Donna W

The tree person still didn't arrive Thursday ...and didn't call...  So Bob contacted every phone number, email address, text number he could find. and finally a woman answered. Hopefully an office person. Someone is supposed to come tomorrow ( Sat) around noon. We'll see.

tree person??

It is definitely cooler today... only in the mid-70's around lunch time. The weather people are talking rain this evening.

We have been waiting for the tree person ( said he's be here around 11) to look at our tree situation. No show so far.

Tigger, the orange cat, is in another of his strange moods. Raced around the house .. up and down the stairs and attacked my ankle (again). Bob applied Iodine to the bites. I do NOT want another infection and stay in the hospital.

Three hours later... still no show. No show at all...

So the trees still need to be taken care of...

Memorial Day on the deck

 We all enjoyed our time on our daughter's deck. The dogs were delighted to see us again.. our daughter was too. 

Our pre-dinner nibbles were great. .. fresh chopped up veggie dip and chips. Couldn't believe the dogs enjoyed it too... begging for some MORE! Dinner was great too -salads, home made pickled beets, chicken burgers with horseradish sauce and a wonderful pineapple cake for dessert. We were gifted with enough cake for dessert tonight!

The weather was gorgeous... bight blue sky, small fluffy clouds, light breezes.No bugs!! I guess it is still a little early for mosquitoes etc!

Bob left messages with tree removal companies but no call backs so far. I took my grocery list and headed out to Aldi... Our daughter praised its chicken salad with cranberries and almonds.. and lucky for me there was plenty in the deli (?) section.

I think I mentioned that Blue Springs had set up a park's parking lot for tree debris ... lines of people wanting to drop stuff of were 1.5 to 2 hours long and the parking lot was full by closing. Haven't read on Facebook what the city did today!

more tree news

Well.. the backyard still has loads of large tree limbs. The huge maple ( so big it takes 4 people to hold hands around it) has also lost limbs. I hadn't really noticed.. being fixated on the oak . 

When Bob reaches someone who will take care of all this, he will ask whether the maple needs to come down. The oak is in our neighbor's yard and has lost about 1/3 . He will have to decide whether he wants to take down that tree . Not our decision .. If they have to come down... it will be expensive!!

When Bob reached our neighbor by phone he had no idea about the storm or the tree's damage!! No idea how he missed it all!!

Reaching a "tree company" is not really super critical... no damage to the house etc. ...and I bet all of them are super busy. Our city of Blue Springs has set up a place in a park's parking lot for residents to drop off trees, limbs etc. One just has figure out how to get it there!!

Our elder daughter lives about 7 miles East... no damage there at all!! BTW... the weather people called it a downdraft. So will we  will enjoy a Memorial Day dinner on her deck in the shade with her two dogs!!

Thunderstorm disaster

Blue Springs got hit pretty badly late last night due to wind gusts up to 85 mph...Trees are down everywhere and roads are blocked. 

 Lots of customers are without power .... LOTS!!

Our big maple down in the corner of our lot lost branches! But the biggest thing is the oak just over our fence in the backyard. Probably half sheared off , over the fence ( don't what its shape it is under all the branches) and ending up just shy of our 2nd story deck!! This is just one section.. another big limb is underneath. looks like about half the tree... is what is left savable?

So far it doesn't look like a trip to the grocery store is in order. The Neighborhood Walmart, near me, is closed due to no power as is Ace Hardware... and Price Chopper is between the two. Bet it's closed too!

Later... my daughter is without power  and has been since 11.00 last night. She came over to charge her phone and to have some hot coffee! Her husband stayed home to see someone about removing all their downed tree limbs.

He came later and we spent a long time sitting on the deck chatting! Both of them kept checking the Evergy website to see where repairs we being done. They headed home about 5 and their power was back on about 6pm.

What a nice day

 Today was really nice even if we get severe thunderstorms and rain overnight! We went to the farmer's market first thing and came home with beets, green beans, mini cucumbers, a loaf of cheese bread, a sweet roll and a large cookie baked by a teenager!Bob's arms were full.

When we got home I cooked the beets and turned them into pickled beets ... yummy! The green beans will be turned into a new to us salad - roasted green beans, tomatoes, garlic with a lemony dressing topped with cheese -feta ? or Parmesan   ?

This afternoon we went out to our older daughter's so that Bob could help her fix up her grill... they had disassembled it last fall... and check on the propane tanks.

Afterwards it was really nice to sit on the deck under the awning and talk. Even the dogs relaxed!

Endings

For my teacher daughter today was the last day of school! The school district has assigned her a new classroom next year so she spent this past week boxing up her classroom "stuff"  and taking the boxes to the new room on one of those carts. Luckily her desk was moved for her!!  BTW.. lots of teachers were being moved. All of them in one because the building is being changed from elementary to middle.

Earlier this week Carolyn's school  district held field days in all the elementary buildings. My grandson ( the one who graduated last week) had no more classes so he went and helped his Mother... all day!  They "ran" the soccer ball bowling game. Lucky Dominic was the one resetting all the pins... He was so exhausted that he fell asleep on the classroom floor during the mid-day break!! Though he did have lunch first!! But he enjoyed things and the kids all enjoyed him ( and marveled over his 6'5" )

Poor Iowa and its 81 tornadoes last week. Definitely going to pay attention to the weather alerts and sirens this season!! We have managed to avoid the latest weather.. the storms went south or  north.. or wherever but not here!!

Memorial Day weekend is here so the other daughter has asked her Father to help her get her grill ready for the first grilling of the season. So off we go tomorrow. They will do the grill and I will enjoy sitting on the deck with the dogs!

 

tree trimming?

We went out to see our elder daughter... to see how her replacement of her kitchen backsplash job was going... and then a chance to sit and talk with her and the dogs on her deck!

But the thing we really had to do was help trim the branches of the tree in her front yard. The man who mows her lawn had started complaining about having to duck while mowing. He wanted to arrange for someone ...$$$ of course ... so Bob decided we would take care of it. It's done... and stuff put into yard waste bags. No $$$ spent !! 

BTW.. it is truly hot ! Mid to high 80's yesterday and today....just got notified that severe thunderstorms are on their way... and rumbles just started!!

Didn't make it..

 Well.. three of us ( daughter, Bob and myself) all came down with something so we didn't make it to our grandson's actual graduation... RATS.. But luckily the high school did a live feed on it's Facebook stage. We sat in the office and watched the whole thing... speeches and all. Then we watched 500 students come to the stage, have his/her name announced, shake hands with the administrators etc and receive his/her diploma book!!

We waited and waited...finally Dominic!!

When his aunt graduated her class size was almost 800... the biggest ever. Then Blue Springs built a second high school.

update... everything went well but a madhouse. Parking  was "something else" ... expensive and a long walk and leaving afterwards was even more hectic!!

The live feed for us was probably a better deal...got a great view of Dominic receiving "the handshake" and hearing his name !! Dominic Charles Lee Holmes!

still wet and gray

another wet (off and on) gray day... Will we turn green and mildewy??   One good thing.. everything is green and growing like mad! It seems like everywhere has plants for sale...Time to get some??

I went grocery shopping this morning! The woman in the checkout lane in front of me had loads of everything and was in a motorized grocery cart. I couldn't believe her total... $350 plus!! Luckily she had help getting things into a cart and then into her car!! Don't think I have ever heard such a total!! Mine was no where near that!

Bob and I did another one of our round trip tasks.. off to Habitat to drop off stuff... then Disabled vets to do the same thing ( they don't want the same things)... then Target to pick up the gray striped cat's prescription and a graduation card for our grandson... the Home Depot for some plants and work gloves for Bob ,,,and then home. We forgot to stop for gas... will do that tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be just as busy... Dominic's graduation is downtown Kansas City.  We will park our car at Laurel's office and go to the Munical Auditorium via Uber with her. We will meet up with the rest of our family and some friends there. Dominic has to be there early so his parents will take him and then get seats saved for the rest of us! Hope it works out... We haven't done this since Laurel's graduation there in 1989 ! We're doing Uber because parking near the auditorium can be a hassle!!

gray day... another one!!

 This morning is gray gray with rain mixed in!! As much as this area needed rain I am beginning to feel like it's been too much.

Mothers' Day was nice... Bob's mother and mine are long gone. We miss them obviously. Our elder daughter made dinner for us... a quiche, salad and zucchini bread for dessert. We ate outside on her deck with her dogs . Harper and Scout did a little begging but not too much. They ate some of the salad (lettuce) which our daughter gave them.. but only if the piece had dressing. Plain lettuce is unacceptable!! LOL.

Made it home in time for a nice long chat with teacher daughter!! The phone ( landline) was ringing as we opened the front door!

Froggie and Mother's Day

 Here is the 3D froggie I purchased at the farmers market yesterday...

I should have asked the maker how she linked the leg parts together!!

It's a bright and sunny day  ( so far). I found two email Mother's Day cards  in my gmail account from friends far away... so nice!

We will be heading to our elder daughter's for dinner this afternoon. Hopefully it will still be nice enough to eat out on her deck!!

On a nasty note... Tigger the orange cat is not feeling well.. obviously... since he left a surprise in my slipper. Luckily I looked before I slipped my foot into it before I headed outside for the Sunday paper..

Farmers' Market

Bob and I went to the local farmers' market this morning ... first time this year. It had been moved from downtown Blue Springs to a spot on 7 Hwy. Parking was ok.. lots of new crafty vendors and some of the old vendors.The Amish or Mennonite bakery ladies were there...great items. Bob bought sourdough bread from across the aisle. great tomatoes, honey, microgreens etc.!! 

Bought a great 3d printed frog and a raven skull.

On the way home we checked on the "market on Main"... it had taken over the old farmers' market spot...will check it out next week.

Finishing!!

 Our trombone playing grandson is spending his last day in high school today !! Here he is "all dressed up" for the senior banquet.

He will be attending UMKC next fall and is working through all the paperwork for classes, dorms etc. He has been accepted into the music program and is currently thinking about becoming an elementary school music teacher

PS... his sister also at UMKC just sent a copy of her grades... all A's ! Congrats Lili!

sitting in the basement

Tornado sirens went off at midnight Monday night!!! We were getting ready for bed but got dressed instead and headed off for our safe spot in the basement.... a corner under the front steps with no windows etc. Got our folding charis and settled in... Sirens wailing outside... rain and thunder.

Our daughters called to make sure we were ok... one on Bob's cell... the other on the landline!!

The daughter on the landline was having her electricity go on and off!

Finally the sirens stopped... and we went back to bed.

A F1 tornado hit Grain Valley - next town east- at a RV selling site. RV's moved around and one demolished. The tornado seems to have skipped the campground next door!!

Looks like this will be an active tornado season... keeping our basement safe area set up!

Ellin...

Today would have been my sister-in-law's 80th birthday... We definitely  miss her. 

Back in 2008 I made a digital scrapbook page of Ellin, my husband Bob and their little brother. They were visiting their grandparents down at the cottage on one of the Finger Lakes ( central NYS)

Early phone call

 The phone ( our land line phone) rang early this morning. Of course I expected bad news and we were in the midst of thunder and rain.. but no.. It was my teacher daughter going off to school in the midst of a horrendous hail storm.

She can do a hands off  call.. which she did, She needed it!! Traffic was going quite slow. Emergency vehicles were nearby..  I could barely hear her with the hail!! She made it almost to her school when the hail stopped!! By then it was raining. Luckily she had an umbrella and could run into school!!

Her day will be different. 4 th graders are doing their statewide testing so she won't have any students. But she does have testing to see whether some students qualify for her gifted program next year!

Later... it rained and thundered off and on all day. I have no idea how much rain we have gotten these past days but it has to be a lot!!

BTW.. the tested kids qualified and will be in the gifted program next fall semester!!