Birthday picnic

This past weekend, we scooted up to Mills River for a quick family picnic/birthday celebration/sister visit!


What a nice relief from the 100 degree heat at home....gotta love the mountains for the wonderful temperatures! This crowd knows how to relax!





Mom and Frank enjoying their meal






Yep, relaxing visit



The birthday girl!! Fresh from N.D.!!!





Somebody reached the 1/2 century mark.....had to add black/white candles to the vegan cake!!





More birthday girl!




What trip is complete without a little dip in the pool - just a bit chilly for me at 80 degrees!!!




More silly water fun




Over too quick!

Closet Catastrophe

I heard a big, muffled "bang" in the spare bedroom (where I keep my clothes).

Obviously, I had too much weight hanging on the cantilevered shelf. It collapsed and all the clothes fell off. Like, hundreds of pounds of clothes!

Here is the closet with the shelf just propped back in place (the supports were bent)....


I had asked dear hubby to fix it - so in true McCraw style, it had to be "improved".

First, he built a little stud-wall around the old triple-walled chimney pipe.


Sheetrock installed to safely hide the old (currently unused) pipe. Extra shelving installed and the original shelf modified with much better support!


Taaa-Daaa! A still messy, but better organized closet!

Rodeo (local this time!)

We were invited to attend a local event - in the 102 heat!! There was a nice breeze most of the time, so it was tolerable.

Here is our friend Mark - he owns the farm. This is an annual event - lots of their friends come from far and wide to participate.


Herding the steers -




Fun to watch! (and it looks really hard to do!)

I've been waiting 3 years for this!!!

Can you believe it?

Driving by the Friendly Florist this afternoon, I did a double-take. Yaay! They finally invited all the Karen's in the town to come by for free flowers!



I chatted with the owner - I really should have gotten his name. Nice fellow - he said they have a long list of all the names they've used for the past 3 years. No repeats so far! So, I guess I'll have to wait over 3 more years before it's my turn again.


He handed me a pretty little bouquet of lovely fresh flowers. Thanks Friendly Florist!!

Veggies!!!

Yep, it's that time of year again!!! I'm about over-run with the yummy things!!!

Water for my deck

I know it doesn't look like much....but Duane installed a spigot for the deck over the weekend. I've wanted one for years - just never got around to it. I've been hauling the water hose up 12 feet in the air all these years to water my plants. Thanks, dear!

Boys working on cars

All "my" boys were at the house - helping Richard with a transmission for his 4Runner....well, Duane was helping - Robert appears to be "supervising".....

Quick-change Weather

When I left Asheboro yesterday, it wind was blowing and a thunderstorm was fast approaching.....I guess it felt like a Chinook wind!


Six minutes down the road I drove into the thunderstorm - wow what a difference!!!!

Deer, lots of deer

The deer are really pests around here....they are even eating the buds off all my chrysanthemums!!! I didn't think ANYTHING ate mums!

I was driving down the driveway and caught this little herd - they just looked at me for a while, then scampered away.....

Siler City Airport Helicopter - Chinook

We had a Army Chinook helicopter visit Siler City Airport - very cool....

Siler City Airport Open House

Saturday we hosted an Open House at the Siler City Airport - the first "event" that we've had there in a good while.

The weather was "frightful" to start the morning, but the clouds cleared and it was a beautiful day!

Hundreds of people from the Town and surrounding areas came out. Lots to see.






Our local EAA chapter gave Young Eagles rides to all kids 8-17 (and some adults too, if they begged enough!!)




The Siler City Fire Department sent some of their equipment and personnel. The UNC Hospital helicopter came over and were "on call" most of the afternoon.




Our local WNCA radio station was "live" from the airport.


It was a great day!

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Birthday and Trivia

It was Duane's birthday - our usual celebration is just going out to eat....so, the boys met us at the Brewery in Pittsboro for a nice meal. Miranda is on a family trip to Illinois :-(

We were about ready to leave when a lady came to the table and asked us if we would go over into the bar area and play a trivia game that they were just starting....since we really didn't have anything much to do, we said "sure".

We had to have a "team name" - Robert came up with the "Bomb Diggity's". I've got no idea what that means, I think it just sounds cute.

Now, we are not really trivia people....but it was fun. Plus we won!!



And we got $50 in gift cards!!! How cool is that?



Some of the questions - test your skills!!

What is actually eclipsed in a solar eclipse?

What is the most "covered" song?

Who was Mohammed Ali's opponent in Manilla?

What Queen song was rejected by Sly Stallone for the Rocky movie?

How many teams play in the World Cup soccer tournament?

What nation produces the most orange juice?

What is the name of the golf course that hosts the Master's?

What was the name of the boy in the movie E.T.?

What was the name of the dog in the movie Back to the Future?

What actually holds pollen on a bee's legs?


The answers:


The earth

Yesterday by Paul McCartney

Fraizer

Another One Bites the Dust

32

Brazil

Augusta National

Elliot

Einstein

Static electricity


So, how did ya do??

Boating for July 4th!!!

Sailboating and POWER-boating this past weekend. Hop over to Glory Days to see what we've been up to!

Trip to Hendersonville for a special Nephew's wedding celebration

Since we're such home-bodies......we decided we needed ANOTHER trip!

When we got home from Yellowstone, we sorted thru a pile of mail....and there was an invitation to "Little" Eddie and Brittany's wedding celebration just two days away. Hey, what the heck - bags are still packed. We can toss them back in the airplane and head to Hendersonville!

First, I just have to add two photos that I got from my Mom's computer - these are from Mother's day - and I thought they were nice:

Mom and I at Eddie and Trudi's luncheon.



And Eddie and Brittany looking at a couple of "Italy" books I brought them. Aren't they so young and sweet? (Leaving for an Army deployment to Italy on Friday!)



On to the wedding celebration:

Brother Eddie offering the toast to his son and new daughter-in-law (Trudi a bit emotional in the background!!)




The newlywed's listening to their toast - sorry for the glare but it was a sunny day!



The cute cake topper



The assembled cake (made by Eddie, of course...) and yummy raspberry filling...oh my....





The newlyweds were soooo nice to each other as they took their bites of cake!




The lovely couple - we wish them all the best!!!



We also went over to Granny and Cordy's house for a nice, relaxing visit. All is well there - the garden is beautiful and I came home with bags of veggies, as usual.

The spoiled kitty, Obie, is doing great keeping Granny and Cordy in line!!

Home now!

Ah, well....gotta go home some time, don't we?

Leaving Cody on a dreary morning. This is looking out over Yellowstone park.




On to Omaha for a stop. They are having bad flooding there also - this area is on approach to the airport - and there is an interstate highway down there completely submerged!


The flight from Omaha to home was looonnngg.....the flight time reads 05:03:56 in case you can't read it.....5 hours is a long time to sit in one spot!




Arriving home, everything is safe and sound (although the yard/runway is crispy from lack of rain). Miranda took care of the fish and the flowers - happy to say both are doing beautifully!!

The Rodeo!!

While you are visiting the west, you really must see a rodeo!! Very nicely done.


Nice looking livestock - clean and fresh.







They always have a pretty girl carry the flag around the arena for the National Anthem....



Lots of tries at the team roping....not too many successes!



There was a mare and new foal in a corral also.....not sure why as neither could be used in the rodeo! It was nice to see the wobbly wee one.


Lots of photos like this - my camera just can't do long range action shots.



Cowboys getting ready for a ride.....



Lots of photos like this one too! I think there was only one successful ride - looks painful to me!!!



But, by far, this was the best event of the night. All the kids 12 and under were asked to come down out of the stands - the idea was to get the "flag" off one of 4 small steers to be let loose in the arena. Prizes were ice cream cones and milkshakes....ready, set.....



Chase!!!



It was hilarious!! The kids were having a ball - and the steers darted here and there. All flags were eventually grabbed. Two girls and two boys won the treats. Good, semi-clean fun!!