.

Nothing going on tonight, taking it easy….Night Y’all..

Sunday July 31st 2011

Nice sunny day today, thought it might rain last night but it didn’t.

Went to Friendship Baptist again this morning.  Sunday School was good and so was church.

After church I stopped at Food Giant and bought some chicken. They really have good chicken!  Lunch was good. Had some tater puffs and sweet corn.  The sweet corn is small but still very good.

I got to take a nap this afternoon!  Not a long one but it helped.

Tonight at church they had a 5th Sunday Sing.  Well, they had a group in called “Golden Street”…

I had to take a picture of this because I couldn’t remember the name of the quartet.  I like Ps 100, even have a song from it!

Here they are…..

I don’t know their names but from L to R..Bass, Baritone, Lead and Tenor..

They were very good.  The tenor was especially good, even though they were all good but he had a really high voice and he didn’t try to out sound the rest like some tenors I have heard.  They were a compliment to each other.

We got to talk to the kids in SD (San Diego) tonight on the phone.  They are making preparations to go camping at Big Bear next week.  Sounds like fun.

Well that’s about all for today….Night Y’all…