Boat ride on Table Rock Lake

We rode the motorcycle to Table Rock Lake, down by Branson. Cliff's brother Don was camping down there with his wife, her son, and his family; and we figured at least we could have a good visit with them before heading back home today.

After eating a good supper, we went out for a ride on Don's pontoon boat; I thought you might enjoy a sample of the ride. Turn down your sound, because there's nothing to hear but wind noise.

Cliff's toy is home

Cliff's brother, Don, had been working on a car that he got from their other brother, Phil, and had started to restore. In the end he decided it was too much work, so since he was bringing the trailer to haul Cliff's Oliver, he brought the car with him and unloaded it; Cliff will get it to Phil before long. So that's what you see in the first picture.

Cliff, Don, their sister Rena, and I made a party of it; there's plenty of room in Don's truck, and we all had fun on the trip to Kansas. There was nobody at the farm when we arrived, so Rena and I followed the sound of mooing cattle and found some beautiful Red Angus calves that were protesting being weaned.

Once the farmer arrived, he showed Cliff every detail he could think of about the tractor, and also hunted up the owner's manual for him. I had already ordered a service manual on Ebay (that's not the same as the owner's manual), and it arrived today about the same time as the tractor.

We all found it strange that a motorcyclist would have a huge flag on his bike, so when he pulled up beside us in Olathe, I snapped a couple of pictures. Everything taken after that was taken here at our place, and chronicle the unloading of the tractor.

If you want to see any of the pictures in more detail, just click on that picture.

Nice laid-back weekend

Cliff's brother Don (on the left) came from Kansas to pick up an old car he bought from brother Phil (on the right) yesterday. Daughter, granddaughter Natalie and I rode with Cliff to meet up with them so he could help load the car; yesterday was cold, as you probably surmised by the guys' clothing. Upon returning home, daughter turned our TV to her Nascar race, I made some chili, and we all had a pretty nice time just chilling out with our chili; Natalie and I even had a nice soak in the hot tub together at twilight.

Don spent the night, which gave me a good excuse to make biscuits and gravy this morning. Cliff loves it when somebody spends the night; it gives him a break from his usual healthy breakfast of oatmeal or cream-of-wheat.

Since Don's a mechanic by trade, Cliff had him look at our old pickup; he knew there was some sort of problem, he just wasn't sure what. They ended up replacing a bearing and the U-joint before Don headed home at noon.

Cliff sat down to watch the Chiefs game, but gave up in disgust before long. As usual. With the temperature up to fifty-five degrees, we put on our leathers and went for a motorcycle ride. It was a little too windy, but we enjoyed an hour-and-a-half ride anyhow.

Now it looks like we're settled in for the rest of the day, Cliff with a cup of hot chocolate and me sipping green tea. Life is good.

motorcycle ride

Cliff and I figured the temperatures were right for a long motorcycle ride today. We discussed destinations, and Cliff mentioned my cousin Gerald. That was OK by me. Headed up the road later, he said to me, "So, where do you want to go?"

"I thought we were going to see Gerald," I answered.

"We can; I just thought I'd ask."

"Well you know, I have a couple of aunts in Bethany I don't see often."

"OK," Cliff says. "We can go there."

So that was our destination. On the way, though, we passed through a town where a friend and co-worker of Cliff's lives. Don has been off work for some time, having had some sort of surgery. Cliff wondered if we should stop by; I said, "Why not?"

Now you'd have to meet Don to really understand how much he belongs in the early 1800's on the frontier. This man lives to hunt, trap, and fish. He doesn't just talk about it, like so many men: He gets out there and does it daily, when his job isn't cutting in on the action.
These two guys have worked at five different places of employment together. Don's son, John Daniel, got his middle name from Cliff.

Don and John have all sorts of dogs for different occasions: Rabbit dogs...


a squirrel dog who, when they turned him out of his cage, was too fast for me to photograph;

a twelve-year-old coon hound...

Not to mention another younger coon hound, and the Chow they picked up along a roadside as a pup that serves as the family pet, and isn't usually in a cage.
So we had a nice little visit there before we got back on the road north to visit the aunts.

Here's Aunt Mary, my mom's youngest brother's wife, who is still stoically living alone in her own house.

I spent many happy hours as a child at Uncle Leo's and Aunt Mary's farm. One of her grandchildren, John, was visiting today.

Then to the nursing home to say hello to Aunt Gladys, my dad's only sister, and the only remaining sibling. She is in the same nursing home where my mother stayed until her death. She's blind, and I put her hand on my leather chaps so she could feel them. She sang me a song from long ago about leather breeches, and then we talked about all the silly little dirty songs my dad used to sing.

Both these ladies are so very fragile; visiting them makes me aware of the fact that I'm not so far behind them. I realize one day I will be like they are now, unless fate hastens my death.

It was another good day, well spent.

One notable thing: it was cloudy here at home all day; 100 miles to the north, where we were, the sun was shining. That's one way to get a sunny day: Just ride to it.