Wednesday April 29 2009 by Leland.

Right after I got the trench finished and the old line out up to the building, it turned cold.  Cinnamon didn’t want to be outside at all.  In this photo you can see her stance where she is saying “get over here and let me in.  I do not like this.”

And then following enough cold rain to discourage any outside work, it started to snow.  We got about an inch on the ground. 

Once this melted, which it did quite quickly, there was the mud.  This soil out here has two states, dusty and glue gumbo.  You cannot touch it after even a little rain without it clinging to your boots. 

Cinnamon went out to chase some horses in the next pasture and crossed a patch of mud.  It stuck to her feet so thick that I had to pick her up.  She tried walking with all four feet up and she tried shaking a paw to get it off.  It was a HOOT.  We had to put her in the sink to dissolve the muck.

This is the residue after we took her out.

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Tuesday April 28 2009 by Leland.

On Tuesday, after the first snow storm, I continued the electric line excavation.  I dug the trench from the box to the garage.  I only dug deep enough to get the old cable out.  After I completely get the old cable removed, I will dig the trench deeper to meet code.

The next problem in the removal and reinstall is the sidewalk that is next to the building.  This was put in long after the cable was laid.  The original cable layer also didn’t give a rip about code depth so I have to deal with the deeper trench issue. 

Onward and upward.

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Monday April 27 2009 by Leland.

One of, if not the only reason we are back in Mt. this early (note the snow in the previous post) is to see the grandkids.  Saturday morning was Aaron’s last game at the Y in Floor Hockey.

Before the games the parents and the kids did warmups.  Aaron seems to reach further towards his toes than dad!

When the games begin, the parents/coaches are all over the floor with the kids and it is amazing to watch.  Did you ever hear the phrase “herding cats?”  There are a few kids who really get it and run away with the game, there are a few kids who don’t even know what planet they are on let alone what to do and then there are those who have strokes of both ways.  Aaron was one of the both ways.  There were times when he had it down and he made goals and really played.  There were other times when he was looking up into the bleachers, wandering around and often missing instructions.  What a guy!  I loved every minute of it.

After the games were over, we all went up to the cafeteria where they passed out certificates and ate snacks.  Fun fun.  Worth a little snow and cold - you bet.

After the snacks we took the grandkids and their mom to Fudruckers for lunch. 

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Friday April 24 2009 by Leland.

When we pulled in there was power on the RV pad but no power to the garage.  What now?  Out with the Volt Meter, the shovel and pick ax.  Power at the pole, power at the main, no power at the garage.  Dig dig dig. 

Found the wires burned out underground about 20 feet from the pole. 

I did start the digging and found the break before the snow but then what.  Well, I trucked into town and bought 60 feet of 100 amp cable.  I just knew we only needed 50 but bought the extra just in case.  Well, guess what I should have gotten 70.  It did reach but I need to straighten the trench before it will bury deep enough.  We now have power to the garage.  This means the well works again and we have water.  We’re getting settled.  Slowly.

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Friday April 24 2009 by Leland.

Just a mere 7 hours north from Douglas and we arrived at our home base in Shepherd.  The sun was shining, the grass was a little too tall but green and lush.  The trees are just starting to bud so we’ll get spring time starting all over again….  As soon as the dang snow leaves.

Yep, even though it was 80 degrees the day before we arrived and almost 70 as we set up, tonight it snowed and it was 24 when we woke up.  You can click on the thumbnails if you are crazy enough to want to see our snow.  The third one is our campfire.  We had plans to start a campfire and sit out in the lawn chairs and drink a beer when we got home.  Oh yeah, we were thinking that while sitting out in south Texas at 80 degrees.

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Thursday April 23 2009 by Leland.

Up across Big Wonderful Wyoming.  Wind and flat lands.  Snow drifts on the washes.  Very few cars or trucks out.  Welcome to the middle of nowhere… Er Wyoming. 

We trekked from G&V’s up into the corner of Nebraska and then over to Colorado and then up into Nebraska again before hitting I80 and trucking into Cheyenne.  We stopped for gas on the Nebraska Wyoming border.  On the Nebraska side gas was 2.19 on the Wyoming side 1.89.  We stretched it knowing the price differential but almost too much.  Our 75 gallon tank only had 4.9 gallons left when we stopped.  YIKES.

We stopped for the night at Douglas, a free city park.  Nice place even with the bridge construction right next door.  Places like this should be in every town.  We had several local people stop by and just chat.  Where you been, where you going, how’s life.  Sometimes you think they are escaping, even if only for a few minutes through our stories.  Fun stuff.

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Wednesday April 22 2009 by Leland.

After a semi restful night in the rest area at Russelville we arrived at Glenn and Vickie’s.  They fixed us a delicious dinner after which we walked up to the Dairy King for cones, malts and sundaes. 

Tuesday they took time off from work and we visited and looked at airplanes up at the airport and then took a drive over into Colorado and back to Goodland where we shopped (You may get to see the windmill Cathy now owns  in a future post)and then had dinner at a Mexican Restraunt. 

What better way to finish off a day like this than with a game of Mexican Train.  This is a dominos game that we played a lot in Livingston Tx.  I won of course because I was teaching the rules (they were always in my favor.)  Cathy came in second because she kept score.  Poor Glenn and Vickie.

On the other hand, Both of them were doing very well and healthy.  Life in small town America.  What more could you want?  They were threatening to teach others down there the game so I imagine they will avenge the loss to us.

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Monday April 20 2009 by Leland.

Sunday lunch in Topeka was an absolute joy.  We ate with nephew Cory and his wife Fani.  What a kick.  They are two inspirational young people.  Cory job is a marriage and life therapist and has his doctorate in this field.  He loves his job here.  Fani works for the State.  We spent about three hours on our way between KC and Cory’s parents in St. Francis.  Hearing about their jobs, lives and decisions made was lots of fun.  We are very proud of both of them as are their parents.  (sounds like old folks talk doesn’t it - sorry)

Back on our way down Intestate 70, we fought a nasty cross wind all the way to Russell.  Just before Russell we stopped into this interstate rest area.  Kansas builds a loop out back in their rest areas for overnight or picnic use.  Truck can’t go back there and it’s just a bit further from traffic so it makes a very nice overnight spot.  We fixed our dinner, watched a movie and crashed into bed.  Enough for one day!

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Saturday April 18 2009 by Leland.

We spent a night at Pittsburg Ks as mentioned and then drove into Olathe to Pat and Jim’s. We leveled up on their driveway and started the visiting. We stayed with them last fall for 3 or 4 weeks while our “home” was having a new roof put on in Alabama but that seems like another age. We have been so many new places and done so much over the winter that we feel like it’s been a long long time.
We ate out at a Ryans Buffet, visited a hobby shop and of course Pat and Cathy went shopping at the Michaels and who knows where else.
We planeed out our time and will leave Sunday around 11 a.m. to go to Topeka for lunch with nephew Cory and wife Faunee.

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Friday April 17 2009 by Leland.

Today we continued our trek North.  We left Pat Mayes Lake, just north of Paris Texas at 8 a.m.  A truly unusual hour for us to be moving!  Within four miles we were in Oklahoma and a little later we were in McAlester Oklahoma where we lived back in the middle 70s. 

This is the house we lived in near McAlester.  We have seen it several times since we sold it and it has had it’s ups and downs.  One time it was in terrible shape, the next excellent and this time - so so.

While we lived there we attended church with the Ball family.  They owned and operated “Ball BBQ”.  Guess what they still do.  We drove by and were greeted and fed.  Johnny and Tommy were preparing for the noon rush when we got there and we had a great visit.  Just a little later their wives came in to start their shifts and we had another great visit.  This is the BEST BBQ in the WORLD!  If you are within a jillion miles, stop by.  You won’t be disappointed.

Next we drove on up to Tulsa and just drove through.  Even though we lived there, none of the people we knew are there anymore so it was memory lane on the freeway as we sped through.

Then on out to Claremore where we lived in this house.  Al and Nancy were our neighbors and we got to visit with them and their grandkids for a very brief time.  We would absolutely love to spend a lot more time visiting and catching up with them. 

After this we headed up Old Highway 66 to Venita and then on I44 to the Missouri line.  About one hundred yards into Missouri we turn and head up to Kansas so for today we were in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas.  A four state Day!  We are spending the night in Pittsburg Ks.  This is a city parks and recreation dept RV park and is very adequate for the night.  Tomorrow we will be at Olathe at Pat and Jim’s.  Cool.

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