Happy Halloween

Hope everyone has a safe Halloween. The weather is cooperating for the kids. I doubt that we will have any trick or treaters but we are ready with the candy if we do. Of course we picked the candy that we would like just in case. Enjoyed watching the Chiefs win today. It was a close game, went into overtime in case you did not get to see the game.

Family

Me and Jennifer

It is great when family gets together. This evening we had a chance to visit with his sister Vonda and her husband Jim. 

RJ and Vonda

We need to get together more often.

outside the box

Most people do not live outside the box. Sometimes it is fun to go there. Here is an example from Carrie's yard. This is from her flowerbed in the front yard.

As you can see, there is a lone Zinna plant that is by itself. There are no Zinnas anywhere near the flowerbed.

Sometimes it is good to be different. This is for you Carrie.

On the road ..... again

RJ and I decided to get out of town for a few days. Hopefully by the time we get back the bank will have our problems solved. We came to Wichita to see our kids. Jennifer had to make cupcakes tonight so I helped her with some of the designs. This is what we came up with.

What do you think of these?

This group is a little tamer than the monsters above.

These remind Jennifer of Allison and Owen. Can you see the resemblance?

Bad Luck

What a way to start the day.  The bank called to say that we were overdrawn over $2,000.00 and asked if we purchased something recently.  We knew that I had some money in my checking account and that today I would get my unemployment check.  WOW, did that wake us up.  I am glad that they called.  After talking to them, we had to go to Holton to close my account and open another one.  At least they said that they would not charge us for the overdraft fee.  I had to even pick out new checks.  After the bank then it was to the police department to file a report.  I hope all of this comes out O.K.  Am looking for some good luck now.  We are planning on going to Wichita tomorrow to see the kids.

Friday nights

What do you think older folks do on a Friday night?

 Last night RJ and I watched two movies. The first on was The Karate Kid. It is a remake of the original movie. It was very good and was shown through a different view, with the kid in China. The second movie was the new Robin Hood, a remake. I had some trouble understanding some of the language due to the accent and some was in French. It showed a different side of Robin Hood. I actually enjoyed both movies, seeing how to improve on an older topic. Each movie was longer than I imagined. Therefore I didn't blog last night. I would recommend these movies to any movie buff to see if they think they are better than the originals.

A lovely day

Didn't do much of anything yesterday so today I got busy. RJ helped me with our walk. Did not do much but I liked what we did. Here is the before picture. As you can see, you can't see much due to the many leaves that have fallen. And we have a lot more to fall.

This is the view from our deck.You can't see the stepping stones very well. Here is what the walk looks like now minus the leaves.

I not sure what to put along the edges to keep the pebble stones around the steps. Will keep thinking about this. RJ says that the cats like walking on the walk. I think they just don't like to walk in the leaves.

After working the short time in the yard, I came in to get started on my clam chowder. It is suppose to be a recipe like the one at Red Lobster. This is the before picture, my prep area.

Here is the after picture. I was surprised at how thick it was. That is good. It is like a potato soup. Even better than the potato soup I make. The only thing wrong, the celery was still crunchy. But that was o.k. Now I have some leftovers.

Day off

RJ

Today was the first day that we did not have to do anything since returning home. The laundry is done and the bills are paid. We went to the store to buy what we needed to make our own Clam Chowder. Really liked what we had on the East coast. Will let you know how it turns out when I decide to make it. We enjoyed getting caught up on some reading. Just spent the day relaxing. Thinking about redoing the stepping stones to the carport. Never know what tomorrow brings.

HAPPY 85th BIRTHDAY

Today is my mom's birthday and we went out to eat with her and Tom, her boyfriend. We had a great time. She sure looks good for her age. What do you think?

 I can only hope to look as good as she does at her age. Here's to you MOM. Love ya.

Fall weather

With the sun shinning, I went outside to check out the yard. I was so surprised when I checked the garden. The is what I found, another pumpkin.

I saw a small bulb below a flower when we left. This pumpkin is bigger than the first one. Don't know if it will turn orange before Halloween. There was another bulb close to this one. Will wait and see. I also discovered two small green tomatoes on our hanging tomato plants. They are each about the size of a golf ball or 1 bite. Don't know if they will turn red.

Here is the first pumpkin. I guess you pick them when the stem dries up. I might just draw a face on it instead of cutting it up yet. Need to figure out what to do with the inside pumpkin. Will be looking at recipes.

When we got home you could see that quite a lot of leaves had fallen. Our deck was covered with leaves. But with the amount of trees around us, we have more to fall. Our Maple tree in the front yard has not turned red yet. Will take pictures when it does.

finally made it

We made it in tonight, very late. It has been a wonderful trip. Even though we did have some rain, it did not dampen our mood. At least it was not hot. After awhile you get to where you don't want to get into the car. I think that is why it took us so long to get home. We spent shorter time driving. I hope everyone enjoyed the trip as much as we did. Again we had a most EXCELLENT adventure. Looking forward to planning our next trip.

From the windy city of Chicago

RJ talked me into going to Chicago today. I was not sure with the traffic. But I am glad that we did. It was another beautiful day.

Here is the "L", their version of a subway. We were going to ride but could not figure out where to park to get on. You can click on the picture to get a closer view of the "L".

Then we happened to find the Chicago Bears football stadium. Of course it was by the water. Hopefully our next stop will be Soldier, Kansas.

Here is the flip side of the field. RJ liked this side of the stadium. And look what I found next door.

THE FIELD MUSEUM. RJ sure does get around.

This is the 10th anniversary of finding Sue. I had never seen this before but RJ had. She has big feet and very tiny arms. Don't know what the arms were good for, can't reach the ground or the mouth. This museum is great for kids, a lot of hands on items.

Has anybody seen my mummy? There was an Egyptian exhibit that I had not seen at the other museums. I was impressed with the displays although it was pretty dark in there and the flash would reflect in the glass.

 Here is a picture of the Willis Tower, formally known as the Sears Tower. I was happy just to see it, not to go up to the top.

Here is the skyline of Chicago. This is a few of the buildings.

This is our final shot of the waters, Lake Michigan. We are now headed toward the landlocked area of Kansas.

View from the windshield

Today we spent a lot of time driving so most of our pictures are from the car.

Here we are coming into Cleveland. For once we did not have any rain at all today, clear skies.

Look what we happened to find on our way through town. Don't think they are doing well but it is still fun to see where they play.

Came upon this and wasn't sure what it was.

Now we know what it is. Sure doesn't look like the ones we see in Kansas.

We arrived in Hammond, Indiana this afternoon. Wanted to go to Chicago but the traffic is beginning to bother me. We went to the water again and took pictures of the boats. This is in Lake Michigan. Now we have seen 3 of them (they all look alike to me). We might make it home tomorrow. Will see what comes along.

water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink

This morning we started by seeing the water in Lake Ontario. The wind was blowing and the waves were big. Hard to believe that the other side of the water is Canada.

You can tell by RJ's hair how the wind is blowing. The difference between here and the ocean is the lack of sea shells and the air smells different.

Here is the view of the beach through the trees. A beautiful place to spend a weekend.

And finally, after a long trip along the coast of Lake Ontario, we arrive at Niagara Falls!

I am so proud of Sunnye!  She was really dreading going to the falls, but she managed to get this close and even turned her back to them.  Does she look worried to you?

Here's a video I took of the falls.  Makes you feel like you're right there doesn't it?

Tonight we're staying in Mentor, Ohio near Cleveland.  Tomorrow we will take a look at Lake Erie and then head for Chicago.

It was a dark and rainy night...

That is how the day ended but it didn't start out that way. We stayed in Littleton, New Hampshire last night. This is one of the few times that we could not use price line. We found the place with the Garmin. It was like a mom and pop place. About 8 rooms behind their house. It was quiet because it was across the street from a cemetery. Here is the card that was in our room.

Here is RJ drinking the free coffee before we leave in front of our room. The bed was hard, the floors creaked and moved when you walked in the room and it was hard to adjust the heat but we were tired and it served what we needed.

Here is the capitol of New Hampshire, Montpelier, We had breakfast downtown. Was very good.

As we were heading toward Canada, RJ decided to take a ferry to New York state. It wasn't too bad but lasted longer than I liked.

Here is a view of the coast as we were coming in to dock. Very pretty houses on the water.

We saw a couple of buggies and a few Amish women today. Did not know that we were in their neighborhood?

To end the day, we saw a site from home. We got to go to the base of one of them. I was surprised at the noise they make. A whoosh sound when the blade goes by. Hope to see Niagara Falls tomorrow.

as the leaves turn...

We had to go to the shore one more time. Here we are in Kennebunkport, Maine. That is a lighthouse in the distance. George H. W. Bush has a home somewhere here.

While on the pier, we had lunch of clam chowder.

Need to blow on this. It was good and hot.

Here is RJ after we had our lunch on the pier.  You can see some of the boats in the background.

Dan, this picture is for you.  See, we really did make it to the trolley museum.

As you can see, the leaves are beginning to turn.  This was taken in the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

Here is a babbling brook we found in New Hampshire.  Click the play button to watch the video.   We're off to see the Green Mountains of Vermont tomorrow.