Taking the wife out for dinner...

Farmer talk:  I overheard Tom ending a phone conversation with another farmer saying, "I better go, taking the wife out for dinner."

Tom made some machinery upgrades this season including the combine and bean head in this picture.  To the ROW (rest of world) these are better known as big boy toys.  Actually, I'm looking forward to riding in the new combine later this afternoon!

Ken and Kathy's son Ben married Courtney at Red Rocks outside Golden, Colorado last weekend. It was a beautiful wedding, and lots of fun to spend it with gang from IL!

We all decided we need to go back to Red Rocks for a concert. What a venue!

 My work colleagues in Las Vegas before our successful accreditation hearing.  Our program has now enjoyed accreditation for 30 years!

We're giggling because Brent made a hilarious (aka, inappropriate) comment as we were posing with our new accreditation certificate! It's such a blast to go to work everyday with people you enjoy.

Our students won first place in the nation in the "Park of the Future" contest. Tracy was their mentor.

 Beata, Paul, and Patricia were visiting ISU from Opole University in Poland. They spent the night at the farm to enjoy some home cooked food and pie.

 Kenny invited the Poles, Tom, myself, and Mark to ride the trails at Oliver's Crossing on the 4-wheelers. This was a highlight for the Poles.  The only problem was when I encountered a bridge that was a tad too narrow for me and my machine, and so the 4-wheeler and I kind of fell through the bridge.  Here are the guys coming to the rescue.

Riding the trails!

Picky, picky...

Colorado and Montana, August 2015

 Fountain on Pearl Street in Boulder

 Butte, MT - we took a day trip from Bozeman to check out this historical mining town. It had everything to make for an interesting day -  an old brothel, a mining museum, a superfund site from the largest open pit mine in the US, to an easy-going brewery, to huge black head-frames dotting the landscape!

Moose on the loose in Colorado

Hiking Rattlesnake Gulch in El Dorado State Park outside Boulder. See the high plains behind us!

 The Devil's Causeway in the Flat Tops Wilderness.  Marta recommended this hike. I've learned over the years that Marta's recommendations - for hikes, food, or movies - are always spot on. This 6 mile hike ended at 11,800 feet with a 50 foot long, 3-4 foot wide narrow causeway which gave one pause.

Here is another view so you can really see how scary this thing was!

This was near Ab's and Matt's house in Bozeman.  Tom and I just celebrated our 24th anniversary last Sunday! :)

Dan's aunts and uncles joined us in Champaign for some tasty Papa Del's pizza.

Conversations can get competitive!

July 10-12, 2015 weekend in NY

2006 to 2015 The kids wanted to recreate this picture! 

So they tried but Teri had already departed!

Dinner at the golf course the night before the big party.

Why look! Grandma is taller than her granddaughters! 

Relaxing on the porch.

Carolyn, Ann, and Bobbi

Charlie, Mom, and Dad

Sharon and Dave

These "kids" like playing that guitar!

Solving the world's problems over some cold beers.

Sistahs

Lee and Marion

Aunt Harriet and cousin Laurie

There were many family pictures taken and I'm hoping to get some more to add here.  It was a great 60th celebration for Mom and Dad!

You can see the slide show in next post that follows.  It works well with a strong internet connection.

Anniversary Party

Here is the link to the slideshow!

http://www.kizoa.com/Video-Maker/d22224638kP165688323o1l1/george--ann-elwood-60th-wedding-anniversary

It's only rained 2 times this summer...

Our favorite server at the Red Door Restaurant informed us that it's been a great summer so far in that it has only rained two times - once for 45 days and the other for 36!

Young Dan paid us a visit before returning to Colorado to take a class and work. Both he and Karen are in Boulder this summer, and Joel recently made a brief trip home from his doctoral data collection in Paraguay!

 This is what we love about summer! Grilling up some of my parents' famous barbecue chicken!

Tom Terrific took me to Jonah's Seafood Restaurant for my birthday, they gave us a huge slice of chocolate cake for dessert.

 Chicago

I talked Tom into doing a 12 mile bicycle ride. What attracted him to the event was that it started and finished at a local winery. The only problem was the organizers required riders to wear a helmet...that was when the war started. Fortunately the Selkows made available 3 lid options for Tom.

Stacking the organic hay bales.

 It was quite an operation to say the least.

 And then along came the hail storm. It looks like it devastated our corn crop but, as you'll see in the next picture, it seems to have rebounded quite well!

 Damaged corn getting ready to tassel. It remains to be seen what the final yields will be.

Once again my dear friend Ann is always looking out for me. This time she and Mike got us some Wine To Go cups! These will be especially useful on the front porch against the bugs that like to sample your vino.

Costa Rica - Pura Vida!

Fourteen of us from kinesiology and recreation traveled to Costa Rica for a 9 day cultural immersion visit in May.

"Indifference is the worst problem. Let's act now to change this!"

Our guide, Filander, delighted in showing us his beloved Costa Rica.  Here we are on a walking tour of San Jose, the capital.

We spent a few days at la Universidad Veritas taking Spanish classes, auditing classes in English, and checking out college life in a foreign country.

Our first meal out together at Nuestra Tierra Restaurante, San Jose. Lots of rice and black beans were consumed on this trip. 

"La Chola" by Costa Rican artist Manuel Vargas in downtown San Jose. Rather than seeing women depicted as thin sex symbols as we so often do in the media, Vargas seeks to prove that big is beautiful.

Outside Universidad Veritas.

While the Costa Ricans are quite warm and friendly, they can be crazy drivers.   In fact,  Costa Rica has one of the highest per capita death rates from traffic fatalities in the world.  Suffice it to say, we looked both ways before crossing!

Here we are learning about Juan Santamaria, Costa Rica's national hero who set fire to a building back in the late 1800s with US filibuster William Walker inside. Walker wanted to turn Central America into a private slave-holding empire, but thanks to the valiant efforts of young Santamaria, Walker and his wacky ideas were defeated!

The Rio Tárcoles watershed provides a crucial habitat for American crocodiles. 

Pacific ocean shoreline. Notice the black sand due to volcanic minerals and lava fragments in the soil.

Every day we awoke to delicious Costa Rican coffee!

Here we are in the center of the country near Mondeverde, a cloud forest. In the distance is the Pacific ocean!

Cerveza Imperial

Howler monkeys in the trees along the road side. 

Crossing Laguna Arenal, an artificial lake in the highlands between Monteverde and La Fortuna. It was constructed for a hydroelectric project in the 1970s. 

If you click to enlarge this picture you'll see someone ziplining across this valley.

La Fortuna waterfall. We walked down 500 steps to be able to swim at the base of these falls.  I've spared you the bathing suit pics.

Hot sauce!  I influenced 4-5 people on our trip to embrace the delights of hot sauces on everything!

Sights along the route to the ocean.

Lunch at a typical restaurant.

College students making a beer run on the last day. I was enlisted to help them achieve their goal.

Trying some Honduran cigars.

Scratch and sniff!

They tried to make me eat a mango, but I said no, no, no!  Actually, it wasn't too bad...

Visit Costa Rica if you can, it's a beautiful place!