Exciting game last night, thought for sure it was going to go to extra innings. It was a real nail biter.
Nice day here in Dardenne, could be warmer but got up to 65 with sun so didn't feel too bad.
I envy the beautiful fall colors everyone has had on their blogs, our trees are green or brown mostly. Drought really has not made for a pretty fall. A few sugar maples are pretty, but few and far between.
My niece Dianna and her hubby Larry have been spending time in Branson. They are on their way home to the Fort Wayne area and we managed to meet up with them for lunch. It’s been way too long since we have seen them. I thought the oldest great niece was about 18….silly me, she’s now 29. Isn’t amazing how time can just slip right by you?
Dianna and Larry, aren’t they a beautiful couple. I know you wont believe this but during college she was a hair model, imagine that. :-) That all hers no extensions etc.
Wish we would have had more time to spend with them, but they had to hit the road as Larry has to open his practice in the morning
They have 4 daughters, 2 younger ones that are still at home, Dianna has home schooled them, and over the last few years they have taken in exchange students. At present they have a girl from Viet Nam and one from Thailand. Her girls also do competition horse jumping and have done quite well. Dianna like her Aunt Donna has always been an animal lover and is fortunate enough to have a very large property filled with horses, chickens, dogs etc. They are thinking of getting a motorhome since they do a lot of camping pulling the horse trailers to various shows. We told them how large and great the RV community is. They were surprised, did not realize the sense of community between the RVers.
Well don’t want to ramble….so I’ll close.
GO CARDS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As Sam would say…Be Safe out there.
Got up to a sunny and gorgeous day with a high today in the mid 60’s. Won’t have many more of these before the frost hit’s us. I have to blow out the air lines on the fiver and put a gallon of antifreeze in each tank. They were emptied the last time I used it, Also the fresh water tank and water heater have to be drained, will do all that when I blow the lines out this week.
Donna noticed we have new tenants in the New Weeb Ranch Bird Motel, they carefully inspected both the upstairs and downstairs apartments and then selected the downstairs units. Last year we had tenants up until December.
Let’s see what this looks like.
I don’t know not as much headroom.
See what you think hon.
I think your right lets take the downstairs apartment.
Donna is going to work at the restaurant and Nicky has left so Grandpa will be batching it tonight.Which isn’t bad because Rigg’s and Sadie keep me company and bug all night until they get up on the bed with me.
How about some Navy pic’s.
Hi Neighbor.
What did you do in the Navy Grandpa.
Well that’s about it for now,hope all our friends out there are okay, and be safe out there. Sam & Donna……..
Thursday was a pleasant but cool day at the Ranch, Nick was out of school today and tomorrow, so she came over last night to stay with Grandpa & Grandma. she is a doll, I just enjoy every minute she is here. I surprised her and said we would go to Pizza Street for supper tonight, both the Grand’s like that place because with your pizza there is an arcade.
Dad, you got two whole peanut butter sandwich’s there. Don’t you think there just might be a little piece for me?
Nick at Pizza Street.
Nick in the arcade.
Hope the Cardinals do better tonight, than last night.
Well that’s about it for now. Be safe out there, Sam & Donna………
Another nice day here at the Ranch, this afternoon Donna had an appointment with her Cardiologist. Everything is going fin and he said he would see her in another year.
When she got home, we went out to Texas Road House for some dinner, this turned out to be a disappointment for Donna as the steak she ordered and the steak fries, she said someone went crazy with a salt shaker on, and they were too salty for her to eat.My Filet and baked potato with a mound of butter was just right. I don’t think we will be going back, Was there once before but don’t remember any problem with the food.
That’s about it for today. Everyone be safe out there. Sam & Donna……
It is another warm sunny fall afternoon, here at the Ranch, Donna made a run to Shop & Save for groceries, and Rigg’s and I played at home in the yard, and inside.
Anybody ever take a cruise. Donna and I I have talked about it, but with so many cruise ships having incidents, and food poisoning, it is a scary proposition. Sam has taken several cruises and been paid to do it, Here is some of the scenery on those cruises.
View to front.
View to port side.
View to starboard side.
View to the rear.
Even got to shoot some Ariel views .
Three Ariel views.
As you can see you get to see a lot of water, but not much else. Maybe the cruise ships are a little different, and they do have a swimming pool, no truth to the rumors that US aircraft carriers were equipped with a bowling alley, they did have a soda fountain, but it was usually closed during flight ops.
Hope all our traveling friends are having safe and uneventful trips.
That’s about it for today, it’s quiet so far in Dardenne Prairie, although a fire truck went screaming by the house into O’fallon a little earlier while Rigg’s and I were out he, didn’t even give it a second glance with all the noise it was making, guess he was enjoying his Dad, to much.
Everyone be safe out there. Sam & Donna……..
It rained last night and I was up to a wet and dreary morning at 05:00AM. It was cool in the 40’s.
Later in the morning the sun came out and the ground dried and the temps went up into the low 60’s.
Of course Rigg’s and Sadie wanted out to play.
Dad can I come in now.
Sadie always manages to find a nice warm spot in the sun.
Later they both went back out and then decided it was time for a nap.
Sadie’ Kitchen bed.
Rigg’s has a spot next to the fireplace.
Sadie spent last night sleeping with Grandma & I, her Mom & Dad are camping this weekend and didn’t take her with them. So she stays by us so she’s not lonely. Don’t know how she could be cause her big brother watches her like a hawk and plays with her.
As a lot of you know Microsoft put there Windows 8.1 upgrade out on Thursday, so since it was free if you had Windows 8, I downloaded it into my HP laptop. It is supposed to be an improved version and since I wanted a Windows 7 machine and couldn’t find a new one, I figured what do I have to lose. It took about 2 hours and then it was done and seems to be working fine, it boots fast and I like having a start button again. Time will tell as I haven’t had time to discover all the improvements yet.
Looks like our friends Al & Kelly from up Bayfield On. way are back on the road south, We hope they have a safe an uneventful trip to their Arizona winter home.
This is the time of the year when a lot of people head south, we still haven’t decided when or where we will be going this year, but I know I want to go where it is warmer than MO.
I wouldn’t mind a month in Arizona, and a month in South Texas, and then maybe head for home.
Have to just take it as it comes. Donna is still having some breathing issues, which is why I asked the Doctor about Arizona and he said go for it.
Not much else going on her. hope all is well with all our friends. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna……
Another Gorgeous Fall day with sunny sky’s and temps in the middle 60’s. To Bad Donna has the restaurant duty tonight.
A couple of weeks ago I put program called Belarc in my laptop, This is a free program that gives you all kinds of information about the performance off your computer and what programs you use and don’t use.One of the things noticed was it had 4GB of memory, but it was all in one stick leaving and empty slot. My new laptop is an HP with windows8. Donna’s is a Dell with windows 7 and is about a year older than mine. I checked her setup and she has two memory sticks of 2GB each giving her the same 4GB but with no empty slot.
Right away I wondered what a stick of memory would cost to upgrade my HP from 4 to 8GB. I went on the web and searched by price for a 4gb stick with the same specs as the one in my laptop. I found a supplier right here in St Louis called Arch Memory, that had one priced at $39.99. They had a website and would take Paypal, That was Thursday of last week, last night when Donna got home she picked up our mail. So this morning sitting on top of my laptop was a small box from Arch Memory.
I opened it and there was my memory stick, they sent detailed instructions on how to install and and said if you have trouble to call or bring it in and they will get you going.
I unplugged it, took the battery out, grounded my hands to metal at the cook station and then snapped the stick into the empty slot. As soon as I powered it up I noticed the boot sequence was faster. I went to property's and sure enough it was showing 8gb on the memory total, so the operation was a success. I noticed there is a very noticeable increase in speed between websites, and when you download a train picture, it appears in a split second rather than slowly paging down the screen, I was impressed. The bummer is if I want to do Donna’s Dell, since they have two smaller (2gb) sticks, I would have to buy two 4gb sticks to get hers to 8BG. Which would double the price. She says she doesn’t really need it now, so will wait and see for her’s.
How about a picture of my New Jersey Grands, Tim & Bonnie’s two girls.
Meghen & Katie and their buddy’s
Hope all is well with all our friends out there, Please be safe. Sam & Donna….
Been without a post for a couple days, Donna went out to meet couple of her old co-workers for dinner at the Pasta House, there was supposed to be 5 of them, but two had to cancel out, she said she had a good time. She is getting called in to the restaurant to be hostess tonight. so I will be batching it for the rest of the week.
Rigg’s is enjoying the cooler temps and is in and out all day.
Not much going on with the weather, today it is raining all day so nobody left the house. All except for Samantha, she is working the midnight shift so she gets out of here around 11PM. I sure remember those days of working midnights.
USS Vinson off the coast of our 49th state, Alaska.
Here’s a Navy shot that is just great, a lot of people take cruises to Alaska. So does our Navy.
That’s about it for now be safe out there. Sam & Donna…
Hey everybody its Donna.
Yesterday I went to my high school 60’s reunion picnic. Really a good idea. I came from a small town, so a few got together and decided a picnic in a park for all that attended or graduated anytime in the 60’s should get together once a year, the 2nd Saturday in October. Being a casual setting it was really fun. I haven't been in contact much since I left. Was surprised to find how many of my classmates had married each other. Of course turn out was small due either to prior commitments distance etc. Have also lost many to cancer and Viet Nam. Again we were a small school. We didn't even have a football team until my sophomore year. We covered a very large geographical area hundreds of square miles and many cities but not heavily populated. My how times change, now it is chic to be from the area. Here's a couple of pictures. Almost everyone that attended was from my class.
Marsha (cheerleader & prom queen) and Brenda (one of the twins)
Linda and Brenda…only twins in our school
Martha (class brainiac) and Marsha
Donna Dunwell and me. Of course at times I was blamed for things she did as we both had the same initials (my maiden name was Dutson).Of course since I was the perfect kid, she was never blamed for any of my misdeeds.
Weather was just perfect and a good time was had by all. Amazing what different people we all are now versus 1967. I had gone to my 15th reunion and vowed never to go again, as it was just like high school. Little cliques, many trying to impress everyone with their accomplishments and ‘wealth’. Marsha, Martha, and Linda talked me into going this year, they said now that we are older we are much wiser and all that come have the ‘who gives a sh—‘ attitude. And they were right.
Afterwards 3 of us went into downtown Eureka for dinner. Amazing there is still only about a dozen stores, sadly McGills Pharmacy that had a wonderful soda fountain where you could get phosphates (anyone remember those) and malts and of course advice from Mr McGill and Sutters General Store where you could get anything that you couldn't get at McGills or the corner grain store. Oddly the grain store is still there. I am glad I went and do plan on going next year. Now don't tell anyone but someone ,not from my class, had one of those Lifestyle lifts, and she looked amazing, 10 years younger than the rest of us though she was chronologically 5 years older.
Now this is what you call laid back on a Sunday Riggs style. You just look at the ball!
Hope everyone is having a great Sunday.
Be careful out there.
Great news, the diesel repair place called and said Max , my Duramax was ready to pick up, I had Donna take me over and then took it on a test ride and it did great, It had a bad sensor that was replaced for the sum of $148. I guess that’s not bad since you have to pay for one hours labor no matter what is wrong before they even diagnose it and that’s usually $100hr. I am happy and now I can plan a trip with the fiver.
Isn’t it funny how you get so dependent on your vehicles like most folks expect them to be ready to go every time you need them.
Donna headed in for her normal Wednesday night shift at the restaurant, the mutt’s and I are batching it tonight.
Tonight we will see if the St Louis Cardinals will advance in post season play. My son Andy is like a caged tiger waiting for the game to start at 07:00PM.
Not much else going on, Hope all is well with all our friends, and please..Be careful out there. Sam & Donna……..
Was up early to a nice day sunny and cool. I got a call from the drugstore that I had a prescription ready so I got in the truck and it would not start again, I hadn’t used it yesterday but it was running when I backed it into it’s spot. So when you run out of aces, you seek professional help, I did notice a fuel drip underneath so maybe there is a bad fitting or cracked line, Anyway I called the insurance man and he said he would have a tow truck over in an hour, I then called Kohr’s Diesel and told them what was going on and that the truck would be towed in. We used to have all our diesel shuttle busses repaired their when I drove for OATS so I know it’s a reputable garage. This is the first it has had to be towed in since we bought it 9 years ago and it has 120.000 miles on it so I guess I don’t have any complaints.
Do I look happy.
See Ya when your fixed.
Thought Donna might have to work tonight but they called back and said the person who was broke down would be in so she will have her normal Monday night off.
Other than being a one car family for a little while nothing else is going on here at the Ranch, Rigg’s and Sadie are both enjoying being out in the cooler temps,it got up to 72 from a low of 47 this morning. Just a gorgeous su8nny fall day.
That’s a bout it for today, Please be safe out there. Sam & Donna…….
Well yesterday didn’t start very well , I was going to head to the store for some much needed items, I started the truck and it ran just long enough to get in reverse, and back about 10 feet and then it quit, no amount of cranking and cussing would get it to fire, I decided to take Donna’s Escape to the store, what a bust they were out of my beer (High Life Light), that made two of us out of it, and also Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets.What a day.
When I got home I decided to try the truck again, still no start, I pumped the fuel filter primer about 20 times and got all the air out and then it fired and ran 30 seconds. oh well I thought probably got a plugged filter, by that time I was all sweaty and it was hot so I decided since we had a better forecast for Saturday and I would wait.
Today(Saturday) I looked all over the garage for my spare fuel filter, and couldn’t remember where I put it so I would have it when I needed it. So off to Auto Zone, they didn’t have it, so I went to Carquest they had it for ($55), now I remember why I ordered two last time on the internet for $35.
Got home and took the old filter off and discovered why truck would not run, one of the wires to the water/fuel separator was broke off and could not be soldered back.
Off to the Chevy dealer where the parts department was closed. I went to a NAPA auto store and they stocked the separator $38. Feeling lucky I went home and installed the parts and it would start after priming and quit in 30 seconds. Finally I saw why, somehow the o ring on top had fallen off and was under the truck, Which meant the filter and separator had to come off and be reinstalled with the o ring in place. After that was done I said a short prayer to Our Lady of compression ignition. Then cranked and it fired up and settled into that nice rumbling Duramax idle. I don’t know how the other makes are but it takes about 30 pumps on the primer button to fill the filter and purge the air before it will fire. I took it to the store to replenish my beer supply and it ran just fine. So let’s see $55 for the filter, $39for the fuel/water separator, I did all the labor so the truck was fixed for $94. I can only imagine what the bill would be if you had to have it towed in and fixed at a dealer or garage.
So now it is almost 04:00PM and Donna will be heading to the restaurant in a little bit. The kid’s and Nicky are gone, so Rigg’s and I will be able to run wild. Rigg’s seems to be feeling better his fever is gone and his stomach is settled.
Hope everyone is doing fine and please be safe out there. Sam & Donna……….
Slow day all day, we just kinda loafed around the house all day. Yesterday Donna & I both had an appointment at our family doctor’s, he took us both at the same time and it looks like I am good for another three months and Donna for six. I have to have blood work every three months, He wants us both to do more walking.
Rigg’s has some kind of bug today he threw up a couple times and feels feverish, he was happy to lay on the bed next to his Daddy this afternoon. hope he feels better this evening. Donna just left for the restaurant so Rigg’s and I will be without adult supervision tonight, oh boy what can we get into.
Nothing much going on nice sunny warm day, were supposed to see some fall temps after the weekend, so I will have to finish the trimming and maybe get out for a couple days with the fiver if I want to do any train pictures this fall.
That’s about it for now Hope all is well with all our friends . Please be safe out there. Sam & Donna…
Not much going on here. Weather has been beautiful, warm not hot days,cool nights. A little cloudy today but that’s ok.
Working two jobs I have not done much grocery shopping since Sam retired, now we shift off the ‘chore’. I used to enjoy it, but now it is definitely a chore. Believe me it was quite a shock the first time I went and saw how much everything has increased in price. Now with drought last year anything with corn or wheat or that is fed on either of these is outrageous. When did a can of Crisco get to be $6.00? $12.00 for a bag of dog treats? $2.00 for one onion? Oh well, its not going to change but wish my salary had increased exponentially to the price of food.
Now on to the title. I always thought Riggins was a fairly intelligent boy, most labs are. But the laundry basket threw him for a loop. He was bringing his ball to me and dropped it, into the empty laundry basket it went. I thought he would just reach in and get it…boy was I wrong…the crying started…the staring at the ball began.
Then he decided the ball was in prison, so he tried to paw in out between the ‘bars’.
I told him it was his ball if he wanted to pick it up. So he decided, pawing at the bars and nudging it with his head would work.
Then more whining and staring at me with the you get my ball back. I told him to keep trying, so there was more head butting and pawing. Finally he slapped basket hard enough it fell over on this side and Wallah,,,,,my ball!
Guess that was too much work because he then took a nap.
Here’s an easy diabetic friendly dessert. One package sugar free cake mix..bake per instructions in 13x9 pan. Let it cool. Make a pkg of sugar free pudding. Take end of wooden spoon and poke holes in cooled cake, pour pudding over top slowly. Some will go in holes and rest you can spread across top like a frosting. Keep refrigerated.
Well that’s it from here…..Be Safe out there.
Donna
