Good morning to all

Hope everyone had a great week-end. I certainly did. Sharon and I hiked Black Mountain on Saturday morning then came back to her place and changed clothes and went to the driving range for over an hour. It was good to hit some balls again, especially since Sunday we golfed on her home course at Terravita. It is a beautiful desert golf course with mountains and rugged scenery everywhere. The weather was picture perfect, too, in the low 80's. Never even broke a sweat out there! If I could get 365 days a year of that exact day I would be in heaven...... :-) Before golfing on Sunday I went with Megan, Drew and Sox for a long walk. Anyway, other than the Hawks losing to the Badgers it was a nice week-end. The only thing keeping it from being a perfect week-end was if Mark could have filled out a foursome on Sunday! Soon, Mark, very soon!

The pictures are varied in this post. Some are from here, some are from Megan and Andy's Labor Day trip to Omaha and a Carroll wedding. Pictures 5 and 6 are Drew with his Grandpa Butch and his uncle Mitch in Omaha. The last two pictures show Drew meeting his brand new cousin, Macie Rose Thiel, for the very first time!!

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Drew makes a new discovery

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Oh my! The Cardinals actually won!!

Megan and Andy have season tickets for the AZ Cardinals pro football games and they finally had something to cheer about last Sunday. Maybe it is just the beginning of a winning streak! Hope so. As they say, everybody loves a winner. :-)

The week is flying by here in the desert. It is cooling off (into the 90's, and yes, it is noticeable and welcome) so Sox, Drew and I have been finally able to go back to morning strolls in the beautiful outdoors here.

Tuesday night I picked up sister Sharon and hubby Arne at the airport as they arrived back home from a 16 day cruise. Must be nice! :-) Sounds like they enjoyed seeing the Panama Canal, Colombia, etc. A Jamaica stop was bypassed due to a hurricane. Yikes. Big waves but they were not even close to trouble from the sound of it. With this nicer weather I look forward to getting back to hiking with Sharon on the week-ends.

Hope all my friends and relatives are doing well, wherever their location. Have a great week-end!!

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A peaceful Sunday afternoon......

Megan and Andy and another couple are at the Cardinals FB game and I am babysitting. Sox and I have another guest today, Bailey. Bailey is the pet of the other couple attending the game. Someone please get me Michael Vick's lawyer. I may need him..... :-)


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How 'bout them Hawks?!?!?!?!?

Ok, Cyclone fans....go ahead and gloat. You deserve to do that! Needless to say, I was not all that thrilled about today's outcome. I have never quite put my finger on just why ISU is always ready to play this game and the Hawks always are never ready to do so. The only thing that gives me ANY hope at all is past history of this match up.......when they lose, the Hawks usually go on to do very well in the Big Ten. Here's keeping my fingers crossed.

At least Drew can still smile........

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No nap for me

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The week-end

The week-end went fast, like they always do I guess! Megan, Drew and I did some shopping on Saturday and that evening they all came over to my place to watch Iowa kill Syracuse. UNI was also playing so Andy dressed for the Panthers and Drew and Megan dressed for the Hawks. UNI beat Iowa State. I am so glad! Now wait, you Cyclones, if UNI had beaten Iowa I would have been equally glad so don't get all huffy!! :-) Both my kids and son-in-law went to UNI so thus the great loyalty to that team.

Sunday I spent the morning sweeping the garage and patio of lawn debris and in the afternoon I went to the mall. It is still hot here so the mall is the best place to be on a lazy Sunday afternoon. :-) Of course, the mall is good for me anytime of day or night or weather conditions! Love to look and wish!!

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Drew's getting mobile!

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Great Labor Day Week-end

I had a wonderful time being back on the farm with Mark and family and friends. I got into DM around 3pm on Thursday. Mark and I stopped for a quick bite to eat and it was on to the farm. I got to do something I have missed this summer.....MOW! I know most people abhor that particular task but I have always loved mowing and making the farm look nice. I couldn't believe how great Mark had the place looking. I know first hand how much time that takes and never dreamed he would keep it up with the farming at hand. He did and I noticed little things that looked "better" than when I did them, i.e. the cannas looked great which he says all the rain accomplished but the zinnias looked awesome, too. That flower bed didn't miss me one little bit! I also noticed the shower looked better so that one had me a bit embarrassed. :-) He has done a great job in my absence because that place usually takes two people to keep it going so I know how hard he has worked at it.

Sister Jan from Osakis, MN and good family friend Cyndy from Ankeny arrived Friday afternoon. We grilled kabobs that night and Kevin and Jan and Clayton came for dinner.

Saturday Jan, Mark, Cyndy and I golfed at Gowrie and when we got home Matt was there. It was so wonderful to see him. You will notice a "for sale" sign out in front of our home in one of the pictures, courtesy of Matt. We got a good laugh out of that. Hope he doesn't get any calls on it!! He had just received his real estate license the day before so now will be doing that along with his appraisal business. He is keeping busy!

Brother Larry and nephew Lane, wife Angie and Jacob came on Saturday. It was getting to be a regular family reunion. So fun to see all of them.

Brother Kevin brought his Harley over and we all took the opportunity for photo ops, but no one was brave enough to ride it!

Saturday night we had a bonfire and hot dog roast and Sunday we drove in to see Jan and Clayton's new home in Dayton and also stopped out at the carnival. We could have passed on that pit stop. :-) That evening Mark grilled all of us ribeyes, courtesy of Jan and Larry. Everyone left Monday morning and I had a 2:50 flight out of DM so had to leave the farm around 12:30 for that.

On arrival in Phoenix little Drew had sprouted his first two teeth while I was in Iowa. Geesh, can't be away from them for a day and they change. :-) I am now back in granny nanny mode today. I hope all of you had a wonderful last holiday of the summer. The weather in Iowa will start noticeably changing and here in Phoenix everyone is looking for "good" weather to soon appear. AZ has another month of really hot weather then the good stuff comes. Mark and I will get to enjoy that good weather together after harvest. Nice things to look forward to....

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I naturally had to throw in a picture of Drew from this morning.

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Heading home

Tomorrow I fly home for the holiday week-end. I am quite excited to be heading back to the farm and Mark. It should be a great week-end as Matt is coming home and sister Jan and brother Larry are also coming, along with our "sister" Cyndy from Ankeny. I hope to see some friends while I am home, too. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day week-end.

Some misc. pics of you know who. :-)

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Happy Birthday, Matt!

My first born turns 30 on August 27th. Now why does that make me feel rather ancient? It seems like yesterday he was at Ogden High, UNI, etc......time, it does fly by. Matt was born on his grandparent Kalkwarf's wedding anniversary so that makes it extra special. In honor of his day I have posted two pictures. One is Matt with my parents when he was just a wee one and the other with his cousin Erik and Uncle Kevin. In that picture, Matt is the "tiny" one on the right. Matt is about 6'3" and around 280? so calling him "tiny" is a bit of a stretch but these two guys are bigger! They all three need to play FB somewhere! I love you, Matt! Have a great day!

FB season is nearing....

All this IOWA grandma can say is: GO HAWKS!!!!
(Ignore his tags.....we wanted to make sure it fit before we pulled them!)

Drew and the lunch lady

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TGIF

It is Friday and another week comes close to ending. My old friends at school are just finishing up their workshops and in-service today and the kids come Monday. I cannot believe I am officially starting my second year of retirement. The first one went incredibly fast and was oh so enjoyable. I am thinking the second will be likewise. :-)

Mark and I have been babysitting all week, naturally, but he has found time to pull out an evergreen bush in front of the townhouse. It didn't look desert enough for my tastes so we are going to put in a barrel cactus in that spot. The one I bought is pretty tiny so I will most likely be scattered to the wind by the time it gets a substantial size but someone in the future will enjoy looking at it. :-) Maybe they grow faster than I think?

We were invited over to the Thiel's for dinner last night and had a good one and we all enjoyed Drew who was in lively spirits!

I am putting on some pics from yesterday and last night. A couple show Drew in a very unhappy state which is most unusual for him. He had just finished bumping his head and was not particularly pleased about that.

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