Good Morning!

It's another beautiful morning in the Flint Hills! Actually, it's still dark outside, but I know it's going to be beautiful. We leaving in an hour for Overland Park; Gene is taking Andy and Dave Lewis to a hunting preserve outside of Lawrence, along with dogs Birdie and Belle, for a little warm-up before the opening of bird season. While they're doing their thing, I'll hang out with Kristin and the 2 little ones.

This picture is from last Sunday's lunch at mom and dad's house. Lovely young ladies.

Have a good day, much love to you all.

Joan

Camping

Last weekend, Gene, Birdie and I went horse camping at Eisenhower State Park, on Melvern Lake, just south of Osage City. We met up with some friends from Fort Scott. It was Birdies first camping trip and my first official trail ride in 3 years. Everything went fine, no wrecks, good weekend. Saturday evening we drove into Osage City for supper, so I gave everyone the guided tour, pointing out the cleaners, both houses, the old campgrounds (now a Sonic drive-in and grocery store), even where mom was born!

Right now, we're having the outside of the house painted. It's looking really good! And we recently replaced the kitchen and bathroom windows along with the sliding glass dooor (french door now). Home improvements!

The band is going to begin recording next week, so we'll have something to use as a marketing tool and to sell at shows. No shows scheduled for October, which makes this a good time to record. Tomorrow night, we're going to audition a bass player...we'll see...

That's all for now, much love to all!

Joan

Some new photos

Just a few photos from the past 2 weeks. I got these out of order...the top one is the band playing a Friday Night Live happy-hour sort of thing at the Colbert Hills Golf Club development. Really hot! I was sure we were going to melt! Then there's Hadley and Brody at the Deana Rose Children's Homestead in Overland Park. We visited Andy and Kristin over the weekend and this was an outing with the kids. Cute place. Next is the band playing a Labor Day Festival in Chapman, KS (home of our mandolin player). It was really hot that day too! And the bottom photo was taken during sound check at a private party following the Watermelon Festival in Clyde, KS. We play some really swinging places!

Had some very strong storms last night with cloud rotation in the Olsburg area. Birdie and I got nervous enough to go downstairs until it blew itself out. Today is just muddy, but more storms forecast for tonight.

That's all for now!

Happy Birthday Donna!

We're grateful for your strength and stability in all our lives. Bless you today! the Nashville Perrys

The barn at night

For all intents and purposes, the new barn is finished! Before we fill it with hay, tractors and trailers, Gene wants to have a big party. The little barn is from our other place, just relocated for the horses to hang out in. Still need to figure out the water set-up and a few storage issues, but it's basically done, and Gene is so happy!

Happy Trails, Maggie

Yesterday we said goodbye to 15 year old Maggie. She had an idyllic dog's life, here in the canyon, she never knew a day confined. The Big Dog will be missed big time, and Birdie will have to learn how to be the alpha dog around here. God bless her swimming, fetching little heart...

Horse Camp

Horse Camp 2010 was a great hit with Maddy and Kate! They were involved in all the daily horse chores and Grandpa Gene gave them riding lessons every morning. The hot afternoons were spent swimming and watching movies. The girls are excellent conversationalists and very entertaining. We really enjoyed having them here. I think Kate is more interested in riding than Maddy, whose attention span is shorter than Kate's.

I've included a photo from the new Manhattan City Water Park. We swam there Friday afternoon and they have this String Ray Wave Pool. Of course, the girls and I had to try it out. Maddy did better than Kate, and this old lady ROCKED the wave machine! I was the only middle-aged woman and I had the longest ride(that's not me in the photo). It was way fun!

The girls got to hear my band play Wednesday evening and Kate even helped with some percussion. St. Joseph's Catholic Church had their annual picnic and my band played. They also have penny games for the kids, so the girls won a load of junk! It really was a fun week with lots of activities.

Now it's just hot!

Joan