Exceptional

It's not something we had been wanting -- the drought in Morgan County is now listed as "exceptional" which is a rating worse than "extreme." We actually had three rain showers today -- each one lasted only a few minutes and did nothing to alleviate the dry conditions.

On this evening's news program a reporter interviewed the owner of Anderson Orchard. The orchard is in Morgan County and not far away. Paul Anderson said they hadn't had any rain for nine weeks and we can attest to that. Nine weeks would take us back to late May. I can remember a heavy rain on May 1 and maybe we did have some showers the next two weeks, but that would be the last and explains why we have "exceptional drought" conditions.

Finished another batch of tomato sauce this afternoon and made some zucchini bread from an old recipe that I have never used before. The name of the recipe is Zucchini-Date Pudding. I don't understand the pudding concept. The bread is dense and didn't rise much but tastes delicious. I'm just now realizing that the recipe didn't call for eggs and that may be the reason it didn't rise. I think I'll try to make the recipe again and add eggs as some other recipes do.

Tomorrow noon I'm heading off to Camp Lakeview (south of Columbus, IN) for a meeting of the newly elected and appointed officers of the Indiana District LWML. I'm halfway through my term as Roster Coordinator. At one time this was an important position, but in this era of technology what I do doesn't seem to have much value. I've mentioned this to several people. I guess I'm talking myself out of a job. Perhaps I'll learn more tomorrow afternoon.

Another hot day!

I've often said that people living in Arizona or Las Vegas mostly stay indoors during the hot summer months like we do in the winter months. But this summer we are staying indoors more than in past years. We had over 100 degrees again today and I've lost track of the records we are setting. There's not much to do outdoors in the heat. The lawn doesn't need mowing and hasn't been mowed for about two months. The ground is too hard to cultivate or pull weeds. In fact, it's so dry the weeds aren't even growing and some are actually dying as are some shrubs.

We did make our first batch of tomato sauce two days ago and, if all goes well, we'll probably make another batch tomorrow. Ray is a big help. He picks the tomatoes and quarters them. I add celery, garlic, green peppers and onions and simmer for a while. When cooked, I puree the ingredients in a blender and then strain out the tomato seeds and skins. The final step is to add salt and dried herbs and cook some more to thicken the sauce. When cooled, the sauce is put in jars and stored in the freezer.

Received a call from the Morgan County Court House today. I've been on a list as a potential juror for a long time -- I think it must be at least a year or more. The caller said that I have to report on Monday, August 6 at 7:30 a.m.

Many years ago, I was called for Jury Duty in Johnson County, but when I arrived at the Court House on the chosen day, we were told the case had been settled out of court and we were sent home. This will be my first experience if they really do seat a jury.

Sunny Sunday

Our pastor was back from vacation but attendance at the early service seemed sparse. I think lots of people are on vacation. It won't be long before school begins. In fact, the usual back-to-school ads are already showing up in the newspaper.

Today's sermon was based on the story of the Feeding of the 5,000 which is a beautiful story showing that God cares for his people. Jesus was compassionate when he realized that everyone who had followed him was hungry and he decided to feed them. He proved to the people that he was the long-awaited Messiah. Why does he show compassion even to this day? Because he loves us and we, in turn, show compassion to those around us -- to both the physically and spiritually needy.

Last evening, we enjoyed a Gourmet Cowboy dinner with our neighborhood dinner club. We don't have an official name but maybe it's time for one. The event was held next door so at 6:30 we walked across the lawn to the Abel's. Appetizers included Cowboy Caviar, nacho cheese sauce and guacamole and margaritas for those who wanted one. Linda cooked bison burgers on her stovetop and brought out assorted buns, cheeses and other toppings. In addition we had spicy pickles, zucchini, tomato and swiss cheese pie and baked beans (my contributions) and cornbread. We enjoyed the meal seated on their spacious patio. Later, we had yummy apple tarts with caramel sauce and whipped topping and assorted melon balls. Another gourmet evening came to an end. We look forward to the next one three or four months from now.

Another Anniversary

If someone asked me where I was 49 years ago today, I would tell them that I was at the wedding of my sister Judy and Tom. (They were married one year and six days after my wedding.)

This family portrait was taken after the ceremony with Ross and Gloria on the left and Ray and me on the right and, of course, Mom and Daddy on either side of the wedding couple.

We're expecting a visit from Tom and Judy two weeks from today. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a couple of inches of rain before they arrive so we would have a green lawn instead of one looking like a desert. Today was unusual in that the official temperature only reached 79 degrees by 6 p.m. but heat is supposed to return tomorrow.

Repair work and more

Back when Bart and family were visiting, we had just discovered a leak in our dishwasher. In fact Bart wrote about it and posted a photo on his blog. Ray spent quite a few hours in pursuit of locating the leak by running the dishwasher numerous times to eliminate some possibilities and he also learned a lot by finding information including a video on the Internet. In the end we discovered the real problem by accident. We had some extra dishes to load one evening and they fit on the top rack. That evening there was no leak proving that the upper spray arm of the dishwasher was the culprit. These dishes didn't allow the spray to splash on the door thus eliminating the leak. The next step was to order the spray arm and install it and then test whether this was the solution by running the dishwasher without plates to deflect the spray. Good news -- it worked! Our dishwasher is as old as our house but we hope it can last for several more years. Out of pocket expense for the repair was about $40.00.

This afternoon we made Bread and Butter pickles. I'm not planning on making any more pickles this season. In addition to the B & B pickles, we have dills, spicy and sweet pickles in our pantry. Today Ray brought in some nice tomatoes from the garden and soon we'll be making tomato sauce. I would like to fill at least one freezer shelf with sauce.

Yesterday afternoon we began hearing thunder and eventually had a short shower that lasted 15 minutes (more or less). According to the weather report, the airport received 1/4 inch which I'm guessing is what we received. I read in the newspaper today that the ground is dry as deep as four or five feet. When local radar began showing the promise of some rain late today, we were hoping for at least a half inch but the possibility evaporated and we didn't receive a drop. The radar has been showing many small showers scattered all over the map but there doesn't seem to be a weather pattern that covers a wide area or the entire state with rain. When will this drought end? Your guess is as good as mine.

County Fair

Wow! Was it ever warm this afternoon but we managed to take in a few hours of the Johnson County Fair. The temperature was in the high 90s when we left home, but we wanted to see a young friend show her pig at the fair. Gracie is the 4-year-old daughter of our granddaughter Kylie's friend Megan. As a 3-year-old Gracie showed a pig at the fair and she was planning on it again this year so we wanted to see what it was like. It's a friendly competition to see who best handles their animal. We arrived as the show was underway with the youngest group showing last. Gracie's pig wasn't cooperative and she had to shove it several times with her hands. In showmanship, it's important to have control of the animal using only a switch. I couldn't get a good picture but here's the best of the lot.

The pig's name is Peaches

We left the arena when Gracie's group was finished. She didn't get a trophy but a blue ribbon was given to everyone. We then wandered over to the 4-H exhibit building where we enjoyed browsing in air conditioned comfort. There are many new 4-H projects that weren't even thought of when I was a member but then I began to understand--times have changed a lot since I was in 4-H more than 60 years ago. It's been many years since we have been to the Johnson County Fair, but many areas are the same with some newer buildings too.

After leaving the 4-H exhibit we realized we were hungry and enjoyed a pork burger served with baked beans and applesauce followed by a scoop of homemade ice cream. Some sort of front must have moved through the area even though it didn't bring rain because the heat didn't seem as intense as we headed home.

Lanier Mansion

In my last post I wrote about our visit to the Lanier Mansion in Madison, IN. Today I want to share some of the many photos I took. James Lanier was involved in banking and railroad development and became one of the most important and influential figures in 19th century Indiana.

Because of his wealth, Lanier built one of the grandest homes in Madison. Completed in 1844, the Lanier Mansion is now considered to be the "Crown Jewel" of Madison's National Historic Landmark District and one of the finest examples of Greek Revival Architecture in the Midwest.

In our behind-the-scenes tour, we were able to see areas not shown on regular tours. One of the beautiful features of the home is its winding staircase.

Looking down from the second floor;
another similar flight took us to the third floor

James Lanier moved to New York City in 1849 after living in his newly built home for only five years. The home was deeded to his oldest son Alexander in 1861. The estate became a state historic site in 1925 and is now a National Historic Landmark and operated and maintained by the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites.

Lanier's office and the desk he used

View from the 2nd story window with
the Ohio River in the background

The water closet installed by Lanier's son is not shown on regular tours since it is not authentic to 1844 when the house was built.

Water closet installed in a former storage closet

Before water closets became commonplace, every bedroom had a chamber pot. If the family was too poor to have servants, the children were responsible for emptying it every morning.

This fancy chamber pot also served as a step stool to the high bed

We climbed some narrow stairs to reach the cupola located above the third floor.

From the cupola we could view the winding staircases

The servant's quarters aren't open to regular tours, but eventually will be when they are completely restored. The ceilings are about six feet high.

Ray's head is nearly touching the ceiling

The tour took us through the basement which is quite extensive and not seen on regular tours.

This room of the basement features a unique curved stone celing

Outside the Visitor's Center where we purchased our tickets, we saw this statue.

I didn't have an opportunity to ask anyone the significance of the pig

After our meal we strolled the sidewalk along the banks of the Ohio River. We came across this lady who was walking her year-old Doberman and Ray struck up a conversation with her.

As  she spoke to us, she pressed the foot pedal
and the Doberman actually drank from the small fountain near the
ground  -- was it specially designed for dogs?

Luckily we had two umbrellas in our car because when we began our tour of the Lanier Mansion it was raining. We hadn't seen rain in about two months. However, when we returned home, we soon realized the clouds missed us and we didn't get a drop of rain.

Anniversary

Today is a special day. Perhaps not for everyone, but at least for Ray and me. This is what we were doing 50 years ago.

Cutting our Wedding Cake

To celebrate our anniversary we had reservations at a Bed & Breakfast in Madison, IN. Madison is in southern Indiana on the banks of the Ohio River and is an historic small town about 200 years old. We drove through a few rain showers. About halfway to our destination we realized the lawns were green--not brown as they are back home.

We picked up our mail as we left home and found a package that we brought with us and opened when we were in our room at the B&B.

Beautiful gold wrapping and ribbon

From the return address we knew it was from my sister Judy. With much anticipation we opened the package and found this beautiful framed work of art.

Judy has made many beautiful pieces of
counted cross-stitch

Thank you Judy & Tom for remembering us!

We also had reservations for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Lanier House only a few blocks away. James Lanier built the house in the 1840s and was a very influential financier who even helped the state of Indiana avoid bankruptcy by loaning nearly a million dollars. Here's how the house looks today.

The house overlooks the Ohio River with no other buildings
blocking the view

We walked back to the B&B noticing that the rain had nearly stopped.

The Hendricks-Beall Home

This house has three guest rooms but we are the only ones staying tonight.

A small balcony features beautiful wrought iron

We returned from dinner at the 177-year-old Broadway Bar and Grill and a walk along the Ohio River and then set up the camera for an informal photo in the formal living room of the B&B. Are you able to  recognize the people in the first photo of this post as the same ones as in this last photo?

50 years after cutting wedding cake

Still Catching Up

I've been behind in posting and still trying to catch up. It's not an easy task when you get behind. Lesson learned.

A while back I wrote about Sherlock Homes inspecting our house and recommending some remedies to save on energy costs. Another company does this work and they arrived early on June 28. Some of their work was in the attic and crawl space so I can understand why they wanted to begin as early as possible. Bart, Christy and Persephone were packing for their return to Bloomington for a few more days before returning to Louisana but the work went on.

A crew of about 4 or 5 men began working early to beat the heat

Air leaks in the ducts were sealed

The work was finished by noon or shortly after.

Have you ever seen this flower? Do you know what it is? I was surprised to find this early one morning not long ago. I went back to look again a few hours later and it wasn't nearly as impressive.

This is a blossom of a zucchini plant

Family Reunion

I haven't written about our reunion on June 27 so it's time to correct that error. According to my calculation more than four years have elapsed since we were together based on the fact that the two youngest family members are now four years plus several months old and have never met.

When Bart and his family arrived he indicated he had only two places he wanted to visit during his time with us -- one was the Children's Museum and the other was the Martin family. On Wednesday we prepared some food and by three o'clock were headed to Greenwood. Christy and Persephone donned their swim suits and enjoyed time in the pool.

Jayden in the foreground
Christy and Persephone in the background

After Nancy and Joe arrived home from their respective jobs we enjoyed a meal together. It was hot but eventually the outdoor temperature cooled as the sun began receding and we were seated in the shade.

Nancy is wearing the pink top, Bart is hidden behind her,
Josh is on the far side of the table with Christy at the end
and Kylie has her back to the camera

We assembled everyone for a family portrait.

Dustin, Joe, Kylie, Josh, Bart, Nancy
Me, Jayden, Ray, Persephone, Christy

With our two children

Be patient. Just a few more photos!

Our children, grandchildren & great-grandson

Only males for this photo

Dustin has shed his long locks as seen here:

Chalk Art

When you ask two four-year-olds to pose, you can expect to get this:

Silly Faces

But sometimes they can cooperate:

Jayden loved riding the scooter

And so our reunion ended.

Fever

Several weeks ago I received an offer for discounted tickets to a Fever (WNBA) game. The tickets were priced at $12 and $28 and one of the three games in the offer was at 12 noon. We checked with our friends, Pat and Max, and decided this would be a fun event, especially since we liked the afternoon games rather than an evening one. I ordered four $12 tickets.

When we arrived at Banker's Life Fieldhouse today, we soon realized that about half the fans were young children and many were part of numerous summer camp programs. They were dressed in matching T-shirts of yellow, orange, green, blue, etc. and were filing into the building in long single file lines.

Since we had a little time before tip off, we walked about a block and a half to Scotty's Brewhouse for a sandwich. As it turned out, this was a good idea since the concession lines were long.

We found our seats and had to displace some people who were sitting in ours but were pleased that we were in row 14 and would have a good view of the action. A few minutes later, one of the ushers, a kindly older lady, suggested we move down lower so we wouldn't have to sit in the noisy section with some of the young kids. We had just settled into our new seats when another large group of kids started filing in our row and the usher came over again and directed us to another section that didn't have any kids. We were seated in row 4 almost at mid-court!! This is possibly where we might have been seated if I had purchased the $28 tickets.

To top off the afternoon, the Fever beat the New York Liberty by two points. The game seemed to be in control of the Fever until the very end when the Liberty tied the score and it looked for a moment that it could have easily ended in an overtime game.

Connecting again

Just a few days ago we learned that friends who had moved to New Hampshire were back in Indiana and were hoping that we could get together for lunch with another couple. Meeting at a restaurant was a possibility but we quickly sent out an invitation to come for lunch on Saturday. Since we had an abundance of zucchini I decided to make a Zucchini Quiche and also picked some red beets from the garden for Harvard Beets. Karen offered to bring a salad and dessert. Plan complete!

So when  Saturday rolled around, we were experiencing one of the hottest days of the summer -- it reached 105, just one degree shy of tying a record. But the heat didn't bother us as the conversation flowed continually and the afternoon flew by. Before everyone left, I had everyone pose for a photo.

Me, Ray, Trish, John, Bill & Karen

The three guys worked together at Lilly but all have been retired for quite a few years. These three couples plus a 4th couple who now lives in South Carolina gathered annually for a Super Bowl party until two moved away. Now there are only two couples taking part in the tradition.

This morning I headed to church hoping that we might get some relief from the heat and drought, but more on that later. Again, we had a guest speaker. It's still vacation time for our pastor. The theme of the sermon was "It's Just Jesus." That was the sentiment of the folks who lived in Jesus' home town of Nazareth. He wasn't welcomed as a hero. The citizens of Nazareth were astonished by the things he was saying, but this soon turned to resentment. They thought "Who does Jesus think he is?" He is a local boy with delusions of grandeur.  He claims to be greater than we are. We are often like the people of Nazareth -- not accepting of Jesus. We forget he is with us as we sing, worship him, listen to His Word, etc. He isn't "just Jesus or no one special" but he is our Savior!

After returning home, I took a photo out the front bedroom window to illustrate how dry and scorched our yard looks.

Notice the brown areas on the shrub

Just yesterday we realized this shrub is dying. It's needles are turning brown. We haven't been watering our shrubs or trees, but now it's too late for this one. Late this afternoon, we heard thunder and soon after we actually had rain -- 1/8 inch! So the drought continues...

Indianapolis Children's Museum

Still trying to catch up -- so here goes...

Almost two weeks ago on Monday afternoon, Bart, Christy and Persephone arrived at our house for a short visit. We made plans for the next two days and relaxed the rest of Monday. Granddaughter Persephone found a small rock and asked if she could take it back to Louisiana. She decided it needed a thorough cleaning before packing it in her suitcase.

Be careful when standing on the counter top!

The next morning, we prepared a picnic lunch and assembled everyone for the trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. Ray drove to Greenwood to pick up Kylie, Dustin and Jayden and I went with Bart, Christy and Persephone so I could help direct them. We arrived first and, after purchasing tickets, went outside to wait for the arrival of the second car.

Bart & Persephone are dwarfed by the dinosaurs

Before entering the museum we decided to have lunch in the picnic area provided adjacent the entrance.

Two four-year-olds enjoying conversation before lunch

Our first stop once inside the museum was the dinosaur exhibit.

Wearing borrowed costumes, Persephone and
Jayden explored and found some dinosaur eggs

Our next stop was the Lego display.

Racing Lego cars was lots of fun for these two

Proudly building a tower

We all had a ride on the carousel and visited the Hot Wheels display. Here we saw some life-size cars as well as some authentic Hot Wheels on a race track.

One of many hands-on experiences in
the Hot Wheels display

Later, Bart had a chance to match up to a certain celebrity who no longer resides in Indianapolis.

If you don't know the individual
next to Bart, please ask

I also have a picture of Ray standing next to PM, but he doesn't measure up.

Parched!

The newspaper headline reads "Officially Parched" when reporting the stats for the month of June and it's now five days later and nothing has changed. Actually, it's probably worse than at the end of June. Today the official temperature broke a record from 1936 and tomorrow we are expecting 103. Indiana doesn't get temperatures much above 95 very often. In fact, the average year only has 19 days when we reach 90 and above. This is not going to be a normal summer.

So here are some of the stats about the recent weather trends:
103 is the new record high for June 29
104 is the new record high for June 28
58 is the number of years since Indianapolis reached 104 degrees
78 is the number of years since Indianapolis had at least two consecutive days in June of temperatures in triple digits
15 is the number of 90-degree days in May and June, the most for that period since the Great Drought of 1988 which had 17. The record is 19 set in 1934.

June was the driest June on record for the Indianapolis area. A typical June brings a little more than 4 inches of rain. This past June Indianapolis reported .09 of an inch. I don't know if we received that much rain at our house or not. We are about 20 miles from the airport were the official precipitation is recorded. To compound the dry spell, we hardly had any moisture since May 1.

The last three mornings I set an alarm and was out the door at 6:05 and ran several miles each day rather than waiting until 8 o'clock when we arrive at the Rec Center and use the Plainfield trail system. At 6 o'clock the sun is still behind the trees but it's very bright and cooler than two hours later when the sun is shining brightly. Since there's no sunshine at six o'clock, there's also no need to put on sunscreen! After my run today, I had time to spend in the garden picking cucumbers, green beans and one zucchini while it was relatively cool. I'm still trying to use zucchini that I found in the garden earlier this week. When I overlook a squash, I find that two days later, they are enormous.

Getting back in the groove

It's been over a week since I've posted, probably the longest time span without writing anything since I started this blog. Since that last post, there has been plenty to record, but no time to do it. I'll try to catch up in the next several days.

When I last wrote, I was headed to Evansville for the Indiana District LWML convention. We had slightly more than 300 who attended. There were many speakers, good food and servant events. I made three cancer pads. I have heard of groups making pads but had no idea of what is involved. There are three layers that are stitched by hand. My first one took about an hour but the second and third ones were much faster since I began making longer stitches.

Cynthia Kahn, a native of Pakistan who now lives in Michigan, was one of the speakers and she also spoke in a break-out session. I learned a lot of information about the Islam faith and some of it is disturbing but Cynthia said there is hope.

Eight women from Concordia attended the convention.

Our pastor is on vacation and today we had a guest speaker, a chaplain at Camp Atterbury. He made reference to some of his experiences as a chaplain. I could tell that he enjoys his work though it may be hard at times. Since the 4th of July is later this week, a male quartet sang a patriotic number and we applauded. They were very good.

The sermon was about believing. It is easy to believe when nothing is testing us, when our life is good. Jairus went to Jesus in faith when his daughter became ill. Chaplain Ebb then asked "What do you do when everything goes wrong?" He also posed the question of what do people hold onto if they have no belief system when they have a crisis. Without a doubt, crises will come and if we have a strong faith we will get past the crisis.

I hope to post again tomorrow and eventually I'll be caught up.