Earth Day Honored

Mowing season is upon us once again. And it just so happened to occur yesterday, the day before Earth Day! My grass is very plush and nice to walk on with bare feet. It was a little bit over due for a trim. I believe all the bunnies were beginning to think that they lived in a little forest! I couldn't let it go another day.

After arriving home from work, I dug out the mower, changed the ebony colored oil (very dirty!) and filled the bone-dry tank with gas and set about my task. I was reminded once again why I love to be outside! The plush feel of the freshly mown grass under feet made me think of the tree that I used to have. I would sometimes sit on the ground underneath it after mowing and just enjoy the scents that came with the fresh cut grass.
After I was done, I noticed that several neighbors followed suit or had already just cut their own yards earlier in the day. It was a domino effect. Even the yards in the cul-de-sac had a new trim before the day was over.

Once that was complete, I found some flower bulbs and planted them next to the garage wall. My landscaped area with mulch had served as a warm bed for the rabbits during the winter months. Seeing the up-turned mulch of their temporary nests from their evening snuggles gave me an idea. Why not freshen up the look of the mulch by cultivating it as if it were soil? I used my little 3 tined cultivator, similar to this one, and dug around in the mulch enough to mix it up and make it look brand new! I couldn't believe the transformation. The once flat mulch now had a fluffy, almost new look to it!

The grass and mulch with a fresh look.

The lilac with fresh leaves beginning to grow. On the left is the start (barely showing) of my Hosta that was eaten down to nothing by the rabbits last year.....grr!!

The perennials, Day Lillies and Salvia plants are looking great.

Also, I hung out some house decor such as my wind chimes. I love the fact that this time of year is here! Hopefully I'll have a new deck this year too. Last year I had to put that project on the back burner due to other repairs that were needed after the tornado. And no, the deck held up nicely during the tornado! The one thing that I would have loved to see be disintegrated was barely marred! Go figure! Stay tuned for news on that....Happy Earth Day!

On the Fly

This past Thursday, I flew to Dallas, TX for a semi-work function. I'm part of our local Southwest Airlines Culture Committee in the Omaha station. I'll explain that in a minute. Anyhow, an annual meeting is held at our Headquarters for all station representatives every spring. I've been there for one before but it's been several years. So this year I went again. I've been the treasurer for our CC for approximately 9 or 10 years.

The hotel that we stayed at is the Wyndham Dallas Love Field. It's a beautiful hotel with huge rooms. I didn't have a roommate but I still ended up in a room with 2 queen beds. If you look at the link, go to the photos and get to the pictures of rooms with 2 beds, that's exactly what my room looked like. Marble counters, flat panel TV, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, ironing board, double closet, Internet hookup with a comfortable desk and chair. Very fancy! I remember being at the same hotel last time. It's very close to the airport so it was convenient as well. The exterior photo has a SWA plane up near the top......how appropriate!

Thursday night was an evening of fun that was dedicated to each of us as representatives.

The band for our party....The Texas Gypsies

Back in our stations, we are the ones planning the parties, organizing fund raisers, etc. So this night was for each of us! A band was booked to play for the evening. They were an acoustic swing group called The Texas Gypsies. I thought they were very good. Give a listen for yourself. Check out their web site and click on 'listen' in the center of all the tab choices. It brings up a menu with several choices of samples. It's swing music that they play Texas style.

The member in the center of my photo switched instruments; he played the clarinet, the alto saxophone and the trumpet. It was very fun to listen to the upright bass player as well. It added the bass sounds that are so important in swing music.

After our night of fun, food, drink and re-meeting several familiar faces, it was back to the hotel for the night for some well needed rest! I was able to speak to one of my relatives while in Dallas. Remember this wedding from last summer that I attended? Kari and Justin live in the Dallas area. But due to our conflicting activities, we were only able to chat on the phone. It was nice to hear from them!


The Culture Committee's main function is to basically try to give donations to different non-profit organizations. Our main focus is the Ronald McDonald House. But along with helping others, we also raise money for our own holiday parties. The annual meetings give us guidance on how to do things the proper way (legally) and also gives us new ideas on things we can do back in our own stations.

We were served breakfast before our meeting began. Then after the "welcome to Dallas" speech, we were honored to have our company President Gary Kelly, come to our meeting to speak. He is so laid back and genuine. It's fun to hear him. I've personally met him before a couple of times. He stuck around for about an hour. Then he was gone and we were back into our own topics of discussion.

It was a productive day with our meeting adjourning around 2:30 PM, after a couple breaks and lunch as well. We were all going home that afternoon but the weather in Dallas was acting up so many flights were delayed, including mine. Thunderstorms and lightning, wind and rain were all over the state. I arrived home about an hour and ten minutes later than scheduled. Not bad...

SWA Headquarters (on the left) and the main maintenance facility to the right. It faces the runways at Dallas Love Field. This was taken while sitting at the gate waiting to taxi out for take off. HQ is where we were for our meeting. (click on photo to get a better look...)

There Wasn't Much To "Sell-abrate" Tonight

Our very good friends will soon be leaving Omaha and moving to Las Vegas, NV. Now I know that you're probably thinking that it doesn't sound so bad to be going to Vegas! But anyone that knows the Sell family isn't too crazy about it. JB, Halli, Liberti and Glori are only here for another two weeks. JB is in the Air Force and has been transferred. It seems like we've only just really gotten to know them. At one time, they lived right next door to my good friend Trisa. She is the one that introduced them to all of us. They have been living in base housing only because they had thought at one time that they were going to be gone a few months ago.

But now the end is near. And we are not happy! They are so loved! The girls are so sweet and polite. Not to mention the fact that they love me! So we had a going away party for them. We wanted all of their friends to be able to see them before they leave. It was held at the Pizza Gourmet.

Halli has only recently become an advisor for Lia Sophia jewelry. She will take that business with her. She is also a very talented cake decorator. She has made some fun cakes for several occasions and previously worked at Sam's Club in the bakery.
They won't be alone after they arrive there. Halli's Mom is there so at least they have someone to be around that can help them get acquainted with their new surroundings.

Liberti, Me and Glori

No, Halli didn't make the cake this time! It's an ice cream cake...

Tammy, Trisa, Halli, Dee, Lisa and Me

Halli and Me

JB, Halli and the girls

Halli has told about how all the different times of moving around has kept them from getting to know others or meeting new friends. But here, we just sort of made them be our friends! (Hee Hee!) Now it's hard for them and us to see them leave. We will miss them terribly.....

We'll be in touch either by Facebook or email! (wow...times have certainly changed..!)

Another Season of Bowling Closes

Last night my women's bowling team met up at a local hot spot called Quaker Steak and Lube, which is in Council Bluffs, IA. It's just a hop, skip and a jump away from where we all live. The rest of our league was gathering at another restaurant but due to the expense of the choice of meals, we opted out of that and went out on our own. We've done it in the past so I'm sure the rest of them weren't surprised at our absence.

As it turns out, our team ended up in 5th place out of 16 total. That's the best we've ever done!

After collecting our team winnings, we met at the Quaker Steak and Lube to eat. It was a treat for me as I've never been there. Upon nearing the entrance, I noticed that the door handles were replicas of gasoline pump nozzles. But they were all silver with no colored grips attached. I was immediately impressed! (It looked kind of neat...) The atmosphere is quite breath taking if you happen to like older cars, motorcycles, etc. There are actual autos hoisted up in the air as if they will soon get a tune up. Not to mention all the pictures on the wall of various movies with cars, famous actors signatures and the like.
Having enjoyed too much food, we meandered over to Harrah's Horseshoe Casino that is only a few blocks away. Here we were able to walk off some of the excess calories!
Eventually we saw several other ladies from our league. They had been at the actual banquet and went their own ways, some ending up at the same casino as us! Even though no one walked away with any large amounts of cash, we had a nice relaxing evening. A fun girls night out! It won't be long before August rolls around and we'll begin our next season.