Yesterday, A Lazy Day

I found the house I want to buy...now I just need some money!

In Leon , NY the heart of Amish country.

$17,000.00 b/o

Go Bills!

found this coke machine in downtown Lexington.....thought it was pretty cool........4 of us signed up for fantasy football so far...

Good Morning

The book I'm reading this week is called "The Greatest Stories Never Told",by Rick Beyer Here's a good little story from it about coffee. "With a Starbucks on every corner, you might think coffee has never been more popular, but that's nothing compared to the popularity it enjoyed in the Middle East during the 1500s. In Turkey, a woman could divorce a man who did not provide her with enough coffee, " and from an Arabic poem , called "In Praise of Coffee", the line, "This is the beverage of the friends of God." Coffee gotta love it!!
Have a great morning
Love Sandi

Looking back

Ive been all by myself for the last 2 hours tonight, and I decided to look to the first post on our family blog, I read all of 2008 and started on 2009. We have so many great stories to tell, I laughed and I cried. Some things I hadn't remembered and others Ill never forget. We've gone through new houses , new jobs, many trips, 2 new babies and 1 on the way, 3 weddings, 2 graduations, 2 deployments, and so much more . We've shared our likes and dislikes and our fears and our dreams. Wow... I think this blog is a great monument to our life travels. I still have 1 1/2 more years of reading to finish. Its amazing everything that's gone on in 2 1/2 years. Keep writing guys, and take some time to read past posts, they are very inspiring.
love ya
Sandi

So many men!

Ian has been having a struggle between being a little boy and being a man for about a year now, but just this past week he has really been putting the pressure on me to let him be a man, by wanting to help with everything or just plan taking initiative and doing it himself. I feel ashamed that I'm even seeing this as a problem. And it really isn't a problem I'm just not used to it. There are four other men in this house who are quite content letting me do everything here. Its just hard letting go of things that Ive done by myself for so long. Ian wants to help with the animals feeding them and getting them ready for the night and mowing and raking the lawn, all of which I really enjoy doing. He even ran around the house last week picking up every room ,without being told, before his friends came over. All very good things! Pray for me, first for patience, and second, that I can let go and let Ian be the man he wants to be right now cause I'm pretty sure, from the example of the four other men in this house, he wont be this eager to help for very long.
Love ya
Sandi

Rogers Family Football League

Ok, so it appears Labor Day isn't gonna be an option. So I think the best option is going to be an auto-pick draft. An auto-pick draft means that players will be selected based upon Yahoo! Sports rankings of NFL players or your rankings. When you join the league it will give you the option of ranking the players so that if you want a certain player(s) you can rank them higher to give yourself a better chance at getting that player.....or you can just leave it and you will get best available player that fits your team needs.

League Name: Rogers Family Football
Password (You will need to sign up): wideright

follow the link, don't forget you will need a yahoo! account.....

draft date is still undetermined but will be announced soon

http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/register/tos?league_id=232107&password=wideright

Just Thinking

I've been doing a lot of thinking the past few days. Thinking about where my journey has taken me the past couple of years. I have to say that it may seem that I am going and doing all the time, but very recently I've been feeling, for lack of a better word, flat. I have this urge to be going, not going on a trip, but really going, moving on to something new, the next thing. The thing is, I don't really see a "next thing" out there. I read Sandi's blog while she was reading "I Married Adventure" (which is one of my favorite books) it's a book I can totally relate to. The problem with me is that I fail to see the ways that God is moving me while I stay here. Over the weekend I realized how far I've journeyed the past few years, and was reminded of many of the milestones, and moments that really have shaped who I am and who I am becoming. I know I am not the same, and although I am in the same location, I have been going.

God had the Israelites make monuments or memorials so they would not forget where they had been, where they came from. They were physical reminders, piles of stones.

I read a friends blog, she talked about her church and how they were trying to make a decision about what roof to put on their church, she was sharing this story with a friend and this was the response: "my friend who is an ancient friar poked fun at our group when I told him our dilemma: He pointed out that the Roman Catholics put tile roofing on their churches because they expect their churches to be there for hundreds of years. Us protestants feel much more temporary, and are building for this generation, expecting our church to become a pizza parlor in 50 years. Or the pastor has little vision of the church beyond his life, while the priest knows that the church is not dependant on him or his life"

I wonder how differently I would live my life if I thought about how my living now will affect the generations to come. The truth is, how I live my life now will affect generations to come, good or bad. The Israelites were leaving memorials, visual markers so that the stories could be told for generations, the catholics build churches so that they can be shared for generations, what kind of things do we leave as markers, memorials of our journey's?

Ambition

The weather was much cooler yesterday and much less humid, so I had a little bit of ambition and I built a garden outside of my bedroom window. I think it turned out great, but we haven't had any birds or animals in it yet, I'm hoping we get some. My outside rabbit escaped last night we caught him twice before, but the last time he got out he was out all night and apparently he liked it, so he took off last night and I'm sure hes have a great time with all the wild rabbits that run around the yard. Soon they'll be little white and brown baby rabbits running all over the place. Have a great day.
Love Sandi

It seems

We have 2 options for the draft that I'm thinking will work best for everyone.....

Option 1 - auto-pick levels the playing field for those who know less, you would be able to go in and rank players if their are specific players you would like more but for the most part it just goes through and assigns best player possible to fit your need

Option 2 - Michigan....it's pretty self-explanatory.....game 1 is sept. 9th Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints.....

draft needs to be done Sept. 8th


what's everyone wanna do?


(also if you don't have one already everyone is going to need a yahoo account)

God is Good!

God never ceases to amaze me/us. We've been praying a lot about income for this fall and spring with me being full-time in school and doing a minimum of twenty hours per week of internship. I have evening classes on Wednesday nights and then three to four weekend classes which will be Friday nights and all day Saturdays. These will each last for about five weekends.

Anyway, we are doing fine and were just looking at the classifieds today before church, again praying about what to do and which jobs/hours to look into. I was sitting at the organ during church when I saw someone approaching out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and saw a man who is usually not at our service, he and his wife attend his church usually. I nodded my head to say hello and he set an envelope on the bench next to me. After the service I opened it up and found a check for $200. I haven't spoken to him in months because, as I said, I usually don't see him at our service. God is sooooo good!

Then, I got home and took another hike into our woods and picked a little over a quart of blackberries. I also tasted one autumn olive that was ripe. What a wonderful day. I hope all of you are doing well. I also hope you all come out to visit. Maybe for the draft?!
Mike, Debra, and Daaron

The Context for Spirituality is not Spirituality

The Context for Spirituality is not Spirituality

just a re-blog from Don Miller i thought was good

Sunday Morning

I have to say its a beautiful Sunday morning, even though its raining. The only time the temp has been somewhat bearable in the last couple days is when its raining, when its not, its so humid you cant stand up with out sweating, and the bugs! I'm enjoying watching the rain out side of my open bedroom window and last night we watched the sky light up as the thunderstorms passed through. I got up early this morning and took the animals out and fed them (we got a new bunny yesterday, we now have an indoor dog , an out door dog, an indoor rabbit and an out door rabbit, I'm hoping to add a few guinea hens to that soon and an outdoor cat would be nice), Picked the ripe veggies from my garden (a few cherry tomatoes a couple hot peppers and some peas), then did my dishes and laundry and got my laundry out just in time for the rain to start (oh well, it was wet anyways and now they are getting an extra rinsing). Were having pancakes with everyone(us, Ash,Dan, Grandma)after church. (were having banana , blueberry, and choc chip pancakes, not all mixed together) I cant wait. I love having everyone come to breakfast on the weekend, even though I have to cook breakfast outside on the grill in the rain. The grill is under one of our table umbrellas so our pancakes wont get wet. Have a great Sunday, and enjoy every rain drop and every moment of it because God has richly blessed each one of us, and because you'll never have another day exactly like today.
Love Sandi

Home!!!

We had a great time in New York. I forgot my camera (imagine that) but we went to the creek, enjoyed huge waves at the lake, spent time with mom, dad, Sandi and Wes and kids, and Grandma Rogers. It was great to spend time with everyone. We were talking on the way home and Debra's favorite thing was Swimming in the Lake and sliding down the rapids in the creek with her good pants on (still all dirty, by the way), and pulling Alyssa's and Tim's ears for fighting over her lawn chair. She also had a good time waiting to see when "no name yet" would finally get a name. Daaron's favorite thing was playing with Ian and Lyle whether it was in the creek, the lake, or on the trampoline. My favorite part was spending time with everyone, but especially swimming in the lake with waves that sometimes went over my head. Loved it!!! Can't wait to see everyone again. And J, great idea, the fantasy football family league. I'm looking forward to it!
Love you all!!
Mike

Fantasy Football

Ok, so far I believe we have
J
Amy
Cam
Tim
Uncle Mike
Dan
Mom (Aunt Tami)
Ashley

that gives us 8 teams........am i missing anyone? as far as when to draft Sunday nights work best for me cause i am almost always off on sunday nights..........what works for everyone else?

Uncle Mike , Aunt Deb, and Daaron were here!

We went to the lake and the creek

We had a corn roast and chicken wings
We had a great few days!

J everyone wants to know when the draft is

She Here!

The pics came from a phone and I can't get them any bigger

Fantasy Football

so i was thinking this out some more.......and well.....we're gonna need more than 3 of us (Cam, Uncle Mike, and me (J))...so timmy?...dad?.....ladies???.....

Just a few pics

Ruben blowing bubbles with his July 4, shirt on

Addi in her July 4, dress, just running and playing

Gwen in her July 4 dress, don't know what she's trying to figure out.

Brandi and Phyllis pregnant together, both are having little girls!

I had such a good time at Brandi's! I'm really disappointed that I couldn't stay long enough for the new baby to arrive, but she's coming tomorrow for sure! We had a picnic on the patio July 4th. It stormed badly so fireworks were cancelled, but we had a few of our own so it was fun. We had dinner with Jon and Phyllis, Jack Stack Barbecue YUMMMMMY! Brandi tried all kinds of new recipe's while I was there, so as always I had lots of great food. We went to see Toy Story with the kids, I went to Deanna Rose, which is a farm with lots of animals and play grounds, it's always fun there. I'll put some pictures of that up later. We went on a cupcake hunt one day, we ate LOTS of cupcakes! Took the kids to the pool a couple of times. . .all kinds of fun!

Picking Blueberries and Breakfast

Always pick blueberries in the early morning, so the kids can have all the free blueberries they can eat for breakfast.
Sandi

One more before I go!

Hey everyone. We are heading to New York this evening. Looking forward to a great time. Before I go, one more story I wrote a couple years ago. Hope you like it.
Mike

He’s standing in the midst of his family. Smiles and laughter fill the room as each person attempts to play their part to perfection. But that’s all it is! It is only an act!

They have gathered to celebrate an achievement. It should be a wonderful time and in some ways it is. The nephew is enjoying the celebration of his achievement. It is a wonderful end to the high school years with the beginning of his college days looming around the corner. His family is gathered around to celebrate with him. But The Uncle sees things very differently. He finds a chair away from the other adults.

The Uncle sits with his nephews and nieces. He is comfortable there. He knows his role. He is the uncle who loves his nephews and nieces. He makes jokes, plays games, and shares stories. For a moment he forgets everything else. He forgets all the other roles. They are too confusing… and angering. But things cannot remain that way. Soon the nephews and nieces find their friends and The Uncle is left to shift into another role. “But which role?” he subconsciously asks.

He looks up as his grandmother enters the room. He loves her, but at the same time there are divided loyalties. She is his father’s mother; the father who shows up to family events with a woman who plays no part in the creation of the family. In the other room The Uncle’s mom sits quietly. The Uncle is torn! He is now given a myriad of roles, none of which are his to play.

Is he to be the “peace maker”, making sure everyone gets enough attention? Or, should he be the “loyal son” to his mother, making it apparent he belongs to, and supports her? He could be the “disloyal loyal son”, spending his day listening to, nodding with, and pretending interest in his father’s shallow pursuits. He could be the “protector”. Or maybe he could be the “counselor”, trying to listen compassionately to all who see him in this role. Or, he could be the “spectator”, coldly watching all that passes by. “What about the role of father and husband?” he asks. In the end he just becomes the angry little boy inside.

His wife wonders why he is “so far away.” His son wonders why dad isn’t there as he used to be. The Uncle doesn’t even realize what has gone on in his mind. He can’t put into words what he is feeling because he has managed to excel at denying his feelings for so long, medicating them, shoving them deep below the surface until he has forgotten all their various names and meanings. Maybe today is different.

You see, The Uncle is tired. He is tired of all the roles and would just like to be a son, a husband, a father, a brother, a grandson, and yes, an uncle. He realizes he is angry. Better yet, he realizes it is ok. He gives himself permission to be angry. He feels the anger at his dad’s foolish choices, the choices which destroyed his family, shattering normal roles into little sub-roles and pseudo-roles. He sits with this anger while it subsides. He allows anger at his mother to surface, realizing it is ok to just be the son. As the anger subsides, he sees the warped roles handed down through each preceding generation. He decides he will carry these roles no longer. He decides to shed all the roles others have placed upon him. He hears the voice of God well up inside him. Listening carefully he hears these words: “My blood has swept all roles away. My life gives you one life, a life in me.”

The Uncle accepts the role of Christian, or Christ-follower. He accepts it while at the same time acknowledging its mystery. His role is one of a servant. His role is the servant of one, not of many. He is beginning to understand he has only one role. Others will attempt to place numerous roles on him, but today he is content. He is the servant of one. In the knowledge of this simplicity he finds his anger diffused, his confusion and frustration abated. His peace returns.

Thanks Tami

Tami introduced me to a blog called A Holy Experience www.aholyexperience.com written by Ann Voskamp, which is totally awesome, and since Im into using other peoples words lately, heres a piece of her last post, "If life seems sort of hard right now...Monday midsummer 2010, anno domini-the year of our Lord. So, the hard part? Its gotta be over---the life before Christ. If youve made it to the cross---then no matter whats up ahead, the hardest part of life, its falling there back behind you ...Whatever today holds---Jesus came. Were living in the reign of Grace!"
WOW
Sandi

Waiting for Salsa

Toothless

So, I'd told Sandi I was writing, thinking of posting my stories for people to read on my own blog, but thought I'd start here. So..., this is an article I wrote a few years ago. Let me know what you think. The format is not what it is in the original (paragraphs, etc.) but when I tried to copy into the blog didn't accept it. I'm still learning I guess.
Mike

Food Pantry
by
Michael Rogers

Missing teeth swallowed his smile. One protruding tooth made the gaps all the more prominent.
Smoky gray bristles covered the square, bony jaw while matching gray eyes sunk deep in their sockets. The cap on his head was covered with filth. The long bony fingers were stained with grease which seemed to grow from his fingernails. His words matched the condition of his physique.
"My wife's father just died of cancer. Nothin' showed up for years and then the doctor's tellin' him he's got one month. He died a month later with his wife layin' next to him." Toothless continued, "His wife's takin' it hard. I told my wife she would. Been together thirty years, they had. They live with us now, well, his wife does. I promised her I'd never send her away. She's 'fraid we'll send her to a nursin' home."
"Ten,... eleven,... twelve" the voice beckoned monotonously from the speakers. We checked our numbers along with everyone else awaiting food, and returned to our conversation. The man across from me wore a faded black leather jacket with Tuskeegee Air scrawled on it. The dark eyes looked warily from a face covered in brown skin. He spoke hesitantly at first, his eyes wavering.
"I had a tumor removed from between my lungs eight months ago," he said. "Made a cut this long" he demonstrated with his hands.
"Nasty stuff!" Toothless grunted.
"Yeah, but it wasn't cancer" answered Tuskeegee. "Still hurts though.... Used to do cement work" Tuskeegee offered. "Traveled all over the country. Can't no more though."
"Bet you've got some stories" I said. His eyes lit up. His voice gained strength.
"I worked on bridges ninety feet up. Hated heights, but ya gotta do what ya can." I nodded as Tuskeegee continued. "Ninety feet above the river walkin' steel beams no wider'n me. We were strapped in a harness, but you could still get hurt. I watched a guy fall the whole ninety feet. His eyes was on them lady iron workers an' not on his job. He lost his balance, line holdin' the harness caught a sharp piece of steel and sliced it in two. Watched him fall ninety feet. Well, never took my eyes off my work again!"
"Thirteen,... fourteen,... fifteen." The volunteer at the pantry wearily read off the numbers. The three of us checked our numbers again, like maybe we'd read them wrong the first three times. The table behind me had gotten louder so we were forced to listen to it's conversation. Only two people sat at the table. They'd seated themselves at the center, across from each other. Chairs lay empty around them, as if they were surrounded by an invisible wall. Greasy, uncombed hair protruded from the edges of a badly stained NASCAR cap. When the young man turned around I saw deep set eyes in a bony frame. One top tooth, right in the center of his smile, was black. His smile was crooked, but he used it a lot. Each sentence that flowed from his lips was accompanied by a loud laugh, as if each statement was the funniest he'd ever heard. Well, if it wasn't the funniest, it was close to the foulest I'd heard in a long while.
My eyes shifted to the young man occupying the other side of the table. He looked up and my breath caught. I knew he didn't recognize me, but I knew him immediately. Facing me was the son of a good friend. I knew his story and his illness. I knew the struggles he faced as well as that of his dad and step-mom. The diagnosis of bi-polar, while helping them in some ways, hadn't offered any real and lasting solutions. My heart wept as I watched him. I stood up, walked around the table, and introduced myself. His face lit up in recognition. As we spoke I was struck by the fact that things were not getting better for him. Again, my heart broke. I wearily returned to my station at the adjacent table.
I closed my eyes this time, and just listened. All around me pulsed the heartbeat of pain, disillusionment, failure, and resignation. One table over a woman spoke of her life ending.
"Doctors say I don't have much longer to live." Her "skin and bone" appearance lent credibility to her statement. "I'm alive because God isn't finished with me. I still have something to offer. I want to make the days I have left mean something." The peace in her voice gave force to her words.
My ears shifted their attention to the soft-spoken Muslim man sharing about his god. I wondered what brought him to this Christian Church. I chuckled quietly to myself as I answered my unspoken question. Need. Need and hunger had brought us here. Our stories were not the same. Our lifestyles were likely very different. But, need and hunger had brought us both to this place.
"I've been caring for my wife for two years" I heard myself say. I looked up to see Tuskeegee's dark eyes on me. "She went into the hospital two years ago. Was there for nine days." I felt the eyes searching me. Why was I saying anything? I didn't know Toothless or Tuskeegee. I didn't even know their real names. Yet all around me people shared their stories with complete strangers. I continued on, feeling compelled. "The insurance company said it wasn't their responsibility. They hired a doctor to agree with them. We fought it, but we've pretty much lost everything in the process." I laughed softly. "I tell people I've lost my home, but I've gained my family." Murmurs of agreement traveled to me from the two men. It grew quiet at our table as we each lost ourselves in our own thoughts.
"Sixteen,... seventeen,... eighteen." I looked again at my number, just to make sure. Standing up, I said goodbye to the two men at my table and took my place in line. It was likely I'd never see them again. I gratefully accepted the food and toiletries my family so desperately needed. As I walked out of the food pantry a man handed me a ten pound bag of potatoes. Our eyes met as I blessed him and thanked him.
I hadn't wanted to be here. I never expected to be in this kind of need. And yet a joy began to bubble in my soul and laughter resounded in my heart as I realized what had just happened. I'd been accepted by the very people from whom I'd tried so hard to distance myself. The very thing people long for, I'd found in this place where pride couldn't exist. I didn't earn it, nor did I demand it. It wasn't given because of what I had or who I was, but rather because of what I didn't have. I found it in my need. I heard God speak softly to my heart, "There's a message here for those who are listening." Are you?

Fantasy Football

was thinking about starting a family Fantasy Football league..........anyone interested?

Outside my window

I have the most beautiful flowers growing outside my bedroom window , which I didn't plant. They just keep coming back and multiplying. The past few days Ive just been enjoying the early mornings when the cool breeze is blowing in, looking at my flowers and all the little creatures that visit in the morning. This morning there was a chipmunk a rabbit and a robin, yesterday it was 3 northern flickers, I even got a glimpse of a humming bird one day. My windows always been here, why haven't I been enjoying this for more than a few days? Maybe I couldn't get past the dead ladybugs and the chipped paint on the windowsill? Maybe I was just too busy to stop and look out my window? I don't know what changed, but I'm really glad it did. I'm still reading "I Married Adventure" by Luci Swindoll, and I found a couple more good passages. One by the author Herman Hesse-"This day will never come again and anyone who fail to eat and drink and taste and smell it will never have it offered to him again in all eternity. The sun will never shine as it does today-But you must play your part and sing a song , one of your best." and the other by Luci Swindoll-"I used to think that life would get better if I planned it right- worked harder, denied myself, saved more money, figured it all out - one day Id wake up and everything would be OK , or at least better. What Hesse helped me see is that it doesn't get any better than this , because the this of this life is what I make of it, not what happens outside myself. If I dont live fully in the moment theres no rewinding or playing forward that assures me of a better day."
Have a great Sunday and take time to look past your dirty window sill today!
love Sandi

Don't Be Anxious

Debra and I were talking today, praying about the upcoming year, thinking about my school loans and how am I ever going to pay them off, among other things. I've really been reading a lot about worry and I know God is going to take care of us. I'm praying that he shows me what it really means to seek His kingdom and His righteousness first. What does this mean for me? Anyway, after we got done praying I told Debra I was going to go for a walk in the woods. I hadn't been out there since early spring. Boy was I in for a surprise!

Funny thing is, I was just telling Sandi the other day that all the berries I've found have just been along our street and yard. I told her the woods were still untapped. Wow!!! I didn't get any pictures while I was out there, but I did take one of the common blackberries I picked. I followed a deer trail out into the woods, down into the swamp, and back up into this huge open field. The weeds were up to my chest but I kept following the trail. When I came into the field it was just loaded with common blackberries about a week or two from ripening! I also found about five or six large Autumn Olive trees. You could already see them loaded with fruit. Then, and this is my favorite, I found two or three wild black cherry trees along the edge of the field. I'd noticed two huge wild black cherry trees on our street, on our property, but way out of reach. These are right at eye level. I also found some kind of nut tree, maybe hickory, but not sure yet. There were also a ton of sumac. Wow!! I kind of felt like God was saying "Didn't I tell you not to worry oh you of little faith?" Debra has just finished making mixed berry jelly out of the black raspberries and mulberries we picked this year. She ended up with about 20 jars. Now, it looks like we'll have a lot more. God is good!!!
Mike

Love

Love God, Love People.......and I Love my wife...... : )

Going!

I completely understand your last post. I am constantly like that as well. What I love is getting to know people. Surprised???? I love getting to know people! I remember talking to Wes and we were talking about how everywhere he goes he runs into somebody he knows. I was laughing because I have that experience often. We were in Toledo and ran into a former student. Another time in Toledo I ran into a former classmate. But what caught my attention about all of that was a conversation I had with someone from the home school coop. We spent every day this week at the lake. (Does that mean we were extremely cranky so we needed more than one day?) Each day there we ran into people we knew, most days more than one. Well, Wednesday the director of the coop says "Man, you guys seem to know everyone. How long have you lived in Jackson?" I sort of laughed, but now that she mentioned it, Debra and I do know a lot of people here. Better yet, a lot of people know us and seem to approach us as we are out and about.

Wes is a great guy who people enjoy being around, thus they remember him. People remember my wife after one or two conversations. People are hungry for people who will relate to them wherever they're at and I think that's part of what Jesus did and calls us to do. As we are going, relate with people, planting his life and love into theirs, so they can do likewise. This can only happen in relationship, not through entertainment and programming. An illustration of this is simply this: We have more books written on marriage now than in the 2000 years before yet marriages continue to fall apart. We have more books written on Christian Living than in the first 1800 years before, yet more and more we are becoming a non-christian nation. Its not that we don't have good teaching, nor is that we don't have entertaining services to attend, its that we've forgotten that "they'll know we are Christians by our love" which is lived out in our relationships. Finally, the only way we can have that love which truly demonstrates our faith is if Jesus is so alive in us that he loves through us. Love you all.
Mike

Next

Well I finished 3 books so far this summer and I started my forth yesterday. Its called "I Married Adventure" by Luci Swindoll. I found a passage that I can relate to, that I wanted to share;

"There has always been something in me that wanted to go! And its not just my nature;its compatible with my faith. While inhabiting the earth in bodily form , Jesus had a lot to say about going . He was forever sending someone somewhere on a mission. He commanded his disciples to follow, wherever he happened to be going. And his last word of instruction to us, his followers, before returning to his heavenly Father was "Go". Jesus is interested in our looking beyond ourselves, taking the next step, reaching out and going.

Its kind of strange that I want to go so much, because I'm truly a homebody. I love owning a home and thoroughly enjoy being here. I like to keep house and figure things out around the place. I love to cook and entertain and decorate. But none of that squelches my desire to wander around the world in search of adventure. Its as if that wanderlust was put in me as part of my genetic makeup, and it becomes more of a passion the older I get."

I totally get what shes saying!

Sandi

this weeks reading

This week I'm reading a book called "The Worst Hard Time " The untold story of those who survived The Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan. He follows 6 families and their communities through blinding black blizzards, crop failure, death of loved ones and the depression. I've read other stories, and briefly heard a few things about the dust bowl, but I never really could picture the severity of it. This book describes it really well. Black scouring blinding blizzards lasting for days on end month after month year after years for many years some months with up to 49 dust storm. No rain for months. Dirt so fine it seeps through every tiny crack , so powerful and so much it buried houses and suffocated people and animals, many people died of dust pneumonia. Animals stomachs were so packed with dirt there was no room for food to get in. Nothing grew except tumble weeds and they would salt that and feed it to the cows and pickle it for themselves. People who continue to think that human action has no effect on our environment and climate need to study the past, the dust bowl was created by human action, greed and ignorance. The majority of it was from Texas to Nebraska, but a few storms blackened the sky all the way to NY.
Another one of my cheery posts!
Have a good day Stay cool!
Sandi

"The Mall"

Today is large trash pick up in Gowanda, so the streets are lined with everyones garbage. Wes,Cameron, Lyle, and myself went for a walk last night through "The Mall". Apparently it was Lyle's first experience at "The Mall" and when he found out about it he was so excited. He found himself a rather beat up badminton racket, which is still usable, and which we did need, and a nice wooden box with a hinged lid that holds 35 of his favorite matchbox cars. He was quite pleased with himself, but he couldn't figure out why we were passing up on such great stuff. If we had taken the car we probably would have picked up more. We found a miter box for Wes saw , a piece of Plexiglas for the boys broken window, 2 plastic lawn benches and a whole box of picture frames, the only thing we ended up bringing home was the Plexiglas, only because the other things were gone by the time we went back to get the van. There were quite a few people checking out the goods at the mall last night, and if you were in the market for some book shelves or TV stands you would have been in the right spot. We also were followed home last night by the cutest little tiger kitten. I was hoping she would be gone this morning, but shes still here and at this point she has a bowl of milk , a bed, the name Marie, and is making herself quite comfortable on my front step. You never know what you'll find on a trip through "The Mall".

Sandi

Thanks Ash

Yesterday was kind of a crabby day for everyone here. Well...actually mom was crabby, and you know the saying "When mama ain't happy nobody happy." Anyways... Ash called at 5 and said lets go to the beach. Thanks Ash. As soon as we get to the lake everyone calms down, moms not crabby, kids aren't fighting, their actually playing together. Its amazing how calming the lake is despite the fish smells and the garbage, is so relaxing!

Sandi

LOOK OUT!

Theres a new prison in Gowanda, and it called

Warrior Prison, NO ONE gets out

More garden pictures

Sandi

Still Pregnant

Moms here keeping me cmpany while we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new baby. It has been not and humid. We enjoyed the 4th it raied so we sis a little celbration on the patio and spent time with Join and phyllis. He leaves for Japan tommorrow. Phyllis is looking good pregnant we got some cute pictures together so maybe mom can put them up. Well we love you all!!!m Enjoy the beach the water looks wonderful !!!!!!!!!!

Love you
Brandi

RAIN!!!

We've never been so happy to see rain in all our lives!

We played in it then to celebrate we went to Aztecas for

dinner. Yeah! Hot salsa and cooler weather!

Sandi