Early evening edition

Yes I know this is really late, but what a great day. Had a good visit with Dad and talked about everything from hand clutches on some old tractors to a few of the cars I’ve had over the years and a lot more. We also got more rain.

Picture from Q.C. Drone

I pumped out the basement several times and came back upstairs about the time the news of the breach of the Hesco barriers downtown broke. Hesco barriers are basically big metal cages filled with sand bags and covered with plastic. They are meant to be temporary.

Now, 38 days with major flood levels later, the temporary barriers failed. People in the area had seconds to act before the area was covered with water. Luckily there were no fatalities and the area was evacuated by boat.

The rains aren’t helping the river go down either as the crest is supposed to about a foot higher than it is now. The president called our city leaders to offer assistance as did our Governor. Things may get interesting.

On top of all that I went to basement about an hour ago to pump out more water and found out the sump pump went on strike. No problem, a quick trip to the farm supply store and we’re back in business. I now have a few moments to get this out and eat before checking the basement yet again.

Plus, there’s more rain on the way. Things could get interesting around here if this keeps up. And after all this calms down we’ll need to find a herd of goats for the lawn or ruin the mower trying to get through it.

Enjoy what’s left of our Tuesday as we will if the basement stays dry for longer than a hour. Now for more coffee and some supper.
Comments are always welcome.

Soggy day

We got so much rain during the storms overnight a hippo was seen at a local parking ramp. Ok, it wasn’t that bad and the picture is actually from our trip to the Oklahoma City Zoo, but what a rain storm! Here on our portion of the east coast of Iowa we got 2 inches of rain overnight and there are even some power outages in the area.

We here are not claiming it’s due to global climate change, it’s just a soggy day and we’ve seen worse. We also know it won’t help the flooding which has been at major flood stage for a record number of days. But we’ve been there, done that, and have the t-shirt.

Some people foretell of doom and gloom at times like this but we look on the bright side. I woke up breathing again and can’t mow the yard in this slop. It will be a little taller when things dry out but we’ll get it done. The storm knocked the local TV station off the air for about a half hour and people who live in low-lying areas might have some problems and we wish them well.

I will be checking the basement and hope I don’t find a hippo or a swimming pool, although that would be something different. If there isn’t any water I’ll check later and if the water is over the sump pump I may go buy a kayak to survey the damage.

Enjoy our Monday as the new week begins. Now I need more coffee and the ad from the farm supply store to price kayaks.
Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

The bartender was washing his glasses, and an elderly Irishman came in and with great difficulty, hoisted his bad leg over the barstool, pulled himself up painfully, asked for a sip of Irish whiskey.

The Irishman looked down the bar and said, “Is that Jesus down there?” The bartender nodded and the Irishman told him to give Jesus an Irish whiskey also.

The next patron was an ailing Italian with a hunched back and slowness of movement. He shuffled up to the barstool and asked for a glass of Chianti. He also looked down the bar and asked if that was Jesus sitting down there. The bartender nodded and the Italian said to give Him a glass of Chianti, also.

The third patron, a redneck, swaggered in dragging his knuckles on the floor and hollered. “Barkeep, set me up a cold one. Hey, is that God’s Boy down there?” The barkeep nodded, and the redneck told him to give Jesus a cold one too.

As Jesus got up to leave, he walked over to the Irishman and touched him and said, “For your kindness, you are healed!” The Irishman felt the strength come back to his leg, and he got up and danced a jig to the door.

Jesus touched the Italian and said, “For your kindness you are healed!” The Italian felt his back straighten and he raised his hands above his head and did a flip out the door.

Jesus walked toward the redneck, and the redneck jumped back and exclaimed, “Don’t touch me, I’m drawin’ disability!”

What’s the odds?

I chose this picture of the Highway to Heaven for todays post even though it isn’t a two lane road and doesn’t have anything to do with the post. I just like the picture.

A little later today the wife is going to cruise about 100 miles north for work while the area is supposed to get hit with up to 8 inches of snow, cold temperatures, and high wind gusts. Here in our portion of the east coast of Iowa we’re supposed to get rain ending with some possible snow.

The snow is possibility aand the low here tonight is supposed to be 28 degrees with wind gusts over 40 mph. I wouldn’t mind a little white fluffy love from above if the wife wasn’t going to be driving into the heavy stuff. At any rate it shouldn’t stick to the pavement and dresses things up sticking to lawns and trees.

Since she is traveling for work the wife will take the four lane divided highway. If she chooses not to do so we know some two lane blacktop roads that take longer but have some great views. Perhaps we’ll save them for the summer.

All that said, one has to wonder about this snow storm in late April. What’s the odds of this happening? Between that and it being about 25 degrees colder than average leads me to believe we have to turn all the wind turbines the other way.

Now I’m going out in the rain to feed the critters before breakfast and a lot more coffee. Enjoy our Saturday as the weekend is half over
now.
Comments are always welcome.e

Back roads

Some ask why I like two-lane roads instead of the Interstate highways and this picture answers that question for me. I haven’t seen a sight like this on any Interstate. And I didn’t even take it, the wife did.

Sure, it’s slower going and one slows down even more going through the small towns that dot the landscape, but strangers driving by will wave and most times there is something to see for miles in any direction, weather permitting. We don’t travel gravel roads as often as we used to as the dust gets into everything in the car, including cameras.

And this picture couldn’t be taken on any Interstate we’ve been on. It’s a scene that puts a smile on most faces we know. The poles and wires bringing electricity to the farm, the red barn with the white roof, the silos, and the rolling green hills. To us it’s therapy.

No putting up with somebody going slower in the left lane or trying to figure out how fast to go so you don’t pass everybody or slower so everybody passes you. Road rage is almost unheard of and those in big hurry just pass you and go about their business.

When we went to Oklahoma last year we were told it could be driven in 12 hours straight through. We took the back roads and made it in a day and a half while retaining our sanity. A small price to pay.

Enjoy our Friday as it means the weekend is here and on the east coast of Iowa so comes the rain. Now I need coffee so as not to bite anyones head off.
Comments are always welcome.

Looking back

Yesterday I posted a picture with the post and think I forgot to say where the picture was taken so I’ll do it now. The picture was taken in a little city park in Mountain Home, Idaho. With the mountains in the background we could see why they called it Mountain Home.

This picture was taken in September of 2017 inside an inter-active museum type place in Boise, Idaho. You could pull yourself up to the ceiling in a chair, see all kinds of sharks, walk over a virtual pond full of fish, and make giant bubbles.

The wife, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter are looking at the start of a giant bubble in the contraption that made them. I got lucky and ended up with a decent picture of the bubble and the ladies. Our granddaughter looked like she was trying to figure out how the magic happened.

Our youngest did the driving as I can’t stand driving in a place with much over 100,000 people living there and Boise was triple that. It just seems to me, in this day and age, everybody is in a hurry. No wonder some people don’t even notice what’s around them.

Even on two-lane black top roads people are zooming past like they’re volunteer firemen on the way to a fire. Can’t remember how many times I heard people say, you could have made it out there a day sooner. I’m retired, the wife is on vacation, not in any hurry, and there’s no emergency. Why sweat arrival time?

On one trip we left Interstate 80 to take the black top to Montana because the wife had never been there. We spent two days there and after went through the western part of Yellowstone park on two-lane roads until we hit Idaho.

At any rate, enjoy our Thursday as the weekend is only a dream away and my coffee is only a room away.
Comments are always welcome.

Not trying that again

Yesterday after my chat with Dad, lunch with her Mom, running errands, and getting various little chores out of the way, I made the decision to stay up and go through around 100,000 pictures taken and stored digitally. The task actually started a while ago but I was only up to the July 2017 file when starting last night.

Not noticing the time slipping by I opened the last folder on the last thumb drive at 2:45 this morning. So before going to bed I had a cup of coffee and smoke. Thinking I’d lay down at 3:30 and get up around 6:30 I put my head on the pillow.

Woke up feeling great and decided the nap was worth it when I discovered it was almost noon! Jumping up to get the morning chores done, medications taken, and breakfast, I vowed not to do that again and found out I’m not as young as first thought.

The brain is still young but my body said that if I ever did that again it would bring me pain like never felt before. Even so, it was worth it as while looking at all the pictures I found myself strolling down memory lane. Not believing others when they mentioned I was documenting our family history, the point came to me last night.

May share some of these pictures at a later date as they still aren’t sorted. Once sorted and in separate files I’ll share some good ones here. Sorry this is late but do feel my time well spent. Enjoy our Wednesday as we will. Now for more coffee and look outside to see if it stopped raining.
Comments are always welcome.

Catching up

Yesterday I cleared some brush and got the lawn mowed before going inside to watch the rain come down. Later we got hit with a thunderstorm that dropped an inch of rain in about a half hour and had wind gusts to 60 mph. If was amazing to watch.

Today, after a visit with Dad, we’re going over to my mother-in-laws and will have a lunch while visiting. And after we get back home I’ll be outside again since I didn’t feel too bad when I woke up this morning. I still wonder how there was time to get things done before I retired.

Of course I’ll admit that while working for a living I was younger and in better shape. Some people treat their body like a temple while I have treated mine like a theme park. I am now finding out that what didn’t hurt when younger comes back to bite us as we age.

Even managed to get the bird feeder back on its pole and filled with food. Now I just have to make an ‘Open’ sign so the birds know it’s back up. Flowers are blooming and the ferns have popped up and are reaching for the sky. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Not sure what tomorrow will bring but have kept the camera dry in case there is something to get a picture of. It might just be a shot of the east coast of Iowa drying out or we may be surprised. That’s the fun part.

Enjoy our Tuesday as we shall. Now I need some more coffee to float my boat.
Comments are always welcome.

Uncle Bill is where?

Before we get to the main point of this thought we’d share a mediocre picture of the moon from the other night. It has not been edited other than a simple crop and the colors are how myself and the camera saw them.

Now on to what really confused me yesterday and made me wonder if there is even a need. Washington state is set to pass a bill that would allow human composting. I saw an article yesterday that made the claim.

And in home gardens no less! The very thought makes me shudder. Billed as a ecologically friendly death-care option the law could go into effect as early as May 1st if the Governor signs the bill. Much like when the debacle over how many genders there are began, I’m one confused redneck.

Do we really need “natural organic reduction” funeral homes? It is not comforting to me to know that properly composted human remains are safe enough to use in household gardens. I’ll just say that when my time comes I won’t be fertilizing any tomatoes. Unless said tomatoes grow in the cemetery.

Cremation reduces the body mass and can be spread over the deceased favorite place but don’t nourish the soil when strewn upon it. Washington state has the right to do as it wishes but this sounds a little to far out there for me.

Enjoy our Monday as it’s going to be another nice one here on the east coast of Iowa.
Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

An Eskimo being far out in the wild did not know about religion and god etc. A priest tells him about god, heaven, hell ,good deeds and bad deeds etc etc.

Then he says if you do bad things you will go to hell otherwise heaven.
Eskimo: Ok, but I have already done some bad things, so will I be going to hell?

Priest: Since you did not know about all this, It is fine, you will go to heaven if you do good things from now on. . . .

Eskimo : Then why the hell did you tell me about all this?