Sharon and the Frog & Various Other Events

Thought I'd start with a recent incident. Who knew that Sharon disliked frogs so much. Let's see spiders, mice, & other various birds & animals don't seem to upset her. But have a frog jump at her from the storage area under the camper and you definitely know that something aweful has happened. She was telling me about it since I was doing laundry at the time - so sorry - no pictures or video. I did ask her if she'd like to relive it so I can film it. Her answer - well, let's just say that there isn't a video for you to watch. Apparently she tried to get rid of it but it preferred to cling to the water hose; side of the camper; rags and whatever else it could attach to. I really would have liked to see how she was trying to remove it since she refused to touch it. Well, she got rid of it and filled in the hole - now mind you the hole is the access on the bottom that the water hose feeds up. Sorry, didn't get a shot of that either. She went out & checked a couple of days ago and no frog so all must be well.

We put up our bird feeder and have had lots of birds. Here's a few pictures.




The Jelly Belly On Tour stayed at our campground a couple of weeks ago. Here's a couple of pictures of their motor home & car. And, of course, we received a "few" packages of beans and gems.




We did make it to Wilsons Creek Battlefield. Will have a separate post about that. Big news in town this past week was the grand opening of the new Hy-Vee food store. Apparently, everyone was excited about it. For the first couple of days, they were shuttling people from another parking lot about 1 block away. Amazing, isn't it. We're still finding which store we like the best. Believe we've been to at least 4 different stores now. Have found a meat market. I can firmly attest that you don't want to buy any meat pre-packaged in the stores here. Oh MY!!

Well, Packers are doing better - Sharon's not quite so mad at them at the moment. Guess, I'll see what I should do next. I'll try & get around to posting about the battlefield in the next day or two.

Wilson Creek Battlefield

Realized that I didn't finish this post and publish it. So here goes. Started this post on 10/16.

Didn't have a chance to post last week. Went to the battlefield last Friday. The visitor center was interesting and we watched a short movie about the battle that took place here. The park is a drive through and has either an cd audio (you can buy) or a number that you can call on your cell phone and listen to the updates.
Visitor Center

Our first crossing of Wilson Creek


The only original house still standing after the battle. The family came out of the shelter and helped attend the wounded after the battle.


Just a couple of pictures of the various stops we made along the way. The leaves were just beginning to change color and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.



Decided we were hungry so went in search of a restaurant. The town of Republic wasn't very far away. Ate at this cafe called Ziggy's. First time in several years we were asked if we wanted the smoking or non-smoking section. Didn't think any of these were still left. Several older gentleman aka farmers came in for coffee and dessert in the afternoon.

Lazy Afternoon

Worked today from 8 - 2. Grilled a couple of steaks for "lupper". Sharon's watching Green Bay and I'm having a lazy afternoon. Decided to play on the computer for awhile and then thought, WOW, I should update the blog for the past couple of weeks. Work is going well. We're getting accustomed to the changes. Had yesterday off, so ran some errands: Walgreens (needed some scripts), UPS store (needed to return a couple of items purchased on-line), Springfield Visitor Center (pick up some Springfield guides - we were out in the store), Lowes (thinking about getting a space heater) and the grocery store. First, went to Walgreens - got those scripts picked up. The UPS store was close by so decided to do that next. Then, we decided to find the visitor center. Knew what street it was on. How hard could it be to find. Did we get out the GPS, no, should we have - probably. Finally found it. It was on the left side of the street. No problem - just go around the block. What - no block - so drove behind a couple of motels and found a side street. Actually not too bad, there was a stop light. O.K. - so we pulled into the driveway of the visitor center. Should have taken a picture - first a small tight curve, then parking spaces about the size of a vw bug. Got the truck parked. Then, to get out of the parking lot, another tight turn and then through a bank parking lot. My - oh my. Definitely not made for pick-ups, not even sure a SUV would have had an easy time. But - no dents - no tire smudges on the curbs either. So, then decided to drive north to see where that would take us. Thought about finding a Lowes. In all of the driving around we have done, have not found any type of home improvement store. O.k. - pulled into a very large McDonald's parking lot and got out the GPS. Found one. Let's just say it was probably 10 - 15 miles from where we were and about 5 miles from the Walgreens from where we started. Only 7 miles from the campground. :) Lowe's had some great potted mums. Picked up a yellow and yellow/orange.

Now, we're hungry - Sharon wants Chinese. So plugged in Chinese restaurants into the GPS. Problem is - can't tell if fast food type or restaurant style type. Dragon Inn II sounded interesting so said - take us there. It was very near Missouri State campus - and, of course, Missouri State was playing football at home yesterday (UNI). The restaurant was a tiny little building that was take out only. O.k. find another one. There was a Chinese Grand Buffet but decided we'd try something different. If this next one wasn't o.k. then off to the buffet. Guess what. Yep, you guessed it - back towards Lowe's we go. This restaurant was called the Lotus Restaurant. This was a buffet, also. Small family owned. We stayed. Food was very good and the place was clean. The whole meal was $6.49 each. We had tea and that was included. We kept saying at least we're learning our way around. Next stop - Walmart. Decided to get groceries there, also. By this time, we just wanted to get home. Had a great day, though. Last weekend, the camper got washed. This guy came to the campground to put out a flyer. He did an excellent job. Check out the pictures of the roof and the awning.

This week we have Thursday & Friday off. We're hoping to make it to Wilson's Creek Battlefield. There's quite a few places we'd like to visit while the weather is good. Some of the gardens, etc. close by the end of November. We found out that we get in for free at the Fantastic Caverns - so looking forward to that jeep/trolley ride. Health is still pretty good. Sharon's been having some back & leg aches - we're thinking from the changes in the chairs/store/etc. At least not as bad as when in Des Moines.