Eureka!

Thanks to Jody at The Hunter's Wife, who ran a blog contest from June 10th - June 16th, I have received a Lady Bug sleeping bag produced for the Eureka Tent Co. to fit the little girl campers in our lives. The sleeping bag arrived from Johnson Outdoors ,Racine,WI. by FedEx on Tuesday last week...a very speedy delivery. Now it is time to plan an occasion to use it . I wish to extend many thanks to the sponsor. ;)

Anniversary Celebration

Our 34th Wedding Anniversary would not be spent at home... We headed out to the Texas Roadhouse for a very filling lunch. You will be greeted with the phrase "Are you ready to get the party started"?, when you enter the front door to be seated. The host/hostess staff will grab a basket of sweet white dinner rolls accompanied by cinnamon butter and lead you off to where your waiter/waitress will take your order. While you wait for the appetizer, or your main meal you can enjoy snacking on peanuts in the shell if you have some hunger pangs to satisfy. We started off with a "Baby Bloom" since there was only the two of us, we didn't even eat the whole thing,so we would have room for the main course,just needed a taste of the sauce. Hubby ordered his favorite "Barbecued Ribs" with sides of baked beans & caesar salad. I decided to have the breaded catfish with a sauteed carrots and broccoli mix with a caesar salad also. We both had the Cherry Limeade for our lunchtime libation, very tastey that is if you like sweet drinks. More than ample servings of food will either leave you full as a tick, or ready to heat and serve later at home. We highly recommend you stop by the Texas Roadhouse closest to you. It was off to see a movie next. The new Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen movie was released at the Des Moines Science Center IMAX Dome Theater on June 24th,a midnight showing no-less...Ummm, NO! We didn't go to that one. Instead I made an online ticket purchase for the 1:00 PM showing on Sunday,June 28th. I liked the perk of not having to wait in line to buy our tickets. We presented the receipt printed off at home to the cashier at the "Will Call" ticket window and was handed an envelope with our ticket to the movie and admission to the Science Center for after the movie. We waited in line at the doors for probably a half an hour before the dome was opened for seating. They had another video event of some sort before our showing. The trip to the Science Center/IMAX Dome Theater was a totally new adventure. We hadn't been to that part of Downtown in the last few years to witness the Urban improvements that have been put into place.It is like the Field of Dreams..."Build it and they will come." ;)

34th Wedding Anniversary

Hubby and I are celebrating our 34th Wedding Anniversary today. This week I had a chance to go back to the corner of Iowa where I spent most of my childhood and teenage years. I got off I-80 onto Iowa Highway 71 south,following it to Atlantic and beyond. Traveling a mile past Lyman, we, my mother and I, arrived at the road that used to take us to the place we called home. It had rained not long before we stopped to visit graves of family members that lay at rest in the cemetery of the church we had attended. I didn't want to take the gravel road to get the car muddy driving by the acreage, because we still had more miles to go to get to our intended destination. If you were to follow the road in the picture west to the first stop sign and take a left going a 1/4 mile south we were the first house on the right. Sounds like a lot of directions.You can see part of the place on the edge of the photo to the left. It has been 34 years since my mother, or I have had any claim to the property built by my paternal Grandmother's parents. Time changes things and your memories or pictures are all that remains of what used to be... I diverged from the topic a bit.Now, I would like to go back and share a picture of my childhood church, where Hubby and I had the good fortune to take the step to become man and wife, way back when...34 years ago. ;) Have a great day everybody!

Berry Pickin' Experience

Today I was out gathering gooseberries to stock some freezers for the long, cold winter ahead. At least the fruit of summer can bring a glimmer of hope when it is to bless-ed cold outside that you would rather be sitting by the fireplace. I am searching for the "Right" size to pick. Silly me...then I finally decide that to hurry the process along any size will do to fill a pie. As I stood on a deer run below the rim of a hill a white-tailed doe came into view. I surprised her, scared the "Snort" out of her you could say. She stood trying to get my attention for a few minutes, but when I didn't move she took off in the other direction. Continuing to work my way up the slope I had another encounter...A young fawn sprung up from hiding and bolted away. I had revealed the hiding spot of a newer member of the Timber Life deer family, the second encounter in five days. My presence on the block just wasn't appreciated... There was a flashback to the second deer shotgun season last winter. I was snuggled inside the limbs of a fallen tree. Every now and then I would stand up to see if I could get a visual on any mature deer in close proximity and get the blood flowing in my legs. The older ones stayed across the ravine to the south, there was activity to the east of my location, a young deer that seemed to always be in that very spot. The funny thing was every time I stood up it would in turn stand up and move ever so slightly further to the east. I know that it isn't good to speak but I had to reassure the little critter I wasn't going to be after it that year.... Do you think it could become a generational birthing nursery??? ;)

I am not sure if this is the fawn I have been seeing...The doe was initiating it into jumping fences around my deer food sample plots early today. This isn't where I saw the baby yesterday but wanted to share anyway. ;)