NANA IS.....

"Back Home Again, in Indiana." And so is Papaw. We made it home today at about 1:00 p.m. I need to organize some pictures and get some of my thoughts in order before I start telling you, my dear readers, about the wicked awesomeness of our cross-country-and-back trip. (Just so's ya kno.....it's gunna be a while afore I gets me sum pitchers posted. I'be gots me over 700 pitchers to chooze fum. An I habn't found 'em all yit.)

NANA IS GOING.....

on vacation to see the FAR granddaughters!! Papaw and I are leaving at 5:00 a.m. Saturday to drive to Washington state to see these cuties! We'll be back on Monday, Sept. 1 with lots of pictures and tales to tell, I'm sure. For right now, tho, I'm busy doing all the last minute things I need to get done as well as starting to pack. No more posting until September unless something really, REALLY blog-worthy happens between now and Friday night.

THEY'VE POSTED.....

new info about the 2nd Annual Willie Walton Memorial weekend on the 1150 Riders' website (http://www.1150riders.com/). Please check it out and pass the information on to anyone you think would be interested! Thanks!!

Willie and Tylie Walton - October 2005

..........

more cat pictures

THIS IS FOR SHANNON.....

I listened to this new song from Rick Springfield and it took me back a few years.....about 25, most likely. I just sat there and smiled the whole time. What a great time in our lives to remember. How old is he now? I'm pretty sure he probably dyes his hair; but, he's still kinda cute. :-)

HERE WE GO.....

2nd Annual Willie Walton

Memorial Cookout & Ride

Come See The Indiana State Police Alliance

Orange County Chopper

on display and up for Raffle at the cookout and

before the ride!!!

Cookout - 5 p.m., Sat. Sept. 6 at the American Legion County Club in Loogootee

Live Music!

Family Fun - Scavenger Hunt, Bubble Gum Race, Face Painting

Raffle

50/50 Drawing (will be drawn before ride starts)

Ride - 9 a.m., Sun. Sept. 7 at Bo-Mac's in Shoals - Sign up starts at 7 a.m.

Ride with the 1150 Riders & see beautiful southern Indiana

Questions or Info

http://www.1150riders.com/

Jason Tinkle/296-7284 Danny Tow/247-2059

Brady Showalter/486-7660 Dustin Greene/709-1356

The raffle for the Indiana State Police Alliance motorcycle is

separate from any fundraisers sponsored by the 1150 Riders

All funds raised by the 1150 Riders will be deposited in a College Choice Fund

for the benefit of Tylie Walton,

Willie's daughter.

OH, MAN.....

I have such an awesome name for a blog. Well, it would be awesome if the writer lived in rural southwestern Indiana. But I can't change mine as I really AM a "Nana, near and far....." and that's kinda MOSTLY what my blog's about. Bein' that nana. BUT.....if I were to get ambitious enuff to start a new blog, I'd call it "Horse Manure on the Highway" and it would be all about life in this rural area of Indiana. OK.....I call dibs on "Horse Manure on the Highway." I may make some notes and start me a NEW blog......EEEEEEEEEEK!

..... :-) .....

to us.

SOME OF THESE ARE.....

TOOOOOOOOOOOO funny. Check them out! LOL

http://totallylookslike.com/

WELL, THIS IS JUST.....

too awesome for words. Read on.....

AMAZING STRIPED ICEBERGS

Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea.

PLEASE WELCOME.....

MAXINE

OH, MY GOODNESS.....(again!)

I just opened e-mail and got these pictures. The first ones from Washington. I had to share. They're awesome pictures!! They're at the rock beach on Birch Bay very near where they live.

KRISTIN

HANNAH

ELLIE

I JUST HAVE TO .....

put this picture on here that I took Sunday evening. Tony and I were coming back from eating supper and we had Tylie with us. Tony and Ty loitered on the sidewalk and I rushed in to get the camera. When I came back out, Ty was shouting, "TAKE A PITCHER, TAKE A PITCHER".....so I did.....lol Seriously, tho.....is this not awesome? Naturally, the "pitcher" doesn't do it justice.

I HAVE A COUPLE OF.....

new pictures of the ISP Alliance motorcycle and a blurb about what they were doing. For anyone who can't tell, they are at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"These are a couple of pics of our bike and the Toyota. The bike will be leading the parade lap for the Brickyard 400 next Sunday (July 27). We wanted to do a shake down run; so, Wednesday evening we got to go to the track after hours and do some testing and take a lot of pics and video. They actually put us on the track and said "see ya later and lock the gate when you leave." We spent two hours on the track having a blast. We are producing a 75th anniversary video and the producer was with us taping most of what we did. We had the Alliance bike, the Tundra, three State Police motorcycles and a State Police car. These pics are taken at the start/finish line. You can actually see part of the famous yard of bricks."

I PROMISED.....

this post a long time ago and have been waiting for the best time to put it on here. It could turn into a long one so you might want to take a potty break (be sure and wash your hands after) and get a snack and a beverage. It's an interesting tale and there will be pictures later on.


The story started well over a year ago. I got a call from my brother, Wayne, the Indiana State Trooper, one day. He was, at the time, in line to be the president of the Indiana State Police Alliance in 2008; AND, 2008 was going to be the 75th anniversary of the Indiana State Police. He had a wild idea for a way to celebrate the anniversary. He wrote an e-mail to OCC (yes, THAT OCC..... http://orangecountychoppers.com/ ) and suggested that they build a motorcycle for the Alliance to raffle.

He kind of forgot about it, figured he'd never hear a word back, after that; but, what do you know, they e-mailed him back with some interest in the project. After some back-and-forth, they came to an agreement that Orange County Choppers would build a motorcycle for the Indiana State Police Alliance. It would not, however, get to be on one of their televised shows.

Well, the motorcycle was finished early this year and Wayne went to New York to pick it up. The Alliance has made plans to travel around the state with it this summer to various county fairs and festivals. You can check out a schedule and also find out a little about the Alliance here: http://indianasfinest.com/Motorcycle.php

Toyota has generously offered the use of a Tundra pick-up truck for the summer to pull the trailer in which the motorcycle is moved around the state.

Now, here's the REALLY exciting part. If you read my earlier posts, you know about our son being killed last summer in a motorcycle accident and the fundraising weekend that his motorcycle pals put on to raise money for his daughter's college education. ( I can't thank those folks enough for what they've already done for Tylie. God bless 'em!) The pals are putting on another weekend this year on the first weekend in September. The State Police Alliance is going to have the OCC motorcycle there that weekend! Please visit the 1150 Riders' website (the link is over on the righthand side here) to keep current with exactly when and where the weekend will be. And please come and see us that weekend if you can. There will be food and entertainment on Saturday, I'm told, and a ride on Sunday. If you know anyone who rides a motorcycle, let them know about it.

CHECK OUT MY SLIDE SHOW!.....

THIS IS TY.....

enjoying herself, her elephant ear and the music at the county fair last Sunday night.

I'VE BECOME OBSESSED.....

with the movie "Hairspray" (the musical.....not the first one). Here's the official movie trailer for it. It came out last summer; and, yes, that's John Travolta playing the part of a woman. (I thought he did a rather good job, myself.)

I think the whole movie is very entertaining and the music and dancing are awesome. Another one of those Broadway plays made into a movie that I'd love to see ON Broadway. Oh, well.....one of these days, maybe *shrugs*.

(Turn your speakers on and click on the triangle.)

Now, I wasn't quite as old as those teenagers in 1962; but, I WAS old enough that I couldn't wait to BE that old. I was 10 and counting the YEARS until I could drive.....lol.....and the really scary part is that I remember the hairdos, ratted with headbands and those dopey little clip-on, fake suede bows, and clothing styles, sailor blouses and pleated, plaid skirts and dresses. I think that's part of the charm of the movie for me.

I WONDER.....

why, when we change our clocks in the spring and fall, we are, technically, supposed to do it at 2:00 a.m. Who is up at that time? Why not 10:00 the night before or 6:00 the next morning? Why 2:00 a.m.???

ELLIE'S FIRST.....

video seemed to be a crowd-pleaser. Here's another.

I THINK SHE LOOKS.....

a tad peeved. What do you think???

LAUGH, ELLIE, LAUGH.....

I WONDER.....

why do baseball coaches wear uniforms just like the players but basketball coaches don't and football coaches don't and soccer coaches don't and swimming coaches don't?

I WAS SO INTRIGUED.....

by the prairie dogs in Borger. A prairie dog, basically, looks like a giant chipmunk. As a matter of fact, when I showed these pictures to Tylie the other day, that's exactly what she called them. Anyway, they were cute to watch and fairly cooperative when I tried to take their pictures. In the next to the last picture, it looks like a momma and a baby. I took that photo and turned my head. When I looked back, there were TWO babies. So, I took another picture.

UPDATE: I just remembered.....my dad's "handle" was Prairie Dog back when CB radios were all the rage and everyone, not just the semi drivers, had one in their vehicle. Some people (my father-in-law) even had one in their home. Actually, when you think about it, they were the equivalent of cell phones today. Everybody had one and they were always talking to someone on it. Only, you couldn't talk to anyone anywhere in the world who had one; you had to talk to someone who was within the "range" (usually 5-10 miles, or so, I think) of your radio. (Yes, I had one, too. My handle was Movie Star because I wore big sunglasses.)

THE 1150 RIDERS' WEBSITE.....

has been updated. Please check it out. Scroll up on the right for the link.

(For those of you who don't know the story.....our son, Willie, was a member of the 1150 Riders, a very informal group of people who love to ride motorcycles. They were his very best and closest friends. Willie was killed in a motorcycle accident on June 9, 2007 just 4 days after his 28th birthday. He was married and had a little girl, Tylie. Tylie was 2 in August after Willie was killed. His motorcycle buddies wanted so badly to do something, ANYthing, for us after Willie died. They got together and decided to raise some money to put toward Tylie's college education. They were hoping to raise a couple thousand dollars. They raised over $5,800 and started her college fund with that. At that time, they said they were going to do some sort of fund raiser every summer until she went to college. These friends of Willie's worked tirelessly to make that weekend a success. And it was a HUGE success. We have thanked them over and over and it still isn't enough. We are going to make sure that Tylie always knows what they have done for her and, more importantly, WHY they have done it. It is the way that Willie's friends are demonstrating their great love for him. I've put this picture on here before, but I'm going to do it again. These folks deserve all the recognition that I can give them. God bless them all.)

The 1150 Riders and Tylie.

WELL, I CERTAINLY CAN'T.....

put pictures of just three on here. I've got four, so.....here's the other one. Tylie doing a not-too-bad job of coloring.

I'VE BEEN REVIEWING.....

all my photos from the last trip to Borger in anticipation of posting some along with the amusing captions I always manage to come up with. (Incorrect grammar.....I know) There are just too many and the girls are just too cute. Pffffft.....maybe I'll just put 'em all on here. Here are some teasers....

Kristin posing outside Sonic the day I took her to breakfast and then shopping.

Hannah with her lopsided "Flick" smile when I took her to lunch at McD's and then shopping.

And the baby.....Ellie.....this picture speaks for itself. Am I lucky or what??? :-) GBNG (Great Big Nana Grin)

FORGIVE MY ABSENCE.....

I haven't felt very bloggish the last week. I'll be back soon, tho. In the meantime, you can check out some of the blogs and websites I like to look at. There's a list on the right. Scroll down. (errrr.....scroll up)

I LEARNED A FEW THINGS.....

from the two older granchilluns during the past week.

1. I look fat. (true)
2. Hannah is allergic to whipped cream. (not true)
3. "Shush" sounds like "sh*t". (true.....but only if you're 3 1/2 years old)
4. My butt is too big for the potty. (not true) (OK.....perhaps I DO lop over a bit, but the important parts are where they're supposed to be.)
5. The words "I love you, Nana" make my ears happy. (TRUE!)

I HAD AN IDEA FOR A POST.....

about feet back before I went to Texas. Now I can't remember what I was going to say. I need to start writing this stuff down.