Birthday Lunch

On Wednesday, the 28th we had lunch with my sisters, Pam and Marcia. Marcia has her birthday on Saturday, the 31st and Pam has hers on Tuesday, August 3rd. We ate at Granite City. A couple of pictures. They didn't turn out very well - had the little camera and couldn't adjust. Don't they just look so happy to have their picture taken. :)




Downloading these pictures found a couple more on my camera. One of my great niece Jersey. We were waiting for Raegan's recital. Her Dad,Jeremy, is holding her.


Then I found a couple of pictures from a lunch I had in June with a few of my prior co-workers from my pension days at Principal. I always enjoy having lunch with them.


Hopefully, the camper and truck are getting washed today. There's a new mobile service in the area that the owner will let wash on the premises. Otherwise, there's no washing of campers or vehicles. The people bring their own water. Hope the camper sparkles when their done. Thinking about taking before and after pictures but very much doubt it.

Sharon's working this morning and I'm going in this afternoon and evening. Patricia is going to get a tattoo on her big toe today. Can't wait to see it. Still sounds very painful to me.

Hope everyone is having a good summer.

Tuesday Night - July 27

Neither one of us is working tonight. Sharon's watching the Cubs. I was outside talking with a neighbor. It was very pleasant-slight breeze - didn't feel so hot and humid. Then someone started a campfire. Time to come in.

I'll stop for a moment and wish Ruth a very nice 63rd birthday. My goodness. I still have a few years to go. Sharon's close behind,though. HaHa

Had a nice birthday last Saturday. Didn't do any work - and that included laundry and dishes!! Went to Biaggi's for dinner. Their bruschetta was a little different - had fresh mozzarella balls and a balsamic vinegar glaze. Very good. Loved the atmosphere. Couldn't decide between eggplant parmesan and butternut squash filled ravioli. Chose the eggplant. Need to go back to try the ravioli. Brought home half of the dinner and dessert. Sharon had chicken cananoli. For dessert, she had white chocolate sauce bread pudding (with strawberries) and I had a piece of chocolate fudge cake. Brought home the desserts, too.

Yesterday, I thought someone may be thinking of robbing the store. There were several kids in shopping so the guy left. The story is better in person but. . . Two guys came into the store. One stood over by the door. The other guy walked around just hanging out. Had some kids in the store trying on bracelets and looking at jewelry. Mom was looking over the bears and coffee cups. He stood around in a couple of places and then asked about the price of a gallon of water. Told him it was marked on the bottle. He went over and looked. Then the other guy nodded at him and they left the store. Drove off. Guess it was just weird but I was one number away of calling for help.

Tomorrow, we're going out for lunch with my sisters. Marcia's birthday is on Saturday and Pam's is next Wednesday. We try and get together for lunch around our birthdays. Going to Granite City - my choice this time.

Been updating the fact sheets for the volunteers for this year's fair. Finished today. Sharon's going to proof before we send them off. Quite a few changes this year. Two good things - Rock It, the robot is coming back and so is the sand sculpture. The new exhibition center looks awesome. We drove over to the fairgrounds a couple of weeks ago. Picked up some posters for the store and took a look around at the changes. Made me excited for the fair to start. Got our schedules. Patricia was great - she didn't schedule us for the day after the fair. We won't be working at the store until the Tuesday following the fair. Nice - we'll be able to sleep in and relax a day.

Want to drive down to Winterset and see the covered bridges. It's been awhile and it's hard talking about them when haven't been ourselves. Would like a sunny day without high humidity. Maybe we'll just have to suffer and go anyway.

Made a couple of new friends from Arizona. Their just doing the housekeeping for their site.

Sharon took some pictures of the butterflies around the camper yesterday. Thought I'd post a few of them.

AM - no work

Have the morning off. Sharon's in the office. Kind of nice and relaxing. Yesterday, we went into town for an eye appointment for Sharon. It was at Valley West Mall. So, of course, I did some looking around. I'll explain later why we had to have an appt for Sharon. I noticed that there was a Verizon kiosk right in front. I've been getting phone calls and emails to change phones, plans, etc. What a perfect opportunity. Picked out my phone right away. Changed phone plans and got a new "air card". Sharon's been trying out her new phone today. We're going back tomorrow to "exchange it". We can't get the Chicago Cubs ringtone. There are a couple of other features she wants, too. Guess "cheap/free" isn't always the best. Oh well.

Now, the reason for the eye appointment. Sharon took a little fall out by the pool Sunday night. She had her glasses on and one lens - well let's just say they weren't scratch proof. She's o.k. Just a few scrapes/bruises - one very nice black/purple eye. She's been putting off getting an eye exam for a few months. Now, with no glasses, no more. The exam went well. She has healthy eyes. The eye place was having buy one get one free. So two pairs of glasses were purchased. Actually, one but she could pick out a different frame for the other. Also, new contacts were ordered. In just a few days, everything will be back to "normal". She's still walking pretty stiff but working in the office seems to help keep the stiffness down. That's a good thing. I'm going to try and take a picture of her eye so you all can see it. :) She'll probably figure it out though.

Things are going well. No new news on the house. There's always July.

Well, now we have a plan with some texting allowed. Got a flip phone with a qwrty keyboard. I'll be trying that next. Hope everyone is having a great summer. Only 42 more days until the Iowa State Fair.

Next post - will be some of the stories from the campground.

Sunday, June 20th

Wow, I can't believe a whole month has passed since I last posted. Well, let's see. Been to a couple of high school graduations. I (Sandy) had lunch with some prior co-workers. Been working in the office/store. Planted a few more flowers. Picked up a couple more bird feeders. Over the last few weeks, we've even managed to take about a dozen pictures. So, where are they all and why haven't I posted. Not exactly sure but we've been having fun. Sharon's sister, Ruth and her brother-in-law, John visted us last weekend. Forgot to take pictures.

We've picked up a new word for some of the campers: "numnuts". Not sure how to spell it but when saying outloud sure does fit. Earlier this week one of the sewer lines had to be dug up. It was blocked at the end of our row. After digging up, they found the following in the sewer line that was causing the plug: a sewer hose with cap attached, a mop head, a rag, a knife blade and a nylon scrub mitt. It's amazing that people think they can just drop anything down the sewer lines. For those of you who have an RV, we had a lady who didn't want to get her water hose dirty. This is the first time I've seen a water hose draped along the RV across the awning and down the side. We were hoping to get a picture before they left. However, every time we went down with a camera someone was outside. Just thought it wasn't right to make fun of them where they could see us.

The old fifth wheel across from us was towed out the other day. Sure makes a difference in the campground. It looks really nice on that site now. No more plastic kids toys or piles of wood hanging around. You can see the flowers and shrubs now. Really looks nice.

There's a Goldwing rally in Des Moines over the fourth. We should have about 50 of the cycles here for that week. Should be a lot of fun. It looks like a touring bus just pulled in. A touring band hasn't stopped here yet this year. Maybe this will be the day.

I'll try and do better in the future. Sharon and I very seldom work on the same day. From the looks of the schedule, we have a few afternoons off this next couple of weeks. Hopefully, we'll take a couple of drives and find some of the interest points around that we keep talking to people about. Would like to go see the new pictures on the freedom rock.

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully more later this week.

Saturday, May 22

Catching up time again. Sharon's in the store and I'm just waiting on some more merchandise to come in before going over.

This past weekend we went up to northwest Iowa for Taylor's graduation (Sharon's nephew). We left Saturday morning and came back on Monday. I'll do a separate post for Taylor's grad. Before we left Saturday am, Sharon's sister-in-law called and invited us over for supper that night. We had a great time. Most of Sharon's siblings were there.

A few pictures of us hanging around the house and outside on the patio.

Sharon's sister-in-law, Dorothy

John, Donna & Ruth



Two of Sharon's nephews: Austin & Matt

Loved this corner of her patio


We stayed overnight at Donna's. They had done some painting. Loved the new look in the kitchen. Took this picture to remember the color.


Sunday night after the graduation, Donna & Arlyn taught us a new card game. I WON!!! More about Taylor's graduation in the next post.

Mothers Day

I'm not sure why I haven't blogged about last weekend. Guess it's too nice being lazy. Yup, we're still working. Guess we don't want to sign onto the computer once we log off of one.

Last Monday, the 10th, we made a quick trip up to Madison, SD. Left Monday am - again got up early - and took off for Sioux Center. Stopped in to see Sharon's Mom (Gert). We took her out for lunch. Sharon's sister, Donna, could come,too. We just went to Culver's in Sioux Center but it was a nice outing and visit with her mom. That afternoon the nursing home was having a mother-daughter-daughterinlaw-friend tea. We stayed for that, also. It was very nice. There were a couple of singers. The little boy had just turned 5 last week. He, his mother, and little brother shared our table.



Instead of tea, we had our choice of coffee or punch. The punch had strawberry juice. But everyone was very kind - I had pink lemonade. After the entertainment, they served angel food cake with either strawberries or peaches.

It was a very pleasant afternoon. Sharon, her mom, and Donna.


Now onto daily activities. They hired a couple who WANTS to do the cleaning. That's right, they want to clean the cabins, lodges and restrooms. Whew! For awhile there, I almost volunteered. Oh, what am I saying - cleaning restrooms - - think again. ha ha

The other gal that will work in the office will start her training tomorrow. For the last few days, Sharon and I have been working separately. It's kind of nice. We're each getting a little more space this way.

Nothing more to add. Flowers are starting to grow. Maybe, we'll get out tomorrow and take some more pictures. Several more birds have started to arrive: grosbeak, baltimore oriole, and catbirds. Heard the catbird the other night. Still waiting on the hummingbirds. Put out a couple of feeders - just in case.

A couple of hours

Wow. It seems like a long time since I've posted. We've been very busy learning the office routine and getting the store ready. We've also planted a few shrubs and flowers around the campground. Most of the time, it's been a lot of fun. There are those days where we do groan a little. Using muscles that haven't been used in awhile.

A few pictures from the store. Very proud of the displays.




Of course, we also work on the computer: making reservations, registering campers, and selling store items. See, I caught Sharon working:



Well, that's all for now. Hopefully, will have a little time tomorrow to catch up the weekend activities.