Fire on the Mountain

Me and Luke


The Rep Sign


The stage


Luke surprised me this week with tickets to go see, "Fire on the Mountain" at the Rep. We had a wonderful time! We ate at the Golden Corral where we watched a little boy get about 6 cones of ice cream...even licking the ice cream sprocket...GROSS!! We walked around downtown before going into the Rep. We saw a Bride going to the church too!

Fire on the Mountain is a play based on the history of coal miners. The music is blue grass...which is right up our alley! There were amazing pictures and stories in this play. The "Ma" in this play really looked like Old Ma Kettle. She really knitted during this play too! I was suprised because some actors fake it with those needles...she didn't! The music was wonderful. Those people worked so hard in the coal mines but were left with little or no support afterwards. The pictures of what the Coal Miner Companies did to the landscape of Kentucky was awful. I want to do some more research on this for sure.

Of course, the first thing Luke and I did when we sat down was look at the lighting fixtures, gobos, set design, and projection screens. We can't help it! It's an obsession I suppose. Thanks to Kathryn and her husband Shawn for taking our pic at the end! It was great to see you guys!

After we left the Rep we went with James and Heather to a restaurant off Kavanaugh for dessert. Oh my goodness....we had what was called a Chocolate Sack. It was a sack filled with vanilla ice cream, graham crackers, raspberry and strawberry compote, marshmallow creme, cinnamon, and whipped cream! We must have put on like 100 lbs. right there! Luke and James got coffee too! We had the best time visiting with them. The frogs in the water feature outside of this restaurant were SO loud. It was a great date night....thanks Luke! Love you!

Dinner with Old Friends

Me and Luke

The spread...the rest was in the oven...taters of course!

Joe

Nick

My Grillin' Man
We invited Nick and Joe over last night for dinner. It was bring your own steak night and we'll do the rest! We even ate outside which was a treat! We haven't seen them in a while and always have a blast visiting. I think we figured it up last night that we have all known each other about 14 years. That's a long time to be friends! We talked about old times, high school days, college, and gas prices. I'm very thankful for old friends like Nick and Joe. Joe and I were best friends in high school and even went out on 1 date. We still laugh about that...mainly he laughs that I cried in Star Wars...and I laugh that we actually went out on a date! Good times for sure!

A love birdy home...

See her head at the top?

Her beaks open here...she's hot!
I noticed a pair of Robins building a nest in our backyard Maple Tree. I was hoping they wouldn't really go all the way, but they did! Their original nest was in the Bradford out front but it got blown away. This nest is really neat to look at. I even caught some pictures with the female in it. The dogs don't seem to bother the birds at all. They are all over the yard during the day. I just hope the babies will be ok when the time comes for that. For now, I'll watch over them and do the best I can. And, in any case, Mom and I have raised baby birds before. Of course, they were always Starlings...and PaPa wasn't very crazy about those birds. We had Harvey (our first one) he was in my closet one day and we raised and released him. He would land on neighbors at first...kinda freaky...but eventually went off into the wild. Then there was Sweet Pea and Regis and KathyLee...they were kind of cranky. I hope I won't do any bird raising here...but if the need arises...I'm all feathers I guess! Enjoy the pics! Have I said lately I LOVE my camera???

A Crazy Kind of Day

Today I decided to run by Kohls and Target after my morning walk. Apparently while I was in both Kohls and Target I decided to get new bathroom rugs for our bathroom, some pants for Luke, and a new bedspread for our bedroom. Trust me that our bathroom really did need new rugs...I had our old ones for 4 years and they were worn out! The trouble was I couldn't find any rugs to match the old shower curtain so I had to buy a new shower curtain too! Now about the bedspread....would that be number 1 or 2??? Yes, I bought 1...didn't like it....returned it...and bought another one. What happened to bedspread 2....yep it got returned too! I didn't like either one! The first one was teal and brown....it didn't look right with the ironwork I already have on the walls. The second was a red floral print...it didn't look right either. So, I've decided to stick with what I have and see if I can find something I like in Branson better. Besides that, I was kind of embarressed on seeing the Customer Service guy 3 times in one day!

My ENT appointment

I was able to get in today with Dr. McGhee. He told me to give up the preschool altogether because any virus I get will go to my ear. That made me sad because I really, REALLY enjoyed it, but the good news is he is going to put in a tube in my left ear on June 24th. I still run the risk of having a hole in my eardrum after the tube falls out...which could lead to another Tympanoplasty. But, he is using a normal tube instead of a permanent one to leave a smaller hole. So we'll see. At least this tube will help with the drainage in my ear. I've already had 3 sets before, so I know the drill. I also remember getting my first set and being amazed to actually hear things. I remember everything being so loud!!! I also remember going to the 2 story McDonalds downtown...back then that was a big deal! So on June 24th I'm getting a tube!

In Honor of Grillin' and Chillin' Week

The Kabobs along with our grilled Corn

Our tree all nice and cleaned up. We trimmed it again and are going to see what happens!

Ok, I'm definitely hating my hair at this point, but a few more months and it will be manageable!

Our Dinner!
Food network all this week has been showing awesome recipes from the grill. So, in honor of Grillin' and Chillin' Week...Luke and I grilled out last night. I made Chicken Kabobs with Vidalia Onions, Bell Peppers, and Pineapples. I marinated my chicken in Dales' Marinade....it's WONDERFUL!!! It's even better on a steak! I also made my Ranch Bacon Taters....cut your potatoes in cubes, add a good handful or two of bacon bits, cover the taters and bacon with about 1/4 c. bottled Ranch Salad Dressing and add as much sprinkle cheddar as you like. Bake at about 350 covered for about 45 minutes. They are great! Enjoy!

Thank you Mother Nature!

It also knocked down our trashcan with a small limb from the Sweet Gums...I'm thinking that was the thud I heard!

Our winds today caused more damage on top of our hill. Luke has been out of town since Wednesday and was coming home today. He had to stop several times to get out of this storm. I knew it was going to be bad so I put the dogs in at about 2 today. I no longer had everyone in their beds with chewies than I heard a loud thud. Thankfully Luke was on the phone when I checked out the damage....our poor Bradford! They are prone to break during storms...and I'm surprised we have had it this long. The people who lived here before us never trimmed it so we have had a time keeping it tame. I hope it survives!! If any of you have any plant tips on what we should do we are all ears!!! Hope everyone else survived those crazy winds!