Irene and Vern Brenner

What We Do for Entertainment During Retirement

2008-10-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

We have a crazy routine for our mornings - we join a group of people for coffee at the Common Grounds around 7:00a.m. or so, even though I could never imagine getting up at 6:30 every morning just to drink coffee, since I'm not really a coffee drinker. However, it's such a neat bunch of people that I don't want to miss any fun. Some Saturdays, there can be as many as 20-25 people there! Then, we always drive through the city park to see what's happening. In the fall and winter, we feed the ducks. The first video was taken from the car with the radio blasting, as you can hear. The ducks often come running when we start slowing down.

There's one duck in the flock that will eat out of my hand. He's so funny, as he walks taller than the others toward the "food source"! I'm trying to get more to do that, but only one is beginning to act a little braver. It's really funny in the winter when the wild turkeys are there, as they'll chase the car until we're out of the park. When it's icy, they spend half the time on the ground, as they can't run on the road very well!

2008-10-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

We're having a great time here in Nashville, but our visit is about to end. :( Our next trip will be to Wasilla (home of Sarah Palin, as all of you now know) to spend Thanksgiving with Jeremy and Tonya - another grandkid fix!!! More pictures to come...

More of Robbie...

2008-10-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

There's a neighborhood cat that comes around once in a while.
It's really a nice cat - the cat lover that I am.
Robbie was pretty impressed with it and knew just how
to pet it without getting scratched.

Finally...getting to Nashville for our "grandkid fix" ~

2008-10-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

Robbie seems to find plenty in the kitchen to keep him busy.
For 14 months old, he has a pretty good sense of balance for both himself
and whatever he decides to keep himself occupied with.

He was pretty interested in the tools while Papa and Mom worked
on putting up the bracket for the new TV in their rumpus room.

"Throwed Rolls"

2008-10-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

We spent a little time in Branson, Missouri, on our way to Nashville. What a fun place! We didn't have nearly enough time to spend there, but it was enough to whet our appetites and make us look forward to returning. We were told to eat at Lambert's Cafe, the home of "throwed rolls", near Springfield. What an experience! They have the best hot rolls, all you can or want to eat, and a cute, young guy walks around and throws them to you. Your entree is accompanied by what they call "pass arounds", which includes fried okra, tomatoes and macaroni (like my mother used to make), sorghum for your rolls, and fried potatoes and onions. The servings of drinks were HUGE, as you can see in the pictures. It's a place to eat when you haven't eaten all day and don't plan to eat again until the NEXT day!

Picking Pears

2008-10-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

While we were visiting Norma and Gene Schlekeway, from Spearfish, in Broken Arrow, OK, they took us "pear picking". They are the most unusual pears - crisp like an apple, and they taste like a combination of the two fruits. They were HUGE and sooooo good!

Corn Maze near Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

2008-10-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

On the way to Nashville, we stopped to visit some Spearfish friends, who were helping their son with his Corn Maze near Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. It was really neat to see all of the things that they had created. They design the maze each year with a computer program, transfer it to a GPS, and one person walks in the corn field when it's young, and another foll0ws behind with a lawn mower. There were at least 250 kids there that night. We helped them out as much as we could, which was fun, but it also reminded us that it's more fun to watch kids in action when we're not in charge! The maze doesn't open until dark, and it's full of live spooks.

These are pictures of mazes from previous years.
They're hard to see, but just use your imagination! :)

This was pretty cool.
Those of you who lived in the "olden days", know how these pumps work.
The kids (and often parents) pump like mad,
and then put their ducks in the trough and see which one wins.

The Corn Box seemed to be fun for all ages...even college kids and parents!

When you go on the hayride, you're told that this guy didn't stay out of the way of the baler!
It's quite impressive to the kids.

Pollen Storm

2008-07-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a pollen storm? We've had a couple of them lately - the pollen blows off the pine trees. I first thought it was raining in the hills. If you have your windows open, you'll have yellowish-green dust all over everything!

Recent pictures of our family

2008-07-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pictures of our children and grandchildren. The first ones are of Jen, Rob, and Robbie. Their family pictures were taken when we spent Christmas in Hawaii. We will have some current pix when they visit us later this month. Whoo hoo!!! Robbie is 6 weeks away from celebrating his first birthday, and he always has a big smile, even when he's sick.

Just taking a little rest...we'll have more pictures later this month when they come to our house. It will be so much fun to have all of the family together again, and especially to have the three grandkids together.

...and then for Jeremy, Tonya, James, and Sarah ~

Jeremy and James on a hike at Thunderbird Falls near Anchorage (James likes to pose for the camera - can you guess?)

Tonya and Sarah - was taken at Tonya's parents' place this past week-end. It was so good to see them again, and we look forward to the next couple weeks so that we can spend some more time together. Look at Sarah's long, curly hair!

The birthday girl...Sarah turned one year-old on May 8th.

How would you like to have these curls?

James and papa were doing some dreaming this past week-end. They discovered that Northern Tool Catalog has more than just tools!!!!

New Harley

2008-07-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

Vern surprised me with a Harley (Sportster 883) for my 50th birthday, so we decided that I would get a bigger bike for my 60th birthday. I suppose we'll have to make a trike out of it for my 70th birthday!!! It's a Street Glide, and really a sweet bike to ride, so now Vern and I each have a comfy bike to ride. It's nice to have music to listen to while I ride, and I can even plug my iPod in if I want to. So far, weather, gardening, and other activities have gotten in the way of riding, but that day will come.

The Jackson Street area

2008-06-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

The Jackson Street bridge was closed today because of all of the water. Spearfish Creek is usually such a calm, peaceful, clear creek - quite the opposite of what you see in the pictures. If you look closely, you can see the amount of water flowing down the streets and into the creek.

Where's the ark?????

2008-06-05T19:57:00.001-07:00

We have had record-breaking rainfall in the past two weeks, and it's still raining. Here are some pictures of the flooding around Spearfish. We're so lucky to live on high ground and have grass growing in the red dirt, which seems to be flowing freely now. Here are some pictures of our beautiful golf course...there isn't supposed to be any water there.

A new beginning...

2008-06-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

I joined a new age group yesterday - the cake tells it all! We join a great group of people for coffee most mornings around 7:00, and this morning, Vern surprised me with a cake. I had a great day of eating cake, not working out, doing a little visiting, and just not doing much of anything.