Last night and today have been pretty quiet really. It's been nice to just be able to relax and do what ever I want again. Mostly that has meant not doing much of anything..... and that's alright also. Last night, while the rain fell on the trailer roof, I hung out inside and perused a couple of magazines and read a book. It was a wonderfully cool night for sleeping and I slept deeply enough that I didn't wake up right off when it started to rain again during the night. It made for a slightly damp part of the bed right under the open vent, but the bed is big enough that I simply curled around that part until morning arrived and it was time to get up.
    Nice relaxing morning with a slow breakfast while I read a couple of chapters of a book I started last night. It is one of the Hornblower series of books by C.S. Forrester and is all about the sea war that was waged in the late 1700's, mostly between England, France and Spain, in and around Europe and into the Mediterranean Sea and even out to parts of the Pacific Ocean.
   Once breakfast was over it was time to get moving. Today I decided to head south to the town of Alliance again. The art museum there in town is closed on Mondays, which I knew, but I did get a chance to visit the 'Knight Museum' there which was open. Basically a small museum that talks about one family, the Knights, who homesteaded in the area in the late 1800's. But it also has a lot of other interesting information concerning the Native Americans who were in the area when they arrived as well as how everyday life on a ranch or farm at that time was done. Lots of old time tools, wagons, machinery etc., most of which I now know what they are. So nothing new in any of that for me. Still fun to go look at all that stuff anyway.
    Will be here in town just a little bit longer and then I'll head back to camp for the rest of the afternoon. Will probably go out for a drive this evening and see if the past couple of days of rain have made the animals more likely or less likely to come out into the open fields and meadows.
   Below are a couple photo's from the trip to the Black Hills the other day. Something about old wooden buildings, especially barns and out buildings really appeal to me. These are right along one of the highways and I remember taking a picture of them more than 20 years ago..... they really don't seem to have changed much in all that time.

Wooden Barns and Out Building in the

Black Hills of South Dakota - July 2014



Not much difference in this shot and the previous one. But just enough that I wanted to add it in to this set.

*

   Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. It has been a crazy-fun couple of days and I was busy enjoying it all, so I won't apologize any more for that. It has been a lot of fun however, and it really started in earnest late Wednesday afternoon. That was when my friends, George and Marge, from the South Denver area, arrived for a couple of days stay. They had been due in around noon but were delayed a few hours by having a tire blow out on the trip up here. Fortunately they had some help along the way and after a couple hour delay were back on the road with a couple new tires on their van.
    After arriving we just sat out in front of the trailer under the awning and sipped a couple glasses of cold drinks. I had figured they would be a little frazzled with all that had gone on so I had put together a quick dinner for us, including some chicken thighs I baked up using a recipe that was on Facebook a couple of days ago. It sounded really good, claiming it was an easy way to get chicken that tasted just like Buffalo Hot Wings. Turned out that it didn't turn out anything like that, but still good tasting enough, just no hot, gooey, spicy, finger licking good wings. Or in our case thighs. They were still good enough, and along with some bread, fresh fruit and more cold drinks, we did just fine.
   Thursday dawned clear and sunny and we were up early for some breakfast and some time just spent there in the campground. It really is a nice place to stay, with pine covered hills and open grass covered hillsides in view from the trailer. But we were soon loaded up in the truck and on our way to one of our favorite places to visit, the 'Fur Trader Museum' just outside of Chadron. We have all been there at least 5 times, but it is still one of our very favorite museums. Not only holding information and items from the fur trapping and period most important here in this part of the country in the late 1800's, it also talks about fur trading in other parts of the world including China, Russia and certainly Canada. With items as diverse as a 30 foot long birch bark trade canoe capable of hauling nearly 30 tons of goods and people, to a Inuit raincoat made out of seal intestines, to trade goods, guns, knives, food etc, etc.... The first time through it took us more than 6 hours to see and read everything. Now a days we are usually in and out in about two hours, but it is still wonderful to see all of the displays and some of the new items that often show up. We had a great time but once done there we just headed back to the trailer and had some lunch and then hung out for the rest of the day just talking, napping and reading. It was just a nice day.
   Friday also dawned clear and hot. It was the real start of what is known as 'Fur Traders Day's' in Chadron and part of it includes lots of people setting up little tables and booths on the grounds of the court house where they sell home made goods, knicky-knacky kind of stuff, and of course, the ubiquitous food trailers. We were there pretty early so there weren't that many booths set up yet, but then, none of us are really into that kind of thing anyway, so we didn't stay very long. It was however a great time for me to run into the court house there and pick up the forms I needed to apply for a new passport, as my current one is due to run out this fall and I hope to make good use of one next year.
    Since it was very hot that day we decided to head back to the trailer after that. We took the long way around and took a few back roads to get there, just to show George and Marge a few places they hadn't seen before. Once back at the trailer we went ahead and had some lunch, took naps, read books and just sat around a talked.
  We hung out for most of the afternoon and then packed up and headed over to Fort Robinson, about 28 miles west of Chadron. The purpose of the trip was to have some dinner at the restaurant there on the fort grounds and then see the play '9 to 5' at the Post Playhouse'. Dinner was pretty good as we all ordered roast buffalo with mashed potatoes and gravy. It tasted good, but being buffalo, was maybe a little drier than one would like. I was happy to have gravy to eat with it.
   The play is one of 5 that they are doing at the summer stock theatre this year. Having already seen one play, 'The Sound of Music', I had high hopes for this performance. We had front row, center seats for the three of us and the show was quite a hoot. I had never seen either the movie or any play based on it, so it was all new to me. But the performers were wonderful and they had us and the rest of the audience in stitches for the whole evening
   Once the play was over we walked out into the cool of the evening as a rain storm had passed through while we were in enjoying the performance. Not a bad drive back to the trailer even though the roads were wet. But no deer or antelope tried to jump out in front of the truck thankfully. Once back at the trailer though we found that the leak in the roof, which had seemed to be fixed for several months now, was back. Not a huge leak thankfully, but enough water to make the foot of the bed, where George and Marge were sleeping, damp. I dug out a light plastic tarp and spread it over the 'wet' spot and then added some additional covers in case it kept dripping through the night. Not a perfect fix, but it worked well enough that everyone managed to get some sleep. I will be looking at the roof 'ONCE AGAIN', when I have time to dig the ladder out of the back of the truck.
     George and Marge packed up and left before noon on Saturday. It was great timing as my sister, Kathy and her husband Mark, drove up that day to spend some time at Fur Trader Days and see both of their sons. I met them and their son Luke over at my other nephews place in town. We were all headed to the town of Crawford for some lunch and then on to the Post Playhouse for yet another play. This one was going to be 'Schoolhouse Rock'. But first we had a nice meal at a local restaurant there in town, the Ranch House. I had chicken fried steak, a meal that I haven't had since the last time I was in town last year. It was yummy, and way to filling.
   The play was very good of course, the performance was outstanding as this group of actors is top notch. It however is a play geared more for young children, of which there were many in the audience, so it was a little long for someone who learned how to multiply by 10 many years ago. That being said, it would of been fun to have had some of my grand nieces and nephews there in the audience with me. Maybe next time.
    We all went on back to Chadron after that and then I went on back to the trailer for a nice, though short, nap. Back on the road around 6:00 and a quick stop at Micky D's so I could plug in and at least check my email account from the past few days. Nothing of any real import so I was on the way back to Fort Robinson soon after that. I had ordered a single ticket to the evenings play, 'Guys and Dolls' and it was time to go be entertained once again.
    Front row seat of course and I was enthralled by the whole performance. Every single one of the actors up on stage was perfect for their part and the only criticism I might have is that the lead female actor had a to perfect voice at times. I feel it would of been better if it had been a little more gravelly and common, but that is just me. Otherwise it was more than two hours of rollicking good fun watching 1930's gangsters trying to find the perfect place to hold their big 'crap' game. Along the way we also have two simultaneous love stories weaving through the rest of the show. It was marvelous.
    I had promised my sister and nephew that I would join them all after the play at a local bar where Brian's band was going to be playing. I got there around 11:00 p.m., which turns out to be just about the right amount of time for me. I managed to drink a couple of beers, listen to Brian and the band, for which I am now nearly deaf, and watch countless skinny cowboys and girls and collage students "dance" out in front of the band. No one actually 'went down' as far as I could tell, but there were a couple near misses and lots of spilled beer on the dance floor. We closed the place down and then everyone else stayed for the after party while I headed back to the trailer and some much needed sleep.
    And it was a really wonderful night of sleep over all. I really enjoy having friends stay with me at times, but I have to admit that it is really nice to sleep in my own bed again, and give up the couch to just use as a place to take short naps. Not sure why my bed is so comfortable, but it is as good as any other bed I have slept on.
    That being said; I was still up earlier than I thought I would be. Kathy and Mark came by about 10:00 as I was finishing up breakfast and reading some of my book. They had bought a new/used 4-wheeler while up here and were taking it out on some back roads to check it out. I met them about 45 mins later, after cleaning up and taking a shower, out on one of the dirt forest roads around the area. They gave it a good try out and found it met with all of their expectations. A good hour or so of being out in the woods on a beautiful morning. We soon loaded the UTE back up into their pickup and headed back to town. After saying good by to them all it was time for me to head over to McDonald's again so I could log on and finally get caught up on everything. Sorry it is such a long missive, but I hope I'll be able to keep up with posts for at least a couple of days. Can't promise that though.
    For now, let me leave you with a picture I took last year while I was here in the Chadron area. This is taken outside the 'Post Playhouse' on the grounds of Fort Robinson State Park.

The 'Post Playhouse Theatre' on the grounds of Fort Robinson State Park just west of the town of Crawford Nebraska.

*

   Had a wonderful day  yesterday driving up into the Black Hills of South Dakota and riding on the 1880's Train. I believe I wrote about most of the day yesterday afternoon though, so I won't bother to repeat all of it here again.
   Life has been pretty routine since that time. I got back to the trailer last night before dark so I managed to miss the hoard's of deer and other critters that come out right at dusk and seem to be intent on jumping in front of what ever vehicle is going down the highway the fastest. Once back I just read a magazine and my book for the rest of the evening, so it was a nice and quiet way to spend a few hours.
    Finally got a chance to sleep in and catch up with my sleep this morning. Nice and cool until nearly 9:00 when the trailer finally started to heat up too much to sleep comfortably. I had a nice breakfast and read some more of my book and worked on some photo's for a while. Took a nice walk out and around the park for an hour or so before packing up my computer bag and heading in to town to get on line.
   Had meant to get a bunch of pictures loaded up this afternoon but have been having problems getting them to load up correctly. Finally got the ones posted below to load but there are still a bunch of others that I am waiting for that may or may not make it before I need to go.
    I will be heading over to Fort Robinson State Park and the Post Playhouse this evening for the 1st of 5 plays I'll be seeing over these next two weeks. Tonight's play is the 'Sound of Music', always one of my favorites. While out there I also need to check on a ticket for one of my nephews for Saturday afternoon's play. I checked on line and found that not only were there plenty of tickets left, something that was not true a couple of days ago, but that the seats I had already bought and reserved were some of the ones available. So there is obviously something wrong going on with their web site. I'll check on it while I'm out there this evening and see what is happening.
   Right now though I need to finish up here and go find some food for dinner. I'm anxious to go see a play again and am looking forward to seeing all of the others with either friends or family. Speaking of which; my friends, Marge and George from the Denver area, are coming up tomorrow afternoon to stay with me for a couple of days. It's always great to see them again and spend some time with them. I am sure we will be busy wandering around looking at everything this weekend leading up to the 'Fur Trading Days' celebration that starts on Thursday. I imagine it will be a little crazy while they are here so it may be a day or two before I can get anything more posted. So until then enjoy the pictures posted below. They are some I took a couple of days ago while my nephew Brian and I were out on a early evening drive. I always did have a soft spot for windmills.

Evening Drive in Nebraska near Chadron - July 3, 2014

I really liked the look of the clouds in this one.

Just a classic scene from out here in the west.

One last shot.

*

   Up early this morning and on the road by 6:30. My destination was the town of Keystone, SD in the middle of the Black Hills. Of course to get to it Emma, my GPS device, decided to take the scenic route up through the towns of Hot Springs, Custer and Hill City before dropping me back down the hill into Keystone itself. I didn't mind though, as along the way I got to stop and watch a herd of wild buffalo feeding in one of the little prairies up in the middle of the mountains. Along with assorted full grown bison, there were also plenty of little newborn calves cavorting around in the rich grass. They were very cute, even from a distance. Also seen along the way were plenty of deer, antelope and turkeys, so it was a wildlife filled morning.
   The whole purpose for going up there in the first place was to ride on the '1880's Train' that runs between the towns of Keystone and Hill City. I had made a reservation the other day so there was no problem getting on at the proper boarding time of 11:00 a.m. Even though busy, the train wasn't completely full, so I ended up with a seat to myself just 3 cars back from the engine. I found this to be the ideal location for taking pictures as it was close enough to see the engine as it rounded some of the extremely sharp corners, without being blocked out by all the other cars. It also meant that there was less smoke from the engine blowing back on you, and the whistle wasn't quite as loud as it was blown multiple times every time the track crossed a road. Twenty times each way actually.
    Even though it is only a 9 mile trip each direction the ride is still quite enjoyable. The rail line parallels the newer highway on it's way up the canyon of course, as that is the only place either one of them could of been built. The grade up hill to Hill City is still one of the steepest railroad grades in the world, as it varies from 4% to 6% overall. Most modern railroads limit their grades to 2% or less, and even then they have trouble on long sections with those grades and have to add on 'helper' engines at times. The engine for today's train was an articulated 2-6-6-2T Mallet and it pulled the 7 loaded passenger cars up the hill with no problem.
   One of only two 2-6-6-2 Mallets still running, it is a wonderful engine to see and listen to. The numbers refer to the wheel arrangement on the engine, it having 2 front wheels, or trucks, to guide the engine, then 6 driving wheels comprising the 'front' engine, then 6 more drive wheels comprising the 'rear' engine and then 2 final wheels in the back that help steer the engine when going in reverse as well as help support the weight of the fire box.
    The 'T' in the description denotes it as a 'tank' engine, one that has a water tank that wraps around the boiler and holds the water the engine uses to make steam. By integrating the tank into the engine itself it accomplishes several things. One is that it no longer needs it's own tender to carry the water for the engine, which saves weight as well as making it easier to see behind the engine. It also puts the weight of the water right over the drive wheels which make the tractive effort much more efficient. And lastly, the water is preheated by being wrapped around the boiler and therefor takes less fuel to heat it up until it is steaming. That is important because this engine also carries all of it's own fuel, in the form of used oil, in a tank at the back of the engine instead of towing a larger fuel tender.
    This type of engine was first designed by a Frenchman named Mallet, (Mah Lay), to increase the efficiency of steam locomotives. Ordinary engines take steam and run it through high pressure cylinders at the front of the drive wheels and then exhaust that steam into the air after it has been used once. Mallet just took that used, high pressure steam, and ran it forward into a pair of larger, lower pressure cylinders and let it run another whole set of drive wheels. Effectively getting nearly twice as much work, (not quite twice), as regular locomotives.
    Of course there are drawbacks to this arrangement, especially in locomotives that are designed to be run on lines that have steep grades and tight curves. The biggest problem is that with 12 drive wheels in line, as well as 2 sets of trucks, you can't get the engine to negotiate, (bend), around tight corners very well. It's like trying to turn a semi truck around in the same space as a sports car. So Mallet did another unique thing in that he put the front trucks and engine on a hinge attached to the rest of the locomotive at the back. That way each engine could turn in a much smaller radius and still have more power. It's pretty wild watching that front engine swing out to the side as you go around a corner or through a turnout. That's why it's always so much fun to ride on this train.
    No problem with parts falling off or breaking on the engine today so it was a pretty uneventful ride. Still very beautiful as you pass through the granite cuts and view the Black Hills in the distance. Oh; I learned something new today. I always knew that the Black Hills got their name from the Native Americans who were here long before we were, but the reason the Black Hills look black is because of the type of tree that grows on most of their slopes. The tree is the Ponderosa Pine and is a large evergreen tree with very long needles. The needles have a slightly triangular shape to them in cross section, with one side being nearly flat. That side tends to absorb light for photosynthesis better than the other sides and therefore it doesn't reflect as much light back in the green spectrum. So it looks more black most of the time.... pretty cool huh?
    I came on into Rapid City after my train ride in search of an ice tea jug that will fit in my fridge. I finally found a glass one that looks like it will work so maybe now I'll be able to put my sun tea in the fridge to get cold.
    Need to head back towards Chadron now though. It's about two hours away from the trailer and I would like to get back in time to download some of the photo's from today. I'll try to get some of them loaded up and posted in the next day or two. Oh.... plus I need a nap.










*

   Ugh!.... I was up way to early this morning in order to meet up with my nephew Brian and go do some fishing. Drove into Chadron and picked him up at 6:30 at his house. From there we went west to Fort Robinson and turned north for a couple of miles. We pulled in at the end of the road and hiked in nearly a mile from there. Our goal was a couple of small ponds up on Soldier Creek that hold some amazingly large trout. Today however; we didn't catch any of them. It might be because the ponds are overgrown with moss, or that the temperature is just to darn hot, maybe they weren't hungry or maybe we just have no clue when fishing. We had fun anyway, saw some very large trout, 16" to 24" long, and even had the thrill of seeing several of them approach our hook.... but then didn't actually bite. We have had a lot of fun at those same ponds before, and we will again at some point in time, but today was just not our day.
    We hiked on back out of there and went over to a couple other ponds, Greybull Ponds, we know of on the south side of the park. But we really had no better luck catching anything else there. We both caught a couple small ones and threw them on back, but the bite was very slow and eventually we got hungry ourselves and headed out to find someplace to eat.
   We started out in Crawford at the Western/Cowboy themed place there. It's good food, but I can't remember the name of it right now. It wasn't open on Sundays anyway, so we ended up backtracking back to the restaurant out at Fort Rob. Their specialty there are meals featuring buffalo, as they have their own herd at the park. Not sure if the meat they use is from their own animals, but it is pretty good stuff. We both had bison cheese burgers with bacon, copies glasses of ice tea and fries. The whole meal was delicious!
   We spent an hour driving the back roads all the way back to Chadron. The only animals we saw along the way were some huge bull elk that were laying up on a hill under the pines. Of course they are all on a fenced in elk ranch, so they were not too skittish.
  I'm just about ready to get out of here now and head back to the trailer. I feel a need for a shower and then a nap coming on. Unfortunately, it will be another early morning tomorrow. I made reservations to drive up into the Black Hills of South Dakota and ride what is known as the 1880's Train. I have ridden on it several times before, including once several years ago when a set of trailing trucks, (wheels), on the engine, a 2-6-6-2 mallet, broke in half and nearly derailed the whole train. That engine was fixed up long ago and is back in service and I am hoping that it will be the one pulling the train tomorrow.  It should be a fun time.
 






*

   Extremely warm here in the panhandle of Nebraska. The weather report has the temp topping out at 102 degrees this afternoon, but I think it will go even hotter than that before it is all done with. That being said, it is still a 'dry' heat with very little humidity to go with it, so while unpleasant, it isn't as bad as it could of been.
   Last night was another wonderful night for sleeping, with the temp dipping down somewhere into the 50's. I spent the rest of yesterday driving around through the towns of Hemingford and Crawford before returning to Chadron and the trailer up in the park. It was even a little noisy clear out there in the State Park, with fire works going off until nearly midnight. But I am sure there was a lot less noise than there would of been here in town. I just spent the night reading my book and a couple of magazines before getting a good nights sleep.
   It was a slow morning today with me up by 8:00 and enjoying the cool of the day. I even got a little ambitious and actually cooked up a couple eggs, sausage, onions and stuff to make a couple breakfast burritos. It was pretty tasty!
   I started a new book last night so there was more reading to do this morning while laying on the couch listening to the 'Car Guy's' on the local NPR station. Of course as the day warmed up it was harder and harder to keep the old eye's open and I was soon dozing there. One of several small cat naps taken so far today.
   My nephew Brian and I were suppose to go fishing this morning, but he texted me that it was going to be to hot so we postponed it until early tomorrow morning. We are to meet at 6:30 at his place here in town and then head out for the wilderness area just north of the town of Crawford. We are going to hike into a couple small ponds along the river/stream out there and fish for brook, brown and native trout. I have fished there with him before and there are fish over 20 inches in there. In the past we have just caught and released, but if we get lucky tomorrow I may keep a few and have them for dinner when my friends come in on Wednesday. It has been a very long time since I had fresh caught trout to eat. Not sure how I am going to get up that darn early though.
    Not much else is happening right at the moment. I am thinking of going to a movie later this evening and seeing the new 'Transformer's' flick. I'm hearing that it isn't all that good, but what the heck, there isn't a whole lot of other stuff to do. Brian did tell me that there will be some live music tonight over at the 'Bean Broker' after nine, so I might stop in there after the movie, since it is close by anyway. Right now though I need to go and order a couple more play tickets for Brian, Liz and I. We hope to see the 'Sound of Music' on Tuesday if there is still space available. If not though I am sure there will be space next week for sure.
   So here are a few more pictures I took a couple of weeks ago in Floyd Virginia. Enjoy.

Brynn's Birthday Party in Floyd Virginia - May 31, 2014

Part II

The Birthday Girl.

One of Brynn's friends.

A friend of a friend

Another one.

Happy Grandma.

One of her grandpa's helps out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's do it again?

Rima likes the playground equipment too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom had to join in on the fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest kid of all.

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   Finally got a few photo's loaded late yesterday afternoon. It was a bit of a trial, and took more than two hours to load the ones posted below. That is only half of the ones I had, but it was so frustrating that I finally had to give it up and deal with the ones I got. I'll try to load and post the other batch in the next day or two.
    My nephew Brian came out to see me at the campground last evening. We sat outside and had a cold beverage in the pleasant weather. We talked for quite a while and caught up with each others lives until about 7:30 p.m. when we hopped in the truck and went in search of animals to look at. He first took me to the spot where he had taken his dad last fall to hunt for a cow elk. Mark got one after walking a little ways into the woods and after visiting the spot I could see why deer and elk would like that area. Plenty of food even inside the tree line, lots of escape routes and water nearby in at least two directions. We didn't see anything of course, but it was fun to get out and hike for a mile or so. It always amazes me how little distance one has to walk these days to get away from everyone. Less than 200 yards will take care of 95% of all hunters these days. Go a 1/2 mile away from the road and you get rid of 99%. It's kind of a sad commentary on what hunting has become these days. Maybe it is just that we get lazy or maybe it's because these new hunters all think it should be like a video game. I hope if and when I ever get a chance to hunt again that it will still be deer/elk hunting and not just road shopping for animals. But I digress.
   We continued on down a couple of back roads from there as the daylight was slowly slipping away. We ended up spotting a couple of deer and three separate bunches of elk as we came out onto some cultivated land. All of the elk, 30-40 of them, were either cows, calves, yearlings or young spike bulls. They all looked fat and happy out there on the pasture land and the calves were sure cute, although already putting on some good growth.
   We got back to the trailer after dark and Brian took off at that point. I went in and read a little while and then went to bed myself. It was a great night for sleeping with a nice cool breeze blowing most of the night.
    Today started out rather cool and over cast too... even a little rain early on. But it has cleared off nicely and has now warmed up into a more typical 4th of July. I hopped into the truck around 9:00 and headed up to Chadron from the State Park before turning east towards the town of Hay Springs. It's only 20 miles east of Chadron so it didn't take long to reach it, but the drive there through miles of crop land and ranch country was very pretty.
    I took a little time to just drive around the town of Hay Springs this time around. It didn't take long as it's a very small town, and most of it, like small towns everywhere, is closed down and empty. Still, some of the old buildings are still neat to look at. There was also a large shop/garage like building that is being built right off the main street. So there is still something going on.
    From Hay Springs it was south towards the town of Alliance. Along the way, and just out side of the town is the rather 'cheesy' tourist attraction known as 'Car Henge'. Made up of old wrecked cars and trucks that have been stacked on each other in a configuration that looks close to what the original Stone Henge looks like. Of course it has no historical significance on it's own having only been around for some 20 years. But give it a few thousand and who knows what people will say about it then. I of course stop every time I go by it and get out to take a few photo's. I was surprised that the gift shop was open today so I went in and bought another 'shot glass' just to give them a little support. I guess 'cheesy' can be okay in small doses at least.
    I'm currently holed up in the Micky D's here in Alliance. There isn't really a whole lot else open in the town today because of the holiday. I had hoped to go to the art museum here again as the exhibits change every couple of months or so. But it, the 'War Museum' and the 'Knight Museum' were all closed. So I'll have to come back on another day and see if anything is open at that time.
    Going to head on west from here and circle around through the towns of Hemford and then Crawford before turning back east towards Chadron again. I hope to run into my nephew and his girl friend in Crawford somewhere, as they are over there today looking at the art show and going to the rodeo. I just need to talk to Brian and see if they want to go to dinner and a play sometime while I am here. He also mentioned maybe fishing with me tomorrow morning sometime, so I really need to talk to him to find out when and where. Otherwise, it's a nice day and this is always a fun holiday. Happy 4th of July everyone.


   Some older pictures that have taken a while to put together and then load. These are from my girl friend Rima's grand daughters birthday party in Floyd Virginia. I'm not going to annotate most of them as there are just to many. But enjoy and there will be a few more in a day or two.

Brynn's Birthday Party in Floyd Virginia - May 31, 2014 

As usual the playground is always the most fun.

 

 

 

One of Brynn's friends.

Grandpa was a big help in making sure everyone made it to the top of the slide safely.

One of her presents.

Mom and grandma Rima

 

Blowing out the candle.

The following few pictures are pretty self explanatory.

 

 

 

 

 

YUM! 

 

 

 

To much sugar?

 

 

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