Windy Day in OHIO

Did we ever mention that the reason we love to travel in our motorhome was that if we did not like the weather; we would move.  That is not always true.  As we were enjoying a beautiful day at Pat's brother's house (Clyde and Rose's ) the sky got really dark and within seconds a 92 mile an hour wind hit us.  No time to run and hide, move the motor home or seek shelter.  Before we knew it a 150 year old tree deposited two of it very large branches on top of the motor home.  George was standing next to the motor home and only realized the tree was on the motor home when he looked up and saw the tree.  This storm covered an area from Fort Wayne, Ind to Washington DC.  Wow!  We were lucky and thanked God that no one was hurt, and damage was limited to the  motor home roof, slide out and slide out cover (to the best of our knowledge), a few trees and Clyde's roof.  Just a few minutes before the high winds, George ask Clyde if there was anything he could do to help him.  Now he does not have to ask ... Clyde's roof has extensive damage as well as many of his trees lost their branches.  We were without power for two days but Clyde has a generator and so do we.   We will be busy for a few days cleaning up and cutting wood.

 

Ouch!!!  Those branches are at least 15 inches in diameter!

That is a 30 foot drop for those branches!

It took us a day and half to get the branches off the motorhome and it was not easy!!!  But as George said, "That is why we have insurance".  When he called our State Farm agent, she was the best!  They responded quickly and professionally, in short they have been great!  George said he will take back everything he has ever said about insurance companies...(not really but he should).

Let's talk about a better day!  Before going over to Clyde and Rose's, we drove down to Marysville and saw our friend of 50 plus years, Bobbi Wiley.  Although her schedule is very busy, she treated us like royality and took us to lunch before she had to go to work.  We know "work" is a four letter word and this is a family blog but there are some people who still do that type of thing and it would appear that Bobbi actually likes it.  Go figure!!!  It is always great to spend time with her, she has not changed on bit from High School. 

 

Two great looking "young ladies"!!!

The next two pictures are posted here for no reason..... just because! We enjoy them and hope you do also!  After our little adventure with the tree gods, looking at these two young guys' pictures sure brightened our day!! 

Kasey eating watermellon

Karsten eating watermellon

No matter the problems of the day, we think everyday is a blessing and our friends and family make life worth all the minor problems we might encounter.  Have a great summer -- we will continue our Ohio visit and report to you our adventures in the backyard!!!

Ohio

Our summer schedule of course has changed and we headed East and not West.  We left San Diego with great news, we got the monetary award we wanted but collection from the crooks is a way different matter as we have discovered the past few weeks.  The crooks that defrauded us have, get this --- one of them has a tax lien of over $425,000 , the other one has 8 tax liens from both the federal and state IRS.  OK, my question is why are they not in jail???  Didn't Al Capone go to jail for tax evasion?  Anyway, we are contacting another lawyer to see what recourse we have now!  We will see.

We are now in Ohio.  On our way east we stopped off to see Lenny and Mattie Gray in Illinois, we worked with them at Chanute AFB, in the 1980s.  They have not changed much and it was amazing how much our outlook on raising children and grandchildren are the same.  I guess most grandparents think the same way...you will always do for your grand kids because they are "grand"!  When we were raising our children, we were so busy with everyday life that we did not appreciate how fast our kids would grow up.  Now we do not want to miss a minute watching the grand kids explore, learn new things and grow.

Lennie and Mattie with Pat at the Red Lobster

We are not the only RVers in the family, Clyde and Rose, Charlie and Sharon (Pat's brothers and their wives) enjoying RVing and camping.  We joined them for a day in Indiana while they were camping and enjoying the outdoors living. 

Rose, Clyde and Pat relaxing by the camper

Sharon and Chas relaxing by their camper

It is always a must to relax with George's sister Patsy.  Of course it is also great to enjoy Patsy's great cooking, including Pot Pie (some call it dumplings) and her famous homemade noodles and fried chicken.  The only problem is George's brothers, Dick and Chuck also like Pot Pie and they were also invited for supper.  George thinks it is a challenge to see who can eat the most.  Needless to say - no leftovers after these boys sit down and eat.

Pat, Dick, Karen, Patsy, Bob, Paula and Chuck enjoying a Cannode favorite - Pot pie!

Patsy and Pat relaxing by the pool

Golf is always on the agenda when we are in Ohio and the weather could not have been better for a few rounds.

George can't believe Todd, George's nephew hit the ball that far! 

There is something about the Kenton High School Class of 1965 that is special.  Whenever we are in town, there is a party!  You have to wonder if they just party all the time or do they just use the excuse that a classmate is in town.

Can you believe that these people were ever in High School?  They have gray hair!

Good friends, Bobbi and Jim sharing a laugh...but who are laughing at?

The classmates of KSHS Class of 1965 - Steve Merchant (the organizer), George, Jane Case (all the way from Columbus), Mike Boyle (still the tallest), Bobbi Wiley (drove down from Marysville), Jim Davis, Jerry Dick, Doug Williams (always tanned)...it is amazing to us that although we graduated a few years back (47 years ago) these friends never forget and when together they always make you feel like you never left.

We debated if we should come back to Ohio this summer but spending time with family and friends makes it very worthwhile.  We are enjoying our stay at George's brother's house.  There is golf almost everyday, motor scooter riding, morning walks and great food.  Life is good!  We will be traveling over to Pat's brother's house next week.  We will be helping Pat's brother, Clyde with a habitat house hopefully starting next week.  We also plan to travel to Pennsylvania and Virginia later this summer but for now we are enjoying old friends and family in Kenton, Ohio-- it doesn't get much better than this!!!!