Memorial Day Weekend

I've had a feeling lately I'd like to go to north Missouri and see the graves of my parents; I'd also like to go to Versailles to visit my husband's parents' graves.  Cliff isn't the type to think about such things, and he was having so much fun this weekend I didn't want to bring it up.  Today I mentioned it, though, and he said we could do that any time.  Memorial day will be over, but the thought is the same, anyhow.  We won't be going both places the same day, since my parents' graves are 100 miles north, and his parents are 100 miles southeast.

Our daughter brought a couple of her grandkids over Saturday and ate brisket sandwiches with us.  Yesterday after I came home from church, the grandson and Alexandria ate toasted brisket sandwiches with us.  Today, my cousin Betty, who I haven't seen for quite a while, came knocking at our door, and she, Cliff and I had toasted brisket sandwiches!  It's a good thing I had that brisket cooked.   Yesterday and today we had fresh strawberries from the garden with ice cream for dessert.  

 Great-granddaughter Amara helped me pick strawberries Saturday, eating half of what she picked with great enthusiasm.  Later she decided to climb a tree.

So, we've had quite a weekend with pleasant company.  Tomorrow Cora will be here to visit.  Our cup runneth over.

My garden surprise for the day was finding two tiny tomatoes on my vines, one on the Big Beef plant and the other one on a Jet Star plant.  The moles are in my garden more often now, so I ordered a mole trap on Amazon.  It has great reviews; I only hope it works well for us.

I'll share a comical review of the mole trap on Amazon that made me chuckle.  Click on it to make it larger.

Making Labor Day plans

We don't usually make plans very far ahead; I don't even buy green bananas any more.  However, we decided to risk it this time.  One of the first big tractor shows we ever attended was the Midwest Old Thresher's Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.  We've been there three or four times since then, too.  Last week I got an email about it and mentioned it to Cliff.  It doesn't change much from year to year, but there is a lot to see.

The problem is, neither Cliff nor I can do a lot of walking any more, and the the Old Thresher grounds are huge.  We couldn't recall ever seeing any golf cart rentals, but I scoured the website to see if they had them, but found none.  However!!!  They do have mobility scooters.  They are $75 a day, per person.  I spoke for two scooters for two days.  (::note to self::  save up plenty of money for this event.)

Always before, we stayed in whatever camper we owned at the time, but our camper days are past.  I got us a highly rated motel twenty miles from Mount Pleasant for three nights.  Getting a motel in the small town of Mt. Pleasant is virtually impossible.

I also ordered our tickets for the venue, since they are cheaper when they are bought in May, and I ordered tickets that assure us a good seat at the country music show on Thursday night.  Anyone on the grounds can watch the show, but getting a good seat isn't easy, because most seats are first-come, first served.  We'll be seeing Leroy Van Dyke, an old guy from Missouri who had one hit in his life, as far as I know, although he is a decent singer.  He's famous for singing "The Auctioneer".  Also in the show are Jimmy Fortune and The Malpass Brothers.  We often watched them on Country's Family Reunion.  If you're not a country music lover, just ignore this paragraph.  But we like all three of the acts.

With the motel, the mobility scooters, and meals, and boarding for the dog while we're gone (I already spoke for his board, because you have to book early for holiday weekends), this is going to be quite an expense for us, but I think it will be well worth it.  Once again we'll see the huge steam engines, the farm tractors, the sorghum making and broom making, the threshing machines... I can't wait!