Sioux city and back...a hobbits tale

moms surgery went well, it only took a little over an hour. she recovered in the hospital for only 2 days, and was released to recover at home. the next few days had some challenges (mostly with my cooking skills) but went well over all. i headed home sunday afternoon, having been replaced by my sister diane. it was nice getting home to see my wife. we had some freinds come out to the cabin monday and tuesday, and that was fun. we dusted off the fishing rods and took the camper over to the campground and caught some fish. bonnie and i have now taken on a new challenge, we are going to babysit sarahs kids for four days while they vacation in fabulous las vegas. the kids are 2 and 4. yikes....and to make a little more challenging, we are also taking my sons two daughters, aged 12 and 6. i figured ot would make a good blob. i gotta go...this phone strains my eyes.

Sioux City

I have to start with Sarah getting us all together for "family pictures" with a professional photographer.
We had never done that before as an entire family, so it was probably past due. Sarah called everyone and told us what colors to wear so we would all be color coordinated. I got a picture of everyone together after the photo shoot eating breakfast at Hy-Vee. I'm no cheap sob...I go to the top of the line eating establishments.

The crews all here

 I then rode with Sarah's husband, Mike down to Kansas City to see the house he bought for $38,000.
He is being stationed there for 3 years. I was wondering what kind of house you can buy for that kind of money....here it is....

Nice 38k shack

I couldn't believe it...it is 2000 sq ft and pretty nice. It needs a bit of repairs, but I think I would buy it if it was in Des Moines.

The next day Was Friday the  10th of June and I had told my son Dean I would go with him and his kids to Adventure land. I was a bit apprehensive, as I had been on no thrill rides for some time. It turned out all good, and his kids loved it.

One of the thrill rides I was talking about

Now for the bad part.... I dropped them off at home about 7 pm. I went to the store to check out some wireless hot spots for the cabin (I am trying to figure this no Internet at the cabin BS) so I headed home around 8:30. It was getting dark and I had an hour and a half drive. I always worry about deer when driving at night on country roads, so I try to be aware. I was 5 miles from home, on S70 (small county hwy), it is pitch black out side and I am straining my eyes for deer. I am doing 60, when all of a sudden I see a deer running toward my car....I feel an impact is going to be imminent...about 10 feet from collision point, he veers parallel to my direction and runs back into the darkness from whence he came. I was sh*&ing bricks...I first thought, disaster averted!  As I continued toward home for the next couple of miles I was thinking "I have never hit a deer that caused damage to my car....It must be my lightning fast reflexes and my eagle sharp eyesight....I was coming up to my turn, a gravel road that goes 3/4 of a mile back to our cabin, I got about 1000 ft when.....POW! A deer jumped into the path of my 4500 lb vehicle traveling at 40 mph. The deer was obviously suicidal. I could not believe the irony...I was just bragging about my skills...crap. I got home...hoping there was no damage to my car. I shut off the jeep and heard the radiator spitting out the last of my 8dollar a gallon antifreeze...it was to dark to survey the damage, I would wait for morning.
I got up early (9:30) and went to look...Yikes....dented right front fender and busted headlight, busted parking and turn signal light and the plastic frame around the lights. Not to mention the radiator.

My screwed up sled

We went into Centerville to talk to a mechanic about replacing the radiator. It is not easy to find a mechanic on the weekend, in a small town we discovered. Who knew? While in town we found this 16 ft camper for sale. The guy wanted 800 bucks for it. Bonnie wanted a small camper to keep at the cabin for extra sleeping quarters. We are having a family get together for the 4th of July, and we have a large family for a small 2 bedroom cabin. Sunday  I was leaving for Sioux City, as my mother was having surgery Monday and I was needed to take care of my mildly handicapped father while mom was in the hospital for 3 days. On my way up to Sioux City, Bonnie called and told me the guy accepted 500 bucks for the camper...and he was bringing it out to our place.

the new guest quarters

 I got to Sioux City and my Mom, Dad and brother went to see the flooding situation I had been hearing about. I took these pictures.

The next morning we went to the hospital to get mom on the mend. Here she is, all dressed for the occasion.

I may be in trouble

She is gonna kill me when she See's that I posted this picture. Well that is about it so far...She is out of the hospital and recovering at home now. I gotta stay a few more days, to make sure all is well.
Have a good day all........

long time...no blog

it seems there is no high speed internet available for us out in the wild. so i am doing it on my phone. we have enjoyed being back in iowa, spent time at moms, seen my family at shonna and joes. Bonnie has been keeping me busy fixing any thing that needs fixed at the cabin. We had my daughter, Sarah and her husband, Mike, come down yesterday to visit. We decided to take the boat out for a ride over to the Honey Creek Resort for diner. We took the boat down to the ramp and I backed it into the lake as Mike took the Jeep to park it. I pulled up to the public dock, which is about 15 feet from shore, you have to walk a gangplank to get to it. Bonnie and Sarah were already on the boat as Mike came walking up to the boat. Just as he was jumping into the boat, I saw a splash in the water near the boat. OMG...that wasn't my keys....was it? It was. Crap....Into the water I went..I figured it shouldnt be to hard to find them. LOL. The water was 18 feet deep. I couldn't even touch the bottom. Mike and I dove several times, but were unable to find them. The water was cold and very murky. About 6 inches of visibility. We took the boat over as close to our cabin as I could get, and Bonnie got out and started the trek to the cabin to get her keys. About an hour later she came back in the van, covered in scratches, mud and bee stings. She said it was the worst experience of her life. She said the woods were completly overgrown and she needed a machette and hiking boots. I wish I had my camera, but didn't bring it for fear of dropping it in the water. We boated over to the restaurant and had diner, then headed for home. We dropped off the boat, and Mike wanted to drive to Walmart in Centerville (The closest one to our cabin) to get a magnetic telescoping pole to try to retreive my keys. I forgot to mention my Geo Metro Convertible key was on the ring and we only have one key to that car. After an hour of looking, and we had help from two employees, we discovered they did not have them. Mike came up with an idea of getting a couple of cheap car speakers, and some string and fishing for the keys. By the time we left with our speakers it was 9:30 and pitch black outside. We got to the boat ramp and walked out and started dragging our speakers all around the dock. After 45 minutes, I was ready to quit as most of my blood had been drained from thousands of mosqitoe bites. Just as I was ready to call it quits, Mike says "I think I got something". As he pulls his speaker from Davey Jones locker in the dim moonlight, I see my green keychain dangling from his speaker as it breaks the waters surface. Unfrickenbelievable....I think is what I say.
We drive back to the cabin to show Bonnie, who is in total shock, she had written them off.

Well now I have my keys back so I drove to Dogg's to submit my blog. I needed to share this one.