Lazy Days of Summer

Good Morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We did. It’s been so hot here, and finally on Saturday we had a beautifully cool and breezy day. It was only 85°F for the high and low humidity. Dennis and I spent most of the day outside on a secret mission that I hope to tell you about in a future post. Meanwhile, I’ve been making the final arrangements and reservations for our month long camping trip that begins next Monday.

My car is in the body shop this week getting the front fender replaced. Let’s just say it had an unfortunate connection with the bullyard by our garage door. And no, I wasn’t driving! Ha! It has taken them months to get the part in and of course it arrives the week before we leave, when we have all the last minute errands to get done.

Dennis is at the doctor this morning getting blood work done for a doctor appointment he has next Monday morning right before we leave. On Wednesday morning, I’m having injections in my back to see if that helps with the spasms and pain. I’ve had injections before when we lived in Spokane that never worked, but this is a different kind so I’m praying that there will be relief. Medicare is requiring they do two sessions of these injections before they will approve a nerve ablation. We shall see. I’m not getting my hopes up because it’s been one disappointment after another.

I don’t have a lot to show you today, but I did go shopping with Miss Piper last week and one of the places we ended up was Hobby Lobby. I found this birdhouse on the clearance shelf for $5.49. It stands about 10 inches high and 6 inches wide so it’s bigger than it looks in the photo. I fell in love with it because look! It’s a beehive. It looks so pretty at night with the lights I put inside. This will definitely not be going outside. 

And my orchid is blooming profusely and there are still more buds yet to open. I am enjoying them so much. I love that they are in my favorite color too.

I finished another “Eventually a Granny” baby blanket for the Open Door Mission. It’s about 37 inches square.

And I’ve begun another baby diamond blanket. I really enjoy this pattern. It’s easily memorized and you can mix up the colors any way you want.

I still have my plain-vanilla socks on the needles and have turned the heel on the second sock, so it should be finished fairly quickly. That’s what I work on when I’m waiting at doctors appointments, so the socks take longer than they would if I just knitted straight through a pair.

This is for your morning laugh! I found this absolutely hilarious.

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer or if you’re down south, winter!  My prayers are still with all of the flood victims in Texas and elsewhere, and indeed, with all of the people suffering around the world. The violence that we’re seeing here in the United States just breaks my heart. I wish people could see and understand that violence never solves anything. My prayer is that they would turn their hearts over to the Lord. He is the answer to having peace in our hearts and hope for the future.

I’ll see you all again soon.

Blessings and love

Betsy

PRAISE HIM, PRAISE HIM

By: Fanny Crosby

1 Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Sing, O earth– His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him! Hail Him! highest archangels in glory;
strength and honor give to His holy name!
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children;
in His arms He carries them all day long.

Refrain:
Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness.
Praise Him! Praise Him ever in joyful song!

2 Praise Him, praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
For our sins He suffered, and bled, and died.
He, our Rock, our Hope of eternal salvation—
Hail Him! Hail Him! Jesus, the Crucified!
Sound His praises! Jesus, who bore our sorrows!
Love unbounded, wonderful, deep, and strong. [Refrain]

3 Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Heav’nly portals loud with hosannas ring!
Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever.
Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!
Christ is coming, over the world victorious;
pow’r and glory unto the Lord belong! [Refrain]

Happy Birthday U.S.A.!

I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July holiday. Ours was very, very quiet. In fact, I stayed in my jammies all day long. In the evening Mandy texted and told us about the PBS special “The National Fourth of July.” I had completely forgotten about it. We have watched it most years. We watched the great entertainment and enjoyed the fireworks in D.C. very much. The fireworks here locally have been absolutely ridiculous. They were still going off at 1:30 this morning and Zoey is terrified. Lizzie too. She won’t even go outside this morning to go potty. Whenever we suggest it she starts starts shaking and runs and hides under the bed. This has been going on for over a week now and I expect it to continue for several more nights. I don’t know what people are thinking. I guess they aren’t thinking about other people at all. I feel so bad for people who have babies and small children. The entire condo was shaking from the cherry bombs, etc. that were going off until the early hours of the morning.

I thought I would show you a few of my decorations this morning before I put them away. Of course, this is one of my favorites! Let’s go camping!

Happy birthday America!

In God, we trust! Always and forever. And look! My orchids are blooming again.



These are the kind of fireworks I like! I love the beautiful tray that I received for my birthday from my blogging friend Pam in Florida. Her talented son Benton made it for me.

May He always shed His grace on us here in the United States of America. We don’t always live our lives in a Godly way and conduct ourselves accordingly, but I pray for His forgiveness for our nation.

I have been rather lazy about crafting this week because it’s been so hot and the thought of touching yarn is sometimes unbearable, but I did manage to finish three pair of mittens.

and I started another “Eventually a Granny” baby blanket yesterday.

Curt and Barb are coming over for dinner tonight. We’re planning to have Mexican lasagna, salad, bread, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Otherwise it will be another quiet day today. And just a little over two weeks we’ll be on our way again, westward this time. We’re getting very excited to see our son and grandchildren in Montana. Since we moved to Omaha, it’s only a once a year opportunity. Then we’ll be spending a few weeks in Spokane visiting with our friends there.

I hope you’re all surviving these hot days of summer. It’s been absolutely miserable here with very high humidity. However, compared to the tragedies in Texas are struggle is minor. Please join me in praying for the families of the people who are still missing and that have been lost.

Blessings and love,

Betsy 

The Battle Hymn of the Republic
by Julia Ward Howe

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

Chorus:
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.

Chorus

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.”

Chorus

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

Chorus

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Chorus

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.

Chorus

Home Again

Well we made it back home yesterday. Good golly, we drove in headwinds all across S. Dakota and only got 6.4 mpg in our diesel pickup. WHOA! I'm sure glad that my husband is an amazing driver in pulling the trailer in that wind. Last night there were tornado warnings in the area we had stayed the night before and I'm very glad that we were a day ahead.  I have some last photos of the trip to share with you.

We took a helicopter tour around Mt. Rushmore and Horseshoe lake. It was Piper's first time in a helicopter, although she flies with her dad quite often in their plane. It was a stunning sight from up above.

THe different views were amazing.

Here we are by the helicopter we rode in.

The next stop that day was The Presidents Wax Museum. Piper stood at the podium and made her speech!

We had an audio recorder that you just pressed the number you wanted to hear about and it would tell you about their presidency.

Grover Cleveland married his wife, Frances, on June 2, 1886 in the Blue room of the White House. She was 22 and he was 49.

President Bush after September 11, 2001 with the firefighters at ground zero.

President Kennedy and the famous desk where John-John played. He was the youngest elected president.

There were wax figures of all of the presidents and a few other historic figures like General Reno and Custer and Crazy Horse.

We also drove the Iron Mountain Road where the pigtail bridges are located. These bridges are amazing works of engineering.



Round and round we go.

Our last night in a KOA in Mitchell, SD. After I took this photo a doozy of a storm came through with lots of lightening and thunder.

I did manage to make a baby blanket while riding in the truck. It is another "Grace" blanket made with Mandala Baby in the "Diagon Alley" colorway.

The trip was a resounding success. We enjoyed so much the time with Piper. She was SO good and a great sport. Even when she and Papa got lost on a hike and went two miles farther than they were supposed to and I had to go rescue them. Thankfully I had waited in the truck because my back was bothering me. At least then I could drive to rescue them. They have laughed about it ever since and I know it will be a memory that is relived over and over.

We were so busy the entire week and I'm glad a have a couple of weeks to rest up before our next trip. In three weeks we will head west again only this time we'll go to Montana to see our son's family before going on to Spokane for a couple of weeks. Lastly, we plan to go to the Oregon coast before heading home.

Thanks for following us along on this trip. I'm glad that you enjoy it and this way I also have a record of what we've done throughout the years.

I hope you're having a lovely weekend.

Blessings and love,
Betsy

Mount Rushmore

Monday night we headed to Mount Rushmore for the night lighting ceremony. If you have never done that, and you have the ability to go, I know you would enjoy it. If you have an ounce of patriotism in your body, you will be moved. I’ve cried every time I’ve seen the faces light up and the Star Spangled Banner is sung by the crowd. There is just something indescribable about it.

Here is Piper showing you the Avenue of the State flags and our first glimpse of Rushmore

Waiting for the evening ceremony to begin. We had a wonderful time visiting with the people around us. There was a big group of senior citizens, (our age), that were going to be riding their electric bikes on the Mickelson Trail the next morning. That is not for the faint of heart.

Absolutely stunning. Photos can’t even begin to share the impressiveness of this site



Yesterday morning, Tuesday, we went into Custer, South Dakota and wondered through some shops. They have painted buffalo on each corner with different themes. I really liked this one.

We didn’t stop here, but you can find places named after Calamity Jane and wild Bill Hickcock all over the hills. There are a couple of saloons here that were the sites of famous gun fights back in the 1800s. It was indeed the Wild, Wild West back then.

In the afternoon, we drove the Needles highway and went through the infamous tunnels. The scenery throughout this drive is breathtaking.

This one is much longer and is the Needles Eye tunnel. Our truck barely fits through it, even with the mirrors in.

Beautiful 

The Cathedral Spires.

Piper said she loved the drive. She had never seen anything like it before. This girl has traveled around the world with her mom and dad, but told us she’s never seen mountains like this before.

We had dinner at the Blue Bell Lodge. When our kids were little, we camped at the campground there at Blue Bell every year in our tent and then our pop-up trailer. We went to church in the amphitheater behind the lodge on Sundays. This place holds a lot of memories for us.

Waiting patiently for the food to arrive.

After dinner, we headed toward the wildlife Loop, Road to see if we could find any animals. Not far from our campground we came upon this sight. we don’t see these often in Nebraska!

We continued on the Wildlife Loop, Road where we found a lot of animals. We saw Buffalo with their babies.

Isn’t this face the cutest?

We saw many antelope. These three decided just to hang out in the middle of the road for quite some time stopping traffic in both directions. We didn’t mind because that’s what we were there for.



And then on our way back to the camper, we saw this one lone bison. It was very close to Bluebell. In years past, there was always one buffalo hanging around the campground. Our kids nicknamed him George and chose to believe it was the same Buffalo, year after year. Of course we sent them this picture last night and asked them if they thought it could be George still hanging out there 40 years later! Ha!

Today our plan is to go to Evans Plunge a mineral hot spring. That is the world‘s largest indoor pool from mineral water. We haven’t been there since our kids were little and Piper is really looking forward to swimming with Papa. I’m not a swimmer, but I’m hoping I can get in and just watch.

Much love and many blessings to all of you.

Betsy