Pride Goeth Before - - -

A DEAD lawn.

Greg loves his yard. He fertilizes. He kills the dandelions. He mows (only AFTER it rains) with the blade set high. He never mows if it is dry.

Usually his lawn is the envy of the neighborhood. People have STOPPED in front of our house to ask what he does to keep his lawn so green. Once the professional lawn care guy who was working on the neighbor's yard asked him how he kept it so green, said Greg was ruining his reputation since our lawn was so much greener than the rest of the neighborhood.

Well no more - - -


This is how our lawn looks today!!!

Earlier in the summer Greg decided to wage war on the ONE weed in his lawn that he couldn't seem to get rid of - - - - CRAB GRASS. So, he sprayed the lawn with a product that claimed to kill ONLY crab grass. I asked him how the herbicide was going to know crab grass from the more desirable kind - - - - I was ignored.

After weeks of no rain, we thought our yard, like ALL the yards in Marion was brown because it needed water. BUT - - - the rain came and we still have a brown lawn. Actually, if you look closely you will see it isn't quite ALL brown - - - there's a LITTLE green in there - - - -

Look closely - - -

Look VERY closely - - -

Do you see it??? - - -



Do you recognize this small green patch?



Or this one???



Or how about this one???

Do you know what they are? These tiny patches of green in our otherwise dead lawn?

CRAB GRASS!!!!!



The neighbor's yards are green again.


Even the empty lot across the street is green again, and it gets NO CARE except an occasional mowing with a tractor!!!

NO ONE is jealous of our grass any more.

Hmmmmm - - - I wonder if there could POSSIBLY be a lesson in here somewhere?!?

We're Goin' To The Chapel - - -

And we're gonna get married!!!

Ross and Christie Owen


Ross and Christie are presented at their reception


"We did it!!! We got married!!!"


What's next?!?


First Dance - - -


As Mr. and Mrs. Ross Owen


Ross dances with - - -


His mom

Family Photos - - -

Proud parents of the groom, and our good friends - - - Mike and Diane.


Keaton and Connor, brothers of the groom - AND best men.


Cousins - - - Conner, Andy, and Keaton.


Waitin' for the fun to begin. (Ooops - - - he's not family, how did HE sneak in here?!?)


Keaton and Ashley


Someone's pretty happy this knot is tied!!! (And someone ELSE is clueless! - - - typical!)


Grandpa Bob and Grandma Vera on the dance floor!

Greg and Keetha - - -

At the wedding.

There is a reason why this picture is cropped so closely - - -


And it's the SAME reason why we are laughing in this one - - - - it's all the fault of that ornery Gregory Farrell Snot Broyles!!! :-)


Dancin' with my hubby. I use the term dancing very, very, very loosely!!

(Look how WHITE my teeth are getting!!! Thanks to returning to the dentist after ten years!!!)


Demonstrating to Diane how to use my camera. (Notice how I said "my" camera - - - Greg bought it, now I'm about the only one who uses it!!! - - - That's what blogging will do for ya!)

Lakeview, Past and Present, at the Wedding - - -

Korie Broyles and Chris Lance


Stephen Briles and Katie Blinn


Keaton, Kyle, and Conner.


Jody Tyner, Wade Brankle, and Andy Briles - - - groomsmen all.

Korie Dancin' With Her Daddy - - -

Greg invited his baby girl out on the dance floor. Awwwww, so sweet!!!


Our Korie is - - -


Quite the little dancer!!


And her daddy - - -


Thinks he is!!! ;-)


How low can you go? These still shots just can't show how FUNNY this was!!


Korie stops for a "laugh-at-dad" break.

Fun times!

My Blogging Blues - - -

Blew away!!!

OK, so I was sitting on the couch a little while ago, watching a Big Ten football preview show when suddenly out of the south west a HUGE gale of wind struck the corner of our house - - - the corner I was facing. One GLANCE out the window curdled my blood, so I RAN to the laundry room and crouched on the floor, still eating my pepper-jack cheese. In a moment I heard hail trying to come through the front door, which terrified me even more and I ran for the pantry where I sat shaking in a heap.

What was Greg doing during all of this??? Standing at the front door windows looking south west toward the storm, of course.

In a minute or less it was all over.

I came out of hiding and here is a BIT of what I saw - - -


MY wicker furniture blew from my front porch into the yard between our house and the neighbors. Notice in the background the downed tree. You can't really tell in this picture, but the dark end of the tree is where it was uprooted with the dirt still clinging to it. (The white spots are raindrops on the camera lens, not ghosts!!)


Better angle of my poor abused wicker.


Here's what's left of our lovely shade tree. (It was actually on the golf course, but shaded our yard in the morning.) When this is cleaned up, the view from our deck is going to be rather empty and sad.


This is the edge of that big downed shade tree. Notice all the debris is going away in a semi-straight path. ALL the downed trees are in that same general line, all pointing at each other. Because of that, we think it must have been a small twister which touched down about 30 feet to the east of our house.


The trunk on the left is that same lovely shade tree, but the "spike" behind and beyond it is another tree snapped off on the golf course. We think there are between ten and twenty trees down on the course. Glad that won't be MY clean-up bill!!! Greg's glad that a few of them went, they were always jumping right in front of his golf shots.


Snapped off and pointing at the sky!!!

I missed the whole Big Ten football preview show!!! Shed a little tear for me! ;-)

After Weeks - - -

Of being on vacation and then quite ill, my friend Tom Kinnan is back and posting his weekly devotional thoughts again. This week's is especially good - - - perhaps you'll want to check it out at www.thomaskinnan.blogspot.com.

Enjoy.

Nothing New

I have nothing new under the sun about which to blog!! Hopefully a creative idea will hit me soon and I'll be back in the blogging saddle again - - - -

Sometime Today - - -

One of you gave my blog it's 10,000th hit since October.

Thanks!!!

Back In The - - -

Again!!!

Check This Out - - -

My friends Brian and Jaye have started a new blog. I love it - - - see what you think!!!

Brian and Jaye at Teen Camp in 1986!!! How cool is this - - - they are Teen Camp sweethearts!!!! Check out those dress clothes - - - yes, we USED to dress up at camp. Those were the days - - - -


And here they are in 2007 with their family, all except little Joseph who wasn't with them when this picture was taken.

Silly me, I don't know how to make a link so here you go:

www.brianandjaye.blogspot.com

When you find them, leave them a comment and let them know you found them here. :-)

Kaeleigh and Macky Go Camping - - -

Our daughter Keri and her husband Jason are giving their home a major face-lift makeover. New floors, paint, new doors, etc. So, while the dust was a flyin', the nails were a poundin', and the paint was a dryin' - - -


Kaeleigh and Mackinley went camping at Ouabache with Papoo and Kamma.


Mackinley with his five fine frogs.


Classic Kaeleigh pose. (Isn't she the prettiest little thing!?!)


Watchin' a movie (in the air conditioned camper) with Papoo


Sitting in the new "animal" chairs.


Kaeleigh high kickin' and whistlin'


Meanwhile back at home, a new kitchen was installed!!!