Floods, Music, Good News, and Weeds...

I want to start this Blog with a mention of the horrid flooding that occurred while Claude and I were visiting family up north. We left on a Tuesday. The rains started in Kentucky on Wednesday, April 2nd, and went through Sunday, April 6th. There were brief period when it did not rain, but there was a LOT of rain. Record flooding occurred. Bill Meckes is the chief meteorologist for Channel 18 in Lexington. He posted these charts on Facebook which give a perspective of the amount of rain that fell in comparison to other years.

I will share on picture from Facebook. It is Buffalo Trace Distillery. This is my favorite distillery in Kentucky. It sits right on the banks of the Kentucky River. The river flooded and covered the distillery area. All that water around the rickhouses should not be there. The rickhouses store the barrels of bourbon for years. If you look to the right it looks like a huge pond or lake. That is the parking lot. There is a little building in the top center of that pond. That is the old revenue house. It now serves as the place to get your ticket for a visit to the gift shop or to take a tour. If you continue to the left that building at the end of the road leading into the distillery is an very old rickhouse. It was included on the tour. Across the street from it is a long building that is the visitors center and gift shop. If you follow the road between the old rickhouse building and the visitor's center to the end, you will see a very small building. That little building holds the oldest barrel of bourbon. It has aged longer than any other. The flooding was horrid for so many family along the Kentucky and the Ohio River and all the little creeks and streams in all the hollers in Kentucky. My heart aches for all those who now must clean up and try to begin again or relocate. 

Thursday, April 10th, I finally got a haircut. Thank you Jenna Thacker. 

In the evening, Claude and I went to the Lexington Opera House to see the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band "All the Good Times Farewell Tour". What a fun evening for us. Other than the seats I got this time were not great for Claude. He likes to sit on the end of a row. We both like to sit in the Mezzanine level so we can see over the entire stage. The end of the row seats I got this time were next to the box seats and the base of them stood out so that Claude could not see the keyboard player. Ugh. We still really enjoyed the music. 

This always throws me for a loop. The is a son and father. They are so different in build that it seems wrong. But they are a son on the left and his father on the right. 

The drummer reminds me of watching Papa play his guitar with his harmonica around his neck. He could do both at once or stop and play one or the other. This drummer was playing the harmonica and his drums at the same time a lot of the concert. That, my friends, takes some coordination!

The fiddle player was great. At one point, he played the Orange Blossom Special. So cool.

These are three of the original band members. Excellent.

This is the band with their guest artist, Tommy Prine, singing the final numbers. 

The final stage bow after their encore. The encore was two songs sung right after each other as though they were one song. I loved singing along with them and my video has my voice clearing singing along. Video is too long for this Blog post. 

This is a snippet of one of the songs. They still have a great sound.

Friday, April 11th, I paused for a day to crochet. I was working on a baby afghan. In the evening we watched the three Saturday sessions of General Conference. Then Bailey called to tell us she had selected her college. She will attend Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Kentucky. She will start in August as she will attend Band Camp. She is so excited. Very happy for our girl. 

Saturday, April 12th, we started our day with yardwork. With all this rain, our grass has taken off and gotten pretty tall. Claude cut it the first time before our trip north. It was definitely time to cut again. Especially the back yard. My area of focus was weeding. I could only do minimal weeding last year. Over the winter, the grass seems to grow into the flower beds. I had a lot of grass to pull out of my planted areas. I would spend the day weeding the grass areas with the stone steps going through them and the flower beds on either side. 

Because we did yardwork, we earned a burger for dinner. Burger King to the rescue. While doing the drive thru, I ordered tickets to see Alton Brown in Memphis, Tennessee. Looks like we will have to hit the road again. 

I shared with Claude that I was impressed that we should as Mike Dudley if he wanted the gas grill. Mike is friend from church. Claude and I have talked about getting rid of the gas grill. We never use it as it is just the two of us and the big Foreman grill in the kitchen works well for just the two of us. Claude liked the idea. I posted these pictures in a message to Mike asking if he wanted the grill and its utensils as well as the wooden bench. Mike was happy to take both. He had a brother-in-law who wanted the grill and Mike wanted the bench. Yippee!! The would come Sunday afternoon and take them away. 

In the evening we watched the Sunday sessions of General Conference. While watching, Claude received a phone call from Katelyn. She needed some help with a recipe. I always find this amusing and lovely. They don't call their Gramma or mother with a recipe, they call Claude, our resident chef!!

I finished the baby afghan. I think I will give it to Tina who stretched my arm after exercises at office PT. She is expecting her fourth baby in May.

Bailey went to the Prom at another school in Oldham County. She has friends all over the place and they all went together. She had a great time.

Sunday, April 13th, we had a great Relief Society lesson taught by Sophia Watson. She has such a soft voice and such a sincere spirit. 

Mike Dudley and his brother-in-law came and picked up the grill and the bench in the afternoon.

In the evening, we had a Relief Society presidency meeting. We now do this via Google Meets and it is an excellent way to participate in this meeting. We covered so much in 45 minutes. Lessons are plotted for the next six months, the activities for April and May were covered, ministering and callings were discussed, it was really well run and done meeting.

Monday April 14th, was what I call a 'purposeful day'. I awoke before Claude. I was able to use that time to collection questions for our General Conference Jeopardy game activity in April for Relief Society. My area was music. 

Then I felt a strong impression to go out and pull weeds in the back yard. I did not finish this on Saturday. I would weed around the two little bushes by where the bench used to stand, then all along the fence where the liriope are and finally the hosta bed. I believe when our Pratt comes to spray our lawn and sometimes spread grass seed, some of it gets into the flower beds. Ugh. Great grass but I really have to work to get it out of the flower beds. The good news is my right should is really getting a lot of workout time. 

In the evening, I asked Claude if we could have a Castle watching evening. He agreed and made us a nice stir-fry for dinner. 

While watching, we got a call from Katelyn. She asked Claude if I could hear. I assured her I could hear as Claude's phone was on speaker. Drew was on the phone and asked if we would be able to come to his baptism on June 28th. We assured him we would be there even if things has to be rearranged on our calendars. What a great blessing!! We are so happy for Drew and Katelyn. This is a huge decision for Drew. He has not taken it lightly. We will support them to the very best of our ability.