Horse Camp

 I know I've told some of you about the catfish that Gene and the neighbors have been catching, well here's one days worth of fish. There were 11 on that trot line and Maddy and Kate were mighty impressed!

 The first riding lesson of the week started bright and early this morning, followed by picking fish off the trot line. Then of course, you have to go bait fishing so you can re-bait the trot line tomorrow! The girls had more fun playing in the creek mud than bait fishing, but that's okay too. Then we took the boat up to Sandy Beach for swimming (I'm not allowed in the lake this summer due to my toe surgery so I just looked like a dork on the beach with a sock and shoe. Can you say "loser?")

After showers, the girls helped me prepare a pasta supper while Grandpa Gene napped. Now it's time to head everyone off to bed so we can do it again tomorrow!

Joan

Nashville trip

 This photo is specifically for Uncle Paul, who has been waiting to see John's shop. It's really quite something, he's managed to fit a whole bunch of stuff into a small space and it's so tidy! I'll email Paul a few more shop photos.

 This was the setting for Rachel's graduation party, Jeff Fisher's place in the country. It was beautiful! Melinda puts on quite a party!

  Melinda's brother, Mike along with Joe and Mary. It was good to spend time with them and get to know Mike and Christie too.l

Finally, the big day and Rachel is a high school graduate! It was a very nice ceremony, fortunately it was indoors. We had a great time visiting and will definately go back (next time we'll fly!)

Women On Target

I spent all day yesterday at the gun range at an event put on by the women of the N.R.A. It was called Women on Target and we were instructed how to safely use archery equipment, shotguns, rifles, muzzle loaders and hand guns. This target that I'm showing off is from the rifle range, I also did very well in the other disciplines. On the archery range, I totally took out a pig and turkey foam targets. I liked the shotgun because they had one of those target flingers, so the moving target was fun. I'm certainly not ready to go out and purchase a firearm, but I feel quite a bit safer just knowing how to handle them.  Today, my right shoulder is a little ouchy from the rifles and shotguns, but you gotta be tough to be a Woman on Target!

9 more days of High School. Love for you to join us!

Cute Girls

These are Carole's girls, Kate on the left, Sofe's the redhead and Maddy is laying down. Just as cute and as nice as they can be!

Joan

Kitchen cabinet facelift

After 15 years, the kitchen cabinets received a much needed facelift. We hired the same couple that painted the house, rebuilt the deck, painted the bathroom, well, you get the picture, they're pretty handy! The cabinet behind Birdie's dishes used to have louvered doors which were dust magnets, so Roy built new doors. Trim was glued onto the door fronts for architectural interest, and some hardware was replaced. The lower cabinets are slightly darker in color.

Roy added glass to 3 doors, the 2 you see and the one that holds glassware on the other side of the sink. It really looks good, reflects light and sparkles. Now I just have to keep them clean.

So that's what we've been doing! Time to start on the garden...

Joan

Harveyville tornado cleanup

Harveyville is a small town, southwest of Topeka. They were hit Tuesday night by a tornado that wiped out 60% of the town. Gene and I went yesterday (Friday) to volunteer through the American Red Cross. The photo above is Gene and his trusty chainsaw working on a row of Osage Orange trees that were completely laid down flat. The good news is, the tree line probably saved the house from more damage.

This is downtown Harveyville. I took this through the windshield. See the white pickup truck on the right? Right above it is a white pile, that was an RV. I watched a little girl, probably 7 or 8, picking up debris and she was wearing her nightgown and a parka. That's probably all she had. We emptied the trailer at a makeshift dump behind the fire station, which was still standing. Amazing how quickly they organized things. Topeka restaurants are taking turns feeding people in the firehouse.

This is the first house we stopped at. You can see they're missing the roof on the left side. Across the road was a hay field where I picked up bits of their lives, a coffee cup, pages from a year book, a sprinkler head.

We came home tired and dirty, but we came home to a house that's still standing. We were certainly reminded to count our blessings.

Joan