we are still spinning

Sunday, we went to Christina Watson's graduation Party at the War Vets in Fluvanna. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Did you ever notice how much noise rain makes on a steel roof?

Yesterday, and today, Lester and I entered the world of professional lawn mowing. We both agreed we don't like it. Yesterday, we did about 8 large lawns on the shores of Lake Chautauqua, across from Chautauqua Institution. I think these people all have money. Huge homes on large expanses of shoreline and several big boats at the docks. I guess they cannot afford lawn mowers, or they do not how to operate them, or possibly they have enough money to pay someone else to do it. Anyway, the poor mowers took about 4 hours of mowing to complete the job. Two mower operators, two mid size Kubota tractors with 60 inch mowers, combined with very wet and long grass, equals some pretty messy lawns. But they got mowed. Combined with the mowing time, is travel time, as each tractor has to be loaded on the trailer, chained down and transported to the site , which in this case was about 7-8 miles.

Today, we did only 6 lawns, which were big but easier with fewer treees and shrubs and other obstacles to work around. It was close to 4 hours each, with the same loading and unloading process, and slighty shorter travel distance. The grass was considerably drier, which yielded in some better looking lawns.

Remember that Ray has only one tractor to use so his mowing times are slightly less than double ours. Anyway, Ray came home today, and last night stated he would be on a tractor by this weekend. By the time he got home today, he had changed his mind about being ready this weekend. So I guess we will have to do it again next week sometime, depending upon weather and schedules.

We have our "TurkeyFest Jam" coming up this Sunday and will have to focus on it for the rest of the week.

The scab came off Lauras nose today and it looks ok. We are waiting awhile before we decide what to do with this situation. We have 2 years to file a claim.

To make life more interesting ,we have visitors from Chicago coming in Friday. This would be Bill and Sherry Levy, who also live in Hermits Cove during the Winter months. Unknown how long they are staying.

Thursday is supposed to be our fun day, as we are scheduled to go to Darien Lake with Derek and his kids, and Shawn and Cheyenne.

spinning around, out of control, getting ready to crash

Virgil got home safely to Florida. Derek stayed at the Vikings from Tuesday to Friday, the weather was good and I think it helped him some in his recovery. He was still pretty sore when he went back. He was so sore, he could not handle the relative soft bouncing of the Golf Cart.

Ray was back in Erie last weekend and while riding "Shotgun" to make sure Luella got back home after visiting him, we went to "Celebrate Erie". While visiting Mc Donalds, Laura had an encounter with a Stainless steel toilet paper dispenser. The dispenser won. The dispenser came off the wall and hit her in the face and cut the bridge of her nose. She bled well, but the Mc Donalds people were not impressed, they were busy selling french fries and stuff. To simplfy the story, we went to the Westfield Hospital, where they have a very nice emergency room and for 2-1/2 hrs, shared it with numerous other individuals who went crazy with the nice weather. When we left there, it had been determined that the nose was probably not broken, (could not do anything for it anyhow), the wound was peroxided(have to watch for infection), and a tetanus shot was administered. Do you remember when you had your last tetanus shot?

Laura did imply she felt a little "funny", but nothing has come from this yet. we took pictures for informational purposes, sent Mc Donalds an e-mail, which they have acknowledged, The store manager has called and expressed disbelief that her people perfomed so dismally, and now people from the insurance company are calling, but Laura wants to know what a personal injury lawyer has to say. we are now attempting to contact a lawyer who is licensed to work in NY and Pa. Where this goes depends upon what others say and do. Meanwhile, we went back today to visit Ray and to take pictures of the combative tissue holder. It has been lowered quite a bit from where it was.So maybe this incident will have a positive effect in the future.

You know Kat was two on the 15th, and we do not know what to get her, so she will have to be happy with a savings bond, after she gets her new official Social Security number.

We have been to the Erie county fair twice, both preceeding a fiddle gig somewhere in the Buffalo area.

On Monday, we had a visit from Betty and Dale Higgs, who were classmates of Lauras' so many, many years ago Bemus Point. They live in Tennesee now.

Remember, we were visiting Ray on Sunday? They decided to operate, to cut out a lower section of his colon. This was done yesterday morning, and was , at this point, quite successful. He will be in the hospital for 5 to 15 days and then 4-6 weeks(or more) recovery. Now Ray has a mowing business, which normally takes 2 days aweek to complete. Now guess who is going to be mowing until they go to Florida. Actually, it will be two of us, with Lester as part of the team. Fortunately(ha-ha) Lester has just purchased a mowing tractor similar to Rays'. So there will be two machines running. Hopefully we will get squared away as to who gets mowed and who doesn't.

Read the title for this segment.

We decided to have our 2nd Annual Northern "TurkeyBashJam" here in Ripley, on the 30th of August. All fiddlers have been invited, and many have indicated they are coming. Also invited are some musicians from Pa. Along with friends and neighbors, we may have as many as 100 people.

get your hankerchiefs out. We still have to mow Ripley, Lakeside and The Vikings. We already have numerous projects planned for September, now I don't know if we will make it that far.

There is more, but I am tired of writing, and you are tired of reading, so until next time, stay cool.

summer? blahs?

well we have seen a couple days of warmer weather, but the wetherman continues to plague us with rainstorm after rainstorm. At this moment much of the area East and South East is recovering from substantial flooding. Jamestown, Gowanda, Silver Creek, Collins, North Collins, Springville and other areas. We tried to play golf yesterday, but after teeing off the first hole, the skies opened up and that was that.

The last two weeka has been a blur. Virgil and Helen were here about a week and Laura fed them two meals and a breakfast of sticky buns. Jerry Burkley and Shirley came out for the Weekend and stayed in Lesters' motorhome.

Ray had another bout with his bleeding problem, and we took him to St Vincents in Erie on Thurdsay. After several days of not solving the problem, we brought him home yesterday. I guess we have to wait until the problem flares up again, then go to the hospital, while notifying the Dr he is going. They have to be able to isolate the exact point of the bleeding, in order to rectify the problem.

Derek had his hernia surgery yesterday and is ok. He is coming to stay at the Vikings, for a few days to recuperate without having to pick up children.(no heavy lifting).

The fiddle club played at Cattaraugus county Fair last Saturday. Good response from the fiddlers, bur very little audience. We were not listed anywhere as being part of the fair.

I cannot remember anything else from the last two weeks, but if it is important, it should come up.