Sunday, July 26, 2009

Emily's New Quilt

Yesterday, Saturday, Mother got done doing the edging on my quilt. Last night I got to use it on my bed. I really like it!

This is a picture of Mother and me with the quilt when the piecing was finished.

The pretty edge of my quilt before it was quilted.

Mother with my pieced quilt before it was quilted.

My quilt after quilting and edge binding attached, on my bed.

Mother made me pillows to go with my quilt. My teddy bear
thinks the pillows are comfortable. :)

Me with my finished quilt!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Hail on July 20, 2009 Destroyed our Garden

On Monday July 20th, we drove home from Joplin, MO all day, arriving home to a beautiful evening about 6:30 PM. We unloaded, swept out the van, ate supper, (including our first - and only - zucchini of the year) unpacked, and fell tiredly into our own beds after 10-days away from home. Then, without warning, about 9:30 PM it started raining really hard. About 11:00 PM we we awakened by loud hail with 30mph wind as it attacked us, and it continued for a couple of hours! We all leapt from our beds and looked out to see the ground whitened, probably about 1" deep. We've had that several times this summer, but the 1/2" hail stones, and especially the force with which it came, had a totally devastating affect on our poor little garden!

We will likely (sadly) make it through the summer without any garden, but many area farms received similar damage - with fully ripe wheat -ready for harvest - flattened, 8-ft tall silage corn striped bare, etc... really sad to see.

Here are a few pictures of our garden as it looked after daylight on Tuesday morning...

Look at the damage to these tomato stems!


This was not helpful to this poor spaghetti squash plant...


Our beans were pretty sparse, due to early hail storms, but....


Beyond the beans are the three hills of zucchini...so sad


We really did have 13 tomato plants, looking really good before the hail.




Have you ever felt this way?


This shows everything but the tomatoes, which are off to the right...

Jeff picked all of the green tomatoes that were big enough to use, and a bucket full of green beans, which were yummy!

We choose to have a family philosophy that all we are, and all that we have, belongs to God, so we have reminded each other this week that it was the Lord's garden, and He has every right to destroy it with hail stones anytime He chooses! He will provide for our healthy nourishment in other ways this year. Then today we were pulling weeds at the Museum with another lady we know and she said that they have more green beans and zucchini than they can use, so please come pick whatever we can use from their garden! Thank you, Lord!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Kit Carson County Fairgrounds Carousel at Burlington, CO

Several times in our treks across Kansas and Colorado, we have stopped at Burlington, CO at the Kit Carson County Fairgrounds to ride the Carousel. It was built for Elitches in Denver in 1905 and moved to Burlington in 1928, when Denver got a carousel where the animals move up and down. These animals are stationary, and the carousel spins at 12 mph, which seems very fast. The carousel was completely restored in 1976. (Be sure and click on both links to get all the information!) We stopped here on Monday on our way home from Joplin, especially so that Jeffrey could experience it again. Last time we were there, Jeffrey was not with us. It's about 3 hours from journey's end for us, and a nice time to have a break from the car.

Our children on their mounts. I believe the carousel was in motion for this picture.

The "Monster" organ plays 255 pipes, all with air bellows, and paper rolls like a player piano.
Click on the sentence above to hear "Stars and Stripes Forever" played by the monster organ.

This is the "ceiling" of the carousel.

This is the center shaft on which the entire carousel hangs and rotates from a single point.

The artwork of the animals and the inside walls is amazing and beautiful.

Emily on her mount.

Beth. The largest animals are on the outside ring, and smaller ones on the inside.

Four of the inside, smaller animals were stolen in 1981. They were recovered and each have a sign like the one below:

More examples of the artwork:

Two pictures of Jason with other creatures:

The magi's camel, complete with a portrait of the magi.

None of us will ride on this giraffe because of the snake!

If you are ever traveling through eastern Colorado on I-70 during the summer months, you must stop and ride the carousel. It is only 25 cents/person. The guide/operator loves to share the history and let you look inside the innards!

Jeffrey's 18th birthday

It seems like we travel a lot around Jeffrey's birthday time of year. He turned 18 on July 14! We were in Joplin, MO for his birthday this year. Grandpa Scoles made him a birthday cake. We had already given him his gifts at home, and he had a Cold Stone ice cream (personal) cake from his orthodontist before we left home.

After VBS on his birthday, we took all of our family and Joy's two sisters to the ice cream place in Joplin, where we all had frozen custard. It was late at night and kind of windy.

Emily holding Micah at the ice cream place.

Jason and Jeffrey. They look kindof alike, I think.

We sure appreciate our grown-up 18 year old son, Jeffrey. He has a sweet spirit and a heart for God. He is a blessing in our home. We are praying for a job for Jeffrey, as he is not working for the lawn company anymore and he needs to have money for his bills and his future. Pray with us for the right job and God's leading in Jeffrey's life.

Family pictures from Joplin trip

These are pictures of our family at Joplin last week. Starting out I want to apologize for not getting a good picture of my wonderful mother. I started to take her picture once and she said, "Wait until Sunday. My hair is messed up." Sunday turned out too busy and I forgot. This picture is representative of the love and nurture my parents put into our visit. They were always in the kitchen making us good things to eat.

Quil and Grandma Janet

Grandma Janet and Micah

Grandma Janet and Micah

Grandpa Rowen and Micah

Grandpa Rowen and Micah

Randy

Quil helping with the mowing.

Quil in Uncle Tim's hat

Micah in Uncle Tim's hat

Micah in his carseat

Joy and Quil

Jeffrey visiting with Josh Anderson about their work trips. Josh went to Dominican Republic last summer and Jeffrey went to Haiti this summer. Josh is living with Tim and Brenda this year, working for ABE Painting, and helping with the kids' stuff.

Tim and Micah. The picture on the wall is Mother and Daddy.

Tim and Brenda

Tim and Brenda

Brenda actually had a moment to relax!

Jeffrey holding Micah at the program

Jason holding Micah

Emily with her hands full of nephews!

Beth and Micah

Beth, Micah, and Quil

Jason, Emily and Quil, Micah

My daddy, Rex Scoles

My sister, Brenda Owens and Quil

My niece, Rebekah, and Quil

My nephew, Andrew and Micah