Natalie and Hannah are both very athletic, and they entertained us with a gymnastic routine Monday afternoon. Hannah is a diver (formerly a gymnast), and Natalie still does gymnastics. Here's Natalie perched on the sink watching the nightly entertainment (euchre game).
Paul left on Monday, taking his air card with him, so we no longer had an internet connection. It was great getting to see him again, and he generously spent some of his time consulting with me on computer and blog stuff.
Monday for lunch we got to have our first breaded pork tenderloin -- one of the treats we look forward to when we come home (yes, it is served with mustard, dill pickles and onion).
After lunch, we took Collins and Marilyn on a drive through our past. First we drove through Joe's history (Decker), with Joe narrating the tour of different houses and "old home places," including a drive past Decker High School (where we met). Then we crossed the highway and drove through my old stomping grounds, Decker Chapel, otherwise known as the "neck," or the "boondocks," where the Wabash and White Rivers meet. We stopped by the farm of my old school bus buddy, Mike Carter, who happened to be outside, and visited with him a few minutes, then we went on to Claypool, an old fishing spot that used to have rental cabins, boat rental (row boats) and a bait shop when I lived here, which was when I was in the 5th and 6th grades, and it's one of my fondest memories of growing up, including having to be taken out to the levy in a boat by my dad when the river was flooded, which in turn flooded Claypool. It's now a Wildlife Habitat, posted for no trespassing, and so we didn't go past the signs this year (unlike other years when we have ignored those signs, knowing they didn't apply to "me"). This is my image of "peace and quiet."
We continued past the six different places I had lived (only one house still stands), then drove the river road all the way around, which must be about 30 miles. The trees in the middle of this picture is where one of my houses was (they have since torn that house down, and there is a new house across the road). This picture was taken from Claypool Pond, and after we moved to this house, I used to walk over to Claypool after school quite often.
We found some interesting spots along the river, including something that looked like a place barges might have tied up, but none of us ever remembered anything about barges this far up on the Wabash River, and the trees growing in the middle of this space must have been more than 40 years old. We did see some wildlife -- a turtle in a flooded ditch, and 6 whitetail deer running across a field. Lucille and Fred did not go on this ride with us, but they both have expressed interest in this trip -- they had never seen where the rivers met, so we will probably take this drive again in the next few days.
Dixie and Jim took Hannah and Natalie with them when they left on Tuesday, to meet up with Becky's mother in Michigan on Wednesday. Cathy took Joy and Rachel to the airport to catch their Tuesday afternoon flight.
Collins and Joe finished installing the new storm door on Sunday. Here's the finished project.
Marilyn and Collins replaced a curtain rod on Monday morning also, but I didn't get a picture of that project. They said their goodbyes Tuesday morning and headed to New Castle, to see their granddaughter and meet her fiancee for the first time. Our campground is losing half of its occupants.
I walked out to burn the trash before dark and came upon a turtle, so my wildlife quest continues. Joe tried to pick it up, but it showed how quickly it could snap at him, so he dropped it. We don't think it was a snapping turtle, but it sure didn't like the attention he was giving it.
Tuesday night, Indiana did its normal spring event -- tornado warnings, which is one of my two greatest fears (the other one being the dentist). Storms started early in the evening a little farther north (Terre Haute area), but we got our turn around 11:00 p.m. The electricity went off 2-3 times, but only for maybe a half-hour total. We had really strong winds, sometimes sounding like a train (which they say is what a tornado sounds like). But we are only maybe 1/4 mile from the railroad track, and you are not supposed to be near the windows, so I was never sure if we were having a tornado or a train was going by (every thunderstorm back here is a potential tornado in my mind). We survived, with only minor damage (three plastic lawn chairs blew into the yard, all three breaking, and a couple of tree limbs down), but there was a lot more damage about 1 mile south of us, and 18 power line poles went down in the swath that cut through here. I never have heard that it was a confirmed tornado, but I think it must have been. We stayed in the house until the storm passed, about midnight, then went outside to survey any damage. A neighbor stopped by to check on Lucille, and then Mike drove up to check on us. It was after 1:00 a.m. when we finally went out to the RV and got to bed. Carmi, Illinois, where we stayed our last night on the road, had a tornado touch down so this was a pretty severe storm.
Wednesday was a much better day, but it was cooler with a high of only 50. Thunderstorms are forecast for the next 4 days, so we are going to have to be on the alert again. I told the family that we are going to start celebrating Lucille's birthday in September instead of April, hoping for better weather!
This morning, we heard from our friends Jeff and Brenda that his mother passed away during the night, and we send our deepest sympathies out to them. We count our blessings daily that Lucille is in pretty good health at age 95, and this family knows how fortunate we are to still have her in our lives. We hope we have many more years to enjoy her presence!
Now I'm off to town to the library to see if I can get this posted. It will probably be another few days before I have the opportunity to post again.
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