Water!

We picked Mindy up at the airport this morning! She is home for her Grandpa's funeral. We were so excited to see her! Hannah and Sophia flew into her arms when they saw her. After lunch, there was a bit of excitement outside.

Our neighbor girl was really enjoying it!
Sophia and Hannah trotted over to see her.

Wouldn't it be nice if the city let people know when they are going to do this so we can grab our buckets to fill them up? I have heard that some people got $400-500 water bills this past month with all the watering they have done to keep their lawns green. Oh my! We haven't got our bill yet. We are so happy that it has started to rain again!

Dad

Al's Dad passed away on Friday.

This is Dad and his older sister, Helen. He also had a younger brother, Vic. His baby sister, Ruth passed away as an infant.

One year, the family left right after harvest and visited all the states west of Kansas, except for Nevada. Grandpa Johann Goering went with them.

They spent several winters in Texas because of Grandma's health.

Dad and the love of his life, Kathern.

The name Kathern (or the many variations of it) run as far back as we can trace our family history. Our daughter is Jill Katrina, and our granddaughter is Hannah Kathern.

After they married, God blessed them with 5 boys and 1 girl.

Dad was a sheep farmer. They also had 2 dairy cows, chickens, 2 horses and dogs.

They farmed wheat. We spent many summers helping harvest.

He loved his grandchildren!



1923 - 2011

We'll miss you Dad! But we know you are more alive than you have ever been! You are experiencing things that life on earth can't begin to provide. You are with your Saviour and once again with Mom and also your son, Harley.

Back to school

Jill is starting school with the children today.

So we had a back to school party last evening.

This picture turned out fuzzy but I thought it was so cute.

The Tickle Monster came to the party too.

* * * * * *

On Friday as we drove to Pretty Prairie, we came across a field of sunflowers. On both sides of the highway. On the west, the flowers faced us

and on the other side, they were faced the other way.

They weren't facing the sun which was setting. I thought they always faced the sun, but guess not. It just was beautiful and my sweet husband just knew we had to stop for a picture! I didn't even have to ask.

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!