Prairie Nooz Companion

Hello all,

Missed a few of you on Sunday night so here it is ---

Nice visit with Chaz, Maria, Raymond(bare naked) and Lily in the tub. Maria leaves Friday to fly to Springfield visiting Kelly for a long weekend.

Lisa and Brian had already left for Las Vegas so I left an anniversary message on their machine.

CC didn't answer but called back later to say they were eating when I called. She worked at Belk's Sat and Sun.

Kelly wasn't home either but her blog shows what she has been doing.

I did visit Leslee Hoover in Indianapolis on Thurs, only a 3 1/2 hour drive away. What a whirlwind life they have lived since moving from Marion. We talked from 9:30 am to 6pm with a lunch break to meet Phil. Another great emotional bank deposit. I took my computor so she could see MyPictures of you all. They were living in New Orleans when Katrina hit so I got her take on all that had happend there. She was involved in MardiGras pretty heavily, lots of posters and necklaces. Zach and his wife Sandy live in Des Moines IA with their 1 yr old son Sullivan Hoover. Isn't that a great name? He is a massage therapist.
Rachel is married and lives in Cincinnati with her almost 1yr old twin boys, Asher and I can't remember the other name. I'll get her number for Chaz.

Sunday, Clare had a brunch for Sarah and her baby Rose in town for Paul Todd's 85th birthday.
Rose favors Boone's eyes and coloring. She is a colicky baby and the only thing that can quiet her is the vacuum cleaner which was discovered accidently. One of the presents was a Dirt Devil handy vac, a little smaller than a reg vac. Dave commented that you couldn't take a vac cleaner to school, aka bubby or blankie because... nature abhors a vaccum.

I tried out for a musical USO show that the senior class theater at the Civic is doing in November. 8 men, 8 women, so I have a chance, 28 songs from 1920-1944. I will find out Friday. At least I tried out.

That's all for now.

Extreme Makeover-Bathroom Edition

Hey everyone, I'm posting a few pics of my bathroom painting skills. I went from all white walls and yucky maple window and door trim to CLEAN white and grey. Can you tell what I still need to complete? Hint there are two things still left to redo...post a comment and see if you got it right.

Fall Plantings

Well, I spent all last Friday updating my front flower bed. As you can see I have a lot of purple. I'm trying oriential kale this year. It's suppose to stay longer in the fall and cold weather. I did add some orange mums for a bit of "other" color. You can see, MOM that the container in the middle is almost covered with that ground cover we put in..don't remember the name of that plant. I will use that one again next year. I have used my water from the rain barrel. It's easier than pulling out the hose all the way around the house. I'll be adding pumpkins and some bales of hay after we get home from LAS VEGAS :) Luff to ewe all. CC, I have a great pix of Bird and Brady, I'll post. ;)

Monday NOOZ in order of the Sunday night call

Chaz and crew:
Friday saw a contractor's quote to install the laundry upstairs in Lily's closest. Since it backs up to the Master Bath, the contractor said no problem and it would take 2-3 days to finish. They will install a ceramic tile floor first. So, I guess it's a go!
Saturday, Chaz took Ray and Lily into Cincinnati to the Observatory. Maria had to attend a faculty dinner at MU for a new professor and the Sunday morning presentation, so she spent the night at a collegues home. Ray was very enthusiastic about the Observatory and Charlie had never been there before. They got to look into the telescope - saw the sun - sez Ray.
Sunday was church, Krogers ( a donut with candy corn on it for Lily- she gets a donut every time they go to the store) then play time. That means bike riding for Ray and running through the sprinkler for Lily. Chaz was finishing up bathtime for them when I called.

Lisa
7 more days until Lisa and Brian leave for LAS VEGAS and their anniversay.
They'll be there until Friday. She has booked 3 shows to attend Tony and Tina's wedding, Cirque De Soleil, Jay White. She has rented a car and they hope to explore the area somemore during the day. They can only spend so much time at the pool drinking pina coladas or something. She has 2 new Marilyn Monroe halter type dresses for night time shows, satin pants and gold top and new gold and white thong kitten heel pumps. She's our fashionista.
Brady also goes to 6th grade camp that week and will have his dad pick him up on Friday.Perfect timing. He lost another football game on Saturday. Bummer. He has not won one game in ?? years. Next year he will be out for middle school varsity football.

CC and Charles:
Ceece was watching the Food Channel in the bedroom when I called. Charles and Leon were watching- what else- football. Charles was also doing his Sunday night ironing.
She worked at Belk's Friday night and Sat morning. Also she had her first Bridal Registry consultation. Since she is still a "newly wed" she had great credibility. That night she and Charles double teamed to babysit Julia and Brady.
Her hair is still growing- no haircut since the wedding. She is keeping it long until after Lauren wedding in December. We're promoting a Locks for Love donation. The big Bachlorette Bash in Chicago is set for Oct 7th.

Kellster:
Jay's dad and wife were over for dinner Sunday night. His dad's lodge home is still progressing. He has a saw mill on the premises cutting the cedar logs that he and Jay cut and hauled last year. The Amish are going to erect the structure.
Kelly spent Saturday stripping wallpaper, taping and painting the guest bathroom " a warm gray". Now they need to get new fixtures. She also is taking my suggestion to get a new comforter for the bedrooom.
She had just taken the garbage out to the curb for the night - a sign that the weekend was over.

Momma, Queen of the House
Tom mowed the VW house lawn while I picked up the pears that had fallen from the tree, littering the mowing surface on Friday night. Saturday, we went out to the farm. He mowed, what else? I checked for more mushrooms to find the 'Fairey" ring had disappeared or was eaten by the deer or ??? and the puffballs were slowly "mellllltinng". We left early to get to Roshecks for the disasterous ND/MI game. We left after the1st MI touchdown in the second half. The Cronleys were crying in their beer after that game.
Tom is hoping ND is still devastated when they play MI State next weekend.
Then the 6 of us went to Bell's Brewery's Beergarten downtown for a pint or 2. Sunday, we went to 7:30 Mass, I sang at 9 and Tom went out to the farm while I had an open house 2-4. Then we picked plums, raspberries and apples from our garden. Tom peeled and put up it all up in the freezer.

Sorry, I'm so talkitive today. Have a great week. Luff ewe all.
Leave your corrections and comments

Shrooms

Schrooms on the farm

These are a few of the mushrooms I have found last weekend walking around the farm. Some of the photos when you click on them will be fuzzy. The puffballs I found last year under a tree returned in strength this year. ENORMOUS. I found 15 in a ring around the tree. One from last year remained dark, spongey and brown.



I have a mushroom book but not certain of "et- a-bil-ity". Fall is a good time to find them.
Below is a "fairey" ring of mushrooms I found on the other side of the farm. The rest of the pictures are just pretty wildflowers.

Nooz from the Prairie

Hello All,
I got to talk with all but Kelly last night. We were watching the Path to 9-11, sorry Kell.

CC was first call this time. She had a BUSY week at Data Direct ( her friend Becky had her baby on Thurs and CC will take over Becky's testing job for the duration of Becky's maternity leave), then over scheduled at Belk's working every day on a part time position but hte most fun was babysitting Saturday the Hoffman boys and going to the Childrens Museum and watching the butterflies being released in the Green house. Several attached themselves to CC's rear end.

Chaz's house was quiet for awhile until Lily had a booboo and Raymond was unhappy about coming inside after dark. He loves bike riding and has enjoyed 2nd grade and riding the bus. Chaz had taken them to King's Island for the day only to find the whole park was closed for a private party. Major bummer for the kids.
Work is really picking up for OMSphoto and Chaz. Maria is going to visit Kelly at the end of the month.

Lisa called me after bowling league was finished and on her way with Brian to pick up Braido. Since Brady gets on the bus so early now for middle school, Dean can't get him there in time so they switch at a gas station around 9pm.
Brady loves middle school and has already had a 5th grade dance. No news about football for him.

We went to the farm and I will show you the mushroom pictures I took. The Puffballs are enormous. Then we went to the Allegan County Fair for 2 hours. Looked at all the farm animals,chickens,lambs,pigs,goats, sheep,& vegetables. All the booths. The rides are new, too, a mini DemonDrop. Got some cinnamon roasted almonds and a polish dogs but resisited cotton candy and funnel cakes.

How about those morning glory vines?

Jay's Colorado Trip

Hey Everyone, just wanted to give you a few pictures of Jay's work at the condo last week. Plus I'm throwing in a picture from Joe's wedding that Chaz doctored a bit so we were all in the picture. Hope you like.

Notice the painting on the floor, Jay had a guy at work do that, it's right in front of the fireplace.

The dressor next to the bed was made for the condo. Jay did a lot of work in a few short days, but is generally happy with what he accomplished. He's been working at the condo so much lately that he wants to go back later this fall and stay for a long weekend and just enjoy the condo and do some hiking on the moutain for fun. So, it looks like we'll be going there in late October for a 4 day weekend. Can't wait!

Horseshoes at South Haven

It's Horseshoe time at the Land in South Haven - Yay! A beautiful day, of course, at the Land was the beginning of a major deposit to my emotional bank account on Labor Day 2006. The pulled pork was warming and all the potluck dishes were brought into the screened tent, the keg was cooling, partners were practicing "throwing", the smokey bonfire was going, the pits had new sand and beer holders. What more could you ask? Oh yes, the Arts and Crafts show up at Johnson Park. All the Filbrandts were there. Mark Filbrandt has lost 78 pounds on a $1000 bet and looks younger but still scruffy and with bleached blonde hair. Joe in from Alabama, Jordan was in charge of the tournament this year. His change was a open draw for partners, no A or B level. Lilah, Mia and Peter were there, April and jake, John Paul, Amy, Lexie and Caleb( still the spitting blonde image of Joe, talks the same too).

The gals went up to the Art Show for a couple of hours, Lilah/Mia, Amy/Lexie, April, Chris and Pris. We lost the first 2 after a halfhour. We go up one side and down the aisles til we get to the Roasted almonds stand. The booths started at the Marina and went all the way up the hill.

When we got back, Jake and Dale Neinhuis were partners and eventually won the tournament. Joe F and grampa Joe Monacelli were the second level winners and Joe won second in individual.