Friday, June 24, 2011

Missouri Valley, Iowa area flood pictures 6/20 and 6/21/11


Harrah's casino boat getting taller by the parking garage.

water pumps near the overpass in case the water gets over the dikes.

Fairgrounds crossing with I29 overpass.


Raising the tracks in Missouri Valley.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Views of my yard this past week!

This evening, while I was on the phone, this medium-sized deer wandered past our house on the gravel road, just like it was out for nice evening stroll.




In the 'north 40' part of our yard (we only have 3 acres, but that's what we've dubbed the 'area'....) the wind damage to this tree was amazing (happened Monday, 6/13) after the fifteen minute thunder shower we experienced.

It looked like the branches twisted off and broke. It was ferociously windy for about 30 minutes AFTER the storm (on Monday, the 13th).


There were two huge branches that fell directly under the tree (onto the pile of old telephone poles that have been there since before we moved here-which will be 14 years on 6/27!).





Bogart traveled to the 'north 40' with us to examine the damage.

This squirrel ran up this tree, and then turned and looked at me and several cats who happened to be looking back out at him. He left in a hurry and we haven't seen it since.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Missouri Valley area pictures from 6/11/2011

The view of Harrah's casino and hotel.

The track on the right has been raised, and that's the stabilizer and tamper visible on the right.

This picture shows the track on the right raised to combat the rising waters of the Missouri River. (thought it showed up in this picture better than the last one).

Near Missouri Valley yard area looking towards Blair, Nebraska.

(I'm going to put the rest of this batch of pictures on the flickr site, so you can click on the right hand side column to get to them.)

Monday, June 13, 2011

Birthdays and picnics! 6/13/2011

This is my newest great-nephew, Blake. He's seven weeks old, and the son of my nephew, Brian, and his girlfriend, Nicole.

This is the birthday boy, Austin, who turned 11 on 6/2, and whose party was held in the Cottonwood area of Saylorville Recreation/Lake. He's Margie's son (our friend).

My brother, Bob, decided the kids needed a lesson in a 'golf swing', so they sat down and listened to his attempt at humor!

(The kids are from left: Austin, Izaac, Mina, Connor and Olivia. In the background standing is Zyad, mema (my mom) and Margie.)

Bob, with Connor (5), and Izaac (4) on his lap, posing unwillingly!

Connor and Izaac decided they enjoyed each other's company!!

Monday, June 6, 2011

A little TOO MUCH water in the Missouri!!!!

John took some pictures from inside the train as they were going across the river near Omaha/Council Bluffs Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon (heading west to Fremont, Ne, and then coming back to Boone!).

It used to be a field...


Through the (very) dirty window of the train, you can see the casino, Harrah's.


Sunday, June 5, 2011

New baby in church and new Community Bldg. for Stanhope

Baby baptisms are always interesting. This baby happens to be the grandson of our Pastor Suz! Baby Gabriel behaved very well and took the water dripping down his head in stride.

The new Community Building (which will also house the library) is almost complete.


This building sits on the same ground which once was the Stanhope United Methodist Church. The bell from the church is now in place in front of the new Community Building.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The first boating outing of the summer!

With John's 'non-schedule', it's hard to predict when he'll be able to have time (or take time) to do things (before the railroad calls and he goes back to work!).

He got home Tuesday afternoon, finished mowing, ate and went to bed early. He was up early Wednesday, and went to retrieve the boat from the neighbors' barn (thanks Ron & Kim for the winter storage). He replaced the fan motor, and got the hose and started the motor in the back yard (I'll put a short video at the bottom of this, I hope).

When this guy and his dog went by it looked like the dog was driving!

When he discovered he probably wasn't going to work, we packed a lunch quick and headed to Little Wall Lake! It was a beautiful day on the lake, and the motor ran a little rough, probably due to old gas (we hope)... But it was REALLY relaxing!

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