Painting at Amy's

As you both know, we have been Chase sitting, house sitting and sheep sitting for the last several days.  Well, Chase is so problem; the sheep were no problem until today and the house, well it wouldn't have been a problem except Amy left this looooooooong to-do list for us.

 

Unfortunately, I only got one of my jobs accomplished which was painting the kitchen.  I'm hoping Amy took some pictures of her one wall before she pulled all the blue wallpaper off. 

 

Here are some before and after pictures:

 This poor little telephone has been sitting on the floor since it was installed.  Apparently it didn't fit on the holder on the wall or something - so I decided it needed a new home.  Worked out rather cute, I think.  Amy, I hope you like it too.

 Amy, I know you hate this fan and light fixture but until you get another one, I decided to just paint the other side of these ugly blades.  I think it's a nice compromise.  Maybe you'll even like it so much that you won't want to replace the light and fan????!!!!

 This wall, for those who have not been to Amy's home, had blue flowered wallpaper on it.  While I was in Arizona this winter, she pulled the paper down and did a great job of getting all the paste off the wall.  She had purchased this picture for her wall and this was her inspiration for the colors.  It's hard to tell, but the red is called Manhattan Red while the top is a warm light ivory.  Looks very pretty.
Before and after:

 This little plastic blackboard hung in the laundry room by the backdoor of my parents' house on the farm.  When the girls were young, they would leave messages on it for my teenage brothers and they in turn would leave the girls little notes.  When my mother distributed some of her things, my sister, Evelyn, chose this and gave it to Amy.  Amy, I hung it for you.  It's just a cheap plastic thing but it holds good memories for me.

Just printed the boarding passes for my trip to Washington tomorrow morning.  Dad is still at the farm with Chase so I'll be heading to the airport by myself in the morning.  Can't wait to see those Washington kids again.

I don't think I'll be bringing my computer so there won't be any posts until after June 8th. 

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

The tulips of Washington

After leaving California, we headed off to the tulip fields of Washington.  I have seen them a couple of times before but if you remember, Dad has never been there in the spring.  He loved them and said it was worth every dime of the ten dollars he had to pay to go see the fields.

 The rest of the pictures are pretty much self explanatory.  There were lots of many colors and many different shapes and sizes.  All of them gorgeous.

 Isn't this one terrific guy - even with the long hair.

 After leaving the tulip fields, we went to the gardens.  We were there on a Thursday but still lots of people were in the fields as well as the gardens.  Lots of photographers.

 This is what was going to happen to the tulips the next week after we were there.  I wasn't sure if the tulips would be finished when we arrived at the end of the week, but as you can see they were still blooming and beautiful.  Makes me sad to see all the tulip blossoms lying between the rows but I guess that's what they need to do to make the bulbs strong so they can produce next year.

The azaleas and many other blooming plants were "showing off" while we were there.  It's almost a perfect time of year to visit the northwest.  But then, as far as I'm concerned, anytime is a perfect time to visit.  I'm so thankful that I have family who say they never get tired of us being there.  Gotta just make sure it stays that way.

Have a wonderful Sabbath day!!!
Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

A Slight Interruption



You may be asking yourselves - what is this hole in mom's kitchen.  Welllll, it's for my new dishwasher.  The small yellow piece of paper is the receipt - PD in Full!!!  As you know, I am very indecisive when it comes to making a large purchase - in fact one of the salesmen said to me that he wished he could just pick one out for me and deliver it.  I had just met him but boy, does he know me.  We went all over Sioux Falls one day and couldn't decide what I wanted exactly.  Uncle Dick told me to go to Edgerton because he found they have the best prices on appliances.  On the way to Chase's band concert, we went by way of Edgerton - only took me 10 minutes and I said - "I'll take that one."  Then dad says but this other one is cheaper - I was deciding between two and I said Nope - you said I could have whatever I wanted and that's the one I want.  What could he say - he just shook his head and let me pay for it.  It will be delivered next week.  I'm so excited!!!

 

 

 This is the first year since we've been in Brandon that dad has tulips and they are blooming so nicely - aren't they pretty?  Nothing like Washington but pretty good for us here in South Dakota.

 It's a bit chilly here today but it's supposed to freeze tonight so dad thought he should probably do some raking in the yard.  This is his hosta bed and in the summer, it's really nice.  He even has a shade cover he puts over it.

 As you know, Brandon had a big ice storm this winter and it took out all the shrubs/trees between the backyards of the neighbor and us.  We can now see almost all the way to the street - I'm not sure I like this loss of privacy.  Dad says we may have to plant something back in that area.

 It's city-wide garage sales in Brandon this weekend.  Couldn't believe the traffic - started Thursday afternoon and it was still busy this morning.  I didn't go to any - it's not nearly as much fun going by yourself.  Amy doesn't go with me since she moved; Aunt Sue was at Ben's graduation along with Aunt Jen.  Oh well, there is NOTHING I need anyway.

Here's our Katie girl with Lola the bunny.  On occasion she even put the leash on Grampa and led him around.  I miss you, Katie and can't wait til you come home with me on the big airplane - soon!!!

 

Happy Mother's Day to two awesome daughters.  What a blessing it is to watch the two of you parent your children.  I thank God for you and your families!!!!

 

Love you always and forever

MOM and Gramma



Reagan Presidential Library

This is a poster that was in a special Disney display at the Reagan Library and I thought it was unique so I took a picture of it.

My pictures actually loaded backwards so we'll see the end of the tour first.  This is a question we can ask even today.

 The grounds of the library were gorgeous and according to a plaque located there, they were donated by Merv Griffin.  I know that neither of you girls will know who he is but he was a talk show host back in our early married life and I really liked him.
At first we thought the grounds were on the ocean but they aren't - if you're standing in just the right place at just the right time, you can see just a sliver of the water but the day we were there, it was foggy so no ocean view.

 The library is located in Simi Valley and this is looking out over the valley.

 Father was cold but then he has turned into quite a wimp as far as cooler temps are concerned.  Maybe he should have just worn long pants.

 The Reagan Burial Grounds:

 This is a beam from the New York City Twin Towers.

 Not only does Reagan have a presidential limo and helicopter in his library but he also has his presidential airplane - one of many Air Force Ones.  We were allowed to walk through it but NO pictures because it is still owned by the Air Force and is merely on loan to the library and that is their policy.  (I asked - not because I wanted to take a picture but I was just curious)  It was not as plush inside as I thought it might be.  They said the current presidential planes are much larger.

 Presidential limo license and one of his  California limos

 As you know, we had razor wire installed behind our trailer in Arizona this last winter so had to get a picture of their version of the Berlin Wall razor wire.  They also had a replica of the wall with holes that the kids could crawl through.  I didn't do that so I'm not sure what they saw.  There were lots of school children there - probably 4th graders.

 There was also an actual section of the Berlin Wall at Reagan's Library but it was outdoors in one of their garden areas.  This would have been a checkbook sign from the American side.

 President Reagan was there to greet us when we first came in.  We had to wait for the doors to open at 10:00 and left again at 3:30.  We were concerned about the Los Angeles freeways and our trip north out of town, but we had no problems at all.  Smooth sailing the whole way.

 Thank you, President Reagan and Nancy for a fun, interesting, informative day.  We hope to be back someday because Dad did not get a chance to read everything. 
This library had iPods that we could rent and then as we walked through, it would tell us about the exhibits.  Dad preferred to read the information but I really enjoyed the iPod.  It even took pictures and then sent them to my e-mail.

I can now cross two more things off my "Bucket List" but then I need to add the two Presidential Libraries in Texas to my list so it just goes on and on.

That's it for today.  The sun is shining here in South Dakota and the temps are quite mild.  Have a super weekend.

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

Nixon Presidential Library and California

Most people already know of our jaunt from Arizona to Washington to South Dakota but my memory is rather short sometimes so I'm going to record it in my blog so down the years, I'll remember.  (How's that for a run-on sentence?)

 

We left Tucson on April 21st after a wonderful worship/baptism service at our church down there.  We traveled through desert on our way to Yuma where we stopped to visit with Peter's cousin for the evening.  We crossed into California immediately after leaving Yuma and were surprised to see sand dunes with lots of scrub bush.  There were several cement rivers/canals - it was really lovely country.  I know you don't think the desert is particularly beautiful, DeAnn, but you know I do.

 Our first stop in Los Angeles was in Yorba Linda which is where the Nixon Presidential Library is.  We arrived in LA on Monday late afternoon so didn't get to the library until Tuesday morning.  This is a tree that was right outside our door at the motel and it was in full bloom.  Don't know what it was - kinda looked like a bottle brush.

 This Bird of Paradise was in the parking lot where we had breakfast.  Unusual but beautiful flower.  The little cafe where we had breakfast was called Two Sisters and it was run by two sisters.  They had lots of little plaques and things about sisters.  The one I liked best said:  "I smile because you're my sister.  I laugh because there's nothing you can do about it."

 We opened up the Library at 10:00 and left at 2:30 - could have easily stayed at least another hour but we were on an agenda to beat the traffic on our way to NE Los Angeles to the Reagan Library.  The two libraries were 90 minutes apart and it took us almost exactly that amount of time.  We had NO problems with the traffic.  Must be the fact that I am one terrific navigator and dad is one terrific driver!!!???

 I love how almost each library we have visited has a presidential limo - I think they said this one gets 4 miles per gallon.

 The Berlin Wall was significant in both presidents terms and the owner of Carl Jr's (Arizona's Hardees) purchased a piece of the wall for both libraries.  This is the Communist side - notice very stark facade versus

 the free side.  They said there was a "no man's zone" on Communist side where no one was allowed unless they wished to be shot while on the free side there was all sorts of graffiti.

 When President and Mrs. Nixon visited China, they were very fond of the pandas there so the government of China sent two pandas as a gift to the Nixon's.  They eventually found their way to the National Zoo in Washington DC.  I even remember hearing on the news about their arrival.  This is the actual box that one of them was shipped in.

 One of the Nixon daughters, Tricia, was married in the White House Rose Garden and this is the trellis under which they said their vows.  It was moved here to the library.  The wedding gowns for both of the daughters were part of the exhibits as well as several of Pat Nixon's gowns.   I enjoy that part of the museum but I'm not sure  Dad even stopped to notice.  He spent a great deal of time in the Watergate Room which actually was not that old.  They said most of the papers were "classified" and held in Washington DC until recently.  A lot of the papers are still considered classified but they are slowly releasing them.

 The grave sites of Pat and Richard Nixon.  The city of Yorba Linda has an ordinance that says no one can be buried in their backyard so the museum had the city declare a small area on the grounds a cemetery and it was then deeded back to the museum.  Think they'd do that for me too?

 The museum is actually built on the orchard where President Nixon was born and grew up.  This is his boyhood home which was moved from across the street.

That's it for the Nixon Presidential Library.  The flowers were amazing.  In fact all of the flowers in California as well as Washington were gorgeous.  Too bad they weren't as nice when we returned to South Dakota.

 

Tomorrow is the Reagan Library.  Have a wonderful evening.  Love to all of you.

Gramma and MOM