Shopping

I went shopping today with a couple of fun girlies!
We had a LOT of shopping to do - but the last stop was the much anticipated store!

That jewelry is irresistible!



Next week the girls will start ballet and tap with Miss Dunri! What joy!

Kansas Adventures, July; Part 2

We left the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve and headed south to Cottonwood Falls.
We passed this burned up tractor. A fire had got out of control. Things are so dry now.

Perhaps lightning started the fire. Or a passerby tossed out a cigarette?

Lunch time!


We split an Emma Burger (angus, cheese, grilled onions and honey mustard) and sweet potato fries......and home-made pecan pie! De-lish!
We had never gone inside this court house so we took the opportunity.


How grand!

If court is in session, we did see that there are back staircases too.

Oh my.

Leaving Cottonwood Falls, we began our Geo-caching game. Geo-caching is an outdoor treasure hunt using GPS coordinates.

You can register for a free basic membership at Geocaching.com. We followed our GPS to this spot.

Our hint was: rock. And the size of the container that our "find" was in was sandwich size.

Al found 3 rocks covering this hole.

Found it!

Inside the geocache are small gifts. You take one gift out (I took the blue beads) and leave something behind of equal or greater value. Some of the other gifts were a McDonald's toy and a bouncy ball. Nothing extravagent. I left behind a set of verses. (for those of you in my older women's Bible study - they are the "worry" set)

There is a pencil and log book that you need to write down your name and about your experience.

There are geocaches all around the world. Try it!

It was about 106 by this time so we were glad we had brought a cooler with lots of drinks!

Since we were driving home on 1st street, we decided to make a stop at the cemetary to visit sweet baby Cora. What a precious baby now in the arms of our Lord. We don't always understand His ways.

*******

When we got home, we took our 2nd shower of the day and took a nap. In the evening we drove to Prairie Pines. We listened to Parry Karp (the sonata for cello and piano) and the Pro Arte String Quartet.

The string quartet was to do the whole evening, however one of the violin players was injured. So the cello player's parents (probably in their 80's) performed with their son for the 1st half. Excellent!!!! Both had studied at Julliard and were just amazing! For the 2nd half, Gregory Lee from the U of Oklahoma came last minute to come perform in the violinist's place with the quartet. He learned the piece in one day. How accomplished!

Yes, it was about 100 degrees and we chose garden seating. Silly us, huh? But there was a nice breeze and we had ice drinks. The sun was setting so it wasn't so bad. The cicadas were our background music. It was a delightful evening!

And when we got home, it meant taking a bath. 3 in one day. Just that kind of hot day! But a fun July trip day!

Kansas Adventures, July; Part 1

We have driven past the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, located 2 miles north of Strong City on 177, many times. But we have never stopped to look around. This was our July destination.

Spring Hill Farm

Cattleman Stephen F. Jones and his wife Louisa came to Kansas from Colorado to begin ranching and to graze his cattle on the "fine prairie grasses" of the Flint Hills. They built this home in 1881 out of hand-cut limestone. The 11-room house is characteristic of the Second Empire style of the 19th century architecture.

The barn

We took a self-guided tour of the home. It was fascinating! It is presently under some construction so we could not see the whole place. Usually they give tours but not until maybe a year or so, when it is completed. We watched a 10 minute video (worth it).

This is the front door.

The parlors -there are 2. One to the right and one to the left of the front door.
Perhaps one was for Mr. Jones to entertain, and the other for Mrs. Jones?

What beautiful detail work!

I want to see more! The kitchen, the tunnel to the spring house.... Have to go back next year.

We went to the massive 3-story barn. They only let you go in on the 2nd floor.

In 1885, Jones' livestock numbered 200 swine, 30 horses, 8 milk cows, 4 mules, and hundreds of cattle out on the prairie.


Carriages were the mode of transportation in those days. They ranged in price from $21.95 to $79.95. The founder of this style of carriage was the grandson of John Deere.

This is the chicken house. A grass roof. It was built right into the side of the hill. Much cooler for the chickens I guess.
The fancy outhouse made of limestone.

The curing house

Stephen Jones selected this site for his ranch and named it for the natural springs found on the hillside. A cistern was built into the hillside to collect the spring water and keep it cool. The cool water was piped underground to the spring house. In the ice house, ice could be preserved for use during the hot prairie summers by packing the ice in prairie hay or sawdust. I don't know, I can't imagine it wouldn't melt in the summer heat we have been having this summer!!

You can see a trail between the garden to the left and the ice house. We had made plans to hike it. It is called the Southwind Nature Trail, a 1 3/4 mile trail. There are 8 trails, from 3/4 miles to 13 miles long on this preserve. They are open 24 hours - no camping though.


We could see the Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse where we were headed.
Beautiful fauna.
And critters. We heard a bobwhite but didn't see it.

Before you get to the schoolhouse, you go through a wooded area. I think my granddaughter Hannah would call it a jungle.
There is a boardwalk over the stream.

Climbing out of the "jungle" we came upon the school house.
Built in 1882, this one-room schoolhouse was used by the local children until 1930. We couldn't get inside the school - shucks - but I got this picture from the window.

We were pretty sweaty by the time we returned to the main house. It was supposed to get to 107 that day. Lucky we took our hike in the morning.

We then took the bus tour of the preserve's backcountry led by the National Park Service rangers. I was pleasantly surprised to find out the bus was air-conditioned! It was already probably 100 degrees at 11:00. The tour took 1 1/2 hours.

Before going onto the prairie, we came up to this fence and gate.
During the 1880's, ranching was moving from open range to enclosed pasture grazing.

This "fence" has been worn down over the years. Back in the day, they hired men to build the fences around the property for their cattle. Barbed wire cost money and the limestone rocks were free. And they are everywhere. A man could build a 15 foot stretch 3 foot high in a day. He was paid 50 cents for his labor.

Jeff, our ranger, would stop the bus at times and let us get out. He would explain about the various kind of fauna and animals on the prairie.
The preserve is home to 18 bison. They hope to bring more. Two calves were born this year.
The Kansas prairie in the early 1800's was considered wasteland. "The Great American Desert"
A collared lizard. When the ranger first mentioned lizards, I expected small ones. This guy was big!!
When Mr. Jones owned the ranch, he owned 7,000 acres. Today the preserve has 11,000 acres, 26 ponds.
So glad to have made the stop. We will have to come back when the construction is all complete along with the visitor center they are building. And on a not so hot day!