Tag Archives: missouri

02.16.21
by

Move to Missouri she said….

You know those moments when something someone has said to you in the past comes back….repeating like you are seated side by side, say, in a movie theater and she whispers…you guys should move down here we hardly ever get snow…..and honestly I have bragged to my northern friends that…oh ya, we are always 10 or more degrees warmer in the winter…you had a foot deep snow storm?…oh goodness, that’s usually what we get in a whole season….. it didn’t seem wrong…I gave 58 years to Iowa….it kind of seemed like it was ok…the way it’s okay to complain about the spouse but if anyone else does it….

Ok…so I am a little red faced and very apologetic about my bluster after this polar vortex experience these last two weeks. But, seriously, friends around the country are sharing pictures… it’s a nightmare….and now many states can’t keep the power on because ……. the elves went to sleep while feeding the wood burner? Trump, the pandemic and now the polar vortex. Ruler across the fingers apparently we need, yet, another start over lesson.

We left the snow blower in Iowa….so…When the doorbell camera caught an elf on my sidewalk with the leaf blower this morning, I felt a sense of pride that I married a genius! My very own Macgyver.

This too shall pass or so I keep repeating it! Stay warm and safe!

02.10.21
by

OH YA…..WELL WATCH THIS

The title being in all caps is the reality of the disturbance in my head…I steal the term, disturbance, after hearing it used by a tv weather guy. Talking about the Canadian air mass sitting over the region for two weeks….”cold temperatures and smaller “disturbances” equals more chance for snow.

Seriously…disturbance? from the news media who normally has us hugging ourselves tightly while they scream shelter in place, lock your doors you are all going to die as our mental health experiences nervous breakdowns through the pandemic and the Trump administration.

It’s cold here. It’s Iowa Cold. Thankfully this morning when I got out of bed in my more than irritable mood, I realized I was feeling the same way I did for 55+ winters in Iowa. Mentally combining that with quarantining a year in the house….my CABIN FEVER is now in overdrive. There are seriously only a certain number of Words with Friends…actually strangers….games you can play in a day so I learned how to play backgammon. But it’s just not the same as what I had dreamed it would be…sitting in a pub in Grantchester playing the Vicar over a round of pints.

My Word for the year is “nurture”. Not feeling it today…Not a whole lot of positive going on right now….my benevolence has frozen over!

Someone make me laugh?!?!?

12.26.20
by

Opinions and perspectives

Just a few days after I assumed the geese were rounding up their belongings and moving on to where ever these geese winter, I wake this morning to…..

In a lesson in perspective this afternoon, I was up on the deck taking this video when the basement door opened and he strolled out to see what the commotion was. I yelled down and said, ya know after watching them sit in the water hour after hour, I actually have no desire to wade into the pond…..I know how much poo a few can leave on the trail per day. He totally flipped it for me…yes, but what about fish food and nutrients. Come to find out goose poo does contain nutrients but too much can actually cause a depletion of oxygen in the water. Who knew!

We see and interpret things from our own thoughts and stories we tell ourselves and assume that everyone sees and interprets the same way we do….but really, everyone perceives their world through the lens of their experiences and what they have been taught by others whether it be teachers, parents, books or life lessons. We absorb the information but interpretation is all on us.

Grateful for the sunshine, blue sky and warm weather and “my” geese.

Namaste

04.24.20
by

Would I be willing to sacrifice my hand?

We have been quite content following quarantine rules… content might not be the word I want to use…*exchange content with safe. As long as we are home or outside on the walking trail, I’ve felt safe and secure…it felt comfortable. No decisions had to be made while thriving in my bubble.

Now the Governor is opening up the state on May 4th. Mayors in several cities close to the KC Metro have given May 15th as opening day. People are still getting sick…yes…not as many perhaps…but I always find it incredible when someone rationalizes the low percentage of people that may die. I saw a Facebook post recently that asked “those” people who were comfortable with a small percentage of people dying to please write down the names of two people in their family they were willing to sacrifice in order to have the freedom to get back to what they believe normal is.

I came to the conclusion after overthinking Covid-19 that it really isn’t fear that is causing me to avoid crowds or avoid contact with other people when I have no idea who they have been in contact with. But I guess it must be a little bit of fear…I don’t want to get sick…whether its a bad head cold, influenza or Covid-19 virus. It’s kind of like deciding if I want to lose an eye, a hand or a foot. I don’t want to lose any of them.

So for now, I don’t plan on lifting my personal restriction on practicing social distancing…staying at home, washing my hands, coughing into my elbow and wearing a mask if I do venture out. It’s what I feel is right for me. I don’t begrudge the humans that want to start shopping and dining out, etc. I hope they stay healthy, I hope we can lift up this virus to a level that it will take care of itself, I hope for good medication or better yet a vaccine… but I am comfortable with my personal choice to stay home and stay healthy.

Namaste

08.06.19
by

Nothing makes you feel fat like…..

. Taking a selfie in the bright sun with a white visor, white hair and a white T-shirt…

. Being on the downhill side of a golf cart driving horizontally on a hill looking for a ball

. Walking up a steep hill when you’ve told the cart driver…”go ahead, I’ll walk & catch up”

We had a good time at the golf course yesterday…his first golf outing this year…there were questions like…seriously do you think you hit it that far…..seriously, the way it sounded, I thought it went further and hmmmmm the par for that hole is 4…really?

That’s how he spent his birthday….golfing with me riding along in the golf cart doing color commentary! I brought my IPAD along so I could read but I never want to snatch my attention away from nature and the rolling hills, hidden houses, trees and the pond on the Unity Village Golf Course.

Until next time….

07.31.17
by

I have been hesitant to talk about this ….Burr Oak

Mainly because in the past, I have had no faith in the the stories about psychics.  I am sharing this story because it has been an overwhelming event in my life and I’m sharing it in my blog for my personal documentation of the event.  Here is the condensed version.

On June 27th, he and I did some trail walking at Burr Oak conservation area north of us in Blue Springs.  As we ambled along the trails, we came to a wooden viewing area over a creek bed.  As I stood at the railing taking in nature, I was gripped by an extremely weird feeling….a chilling feeling that someone had died there.  At first, I turned to him and said, I think someone committed suicide here.  I was convinced that if I looked down, I would see a body.  When we turned away from the area and continued on our walk, the feeling left me…physically…but I have been haunted? with the memory every day since it happened.

It was so real to me that when we got home, I began an extensive google search to see if I could find anything in the news.

In the next few days, I shared my experience with a couple of people I trust who I know are Intuitives…I needed someone to give me a rationale to what I couldn’t seems to remove from my thoughts.

3 days ago during meditation, I had a fleeting image of a man laying on his side.  The image was not so much the body but the head with a cap on.  I felt like it was a soldier.  It did not bother me other than where did that come from.

Yesterday following my meditation, I was compelled to google civil war Blue Springs.

I became very emotional when I read this


The Morgan Walker Farm is now Pink Hill Park


I, of course, will have no way of knowing if this has anything to do with my experience, but I am content in my beliefs.

….and that’s my story.

11.07.15
by

His and her independence adventure

Who knew.

We took to the streets of Kansas City today.  Actually the burbs.  I wanted to get some oils and butters to make some lotion to mix with essential oils.  Who knew that there is not a Whole Foods store on the Missouri side of the line.  I really prefer not to give my money to Kansas and governor Brownback over there but my desire to make lotion won.


then I wanted to get little jars for the lotion and decided Old Time Pottery – Independence with all of their STUFF was just where I needed to go.

And then, as usual,  we decided to explore.

Who knew we would find a temple of the Mormon faith?

And across the street the auditorium.

What we WERE looking for was the Harry S Truman library and home.  It was late in the day and decided to return so we could spend time going through all of Harry and Bess’s stuff.  But, here’s some pics we snapped.

The house


The Presidential library


And this…outside the Mormon property


Interesting history to be gobbled up at a later date.

until next time……

08.13.15
by

So we found a farm drive in a rural area of Missouri….

The Royals lost to the Tigers last night but it didn’t really dampen the fun we had at the K.  I kept thinking about my dad and how I would have loved going to a Royals game with him…after I explained why he would have to enter a stadium of a team in the American League.  We almost spent more for food and large waters than we did on the tickets…but I had decided that money was no object last night and was not going to keep me from eating a brat, hot dogs and popcorn….living the dream.

I really wondered if we would pull it out in the ninth inning when the praying mantas flew in and took a seat

IMG_5405

I have no idea how the people in the row ahead of him were able to continue watching the game.  I was in the next section and had to keep moving around because it creeped me out so much.

Here’s some pictures of Kauffman Stadium “the K” before and during the game.

IMG_5361

IMG_5368

IMG_5371

IMG_5400

IMG_5386

IMG_5380

Oh, and back to the farm drive.  Preseud Showers.  As soon as we got out of the truck, we heard what I thought was a chorus of frogs…we hopped into the back of the pickup and this cacophony of song? continued…it sounded like frogs…but not Iowa frogs and then we heard a chirp sound…he told me it was just penguins…the longer we sat there in the dark, in the back of the pickup on a dark Missouri road, the creepier I felt until I said..Okay…I’m done…we have to get out of here.

So…back to the home deck where we rolled up blankets to ease our necks and saw a few shooting stars…tonight is supposed to be the best night for viewing…you know where we’ll be.

Until next time…..

05.16.15
by

Nains in Pleasant Hill…..

IMG_3991 (1)

IMG_3997

‘Nain  may not be the first word he said…but it was the first word that we were positive about what Jaxon was talking about.

IMG_3993

It has become the sole mission of the adults in his life to help him surround himself with trains.  Friday, Papa and Nina took him downtown Pleasant Hill to visit the caboose and walk around the town square.  It is such a joy…he is ready to go….

IMG_4002

IMG_3996

IMG_3989

IMG_3294

…and we did this for close to 2 hours waiting for a real train to go through.  Surely if we get something to eat downtown, we will hear it and be able to walk out the door so he can watch it.  I had no idea that the Big Creek Diner was all decked out with train motif.  It was awesome.

IMG_4004

IMG_4005

IMG_4015

and the train did go by….about 20 minutes after we were home and he was snuggled down for his nap….and about every two hours after that….

Until next time….

05.05.15
by

It’s apparently just the red neck thing to do….

IMG_3885

IMG_3883

It’s the way he painted the deck table and chairs, its the way I painted a cast iron vessel that became a flower pot and it’s the way I painted the little red wagon that I”m using for flowers…ya just – hang em’ in the tree and spray paint away.  Apparently he will not soon forget the spring we had a spray paint shadow in the yard of something I painted.  Putting down a sheet or newspapers to protect the grass from the color didn’t even enter my thought process.  I mean…the grass will grow what difference does it make.  Apparently it makes a difference.  I realize that I have a problem with attention to detail.  I ain’t got it!  I love to spray paint things and with an eye roll he just hikes them up the tree with a rope!

I’m holding a daily vigil waiting for the peonies to open up.

IMG_3880

IMG_3881

Spring comes so much earlier in Missouri than it did in Iowa and I’m loving it!

Until next time…..