Just checking in...

Good morning and happy Father's Day! Gene is in Overland Park, he and Andy always go fishing for Father's Day, and they come home with a ton of fish! They go to a private pond on Andy's friends acreage, and it doesn't get fished often, so there are lots of fish in it. The dogs and I are here braving the severe weather alone. This week, we've had over 5" of rain, along with 70 mph winds. Ahhhh, June in Kansas.

Thursday afternoon, I went into our little barn for horse feed, and got stung on the bridge of my nose by an unknown flying assailant. It felt like I'd been shot in the face, immediately my entire face began to hurt. Of course, I continued with the horse feed, all the while repeating "ow ow ow". And I'm thinking, "I wonder if I'm allergic to stings? I've not been stung before..." Got home and Gene gave me 3 Benedryl right away and put ice on my nose. It didn't take long for my nose and eyes to swell up. Even my eyebrows hurt! Gene enjoyed calling me "Big Nose Kate" for a day. Looking and feeling better today, just a little residual swelling in my left eye.

Friday evening, our band played at Meadowlark Retirement Community for their Summer Fest. We played there last year. (sunglasses hid my swollen eyes) It's a multi-generational party and we were a hit! Very hot and sweaty though, I told the boys that while we were performing, I could actually smell us! Not good. This year, they had a 20 x 20 foot tent for us...yippee! So we weren't in the blazing sun.

Off to church and the grocery store. I think the weather will hold for a few hours, right now the storms are north of us, so I'll make a break for it.

Much love to all, from all of us.
Joan

Paige's Prom

Well, I haven't blogged for a very long time because I haven't really had much to blog about. But I thought you all might like to see some of Paige's prom pictures. The one where she is wearing the short dress is Huntington's prom and the long dress is Edison's. Her dates are just friends of hers. For Huntington's prom, the kids got a "party bus", kinda like a limo, but in a charter bus size. It was very cool!! Wish they had those when I was in high school. We had 40 kids plus parents here for dinner and pictures before. It was so fun to see them all dressed up. They all had a great time! Paige is in major countdown mode till graduation. Can't believe we will have another one out...only one more to go:)

Hope all is well with everyone and we love you all!

Janelle

Away in a manger...

I know this is a bad picture, but I just wanted you to see where we played over the weekend...it was a backyard shed, that Dale thought looked like a manger! The party was called "Bobstock" and it rained, and it thundered along with some lightening. The things we do! In the end, it was fun and no one was electrocuted. This coming Friday night, we're playing at a bar & grill in Manhattan. The fun continues!

Joan

A Few More Photos From The Hoover

This was a real theater, with 400 seats and balconies!

This is the C.L. Hoover Opera House in Junction City, KS

The boys warming up in our dressing room...

This coming Sunday, we're playing a party for Dale's brother-in-law, in a barn. Yee haw!

You've Come A Long Way, Baby!

From Dale's garage in Oak Canyon, to the C.L. Hoover Opera House as the opening act for The Alley Cats...we even had a dressing room, for heaven's sake! A sound guy, who made us sound really good, I mean the whole thing was surreal! I was sure I was going to throw up, from nerves, but I didn't. The theater holds 400 and was almost full, fortunately with the stage lights, we couldn't see past the first row. We got a great response and lots of inquiries. Our show was 30 minutes/7 songs and it absolutely flew by! There are some pictures of us on stage, that friends have sent, I just need to figure out how to get them on this blog. So, in the next day or so, I'll try to do that.

Joan

Nelson visit

Andy and Kristin came to visit last weekend with 2 year old Hadly and 3 year old Brody. Hadley really liked riding Rusty, with Gene leading her. She'd say she was "riding the range", complete with black cowgirl boots with pink flowers. Of course. Rusty practically napped the whole time. Brody rode but wasn't nearly as enamored with it as Hadley. She's been telling the other kids at Gymboree that her "Pop Gene bought her a horse".
Andy and Gene attempted to fish, which is difficult at best when there are 2 little kids throwing rocks and 3 dogs swimming in your fishing area. Gene did manage to catch about a dozen crappie, and Brody enjoyed terrorizing his mom with the worms he found in the bait box. All boy. Both kids discovered Gene's keyboard and entertained us by "playing music". We were exhausted by the time they left, and can only hope they were as tired!

My band has a show tomorrow night, hopefully I'll get some photos and/or short video.

Hope everyone is well, and that the Nashville Perry's haven't floated away.

Love, Joan

Hi, I'm new in town!

My name is Rusty Lou, and I'm a 34 year old, former barrel racing mare (that's a girl, for you non horse types), and I just moved into the Nelson Equine Retirement Home. My human, Dr. Gene found me at Hope Ranch where he volunteers in the therapeutic riding program and brought me here when my job was done at the Ranch. I'm going to help teach the grandkids to ride and maybe my other human, the clumsy lady will get over some of her fear issues with me. My roomies are 2 geldings (boy horses), Lawrence doesn't pay much attention to me, I think that's because he knows he's the boss, but Boaz seems very interested in me. I'm sure it's my winning personality and stunning good looks...actually I think he's hoping that maybe, just maybe, he may finally stop being the bottom horse on the totem pole. We horses have a very definate hierarchy, it's the class system you know. Anyway, I just thought I would introduce myself to my new family, I'm sure you'll be hearing more about me in the future. By the way, my humans say "hi" to everyone and wish you a good weekend.

Rusty Lou