A good day indeed

Cliff's brother, Donald, called in the middle of last week to say he was going to ride his motorcycle (a Gold Wing) up here from his home in southern Kansas.  Cliff told him to call when he was ready to leave and we'd meet him halfway.  He called, we headed out.  We rode and rode and rode.  Finally we arrived at our meeting-place.

There he was, smoking and smirking.  He informed us that his calculations had been a little "off", and we'd gone forty miles past the true half-way mark.  Oh well, as we bikers like to say, "It's all about the ride!"
We got home shortly before 6 PM and Cliff's sister, our next-door neighbor, had lasagna ready for us.  Wow, can life get any better?  Where are you going to find a renter who cooks supper for you?

And a delicious supper it was!  Donald's wife wanted to be here, but she doesn't like to ride on a motorcycle.
We've missed our old motorcycle-riding buddies, Charlene (Cliff's younger sister) and Pat, her husband. They're way off in St. Louis these days.

But today Rena rode with Don on his bike, so we had some people to ride with.  Here you see Cliff, Don, and Rena ready to ride.  It was a blast.

Here they are behind us.  Oh, we took so many back roads and twists and turns, you wouldn't believe it.


If you'd like to ride along with us, here's a video.  I originally put a Merle Haggard tune with it (Are the Good Times Really Over For Good) but YouTube's copyright cops caught it.  So I did it over with an Iris Dement-John Prine song.  One thing about folks songs, they are so little-known that nobody cares about copyrights.   Enjoy the ride.

Family eat-out, followed by shopping at Sam's Club

Cliff, his sister Rena, and I met Charlene and Pat for barbecue.  We beat them there by about five minutes, and I took this picture of Cliff and Rena waiting patiently.  

I think I embarrassed a couple of these folks by asking the waiter to take our picture, but that's OK.  It's a good picture.  
Charlene had their dog, Mindy, in the car with them.  We women (including Mindy) headed for Sam's Club and the guys went to Gail's Harley-Davidson to look at full-dress bikes.  No, not for us; Charlene and Pat are strongly considering trading their Harley in for the top-of-the-line.  
I didn't need anything at Sam's Club, but Charlene and Rena don't have a membership; there were some things they wanted to stock up on.  I did find the almonds that weren't there on my last two visits, and I got some fruit.  I brought home some of the best oranges I've ever eaten.  They're so big that Cliff and I share one.  
Not only did Charlene and Rena have some stocking up to do, but Rena found a television like she's been wanting.  So that came home with us.  Needless to say, Charlene's car was really full.  

Yeah, really full.  The only thing I see in this picture that's mine is an orange peeking out at the far side of the picture.  
Mindy seemed a little unsettled at being crowed out of her usual spot by the purchases.  She was only trying to get comfortable when I took this picture.

However, it looks like she's trying to stare down the lion on that television box, doesn't it?  
We had a good day indeed.

I'm learning about divorce

Last year I rode to Wisconsin with Cliff's sister so she could finalize her divorce. At least we thought we were finalizing it.

Now this has nothing to do with me, mind you. I'm not taking sides, and I don't know diddly-squat about divorce (thank God).

But let me tell you, at this point I have no use for lawyers.

So Rena's heading back to Wisconsin again. This time she's flying, and it's her first time ever to fly. Hey, it's cheaper than spending all that time on the road and feeding me on the way, right?

She's really nervous, and somewhat scared about flying.

If you can remember your first time to board an airplane, maybe you can relate to that fear.

Rena could use any prayers and positive thoughts you might send her way.

Hey, you youngsters? Please make sure you know what you're doing before you get married.

There's nothing cold as ashes, after the fire is gone.

Somebody give me a kick to get me started

It was nice, letting my mom do my blogging for me for a few days. I think I got too used to it! The truth is, right now I don't have a lot going on that's blog-worthy. I'm still getting used to the Mac, and I spend an unbelievable amount of time figuring things out and discovering nifty new things. Every day I learn a dozen new things and forget half of them by the next day.

Strange things happen when you have a completely different kind of computer: For instance, I totally lost a couple of pictures I took yesterday. This takes me back to my first PC with Windows 98 OS. Something like that was always happening.

Anyhow, I'm learning, little by little.

My oldest granddaughter recently started working at a new Target store in Blue Springs, and when I told her Cliff and I couldn't find anyplace that had the influenza vaccine, she said the Target Pharmacy has them; she checked to make sure, gave me a call, and sure enough, Cliff and I got our shots yesterday. One of the pictures I misplaced on here was of Cliff getting his shot. Since I lost that one, I'll share one taken a couple of weeks ago: Did you know Cliff was a hairdresser?

When Rena wants to highlight her hair, she has Cliff pull little tufts of hair through that cap with holes in it; I'm sure many of you ladies are familiar with this procedure. It's nothing I've ever done. Rena gives Cliff his haircuts since she lives next door, so he owes her this.

So, here you have it: a blog entry by someone who has nothing to say.

A milestone for Cliff's sister

Rena, Cliff's sister, has had her share of trying times this year. She's been through a divorce that wasn't in her plans; she moved from Wisconsin to Missouri; and she went to school to study for her GED. Oh, and she got a job immediately after moving. She's been a busy gal.

She took the GED test almost three weeks ago, and has been on pins and needles, hoping she passed, yet afraid she hadn't.

Today we got the good news: She passed! At the age of almost fifty-nine, she's officially equal to a high school graduate. Her brother, my husband Cliff, was forty-eight when he reached that milestone.



Of course, a celebration was required; so we went to the Mexican restaurant at Lexington . (Cliff has that silly expression because I caught him in mid-chew.)

Rena's next plans? She hopes to get a better job, now that she has her certificate. And she has signed up for a beginner's motorcycle class because...

She wants to buy a motorcycle!

You just can't keep some folks down.

I've just been through a divorce

No, not MY divorce. My husband's sister had to travel 700 miles to Antigo, Wisconsin, to finalize the divorce from her husband. She didn't want to make that trip alone, so I volunteered to go with her. I don't drive, so I was no help at all with that. But at least I helped keep her awake on that grueling road trip.

I will say that northern Iowa and Wisconsin are quite lovely. I can also tell you that I hope never to see the place again; it will forever hold unhappy memories for me. I saw my sister-in-law unsuccessfully fight tears in court, at the end of a twenty-eight-year-long marriage.

That's the water tower in the town where the divorce took place.

That's Rena, bravely heading into court. When I look at this picture, it makes me glad I went along; she looks so alone.

Rena spent a lot of time behind this door.

I loved this picture. The words say, "When tongue and pen alike are free, Safe from all foes dwells liberty."

And this is the courtroom. I didn't dare try taking a picture when the actual proceedings were going on, but you can see Rena and her ex-husband's lawyer getting ready for the event.

It didn't take long, really. Not much longer than many marriage ceremonies.

I have to say I feel more emotion now, reliving the whole thing, than I did watching it.

I hate divorce.

Wordless Wednesday: Hitchhikers!

Cliff and his sister with her dog Angel, mowing clover. (Click on the picture to make it larger.)

Random unrelated photos

That's the sunrise, as seen yesterday from just outside my back door. At the old, two-story house, you had to walk to the pasture to get the full view of a sunrise...

or a sunset.

Cliff now has a new helper; that's his sister, Rena, driving the tractor.

An electrician made a quick visit to get my electric dryer up and running. When Sadie heard an electrical-sounding "snap", she ran to the farthest point away from the noise she could find... behind the guest bed against the wall. I finally coaxed her out about a half-hour later.

Sadie's new friend

I suppose you'd call them cousins, Sadie and Angel. Sadie's my dog, Angel belongs to Cliff's sister.

Because of a pending divorce, Rena has moved lock, stock and barrel from Wisconsin to Missouri, so she'll be around her family. It's been a tremendous physical and emotional upheaval for her, and having Angel with her has been her salvation.

When Rena comes to visit, Angel also comes. The first thing she wants is a hug from me; then she begins playing with Sadie. I videoed them this morning.



Two dogs playing

movin', movin', movin'

My sister-in-law is moving into our old house while she recuperates from the whole divorce process... which isn't over yet, by the way. She has lots of heavy stuff out in our shop just waiting to be moved to the house, so every time somebody with substantial strength comes by, Cliff puts them to work. Here you see our son-in-law pitching in to move Rena's hide-a-bed sofa. Very, very heavy, and awkward to get through doors.

Here they come!

Cliff's in the lead, they're almost to the door.

It'll only go through the door if you turn it just so.

Cliff's almost 63, but lately I'd call him Superman.

Of course, even Superman has to rest sometimes.

The sofa was a piece of cake to move, compared to the tanning bed they had to take up a flight of stairs in order to find a spot for it.

Greetings to a new reader, Tana, who discovered this blog and, upon seeing the picture on the last post, realized she is a neighbor to Cliff's brother, Don, and left a comment.

I guess that means I'll have to watch what I say about my sister-in-law when I'm blogging. (Of course I jest. :-x )

Tana, next time you see Don, tell him he might be done moving Rena, but Cliff is still at it.

I'm here, really

That's Cliff, his brother Don (who drove the U-Haul) and his brother Phil. Phil's the oldest, Don's the youngest. They hadn't been to bed for over 48 hours when this was taken.

We've had a hectic two or three weeks around here, and it isn't over yet. We've exterminated ants, had a water softener put in, had the air conditioner worked on, and moved and moved and moved.

Cliff has spent the previous three days with his two brothers, moving his sister here from Wisconsin, which you can read about HERE. I blogged about it on AOL because I had so many pictures, and they have that album format that Blogger and Flickr don't seem to offer.

Cliff needed to mow hay last week, but between the rain in the forecast and the big run to Wisconsin, it didn't get done. He hates putting up hay that is past its prime, but it can't be helped.

There's still an endless list of things to be done around here, and much furniture to be moved from the shop into our old house for his sister. We're trying to figure out how to get a tanning bed upstairs, over there. Those things are heavy!

Checking in from Mudville

Yesterday it warmed up and thawed considerably. So for the first time in weeks, I gave both my horses a little attention. Because of the thawing, there was absolutely no bottom to the ground; our whole place was a marsh. Rather than soak my cowboy boots with mud, I put on rubber boots and waded across the pasture after Blue. Once I got to where the horses were lounging, I decided not to ride; Cliff's sister was coming to visit with us, and it would be rather rude of me to ride off into the sunset. Besides, Libby hadn't had any attention since I brought her back home from the "trainer".

It's risky to wear rubber boots with working with horses, but I had very little choice.

That's where the horses stood as I groomed them. Only it looks a lot worse than that, live and in person.

I spent about a half-hour with each horse, and I think both animals appreciated the attention, even if they had to stand knee-deep in mud. I notice they're shedding like crazy, so spring must not be too far off.

Cliff's sister decided to spend the night with us; so today Cliff mentioned Olive Garden, and Rena said she had never been there.

"Well, we'll fix that," Cliff said.

We made a stop at Penny's to pick up some T-shirts for Cliff, went to Wal-Mart and found a grinder on clearance exactly like Cliff needed, and then browsed around Sam's Club until time for Olive Garden to open up.


We had the soup, salad, and bread sticks with an appetizer of artichoke-spinach dip.

Yum.

Cliff's sister, who's been in Wisconsin for the past fifteen years or so, is in the middle of divorce proceedings and is looking at places to live in this area.

I know, this is a pretty hum-drum entry. But at this time, life itself is pretty hum-drum. Sometimes that's a good thing.