Hot Weather

Well we finally had a good day, it got up to 85 and hot, SO we took off and headed for Whetstone Gulf State Park for the day.
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Nice cool water.
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We took Pork Steak, BBQ Beans, Tabouli, Cheese Bread and Iced Tea and headed out.
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We cooled off in the creek, the stone is slate and it is smooth and slippery.
It's always nice to walk around the nice cool water.
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Changing cooking places.
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I started cooking on the small grill with charcoal but could not get it hot enough.
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I went to the Fire Pit and got a nice hot fire going with coals glowing, I brought some wood with me but the State Parks are very restrictive about bringing in fire wood due to the Ash Bore Beetle and a couple of other insects.  You buy 4 pieces of wood for $1.50 which is a rip off because I already own the land as I bought it with my tax dollars.
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I cooked the Steaks and beans on this.
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We enjoyed a nice Picnic.

DON'T FORGET, REMEMBER THE VET !

Moving on with Summer

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Well, the 2 gardens are planted and starting to come up, we have tomatoes, lettuce, turnips and onions coming along.
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Anna Mae worked on some house plants.
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I planted some flowers, and I planted the Morning Glory near the shade tree, we have had Baltimore Orioles at the feeder.
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The other garden of Beans and Onions is also coming up which is for all the Residents to share.
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We got a chance to pl;ay at the Country Manor Nursing home Tuesday night and everyone enjoyed the music.
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Never Forget our Veterans.
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Don't forget, today is D Day and we need to remember our Vets.

Garden Planting

Well, its warmed up enough to start the garden.  we planted it after digging it up twice, it was full of roots.
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There were lots of old roots in it.
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As you can see I have hand fulls of roots I dug out!!!
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This is our second garden which was ready to plant so we filled it with Beans and Onions for everyone here to pick and use like a community Garden.
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I started my Morning Glory Seeds, the seeds are very tough, so you take a fingernail file and file a notch in the side of them, place them in warm water and let soak for several days.
They soak and sprout then you plant them in pots to get started.
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We went over to Carthage Area Hospital Skilled Nursing Unit and played for the residents,
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 My friend Karl, his grandaughter Shannon, Mark and I played some music for them.

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Well, its warm, nice out and Memorial Day Weekend is coming up, don't forget our Veterans.

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Country Manor Visit

Well, I cooked out, I did Pork Steak with Jack Daniels Ole # 7 with secret ingrediedents in it and we had Pork Steak, Baked Bean and Fruit, great dinner,
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.The secret ingredient????? and the Pork Steak.

The next day got a call from the Office that I had left the grill dirty and a mess,  we live in Senior Citizen housing and there are 50 units here, some people have way too much time on their hands and went to the Office and complained, Oh well, sucks to be them....
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 I went over to Country Manor Nursing and Rehabilitaion Home and joined my friend Karl, (Gary) Blair for the bi-weekly sing session for the residents.
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I have a cousin Barb there who is a widow, a distant cousin Mary, also a widow, and I know about a dozen residents who live there.
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Above is Karl's Grandaughter Shannon, very good singer complete with Cowboy Hat and Cowboy Boots.
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as a matter of fact the whole audience was mainly women,  there are a lot of elderly genbtlemen there but they normally do not come down, just about the whole audience is in wheel chairs,
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We were joined by Karl's grandson Sam along with grandaughter Shannon.
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Finally Karl had 3 Grandchildren up singing for the residents, Karl, Sam, Paige and Shannon.

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There is rooms that married couples share and there is one couple there, he is a WW11 Veteran, he got shot at the Bridge of Remagen while fighting, he still has the x-ray of the bullet he took.  Great Guy, his wife tells it like it is in no uncertain terms and I love em!!
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The whole Community Room where we play was decorated as a country town and all the residents wore Cowboy Hats, scarfs.
We had a good time and so did the residents.
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Don't forget, remember our service men and women!

Where is Summer ?

Well, I am back at playing while I can,  I have done something to my right shoulder and and am having an MRI done on May 18th to see why I can not reach behind me.
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I met Karl, this is his middle name, his first name is Gary like mine, so Gary and Gary played for Carthage Area Hospitals Skilled Nursing Unit tuesday night.  Karl and I sang a few favorites for our audience.
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I sang out a few,  this Skilled Nursing is a step past Nursing Home, here you need more care, and are regulated more. I guess it's OK but I shudder to think this is where I might or probably will end up.
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We worked on the Garden some, we have a new garden and this thing is full of roots, big suckers, I can see why no one could grow anything.  We will see what we can do with it.
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Anna Mae digging out roots from this years new garden,  we asked to have the dirt replaced but it didn't happen.
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These are some of the roots we took out, big suckers, no wonder nothing grew for the people who used this garden before we got it.
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Roots are out, we bought Miracle-gro soil and put it in and will be planting soon.
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Weather has been rain and cloudy and the Temps have not gotten very far above 65. Did get a chance to Bar B Q a nice Pork Tenderloin.
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Grilling and Chilling !!
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Hope everyone is doing great!!! We are !!!

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Dont forget, Remember our Vets!

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F I S H I N G !!

Well, it finally arrived, everything fell into place and off we went FISHING.
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We drove up into Lewis County and checked out some back roads and drove into some truck trails and fishing access sites, we traded vehicles, we got rid of the Ole Ford F150 with the big V8* andf went for an import, thuis thing is fully loaded, even butt warmers, AC/4 wheel drive, sun roof, Navagation System with the lady that tells yopu where to turn, or which way to go.
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Anna Mae trying for Trout.
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I am trying for anything that will bite.
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We both just are enjoying the weather.
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Well we didn't catch anything, but we did have a great day in the great outdoors and got some quality time and also some exercise walking the shore line and thru the woods today.  Warm, sunny and up to almost 75 degrees.
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Grandaughter flew back to the Husband today and is home safe and sound in South Dakota.
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Lets not forget our Service Men and Women both past and present.
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Back at em

Well, it got up to 70 degrees today,  nice, we are staying busy and I got up the gumption to go and finally play at the Nursing Home on Tuesday night.  We had a nice crowd, we started at 6:30pm and they were a pretty lively crew that attended.
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In the Nursing Home where we play I have several cousing and a couple of distant relatives, they eat about 4PM, after dinner it takes a while to clean up the area and get folks either back to their rooms or settled in to wait for us.
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We are greeted warmly and eagerly as they all tell us they have been waiting for us to get there and they cannot wait for us to return in 2 weeks.
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We enjoyed playing, my right shoulder held up but did ache all night after playinh.
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The Granddaughter is home for a few days from South Dakota, we took her out to lunch at the Superior Rest. as she missed home cooking , this is a picture of her hiding behind her Grandmother with her brother Brent .

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She is a Beautiful young lady, a hard worker and makes me proud.
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These pictures are being used by BOVA Photography who is opening up a studio in Watertown and he needed some pictures to display so he asked our Grandaughter is she would pose for some and I think they came out great,  these are some that will be in his showroom hanging.
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She is married to a young man Stationed in the Air Force in South Dakota, he goes overseas quite a bit and she is just strating to adjust to this Military Wife business.  She leaves for South Dakota Saturday and we will miss her.

Well, its time to get ready for Friday Night Bingo here at the "Old Folks" home,  Dont forget our Vets.
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