First Poppy and Happy Corn Week (236)

They don't last long but they sure are pretty and eye catching...and as I mention below the picture this is a lucky poppy too. You see last year about this time sweet pea made an honest mistake. I do have a few thistle in my flower bed and poppy leaves do look very similar to thistle...So guess what this poppy was plucked out root and all and lying in the lawn...I was sad but hey it was a very honest mistake and she felt really bad about it when I told her I had rescued this poppy from Bennett's dried up late in the season close out sale..It was like an orphan, dried up almost dead and not body wanted it...but I seen a little green on it and the price was cheap so I brought it and another one home. They both lasted for maybe 5 years then a couple years ago the larger one just died. This one held on but not real healthy last year and even less healthy the day we pulled thistle.

But about 3 weeks ago, miracle of miracles, up it pops from the root down deep I guess she did not get all of the root and it was exciting. I immediately gave it a doze of miracle grow, one miracle deserves another I always say, and it has responded well...and today in late May under sunny skies and temps in the 70 and 80's the big green bud exploded into brillance as you can see....It is back....

And the rest of the story of this gorgeous week ahead is that this is the first truly "happy week" for the Indiana Corn Crop. Yes it will be, you see corn absolutely loves 86 degrees. Agronomist tell us that corn just is really really happy when it is at or near 86 degrees....and guess what they are saying all this week in the mid 80's....My corn is just getting its 4th and some the 5th leaf. Wow with these temps and sunshine and plenty of moisture in the ground, you may, you just may "hear" the corn grow...I would say by weeks end I will see maybe the 7th leaf unfurled from the center of the plants. And they like the poppy will be all very very happy and will be most likely shoulder high by the forth of July.....

Lovin Arizona even more now (235)

I wish there was a Marine Corps base in Arizona, because if their was I would try and change our Marine Reunion in August from DC to Arizona. But for sure some day I will pass through and I will take my time going through. Maybe spending a couple extra days at the Grand Canyon, maybe a couple more in the desert...And I will be darn sure to fill my 100 gallon diesel tank in that state before I leave. I admire them for doing what our federal government has not been doing and that is try and enforce the laws on illegal citizens being in our nation...I watched with disgust again today as our President again ridiculed this law about to go into affect. What is with this current bunch of loonies in our national government. Is it just me or are others taken back but what they do almost each and every day of this long long 4 years we have to indure, because a lot of people were hoodwinked by the super duper unkeepable promises made to get him elected????????

I do hope that many people will patrionize that state this next year. I hope many conventions being planned will give these patriots priority as to where they hold their converntions this next year...They deserve our support and surely have mine....
Go Arizona, hold true to your cure for what ails these border states. And I hear that Indiana and several other states will soon follow suit with similar laws...I surely hope they will...

Back to Reality and hard work.(234)

Don't todays political climate just about make you sick at times? Boy it does me and then I see something refreshing I just gleaned off of facebook of a newsclip of the governor of New Jersey. Watch it and tell me if I am wrong thinking this guy is refreshing?

On the other hand we have an administration in DC currently that is making fun of the state of Arizona for trying to enforce laws the federal government refuses to do...That surely is not refreshing is it? That is just plain disgusting...this same bunch of baffoons has trouble in calling terrorism what it is and labeling terrorist as extremist...they like to do the kind of things this governor is talking about, beat around the bush to not offend anyone...Man this kind of Chicago two step dancing is just about enough to make one a little ill....

OK that is your reality dose for the day, the wedding was great last weekend but the reality of this pussy footing politics we have going on brings one back in a hurry. Oh by the way this story about the wedding had more hits the last 3 days than any story I have ever posted so far...So I guess maybe we have a couple popular kids here that got married last week.

Hard work has moved back in on me out of necessity. Not the farming the farming is coming along picture perfect so far this year. All the crops are up and going at it.
But I have a knee replacement scheduled the first of June and I still have some tile work to get laid in a bathroom before then...I have put it off long enough and I have been told that after a new knee one has trouble being on one's knee's for a spell...So work is needed here for a few days but I will take a break now and then and catch up on the oil leak, the next to the last shuttle mission, the President and his men's pure political games and then the fun of watching how CNN and MSNBC just admires the hell out of whatever this guy does and reports it that way and then fox news reporting more on what is really going on from both sides of the issue...I have to admit it is both entertaining and highly troubling...but what is a guy to do?
Work hard, stay healthy, enjoy life and party when you can...I have another wedding to go to Saturday evening...It is also a big one in Indy of my great niece Amanda Moore...should be big fun...

Clint an Karie's Wedding (233)

I have a new grand daughter in law, Karie Poffitt Sheets, married my grandson last Saturday evening in Wabash Indiana. Karie's hometown and church, but married by Pastor Deke Jones of the Dayton Methodist Church, where they have been attending. Karie is one great gal, my grandson was a lucky man the day he attracted this little lady. But Clint is a fine young man as well, and they will make a fine couple for what ever lies ahead for them. It was really a fun wedding for all who attended it for sure. Well planned, a great rehearsal and the dinner after, and then a really super wedding.

The church was packed, every seat taken for the event, and it all went like clockwork. Well except for a little humor added when Pastor Deke accidentally had Karie take Clint to be her wife, but that was quickly corrected, and she took him to be her husband before the ink dried..

It took a while for them to dismiss each and everyone with a hug, but that is such a nice touch and we all enjoyed our chance to tell them it was great and wish them the best. Then we headed to the Charley Creek Inn, a newly reopened 1920 hotel with all kinds of character. Once we got everyone in the basement also packed, the big celebration began. The dinner was great, and I guess after that it was time to party, cause party we did, as you will notice in the picasa of pictures to the right that takes you from the pictures taken before the wedding, a smart idea I think, up to the time we all called it a night.

Clint, Karie, it was a wonderful wedding and we wish you a great honeymoon, enjoy it and enjoy your marriage each and every day...You have both done marvelously well...

A couple foot notes...if you click on the pictures to the right they will enlarge for you...Also I want to add that Pastor John Walls is recouping from a bout with cancer and was the intended to marry Clint and Karie. He has temporarily lost his voice and could not attend. We wish him well, I know God will heal him and he will be back with being used by HIM soon...But we surely missed having him do the honors but the Dekester did a marvelous last minute replacement job....

The Raised Garden (232)

Sweet Pea and I built it about a week or so ago. It turned out pretty nice as you can see off to the right here in the Piccaso of Pictures of it. We worked real hard on it using the level quite often to keep it, you guessed it "level"....

Anyway its not that hard you just start at the low point in the lawn if you have a slope and you go both ways and if your lucky like we were the two sides come together, "level"...

Anyway there it is and its all planted in Strawberries, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peppers, Okra, Cantalope, Squash, Radishes, Spinach, Onions and green beans...it looks small but there is a lot of stuff planted in it and maybe this size garden I will take care of all year long. I remember a few years back having a pretty good size garden with a big tiller and they always start out looking real ambitious and neat and then the weeds come and the heat and you head for the shade and hope no one will notice.

But this garden, I think being close to the house, will be taken care of by someone, that someone is left to be seen but maybe two someone's will want to take care of it a bit who knows. Also it is close to a garden hose for watering when the dry weather comes and the heat. I think it will be fun and we probably will get a lot of vegetables to eat from it...Cost effective will may take a few years to recoup the 330 bucks for the landscape block. But the soil and the labor was free and the wear and tear on the level was very minimal for sure..

Have a great and joyfull day out there...this weekend my grandson Clinton Sheets is getting married to a very pretty inside and out gal named Karie Proffit. No doubt grandpa will be packin a camera and it just may be a blog story coming up...

Cinco De Mayo (231) and Senator Coats

The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico, and especially in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. It is not, as many people think, Mexico's Independence Day, which is actually September 16.

So my fellow Americans, if they only celebrate it in one state in Mexico and the rest of the states don't give a rat's ass about it, then why in the heck do we in this nation give it even the time of day?

Go Figure.......well glad I did not buy a whole car load of fireworks and go out to a Mexican restaurant tonight...

And I see our goof ball President who will not observe the national day of prayer tomorrow is celebrating Cinco De Mayo tonight with a special celebration at the White House....some how I am not surprised....

And lastly congrats to Dan Coats the next Senator from Indiana, I hope....He is a good man..I regretted it when he chose to retire 12 years ago imposing term limits on himself...He was a good Senator and will be again....

The Dayton Alumni (230)

Yes, it rolled around again, the first of May always on a Saturday night they gather.
At the Trails usually, the dying breed, the survivors of the Dayton Indiana High School, first the happy hour which at least gets half of them talking while the other have listens...Then comes the great meal and then the part where they introduce everyone in the room...Then some honored classes like the 50 year class and the 60 year class...always different each year the people I mean, but really about always the same...about the same stories and about the same memories.

I keep going every year for fear they will do something different and I will miss it.
Last year was sweet pea's first year to attend with me...she said it was more boring than watching paint dry...I told her she was missing something, how could it be that boring and I attend 90 some percent of the time???? This year when it started she said, "hey that's the same stuff they talked about last year isn't it"? I had to admit it probably was explaining to her that, "hey it's a small town", "there is not a lot of stuff every happened and in most cases it just happens over and over again"...She looked at me and gave me a sympathetic look. But about that time she happened to spot her Principle Mr. Charlie McDonald who she said she did like and that gave her a whole new assessment of DHS...actually it was his wife that attended Dayton not him but I did not tell her that as she was quickly upgrading her interest in what was going on...We sat at a table with my brothers and sister and in laws and nephew Bill Patton from California....he of course is here for his mother Florence Patton's funeral and I got him a late reservation for this BIG annual festivity...He was so grateful I think he may have slipped out without paying for it...But they will eventually track him down if he did...we have great secretaries and treasurers...

It was a great school to attend, we are as we are told each year very lucky to have had such a good school with such good teachers and principles...maybe that is why I go each year just to hear it one more time, I don't know...I may not go next year, it is borderline boring even for me...surely they would not miss me...no graduates since 1965, so we are an "aging" group...each year they do a memorial for those passing that year...Maybe that is why I go to see who died, maybe that is it...Maybe I will go every other year for a while...I'll attend at least every 5 years for sure, someone has to be there at the last to turn out the lights....