She's a Golfer and She's a Hockey Player

That's the Ankeny golf phenom, Victoria Grasso, aka MOOSE. In the fall she will be a junior at Ankeny Christian Academy. Last season she was state 1 A state golf medalist, this year she finished in 2nd place. Her interview in the paper reported that after graduation, she would like to play golf in college......as well as hockey.....This week she is in Toronto, Canada. She was chosen as one of the 100 top youth hockey players and was invited to an exclusive camp. What northern team will fill her needs for college? Michigan? Minnesota? The great Johnny Wooden passed away last week. It was because of his success on the basketball court that made us UCLA fans many years ago. He said to "learn as if you were to live forever, Live as if you were to die tomorrow. " He is the second greatest college coach of all time, only trails the great Dan Gable of Iowa wrestling. John had 10 national titles, Dan had 15....Greatest female coach of course is Pat Summitt of Tennessee women's BB. I guess there should be categories, each sport.....Football is difficult to choose. Right now I'd have to say Hayden Fry and his legion of coaches. Ferenz, Stoops, Stoops, Snyder, Chuck Long, Mc Cartney, the Wisc coach, Bo at Nebraska, Hayden really taught his coaches how to follow in his footsteps. Baseball, Arizona St/Arizona/UCLA/So Cal......any coach in warm weather areas where they can practice all year long. Softball? Right now, UCLA, they are taking names in the championship series right now. Track and field? Give it to Drake for their April Relays....College sports are the best to watch, especially women's basketball, they actually run an offense, play defense, are great shooters and don't show off with dunks. Go to a game this winter, you will be surprised at how much fun it is. Here's hoping Ms Grasso will concentrate on golf only, there is some money in her future on the LPGA tour, nothing for hockey. However, she could find a spot on the USA Hockey team. Go MOOSE!

SATC #2

Sex and the City #2 opened last week and I went to watch this great drama/comedy.......If you like the clothes, shoes, jewelry, and hot men........it is all that, again. The Austrailian water polo team is HOT HOT HOT.......The movie drags at times and should be shortened a lot, two and a half hours is too much.......I don't know who wrote the script, not as good as the TV show, I was
disappointed with the movie. Don't you think it is time that they quit showing Samantha humping some guy she picked up on the street? Or on a camel? Don't waste your time........

Winter 2010 Texas

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Memories are made of this.......

Memorial Day at Ankeny Memorial Gardens is a great morning. the cemetery is full of families visiting their deceased loved ones. Father Orr was blessing his parishoners. Sante said I should have him bless my parents graves. OH MY! The last two generations in my family were anti-Catholic.....WHY? We discussed this and do not know the answer.......That is what is good about our country, the USA.....freedom of religion, speech, etc.....Several of my classmates were on hand as usual. Thelma and I had a great visit while searching for the grave of a classmate, Mike Albaugh. No stone yet. Another friend made a phone call so we could locate his resting place. We think we found him. A special treat on Monday was a flyover by an Iowa Air group. First time. No warning, I did not have my camera.

2nd and 3rd verses.......

Fading light, dims the sight, and a star gems the sky gleaming bright, from a far, drawing nigh, falls the night

thanks and praise, for our days, neath the sun, neath the stars, neath the sky, as we go, this we know.........

Taps........carry on.........

The Bad Boys

I forgot to mention those bad boys on LOST....both with IOWA ties.....bad boy Locke attended the U of Iowa and bad boy Ben is from Tama.......bad bad bad bad boys!

who sang that song?

WWJD

This is a test. Double click to enlarge if you want to. Look at the photo and concentrate on the four dots in the center. Look at it for 30 seconds (count one and two and .....) then close your eyes, tip your head back and you will see a yellow circle and...........

enjoy

Not LOST anymore

That's right, LOST is over. Do you think there will be a sequel? NO.....remember the great M#A#S#H TV show that lasted 11 years? Two spin offs both went belly up. But the LOST writers are so great, you never know. I am happy with the ending, it is what we all knew, but wondered how they would write it. I started to watch it again, from the beginning. On the 3rd show, Jack told Rose, "we all died 3 days ago".

Then he told Kate, "ëveryone deserves a 2nd chance". How much of the show actually happened? Did you see the shoe hanging from the tree in show #1? It was pure white. In the finale, it was dirty and nearly all black.

Rabid fans in NYC did a LOSTathon over the week end, NO sleep, while watching the entire series from the start. They timed it, so that at the minute the ending started, they were ready. WOW!I had trouble finding time to watch this entire season, in 9 days, before the 23rd. A dedicated/crazy group?

What will be the new addiction on TV this fall? What is going to happen to Jethro Gibbs? Who is going to survive the CSI Miami mass murder? Bring back a variety show like the old Dean Martin Show, or Jack Benny show, or with a summer show done by the Carpenters. They can do it, if the performers didn't need so much money. A good, clean, entertaining, laugh out loud Sonny and Cher show would make my day.......

Carry on.........

Slipknot, Pelicans, and SNOW

'Today's headlines in the Des Moines Register, along with their staff photos, show a somber group of musicians who lost a member of the band. Drummer Chris Fehn is an
Ankeny boy, I used to deliver the family mail. I talked with his brother Andy last week during the 7th grade tours. His highlight was to brag about sister Amy and her softball accomplishments. Their Mom played the organ at my mom's funeral.
That's where Chris gets his music from. Great family. Slipknot fans are sad today, in mourning. No problem, they will return, to honor Paul Gray. A bunch of local boys, did good, won a Grammy, having Iowa, Polk County, and Des Moines as their home base. Pretty cool! Actually HOT HOT HOT!

















My beloved pelicans are having a hard time getting into flight in the south. This photo from Jae C Hong/AP shows the trouble with an oil spill. My trip to South Padre to visit the pelicans shows a much more calm and relaxing day.














YES, it has been snowing in Ankeny for a while. The flakes are everywhere. I spent about two hours yesterday cleaning the snow out of the gutters, filled up one lawn and leaf bag. In reality, the snow are those pesky whistles from the maple tree

I AM LOST

DO NOT CALL ME TONIGHT.......I AM LOST.....I HAVE FOLLOWED THE SHOW FROM THE BEGINNING AND LOVE IT. HAD TO CATCH UP OR KETSUP THIS PAST WEEK OF THIS SEASON, SINCE I WORKED EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT.....DON'T CALL, DON'T COME OVER, YOU WILL BE IGNORED....CARRY ON MY FRIENDS......

7th graders

are such a joy!I am volunteering this week again, tours for the Ankeny 7th graders at the Ankeny Area Hysterical Society, actually Historical Society. Some are very inquisitive, some are smart alecks, the first group of the day looks like zombies, not awake yet. My part of the tour covers our school building history, four sports team histories, a one room school house and farm house/parlor from the 1800's with NO electricity. I show them the old version of a cell phone and I Pod and ask who wants to go back in time and try this life of 100 years ago......not too many takers.
After a while, we all have mentioned that we forget what we said or "did I tell them that event?" Lunch time is great, Yankee Clipper Taco Tuesday is always delicious. We might have pizza Thurs or Friday and maybe even a pot luck...One altercation of three boys pushing and shoving...in a museum with irreplaceable items. I took care of it peacefully and sternly. Keep your head down and follow through. FORE!

PS, do these folks look like they had fun at the Drake Relays? Where was the sunshine?

Baby Gators in Iowa?

OH MY! are there baby gators in my back yard? I think so, the Llano gator is dead I understand, but I was able to bring her babies home to Iowa with me.....carry on...

Baby Gators in Iowa?

OH MY! are there baby gators in my back yard? I think so, the Llano gator is dead I understand, but I was able to bring her babies home to Iowa with me. Notice Mama looking lovingly at children.........carry on..

Our Llano Pet, the Gator

is really spooky if you double click on the photo.....
and the first photo from the back side (compliments
of John from Washington) look at the smile on that
gator's face! OH MY!!

EAST SIDE TRAILER TRASH AND THE GATOR

The East Side Trailer Trash golf outing/picnic was held the last week of the season, after we were all done working. Early photo shows a goup that was two holes ahead of my group, but shooting from in front of my tee box to their green. They claim it was the wind! Mary Ann, Diane, Tim and I were winners, two in a row for me! Good cooks and Donny G and Florence (93) in the corner. Great music from Bruce and the guys, How many women did Jerry have that day? Carry on........

All the suitcases

are unpacked. The floor is covered with plastic bags of stuff. One full of videos. One full of the battery charger and telephone books. One notebook of bills, one empty notebook, must be for the 2010 year. Alumni newsletters are out in the mail the rest of the class has been contacted by e mail, about a dozen LOST classmates or FOE addresses. Next step is to start transferring my 45 rpm records to CD, which will then go to the computer and then to the I POD. Lots of music to take care of. I heard that the game wardens would not get rid of the gator in our RV park in Texas. Complaints were shouted out about the seniors that might have alzheimers and might go wandering around in the wrong place at the wrong time. Word is that the croc is dead. Darn! I wanted a new purse or some shoes! Did I already post these photos? Oh well, once is not enough, Carry on.

Finally a great ride,

after two days of things going wrong, I had a great ride today, from Joplin to Ankeny. On Thursday, it came in 3's. First the slide out would not retract. I assume it is the motor, what is that going to cost? Then, I went for breakfast at Whataburger and asked for a sausage and egg biscuit......oops, NO EGG......then Richard, my TOM TOM advisor sent me the wrong way around Victoria, TX. That cost me 20 minutes. No problem, I still rolled into Palestine in time for Happy Hour....Day two was great, until I exited the Okie turnpike. In 5 minutes, the temp dropped from 80 to 59 and I drove directly into a thunderstorm. That was NOT a fun half hour drive. I had to pull over for a short time until I could see more than 20 feet ahead of me. AHH, Saturday, still some rain early in the morning, but suddenly I was home.....there was a CASEY"S....gas was $2.72.9, over 20 cents less than two days ago. Felt like home, since the corporate office is in Ankeny. Construction season has begun on I 35, but the farm fields have the look of black dirt and some planting looks like it has begun. My hostas are a month early with their growth, purple tulips are showing their faces, along with some new surprises from last fall's plantings. Let the fun begin, in Ankeny, FORE........

Rolling down that BLUE Highway

not easy to photograph the blue bells in the median at 80 MPH. Lady Bird Johnson was the creator of beautiful roadways, starting in Texas and her idea is all over the USA.

THANK YOU LADY BIRD!

On The next blog posting,

be sure to double click on a photo, to enlarge, to see the big "smile". You will also see my neighbors oriental lilies that mostly bloomed after they left for Canada and the smoke cloud from a "cane" burn. When posting photos, I downloaded five, then I wrote the description. When I published, the wording does not hook up with the photos.......any suggestions for me? Do I have to download a photo and write text immediately? Enjoy my home and my El Paso adventure. Carry on....

Around the park

What a surprise when returning to Llano after the road trip to El Paso. I gave Mary a tour of the park, then about 7 pm we went to walk up on the levee so she could view the resaca and maybe see the pelicans. Lo and Behold the baracade.....gator on the loose! Charlie and Marge live across the street from the former Bass Pond, now named "Swamp Llano". John caught the gator on the shoreline, the water shots are all I was able to catch of the six foot PARK pet.....