Where has June 2009 gone so fast

The month of June has gone by so quickly that I did not share many adventures with you folks out there. You all know Kirk, Holly and Lacey. They are expecting a new member to the family in November. That should increase our November birthday bash by at least one. We have so many birthdays in November and some in late October. We get them over with at one party.

My Friend Jan has came over to ride with me as well as Crazy Mule Lady. I am so grateful. Crazy Mule Man came over and trimmed up my mules this month and now they are show ring ready. Mia and Sylvia and Jasper have been here to help with the garden. Jasper is ready to
dig potatoes at a moments notice. We took pictures of the toads in the window well so Kelly can see that we are caring for them. The babies are so little you can barely even see them.

This month has been a good one. I traded for Ford truck that I can pull my mule trailer with.
It barely fits in the garage and I shut the door on the tailgate. Now it is at a shop getting repaired. So much for women drivers. I need to take out part of the work bench in the garage to make it fit.

My Uncle Glen, his son Bill and daughter Glenda were here for a visit to Iowa. Glen is 95 years
old. He is and always was my favorite uncle. He was married to my dad's sister Mary. They
were frequent visitors to the family farm when I was growing up. He was the original cowboy just like Roy Rodgers. Thats what I thought anyway. So good to see them. Uncle Glen and Glenda live in Florida.

My friend Jan and I are spending July 4th weekend at River Valley Horse camp
at Farmington and riding our mules at Shimek and we are sure hoping that those trails will be open.

I miss all my friends at the Monroe County Saddle Club. It is just too difficult to do the old things
without Glen. I probably would cry all the way through the Bussey parade. We have been doing the parade since the 1060's.

Yesterday, Monday the 29th, I was in Des Moines. I met Ron, Donna, and brother Jack at a
BBQ place for lunch. It was fun to see them. Ron and Donna have changed their plans for a
vacation in Alaska and are flying to Las Vegas instead. Sounds like a plan to me. They will
continue on the California and also the Grand Canyon. They are leaving in July.

Carrie spent last week in Alaska with Micole. Very exciting place and I can't wait to see it.

Crazy Mule lady is coming to ride mules with me today. We are riding all morning and afternoon. We are trying to entice Tom to come as well. He is building a new home and very busy with his new wife. So we will be lucky to see him.

There is just one thing I cannot believe. My peppers in the garden are begging for water.
I thought it had rained enough for the entire summer of 2009.

Old Clothes and Memories

Yesterday I packed up 6 huge bags of clothes and took them to Good Will. Lots of stuff from
RAGBRAI(not the t-shirts as Deanie is going to make a quilt top from them). Cruise clothes
such as men's suit and my dresses. I was just getting down to Glen's jeans and shirts, the last
bag, and I just couldn't do it. I was crying and wishing my friend Deb was here to help me and
she called at that moment and said her home visits had been cancelled and she wanted to stop by for a few minutes. She finished putting the shirts and jeans in the last bag and went with me to Good Will. This was such a good thing for me.

Deb is also known as Crazy Mule Lady and has a blog Greystone mules.

Floating Gardens

You all have heard of hanging gardens. My gardens are Floating. My tomatoes are going down for the third time. I am afraid that they can not be rescued.

Last year we had a real flood and my tomatoes drowned. Now it is happening again.

I did get a nice potato patch and onions. All is not lost. Love you all

Love Letters

A few days ago I was burning up about 10 years worth of personal papers that should have been shredded, but no shredder. I began to remember reading my mother and father's love letters.

Mom would visit her maternal grandmother in Des Moines. She lived on Park Avenue next door to my dad. They would write letters when she went back home to Marshalltown.

I started reading those letters when I was a preschooler. They were mostly poems and statements like "Dee Dee Girl" and "Johnny Boy" and a lot about Whipper Wills. Listening to the night birds I guess.

I was horrified when I was about 15 years old and mom said she had burned all the old letters
she and dad had written each other.

I guess history repeats itself because one time many years ago I burned all our letters. Glen and I had been writing to each other since the fifties and a letter every day when he was in the army. Glen wrote lots of poems to me and our letters were filled with loneliness and sadness at being apart. In later letters I was expecting our first child.

I am so sorry now. Glen left me this time without a word of hope or good bye. I wish I had all those old letters now. I would probably make a book out of them. It would be comforting to read them again.

Wedding Celebration Ride

Tom and Tammy are getting married Saturday.
I have to work so they came over today to ride
with me. We had a great time and found all the trails that Glen had made for us.

Tom was standing up in the saddle, but it was not caught on camera and he would not do it again. This is a trick perfected by tammy.

Crazy Mule lady and I gave them their gift while they were here. It is a dutch oven made for campfire cooking. We all plan to benefit from this gift.

The river was too high and we could not play on the sandbar like we usually do.

Emma rode with us. She was always with her dad, Tom, but now she is married and has
other things to do. We all were delighted to have her with us and on her donkey as well.

Jeanie's Job Corp

Wednesday, June 10,2009, My sister, Donna, brother-in-law, Ron, and brother Jack came to help me
yesterday.

They brought the famous baked smoked beans, plus burgers and trimmings.
After we had a great lunch I handed out the work assignments.

Jack had to wash my new truck. He really hates to get his hands wet with soap, but he did manage to bond with my new truck. He said he approved of it.

Ron was asked to weed eat, and he was not overwhelmed by the amount and size of the weeks in my front yard. Now I can find the bird feeder and the mail box.

Donna scrubbed away at least two years of mold on the front patio and sidewalks. She used my
new broom with the energy reminiscent of our mother.

Kirk was already on the job mowing weeks and a path on the government project on the Island.
I was surprised how the wild flowers were getting ready to bloom in the land that was flooded last summer and killed so many trees.

I was a very fun day with lots of good memories of Glen and old times.

I love you guys. Thanks

Saturday Night in the PITS

The rain threatened all evening and it did not rain until after midnight.

I met a lot of folks I knew and quite a few I wish I knew better.

Austin is a grandson of Jim Darnell. My friend and co-worker, Marci , she works for Jim and they
provide fuel for the races. Austin is very sweet and polite young man. I forwarded his picture to Sylvia for future reference.

It is really fun to be in the pits. Especially when you do not have to pay the 25 dollars to get there.

Knoxville, Iowa Raceway

Hold on folks I am going into the pits tonight. My first hand experience of knoxville racing
from the pits. More tomorrow

River Valley Horse Camp

Jan and I went to Farmington, Iowa Thursday
May 28 until Sunday May 31. We rode our
animals in the Shimek State Forest. We ate out
every night and there was a dance on saturday
night.

There were a lot of people there as the camp
hosted a colt Challenge. 10 or 12 Trainers each
had a 4 year old filly that had never been handled. The goal was to ride the colt. The winner won a lot of money. They had to ride the
colt and not just buck them out.

I think I have found a new place to play.