I guess the fat lady hasn't sung yet . . .

Because around our place we still feel like it's summer.  

We took the three grands and hit the river. It was three plus hours of sun and fun!

Here they are trying out the potato chips as an appetizer. This is at what we call "sandy island".

Grandpa can be seen in the background grilling our hot dogs. 

 Alex loved his hot dog, relish and all. 

Lizzie met a new friend on the island, Olivia. We adopted her as our 4th grand child for the day. She and Lizzie played so well together. She even had lunch with us.

Here are the families all  enjoying the river. It's a small world, as I went to school with a lot of Olivia's great aunts and uncles. (Wow does that make me feel old). Olivia's grandfather I believe, was one of 12 children. Her great aunt Marge, was my sister's best friend in school. Marge has a daughter  Mandy, who is the same age as Lizzie's dad. Somewhere I have a picture of them playing together when they were about 2, and that was about 34 years ago!

The sand bar is always a hit!

 Alex looking for fish. 

Brady loves the water. 

The girls loved the rapids on the back side of the island. 

Here is how the 5 SECOND conversation went with Brady, "Watch it Brady that paddle will break", " I know", POP.  The look on his face was priceless. 

Good thing this didn't happen last week or we really would have been up the river without a paddle!

Not to forget my youngest grandson, Connor. Today he is 9 months old. I love this picture with him showing off his two teeth.  We miss him so much. But soon Grandma and Grandpa will be flying to see him.

We are so blessed to have beautiful grand children.

Life is good!

Up a creek without a paddle

The morning started out great. Lizzie was so excited to take a boat ride on the Osage and play in the water. She always enjoys snack time at the island(s). You see here that she has her juice and a cheese stick. (Healthy, right mom?)  Battery trouble earlier in the week kept us from going. It gave Lizzie big crocodile tears too.

Our second stop at, "the way up the river island" was good too. She found sand, lots of shells, and more juice. We even saw an eagle crossing the water. 

But then the trouble came. The motor wouldn't start. Need I say we were about 10 miles up river from our put in location?

Now we weren't really up the creek (river) without a paddle, just without a CELL PHONE!   And so the paddling began. Thank goodness there was lots of current. 

Grandpa was the hero, as he paddled down river for about a mile. There he saw someone on the bank and he asked if they had a cell phone. Luckily they did and even luckier was that it had reception down between the bluffs. 

Who else to call but my bff, Diane. After all, she had been rescued by us from the same spot, years ago.  It would be about a 20 minute drive for her to come and get us. 

It was a nice shady spot to spend a few minutes watching the river and drinking some kool-aid.

After getting the truck and going back to retrieve the boat it was brought home for closer inspection. The battery had some corrosion on it. 

However the real culprit was a battery cable, the end had corroded off. It will be replaced today and we will be back on the river tomorrow!

Life is good!

Grandma and Grandpa's Daycare

I never remember having this kind of fun with my grandparents.  They seemed old from the time I was born. We try hard that these kids will have great memories.  So went our day . . .

Lunch on the river bank, what could be better?

Some days you just have to play!

No quilting today. No canning today. No cleaning the house today.

The grands needed playmates so the blacksmith and I headed to the Osage river. After all it was 94 degrees out!

Too much rain in June

I thought I'd show you behind our house. This was just a short 4-wheeler ride for me. It's the flooded Osage River.

Last night it stormed. This morning Mother Nature was still at it. There was almost 2 inches in the gauge. Lightning hit close to the house while I was checking my email. I thought for sure the computer was ruined. Thank goodness everything in the house survived.

We live high on the Osage River bluffs. Don't worry, we will never get flooded where we are. Unless Noah is in the neighborhood.

A little Osage river History:

The river is named for the Osage Nation, the indigenous people in area at the time of the arrival of the first European settlers. It presented significant navigation difficulties for early settlers because of its fluctuating water levels, as well as the presence of shallow pools and sand bars caused by its tight meandering course through the hills.

The Missouri Legislature attempted as early as 1839 to deepen the channel of the river. Early attempts failed because of lack of funding for the immense task. Commercial navigation on the river in the 19th century was confined mostly to smaller craft that could navigate the tight bends and shoals of the river. Improvements in the channel by the last two decades of the century led to greater commercial traffic. The construction of the Bagnell Dam, primarily for hydroelectricity, commenced in 1922 and was completed after nine years, effectively ending commercial navigation on the river. The Truman Dam was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1954 and completed in 1979.