August 2008

August was another very HOT month. In spite of that we managed to get some things done. The garden is completely gone...just dried up. Water is too precious and expensive to keep watering it. We managed to keep some plants alive by using the water coming off the a/c.

Brett has been working on an old VW Bug he hauled out of a field. He also hauled out a second one that he used for parts. So the F350 got a run when they hauled what was left to the metal recyclers. At least he got some money out of it to apply towards fixing up the other bug.

Here is the load ready to go to the recyclers.

Our next big adventure was a pontoon boat ride on Lake Travis with the Austin Community of Christ. The boat goes out on the lake and then anchors so the kids can swim off the boat and the adults mainly watch the kids and eat!! We had to cut the trip short when a thunderstorm warning was given.
They slide down from the upper level and also jump off the boat. You can see what the adult activity entailed. Of course some of the adults went into the water also.

Bob got involved with the building committee for the church and the fund raising for a remodel of the main sanctuary, kitchen, restrooms and new entrance. The church has a community outreach project of feeding the homeless breakfast every Sunday morning before church. They have been doing it for 15 years. It is time to upgrade equipment etc so they can continue that ministry and make it easier on the workers. So Bob has been doing a lot of computer time and home visiting to organize the fund raising of $300,000 for the project. So every now and then he meets with the computer guru to help him on things that don't work quite right. Here is Larry (computer guru) and Bob (computer novice) hard at work. We were at Val and Sharron's having shrimp on the barbie!! It was yummy

The other big highlight of the month was a trip to Corpus Christi to participate in Gilbert (Paula's dad) and Naomi's wedding. We stay at a motel where we share a suite with the kids. Ben and Bobby love to get in the pool. We took them down with us and we got in ahead of mom and dad. So straight to the pool we went.

Bobby wasn't too sure of the pool, but he loved putting his feet in the hot tub.

Grandpa Gilbert with 2 of his grandsons before the wedding.

Naomi the bride, waiting for her entrance into the church.

Bobby at the reception.

Ben at the reception

Gilbert and Naomi

July 2008

July 4th and a time of celebration. It was over 100 most of the month and no rain to speak of. Texas is in a very bad drought and water supplies get lower all the time. There is a constant burn ban. However this does not include burning on the grill.... So Brett fired up the barbie and we had a fun picnic in the house with a/c. Here is a picture of the barbecue supervisors.

Of course there is only one main chef...

Here is a close up of the burnt offerings. Chicken and brot's.




As evening came we went to Fisherman's Park by the Colorado River for fire works. Of course Pop introduced the boys to Kettle Corn. It was fun eating it out of the frisbee...




Fireworks over the Colorado was fantastic. They put on quite a show. It actually was better than setting off our own.

We had a visitor in the driveway who was trying to dig a hole in the gravel. Of course she hid her head when I tried to take a picture. It looked like this box turtle was trying to find a place for eggs?

We need to introduce you to our other friend...Inca. A chocolate lab that lives at the main house. She is Brett's dog. Grandma gets to walk her every day when they are not home. She helps me get the mail.

Our next celebration took us to Independence, MO where we shared in Nick and Merilou's 50th Wedding Anniversary.

While we were there we visited other friends like Hazel and Doyle. They took us on a tour of the new sanctuary at the Wood's Chapel Community of Christ.

Then to finish our stay in Independence we went to Verona's on Independence Square to celebrate Myrna's birthday with our friends Ken and Mary Joan.

July also brought a 2nd airconditioner for our 5th wheel. We couldn't do summer here without it. Myrna also had her 3rd surgery and that's all for this year!!! Hopefully no more ever.

June 2008

Happy New Year everyone!! New Year resolution number 1 is to catch up the blog. My resolution is to get it caught up before we start a new adventure and this lodge starts travelling again. What a better way to start than to see the picture of Ben's sunflowers, so bright against the clouds and blue sky. We didn't measure but I am sure they were 6 ft high.

Maybe this one was 7 ft, we should have measured. The white pole is an extensio to the bean pole. The lima bean grew to the top of this extension also.
Bobby graduated from preschool at Montessori. An important day for him.

The best part was a party afterwards. He even wanted candles on his cupcake cake!!

Another special day was the wedding of our friends Gailyn and Evelyn. A beautiful and very meaningful service.

June was also the month of my second surgery. I received a pace maker to keep my heart beating at night at a regular rate. I also had a cardioversion to shock my heart from atrial fibrillation to normal sinus rhythm. They are still manipulating my heart rate etc with a computer and the a/f with medication. Welcome to the golden oldies!!

May 2008

May was all about the garden, little league, and the end of school. It was also very warm, alot of days above 100.

Here is Ben standing in between the sunflowers he planted. Man they grow fast and they aren't through.

Here is some of the harvest and was it ever good. We are still eating pickled beets.
An overview of the garden. We also enjoyed some corn on the cob. The cobs were small but they still tasted good.
Ben and Bobby relaxing on the cement blocks.
A crape myrtle bush which has bloomed all summer.

Here are Bobby's carrots. They didn't get very big, but we had to pull them finally when the ground got so hot.
The beginnings of our memorial garden.

The last day of school and awards program.

Ben received 6 awards. For grades, perfect attendance etc.

Yesteryear in Bastrop

In April, Bastrop celebrates Yester year. Like it's name, the people participating dress up in yesteryear garb. They also have lots of things for kids to do (and buy). Lots of booths with things!!! So Grandma and Pop took the boys to see what we could find.

There was a petting zoo with lots of baby animals and the boys got to feed them. Here is Bobby with a wallabee.

Ben found a Bison.
Ben also found a place to make a beaded necklace. So he did one for his Mom.
Of course we also witnessed a shoot out on the street. Boy was it loud. Bobby had his hands over his ears and kind of hid behind us.

This is one of the historic homes in Bastrop. We took a buggy ride around the downtown area to see several of the historic homes.

This is one of the wagons doing the tour. They also had people doing old time work, like the iron works making pots, horse shoes and utensils. It was a fun and warm day.

April 2008

Well it is time to catch up on what we have been doing. Between doctor appts there was little league, the garden, Ben's first communion and his 8th birthday.

This is the start of our spring garden. The foreground shows squash, broccoli and then on back was beets, peas and corn off to the side. We enjoyed the harvest, but it just didn't last very long due to the hot weather and the drought.
Pop is planting carrot seeds with Bobby, Ben is looking on. Ben planted sunflowers and some bean seeds they started at school.

Here we are after Ben's first communion. A happy day for the family.

That looks like an 8 yr old grin about to dive into a cupcake.

Our Winter Home

Our usual course of action is to spend the winter in Bastrop, TX and then the summer in the NW. This year we were going to go to the East coast and see some relatives in our journey through Florida and Maine. Our plans were changed after visiting the Dr. and having to deal with some medical issues. All that is behind us now and we ended up staying in Bastrop for the summer as well. We keep hearing the phrase... the weather is unusual. We broke heat records from 82 yrs ago and we hope we won't have to do this again any time soon. Now we know why we travel in the summer (up north). Anyway we thought you might like to see where we live. These pictures were taken in March, so the trees still look like winter.

This is what our place looks like from the front. There is a double car garage with a multipurpose room behind it and the garaport for the Montana on the side.

This is on the back corner of Brett & Paula's property.

This is the back end where we have room to sit in a couple of rockers!! That is a gardenia bush in the bottom left corner. When it blooms, the aroma is heavenly.


These are fire ant hills. We don't like them...


The big oak tree is in the front yard near the road. It is really gorgeous with all it's leaves.

A favorite climbing place for the boys.

This is the big house where Brett, Paula and the boys live.

Another shot of the 5th wheel.