07/30/19 - Today, I finally made an appointment with the Cheyenne Skin Clinic to see about a spot on my forehead that I have been trying to take care with salve, special healing lotion and whatever else I could find but it appeared to grow larger and then a lot of drainage and it just was not getting better.  I also had a spot in the top middle of the forehead in which I thought came from a bump but it would have a scab and then come off and scab again but really never healed.  Today, they took 3 different cultures from three different areas to see what really was going on.  Since I have a limited time in Wyoming and of course if the spots needed to be surgical removed, I was able to make a tentative appointment with the surgeon but not until the end of August so now am just waiting for the culture results to see what the next treatment will be. 

07/25/19 - On 7/24, I left Lexington, Nebraska around 9:45 am because I felt I would have an easy day since I would gain and hour and I only had 252 miles.  I also knew that I needed to dump the tanks and there was a dump station located at one of the truck stops.  I found the truck stop and went in to the store to inquire where the dump station was and the gal was not helpful at all and kept saying out by the pumps.  I could not even see the pumps so decided to walk the area.  I did finally find the area so got the RV from the truck stop area to the gas station area and got it all ready to release because one did not have a lot of time between paying and pulling the valve.  I got a discount and only paid $7.50.  I then headed for another truck stop for lunch since the rest areas were not conveniently located.  The truck stop was great because we had lots and lots of room so took alittle longer for lunch since I was on a good schedule.  I left the truck stop and soon learned that the I-80 interstate was completely closed going west bound.  We all had to exit off on a small two lane road and of course lots and lots of semi trucks.  We drove and drove but finally got back on the interstate.  It states that it is 97 degrees outside and of course then the engine thought it had to run alittle hotter than normal so that put me on edge.  It almost hit the middle of the dial so I decided to drive a little slower since it seemed the gauge would go down a little.  I drove 21 miles out of the way so instead of 252 miles I was at 273 miles.  Finally got to Philip and Virginia's at 3:30 pm.  I got the car off, parked the RV, leveled the RV but then needed to wait for Philip regarding hook up of electric and water.  Virginia was very busy baking goodies since they were setting up a road side stand because the town is very busy with Frontier Days.  She baked white bread, wheat bread, banana bread, cinnamon rolls and several types of cookies.  Philip and I did the hook up, then we had dinner and she had a mess in the kitchen because of all the baking so I did not help with the clean up but took my shower and off to bed.  I did want to watch the news so had to set up the TV and soon was in bed by 9:45 pm and the news was on at 10:00 pm.  After news, I went to bed.

Today, I have been putting more things away, some minor cleaning and right now am cooking my fresh beets for lunch tomorrow.  I sliced some tomatoes as well so I am really enjoying garden items.  At 3:00 pm, plan to drive up to the road side stand to see if I can be of assistance.  Nothing much else is planned.

0723/19 - On 7/22, we left at 7:30 am for Omaha, Nebraska because great niece Laura had an appointment for your diabetes and then we planned some major shopping.  I went alone for the ride since I had never been to Omaha.  After the appointment, we had lunch/breakfast, then off to Hobby Lobby, I stopped off at Verizon to ask a question, then to Goodwill where niece Katie found all kinds of bargains.  I feel like we stopped one more place but can't remember and then went grocery shopping at Aldi's.  I got some groceries for myself and then Katie got a lot of things since she only goes to Omaha every three months.  We got home, unloaded the car and then had pizza for dinner and root beer floats.  After clean up, Galen, Katie's husband, went out and built a nice fire and we sat around the fire pit until after 11:00 pm.  It was time to get to bed since I plan to leave for Wyoming in the morning.

I also benefited a lot from Katie's garden.  I have new red potatoes, cucumber salad, garlic, tomatoes, pickled red beets and fresh red beets to cook.  Also, got a loaf of homemade bread!!

Today, I left their place at 10:00am and since it was a short drive, I knew I needed to take a longer lunch.  I ate some lunch and then relaxed and I am sure I fell asleep because I decided to leave again, it was an hour and 45 minutes.  I had about 70 miles left when we got to a complete stop on the freeway and did not move for at least 10 minutes and then moved very, very slowly.  I soon learned the right lane was closed and there was major paving of the freeway going on.  It took us a while to drive out of the construction but I got to the Walmart in Livingston, Nebraska at 4:10 pm.  When I drove in, I noticed on the right side of the building was a huge parking lot made for trucks.  There is two rows and at least 15 to a row so I decided to park here as well.  It will be a little noicier because they all have their air conditioning running but I will survive and still get some sleep.  The weather is comfortable which is very nice.  Off to bed when it gets too dark to read.

0/20/19 - On 7/17, I enjoyed my first straight out of the garden sweet corn.  It was delicious. 

On 7/18, I learned about taking a cob of corn, leaving the husk on, putting in some water for at least an hour and then grilling on an open fire.  It was also delicious.

On 7/19, we processed about 9 dozen ears of corn for the freezer.  It was quite interesting  how niece Katie does the corn so I learned alot.  She boils the corn with husk on for 8 minutes, then into a cold tub of water, I then husked the corn and because it was boiled, the silk of the corn came off with the husking.  I then put the husked corn in another tub of cold water to just a few of the left over silk on corn and then into another tub of cold water to rest for a few minutes and then she uses a thing that takes the kernals off the cob.  We had an assembly line working and we were done in a little over two hours.  She got 10 bags of sweet corn and they are in the freezer for use this winter.  Here are a few pictures of our operation:

                                                     Husking the corn after the boil

                                         Getting instructions from great niece Amy, how to get
                                          kernals off of cob

                                           Great niece, Laura getting corn ready for the boil

07/17/19 - The past week, we have either had dinner outside in the picnic area in Galen's back yard and always have a neat fire in the fire pit.  When the sun goes down, it is really comfortable.  We have had some late nights, visiting, just enjoying the fire and enjoying the days up to a full moon which was last night.  It was so bright, one could see your shadow.  Beautiful evening.

Yesterday, we stopped by a mini barn building company and visit Shayne (great nephew) who works there.  Very interesting.  I was very excited because we also were given some fresh garden tomatoes.

07/12/19 - A few days ago, Amy (age 8) gave me this beautiful bouquet that she made which the flowers came from the garden.  I have attached a picture:

07/06/19 - On 07/05, I got up around 7:50 am and started to finish putting things up since I was hoping to leave by 10:00 am for Auburn, Nebraska.  Alice had already left for Colorado and her husband David went to the farm to say good bye to his sister that was leaving.  She lives in Georgia.  David returned and helped me finish up and get the RV moved out of the yard.  Well, because of all the rain, I had sank some so I had to rock the RV a little to get it out of the yard.  Finally, we made it and soon I was hooked up when a huge what he called a wall of clouds came up from the east and the west and he was really concerned since he says that what stirs up a tornado.  We watched it for a minute, discussed whether I should wait to get on the road and finally it kinda got to looking a less angry so I started off around 9:35 am.  I was not even 5 minutes down the road before it really started to rain but never poured enough that I felt I had to stop but was very, very windy so driving was a little slow until I got to Topeka and then I had good weather all the way to Nebraska.  I spent a little more time for lunch since I was trying to get my directions to Galen's house in my mind since the GPS did not recognize the address. I text Katie to confirm my directions and then took off.  I got to their house at around 2:30 pm.  I got the car off and then discussed where I would park.  We decided on a place but had a low hanging wire so Laura (great niece) stood of top of their SUV and gave me directions as to whether we would clear the wire.  I got I only have about two inches left but cleared it and I am parked on the side of the house.  We leveled the RV but waited until Galen came home to hook up the electric.  Katie made a great dinner and after dinner we then hooked up the electric, took a shower and I was off to bed by 10:30 pm. 

This morning, I have been getting settled in, need to write a birthday card and on the phone with my siblings since I have been asked to speak at Aunt Kay's memorial with memories I have of  her.  This afternoon, will spend the time with niece Katie and her family. 

07/03/19 -  Today I got up and had very little energy so did not get any thing done until noon.  I then did a load of laundry, ran errands with Alice and then she checked and her husband and brother-in-law were combining wheat and so we went to observe them.  It was very interesting and then I learned that David (her husband) called Alice and wanted to know if I wanted to ride in the combine.  Wow, that was something that I never done in my life.  We were not sure if I could even get up into it but Alice's son Richard and his cousin decided to help me.  I just needed help with the first step and then I was able to handle the rest.  I rode with David for several rounds, we emptied out the combine bin into a wheat bin attached to a tractor that took the wheat to a semi truck which then went to the COOP grain elevator.  I have included a couple of pictures of my experience:

                                          Wearing Richard's hat since I did not have one

                                                   A better view of this monster combine

                                                                    Riding with David

07/01/19 - On 6/30, Alice, Elizabeth and Chase went into Abilene and toured the Eisenhower Presidential Library, museum and chapel.  Eisenhower, wife and son are buried in the chapel.  It was a very interesting tour.  We then had lunch and boarded an old diesel engine train for a ride from Abilene to Enterprise, Kansas.  The ride was through the farming fields of Kansas.  Quite interesting.  When we got home, David decided to try to find some his cattle that are out on a pasture since he was told he had a newborn calf so Alice and I decided to ride along.  We did not see the cows but saw farmers getting ready to harvest some wheat.  Very interesting.  I have attached a few pictures:

                                           Alice, myself, Elizabeth and Chase on the train

                                                      Combine in wheat field