I’m Still Here!

Hello my dear friends. I'm still here. I dropped off the face of blogland for awhile. I'm not sure why, except it's been a busy time. I didn't have internet for a short time while camping and I have been very tired. But I'm back and hope to be a better friend of you all. :-)

Last week we went to Lake Anita State Park in Iowa for 4 days with our cousins and great friends, Curt and Barb and our pastor and his wife, Jeff and Angie. To say we had a wonderful time would be an understatement. The weather was sismply amazing and a true gift from the Lord. See that blue sky? It was like that the entire time. The leaves were beginning to change and we had cool, (cold) nights and nippy days with just enough warmth to be enjoyable. We were very grateful for our heaters during the night. This is what we did a LOT of. Talking and relaxing and eating. Eating a LOT! :-) From left to right, Jeff, Curt and Dennis. We all take the responsibility for various meals and then we all chip in for "extra's." So much FUN!

One day we went into the town of Atlantic, Iowa and got ice cream at a very cute shop called Udderly Delicious. It was so good and lots of unusual flavors. An employee got off work while we were sitting outside at a table enjoying our ice cream. She sat at the table with us and told us the history of the shop and we learned a lot about the town too. So much fun!

This is the "tree in the middle of the road" outside of Anita, Iowa. The story goes that surveyors stuck a stick in the ground to mark the middle of a future intersection. When they returned to begin road construction, the stick had sprouted limbs and leaves so they left it in the middle and constructed the road around it. Unfortunately, time is beginning to make it's mark on this gorgeous tree. There are signs of big limbs breaking recently. We speculated that the big tornado that came through Omaha continued on it's destructive path through Iowa and would have come very close to this tree. We enjoyed it on this day though and hope it still stands for a long time to come. It was so quiet while we were there. We wandered around on the roads and not one car came by while we were exploring.

Angie was taking a photo of something at the base of the tree. We also found an abandoned cemetery just a couple of miles away from the tree and spent some time exploring the very old gravesites. It's fun to wonder what their lives were like over 150 years ago. They had to be very strong people to live here so long ago with the extremes in weather that we have.

 Here are the three of us. Zoey was very interested in the smells out in the middle of farmland, USA.

One day, the other four of our co-horts took a bicycle ride around the lake and we met them at a picnic area with lunch for everyone. My back isn't allowing much activity at all these days, so we were the transportation during this trip. From left to right, Barb, Jeff, Angie, me, Dennis, Curt. We sure enjoy each others company.

Dennis's co-pilot doesn't take her eyes off of the road. I'm not sure if she doesn't trust him or if she just finds lots to look at. :-) lol

Dennis, Zoey and I went on our own to Mahoney State Park this past Sunday and returned yesterday. Another absolutely beautiful camping adventure. It's very dry here as you can see. No campfires allowed, but Zoey enjoyed laying in the sunshine.  There were very few campers there and we had the entire campground pretty much to ourselves.

We cleaned and winterized the camper yesterday, so our camping adventures are over for another season. It was 29F at night on this trip so we needed to get the water lines taken care of. We would have loved another trip or two, but we have to take care of the trailer too.

I don't remember if I showed you this blanket that I finished a couple of weeks ago. Sorry about the blurriness.  I also made another blue one and a pink one since then, using the same pattern. All will be donated to the Open Door Mission.

I finished a set of fingerless gloves too. I have no idea why the one on the left looks smaller in the photo because they measure the same.

I've also been collecting supplies to begin an English Paper Piecing quilt. I plan to do it all by hand, so we'll see if it takes ten or twenty years! I thought it would be a fun thing to have as a take along project. Everything fits into this little box. So far I'm just using cotten that I have leftover from making dresses.

Piper has outgrown two of her sweaters that I made her in January and February and asked if me if I would make her more. Well of course I will! She wears them almost every day, now that it's getting cooler. She went with me last week and chose the yarn for both sweaters. I like to use Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" for her sweaters because they get washed very often and the yarn holds up really well, it can go into the dryer and is very, very soft.

This is NOT my project, but a photo found on the internet. I would like to make this though. I think the colors are beautiful and I've never made a granny hexie blanket. I think it would make some nice baby blankets to donate and use up some scraps at the same time. What do you think? Is it too old-fashioned for today's mom's?

Dennis's Mom is doing about the same. We notice small changes often and she never gets quite back to where she was before. She definitely has what's called "Sundowners". We get calls every evening around 6:00 and she's very confused. Dennis spent a couple of hours with her when we got home yesterday afternoon, with him getting home around 4:45. At 6:10 she called wanting us to know she was ready to be picked up to go home and how did she arrange a ride? She had absolutely no recollection him being there earlier. We feel blessed that she still knows who we are and is able to call us when she feels confused. Dennis is always able to get her calmed down and realizing where she is but we also know that will change someday soon. She trusts him completely. 

It is a lifesaving thing for us to be able to go camping for a day or two at a time for a break. We were at Mahoney State Park this week which is just 15 minutes from Mom if we needed to get home, but yet we feel like we're able to relax. Even when we went with everyone last week, we were only an hour away so we could get home fairly quickly if we needed to.

I hope everything is well with you all. I have been reading blogs when I could upload them. I was one of the phones affected by the Verizon outage a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't use my phone for a couple of days. That was an eye-opener as to how much I depend on it and what a possible cyber attack could do to the country if it was widespread.

Take care everyone. Remember that in these troubled days around the world, that the Lord is with all of us. He loves us deeply. Enough to give His life for us so that someday we can be with Him in Heaven. I truely believe that we don't know the day or the hour of His return, so we need to be ready at anytime for Him to come and take us home! Won't that day be a wonderful one?

I'll try to be back very soon to visit with you all.

Blessings and love,

Betsy


JESUS IS COMING SOON

Troublesome times are here, filling men's hearts with fear
Freedom we all hold dear now is at stake
Humbling your hearts to God saves from the chastening rod
Seek the way pilgrims trod, Christians awake

Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon
Many will meet their doom, trumpets will sound
All of the dead shall rise, righteous meet in the skies
Going where no one dies, heavenward bound

Troubles will soon be o'er, happy forevermore
When we meet on that shore, free from all care
Rising up in the sky, telling this world goodbye
Homeward we then shall fly, glory to share

Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon
Many will meet their doom, trumpets will sound
All of the dead shall rise, righteous meet in the skies
Going where no one dies, heavenward bound

Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon
Many will meet their doom, trumpets will sound
All of the dead shall rise, righteous meet in the skies
Going where no one dies, heavenward bound
Heavenward bound, heavenward bound

South Dakota

Come along with us as we drive through the Black Hills! Lots of photos so feel free to skip on by if you’re not interested. There is a "little" crocheting at the end. 

The view as you drive west on I-90 past Chamberlain, SD. The Missouri River.

On the bridge. When our kids were small they used to see if they could hold their breath as we crossed the bridge. They asked us if we held our breath this time. :-)

A deer in our campground about three spots away from us. We have a flock of turkeys that roam through the campground all day, every day. Zoey is scared of them and climbs in our lap if she sees them.

I'm standing in the door to our camper to take this picture. That's Zoey's pen at the bottom. There are very few people here and it's SO quiet.

See any familiar faces?

Here they are! A little closer now.

We drove the Needles Hwy. and made it through the tunnels with the truck in one piece but it's really a tight fit, top and sides. We have an F350 and it's a BIG truck.

I tried and tried to get you a photo of the pigtail bridges, but there was always something in the way and I couldn't get the shot. Here's part of one of the bridges. Imagine the log structure going round and round in a circle upwards. Hence the name "pigtail" bridges.

Uh-oh. Another tunnel! Will we make it? If you enlarge the photo you will see a surprise at the other end.

Here we are at the end of the tunnel. Not only did we make it through, look what is perfectly framed at the end as you drive out!

On Thursday we decided to drive to Deadwood, SD. You know, where the famous shootouts used to happen and the brothel just closed in 1980? What should have been about a 10 minute drive turned into 1 1/2 hours! The highway is gone! They are widening about a five mile stretch of the road. We would be taken a mile or so with a "pilot car" then have to wait for the next one to take us another mile or so. It seemed to take forever, but the scenery was beautiful and we didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time so we tried to relax and not get frustrated. We did feel sorry for the big motorhomes and trucks pulling campers who were also surprised by the road. No one had any warning before you arrived at the spot. There were HUGE holes in the road and bumps and rocks and bigger rocks you had to drive over. We were thankful we were in the truck and NOT pulling our camper.

Another section of the road. We did say how much our boys would have enjoyed this when they were younger. Lots of big trucks and tractors.

We finally made it to Deadwood and then made our way to Wild Bill Hickok's and Calamity Janes graves. The stories of these two were really very interesting. It would have been a big adventure to live in the Wild West back in those days.

Wild Bill in the front and Calamity Jane beside him.

I thought this was interesting. People bring bullets and coins to put at the base of Wild Bill's tombstone.



Yesterday, (Friday), we drove the Iron Mountain Road where we found, you guessed it, more tunnels.

This one was a lot wider. Two cars could go through with room to spare!

There is such gorgeous scenery here. I could stop at every twist and turn and see beauty. Isn't the Lord amazing? The beauty he created and blessed us with is breathtaking to me.



Today we took a drive along the wildlife loop road. Since I bored you with lots of photos from our time here in August, I won't show nearly as many pictures this time. But this guy was all by himself. He was sleeping just before we drove by. He was massive.

We must have seen thousands of bison roaming the hills. They are getting ready for the big yearly round-up where they gather the herd for winter.



And just before we finished the drive we came across some of the famous "begging burros." All together there were about 15 burros with a couple of little babies too.

They are NOT shy at all and will stick their entire heads in the car.

Leaves are starting to turn here and it's supposed to be 33F tonight. Yes, we turned the furnace on in the camper for while we sleep. :-) And did you see that road sign hiding among the trees? That is exactly what many of the roads are like here and I love it!

One last photo I took somewhere around the Cathedral Spires trail. That sky! Is it any wonder that this is my favorite place to camp?

Now to the crocheting. Really bad photos but I just took them and it's dark and there is nowhere to lay them flat since Dennis is already in bed. It's a baby blanket using Bernat Softee Baby yarn and the "Baby Diamonds Blanket" pattern I found on Ravelry.  Super easy and fun to crochet. I can do this while we're in the truck drving around without having to look at it much. That way I can enjoy the scenery!
H
I started another one yesterday in blue/white, also Bernat Softee Baby yarn. After we went to Deadwood yesterday I talked Dennis into going back to the camp ground through Rapid City so we could stop at a JoAnn's and get more white yarn. I received a coupon by email yesterday for 50% of one item, so that worked well. I knew I didn't bring enough yarn! There's never enough yarn.

We have just two more full days here and then will begin the trip home. Mom broke a tooth on Thursday and I called the dentist yesterday. I made an appointment for her as soon as we get home. I had thought we might have to cut our trip short and leave yesterday, but the dentist called back and talked to me. He said not to come home early. She says she has no pain and he said there shouldn't be any danger of infection in that short of time so he talked us into staying the planned amount of days. We've talked to her several times a day since we've been gone and it's getting harder and harder to be away for more than a day or two. This was a much needed break, and we'll be going again in a couple of weeks for just a couple of days, but that will probably be all for awhile. It's quickly becoming time to think of winterizing the camper. Never a fun thing to think about.

I do apologize that this post is so long. If you made it this far, thank you for sticking around!

So much is happening in the middle east and my heart is saddened and excited at the same time. Who us us knows what it all means, but I do know that the Lord knows and He will watch over Israel, his people. I pray for the safety of the people each and every day.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Hello!

Stopping in quickly to say hello. I was gone with my sister for a couple of days to the other side of Iowa for a concert. Since I got home Friday, I’ve been getting things ready, because we leave tomorrow for another week and a half in the Black Hills and other spots in South Dakota. Lots of packing to do. Here is a photo of the room I shared with my sister Melanie. 

The hotel was built in 1917 in Ottumwa, Iowa. It’s called the Hotel Ottumwa. It was a beautiful place and I can imagine it in its heyday! My niece Chaela and her husband Tim, were with us. Tim won the tickets on a Veteran’s site. The concert was “Home Free” which, as you know, we’ve been to several of their concerts in the past few years. It is the first and only acappella country band. They also sing a lot of gospel songs. It’s funny because there are five youngish guys, probably 40 and younger, and the audience is mainly old people like me! 😂🤣😂🤣😂

I plan to take my laptop along camping and hopefully I will have Internet at the campground and can catch back up with all of you. Meanwhile, I’ve mostly just been stitching away on Christmas ornaments and I also started a baby blanket in the car on the way to the concert and back. Hopefully I’ll have some things to show you when we get home. 

Please continue to keep Israel in your prayers. Also, for cool heads to prevail here in the United States during the next few months of election time.

I will end with a photo of my girls! I think this is the cutest picture! Piper and Lizzie. And of course, Lizzie has her Lamby too.

Much love and many blessings to you all,

Betsy.