breadbasket

Here in Kansas, the wheat is ripe and ready for the picking, as we would say it in apple country where I am from. The local farmers are excited about the early spring, making for an early harvest and the potential for double-planting the fields this year.

The big machines are out working on the harvest - combines? threshers? (I really need to learn more about this process.) When out driving around, the big dust storm ahead indicates the harvest is in process. Many big trucks are on the road hauling grain to the silos/grain elevators.

The business news is full of wheat futures, well it looks like the future of the wheat around here is to be in the breadbasket - no wonder they call Kansas the breadbasket of America!

so many flags

Resthaven Cemetery, Wichita, Kansas, 11 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day events begin with a flyover of the Oklahoma Air National Guard F-16’s Jayhawk Wing of the Commemorative Air Force. A service will follow with speakers U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran and Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer.

A morning walk through the local cemetery - preparations are underway for a Memorial Day program. The employees are out straightening flags and picking up stray flowers.

Soldiers arrive in big green trucks and jeeps.

Families place flowers.

A peaceful place.

So many flags.

playing in the mud

Last weekend a lot of different things were going on in our family. While most of us were watching graduation, Carrie and Daniel were out playing in the mud, again!

Their second annual Warrior Dash, where grown people pay big bucks to crawl in the mud and climb over obstacles and jump over fire all for a free beer!

A great time was had by all, apparently!

Never grow up, kids!

saying goodbye

cousins Sarah and Jesse

multi-family kinfolk party!
congrats to grads and going away party for Jesse

Tracy and Jenny are proud parents of a new Marine! He leaves for basic training to Parris Island, SC on June 4th

LOTS of food and fun thanks to the four moms.

It was good to see everyone again, a great party. I was jokingly calling it an 'empty nest celebration' but had to stop when greeted with shocked looks and teary eyes.

If the kids thought their life passed before their eyes at graduation, well it really did on the day after - thanks to aunt/granma Sue who put together a slide show of images from babies to high school, we all got to watch them grow up before our eyes.

The perfect ending to a long weekend of deadlines and stress and celebrations!

photos

graduation day 2012

Sarah Scott - 2012 graduate!



Camera and tissues in hand, the familiar music of Pomp and Circumstance starts and we scan the faces as the graduates file in. Earlier I had asked Sarah which row she would be sitting in and she proudly told me the first row! I am #17 in my class! And the honor grads sit on the first row!

So she was easy to spot, actually sitting next to her longtime friend Sarah Z from across the street.



Graduation ceremonies evoke emotions in everyone who attend. The graduates may think this is just another day until they are all gathered in that ceremony and hear the traditional music and then it hits them that this is it, the end of school life as they have known it. They have mixed feelings, both sad and excited, about leaving their friends and possibly family and heading out on their own.



The thoughts and emotions of the day were captured in the featured song, I'm Not Gonna Cry by Corey Smith, sung by graduate Rebecca Hood:

Sunday Shoes, Cap and Gown
The whole town gathered around
Waited 18 years now it's all comin down to this.
I scanned the crowd and it fills my soul
My best friends all here in rows
No turning back, Now its time to walk that line
This tassel is gonna turn
But when the moment passes by
We'll just walk away
Then slowly grow apart

But I'm not gonna cry, no
Not one sad or happy tear
I've waited my whole life
Now I'm gonna fly right outta here


Anyone who has ever graduated hears the graduation march and remembers that time in their life. Underclassmen watch and anticipate their own upcoming ceremony - how the seniors sing the Alma mater (I don't even know the words said Racheal) and do the traditional foot stomping and yelling at the appropriate times. Grandmothers with cameras (and we were well represented!) document the event through blurry eyes.



Class of 2012 - go out and conquer the world!

And remember YOLO!

(class motto You Only Live Once)

Photos

roasted

♫♪♫♪ we cooked a pig in the ground, we got some beer on ice,
all my rowdy friends are coming over tonight ♫♪♫♪

Washtubs full of beer and cokes, a roasted pig, corn on the cob, the sounds of homemade ice cream churning and country music playing, flip flops and shorts, 'bean bag' games - office party construction style!



The pig was roasted and so was Buddy, celebrating his 10 years with the company, president Marty Robinson did the honors:

Buddy has always greeted folks with Howdy Partner! But ever since he went to Key West that phrase has a new meaning...

Buddy has built a lot of banks, even had his name on a bronze plaque on one in Ellijay, but we had to transfer him to other projects when the banks that Buddy built all started failing...

Hey Buddy tell us about that time you got yourself locked in a closet after everyone had left the job and you had to kick your way out...

Buddy leaves his mark on every project, leaves a lasting impression on every client...

There were some ruby-red work boots for him so he can click them together and get home from Kansas!

There was a questionable picture of him and Chris - but hey, what happens in Key West stays in Key West...

Chris Gillhouse (project manager) says working with Buddy always makes him smile, like the time Buddy thought he had found a great campground near the job in Royston, Georgia, only to find out it was not quite his lifestyle...

Office pranks, practical jokes, funny stories, the office folks let him have it. We family members were asked for stories, but we were tight-lipped, having to live with him and all.

The roast didn’t last near as long as the praise for a job well done, well actually the stats listed 28 jobs well done.

The office girls praised him for the numerous woodwork projects he has given over the years as gifts. Marty said he enjoys his M&Ms every night after supper - that come out of the candy dispenser that Buddy made.

Company owner Carl Herndon summed it up - some people do things the easy way or the fast way, but Buddy always does things the right way.

A great time was had by all, thanks y'all for a great party!





Thanks Diesha for the great photos!


photos

the club

The t-shirt quilt has become a family tradition. A life size scrapbook of saved t-shirts sewn together into a cuddly security blanket for leaving the nest.

Sarah saw her t-shirt quilt at different stages, helped with the layout. I started in January 2011 and went as far as I could, but had to hold spots for Senior tees.



Completed in March 2012, but Sarah didn’t see the finished project until graduation.



She opened it up and wrapped it around her and said, "Yay I'm part of the club now! This is the best graduation present I got!"

wounded knee

With a marathon weekend of family events scheduled starting Friday, on Thursday night Kyle busted up his knee. He was determined not to miss anything though, so he hobbled through the weekend on crutches, at times obviously in a lot of pain.

Monday morning ortho appointment revealed fractured kneecap with bone fragments and lots of blood. Surgery scheduled for Wednesday for repair.

He has his dad's knees and has had trouble before, so hopefully this will be a permanent fix. Not the way to celebrate the last day of school, but he has the summer to recuperate. Also so much for that summer job to earn money for college... maybe his granma can come up with something for him to do!

Prairie Sunset trail

rail to trail

The Prairie Sunset Trail is a rail-trail conversion which will stretch west from Wichita to Garden Plain, a distance of about 16 miles. The abandoned rail line was previously used by the Central Kansas Railway, and sections of the line are now owned by the city of Wichita, Sedgwick County, and the non-profit Prairie Travelers organization.

Prairie Travelers, an organization dedicated to expanding recreation opportunities in the state of Kansas, is currently developing the trail between Goddard and Garden Plain, Kansas, the first mile of which opened in July 2007. There are now about 8 miles of trail open.

The trail is available for walking, bicycling, jogging, and horseback riding. Discover a world of wide-open skies, rolling prairie, wildflowers, forests, and wildlife.

The Prairie Sunset trail curves through the city park in Goddard, Kansas, my walking path of choice, just 5 miles from the campground.

As for the miles and miles of trail out in the prairie between towns, I have not tried that yet, the anticipated 'wildlife' is keeping me in town for now!

Beaumont, Kansas

Beaumont - where you can drive your plane right up to the hotel!

1885 wooden water tower, the last remaining of its kind in the USA

rails to flowers

1879 Beaumont Hotel

Local lore has it in 1948 a Wichita businessman wanted to fly into Beaumont to check on his cattle. He asked the hotel if they would block the road for his landing. Since having a plane land in the small Kansas town was exciting, the residents agreed. Well, the pilot told his friends and soon many other aviators were talking about the little Kansas town where you could land and taxi your plane on the main street. It quickly became a tradition with aviators and a practice for residents to check for airplanes on the streets when driving.

In 1953, the Beaumont Hotel owner, J.C. Squire, acquired 70 acres east of the hotel and added a grass landing strip. Now planes could safely land and depart on Flint Hill pasture rather than one of Beaumont's streets.

Today aviators travel to Beaumont in their antique biplanes, helicopters, ultra lights, power parachutes, and even hot air balloons! On any given day, you can watch planes taxi right up to the hotel. ~ Beaumont Historic Marker

September 2007 Google street view of planes parked at Beaumont

When out looking for the local wind farm, we stumbled upon Beaumont, Kansas, a tiny town with a big story! I believe there were more Historic Markers than buildings, the residents of Beaumont are very proud of their town.

Kansas countryside

pioneers

amber waves of grain

crop duster

Wide open spaces and sights near Anthony, Kansas.

Sunflower Balloon Festival

the crowds gathered Saturday afternoon at the Anthony Kansas airport for the 15th annual Sunflower Balloon Festival

lots of waiting around to see if the balloons would be able to lift off, depending on the wind

pilots checked wind speed with anemometers and calculators - winds over 8 mph are too much

airport windsock - wind steady out of the north

some used the old fashioned way

it was determined too windy to fly safely and most balloon teams left, but a couple stayed to try to give the crowd a little something

it takes a lot of people holding lots of ropes, one rope was even tied off to the car

this is as good as it got, Jack N the Box almost made it vertical!

Kansas and hot air balloons go together - remember OZ? Wide open spaces, lots of sun, but sometimes too much wind. Great road trip - hot air balloon checked off the list of things to see!