Now for the little....

A couple of months ago I went to the Big Well in Greensburg Kansas, the memory is still fresh in my mind. But I do not regret my decision to walk down into the “big chasm”. I do believe in balance so now that I have seen something “big” it was time for the “little”.
Last week with my fellow librarians we departed to Independence Community College to listen to a speaker. When the session was over we thought it would be great to go and visit the “Little House on the Prairie”, this is “an official Laura Ingalls Wilder home site”. It is located about 6 miles south of Independence Kansas. As we traveled down the road we saw three vultures, this brought up a conversation about other birds that eat dead things. We decided that they are buzzards. Riveting! I thought we did good, we only made one wrong turn. Nothing like traveling with 7 librarians, at least we were divided up into two cars. I did find out what a “K” turn was. It’s always fun to learn new things. I am just glad I didn’t have to do it, there was a “big” ditch close by and this was a day for “little” things, not “big”.
For years I have always said that when we moved to the farm out by Leon Kansas that I thought it was like the Little House on the Prairie. Boy was I wrong. As we approached the home site, we could all see that this was a “little house”. It looked so cute and compact. As we entered the small home we decided that they were a lot shorter and definitely smaller. The furnishings were sparse, no knickknacks in this house. The surrounding area was prairie grass, mingled with flowers, I was picturing Laura running and skipping through the field with her hair flowing. Maybe I have watched too many Little House shows. The “Sunny Side School” and the “Wayside Post Office” were also at the location. There was also a nice gift shop in the farmhouse next door. Which we had to promptly visit, I wanted to get at least a few post cards to remember this occasion. There were some paintings done by a local artist of the “Little House. I thought that I would like to have one to remind me of not only the Little House on the Prairie but of the days I spent on the farm in Leon. I had one picked out and someone mentioned that the frame didn’t fit the painting so I went back and looked for a different one. I saw one with a smaller frame and the number was 53, wow I was born in 53 it was a sign so I bought that one. Here is the website with lots of info http://www.littlehouseontheprairie.com/

Here is the picture I bought http://www.littlehousestore.com/description.asp?prodID=2009

Ok now that I have seen the “Big Well” and now the “Little House” I am ready for something medium.
Any suggestions?

And the rain begins....

Figures! One of the reasons we bought the house we live in now is because we wanted to eventually build a BIG shop, not a shed, not a garage but a shop. I guess according to my husband Bob there is a difference. So we have planned and thought about it for the last 8 or so years. The last two years we have poured the cement pads each 20 x 60. So this makes this shop a big 40 x 60 and it will have 12 foot walls. This year we finally ordered the materials for the shop and they were delivered on Saturday. Yeah! Now the fun begins. On Sunday we just kind of looked at all the wood and felt a little bit overwhelmed. We scheduled our vacation the week after Memorial Day so we would have lots of time to work on it, even though I am sure it will be a summer long project.

So far every night it has rained, and according to the forecast it will be raining till next week. So I am sure it will be raining during our vacation. So as we sit with our hammers, NEW nail gun, tape measure, saws and radio we wait for the rain to quit.

We will be chanting Rain! Rain! Go away!!

25...then...30!!

At the beginning of the year one of my resolutions was to get rid of my extra stuff around the middle. Ok, I know, let's just call it FAT! So I thought I might try sit-ups, ha ha! In January I tried to do a real sit-up, as my husband, Bob, calls them. Not the crunchy ones. I couldn’t even do one of them. But I thought I am going to work on this. So at first it was maybe just one or two, then five, then up to ten. I thought great I can do this. So yesterday I did 25 real sit-ups, not the wimpy ones. Then today when I got to 25 I thought I am going to do 30 and I DID! Is my stomach flatter, probably not? But that is ok. Next Goal 50! No make it 52 my age. Or am I 53!!

New Bloggers!

Blogging is really great! My boss has been blogging for about a year. She had mentioned that I needed to do a blog. But you know a person gets busy and sidetracked, yada, yada, yada! Well anyway I had went to a session about blogging and the presenter mentioned that her granddaughter's class in Texas had a blog and she always checked on it everyday to see if it had been updated. AT this point I thought what a great idea! Since my grandchildren were all the way across the world in Okinawa this would be a great way to keep in contact. I know there is email, but with blogging you can read and reread everyday. So I contacted my daughter-in-law, Randi, and we started a blog. But she had difficulty adding to our blog. So she has made her own. Which is better anyway. The address is http://ourwildlife.blogspot.com/, I think the title fits.
The second new blogger is my wonderful sister-in-law Debbie who lives in Arkansas. Her address is http://roriefamily.blogspot.com/. Both of them are really funny, maybe even a little bit alike. So check out their blogs, I do believe you will enjoy both of them.

The Big Well!

Last Thursday I went with my friend, Kathy, to visit the town she has moved to since she got married. She now lives in Greensburg, Kansas, home of the world’s largest hand dug well. When we got to the well we went into the gift shop that was located there and purchased our tickets to walk down into the well. I am not sure what I was thinking but as we entered the small building that is over the well, my friend at that point said that it is a rather large hole. I walked in and looked down, my knees immediately became like jello and I broke out into a sweat. I pointed out to her that I am very afraid of heights and I have nightmares about this very situation. The well is 32 feet across and 109 feet deep with 4 flights of stairs. At first I just kept saying no way, but then I took a few deep breaths and said let me think about this. So we left and told the lady in the shop that I chickened out but I was going to think about it for a while and maybe come back. So we walked to downtown Greensburg, entered the Duckwalls, looked around at all of the cute items. I did see a couple of pillows and one of them said “That the Lord will be with you.” I thought good; but in my mind was looming the big hand dug well, not only just big but the largest one in the whole world. As we left the store I noticed that Kathy was once again walking towards the well. I thought Ok I can do this. She started down the well and I followed. I tried not to look down, but just looked straight ahead. There are four flights of stairs to the bottom then there is a wooden platform over the 32 feet of water. We rested at the bottom and talked a bit and then started back up. At one point Kathy asked me if I was winded, I told her I was not sure if I was winded or just simply scared to death!! But I did make it back out and I was glad that I conquered that fear. So if you are ever in Greensburg, Kansas make sure you check out the World’s largest hand dug well. Here is the web site with information about the well. http://www.bigwell.org/bigwell.html
Have a great day!