The Truth at Last!

The wait is over. In a week filled with unanswered issues and final episodes, "Nightline" will provide us with the real poop we've all been waiting to hear. Tonight on "Nightline" Jesse James will tell all. For years I've wondered about so many things connected to Jesse James. Things like, did you and Frank make a lot of money robbing so many banks, trains and stagecoaches? Were old fashioned ATMs hard to steal from? Was it cool hanging out at "Hole in the Wall" with guys like Butch and Sundance? Did you and your gang shop at the GAP? How could you feel safe hiding out in the Meramec Caverns with signs everywhere announcing that your hideout was there? Oh, I wish I could be on that program with him tonight. I'd like to ask him if he thought he could out draw Norman Rockwell or out shoot John Wayne. I don't know about any of you, but I'm going to be glued to the "Tube" tonight and my DVR, VCR and Betta recorders will be burning away.

Site of the "Hole in the Wall".

So hard to find that there may still be guys in there trying to find their way out.

With signs like this, it's pretty hard to be sneaky.

After installing this marker, Frank and Jesse fooled everyone by heading to Minnesota.
Too bad their plan to knock over that big mall up there didn't work out.

You don't go foolin' us Minnesoda guys you bet!

Oh yah, dere's a Ford in his future up here aye?

Oh wait! I guess I had the wrong Jesse James.
Well they bear a little resemblance to each other.

A Little Care Goes A Long Way!

This week JoAnne under went some surgery to fix up an internal disorder. Now the doctor showed me photos of the "disorder" and it sure looked very disorderly to my untrained eye. Although any photo of some one's innards look pretty disorderly to me. I would have liked to post some of those photos here but I couldn't get publishing rights. (If you really get off seeing that sort of thing, watch reruns of CSI at almost any hour of the day or night) The good news is that Jo is home with me all day, every day, for a couple of weeks as she recovers. The bad news is that Jo is home with me all day, every day, for a couple of weeks as she recovers. The reason that this is bad is that she gets to see what a lazy existence I lead while she's slaving away at the LE place. I keep trying to look busy but there's only so much jello a guy can make in a day. Relief came Saturday in the form of Jeanna and Little Saffie. Seems that Saffie is a registered Cheerer Upper and that's just what Grandma needed. It was a pleasant day so we all moved out to the deck (my big deck). Much to Saffie's surprise Grandma had found a Saffie sized Adirondack chair. Saffie, her friend Elmo and the puppies, Tina and Snoopy found the chair to their liking. I guess that Saffie had overheard Mom and Dad talking about Grandma's special diet because she dragged out her personal grill and started preparing a light lunch for Grandma. Suddenly, out of nowhere (actually from next door) appeared Trenton our neighbor kid. He immediately explained to Saffie that grilling was a man's job and he took over the controls. It was great fun watching the two work away at their imaginary lunch and it was a real tonic for the patient, patient.
Jo's recovery is coming along nicely. I can attest to this because she's starting to get tired of sitting around watching recordings of the Ellen show. Here's a little peek at the care givers at work.

Saffie and friends check out the new chair.

"Now Elmo, no standing or jumping on the chair."

"Just sit tight Grandma, I'll make some soup
that tastes every bit as good as the stuff you got at the hospital."

"Here, let a man take over young lady."

"You go cut up some vegetables and I'll handle the grilling."

"Wait til you taste this. It's my own recipe!"

Catchin' UP!

It's been quite a while since I've seriously taken any flower photos. Sunday morning as I passed the room that JoAnne uses for computing and various other officelike duties, I noticed that our foster flower (an orchid that we adopted from the "Lands' End Lobby Beautification System" aka LELBS). The early sunlight filtered though the lace curtains creating such lovely lighting that I couldn't resist running (walking a little quicker) to fetch me trusty Canon. I had to share the results with you. So, as they say, "Here Tis!". Now to the catchin' up.
On my last post I was busy bragging about the Cubs' sweep over the dreaded Brewers. Since then, the Baseball Gods have, to put it mildly, frowned upon our "Boys in Blue". The straws from that celebratory broom have been stuffed up their dragging butts. We even sent our cutie pie mascot, Saffron, to a game hoping to get a winning streak going. She came away with a win and a Dora the Explorer doll clad in a Cub's shirt. The winning streak was short lived. Even Dora got demoted to becoming a plaything for the doggie duo, Tina and Snoopy. Saffie decided that running up and down the aisles and ramps at Wrigley Ballyard was more fun than watching the struggling team on the field. Meanwhile the Grandma bug struck our household. Terminex, Raid and Black Flag didn't seem to help. The only remedy was a face to face "Grandkid Fix". So it was off to "The Cities" (Minneapolis/St. Paul) to check on Little Eddie who was already 6 weeks old and had only been exposed to intensive Grandmothering from Jo for one week. It was a great weekend, Jo Grandmothered, Reid messed with a newly acquired outboard motor, Summer got a well deserved break from nightly 3AM chats with Eddie and I....was forced to keep an eye on the TV and sample various desserts and cakes that Summer baked. A visit to the local Farmer's Market yielded a nice bunch of rhubarb that was quickly transformed into a delicious pie which in truth was my prize for winning the highly touted, very complicated baby pool.
Another highlight since my last post was my Big Springs waterfall quest. In the past I had heard of Big Spring and even seen a road named for it but just couldn't locate it. So on a nice Spring day, I set out with my goal being to find the Big Spring. To make things even more interesting was that Kim, one of Jo's coworkers, mentioned how the Big Springs Waterfall was really gushing this time of year. Wow! Not only a spring but a waterfall too. Off I went. My superior intelligence told me that a good place to start would be . . . Big Springs Road. I drove the road from one end the what I guessed to be the other end. I found Big Springs Creek, a number of wild turkeys, a couple of deer, an eagle nest complete with a pair of eagles and a pair of Wood ducks but no Spring or Waterfall. I even found a discarded 1963 Corvair that was almost completely hidden by foliage. After Jo questioned her friend Kim about the whereabouts of "The Spring" she learned that it was necessary to hike in off the road to find the source of Big Springs Creek and the waterfall that it created. Back to the car and in no time I was trekking down a path along the creek and eventually came upon "The Source". I must admit that on a list of the vast number of waterfalls that Jo and I have hunted down over the years, this one ranked fairly low. But, it was a waterfall and it was only a few miles from home. I took a few mediocre photos and headed home victoriously.We have since celebrated Mother's day with a big dose of Saffie for Grandma Jo. We are presently awaiting a surgical procedure that Jo is to undergo tomorrow and I look forward to her spending more time at home with me recovering. Maybe some soothing rides through the lush green countryside will help the healing process.

Are you glad to see us or is it just gas?

Now that makes Grandpa smile!

I'm not sure what this face means.
Could be Saffie giving The Cubs the "raspberries".

Big Springs Creek.

The heart of it all. Big Spring - "The Falls".

I forgot to mention, there's a lot of these Trout creatures swimming around in that creek.
Must like the clear, fresh, cold water.

Ma and Pa Eagle spending a quiet afternoon at home.

Ma and Pa Wood Duck jus coolin' it. Not much of a photo but,
it's the first time I ever saw Wood Ducks in the wild.

Memory car. Above: The woods version in 2010.
I actually had two of these in the sixties.
A '61 coupe and a '63 convertible. Loved them, in spite of Ralph Nadar!
Below: The street version in 1961