Starved Rock State Park

Dave and I took the day off Thursday on our 42nd wedding anniversary and drove up to Starved Rock. We wanted to do a little hiking. Well, OK, I wanted to do a little hiking. My wonderful husband is sport enough to go along with my crazy ideas.

Does this rock count as a mountain?

Reality check! Looks like I better lose about 50 pounds before even thinking about hiking the Appalachian Trail! As you can see, I was completely whupped climbing this trail of many stair steps. 

The weather was great, warm and breezy, but the trail was a little muddy in spots.

After hiking for almost 3 hours, we headed for Steak & Shake. (Objects in the picture are not as large as they appear!)

This is what we learned:

1. I did OK! (My foot held up pretty well.)

2. Dave did OK! (He actually enjoyed the hike.)

3. We did OK together! (No bickering, no bossiness on either side, we made good decisions, and we had a         lot of fun.)

We were both hot and tired and hungry when we were finished, but we had a great day and will definitely go back to try some of the other trails in the park. We have a lot of practicing to do before we try anything like the Appalachian Trail!

Yardwork

EDIT:  Oops, didn't realize Ada had posted her recent yardwork until after I posted this.

 

Here are some pictures of my recent yardwork.

This is the current look of my square foot garden. I added the trellis for the tomatoes and added the rabbit fencing. The local rabbits were starting to look at my garden as their personal smorgasbord. I had a very nice purple pepper forming and one morning it was totally gone.

 

The cherry tomato plant in the red pot has been in since early April but I now know it is a yellow tomato. I added a red cherry tomato to the garden because I think tomatoes are meant to be red. I just bought the yellow pot and replanted this rosemary. A neighbor has a large rosemary bush that anyone can come pick. I don't know a lot about herbs and didn't realize we had rosemary until I went to change out the planters shown below. I guess I'll learn what to do with rosemary. Feel free to add any suggestions in the comments!

 In the last couple of weeks we added the trellises. One has a clematis and the other a pink passion vine. I really like the metal wind device. We have so much wind and it's interesting to watch the blades turn in opposite directions.

 Over the weekend we added quite a few plants to add some color in the back. Most of the items were green, but I love the color of flowers. We put in a mixture of perennials and annuals--coneflower, yellow tickseed, zinnias, pentas, and salvia.

 This is the planter that had the rosemary shown above. I replaced the coconut planter liners and put in annuals.

 The front has 7 holly bushes and 6 other bushes. We took out 3 of the bushes and put in two hydrangea and a hibiscus to add color in the front. I'm sure the neighbors got a kick out of watching us early Monday morning when we hooked a toe strap to a bush and I pulled it out with my vehicle!

I have always loved yardwork and getting my hands in the dirt, but I'm realizing how therapeutic it is for me during this transition.

WIND WIND GO AWAY!!

I'm sooo tired of the wind! I tried to plant some flowers yesterday afternoon while Jerry was frantically mowing before another bout of rain. I got about half of them planted and was soooo hot and wind-blown, I thought I might collapse right there and told J I had to go inside. He planted the rest of the flowers while I passed out on the bed!! Here are some pictures of the flowers. I did all the yellow ones and Jerry did the ones by the air-conditioner - they are a "sun impatiens". Next we need to get some bushes/trees to replace the burned ones. Next week we hope to get the deck painted and the pots filled AND a quilt put together! Just "can't hardly" keep up anymore . . .

MEMORIAL DAY IN GRIDLEY

We had a nice Memorial Day in Gridley in spite of all the rain. It was a special day in honor of Raymond Witzig who died in combat in Viet Nam. Several men from his batallion were present, and gave speeches in his honor. Cleve, a veteran of the Viet Nam War, although not in the same unit as Raymond, was among the honored. Many veterans from other wars were also present and honored. It was very touching. Hope you will enjoy a few pictures.

Happy Birthday, Crystal!

I am in awe of the passing of time as it seems like just yesterday that I took this picture of these two happy dads with their precious baby girls.  And now they are turning 40.  It's truly amazing because they really don't seem that old. ---Carol

Endress Photo Shoot

Hey there! Thought now that we have started contributing to this blog, I might as well post some of the family pictures we took last Sunday.

Enjoy!

Julia-4, Laura-10, Sarah-13, Elizabeth, Bruce, Heidi-2, Matthew-15, Andrew-7

To see the rest of the picture story, stop by our family blog.  If you haven't been invited to view our blog yet and would like to, email us at bruceendress@gmail.com and we will send you an invite!

Books

Since the move I've been able to read a bit more than in the past. Here are some of the books I've read in the past couple of months:

Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly--I had heard this was better than his Killing Lincoln which I really liked. I gave a copy to each sibling for Christmas and Ann let me borrow hers while Mom and Dad were here. It was a good read and I completed it during their visit. Living in the Dallas area and having visited the Sixth Floor Museum made it even more interesting than my natural interest in the historical event so I really enjoyed it.

Square Foot Gardening--My BSF group gave me this as a going away gift as my backyard is much smaller so I can't do the traditional big garden I've done the last 7-8 years. I'm following it quite closely and have referred back to it several times. In fact, today I'm building trellises for the tomatoes and need to look at keeping out rabbits.

Sum It Up by Pat Summit--I've been a huge fan of Pat Summit, the former coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team, for 20+ years. In fact I've had the opportunity to meet her several times and even talked with her in her office after a basketball practice session I took a team to watch. About 2 years ago she was diagnosed with early onset dementia. This book chronicles her life including the diagnosis and treatment plans with many comments from family members and former players from her teams. Loved the book!!! My friend Jayne gave me this book as a gift when she came for spring break. She said when she bought it the clerk asked if she'd want a gift receipt. Jayne said no that her friend would never return the book. When the clerk knew it was a gift she asked if Jayne wanted it gift wrapped. Jayne's reply: "No, I haven't read it yet!"

Calico Joe by John Grisham--I love Grisham books. This is a baseball theme which was ok but I prefer his legal books better.

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp. This was a quite popular book a year or so ago and I'm only now reading it. It's about recognizing the small things in life for which to be thankful. The author has different writing style that I'm not sure I like but I continue reading.

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young--Mom gave me this book when she was here. I'm really enjoying reading the short daily devotional readings.

What are the Klopfensteins reading lately?

NICE EVENING IN JACKSONVILLE

On our last night in Jacksonville, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Fionn MacCool's, an Irish Pub along the St. John's River. We ate outside, watched a few boats coming and going, and enjoyed a delicious dinner. We walked along the boardwalk and watched the sunset. Here are a few pictures.

DAY AT ALLIGATOR FARM

Yesterday we took Nathan to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine. Below are a few pictures.

-hello from the endress family-

Hello to all our relatives!  We thought we'd just give a little update on our family since we don't get to see a lot of you very often!

Before Easter Program 

Heidi with one of our baby goats

"Aunt Liz" and Anderson

The most recent picture of all of us

Now for the update.  We're all doing pretty well and keeping pretty busy.  We've finished our homeschooling for now and are enjoying our break!  The most recent addition to our farm was some chicks.  They are growing fast and we are looking forward to getting eggs next fall.  We have gotten in a couple days of planting, and the men are anxiously waiting for the fields to dry out enough that they can get back in.

If you would like to keep up with our family, email us at bruceendress@gmail.com and we will send you an invite to our private family blog.

Hope everyone has a happy Mother's Day tomorrow!  We are planning on going to Gridley to be with the Perry Klopfenstein Family.

~the Endress'

(written by Sarah for Mom)

Mom and Dad Visit Pt. 2

Today we went to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the 10th day it was open. I was afraid it would be rather crowded but it was a rainy day so the crowd was manageable.

Mom and Dad outside the museum. If you watched the dedication on April 25 you will recognize this as the area of the stage and podium.

Here is some of the twisted metal from the Twin Towers from 9/11. It's a dark picture as no flash was allowed.

Does this look rather presidential and First Ladyish? Mom and Dad at the desk in a replica of the W. Oval Office.

Mom and Dad helping make a decision on what to do with Saddam Hussein after hearing snippets of advice from CIA, congress, the UN, the White House, etc.

With 41 and 43.

One item on my bucket list is to visit a presidential site for each president. Today I crossed W. off the list. Within a 3-hour drive or so I will be able to pick up 3 other sites to cross off as well. The museum is very well done, and we had a very enjoyable time today.