They say, the best thing a father can do for his children is love their mother.

You two have loved each other and been an example to ME for 49 years.
And I was an example to MY children.
And SHE saw how to love a spouse and they’ll do the same.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

My MomVan pulled into a parking lot in Blair today and I purchased some fresh Washington County produce (that I did not grow but will gladly purchase) and came home to make soup.

In the July heat.
Who cares. I love soup.

I combined a few recipes to come up with this concoction!
To begin with, I sauted veggies in a mixture of bacon grease, butter and Olive Oil. (Combining Paula and Ina in one pan!)

Then I chopped and sauteed one onion, one celery and one carrot. I also peeled and cut up 6 red farmstand potatoes.

While the veggies were sauteeing in Pan A, I was cooking 6 ears of corn OFF the cob in Pan B and boiling the cobs in Pan C for broth.

When the veggies were sauteed enough, I pulled them to the side of the pan and added about 2 T. of flour to the grease and made a roux. Eventually I added the slightly cooked corn to the veggie pan, the potatoes, the corn broth and 4 cups of frozen chicken stock I’d made months ago and was in my freezer. I let it cook a while until the potatoes seemed soft and then used my Boat Motor to pulverize it a bit. That made it perfectly creamy without the addition of any cream!

In the end, I also cooked up 2 chicken breasts and added the meat to my BOWL. I also made homemade croutons from cut up stale bread from Wohlner’s (from a few days ago) and baked the croutons ON the chicken pan after it came out of the oven.  Yum.

I stored the leftover soup in an excellent tall jar with a class lid I got at an antique store in Grand Island, Nebraska.

I told Dan when he came home from a hard day of work that the potatoes tasted like DIRT…in a good way.
Unbelievably good soup.

…”Hey Mrs.RedMittens, what do you DO all day now that you are semi-retired and PrincessLasertron has flown the coop and the NavySeal works all day?”

Salt, Kosher Salt, Cinnamon Sugar, Pepper and Sugar

Today, I washed these containers and re-filled them.
Does THAT answer your question?!

Another thing I’ve wanted to do for several years is go pick stawberries at Gettings Gardens near Sanborn, Iowa. I’ve seen their sign from the road and heard the commercials on the radio and decided last Thursday to finally just do it! Our good friends, the Sullys, were going to be at Okoboji for the 4th, so I’d have lots of people available to eat those berries!

The picking went well. I didn’t take my camera in there because I didn’t want to carry it.
But on the way home, as I was singing along to my David Cassidy CD…..
A ROCK from a mower on the other side of the road was propelled into my driver side window.
It sounded like a shotgun. A low sounding BOOM.

The rock broke my window  AS I WAS DRIVING.
It was repaired today.
And that accident has affected me in such a peculiar way. 
My MomVan….8 years old with almost 120,0o0 miles, protected me in ways I cannot explain.
The window shattered and remained intact until the pieces of glass started falling apart, little by little, falling inside the van and outside on the road.
The rock did not hit me.
The window was the barrier.
I was not injured or cut.
I went off the road and the van drove right back up onto the road.
And that van just kept on going, taking me home.
And my dad took care of the vehicle. And my husband took care of the insurance. And my mom took care of me.

If my window had been open, the rock would have hit me in the head. I probably would have been injured.
Instead, I was able to eat strawberries with some good friends.

The sweetest strawberries I've ever had.

Dan took this horrific picture of me a few weeks ago when I tackled the first thing on my LIST.

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I then entered it in a small, simple contest at MidwestLiving.com
Please go vote for me!
I think all you need to do is give it 5 stars.
And maybe leave a comment.
If you scroll a bit, there are a few more photos I took, including one of my dad fly fishing. You can vote for him, too!

I can’t believe I’m making this hideous picture public!!!
(Megan is in it and she, of course, looks beautiful!)

Not the biggest fan of 4th of July….I, along with my scaredycat dawg, do not really enjoy exploding fireworks for nights on end in our neighborhood.
But I DO enjoy a good hammock!

My view from the hammock

With the addition of a red, white and blue quilt and some patriotic pillows, I can celeberate the 4th all day long and not an explosion in sight…unless  you count popping the top from a bottle of IZZE juice or a cold adult beverage.

Napkin STARS and STRIPed antique snack bowls make patriotic very easy.

On second thought….I really DO like the 4th!

ahhh, July!

Many years ago, in another life, I heard a friend of a friend sing at a local Omaha beverage establishment. I LOVED the harmonies and voice of this brother and sister duo.
I even thought of them every once in a while since way back then.
Years later, again through a friend of a friend (on Facebook) I found them again!

And Monday night, Cher and Gene Klosner sang the National Anthem at the College World Series.
I didn’t attend.
Instead, I assembled with a rag tag group of airplane nuts and we watched the flyover over the Blair Airport.

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F16's headed to the College World Series

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Wow. What a show. Sure wish we could have seen them arrive at the College World Series……..

Yes. I went on the rollcoaster. I wasn’t nervous or nauseaus or filled with dread.
It was on my list of things to get done.
And I crossed it off!

I didn’t even pay attention when the roller coaster was BROKEN when we got there!

See Mr.Fixit under there?

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The Legend Rollsecoaster at Arnold’s Park Amusement Park on West Lake at Okoboji was  built in 1927 and is actually the 13th oldest wooden roller coaster in the U.S.
It is made of wood. WOOD!

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There is a sign at the top that says “The Point of No Return”.
This is it!
Matt and Megan rode with me…Dan, Dave and my parents were cheering from the ground.

Here we go!

...and a minute later!

Attractive, I know. Looks like my hair is flames!
The ride was so BUMPY. I was shocked at how bumpy it was.
You can ride along for yourself  here!

My favorite boys bought me this t-shirt!

More cones on Iowa Interstate 29 North……
I even wrote an email to the Iowa DOT and they insist that work is being done.

Well would you look at THAT!

Love those Orange Cones!

Never have I seen TheLake so grey. so calm. so lifeless. so sad.

It has been a gentle rain, much needed for the Iowa Farmland. and the Lake.
The Lake benefits from the rain also. And us?
A weekend of rest…away from our daily grind.
Movies on TV, reading, napping and good food prepared by my parents.

ReJuvenation.