Purple Pineapples, Osage Oranges and Long Shadows
The yellow sunflowers along the county roads are starting to disappear and in their. place are these incredible bright purple pineapple shaped flowers! I've never seen these before, but have fallen in love with them. They are Leavenworth's Eryngo. They are on stalks that are up to 3 feet high and is in the carrot family--related to parsnips. Bumblebees love this plant.
Below is something I thought I saw on a tree along the dusty roads we travel along. At first I thought I must be mistaken, but the other day on my way home I hit the brakes. There it was!! It reminded me of a breadfruit like we'd seen in Hawaii. We took pictures. and cracked one open. I later found out that although they ARE edible, they aren't palatable to people. The horses like them however, and they are often referred to as a horse apple.
Labor Day Parade
Every year, the tiny town of Cedarvale has their annual Labor Day parade, complete with "showdeo", fireworks display, turtle races, egg toss, bike and foot races, etc. Everyone comes from miles around for good clean country fun. We enjoyed the fireworks display on Sunday night (I couldn't resist showing the main float of the parade).
Below, this little boy proudly shows off the third place winner!! By the way, we don't brake for gophers or squirrels out here--we brake for turtles!! Turtles are ALWAYS crossing the highways, county road, etc. So now I ask you: Why did the turtle cross the road? Lots and lots of candy thrown, without anyone telling the kids to stay back (they moved sooo slow, it might be hard to run over anyone). There were even elderly handicapped adults who were running for the candy and everyone seemed to understand.
The Egg Toss was their 108th (that's 108 years folks) annual egg toss. People line the street for a good 1.5 blocks and at the command toss the egg across this wide street to their partners. If the egg breaks, the partnership leaves... until there are only 4 people left. Prizes. are given to all. There is such a sense of community here!
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Last Friday night we headed to Oklahoma City for plumbing supplies and to attend the temple (which we haven't done since covid). When we arrived it was 4:30pm and I was driving while Wes is on the phone to Ferguson Plumbing, trying to determine which of their locations has the parts he needs. It's Labor Day weekend and the freeways are packed. On top of this, we do not know this area at all. Ferguson closes at 5:00pm and we are trying to navigate through this massive spread out city (I wasn't expecting the place to be as large as it it)! It goes forever. I missed the exit our hotel, so continue on, taking the next exit. As I exit, the man (who has Wes on hold) returns to the phone and gives him the address his needed parts are on, but has no idea where the address is located. We pull over and put the address into GPS and realize it is just a few miles from our current location. We get there and load up what we need just before they lock the doors. The items are in short supply (as the the hurricane shut down the production plants where the material is made) and many contractors have called and reserved what is currently in stock. What a tender mercy to be right where we needed to be!
It was all a little overwhelming, the noise and commotion. Remember, we drive 45 miles on our way to work and pass 2-3 vehicles on the way and we live in the "middle of nowhere" with only cows for neighbors.
Our temple. appointment was at 7:00 am. and we captured this photo of the temple with the lights still on.
We went out to eat the previous evening and when we came out afterwards, this is what we saw (we thought we were back in Hawaii).
Pole Barn Make Over
How to turn a Pole Barn with a dirt floor into a duplex for interns and possibly missionaries? First take out four inches of road base, plan a sub rough, locate water lines, put in new septic system, pour concrete, then start framing. The concrete comes tomorrow, all 7 1/2. yards of it. It was decided to only build one bedroom, one bathroom ( a temporary kitchen). and one laundry room at this time, but all the sub rough plumbing had to be put. in for all the futures. They ran 300 foot of waterline outside, 100 foot of gas-line outside and 140 foot leach field.
Signs
Wondering about this sign... Slow children are playing here?
I see this metal sign on way to Ponca City and. it takes my breath away. It is in Kaw City. The Kaw Nation are a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma and parts of Kansas. They are also known as the "People of the South wind", "People of water".
Restoring the Wagon
Dave Anderson is coming up to perform for the City of CedarVale Kansas and for Pawhuska. We are working on getting this trailer fixed up to use as a backdrop in Pawhuska. Kind of a gift to the folks up here who are so kind to us. Always, so much to do...
Bawling Calves
Last night our son Sean called on FaceTime. I could see that it was still light there. I walked outside and showed Tanden and Kinsie that it was pitch black! "Listen," I said. "you can hear the cows and some of them scream like girls. They'd listen to the low moooo's and then just like clockwork a high pitch scream would pierce the air. The kids would giggle and ask to do it again. So fun!The Lost
Last night we are at a Mexican restaurant and when we walked in there was a long table with many seats and some had a bottle of beer at each place. This was sobering. The people here are pretty serious about our national crisis.
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