Congratulations Tami!

Congratulations to my wife Tami!  On May 18th she graduated from MSU West Plains with her Associate of Arts in General Studies.  She is now officially a "Smart Aleck"!!  Seriously, she has worked hard, spent late nights-even into the early morning, got frustrated and upset but she has stuck with it and I couldn't be more proud.  She went through the GOAL (Great Opportunities for Adult Learners) program which requires a four-hour class once a week for two years.  I really appreciate the others in her class that have helped and encouraged her.

My niece, Stephanie Riggs, also went through the GOAL program and graduated her AA and I'm really proud of her too!  While I'm at it...our Pastor's daughter, Amber Galiher, graduated with her BS in Elementary Education so I congratulate her also!  JHPC was well represented at this graduation!!

Weed-Eating My Garden

The stars, planets, astoriods and such have aligned this year to keep my garden(s) so wet that I haven't been able to plow or till them up.  Last fall I planted some winter wheat to till under for green manure but when it got just the right height to plow under...please refer to first sentence.  It has finally got dry enough to till but now the wheat is about three feet tall!  So I just broke out the ole weedeater and went to work cutting it down in layered fashion so the pieces would till under good.

Now I explained all this to Tami but she still is snickering and laughing at me for "Weedeating" my garden.  I have consoled myself with the old idiom, "A man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do" so enjoy the pictures and video!

The End Of The Road

Tami went with me on a project I had in Sunrise Beach, Missouri this past week and we had the most interesting drive.  I had ordered the right-of-way plans for Camden County Highway F and they sent me the entire route - from Highway 5 to....the end of the road.  The plans showed the highway ending at the shoreline of the Lake of the Ozarks so we had to check it out and.... "I doggies Lum", it did end at the shoreline!

I didn't intend it this way but a boat went zipping past just as I took the picture.  I think the old gentleman in the picture thought we were game wardens or something!
 

I copied the part of the highway plans that shows Route F going to the shoreline of the Lake of the Ozarks. It shows an elevation line passing through PI station 219+36 which is about at the curve that shows in the first picture. From the PI station the highway proceeds S2°59'E about 200' to "Old Route No. 5" which is approximately between my truck and the old gentleman's truck in the third picture.  Very Interesting!!

Grandpa's Still Got It!

Grandpa Bean will be eighty years old in October and I expect that the old gobblers better beware for a few more generations.  He harvested this ole Tom this morning and it was a dandy!  Twenty-five pounds, 11¾" beard and 1¼" spurs.  Grandpa said he wanted to kill a couple of them with one shot but when two of their heads were lined up, they were too far away!  I know he has done that a few times without meaning to!

Wheelbarrow Tradition

The "Wheelbarrow Tradition" has fell by the wayside since Tami and I were married.  Immediately after the "I Do" (and the kiss) we were carted off to Courthouse Square in West Plains and I had the priviledge of pushing my new bride around the "Square" in a wheelbarrow.  I got off lucky though...some folks got the "Sonic" treatment - Pushing their bride around Sonic Drive-in!

Twenty-Seven Years!

Twenty-seven years ago today, Tami and I ..."Tied the Knot"..."Jumped Over the Broom"..."Got Hitched"...however you say it in your "Neck of the Woods"!  Still in love and still on the road of "Happily Ever After"!

One more quote...
"Love is a moment of stillness that sometimes a word can shatter to fragments, or love can be a thing that endures, a rich deep current that flows unending down the years."

Tami and I have the latter...