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We got a late start after a full day around the house.  We set up camp at 7 in the evening.  We were the only ones at the lake camping.  There were some fishermen down and around the corner, but they left before dark.  We ate and sat around for the evening, just relaxing.  I don't often just get to set and do nothing, but thanks to camping, I just sat and did nothing.   We went to bed early, about 10:30, and of course the dogs were sleeping between us.  Mini and Max really enjoy camping.  Mini takes it all in stride and does not get anxious, but Max has to be kennelled in the car.  When I sat the kennel in the hall before loading the car, Max went in and would not come out.  He knew we were going and he didn't want to get left behind.

I woke up about 6:00 and got up to take the dogs out for a stroll.  (We can't use the WALK word, because they know it and get all hyper).  We did a short stroll around the empty park.  They were content to lay in the sunshine before the heat hit. 

I went fishing, just about 20 feet from the camper.  I think the fish were waiting for me.  Before my line could straighten out, I would have a nibble.  I had taken worms from my flower beds and the fish were ready for them.  I fished most of the day, catching about 45 blue gill and crappie.  I even thru some of the smaller ones back,  assuming they didn't swallow the hooks.  I am not a real fisherman, but enjoy the suspense of a bobble in my cork.  It is amazing how relaxing, it is to watch the rings around my bobber and wonder if the fish is large enough to take the bobber under or if I should try to snag him when he runs with the hook.  During the heat of the afternoon, I fished deeper and they just kept biting.

But the most exciting event of the day was in the sky,  almost breath taking.  I heard a noise, unlike a low-flying airplane, but still in the sky.  I looked up and there was a STEALTH B-2 bomber, flying ever so slow, so it seemed.  It is awesome to think so much power is involved in one airplane.  If it was an enemy plane, my heart would have been in my throat.  As I think back, it was in my throat.  We were near Knob Noster Air Force Base where all the STEALTHs are located so I suppose it should not have been such a total surprise.  We have seen them several times at Chiefs games around Veteran's Day.  There is usually a fly-over and frequently it is a STEALTH.  They fly over our house while waiting for the proper time to fly over the stadium.  They seem to slice through the air, not making the sound of a jet or a prop plane, something entirely different, hard to explain.   Sinister is a word that would describe the sound.  Anyway the B-2 is a huge plane,  I guess I have seen the fighters more often and even saw one at an air show.  Of course, it was circled by Airmen and we could only observe at a distance.   My husband is a plane freak, that is airplane freak.  He was a private pilot, but because of the medicine he takes now, he can not fly.  That does not dim his enjoyment of any flying instrument.

We came home and I cleaned fish for about 1.5 hours.  Mostly I skinned them as scaling them is just too messy.  We ate them the following evening and I am sure my Lipitor got quite a workout, as I FRIED them.  To bad FRIED is such a dirty work to my health, because they tasted so good.   

I used to wonder why my Mother enjoyed fishing so much, maybe I am more like her than I realize.  I really started fishing to take my grandsons and granddaughter.  They live in such a cultured world.  I want them to enjoy nature. 

Their life seems so far from the way I lived in my childhood, the lifestyle is so different now.  They have soccer, baseball games, video games and dance routines and fancy dance costumes.  My favorite pastimes were a stick horse named Seabiscuit, riding in the wagon with my Granddad.  We lived with my Grandparents for a while and I loved it.  The barn, the horses and the cows were my prized memories, along with the smells.  My Grandad milked a Jersey cow for milk and cream.  The cat and kittens would line up for a squirt of milk.   We had a separator that allowed the cream to rise to the top and we drank the milk that drained out at the bottom.  Grandma had a Daisy churn and I was allowed to turn it until the butter chips formed and she would save the butter and we fed the leftover milk to the chicken, pigs and whoever ate at the feed trough.

My Granddad was my favorite person in the whole world.  He put up with me tagging along in my overalls.  We would go to the feed store and I got to pick out the feed sacks that would be my dresses in the fall.  I wore a lot of feed sack dresses.  My grandma sewed, embroidedry (sp) tatted, crocheted. mended and remended.  My Granddad always wore bib-overalls.  He lost 2 fingers on one of his hands in a sawing accident when he was much younger, but his hands where so strong.  It always amazed me that he could pick up so many eggs with that hand.  And I had 5 fingers and could only pick up 2 at a time.  And he could pluck a chicken so quickly .  Funny the things we remember.

My Grandfather was the oldest son of 13 children.  In the pictures I have, he was a handsome man, strong features and tall.  I can see why my grandmother married him.  I don't know if it was unusal for a man to be over 6 feet, but even when I knew him, stooped and bent with age, he still stood tall.  He smoked a pipe, Prince Albert was his brand of  tobacco and the smoke would swirl around his head.

He retired, sold the farm and moved to town and it broke my heart. but he only lived about 2 blocks from us and I walked past his house every day to go to school.   He stayed retired about 9 months, then he went to work in the local locker.  He just could not take sitting around doing nothing.  I can't tell you how old he was at the time he retired, but his hair was white.  He had a large garden in town and gave away lost of extras.  He worked at the locker for a long time and again I can't say how long it was, because time didn't mean anything to me.  After he was unable to work at the locker, he managed the local pool hall.  (I don't know if he couldn't stand to be around Grandma all day or what ever the reason was, he needed to work.)  He was well like by his fellow gentlemen friends and was voted Mayor of Cairo, Mo.  I was so proud to say my Granddad was Mayor.  I think he got paid $1.00 a year for the honor.  Cairo wasn't such a big place, only about 200 or so folks and a lot of them were related to the family.  Even now, when I go back for a reunion, Cairo is still about 200 or so and there are still a lot of relatives live there. 

Well enough of my rambling.  From a STEALTH to my Grandpa.  I admire both and respect them both, but for different reasons.  So long for a while.  Diane  Best wishes to all.