Hello Deer

This is not one of Santa's reindeer, but a local buck visiting Gene's corn feeder. He has a digital wildlife camera mounted on a tree, near the feeder, with a motion detector on it. So we get photos of not only deer, but raccoons, squirells, possums, turkeys, and Big Foot. This deer is not in our freezer, but a friend of his is. Yummm. Yesterday's weather was nice, so Gene took down his blind and the camera for the season. He'll continue to put corn in the feeder, especially when the weather gets frigid and it gets harder for the critters to find food, or until he uses up all his allowance on corn, whichever comes first.

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, our's was quiet. For New Year's Eve, my garage band "Sonic Wood" will be playing at Brick's. I'm going to need a powerful nap in the afternoon in order to stay up and alert, that late. And it will take me all of the first, just to recover from the late night. Rock and roll is hard in your 50's.

Take care, much love to all.

Joan

HAY!

That's Lawrence on the left, and Boaz on the right saying "hay" to y'all. We had 4" of snow on Tuesday, and freezing rain forecast for tonight. Oh goody. It's nice knowing that new generator is in the garage, just in case...

Our holiday plans are to be home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (church on the eve), and then attend a Nelson family luncheon on Jan. 3 at Andy and Kristin's house with all of Gene's kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, etc. etc. Jenna arrives from the Netherlands this Sunday. Pretty low key.

Hope everyone is well, and wishing you a blessed Christmas season!

Joan

We're going to miss sweet Aunt Lolo!

How about this one?

I couldn't pass up sending this one along to you all. Made me laugh out loud!

Glory of fall

Every fall I'm shocked by the beauty. View from the front yard, and right side neighbors.

Did I mention Titans 8-0 !

A bunch of Jeff's family flew in from California, so we spent Sunday with the family cheering the Titans on to one more victory!

Halloween

Chloe got dressed up as a pumpkin and greeted one of two tricker-treaters who ventured to our door. She wasn't a very good model.

The newest sanctuary

Recent jaunt to Kentucky

Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home. Being a teacher's/principal's kid, I can't ever pass up a National Park.

The Blue Marlin Lounge

My garage band is now playing the garage tour. On Saturday night, we played a private birthday party, in the coolest garage I've ever seen! It doesn't show on this photo, but take my word for it, Tim Taylor of Tool Time would have loved this garage! Anyway, we had a good time and were asked again, to play at The Little Grill (small Manhattan restaurant). We're going to play Brick's soon, it depends on how my minor leg surgery goes next week, but that's another story. This photo isn't very clear, I think my friend Sue took it with her phone. Imagine that!

XOXXX, Joan

Thought you might like to see a "happy" from the Nashville-Perrys. "Captain Rachel Ray" has had a great Freshman Vball season, made good friends, enjoyed her new coaches and learned the secret handshake (hail-Mary- full of grace). Oh, yah, and school's good too. Here are a few pictures from a recent game. In one of the pictures you'll see John's leg, my parents, me and her youth leader from church. My parents were here for a week, my dad helped put up a shed in the back yard and my mom and I enjoyed watching them work. Besides the stinkin' stock market, we're happy-- the Titans and Vandy are both winning. Rachel and John went to see Vanderbilt beat Auburn recently (she took my ticket so she'd have an excuse not to go to homecoming)! Today she's going to Knoxville for her first UT-- Vols game--orange nail polish and all. It's all things football here in the South.
We are well, and we miss you. John will be going to CA soon, so he'll bring our love!

Aloha!!

Aloha Everyone! Ron, Ryan and I are back from 6 wonderful days in Kauai! We had a great time sitting on the sunny beach, reading and eating (my favorite things to do!). Ryan's main goal was to read two books and get "negro" as he puts it. He accomplished both! So needless to say we weren't too adventuresome. Ryan has informed us that he will be joining us the next time we go. I guess that means he had a good time.

Here are some pictures. The seals are not dead, they just come up on the beach everyday to sunbathe. The hotel ropes them off so that people don't bother them. Our hotel was great, right on the beach, we just opened our patio door and there it was. The sunset picture was from our room. We are ready to go back!!

Well, gotta run for now, but we love you all and miss those of you that we don't get to see often enough!

Janelle

New Toy

This is Gene's newest "big boy toy". And yes, that's a gun rack on the front. The bucket-hat is his latest fashion statement. He is waaaaaaay cool.

Have a good weekend, love to you all.

Joan

Celebrations at the Nashville Perrys!

"We" just finished our second cataract surgery and so far the ol eye got an update-- a lifetime free of contacts or glasses-- if all goes according to plan. But better than that, John's boss took him to lunch on Monday and said that he had been promoted to "Partner". His name was submitted to a leadership group at the firm and he was voted in unanimously. He received a note from one of the guys of welcome, and he said what a fine addition John was and that he does all things with excellence. Rachel and I don't exactly know what exactly partner means, but we celebrated him with a candlelight steak dinner Monday night. The two Perry girls here are awful proud. I knew you'd want to know.

Other news:
RR is a bit overwhelmed with the "more homework" part of high school. She just was voted captain of the vball team, and is playing really well. Nice girls on the team, great new friends-- and she looks adorable in her catholic school girl uniform.

Since we couldn't go to the USC/UVA game (boo hoo!!), I listed the tickets on ebay. The bidding should be over around 5:00 PM today, and this morning the price is at $256. To ease the guilt of feeling like a scalper, we'll donate all the money to Immanuel. Have you checked out our website? Check here. Love to all.

Isn't John great!!

The Unsinkable Water-Dogs

That was our garage band's name, yesterday, as we played music aboard a big, beautiful houseboat. We were electrified and everything! At one point, the boat owner anchored in a cove (other side of the lake), and we attracted quite a crowd. The guy with the dreads, is Kendrick, local restaurant owner/musician/Jamaican. He always calls me "sister", which cracks me up! Now he wants us to come play at his restaurant. Next thing you know, we'll need a tour bus!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend, much love to all.

Joan

Arkansas Road Trip

Last weekend, Gene and I drove to Fayetteville, AR to visit Carole and her family. They moved there last December, and we had yet to make the trip. We dropped off the dogs at Andy's first, and from there it was about a 4 1/2 hour drive. We arrived Friday evening and had take-out chicken, the kind Bill and Hilary favor. Honestly. Saturday morning, we got loaded up and headed to the Elk River (southern Missouri) for a day of canoeing. Gene and I had Maddy (9) and Kate (7) in our canoe, while Dave and Carole took Sofe (5) and the ice chest. The outfitter drove us 8 miles up-river and unloaded us. The weather was hot and the river was beautiful. When we stopped for lunch, Carole and I discovered, to our dismay, that the made-to-order sandwiches were still in the refrigerator at her house. So lunch was chips, bananas, and Little Debbie snack cakes. Later, we came upon a low water road, which required us to portage over it, and down some steep rocks, back into the river below. You know, if there's going to be an accident, it's going to be me, and it was. Long story short, my foot slipped, went between 2 rocks, stuck, canoe coming at me, etc. etc. I bled for awhile, wrapped a towel around my lower leg to slow the swelling and did my best to "cowgirl up". It's a week later now, and this is one ugly leg. Good thing the river didn't have sharks! So Saturday evening, we took everyone out to supper and got a brief driving tour of Fayetteville. It's a lovely old, college town, with a surprising amount of money! Lots of Fortune 500 people/companies. Sunday morning, we drove back to Andy's to attend baby Hadley's baptism. While I was doing my hair Sunday morning, Sofe asked me what a "baptise" was. I did my best to explain it to a 5 year old... Finally home Sunday evening and tired of driving. But it was a good trip. I'll include some photos for your viewing pleasure.

It's really hot and humid here right now, dog days they call it, so we're out before the sun comes up, watering and choring, so we can get in as quickly as possible. Probably ought to rent some movies... This coming Thursday is Gene's last day at KSU. He still doesn't have a start date for Ft. Riley, and I don't think that bothers him at all.

Take care everyone and I love y'all!

Joan

The Goon Squad in Kansas

Well, they've come and gone and I think a good time was had by all. Brent and Maureen flew in from Maryland and arrived at our house Saturday afternoon. They had never met Gene, nor visited the Flint Hills. They liked both. On their way to our house, they drove through Emporia and Council Grove. Being the world travelers that they are, I didn't even bother with directions, knowing they'd find our house eventually. We took them to church Sunday morning, then did the driving tour of KSU and Manhattan. Supper at Brick's. Cheryl and Dave didn't arrive until late Sunday evening, along with 13 yr. old Reid and his best friend Anthony. We spent all Monday at the lake, swimming and boating. Our neighbor let us use their wave-runner, so we had that in addition to our boat. We had the pop-up shelter for shade and plenty of cold beverages, so it was a lovely day. Most people only need one foam noodle to float about on, but Brent, in all his largeness, needed 6! Maureen and Cheryl came to my swim class Tuesday, along with Brent. When he realized it was all chicks, he opted to read on a chaise in the shade. Wuss. He walked over to the post office and the grocery store, which caused all sorts of talk in town. Everyone he came into contact with, looked him all the way up, which is a very long way, and invariably said "you're not from around here, are you". And of course, they asked if he played ball at KU. Spent the rest of Tuesday in the lake. While we were at the pool, the boys wanted to shoot guns and Gene obliged. A few of our trees may be mortally wounded, but not many. Then Wednesday morning, they were off! Leaving Gene and I with one day to clean up before we left for Arkansas (blog to follow).

Since I never figured out how to place photos, I'll just put them in here and you'll figure them out. The one that really cracks me up, is Dave aka Mr. Safety, looking down the barrel of a gun! Good thing Cheryl didn't see that one! And the one of everyone around the coffee table, is a jigsaw puzzle in process. Pretty wild bunch. Anyway, it was a fun time and I'm sure they'll be back. Gene and I were commenting after they left, how lucky we were that everything worked while the house was full, you know, the septic tank didn't overflow, no severe weather, etc. So on Thursday, the electricity went out and the hot water valve on the washing machine blew! Talk about timing! So, that's it for now, I'll get the Arkansas story out soon.

Love to all, Joan

Speed demons

Museum quality gals

More Midwest Weather and Cute Photos

I'm getting pretty tired of this weather...

Wednesday when I went to town, I was able to see some of the tornado damage. It really is unbelievable. Two of our church families lost their homes, and a third home burnt up when it was hit by lightening.

So last night, the weather alarm goes off and says a dangerous storm is over Tuttle Creek Lake and anyone living nearby should go to the basement and instantaneously, BANG! the lightening and thunder and wind hit! Not much of a head's up on that one. Then the hail came and of course, Gene manages to sleep through most of it, until I wake him up and say "it's getting too scary, the dogs and I are going to the basement". He went back to sleep. It was so loud, we couldn't hear each other talking, in the same room. When it finally blew over, we had a broken window and 3 trees down. In the light of morning, we saw my veggie garden totally flattened. Bummer. Lots of limbs down and 2" of rain in the rain gauge. Neighbors in the canyon lost shingles and Aggie's vinyl siding looks like Swiss cheese. Christel asked me to keep my eyes open for her laundry (it was on the clothes line...outside). We spent all this morning cleaning up, chainsawing and checking on neighbors. What a mess, but at least we still have a house! I'll be glad when severe weather season is over and it's just hot.

And...I've got some cute photos from Father's Day. I'll just post a few and make real copies to mail out.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, keep your fingers crossed for good weather in the midwest, we could all use a little break.

Joan

Wild Weather!

Well, last night almost did blow us away! First of all, Monday morning brought softball size hail to parts of Manhattan. Out at the regional airport, all the parked cars had windows smashed out and vehicles destroyed. Luckily, we only got 2 1/2" rain, no hail. Tuesday, another 1/2" of rain. Then all day yesterday, they kept warning us of "deadly weather" expected. It hit us at about 5:35pm and I've never seen such violent weather. The dogs and I were hiding behind the kitchen bar first and peeking out the big windows, and when it got too scary, we went downstairs. Tornadoes were being reported all around us, just across the lake and outside of Manhattan, but again, we dodged the bullet. Gene got caught in it, just at the mailboxes and when it hit, he said he couldn't see anything!

This morning, on my inspection lap around the canyon, we had several large tree limbs come down on our property, and the road down to the lake is blocked with a tree. One of the boat docks has come loose, as the lake level is way up, so tonight after work, we need to go down and coral the dock. My poor little gardens sure took a beating, they're looking very flat. And our next door neighbors cabin took a hit when a big tree broke off and crashed through their screen porch.

All in all, we were very lucky. The horses are fine, we're fine, a little soggy (3 1/2" rain yesterday in about 20 minutes) and so far, it doesn't sound like anybody got hurt in any of the funnel clouds. So we'll count our blessings, and spend the weekend doing clean-up.

So, that's what happening here, have a good weekend and I'll see some of you next week.

Love, Joan

No, we haven't blown away...yet

Just thought I'd check in with some recent photos, and let y'all know that contrary to what you see on the news, we have not been blown away by any tornadoes. Lots of rain, lightening and thunder, along with big wind, but that's May in Kansas. The neighbor's house, up on top, did get hit by lightening last week. Another advantage to living down in the canyon.

Since I don't understand photo placement, I'll just tell you what I'm posting and you'll have to figure it out for yourself. The garden photos are from the other day...I really like this time of year. We've got iris on the hillside, some roses and the jungle is getting into it's rain forest mode. Last weekend, we saw Andy and Kristin for a few hours, which means we saw the munchkins. Brody inherited the John Deere tractor from his cousin; it's a crack-up watching him drive around, he knows how the accelerator works but the steering wheel is just ornamental as far as he's concerned. And I've also included a recent pic from The Enchilada Lounge. Did I tell you...we're actually going to be paid to play at a new businesses open house?!

I just got back from my third lesson, on the therapeutic riding horse. I'm doing better, trying hard to remember to breathe in and out and relax in the saddle. Today, we rode up and down a hillside without incident. Maybe this weekend, I'll feel up to working Boaz, in the round pen. My fear issues are not completely resolved, but I'm working on it.

Well, that's all the news that's fit to report for now. I'm looking forward to visiting so. Cal. in 2 weeks, and seeing the California family. An In-and-Out Burger would be good too...

Take care, all my love to you!

Joan

The John Perrys have not dropped off the face of the earth, although Nashville sometimes feels that far away. We are all well. Rachel is counting down the days until junior high is over-- 13 more days. She's telling us she'll become a catholic in the Fall, as she'll be attending Father Ryan High School (the Fighting Irish)! Here's a picture of her last tournament in Chattanooga where they won it all. (If you click on the picture it gets bigger and she's #9--the trophies were iTunes certificates). Friday we'll be traveling to Atlanta for the last tournament of the year. The spring is more glorious than ever with our dogwood tree singing. Although John's allergies are in full bloom as well. We're all busy with our new church. It's a family affair-- John is the treasurer, Rachel organized an effort to help persecuted Christians in Afghanistan. She's talked the last three sundays and the whole congregation took part. I'm working part-time (yeah, right) pulling things together. We're happy to be pioneers in more ways than one. Here's our website if you want to pay a visit-- www.ImmanuelNashville.com Life is good! We love and miss you all. Thanks, Joan for the updates!