Home Again, Home Again

Well, it seems that blogger isn't going to let me upload pics today. Maybe someday they will let me do what I want, but probably not.

We're back. Isn't it amazing how exhausting it is to have fun? I didn't really do anything but I needed a full day to recover! Tablerock lake was beautiful as usual. Branson was impossible to get around, as usual. We stayed at a different lake house than we stayed at last year, which was different from the house we stayed at the year before. So far they have all been nice, but with their own little quirks. This year's place the quirk was the driveway which was mondo steep. Jeff backed the boat down on Saturday so we could unload it and then we couldn't get the thing back up the drive! When ever you're in Kimberling City, I suggest you call Larry's wrecker. As a matter of fact, if you need a wrecker in Kimberling City you better call Larry's wrecker because he is the only one in town! Anyway, Larry was fast and courteous and only charged $65, which I thought was a bargain for the only wrecker in a resort town. So the truck and boat were out of the drive, the boat was put in the water and a fun lake time was had by all.

Ma (Kathy's ex-husband's mom) and Myrna (his sister) were there with us and we had some really great fish and fresh vegetables that they brought with them. And then one night we went to American Bandstand Theater (Ma's nephew Earl works there) and saw Paul Revere and the Raiders and Bill Medley from the Righteous Brothers. For those of you that old enough to remember, Paul Revere hasn't gotten any more sane. He has slowed down some but since he is turning 69 this year, I guess he has the right. It was a great show, especially since it was free. On our way, the kids were asking me what songs Paul Revere did and for the life of me, I couldn't remember a single one. But once the show started I could sing along with every one, which made Kathy poke me with her elbow several times. She always does that when I start singing along too loud.

Besides the driveway, the other quirk for this house was Sly the fox. Apparently we weren't the first to feed him, since he didn't really mind scooting under the railing and coming up on the deck if he wasn't fed fast enough. I do have pictures and if blogger will ever let me put them on I will put up not only Sly's smiling face (at least I think that was a smile.....) but also the kids playing in the hot tub and Keith, Shawn, and Jeff trying out Keith's hookah that Laura brought him from Qatar (yes, it was just tobacco in it, I checked. What was put in it after I went to bed, I don't want to know!)

I'm going to close this off. It is time to get dinner ready. We still have a housefull for a few days. It's fun but little kids are exhausting!

Be kind to somebody today. And make it a member of your family. Sometimes we treat strangers better than those we love, let's all try to change that!

Wayne

See you in a week

Well, we leave tomorrow to do the family reunion thing. Luckily it isn't the same family reunions I grew up with. The chances are slim that any weapons will be drawn. And cousins sleeping together is almost unheard of.

Keith will join us from from St Louis. Ma and Myrna will come in from Kennett. Ma and Myrna are Bill's family (for those of you that don't know, Bill was Kathy's first husband) and a lot of people think it is kinda weird that I enjoy family reunions with Kathy's ex-husband's (deceased) family. Well, I can't help if people think it's weird, but since I was almost a pall bearer at Bill's funeral and almost had to do the eulogy (Bill's childhood friend made it just in time to be pall bearer and Keith stepped up for the eulogy) I don't think it's all that strange anyway!

I couldn't leave y'all without pictures to contemplate though. Jeff's brother or cousin or something is a semi-professional photographer and he took some pics of Maddox and Jill and Jeff. Of, course, you don't even have to be a semi-good photographer to get good pics of those three but I still think they came out pretty good.

Needless to say, I have them on my screen saver, I know, it's amazing, you'd think I was proud or something.

And in case you're wondering if there is anything blooming in the gardens, well, the answer is not much! For those of you in civilized parts of the world, we have been having 100plus temps for the last week. My son-in-law, Shawn, just returned from Qatar says it was cooler there. But we do have something

Now, some people call these surprise lilies. My mother always called them naked ladies. The leaves come up in early to mid spring, soak up the sun and die back. Then a couple of months later these beauties come up. And you better pay attention. The stalks will come up and they will bloom in the matter of a few days, sometimes it seems like a few hours! There is another variety that I also have a few of, that bloom in early fall. A really beautiful red. The pics will be posted I promise.

Well, that's all I have for now. I think I'll go and see if I can finish packing.

Take care of yourselves and each other. Find someone that God needs for you to love and show them.

Wayne

Please save me.

Ok, it's official. I'm going to stop making fun of our daughter Laura for not posting very much. You really can't get anything done when the kids around. Every time I started to post something there was a crisis (I don't care what you say, Erin looking at me with puppy dog eyes and wanting something is a crisis!) and I couldn't get anything done. Well, the kids are asleep and Kathy and Laura are at Michael's (Kathy won't let me go with them to Michael's, she's learned) so I figured I'd steal a few minutes and see if I can tell you everything that has been going on..... Nope, too much information, not enough time. Anyway. We've been spending a lot of time playing with the kids and catching up with Laura and enjoying the time. We;ve also been spending a lot of time over at Jill and Jeff's. Kind of a twofer. Since we (usually) only see Laura once a year we end up spending a lot of time with all of us as a family but this year we will end up seeing her three times. She came in January, she's here now and they're coming back in November when they basically shut Qatar down for the Asian Games. Any way, some of what we've been doing: Laura bought a slip and slide last year that ended up never being used. This year we used it. The kids never figured out they were supposed to go down on their bellies. But they did enjoy it. Jeff did his best to teach them how to do it! No matter how many times he had to go down the thing!Who could say no to this face? Ryan, relaxin' and muggin' for the camera.

Erin in a contemplative mood.

We are going to be heading down to the lake for a while. Hopefully, I'll have some time to blog some more before we leave, but I hear Kathy and Laura driving up so I'll finish this off for now.

Be good to yourselves.

Wayne

Living room's done, now for the dining room

Have you ever noticed that one thing leads to another? It seems like the most innocent statements can lead to a ton of work. For instance, last week Kathy thought that it would be a good idea for us to kill the weekend painting the living room. The last time it was painted was a couple of years ago. My daughter, who watches a lot of HGTV, decided we needed a dramatic statement in our dining room. So...

We had a blue and gold dining room. Well, then we took the lace curtains off the living room window so we could look out and see the gardens. Then we thought it would be nice to be able to look out at the garden while we were eating and be able to watch TV downstairs without feeling like the neighbors were watching. So the living room became the dining room and the dining room became the living room. With me so far?

Then Kathy found the exact rug she wanted for the living room...

and we got some tables that were a very dark wood and of course the couch and chair are navy blue. Needless to say, it was a cave in there. So fine, we can paint the living room, Navajo white. But you know, as long as the furniture is out of here it is a real shame not to refinish the floor. So another two days are added (not that it was that much work, but I am old and can't spend more than three or four hours a day on my knees playing with the floor). Anyway, the walls are painted, the floors are done (we used a Minwax product, Polyshades. I highly recommend it. We used it on the extra bedroom upstairs. Minimum preparation and it really looks beautiful) and now all I have to do is load the furniture back in. Oh, and then, since we did the living room floor and the dining room is right next to it with a huge arch joining them, I might as well take all the furniture out of the dining room and redo that floor too. Plus Laura and the kids are coming in next Tuesday, so I better move my butt!

Well, as a personal aside to Susan, sorry I didn't check my email or blogger over the weekend. I would suggest either sweet potato vine or ice plant. Both are easy to care for, grow rampant, and colorful. Give me a call and I will get you some the next time I'm out.

Now, as far as my garden goes, who knows what's in bloom, I haven't been out of the living room for four days! Actually, I did run outside just about three or four million times (well, I'm lazy and paint and polyshades fumes give me a headache!). Being full summer for the third or fourth month in a row my plants are in a bit of a pet, but I do have some faithful and reliables!

Is it any wonder that I love hardy hibiscus. This is one of the smaller of our four hardys and it and the others will have about this many flowers every day until frost. They are a bit of a clean up issue because the flowers only last one day and the spent blooms litter the ground but who cares when they look like this.

And in the category of what was I thinking, a few years ago I decided to plant a few tuberose bulbs for our daughter Jill's wedding. I knew they would only last the one summer because tuberoses are tropical and I planted them in the back (north-facing) yard because that's where the wedding reception was. Well, once again the plants don't read the same gardening books I do. We have two of them coming up right next to each other in a not particularly protected location. The fragrance is fantastic! What I figure is that not only did one of them survive, it decided to reproduce too.

And the moral of the story? If you like a plant, plant it! You might find out that it has be relocated or potted. But you might also find out that it will work out beautifully.

And last but not least, the caladiums I was complaining about a couple of weeks ago because they weren't coming up have had several come up and not only that one of them decided that it needed to set seed, so it decided to have a flower...

and a very disturbing flower it is too! The poor butterflies couldn't figure out quite what to do. I watched one for several minutes just flit around and light and flit around and light someplace else. Finally, he left dejected and headed for the chaste tree. That one he could figure out.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth and spent some time thinking about what it means to live in our country. Take care of yourselves and show someone that they are loved.

Wayne