Bad Weather

We might have had a tornado pass over head last night around midnight. (June 17th, 2007) There is a swath of damage in town. Trees are down all over the place, streets are blocked. Our patio stuff was all rearranged. Our HEAVY outdoor grill was moved about 8 feet and replaced with our upside down patio table. (They traded places.) The storm took a piece of the neighbor's tree and planted it vertically in our yard. (See picture) There is a 5th-wheeler on it's side. One house had 2 shutters blown off .....each from a different side of the house. This was not a straight wind. Waylan Starr says that because of the type of damage and the path of damage, his theory is that the tornado was just over head and didn't touch down . Too Close!

Click here to see some pictures taken around town.

ND Boy's State Awards Ceremony

I understand that soon I will be able to publish video on my blog site. That's great! My son, Jason, and Neil Litton did this "um-pa-lah" dance during the awards ceremony for ND Boy's State and I recorded part of it. (This video should really embarrass them, hopefully. Hee Hee.)

*OK, I just tried uploading the video and the site isn't ready to take it yet (This is a new feature that's still in draft).........I'll get it to ya later. Until then, check out this picture of Jason & friends getting their 10 year award. You can also click here for more pictures and videos:

http://barbspictures.phanfare.com/album/303334/423920#imageID=19106771

School Board Election

Lexie,
Jodi,
Barb (Me),
and Nan











......................On June 12th four of us spent 12 loooong hours working the school board election. We sat all day in an elementary music room waiting for voters. Actually 33 voters did show up (not counting us)..........which averages less than 3 people per hour. Did I mention that the room was windowless and freezing cold?

We dug in the lost and found and borrowed a couple sweatshirts to deal with the temperature. To deal (unsuccessfully) with the boredom, we dug in the cupboards and found some really bad home movies of kids in plays. We ended up playing hangman on the chalkboard.

Actually it wasn't quite as bad as I'm making it sound. There was a lot of food, reading material, and conversation. It's just that twelve hours of sitting is a long time.

I will do it again next year. (Why? I look forward to it every year. I'm nuts)

Valley Fair

On the last day of school I drove a school bus load of kids to Valley Fair. We all had a great time.

Small Notes Music Camp

My granddaughter, Sierra, attended Music Camp this week. She had a lot of fun and learned some social skills. The kids had a wonderful teacher, Vickie Milbrandt, that "sang" books to them, taught them how to move to the music and how to play kazoos.

Easter 2007

Easter was different this year. Highs and lows.....

High: Christ is Risen! How wonderful to have Him as a loving God, father! That he died for us, for me. What awesome love!! Then He rose again and is ALIVE! My Father, my God! I am so thankful!

Low: This is the first year since the kids were born there were no baskets to fill or eggs to hide. I never got around to decorating for Easter other than my computer wallpaper.

High: Jamie, Ryan and Sierra did meet us at church for breakfast and then church. That felt good! Sierra looked so cute in her Easter dress.

Low: No kids home for Easter dinner.......weird feeling.

High: My mom and Dave's folks came out and we all had time to talk....something that usually doesn't happen when kids are around.

Low: I didn't hear from Jen. I left messages on her phone, but she never called.

High: We (Mom, Addie, Dave and I) had a looooong talk with Jason on the phone! (It's a good thing we're both on Verizon...ha ha) It's the first year he hasn't had an Easter basket.....he's 27 years old.

Visit to the Capital Building

On March 20th, I took a busload of kids to the state capital building in Bismarck. This is a picture of the kids and the govenor. What an interesting day! The Cass County Reporter published this picture. Neat, huh?

Nashville ESP Conference

Nashville was fun! The weather was gorgeous!
(Big difference from the snow back home)

I learned a few things. One of the sessions that I attended was called "Enhancing Communication by Blogging." As you can see, I'm putting my new found skills to work.

I also added a few words to my vocabulary ......... like: privatizing and living wage.

We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel. Beautiful! Fancy! My only compliant was that we were always waiting for the elevators. There were 950 people at the conference, so you can understand why the elevators were overworked.

I met some fun people. We checked out some Honky Tonks and I ran into Elvis Presley. He sang a song to me.

We checked out the Ryman Auditorium. I got up on stage and sang a song.

We went to Coyote Ugly Saloon. The bar maid told all the women from ND to get up on the bar. I refused. After all, someone had to hold all the purses and record the moment in pictures!

We were treated as royalty!
We dined at the Aquarium.

We rode in limos.

We visited the awesome Grand Ole Opry Hotel and went to the Grand Ole Opry.

What an experience!

We had some free time on the last day. Our ND group split up. I went with a couple gals on a tour of two plantations. We had a tour guide that sang to us. What fun!

Memories..........

I have many more Nashville pictures to show you. Check out my online photo album: http://barbspictures.phanfare.com/album/232692

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from Barb

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