Wild Wild West

Now this is what I call fun. I got to spend my evening at a performance by the First Grade Class of West School. It is always fun to watch kids put their hearts into trying to do good. I grinned my biggest grin for a full half hour. Most of my grandkids are downright precocious. I never know what they are going to say or do. But Dakota... well he is my reserved red head (kind of an oxymoron isn't it - reserved and red head). He just wants to do good and is scared to death of making a mistake. The smile on his face when he spotted me in the audience melted my heart. And he sang his little heart out and did all of the motions to all of the songs. All of the little kidos did. And it didn't even matter that when everyone else was kicking their right foot out, he was sticking his left foot out. I'm sure a bunch of the others were too, but I couldn't take my eyes off Dakota, so I wouldn't know. And halfway through the performance his kerchief fell off. Oh my. He just stopped and looked at us and I could see the melt down coming. So we gave him the thumbs up and motioned for him to keep singing. He picked the kerchief up and twisted it in his little hands and we made a throw away motion and he tossed it to the side and grinned. Did I mention that grandkids are great?

Ahhh grandkids are great!

Dakota is on the end there. I'm pretty sure he is the only one going in the right direction lol.

This is my favorite picture. My daughter, Julie, and well, you know who. The smiles say it all. Julie deserves the mother of the year award. Three sons and one step son... I do not know how she does it!

An Officer and a Gentlelamb

I told you I'd show what goes on baa-hind the scenes in the sheepdello. Here goes mutton...

I have a bit more graphic picture I could have posted, but I think this one will do. It kind of reminds me of the joke "Do you believe in the here after? Well, then you know what I'm here after..." Ok, I know, that one is baaaaaaaad. And for anyone who is interested, Abe got lucky 17 times (well probably more than that)

What's up with this Ram?

I took this picture of our Ram, Abe, the other day. Any thoughts on why he is making such a face????

God Bless America

I turned off television, sat on the porch and shed my tears, said my prayers and went to bed.

For once in my life I hope and pray that I am wrong.

Birthday Wishes

Birthday Wishes

of the best of everything the world has to offer

to a VERY special person.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IGGY!

BE CAREFUL HOW YOU VOTE!

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals!

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference anddemands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of theshivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house,now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2008

Last minute plans = relaxation

We had no plans for this weekend, so we invited our friends over for Saturday night supper. They were like, well we are going to the Lake - why don't you just join us... Oh gosh, I don't know... Do I want to go relax on the water and not cook? Let me think about this... LOL we said YES! So I baked an awesome homemade cherry pie - I swear, it was awesome! and we headed for the Lake. Patti had a big pot of chili ready. The weather was amazingly warm during the day and at night we built a fire in the fire pit. It was so relaxing.



I took this picture of clouds on our way to the Lake. I thought for sure I'd see some kind of picture but my imagination must be dead tonight. Do you see a picture in the clouds?



The Lake of the Ozarks used to be dotted with cabins here and there. Now there are homes builts one on top of the other.




This is a classic example of haste makes waste or working dumb or... I'm not sure what. But these folks have got to be sick right now, seeing the foundation eroding right out from under their foundation!