A Touch of Spring from the Top of the Hill

I wish I could say that this is my picture, but it actually was taken by sister Carol in her garden at the top of Cathedral Cove. It is supposed to freeze again later this week, so we will just have to hold off our trip to the nurseries to buy some special spring flowers. Enjoy.

Loons Trying to Start a Family, BUT???

We were watching these loons do their courting dances on the water this afternoon. The male had just made a "running on the surface of the water" pass at the female and was crying the mournful song that loons sing WHEN a FISHING boat and three men came into the cove and halted the activity. This pair usually spends a couple of days in the cove in the spring and then are gone until fall.

Are you all ready for the snow on saturday???

A REALLY NEAT GIRAFFE FROM KRISTI

What an unusual giraffe planter that Kristi presented to me while we were celebrating birthdays with Ava and Savana!! I love the tennies and the "attitude"!

Platte City Antique Show

A wind assisted drive to KC the morning of March 21, 2009 allowed us to pickup Cinda about 10:30 and continue to the Platte City Hi School to the Antique Show. Luckily we found a parking space right by the entrance door!!. Our purchases included a collapsible wooden crate with Wacker Stores Inc advertising. This reminds us of uncle Dick who died Fri 13. A concrete turtle, an advertising spoon/bottle opener with Columbus NE Mill, and a coffee spoon from Brasilian coffee rounded out the purchases. After a couple of hours resting at Cinda's I dropped the ladies at the Panera Bread store at Metcalf and Johnson Drive to meet with the "KU Nurses Book Club" while I went to see the rental. Was able to ask Robert, the renter next door, to clean up the flower gardens and do a little painting. I then tried to get a pulled pork sandwich at OK Joes, but the line was 3 deep and out the door!! I guess Oklahoma was playing Basketball in KC saturday night. We stayed the night at Cinda's and drove home this morning with a wicked south wind, but we did not have any of the rain that was forecast for the weekend.

A new tenant for our really small rental house!!

With the first day of spring came a couple of flitty and jumpy wrens. They seem to have taken residence in the Georgia O'Keefe style bird house that Carol bought for Sara several years ago. We will try to avoid this entrance to the house to see if they will try to raise a "family".

March 20 --Spring & Wemerson's Birthday

Happy Birthday Wemerson. We hope to get a newer picture of you in the summer!!

Wayne, NB Mar 17 & 18, 2009

Sis and Ron drove to Wayne on St Pat's day. It was bright and hot all the way and the 8 plus hour drive went quickly and ended as the night started to fall over northeast Nebraska. We met Diane, Jim's wife in the lobby of the Super 8 the next morning. The funeral for Lester "Dick" was well attended for a man in his late 80's. Burial was in the northwestern part of the cemetery with military honors. The blasting guns and taps salute were startling and haunting.

Lunch followed in the church basement and we got to talk with many family members and friends of Dick. Jim and Diane's daughters are all tall and beautiful. Unfortunately I missed talking to Kirk's son and daughter, but did have a chance to find out that he installs ATM's in the US and Canada for a local company.

One pleasant surprise was the electricity generating windmills around Rock Port, MO. We did see one of the monster blades being transported on a long semi somewhere on the I-29 corridor. Reportedly Iowa has several of these windmill farms already in place.

The return trip went smoothly until we encountered rain at Sedalia to Rocky Mount. We need the moisture so no complaints.

Uncle Dick Wackers Funeral

Dick Wacker, husband of Delores Lutt , died Friday March 13. His funeral is scheduled for 10:30 am on Wednesday, Mar 18 in Wayne, NB. Sis and Ron will leave Tues Mar 17 to attend the funeral. Dick was an orderly at Benthack Hospital in Wayne and carried Ron and Carol (on separate dates!!) to the operating room to have their tonsils removed when they were just little tykes -- ie, many, many years ago!! Dick and Delores owned and operated an ice cream and sandwich shop called Dairy Sweet for many years on East 7th street. Uncles Dick Wacker and Les Lutt used to hit us younger fellows REALLY high flies at Grandpa and Grandma Lutt's farm yard when we celebrated birthdays or other holidays on their farm south and east of Wayne.

Ava Grace and Savana's Birthday Party Sat Mar 14, 2009

Thanks Kim and Shannon for hosting the birthday party Saturday afternoon. I hope to get a representative picture or two from one of the three cameras that were flashing often during the afternoon. The energy of young children is just astounding!! It is delightful to be a grandparent or great uncle/aunt so we can go to our rooms and rest!! As usual, we ate too much of the chips/dips, hamburgers/hot dogs, cakes/cupcakes/blueberry bars/krispy treats/etc!! I even enjoyed throwing the slightly slimy leather glove that Claire (the black and white wonderdog of NKC)kept bringing back to me!! We hope the sidewalk chalk renderings on the driveway and the wall will remind you of the wonderful day -- sorry about all those broken balloons!! Ava Mar 11, 2007, Savana Mar 12, 1997.

Greetings from Cathedral Cove and the Blecke Family

It is a cool and clear Saturday morning with a descending flourescent moon in the western sky over Camp Sabre. A web cam call from Sara featured the ever popular LUCAS throwing a ball for Grandpa!! A nice way to start the day with a fresh cup of hot coffee and a visit from Brasil. Max was attempting to find his super hero costume to show grandpa but was frustrated because he couldn't find his cape. Thanks Sara and Wem for giving us a call.

This is the first attempt to start a blog from our abode on the lake.