Trisa Has Another Birthday!

This week Trisa turned 34! Thursday was her big day and we celebrated briefly by enjoying some of the carrot cake that her neighbor made for her. It was huge! 3 layers covered by cream cheese frosting which was coated with nuts and then decorated on the top with more frosting! Beautiful!
But the real celebration was on Saturday when more of our friends could all get together. First we went to her house for a BBQ of steaks on the grill along with come cheesy mac and corn, baked potatoes and brownies or cake, whichever people preferred. Then we were off to a local bar called The Ozone. There we enjoyed music from a band that is called Taxi Driver. They were very good! We heard music from many eras and styles--from the 50's to today. (If you check out their web site and click on Play list, you'll see just how much variety they have!) We had never heard them before. We all danced at one time or another. 12 people total ended up going out in our group for the evening. I had my camera but only had a few pictures to show for it. I never got a picture of all the men but I do have one of the important people, the women! ;)

Front: Trisa, Me, Dee. Back: Tammy, Tracey and Lisa
Trisa with a former coworker

Fun and Games

This weekend I had relatives come to town for a baseball tournament. They are from Wichita, KS, where I was for the wedding last weekend. Did you read this? My cousin Willie Kihle and his 14 year old son, Danny, were in town. It was Willie's niece Sandi that got married. They stayed at my house instead of the glamorous hotel that they usually are at with the rest of their team.

They arrived in Omaha in time for them to get to his first game on Friday. They did that while I played volleyball. We all met back at my house after all our activities were done. Then on Saturday morning, I woke up early and started preparing some breakfast. I made an Egg Bake. It consists of hash browns in the bottom of the pan smothered with butter. After baking that for awhile, you then add any meat and any vegetable that you desire. I chose cubed ham, red and green peppers, onions and a combo of Velveeta and American shredded cheeses. It's then topped off with eggs and milk that has been mixed together. Bake again for about 1/2 hour and voila! Breakfast is served!

Prior to Danny's games, we had most of Saturday to do some shopping. We went to Cabela's and Scheel's All Sports. After that we ate a late lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Then it was off to the ball park. I used Willie's camera and took roughly 100 photos. Danny is a very talented pitcher. And when not on the mound he covers center field.

The wind up....
Waiting on the pitch...


He made the first run in this game..
The pitch....notice the ball right over the sign on the fence..

Waiting for some action

Danny and his Dad....Willie.


The sky after the threat of a thunderstorm

Today we awoke early and found the sky had darkened and within minutes another thunderstorm that Omaha didn't need had rolled in with pea size hail and lightening. Once again I had a little water coming in by my window that had broken. During this storm, Willie received a call that all the games for the day had been cancelled. We were already seeing blue skies towards the west. It was very disappointing to say the least that they weren't giving the weather a chance to pass. And it did. The sun came out and by 9:30 it had cleared out. Someone had jumped the gun and cancelled the final day of games for the tournament....games that would have determined the champion team. Danny's team went home with a 4-0 record for this tournament. The team they would have played at noon today was incidentally from Omaha. It sure would have been fun to watch a couple more games.

While the storm was going on, I decided to make some carmel rolls. After they were done baking, we decided to go for breakfast at The Cracker Barrel. Then it was back home to enjoy the rolls for a little dessert!

Willie and Danny then got all their belongings packed and loaded into their vehicle and headed back to Wichita. It was great to see them and fun to have guests and even better to attend some baseball games...America's Sport.

The Great Tornado of '08

Never in my entire lifetime did I ever think I would actually "take part" (for lack of a better phrase) in a tornado let alone have my own property damaged from one.

I was in Wichita, KS (ironic how I was in the heart of "tornado alley") this past weekend for a wedding. During the early morning hours of Sunday, the 8TH of June, I was awakened by 2 phone calls from 2 of my friends. They were calling to check on me. I had no idea why. They had forgotten that I was out of town. They then proceeded to tell me that a tornado had struck right in my own neighborhood. I was in shock. I had planned on staying in Wichita a few more hours before beginning my short trek back to Omaha. After waiting a few more hours for reports of what kind of damage my own property had sustained, I decided I had better head for home to see for myself.

Once I had gotten on the road, I found out through numerous phone calls that I had quite a bit of damage to my own house and yard. But it didn't sound as bad as what others in Omaha had gone through. Some families lost the roofs to their homes. Consequently, they are unable to live in their houses. I'm very fortunate to still have a house. Amazingly enough, no one was hurt nor killed.

After arriving home and having to show ID just to get to my street, ( there were many people out driving around just to see what they could, having no business in the area) I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing. My huge tree gone, half of the front of my house covered by a tree and my roof missing most of the shingles....just to name a few of the things that instantly stuck into my mind. There were people all around......literally. They were already on my driveway with chainsaws in hand preparing to cut up the tree blocking my garage. They came from nowhere yet no one cared who they were helping or what needed to be done. They just set to work and everyone helped anyone that needed it. We carried limb after limb, shingle after shingle, fence post after fence post, branch after branch, etc., to the curb and started making piles that would now be considered garbage. The city of Omaha appeared with front-end loaders and dump trucks and began the slow process of removing all the debris. Keep in mind that this was a Sunday.

Here is a brief run down on the damage my house received:

• Several shingles gone and some down to the wood rooftop
• Gutters and downspouts damaged or missing
• Facia missing or damaged
• Several holes in my vinyl siding of which one of them still has something sticking out from it way up high
• A shattered window pane
• Most of my fence gone....just gone
• My big, beautiful tree....gone
• My A/C unit tipped over...resulting in bent copper tubing and wires getting pulled out from the compressor. It was repaired in a couple days.
• Interior water damage in a bedroom on the ceiling
• Interior water damage in my formal living room on the ceiling
• A wind chime slightly damaged on the back side of the house

I remember seeing people carrying food and offering it to whomever would eat. The Red Cross was out with water, Lowe's Home Improvement Center came driving down the street giving out free decking used on roof tops and large brand new tarps to be used to help cover holes or whatever they were needed for.

The sky was still very overcast and at one point it started to mist on us again. No one paid any attention to it. We all just kept plugging away at all the work still needing to be done to try and get each yard back into some state of normalcy. Clothing and shoes became wet and muddy, hair was mussed and damp, chain saws could be heard for blocks around, trucks and loaders were everywhere the eye looked, piles along the curbs grew in height yet no one slowed down. Through all the organized chaos, the street slowly started showing signs of "it's all we can do here for now" progress. Along with the tree having fallen from his yard, my neighbor had a hole in his roof so he had people making a temporary patch to keep future rains from getting in. I asked if they could do the same for me and they were kind enough to oblige.

I remember seeing channel 7 in my driveway, channel 3 in my back yard and the Omaha World Herald appeared on my driveway and was talking to myself and a friend from my work that had come over to help with cleanup. The newspaper representative was trying to figure out just what path the tornado had taken. (click on the article to read it)

Here are some pictures that might help you understand just what took place on my street.

What I first saw upon arriving home from out of town...my house.

The street light was even compromised from the tornado
The main damage was shingle-removal
My neighbor's truck without the tree!

What's left of my own fence
Shingles and paper ripped off causing interior water damage
A small part of the gutter and downspout damage
The spot where my neighbor's tree once stood, the tree that landed up against my house.
The spot where my tree used to stand

One pile of debris on one side of my driveway
The other pile of debris on the other side of my driveway
A window pane that was shattered
Beginning the removal of my tree from my neighbor's truck
My neighbor's tree that landed against my house

I happened to be off from work the following day and set about trying to clean up my yard a little bit further from what had been accomplished the prior day. I was able to get all the grass raked. The lawn was over-due for mowing and I didn't want anything laying on the grass any longer than it had to in the event the wind decided to howl once again. My neighbor's and I managed to get all the fence post cut down and the rest of the tattered fence lines pulled out to the curb. While cleaning up my neighbors yard, a lady that lives down the street came walking up with 3 pans of goodies in hand and said being she didn't know what else to do to help, she was good at baking and brought 3 different kinds of bars to whomever would like them. I distributed them to my two neighbors and kept one for myself. I'm still amazed at the generosity and kindness shown by perfect strangers in these difficult times. And the way people can come together in times of need is unbelievable. ;)

I have since had several companies over to give estimates of damages for insurance. The adjuster will be arriving in the next several days.

I just want to thank everyone that has phoned and stopped by to see what they can do to help. You'll never know what it means to know that I have people I can count on when I need it. I'm more thankful than you will ever know. God Bless You.....

Wedding Bells

Today I traveled to Wichita, KS to attend the wedding of my cousin Joanne's daughter, Sandi. She married Matthew Murphy. I was so happy to be able to go. It's always great to see extended family. She was so beautiful and everything was perfect.
The bride was given away by her father, Paul and the Best Man was the groom's own father, Martin.
The reception and dance were held in the church's atrium. It was very elegantly decorated in colors of black, white and red. Roses were the flower of choice and all the bouquets were made by Joanne with some help from her own friends. A brief slide show was presented during the ceremony after the lighting of the unity candle. Some of Sandi's pictures I actually remember seeing before even though we've lived so many miles apart. I had so many pictures to chose from so it was difficult for me to pick which ones to include in my writing.

The church with it's beautiful candles and simple bouquets made it a beautiful wedding.

Paul and Sandi

Joanne and Paul

Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Murphy

Paul dancing with his oldest daughter, Kari and Joanne dancing with Kari's fiance`, Justin.

The toast

Ronnie, Joanne's older brother, Joanne, Paul and Ronnie's wife, Laurie.

Adeline and Duane....My Mom's sister and her husband. (Joanne's Mom and Dad)

Adeline and Ronnie cuttin' a rug!

Kari and Justin....getting married August 1ST

One of the two buffet tables prior to all the food being brought out.

Tyler...Sondie's son,Willie next to him, Duane facing the camera, pastor Gene Carlson, Sondi...Willie's wife, Laurie...Ronnie's wife, Rachel....Ron and Laurie's daughter, and Adeline.

The food was all prepared by Joanne and her friends. They served meatballs, pigs in a blanket, deli meat wrapped around pickles, vegetables and dips, rolls with meat and cheese, chips and dips, strawberries, grapes, melon, home made mints, peanuts, punch, tea, coffee and water, and of course, the wedding cake which was prepared by a local cake store. It all tasted wonderful. But poor Joanne will be doing it all over again. Her oldest daughter gets married on August 1ST. Round #2! I'll be taking a whole new round of photos.....and I can't wait!

After taking a week of vacation to British Columbia, the couple will return to North Carolina as Matt has to return to work. Congratulations Matt and Sandi!

A Lazy Shady Day

Today, I was outside and mowed my lawn. The day started out humid and the forecast was for thunderstorms in the afternoon. So after picking up tree branches and twigs, I cut the grass. It was so thick and a little bit wet from a brief shower earlier in the day. In the heat of the day, the big tree in my front yard, a Linden, provides a great lounging area to get out of the sun! The grass is nice to sit on as well. No clumps or stickers. But as you can see, the area directly in front of my porch is still bare and in need of attention. That area will look good if the landscapers ever arrive! (click the photo to see the porch area closer.)

I'm still waiting (and not with much patience anymore) for the landscapers to redo the landscape. My lawn is fine. Great, in fact. But there will be new floral plants and new shrubs, etc., put in if they ever get here! (Do you sense the frustration yet?) And before you wonder, yes. I've called them. The next call won't be so friendly.......

I also have new flowers to put in along with the new plants once they complete their job. I've potted a lot of flowers already. The others still sit in the packs that I purchased them in. Soon I'll have to pot them too, if I don't see something accomplished!

Early stages of growth...

So for now....I'll just have to look at my new flowers. Later in the summer, I'll show you how they have all flourished!

Dee and Chris to Tie the Knot!

It's about time!!!!

Two years ago Dee and Chris started officially dating. Last year at the end of May, they moved into a house. This year, they got engaged!

Congratulations to Dee and Chris! Chris popped the question this past week. They had been out ring shopping months ago and had a ring picked out. But Dee was unaware of what Chris was planning. Honestly, I think Chris had just figured it out a day or two prior the the actual event!

The big day is planned for September 6, 2008. It will be simple yet elegant. Only close friends and relatives will be in attendance. I'll include photos of the two of them. Strangely enough, I don't have one of them together. So I'll improvise.....

Me and Dee last summer....

Chris is 2ND from the right.

The planning has already begun. The wedding dress has been purchased, the photographer reserved, the location picked out and reserved as well. Now only the little details need to be worked out. I can't wait! A fall wedding....a wonderful event at a beautiful time of year in Nebraska.